To explore the assessing technique which could objectively reflect the characteristics of Chinese medicine in the prevention of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, four balance features of infrared thermal images (ITI) corresponding to the up and down, left and right, proximal and distal balance of blood circulation of human body were studied. First, the ITI features of the middle-aged and elderly people with lipid abnormality history were compared with those of the healthy youth. It was found that the balance state of the youth was significantly better than that of the middle-aged and elderly, P≤0.01 for all the balance features. For the youth, the balance state of females was better than that of the males. But this sexual difference disappeared for the middle-aged and elderly group. Second, a double-blind randomized trial was carried out to study the influences of Shengyi capsule, a Chinese medicine health food with the function of helping to decrease serum lipid, on the balance features. The subjects were middle-aged and elderly people with lipid abnormality history. Shengyi capsule was taken by the trial group while Xuezhikang capsule (with lovastatin as the main effective component) by the control group for 108 days. The balance features of ITI showed that Shengyi was significantly better than Xuezhikang in improving the whole body balance of blood circulation (including the up and down, left and right, proximal and distal balance). The relative efficacy rate was 81.0% for the trial group and 33.3% for the control group, there was significant difference between the two groups (P=0.002). Shengyi could effectively decrease the low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) but the effect of Xuezhikang in decreasing total cholesterol (TC) and LDL-C was better than Shengyi. Though the lipid-lowering effect of Shengyi was not as good as Xuezhikang, ITI reflected the obvious advantage of Shengyi in improving the whole body balance of blood circulation which indicated that helping to decrease serum lipid is only part of the health function of Shengyi. The physiology and pathology basis of the influences of Shengyi on the four balance features and its relationship with the clinical outcome deserves further study. So the prospect of infrared thermal imaging is indicated as the suitable evaluation technique which could objectively reflect the whole balance regulation advantage of Chinese medicinal compounds.


A Beautiful Mind is a powerful account of the life of Nobel Prize winner and mathematician John Nash. The movie depicts Nash's journey through life with schizophrenia. Nash displays many characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia, including hallucinations, delusions, fear of persecution, and lack of interpersonal relationships. In the beginning of the movie, Nash is an introverted, focused young man searching for the perfect original idea as a graduate student at Princeton's competitive math department. Even then it is apparent that Nash is different from his colleagues; he does not follow social cues and therefore does not have many interpersonal relationships. His main social connection is his roommate, Charles, who becomes his best friend. He develops a "game theory," contradicting 150 years of economic theory. This theory gains him a position at MIT. Through this position he meets and marries, Alicia, a graduate student who falls for Nash despite his social ineptness. As time progresses, Alicia watches Nash slowly distance himself from the real world as he works with Agent Parcher from the CIA who has recruited him to break codes. Eventually it becomes apparent that Nash requires psychiatric care, and Alicia discovers that her husband suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. Nash learns that not only is Agent Parcher a hallucination, but Charles and Charles's niece, whom he has maintained a close relationship with, are also hallucinations. After his institutionalization, Nash becomes very withdrawn from society, not venturing outside his house and is cared for primarily by his wife. This movie does an excellent job in highlighting the burden a psychiatric illness can put on loved ones. Alicia feels a burden in having to care for Nash


Several tropical storm observations are discussed which support the hypothesis that bursts of cloud-to-ground lightning near the center of a developing tropical storm (also called convective exhaust clouds and supercells), indicative of organized deep convection, could provide a valuable diagnostic for intensification over the next 12-36 hours. It is emphasized that further research is required in order to establish the exact role of supercells in tropical storm intensification.


We start the program of defining a Poisson bracket structure on the space of solutions of the equations of motion of first order Hamiltonian field theories. The cases of Hamiltonian mechanical systems and field theories without gauge symmetries are addressed by showing the existence of a symplectic (and, thus, a Poisson) structure on the solution space. Also the easiest case of gauge theory, namely Free Electrodynamics, is considered. Here the structure on the solution space is a pre-symplectic one and the Poisson structure is defined by the aid of a flat connection on a particular bundle associated to the theory.


Summary The present work is a practical study of the use of fluid therapy in ornamental birds. We assess the performance of this therapy in diverse species of birds that attend the Veterinary hospital of the Ornithological National Association of Cuba in the Havana City, with serious dehydration. We evaluate the ways of hydration during emergency treatments, the administration methods, the solutions and doses used, and results of this therapy on treated birds species.


In an experiment using a standard set of dichotically presented monosyllables /pa,ta,ka,ba,da,ga/ it was unexpectedly observed that only the males showed a statistically significant right ear advantage. To test the reliability of this result, the same stimuli were administered to a new set of subjects. Again only the males showed a significant right‐left ear difference, although the females showed a trend in the expected direction which might become significant with a larger N (males' left ear percentage of errors was 54%; females' was 51%). This result is consistent with the findings of Kimura of a greater male lateralization of depth perception, and forthcoming results by Krashen showing a greater male lateralization of environmental sounds. In light of this, data from several previous dichotic studies at the UCLA Phonetics Laboratory were reanalyzed considering males and females separately, and the same trend was noted.


The article discusses the phraseology of the relations between cities and princes, presented in the 12th-century Kievan (Kyivan) Chronicle. Their relations have long been studied, including the stages of the formation of the veche, the history of the so-called enthronement, and the degree of involvement of the clergy in this process. However, the researchers' attention was not focused on the relations between members of the dynasty and politically active groups (such as citizens of a certain town), when it came to preparing and conducting military campaigns, making alliances, performing the triumphal meeting of the army leader, and a number of other issues. The analysis of the description of such events reveals that the chronicler often pays attention to politically ambiguous situations, when several Rurikids claimed to be rulers of the town at the same time, and the townspeople's opinion became decisive. At this point, they could demonstrate their loyalty to the ruler by means of the steady expression "you are our knyaz", which was complementary to the phrase "you are my people". Both phrases could be part of more complex utterances that named the predecessors of the prince who had taken care of the town; enumerated certain Christian symbols, such as the shrines of the town; and contained a direct call for subsequent actions. These examples illustrate that a long tradition of creating treaty language patterns existed as early as in the 12th century.


The response of a p-i-n photodetector made from gallium arsenide to both steady-state and transient illumination has been modelled. Both an ensemble Monte-Carlo model and a drift-diffusion model were used, the latter with the choice of two different mobility models. The effects of high intensity steady-state illumination on the field and carrier distributions in the photodetector were calculated, and a comparative study of the models made. The transient response to pulsed illumination has also been calculated and the different results obtained from the models explained. The effect of high illumination on the response speed of the detector has been demonstrated. In addition, an expression for obtaining the photocurrent from the Monte-Carlo simulation, with much reduced statistical noise over the conventional estimate, has been derived and successfully tested. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


IRREGULARITIES ABOUND in the spelling of English, and they have concerned men of letters since Shakespeare's time. Benjamin Franklin, Noah Webster, and Melvil Dewey, among others in this country, proposed various reforms, all highly individualistic and, in the main, not coming to much. Among newspapers too there have been sporadic, isolated attempts-sometimes crusades-for spelling reform, like Colonel Robert R. McCormick's simplifications at the Chicago Tribune, beginning in 1934 and abandoned finally in 1975. On the other hand, newspaper opposition was partly responsible for the failure of a comprehensive effort at reform made in 1906 with the moral support of President Theodore Roosevelt and the financial backing of Andrew Carnegie. In numerous ways. newspapers would have been among the prime beneficiaries of the 1906 reform, for the simplified spellings were all shorter and would have made more economical use of scarce news space, saved wear and tear on typesetting equipment, and facilitated headline writing. The newspaper opposition took two forms: an initial period of hooting and ridicule and a second period of more serious, detailed, and reasonable consideration. Earlier commentators on the Roosevelt reforms-including Mark Sullivan (1926-35, 3: 162-90), Eltin E. Morison (1951-54, 5: 378n.), the compiler of Roosevelt's letters, and the scholar Clyde H. Dornbusch (1961)--concentrated on the flashy excesses; Sullivan and Dornbusch attributed the demise of the spelling reform movement to the excesses. H. L. Mencken, in his American Language (1936, p. 400), ignores the significant second phase of newspaper coverage; Roosevelt biographers treat the issue only in passing, if at all. It was the second phase, however, that can much more appropriately be credited with derailing the movement. In the early twentieth century, the spelling-reform movement was coordinated by the Simplified Spelling Board, which had begun as an


Laser beams reflected from a MEMS scanning mirror introduce movable scattering spots onto a Random Phase Plate (RPP), and the scattering lights after the RPP are homogenized by a hexagonal light pipe. A rough transmission object is placed closely after the light pipe, and the real‐time changeable speckle patterns are added together within the exposure time of a CCD camera. Speckle is suppressed and 0.0673 minimum speckle Contrast Ratio (CR) is obtained.


The effects of mineral admixtures (slag powder, fly ash, zeolite powder and silica fume) at different replacement ratios on the dispersing capability of superplasticizer and fluidity preservation of paste were experimentally investigated. The results indicate that compared with the other three mineral admixtures, slag powder benefits to the dispersing efficiency of superplasticizer and to the fluidity preservation of paste. The tests on the properties of fresh concrete added with superplasticizer or/and slag powder were also studied. The results show that slag powder not only has an assisted waterreducing action, but also is helpful to reduce slumploss of concrete. The reasons leading to the test phenomena are explained in the paper.


Total cross sections for the ionization of atomic hydrogen by the impact of bare ions with charge ${Z}_{1}=1\ensuremath{-}6$ evaluated in the Glauber approximation are presented and compared to recent data for ${Z}_{1}=1\ensuremath{-}3$ and to other theoretical predictions. At projectile velocities $vl{Z}_{1}$ (in atomic units) the Glauber results lie below data observed. For $vg{Z}_{1}$ the Glauber results converge to observed results better than other theoretical calculations now available.


This article describes a dual-system model of consumer behavior. This model is based on the assumption that all human behaviors are a joint function of reflective and impulsive mechanisms. Those mechanisms have different principles of operation but contribute to the act of buying. However, the relative contribution of impulsive and reflective processes depends on personal and contextual circumstances. The operation and interaction of the 2 systems at different stages of information processing is described and applied to the dynamics of consumer behavior, with a special emphasis on impulse buying.


Objectives
Hereditary primary hemochromatosis is characterized by dysregulation of iron homeostasis and is caused by a genetic predisposition to absorb too much iron from foods. Hemochromatosis has been associated with some chronic diseases, including hepatocellular carcinoma and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Type 2 diabetes is an established risk factor and high red meat intake has been associated with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). We hypothesize that genetic susceptibility to hemochromatosis as determined by known hereditary hemochromatosis-related genes will be associated with PDAC.

Methods
We conducted a pathway analysis of genes known to contribute to hereditary hemochromatosis using the summary-based adaptive rank truncated product (sARTP) method on GWAS summary statistics derived from 9038 PDAC cases and 12,389 controls of European descent collected by the Pancreatic Cancer Cohort Consortium (PanScan) and the Pancreatic Cancer Case-Control Consortium (PANC4).Our analysis included 7 hereditary hemochromatosis genes (HFE, BMP2, HJV, HAMP, TFR2, SLC40A1, and FTH1) and close genomic regions (20 kb upstream and 20 kb downstream) with a total of 176 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The sARTP method combines SNP-level associations across SNPs in a gene or a pathway.

Results
The hereditary hemochromatosis pathway was significantly associated with PDAC (P-value = 0.011). HJV and TFR2 genes contributed the most to the association with PDAC risk (gene level P-values = 0.003 and 0.013, respectively).

Conclusions
This study supports the hypothesis that genetic susceptibility related to hereditary hemochromatosis genes are associated with PDAC. Further studies should evaluate the modifying effect of iron-rich foods and genetic susceptibility of hemochromatosis and PDAC risk.

Funding Sources
This work was supported by the Intramural Research Program, Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health.


This paper discusses the way of how to blend the content of elementary education with the course of education in teachers' colleges,and explains why strengthening the joint of education in teachers' colleges and elementary education can fulfill the objective of biology education in teachers' colleges much better.


The aim of the current research was to comparison of the effectiveness MindfulnessTherapy combination with Memory Specificity Training (MB-MeST) and with Mindfulness Therapy and Memory Specificity Training( MeST)on Anxiety in Hemodialysis patients. Research methodology included two parts: qualitative part of thematic analysis type and quantitative part of quasi-experimental type with pretest-posttest, follow-up, and control group design. The statistical population of the research consisted of hemodialysis patients referred to hemodialysis centers of Tehran city hospitals in 2017.A total of 48 patients were selected using purposive sampling method. In order to train subjects, combined MBCT MeST (Researcher made), mindfulness training (Segal & et al, 2013) and memory specificity training (Maxwell, 2016) were used. In order to collect data, the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) was used. The data were analyzed using multivariate covariance analysis method. The obtained results showed that there is a significant difference between the anxiety of MBMeST group, MBCT group, MeST group, and control group in the post-test stage. Additionally, the results showed that there was also a significant difference between groups in favor of the combined training group. To explain findings, it can be said that combined training improves acceptance and awareness by establishing a relationship with the past and solving incomplete problems related to it and entering the present time and now without judgment. As the type of treatment used in this research has a clear structure and homework assignments, it increases the capability of the client to follow up treatment and leads to significant effectiveness of the related techniques in changing the individuals' mental status.


Due to the rapidly increasing power demand worldwide, the development of power systems occupies a significant position in modern society. Furthermore, a high proportion of renewable energy resources (RESs) is an inevitable trend in further power system planning, due to traditional energy shortages and environmental pollution problems. However, as RESs are variable, intermittent, and uncontrollable, more challenges will be introduced in transmission expansion planning (TEP). Therefore, in order to guarantee the security and reliability of the power system, research related to TEP with the integration of RESs is of great significance. In this paper, to solve the TEP problem considering load and wind power uncertainties, an AC TEP model solved by a mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) is proposed, the high-quality optimal solutions of which demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the method. Latin hypercube sampling (LHS) is employed for the scenario generation, while a simultaneous backward reduction algorithm is applied for the scenario reduction, thus reducing the computational burden. Through this method, the reserved scenarios can effectively reflect the overall trends of the original distributions. Based on a novel worst-case scenario analysis method, the obtained optimal solutions are shown to be more robust and effective.


Students enrolled in introductory and culminating and/or capstone hospitality courses and faculty were surveyed to ascertain differences in knowledge levels and attitudinal sets using a 90-item self-administered questionnaire. Significant differences in AIDS attitudes and knowledge scores were found by student rank faculty level, and schools surveyed.


The author describes a novel approach to the development of a knowledge-based software assistant (KBSA) by applying artificial intelligence in an integrated rather than a supportive role; that is, an attempt is made to offer a framework for unifying case-based reasoning (CBR) with object-oriented rule-based systems, for unifying man-machine systems with learning, and for unifying object-oriented analogical reasoning with constrained search. The technique is called constrained-set generalization (CSG). The CSG technique emphasizes the importance of the man-machine interface in learning heuristics. It also purports a computational theory of creativity, which is based upon the object-oriented concept of set analogs. CSG has been applied to the problem of generalizing and reusing software fragments.<<ETX>>


Epitaxial growth of icosahedral boron arsenide (B12As2, abbreviated here as IBA) on 4HSiC substrates intentionally misoriented from (0001) towards [1-100] is shown to eliminate rotational twinning. Comparisons of IBA on on-axis and off-axis c-plane 4H-SiC by synchrotron white beam x-ray topography (SWBXT) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) confirm the single crystalline nature and much higher quality of the films on the latter substrates. Furthermore, no intermediate layer between the epilayer and substrate was observed for IBA on off-axis 4H-SiC. It is shown that the vicinal steps formed by hydrogen etching on the off-axis 4H-SiC substrate surface before deposition cause the film to adopt a single orientation, a process that is not seen on substrates with either no misorientation, or those tilted toward the [1120] direction. This work demonstrates that c-plane 4H-SiC with 7° offcut toward [1-100] is potentially a good substrate choice for the growth of high-quality, untwinned IBA epilayers for future device applications.


This paper introduces the design of the changeable gate frequency measurement. It can keep the same high accuracy in all test frequency. Because the frequency measurement based on CPID, it has the high integration, high speed, high reliability character.


Results: Patients with RA showed considerably higher plasma levels of leptin (34.3 ± 27.9 vs. 11.1 ± 4.1) and resistin (4.8 ± 0.7 vs. 4.0 ± 1.3) than healthy controls (P < 0.0001). There was no significant difference regarding age, duration of disease, sex, CRP, and leptin and resistin levels between overweight and lean RA subjects. Plasma leptin level was significantly correlated with ESR (Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate) (r = 0.287, P = 0.039) and swollen and tender joint count (r = 0.563, P < 0.0001) but not with resistin in subjects with RA. Measuring the plasma leptin level may be a potential marker of disease activity in RA.


Many geophysical inverse problems are ill-posed leading to non-uniqueness of the solution. It is thus important to reduce the amount of mathematical solutions to more geologically plausible models by regularizing the inverse problem and incorporating all available prior information in the inversion process. We compare three different ways to go beyond standard Occam's inversion for electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) using electromagnetic logging data in the context of salt water infiltration: a simple reference model, a structural constraint and a geostatistical constraint based on a vertical correlation length. Results with the traditional smoothness constraint yield small contrasts of resistivity, far from the reality revealed by borehole measurements. Incorporating prior information from boreholes clearly improves the misfit with logging data. If a good reference model can always be used, it can lead to misinterpretation if its weight is too strong. When the computation of the correlation length is possible, the geostatistical inversion gives satisfactory results everywhere in the section. In this specific case, the geostatistical approach seems to be a more robust way to incorporate prior information. The structural constraint seems to be more indicated when integrating information from other geophysical methods such as GPR or seismic.


The objective of this Thesis is the growth and the characterization of high tech materials which can be possible candidates for future applications in nanodevices. In the framework of the Thesis, we were mainly focused on the production and the study of magnetic and semiconducting thin films, which are based on oxides of metals and of conventional semiconductors. The magnetic and optical characterizations reveal that these materials, in the form of thin films exhibit new properties with exceptionally large technological interest. In more detail, magnetic Ni/NiO multilayers, semiconducting Cu2O, CuO and NiO thin films, as well as insulating amorphous SiOx thin films with or without embedded Si quantum dots, were produced. The magnetic and/or optical properties of each of the aforementioned thin film categories were studied and their impact on possible future applications was examined. The Ni/NiO multilayers were produced on various substrates with the aid of a single magnetron sputtering head and the natural oxidation process. The produced multilayers were of excellent layering and interface quality. An extended study of both the magnetization and the anisotropy as a function of the temperature and the varying Ni layer thickness was performed. It is found from the magnetic investigations, that the multilayers with thin Ni layers exhibit a trend for perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, which is attributed to the considerable positive surface anisotropy of the Ni/NiO interfaces. The semiconducting copper and nickel oxide thin films were produced via the oxidation of the corresponding metallic films. The amorphous SiOx films were fabricated via the reactive sputtering method. Part of the as deposited films was fully oxidized at 950 oC under the ambient air environment, whereas another part was thermally decomposed under vacuum conditions at 1000 oC. Electron microscopy investigations reveal that upon the thermal decomposition process of the films, embedded Si nanocrystals are formed in the amorphous matrix of the Si oxide. The Cu and Ni oxide films exhibited quantum confinement effects, which were studied via the UV-VIS spectroscopy. The recorded spectra reveal that the absorption edge shifts towards higher energies, as the layer thickness is reduced and becomes comparable with the excitonic Bohr radius of the material. The Si oxide thin films, after the thermal decomposition treatment are found to exhibit photoluminescence at the region between 1.3 and 1.5 eV which is originated to the excitonic recombination in the embedded Si quantum dots. Finally, it is deduced that conventional materials like metals, semiconductors and the oxides of them, can exhibit new properties when they are prepared in the form of nanostructure. These nanostructures can attract a lot of interest for possible applications in nanodevices with new but completely controllable properties.


In an important passage in the seventh book of the Stromateis Clement seems to identify Scripture as "the voice of the Lord." Clement certainly has a high view of Scripture. We cannot, however, simply identify Scripture and "the voice of the Lord," since for Clement Scripture simultaneously represents and conceals the truth. Only as we read Scripture in the right way can we move beyond its symbolic language and approach truth. It takes faith to understand Scripture. One of the main reasons for this can be found in Clement's negative or apophatic theology. God, according to Clement, is one and indivisible and, for this reason, also infinite and incomprehensible. God can only be approached through faith. Scripture is only an indirect medium for "the voice of the Lord," rather than "the voice of the Lord" itself.


This was a formative study whose main aim was to obtain useful information for designing co-management interventions of Chyulu Hills National Park (CHNP) and other protected ecosystems in Kenya. Among the specific objectives that we have covered in this article were to; (1) examine the competing livelihood interests of communities living within the catchment of CHNP. (2) to assess the challenges that undermined community support towards co-management of the ecosystem. The findings showed that communities were highly dependent on park resources for both direct and indirect livelihood services. This over-dependence on the resources by local communities made it difficult for management agencies to control access to the protected area leading to illegal encroachment. There were gaps that required urgent attention to to ensure suatainable management of CHNP. First, communities were not engaged effectively when mangement decisions were being made but only received information on decisions that have already been made elsewhere and were required to abide by them. Secondly, incidences of human-wildlife conflicts jeopardized cooperation between communities and wildlife management agency. Thirdly, in spite of the protected area being in their neighbourhoods, community members felt entitled to the ecosystem resources and therefore they perceived it unfair that the authories kept them off from the National park. In conclusion, there was no balanced tradeoff between the livelihood interests of local communities and conservation interests of the National Park. To promote collaboration between the communities and wildlife management agencies in management of the park there was an urgent need to address the livelihood interests of the local communities.


This paper describes the design, development, and implementation of two separate classroom experiments using mobile augmented reality (AR) for teaching abstract topics to undergraduate architecture and construction students in two U.S. universities. The presented work is motivated by the fact that the new generation of students (millennials) have a natural ability to use technology and digital information, and show a great affinity for integrating new tools and mobile devices in their daily activities. In contrast, many existing instructional delivery methods are still teacher-centered and based on lectures and memorization to pass knowledge and information onto the students. The first project described in this paper is a construction AR magic book in which an ordinary course textbook was enhanced by overlaying multimedia contents such as images, videos, 3D models, and other visuals on top of the printed figures and diagrams of the book. The second project in this paper, describes the development of an immersive AR application called Skope, which is designed to enhance students' site visit experience. This application, superimposes the BIM model of an existing building on the real-world building, allowing students to interact with different parameters of the model such as orientation, sitting, direction of prevailing winds, construction processes, structural systems, connection details, and the heating, cooling and ventilation systems. Overall, the assessment of student performance metrics and opinions collected in each project indicates that using AR technology in classroom has a good potential to improve student learning and engagement in the subject matter, and help them better relate abstract topics to real-world problems.


Aim: This study aimed to explore the costs and outcomes associated with moving people with disabilities from institutional to community-based and independent living.

Method: A review and analysis of the existing literature on deinstitutionalization and community-based living was conducted to draw out the lessons for countries just beginning this transition process.

Results: This paper will present the conclusions from this analysis.

Conclusions: The study provided recommendations for European organizations and Member States to help the transition to occur. These recommendations include a
fourfold focus on 1.Strengthening the vision of new possibilities in the community; 2.Sustaining public dissatisfaction with current arrangements; 3.Creating some practical demonstrations of how things can be better; 4.Reducing resistance to change by managing incentives for the different actors in the process.


Aim: To assess the internal anatomy of filtering blebs in vivo. Materials and methods: We performed high-resolution, high-frequency ultrasound biomicroscopy on filtration blebs with a range of clinical appearances to evaluate the internal ostium, scleral flap, and subconjunctival space in eachtype ofbleb. Results: Diffuse, spongy, thin-walled and cystic, encapsulated, and failed blebs were successfully imaged without morbidity. The pattern of subconjunctival aqueous flow was assessed and sites of blockage to flow determined. Conclusion: Improved knowledge of the internal structure of filtration blebs should allow us to recognize earlier stages of bleb failure and characteristics of nonfunctional blebs with the intent of manipulating bleb structure to establish or improve function.


A case of aspiration of a foreign body into the left main bronchus is presented. Lung scanning with 131I-MAA demonstrated hypoxia of that lung, leading to decreased perfusion. Follow-up scans obtained after the removal of the foreign body and return of normal perfusion are presented, and pertinent physiology is discussed.


Samuel Myers was an honors graduate of Frederick Douglas High School, once known as the Colored High and Training School, in Baltimore, Maryland. The school was the alma mater of at least two other distinguished African American economists – John Henry Dean (Ph.D. Harvard University, 1938) and Phyllis Wallace (Ph.D. Yale University 1948). The principal at the time, Dr. Mason Hawkins, had studied economics at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania. Myers matriculated at Morgan College (later known as Morgan State University) in 1936, intending to major in chemistry. However, during his freshman year at Morgan, Myers joined his father on a semester-long voyage to Calcutta, working as a mess boy on a steamer ship. Struck by the abject poverty he observed among the Dalits of Calcutta, he eventually decided to devote his life to creating better public policies to eradicate economic inequalities. Since Morgan did not have an economics department then, Myers majored instead in social science. His passion for economic analysis, though, propelled him to apply to the graduate program in economics at Boston University, where many other Morgan graduates and faculty had trained. At Boston University, Myers studied under the economics department chair, Charles Phillips Huse, a 1907 graduate of Harvard's Ph.D. program in economics and a specialist in consumer cooperatives. His master's thesis, Consumer's Cooperation: A Plan for the Negro (Myers, 1942), argued for the need for African Americans to embrace a cooperative system in opposition to market capitalism that


We propose a simple and cost-effective process of die buffer region which enhances the safe operation area (SOA) of the lateral double diffused MOSFETs (LDMOSFETs). Field oxide used for LOCOS isolation in conventional low voltage CMOS process is grown selectively around n+ drain of LDMOSFETs, which acts as buffer region around n+ drain with the help of dopant redistribution at silicon surface. The 150 V rating n-channel LDMOSFETs optimized using the proposed method have the best-reported specific on-resistance of 3.91 m/spl Omega/ cm/sup 2/ and higher second breakdown voltage by 20 V than that of conventional LDMOSFETs.


Thank you very much for reading women democracy and the media cultural and political representations in the indian press. As you may know, people have look hundreds times for their favorite novels like this women democracy and the media cultural and political representations in the indian press, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of tea in the afternoon, instead they cope with some malicious bugs inside their desktop computer.


A theoretical model is developed to support the well known empirical relationship between capacity and torque for helical foundations and anchors. The model is based on energy exerted during installation and that required to displace the helical foundation or anchor once in place. Through the equivalence of energy, the model relates bearing and pullout capacity directly to installation torque. Downward force during installation, helical blade geometry, multiple helices, blade pitch per revolution, and hub radius are taken into account. The model is applied to determine the capacity and installation torque for several helical foundations and anchors of different geometric configurations. Theoretical predictions are shown to correlate with previously published field and laboratory measurements.


Within the output data of MPB is a part containing the results of the band structure calculation. This part starts with special tokens like tmfreqs, tefreqs, or freqs for two-dimensional calculations with TM or TE polarization or threedimensional calculations, respectively. The script GSMPBBands2D is used to extract the band structure information applicable for GTPack. If a two-dimensional calculation for TM and TE polarization was performed


A matchstick graph is a plane graph with edges drawn as unit-distance line segments. Harborth introduced these graphs in 1981 and conjectured that the maximum number of edges for a matchstick graph on n vertices is $$\lfloor 3n-\sqrt{12n-3}\rfloor $$

 ⌊
 3
 n
 -

 12
 n
 -
 3

 ⌋

 . In this paper we prove this conjecture for all $$n\ge 1$$

 n
 ≥
 1

 . The main geometric ingredient of the proof is an isoperimetric inequality related to L'Huilier's inequality.


The following article makes an exploratory approach to the right to inclusive education of people with motor disabilities who are undergoing physical education teacher training. For this, the general objective was proposed: to know the ways and procedures carried out by higher education institutions -located geographically in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the Province of Buenos Aires- that dictate teaching careers in Physical Education- to include people with disabilities who choose a teaching career. Methodologically, the semi-structured interview was used and as a data collection mechanism, teaching directors and students from different higher education institutions were interviewed, as well as, different documents that contained explicit references to inclusive education or people with disabilities were used. In relation to the results found, it can be said that, although what was found is in line, with the lack of compliance with the right to inclusive education of people with disabilities in general terms, teaching, the representation it has of being a teacher and The certification of professional studies is evidenced as an inconvenience when it comes to fulfilling the right to inclusive education, not only in the specific field of physical education but in teaching in general.


In recent years, several explanatory models have been devel- oped which attempt to analyse the predictive worth of various factors in relation to academic achievement, as well as the direct and indirect effects that they produce. The aim of this study was to examine a structural model incorporating various cognitive and motivational variables which influence student achievement in the two basic core skills in the Spanish curriculum: Spanish Language and Mathematics. These variables included differential aptitudes, specific self-concept, goal orientations, effort and learning strategies. The sample comprised 341 Spanish students in their first year of Compulsory Secondary Education. Various tests and ques- tionnaires were used to assess each student, and Structural Equation Mod- elling (SEM) was employed to study the relationships in the initial model. The proposed model obtained a satisfactory fit for the two subjects stud- ied, and all the relationships hypothesised were significant. The variable with the most explanatory power regarding academic achievement was mathematical and verbal aptitude. Also notable was the direct influence of specific self-concept on achievement, goal-orientation and effort, as was the mediatory effect that effort and learning strategies had between aca- demic goals and final achievement.


Palaeohistological research has greatly enhanced our ability to draw conclusions about the physiology and growth of extinct vertebrates. A comprehensive histological growth study has never been undertaken in an Early Permian taxon at the initial stages of terrestrial vertebrate evolution. Captorhinus aguti, a common Early Permian eureptile from the fissure-fill locality near Richards Spur, Oklahoma, is the ideal taxon for a study of this type. C. aguti femora from all growth stages were measured and sectioned to compare bone structure through ontogeny. Representatives of other major taxa from the Richards Spur locality were also sectioned to compare histology across the palaeocommunity. Long bones of all sectioned Richards Spur taxa, including all growth stages of C. aguti, display slow growing parallel-fibered lamellar bone with poor vascularization. Captorhinids were the only taxon from this locality that lacked growth lines, implying that they were employing a different growth strategy from the other taxa that were preserved at this locality.


The purpose of the present study was to investigate the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of a methanolic extract of Apple kul (Zizyphus mauritiana) as it has not been studied extensively. Apple kul was found to be a rich source of polyphenols (52.19 ± 2.38 mg gallic acid equivalents/100 g), flavonoids (13.19 ± 1.31 mg catechin equivalents/100 g), ascorbic acid (48.17 ± 2.04 mg ascorbate equivalent/100 g) and tannins (50.20 ± 3.61 mg tannic acid equivalents/100 g). The estimated protein and reducing sugar contents in Apple kul were 1.21 ± 0.04 g/100 g and 1.96 ± 0.15 g/100 g, respectively. The high ferric-reducing antioxidant power value (6336.71 ± 554.88 μmol Fe [II]/g) also indicated a high antioxidant potency for Apple kul. Apple kul showed highest activity towards Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus.

Practical Applications

Apple kul is full of vital potential antioxidants and can act as an antimicrobial agent, which is beneficial to fight against oxidative stress associated diseases as well as against harmful bacteria to maintain a healthy human life.


In this paper,a method for converting the aircraft's field testing environment temperature data to an integrated environmental stress was established based on GJB899 90"reliability testing for qualification and production acceptance"and related foreign materials. Verification shows that it meets the precision requi rement of reliability tests and is suitable to engineering practice.


l- menthyl glyceryl ether and the petroleum-based resin and / or terpene-based resins diclofenac percutaneous absorption promoting agent for promoting percutaneous absorption of a sodium containing, and patches containing it.


Although contemporary adolescents are commonly described as "egocentric" and "self-centered", there is a severe lack of validated Chinese measures of adolescent egocentrism. Based on a thorough literature review, the 14-item Chinese Adolescent Egocentrism Scale (CAES) was developed and administered to 1658 Chinese secondary school students. Factor analyses showed that two factors were intrinsic to the scale and the related subscales as well as the overall scale had high internal consistency. Consistent with expectations, CAES scores were significantly related to measures of morality, egocentrism, spirituality, and empathy. Analyses of the responses to the CAES items revealed that a significant proportion of respondents showed self-centered characteristics.


Objective To study the effects of nilestriol taken orally before removing the intrauterine device (IUD) in postmenopausal women.Methods Women in group one took nilestriol 4rag orally once a week before op- eration;women in another group took no medicine.Two groups women were removed IUD by routine operation.Re- suits 100% of the IUD were removed successfully for women in group one,85% of the IUD were removed for women in another group,and there were significant differences (P0.05) between two groups.Conclusion Nilestriol taken orally is a safe and effective method to remove IUD for postmenopausal women.


Marketers have to make decisions on how to implement word-of-mouth (WOM) programs and a well-developed decision support system (DSS) can provide them with valuable assistance. The authors propose an agent-based framework that aggregates social network-level individual interactions to guide the construction of a successful DSS for WOM. The framework presents a set of guidelines and recommendations to involve stakeholders, follow a data-driven iterative modeling approach, increase validity through automated calibration, and understand the DSS behavior. This framework is applied to build a DSS for a freemium app, where premium users discuss the product with their social network and promote the viral adoption. After its validation, the agent-based DSS forecasts the aggregate number of premium sales over time and the most likely users to become premium in a near future. The experiments show how the DSS can help managers by forecasting premium conversions and increasing the number of premiums via targeting and rewarding policies.


Due to the significant changes in the communication environment, the lack of communication subjects (communicators and audiences), the lagging of contemporary style in the communication content, the singularity of the communication channel, and the evolution of communication functions, etc., the "Hua'er" folk song produced in the soil of farming culture is caught in a dilemma of being dissolved in the process of modernization. In this paper, given the survival innovation and development of "Hua'er" folk song in the society today, some strategies are proposed from the aspects of the advance with the times in the communication contents, the return of communication subjects (communicators and audiences), the diversity of communication channels, and the development of cultural industries.


The invention relates to a construction of the edge of excavation, especially the flexible bar support structure of slope of railway and road, etc, wherein said flexible bar support structure comprises: the bottom is the permeable base layer; the permeable layer is between the support structure and the excavate surface, which is integrated with the permeable base layer; the leak groove is set under the permeable base layer; the whole support structure is laid with bar material, while each layer is over the width of support structure, to pack the upper layer and connect the upper bar material; each layer of bars are compressed by excavated soil. The invention has low cost, high anti-shear strength and environment friend.


The performance of a 50-kilowatt-class Hall thruster designed for high voltage operation was measured using both xenon and krypton propellants. The thruster was operated at discharge powers ranging from 4-46 kW on xenon and 5-65 kW on krypton. The device produced thrust ranging from 0.3 to 2.1 N at discharge voltages between 200 and 1050 V. Maximum anode specific impulses of 3370 and 4940 sec. were demonstrated at discharge voltages of 600 V on xenon and 1050 V on krypton, respectively. The peak anode efficiencies were 72% at 600 V on xenon and 68% at 1050 V on krypton. In addition to performance testing the thruster was operated on krypton at 700 V and 53 A to characterize the thruster wear. The observed wear characteristics of the thruster were compared to previous xenon Hall thruster wear results.


To explore the experiences of older people receiving home care package (HCP) support following the introduction of consumer‐directed care (CDC) by the Australian government on 1 July 2015.


Protein energy malnutrition in the pediatric population is currently the most important nutritional problem in the countries of Africa, severe acute malnutrition is claimed every year the lives of at least one million children, that is, an average of a child every 30 seconds. This work is carried out with the objective of describing the behavior of protein energy malnutrition in children under 5 years of age in the region of Bafata (Guinea Bissau) it is shown its incidence and prevalence, during the years 2015 and 2016. A retrospective longitudinal descriptive study with 1060 children under 5, diagnosed with energy protein malnutrition in the period studied in the Bafata region. Guinea-Bissau. It is clear that the number of children under 5 years of age with energy protein malnutrition is high, this infant population is the most affected by the increase in nutritional needs at this stage of life. Malnutrition due to protein deficiency is the predominant form in Bafata where basic foods and those used at weaning, such as potatoes, cassava, sweet potatoes and green plantains, are deficient in proteins and excessively rich in starch. It is concluded that there was a high incidence of protein energy malnutrition in children under 5 years of age in the Bafata region during the years 2015-2016. Statistically very high prevalence of undernourished children was reported in Bafata.


The influences of modulus,concentration of sodium silicate solution,calcined temperature and calcined time of kaolin and liquid-solid ratio on compressive strength,mini-slump extension and setting time of geopolymers material were investigated by using cross experimental design method.The pilot study on the reaction products of geopolymers was made.The results are as followings:(1)The effect of each factor on 3 d compressive strength is significant,the effect of each factor except modulus of sodium silicate solution on 7 d compressive strength is significant,only the factor of liquid-solid ratio has significant effect on 28 d compressive strength.(2)The effects of concentration of sodium silicate solution and liquid-solid ratio on mini-slump extension of geopolymers material are significant.(3)The effect of each factor on setting time of geopolymers material is no significance.(4)The reaction products of geopolymers are amorphous,and they may be the multiplex substances of the PS and the PSS.


Critical care units are running at full capacity and under more pressure from seasonal flu than in previous years, nurses have warned.


Today, because of increase in population and increasing need for optimal use of available spaces and as a result of development of underground spaces, implementation of deep excavations and stabilizing them has become a common issue. While excavation and with the increase in height of walls, stabilization of excavations becomes important. Nailing, Anchorage, concrete pile and metal pile implementation systems or a combination of these systems are common methods for stabilizing excavation walls. It should be noted that each method have their specific advantages and disadvantages. Hence, due to specifications of the project and existing needs, one of the mentioned methods with the aim of reducing cost and time should be selected. At the present study, case study on behavior of retaining structure system implemented using hybrid system of pile-anchorage in project of Daneshgah Tower in Mashhad has been conducted according to 27-month interval from completion of retaining structure system, lack of implementation of the main structure and also increase in groundwater level to height of 3.1m from concrete floor balance. Taking a suitable method for purpose of preventing horizontal displacements of excavation wall, subsidence of adjacent and preventing occurrence of piping phenomenon were important issues existed in this project, which have been explained in this study. Finally, desirable consistence was observed between obtained results from monitoring of excavation wall and results of finite element modeling through comparing them using PLAXIS software


Deals with the problem of managing quantitative temporal networks without disjunctive constraints. This problem is known as the "simple temporal problem". Dynamic management algorithms are considered to be coupled with incremental constraint posting approaches for planning and scheduling. A basic algorithm for incremental propagation of a new time constraint is presented which is a modification of the Bellman-Ford algorithm for the single-source shortest-path problem. For this algorithm, a sufficient condition for inconsistency is given, based on cycle detection in the shortest-paths graph. Moreover, the problem of constraint retraction from a consistent situation is considered, and properties for repropagating the network locally are exploited. Some experiments are also presented that show the usefulness of these properties.


Suppose k is a field of characteristic 2, and $n,m\geq 4$ powers of 2. Then the $A_\infty$-structure of the group cohomology algebras $H^*(C_n,k)$ and $(H^*(C_m,k)$ are well known. We give results characterizing an $A_\infty$-structure on $H^*(C_n\times C_m,k)$ including limits on non-vanishing low-arity operations and an infinite family of non-vanishing higher operations.


Drought adapted tepary bean (Phaseolus acutifolius A. Gray) is a promising resource to cultivate under extreme climatic conditions of the arid-desert regions. However, the production depends on the appropriate supplementation of nitrogen richfertilizers. Application of specific halotolerant nitrogen-fixing bacteria associated with P. acutifolius could be an important practice for crop production in salt-affected regions. Twenty-four halotolerant endophytic bacterial colonies were isolated from seeds of different ecotypes of Phaseolus acutifolius cultured in 0, 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 M NaCl concentrations. The nitrogen fixation ability of the bacterial isolates were screened by acetylene reduction assay. Among 24 bacterial isolates, only one showed high acetylene reduction activity of 6.97 ± 1.1 nmol culture h. The 16S rRNA gene sequencing result revealed that the nitrogen fixing bacteria was closely related to Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (96.2% similarity). The effects of B. amyloliquefaciens, in conjunction with Azospirillum halopraeferens were tested for seed germination and early seed growth promotion of P. acutifolius ecotypes exposed to higher salinity at 0, 0.25, 0.5 M NaCl under in vitro and greenhouse conditions. Results pointed out that inoculation with B. amyloliquefaciens had more stimulating effect on growth parameters of P. acutifolius than well-studied A. halopraeferens strain. A reliable biological method, based on beneficial bacteria, is suggested to maintain the soil fertility or improve sustainable agriculture in arid regions.


The measurement of dynamic displacements using speckle interferometry and temporal phase unwrapping allows the evaluation of displacement fields without the propagation of spatial unwrapping errors. In this work we present a novel temporal phase-shifting (TPS) method that searches for the peak of the windowed Fourier transform of the modulated intensity signal and evaluates the phase at that frequency instead of at the carrier frequency. The performance of this TPS method is compared with that of standard algorithms by using numerical simulations. The unwrapping success rate and the spatial rms phase error are evaluated, and experimental results that show the performance of this new approach are finally presented.


Summary and Conclusions Immunization of rabbits, guinea pigs, rats, and mice with antigen in Freund's adjuvant prepared from homologous stomach, small intestine and colon was not found to be pathogenic to the animals as to production of gastrointestinal disease. Supported in part by Grant No. CY-4009 (Med.) of the United States Public Health Service.


Abbreviations ... vii Introduction ...1 Spencer E. Young I. Philosophical and Theological Boundaries Crossing Philosophical Boundaries c. 1150-c. 1250 ...9 David Luscombe Scholastic Theology at Paris around 1200 ... 29 Marcia L. Colish Reshaping the Genre: Literary Trends in Philosophical Theology in the Fourteenth Century ... 51 Chris Schabel Nominalism in Cologne: Th e Student Notebook of the Dominican Servatius Fanckel with an edition of a disputatio vacantialis held on July 14, 1480 "Utrum in deo uno simplicissimo sit trium personarum realis distinctio" ... 85 Maarten J.F.M. Hoenen Cognitive Th eory and the Relation between the Scholastic and Mystical Modes of Th eology: Why Denys the Carthusian Outlawed Durandus of Saint-Pourcain ... 145 Kent Emery, Jr. II. Crossing Disciplinary Boundaries A Skewed View: Th e Achievement of Late Medieval Science and Philosophy as seen from the Renaissance ... 177 John E. Murdoch Medicine and Arts in Th irteenth-Century Paris ... 189 Michael R. McVaugh Medicine and Theology ... 213 Danielle Jacquart Lex naturalis and Ius naturale ...227 Kenneth Pennington When the Devil Went to Law School: Canon Law and Theology in the Fourteenth Century ... 255 Karl Shoemaker Antichrist Goes to the University: Th e De victoria Christi contra Antichristum of Hugo de Novocastro, OFM (1315/1319) ... 277 Robert E. Lerner III. Town and Gown The University of Heidelberg and the Jews: Founding and Financing the Needs of a New University ... 317 Jurgen Miethke List of Contributors ... 341 Index Nominum ... 343 Index Locorum ... 350


The objective o f this research was to explore an efficient process to recover cyanide and copper f rom barren go ld cyanide solut ion. The research w o r k described here concerns an invest igat ion into fundamental and pract ical aspects o f two options for e lec t rowinning copper f rom cyanide solut ion. These two options are: (a) the use o f an alternative anode react ion to • l imit the e lectro-oxidat ion o f cyanide i n concentrated cyanide solutions and (b) the use o f a graphite fibre cathode to e lec t rowin copper f rom dilute cyanide solut ion. (1) A cr i t i ca l literature survey was conducted to examine the stabil i ty constants o f copper cyanide species. The distributions and the equ i l i b r ium redox potentials o f copper cyanide species were calculated us ing the most rel iable stabili ty constants. T h e y are dependent on the mole ratio o f cyanide to copper, total cyanide concentrat ion, p H and temperature. Potent ia l measurements have conf i rmed the va l id i ty o f the calcula ted results. The pH-poten t ia l d iagram was d rawn using the G i b b s free energy data der ived by select ing the most rel iable stabili ty constants. (2) Di rec t copper e lec t rowinning f rom dilute cyanide solutions was conducted i n a membrane ce l l . The accumula t ion o f deposited copper on the graphite felt as the p la t ing proceeds s ignif icant ly improves the conduct iv i ty o f the graphite felt, increases the specif ic surface area and benefits copper deposit ion. Copper can be deposited on the graphite felt f rom l o w concentrat ion solutions (1-2 gL" 1 C u and C N : C u mo le ratio = 3-4) w i t h 50-80 % current eff ic iency, the r emova l o f around 4 0 % C u and an energy consumpt ion o f 1 -2 k W h / k g C u i n the superf ic ia l current density range 30 100 A m " 2 at 40 ° C . (3) Copper e lec t rowinning f rom concentrated copper cyanide solu t ion (70 g L " 1 C u ) was conducted us ing four sacr i f ic ia l species (sulphite, methanol , thiocyanate and ammonia) at 40 to 60 ° C . O n l y sulphite can decrease the anodic current eff ic iency o f cyanide ox ida t ion f rom ~ 100 to 10-20 % over the current density range o f 250-500 A m " 2 . W i t h increasing C N : C u mo le ratio f rom 3 to 4.5, the anodic current eff ic iency o f cyanide ox ida t ion increased and the copper deposi t ion current eff iciency decreased. A s regards the recovery o f copper f rom barren go ld cyanide solut ion, it has been shown that us ing sulphite ox ida t ion as an alternative anode reaction, copper can be e lect rowon from a cyanide electrolyte conta in ing


Malaysia provides part of the growing, common jurisprudence on indigenous land rights, couched in terms of international human rights law, with the resurgence of customary laws as a source for the pre-existing rights of indigenous peoples. This paper shows how the frontiers of indigenous peoples' rights to lands and resources have been pushed through judicial decisions in the last decade. Many more new issues are being brought before the courts. Despite the stringent legislative provisions, the paper argues that rights founded in customary law pre-exist legislation, and those rights should not be interpreted nor limited through the prism of the common law. Rather, equality and pragmatism demand that customary laws should be approached on their own terms and the rights established under native laws and customs be given full recognition by reference to the supreme law, the Federal Constitution.


The human ANKRD2 gene was isolated from a cDNA library of human esophageal carcinoma cell line by immunoscreening (Moriyama et al., 2001), and independently cloned from two other laboratories in relation to skeletal muscle development and stretch-induced hypertrophy (Kemp et al., 2000; Pallavicini et al., 2001). It encodes an ankyrin-repeated protein highly homologous to the cardiac-restricted ankyrin repeat protein (CARP, now designated as ANKRD1), which is a nuclear protein and may serve as a transcriptional negative regulator for MLC-2v in cardiomyogenesis (Zou et al., 1997). Since ANKRD2 and ANKRD1 expression normally found in various muscle tisssues were elevated in different types of musclerelated lesions (Pallavicini et al., 2001; Ishiguro et al., 2002; de Waard et al., 2003), these genes might have an important role not only in the normal myogenetic differentiation but also in the pathogenesis of muscle-associated disorders. We have previously mapped the human ANKRD2 on chromosome band 10q24 (Moriyama et al., 2001) and successively the mouse homolog of ANKRD2 was isolated (Tsukamoto et al., 2002). We report here the localization of Ankrd2 on mouse and rat chromosomes by fluorescence in situ hybridization together with the determination of the gene order of Ankrd2 and Ankrd1 in human, mouse, and rat. Materials and methods


The present invention relates to a method and species blog content search systems, wherein the blog content searching method, comprising: receiving a blog content search request, the search request including search terms and search time period range; retrieval request based on the search word from the database retrieves and acquires the search term inverted data block, and jump table in accordance with the time stamp retrieval time period ranging inverted data block, a jump to the block containing the inverted qualified; of inverted qualified data block is merged get search results. Blog content search method and system according to embodiments of the present invention by adding a time stamp generating blog jump table by the jump table, may be taken to jump based on the search results directly in the time range of the user input data block header inverted block retrieval, greatly reducing the search time and improve search efficiency. in addition, the time stamp can be retrieved by the time table hopping older data to ensure the accuracy and completeness of search results.


An input signal (Vin) is quantized by a quantizer (7) after being passed through plural loop filters (13,14). A last-stage loop filter is formed of an operational amplifier (15) for generating an output signal (Vin), a sampling capacitor (Cs) for sampling the input signal, an integrating capacitor for integrating the signal sampled by the capacitor and plural switches (S1 to S7) for switching over signal paths. A control circuit controls on/off states of the switches to discharge the sampling capacitor and the integrating capacitor and causes the loop filter to repeat a sampling operation and an integrating operation plural times. The control circuit (20) lastly connects the sampling capacitor and the integrating capacitor to a state, which is opposite to the state of the integrating operation time and turns on a converting switch (S8) so that the A/D converter A/D-converts the output signal of the loop filter.


As a type of city badly depending on a certain resource,resource-based cities have more difficulty in promoting their competitiveness than other cities,especially those expecting urgent industry conversion.This article will reflect on industry conversion of resource-based cities in the fields of economic development,city functions,environmental evaluation and system innovation in order to strategically enhance the knowledge of regaining and promoting competitiveness of resource-based cities.


This paper attempts to study the climate change vulnerability and adaptation literature in Nunavut, a province in the Canadian Arctic. The paper begins with a review of literature produced by Inuit organizations on colonization in the Canadian Arctic and Nunavut specifically, then systematically reviews the literature on climate change vulnerability and adaptation. Using a post-colonial analysis, this study found that while the climate change vulnerability and adaptation literature attempts to attend to colonial histories and legacies, it often falls short. Climate change vulnerability and adaptation literature had minimal representation of colonization, residential schooling, sanatoria, and Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit. This may perpetuate unequal power relationships between researchers and participants, and can potentially lead to maladaptation. The literature references mining and shipping more often, however they rarely mention or attempt to quantify the vulnerabilities these activities pose to communities in the Canadian North. The paper ends with recommendations for future research.


Objective:To investigate the possible mechanism of Gantai capsule on resisting hepatic fibrosis induced by alcohol in rats.Methods: Forty rats were randomly divided into control group,model group and Gantai-treated prophylaxis group.Light and electron microscope were adopted to observe the histopathology of the hepatic tissue.Masson dyeing and PC-Ⅲ,HA,Ⅳ-C in the serum were evaluated to reflect the level of hepatic fibrosis.Meanwhile,blood,lipids,liver MDA,SOD,and GSH were measured and then used immunohistochemistry to measure the expression of α-SMA in liver tissue.Results:Compared with model group,it revealed that Gantai-treated prophylaxis group rats: ① The degree of fibrosis was improved.② Liver collagen fibers markedly was decreased.③ Serum hyaluronic acid and laminin obviously was decreased.④ Liver function was improved.Conclusion:Gantai capsule has an effect on alcohol liver disease and can significantly alleviate the alcohol-induced hepatic fibrosis injury in rats.


Atrial flutter‐related tachycardiomyopathy (AFL‐TCM) is a rare and treatable cause of heart failure. Little is known about its epidemiology and long‐term prognosis. Our aims are to determine the prevalence, predictors and outcomes of AFL‐TCM.


This article highlights one of the important spiritual culture issues of Kabardians: religious be-liefs. E.N. Studenetskaya during the next trip to the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Re-public in 1947 covered the key aspects of the people's life. In the fieldwork's course, materials were collected not only on housing, clothing, religious beliefs but also on the traditions of up-bringing, children, the relationship between the elders and the younger, on the example of the men's holiday "thieshue uj," family and household legends in which the connection with animals is traced. As an example in the report, she highlights the attitude of the Naloyev genus to the snake as a sacred creature. Folklore material related to the spirits of the elements, the origin of the traditional bowed musical instrument shykIepshyn and blacksmithing were also recorded. The at-tempt of E.N. Studenetskaya to fix Kabardian terminology on the topics under study deserves spe-cial attention. The work contains extracts from the report on the business trip of E.N. Stu-denetskaya to the Kabardian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on the collection of ethno-graphic material in 1947.


Among many New Testament texts concerning the paschal events the appearances of the Risen Christ are mentioned. They fit right in between the Old Testament theophanies and Christ's second coming, as in a way they crown the past, earthly being of Jesus of Nazareth and anticipate His coming again in glory. The author of this article – as suggested by the title – is interested in the meeting of the Risen Christ with seven disciples on Lake Tiberias shore described in Jn 21: 1-14. He neither intends to present an exhaustive exegesis, nor to carry out a critical, literary study of the quoted chapter. He passes over the question of the text's authorship and origin as well. Instead he indicates the problems one sees while reading the pericope, presents the possible ways to solve them and discovers the meaning of the text. The issue of the article is discussed at two stages: first the reader gets aquainted with the structure of christophany's description, next the symbolic meaning of the text is presented on the basis of some parallel texts and existing traditions. Many issues related to this particular text remain more or less probable assumptions. Opinions of different exegesists and theologians are to a large degree based on their attitude to the whole of paschal events. It is therefore impossible – according to the author – to reach an unquestionable solution. However, there is no doubt that the appearances of Jesus became crucial in leading the apostles to true faith in the reality of resurrection. They also became the object of testimonies of those whose preaching was fundamental for the faith of the whole Church. The first christophany – as the one from Lake Tiberias can be considered the first – is of great significance here. The author hopes that the present article may be a good example of various difficulties that can be found by everyone who tries to fathom the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ, which the christophany from the last chapter of John's gospel is an inseparable part of.


Novel simulation interfaces of RPS were developed with Visual FORTRAN language to improve some shortcoming of RPS,such as inconvenient operations,strong specialties,difficult comprehends,complicated algorithms in calculation process and so on.The software has a perfect wrong-checking function,enhances functions of previewing and printing of the calculation results and adds anew algorithm of finding an optimal set of tear streams.The software can run stably based on windows system and simulate Rectisolprocess.


Тhe article presents analysis of current information on the possibility of using recombinant interleukin-2 in traumatic disease in veterinary medicine. The analysis included publications from the following databases - P ubMed, MedLine, BIOSIS, ToxiNet, CANCERLIT, CINAHL, CISCOM, EMBASE, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, and NAPRALERT, using 10 keywords and their combinations. It was shown that in trauma of any genesis, an immunodeficiency state occurs associated with an imbalance of Th1/Th2 cytokines. The use of recombinant interleukin-2 restores synthesis of endogenous interleukin-2, provides adequate targeted drug correction of immune dysfunctions, increasing the clinical and immunological effectiveness of therapeutic measures.


Single magnetic molecules may be the smallest functional magnets. An electric-field controllable spin state of magnetic molecules is of fundamental importance for applications while its realization remains challenging. To date the observed spin-electric interaction based on spin-orbit coupling or spin dipole coupling is useful to tune fine spin structures but too weak to flip the spin state. In this work, we propose a new mechanism to realize enhanced spin-electric coupling and flip the spin states by tuning the spin superexchange between local spins. Using first-principles calculations and Heisenberg Hamiltonian, we demonstrate this effect in a family of magnetic molecules, transition metallic Porphyrins. We show that their d - π and π-π spin superexchange couplings are determined by the relative energies of d and π electronic states, which are sensitive to the applied electric field. Therefore, applying electric field can tune a wide range of magnetic ground states, including ferromagnetic, ferrimagnetic, and antiferromagnetic configurations. This spin-electric coupling may provide a new approach for designing and controlling molecular spintronics.


Recovery effect of organic foliar fertilizers, Kelpak, Shimalv and solutions in combination with 0.5% urea and 0.3% potassium dihydrogen phosphate, on tea freeze injury was investigated. Results indicated that all these fertilizers could promote the recovery growth of frozen tea buds and leaves, and among them, Kelpak and Shimalv showed better effect after two applications. Consequently, Kelpak and Shimalv could be appropriately applied in the recovery of tea freeze injury, and thus extensively and intensively applied in vast tea plantations.


These comments by John W. Fuller, Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Iowa, present an overview of the conference "Moving America: A Look Ahead to the 21st Century." He summarizes the presentations of the individual speakers, then concludes with the following comments: "A common thread expressed by all conference speakers was enthusiasm for a new transport policy and planning process. ...the issues facing the country today absolutely require inspired leadership to achieve cooperative, intelligent solutions. As should be expected, speakers with a variety of backgrounds viewed the issues to be addressed by transport policy from quite different perspectives. Somehow the resultant policy process must take into common account global climatic changes, trust-fund financing, model labor relations, technological research, the measurement of social costs, rural transportation desires, and a tremendous variety of other matters."


E-learning has recently been increasingly promoted, though it
is not always clear whether the expectations for students'
knowledge having completed the e-course have been fulfilled.
This paper presents results of the research based on an
e-learning physics course carried out at the University of
Defense in Brno. The e-course Exercises from Physics is
designed to bachelor degree students in conjunction with
theoretical lectures. Based on the theoretical background of
e-learning, the data obtained in the investigation to determine
if the e-learning course for students was more effective than
traditional teaching are discussed. As expected, the
incorporation of multimedia support in the teaching of physics
awakened in the students more interest in learning physics, and
the students' reactions were positive. As for the
disadvantages, however, the creation of the e-course can be
considered time-consuming alongside the amount of time required
of the students to pass the e-course.


OH-type macroporous strong-base resin was evaluated as a heterogeneous catalyst for the oxidation of aldehydes to corresponding carboxylic acids by molecular oxygen. A wide range of aldehydes, such as aromatic,...


there exists an arrangement in S in which ak follows all the a, with i < k. Such sets S surely exist; for example, any set of m arrangements whose terminal elements are 1, 2, , m, respectively, will obviously be k-suitable for any k ? m. The smallest cardinal number N such that there exists a set of N arrangements which is k-suitable for m will be denoted by N(m, k); this is therefore a well defined positive integer for any m and k, k <m. In any collection of arrangements of the first m positive integers, the set of the terminal elements of the several arrangements will be called the end-elements, while all the other elements will then be referred to as mid-elements. We shall hereafter refer to 'suitable" sets of arrangements (omitting the numerical prefix) if the value of k is clearly indicated by the context, or if the reference applies to all values of k. In this paper we are primarily concerned with the evaluation of N(m, k). The evaluation is not complete; the main result is given in Theorem I. In the last sections we use the results obtained to formulate an answer to a problem in connection with partially ordered sets. Throughout this paper, M will denote the set of the first m positive integers. Small letters, insofar as they represent numbers, will represent positive integers.


The invention relates to a method for producing a friction welding connection between multiple planar components (61, 62) located one atop the other that are held together by a connecting body (60) that rests with a collar (67) on an upper component (61) and that, with the face of said connecting body, forms a friction welding zone (63) with the lower component (62), said friction welding zone being produced by the rotation and pressure of the connecting body (60). After the formation of the friction welding zone (63), in a first step, the rotation of the connecting body (60) completes at the end of said friction welding zone and, in a second step, upon completion of the rotation by the connecting body (60) before the contact of the collar (67) on the upper component (61), pressure is exerted on the connecting body (60) by a pressure tool, by means of which the collar (67) is pressed against the upper component (61) by deformation.


The reformation of the procedure of weighing the penalty was put into practice in 2009.According to the guidance paper and the condition in the testing area,it can be seen that the victims' right and position were ignored in this reformation.It should be seen clearly about the necessity and measures of insure the victims' right of participation,and should be given the rights to know and suggest about the procedure of weighing the penalty which is the only way to make an open and fair procedure of weighing the penalty.


The chain end complexation of a functional PNIPAM by a cucurbit[8]uril-viologen complex causes a shift in its lower critical solution temperature (LCST) by over 5 °C. An instantaneous phase change of the thermally responsive polymer beyond its LCST can be induced by addition of the aqueous cucurbituril host-guest complex. Subsequent decomplexation upon addition of a competitive guest releases the PNIPAM terminus and triggers complete reversibility.


The role which alcohol plays in the production of lesions in the nervous system is still obscure. Even in the early editions of his textbook of psychiatry, Kraepelin stated that many such lesions could not be explained on the basis of the toxic effects of alcohol alone and that some other factor, such as a disturbance of metabolism of unknown etiology, must be involved. As early as the year 1869, Leudet 1 recognized that pellagra, a disease usually characterized by changes in the nervous system, dermatitis and diarrhea, was frequently complicated by chronic alcoholism. He distinguished, however, the pellagra complicated by alcoholism, which he called pseudopellagra, from the genuine or uncomplicated form. Since the time of Leudet, opinion has been radically divided on the question of the relationship of these two conditions. Tuczek, 2 Babes and Sion 3 and Kozowsky 4 maintained that alcohol, in common with poor nutrition, neglect


The thermodynamical properties ofthe followingreaction: N~(+)+ H_(2)→NH~(+)+ H,which was one reaction among six reactions that theoreticallyproposed by Atreya in 1986 and was cited in 2003 by Bernard who assumed that this chain reaction would lead to ammoniaformation in Titan's atmosphere have been calculated by means of the coupled cluster singles and doubles(CCSD)at the CCSD/cc-pvdz level.The geometries of the reactants and products of reaction have been optimized,the energies of this reaction have been computed.Andthe mechanism of the reaction was investigated atthe MP2/6-311g(d) level.The analysis of the results shows that:(Ⅰ) The Free Energies of this reaction are positive.It means it can not conduct spontaneouslyin Titan'slow temperature environment.(Ⅱ) The reaction is an endothermic reaction,its converted temperatures is 1797.6K.When T1797.6K,Thereaction can not conduct forward spontaneously.And such a barrier of 118.833kJ/molis probably too high to allow the reaction to occur in the atmosphere of Titan.(Ⅲ) The resultis verified by vibrational analysis and IRC calculations.So,we can draw a conclusion that this chain reaction is not a pathway tolead to ammonia(gas phase)formation in Titan's atmosphere.


A descriptive survey which purposefully selected respondents from the registered nurses and pharmacists working in the study center. A total number of 274 nurses and 59 pharmacists participated in the study (n=333). Reliability coefficient was 0.6; Chi square and T-Test were applied to test hypotheses at α = 0.05 level of significance. All the respondents (n=333) indicated that exhaustion due to work pressure was the commonest cause of errors while 181 (66%) of nurses and 9 (15.2%) of pharmacists were previously involved in medication errors (MEs). Pharmacists ranked wrong labeling of patients' name (23.7%) as the most common type of dispensing errors (Des) while overdose (30%) was the commonest among nurses. There was no significant difference between the attitudes of nurses and pharmacists to MEs (p=.044) but there was a significant difference between the rates of occurrence of MEs between nurses and pharmacists (p=.000). Respondents further suggested double checking of prescription (32.2%) and updating knowledge of pharmacology (16.9%) as strategies for reducing MEs. 138 words


AbstractThe biggest supply of drinking water in the community is the Drinking Water Refill Depot. To qualify drinking water quality, the depot treats raw water with ultraviolet rays, ozone and reverse osmosis . But the quality is not guaranteed, based on the data, the quality of drinking water from the depot is still contaminated with microorganisms. So that the water treatment using plasma system is one way to produce water that is consumed by society in terms of health aspects because in the process the tool does not come into contact with the material directly so that the possibility of contamination is small. Indonesian has a large amount of rainfall and has the opportunity to be used as clean water and drinking water. A Radio Frequensi Plasma system radiation can produse active compounds (H+,OH-,H2O2 ,O3etc) from water,the active compounds  have a high oxidation potential and can kill microorganisms present in water (fecal coliform,total coliform and salmonella). Keywords : rain water, drinking water depots; cartridge filter; plasma; microorganisms


We report a new improved procedure for experimental data fitting in photorefractive fringe-locked running hologram experiments. From this fitting we compute the diffusion length LD, the Debye screening length ls, and the quantum efficiency for photo-excitation of charge carriers ?, with a lower degree of uncertainty than reported in previous publications. The procedure was successfully tried on an undoped B12TiO20 (BTO) crystal and led to LD = 0.16??m, ls = 0.038??m, and ? = 0.33, in good agreement with the already available information on this sample. The effectively applied electric field coefficient in the experiment was also estimated.


Hard turning has become a very popular process for producing shaft-type automotive drivetrain components largely because of its inherent flexibility. A turning tool doesn't care what diameter it's producing and can easily produce multiple features on the same part, or different features on a different part, with little or no changeover downtime. Of course, many hard-turned components may still need to be finished on a grinder to achieve the required tolerances. As long as the production runs are large enough to justify a dedicated grinding operation, standard plunge grinding solutions handle this requirement adequately. What's been missing from the equation until recently, however, is a grinding technology that matches the flexibility of the hard-turning process at a cost that's competitive with the traditional dedicated solutions. That technology is known as peel grinding. It was pioneered in Europe by Cinetic Landis Grinding Corp's sister company, Cinetic Giustina Grinding of Torino, Italy, and is available in the Cinetic Landis Evolution series of machines. Peel grinding combines the durability and efficiency of CBN wheels, with the process advantages of high-speed grinding, to create a highly flexible system that perfectly complements hard turning in the production of shaft-type parts, gears, tripods, and other powertrain components. The wheel is very narrow, typically 5mm or smaller, and operates at speeds up to 250m/sec. along with part rotational speeds of up to 7,500rpm. This combination offers a number of unique advantages for the process. The narrow wheel addresses the workpiece in much the same way as a turning insert. It easily handles multiple diameters and can produce grooves, thrust faces, and other common features found on powertrain components. Changing parts is largely a matter of changing CNC programs, since like a turning insert, the wheel really doesn't care what diameter it's producing. Because it operates at very high speeds, both cutting forces and heat input into the workpiece are minimized, making the process ideal for hard parts. The low forces also eliminate the need for any mechanical workpiece clamps. Center pressure is sufficient to drive the part, which further enhances the peel grinder's flexibility. Because of the exceptionally high speeds applied in peel grinding, chip size – which is directly proportional to work speed and wheel speed – is significantly reduced, thereby decreasing the stress that is induced into the part, decreasing surface roughness and eliminating the need for secondary polishing operations. Peel grinders use either vitrified or plated CBN wheels, which offer exceptionally long life when used in high-speed applications. Wheel life of 100,000 parts and more is routinely achieved, even in applications on difficult parts. Extended wheel life also minimizes the need for dressing and can eliminate the need for in-process gaging in many applications.


Micro-pulse lidar (MPL) systemsare small, autonomous,eye-safe lidars used for continuousobservationsof' the vertical distribution of cloud and aerosol layers. Since the constructionof the first MPL in 1993,procedureshavebeendevelopedto correct for various instrumenteffectspresentin MPL signals.The primary instrumenteffects include afterpulse, laser-detectorcross-talk, and overlap, poor near-range (< 6 km) focusing. The accurate correctionof bothafterpulseandoverlapeffectsarerequiredto studybothcloudsandaerosols. Furthermore,theoutgoingenergyof the laserpulsesandthe statisticaluncertaintyof the MPL detectormustalsobecorrectlydeterminedin orderto assesstheaccuracyof MPL observations. The uncertaintiesassociatedwith the afterpulse,overlap,pulseenergy,detectornoise,and all remaining quantities affec_LingmeasuredMPL signals, are determined in this study. The uncertaintiesarepropagatedthroughtheentireMPL correctionprocessto give a net uncertainty on the final corrected MPL signal. The results show that in the near range, the overlap uncertaintydominates. At altitudesabovetheoverlapregion,thedominantsourceof uncertainty is causedby uncertaintyin the pulseenergy.However, if the laser energyis low, then during mid-day, high solar backgroundlevels can significantly reducethe signal-to-noise of the detector.In sucha case,the :_tatistical uncertaintyof thedetectorcountratebecomesdominantat altitudesabovetheoverlapregion.


This thesis advances understandings of the diversity of student populations, student accommodation pathways, and connections to processes of studentification. The massification of HE, coupled with widening participation and internationalisation agendas, has led to changes in the social composition of the student population. Alongside this transformation, student accommodation preferences are changing, and student accommodation is being supplied which contrasts with traditional notions of shared student housing. From this starting point, this thesis progresses existing knowledges of student geographies in several ways. [Continues.]


Innate immunity provides the first line of defence against invading pathogens, and can also be activated by endogenous danger signals released upon tissue damage or injury. Macrophages play an important role in innate immunity. They perform the immune surveillance of their immediate surroundings seeking out tissue damage and/or invading pathogens via pattern recognition receptors. Macrophages are activated upon detection of an invading pathogen or tissue damage, leading to the expression, and secretion of the proteins required for an efficient innate immune response. Herpes simplex virus-1 (HSV-1) is a common human pathogen. It is a master of evading the host immune response leading to its ability to cause a life-long infection in its host. In most cases, HSV-1 does not cause any symptoms in the host, or causes nothing more than an occasional painful blister in the orofacial region. However, in certain cases when the host immune system is compromised, it can cause severe, even lethal, infections. Uric acid can act as an endogenous danger signal that cells can produce and release into the extracellular space after encountering a stress, including that caused by certain viral infections. A high amount of uric acid in cells can also be attributed to certain dietary habits. In the extracellular space if present at high enough concentrations and in the presence of sodium, uric acid can become crystallized into monosodium urate (MSU). MSU is the causative of gouty inflammation in the joints and is known to be phagocytosed by macrophages. In this work, human monocyte-derived macrophages infected with HSV-1, or stimulated with MSU were studied using several proteomic methods combined with functional assays. The main goals were: to characterize the protein secretion pathways and the proteins being secreted from macrophages upon (1) HSV-1 infection, and (2) MSU stimulation; and (3) to characterize the functional mechanisms of HSV-1 infected cell protein 27 (ICP27) in the inhibition of the interferon (IFN) response and also inhibition of apoptosis during HSV-1 infection. The results revealed that robust extracellular vesicle-mediated unconventional protein secretion is induced by IFN-b priming in HSV-1-infected, and by MSU stimulation in Toll-like receptor 4 ligand, bacterial cell wall component lipopolysaccharide-primed human macrophages. The secreted proteins included endogenous danger signal proteins, and interferon-stimulated gene-encoded proteins. In addition, HSV-1 ICP27 protein requires both the nuclear localization sequence (NLS) and nuclear export sequence (NES) in order to inhibit the IFN response, whereas the NES, but not NLS, is required for the inhibition of apoptosis. The results also demonstrate that pattern recognition receptors RIG-I and/or MDA5 are involved in the HSV-1-induced activation of apoptosis. To conclude, this thesis provides new information on the innate immune response induced by HSV-1 infection, and MSU stimulation, and also on the evasion mechanisms deployed by HSV-1 to avoid the innate immune response in human macrophages. These new results presented in this thesis may be exploited in several ways; in the development of new therapies against viral infections, and in the treatment of autoinflammatory diseases.


The reaction of sucrose with sulphuryl chloride affords, inter alia, two pentachloro- and one tetrachloroderivative, the structures of which have been elucidated by physical methods.


This paper examines the transmission and research of the Hsi-yu pu in Hong Kong,Taiwan and overseas,pointing out that the chief and the most distinctive academic idea is to transplant western theory to explore novel text values and cultural connotation.This unique vision and perspective,rooted in western speculative culture,not only brings new vision for the Hsi-yu pu,but also produces illuminating research ach-ievements for the comparison between Chinese and western literature.


We propose an extrapolative model of bubbles to explain the sharp rise in prices and volume observed in historical financial bubbles. The model generates a novel mechanism for volume: because of the interaction between extrapolative beliefs and disposition effects, investors are quick to not only buy assets with positive past returns but also sell them if good returns continue. Using account-level transaction data on the 2014–2015 Chinese stock market bubble, we test and confirm the model's predictions about trading volume. We quantify the magnitude of the proposed mechanism and show that it can increase trading volume by another 30%.


Canopy greening, which is associated with significant canopy structure changes, is the most notable signal of ecosystem changes in response to anthropogenic climate change. However, our knowledge of the changing pattern of canopy development and senescence, and its endogenous and climatic drivers is still limited. Here, we used the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to quantify the changes in the speed of canopy development and senescence over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) during 2000–2018, and used a solar‐induced chlorophyll fluorescence dataset as a proxy for photosynthesis, in combination with climate datasets to decipher the endogenous and climatic drivers of the interannual variation in canopy changes. We found that the canopy development during the early green‐up stage (April–May) is accelerating at a rate of 0.45–0.8 × 10−3 month−1 year−1. However, this accelerating canopy development was largely offset by a decelerating canopy development during June and July (−0.61 to −0.51 × 10−3 month−1 year−1), leading to the peak NDVI over the TP increasing at a rate of only one fifth of that in northern temperate regions, and less than one tenth of that in the Arctic and boreal regions. During the green‐down period, we observed a significant accelerating canopy senescence during October. Photosynthesis was found to be the dominant driver for canopy changes over the TP. Increasing photosynthesis stimulates canopy development during the early green‐up stage. However, slower canopy development and accelerated senescence was found with larger photosynthesis in late growth stages. This negative relationship between photosynthesis and canopy development is probably linked to the source–sink balance of plants and shifts in the allocation regime. These results suggest a sink limitation for plant growth over the TP. The impact of canopy greening on the carbon cycle may be more complicated than the source‐oriented paradigm used in current ecosystem models.


CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Accurate thickness measurement of corneal layers using anterior segment OCT can be used to improve visual outcomes. Understanding its applications is essential for optometric practices to enhance eye care procedures.

BACKGROUND
To evaluate the thicknesses of different corneal layers for identifying keratoconus (KCN) and subclinical keratoconus (SKCN) using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).

METHODS
This prospective study analyzed 60 eyes with KCN, 48 eyes with SKCN, and 53 normal eyes. The central corneal thickness (CCT) and thicknesses of the epithelium, Bowman, stroma, and Descemet-endothelium layers were measured using SD-OCT. One way analysis of variance and the area under the curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the parameters. The Delong method was used to compare AUCs.

RESULTS
In KCN, CCT and thicknesses of epithelium, Bowman, stroma, and Descemet-endothelium layers were 495.5 ± 41.7, 52.6 ± 6.4,11.5 ± 1.4, 415.5 ± 38.9, and 12.3 ± 1.7 µm, respectively. These thickness values were respectively 524.5 ± 33.3, 56.8 ± 6.8, 11.5 ± 1.6, 439.8 ± 30.6, and 12.4 ± 1.7 µm in SKCN and 563.8 ± 37.9, 57.7 ± 6.9, 12.2 ± 1.6, 469.5 ± 33.7, and 12.8 ± 2.1µm in normal group. Total cornea and stroma in KCN and SKCN, and epithelium in KCN were significantly thinner compared to the normal group (P < 0.001). The highest AUC values were observed for CCT in KCN (AUC 0.90) and SKCN (AUC 0.782). The diagnostic accuracy was significantly higher for stromal thickness in KCN (sensitivity 81.7%, specificity 73.6%, AUC 0.871) and SKCN (sensitivity 80.0%, specificity 56.6%, AUC 0.751) than other individual corneal layers (Delong, P < 0.001)                                    .

CONCLUSION
CCT can accurately distinguish keratoconus from normal eyes. However, central corneal stromal thinning was the most sensitive diagnostic index for early detection of SKCN. Developing standardized stromal maps may be helpful for detecting SKCN.


Access to transit stations is a critical, but often overlooked, aspect of transit planning. Few agencies have a station access planning process or develop station access plans, yet realizing the benefits of infrastructure investment in fixed-guideway transit inherently depends on efficiently getting passengers to the station. Agency decisions explicitly affect the ability and likelihood for passengers to access the station by various access modes. For instance, the provision of auto parking allows users to drive and park at the station. However, if no parking is provided, riders must access the station another way. Many factors determine the number of passengers boarding a transit service at a given station. A primary consideration is the quality and efficiency of the service; that is, does it provide a timely and direct connection between one's origin and destination. But ridership can vary widely even when comparing stations in the same transit system or on the same line. Characteristics of the station area and access provisions at the station also influence a traveler's decision to board the service at a given station. Recent research conducted by the Transit Cooperative Research Program developed a guidebook for planning for access to public transport stations. The research included development of a typology of stations and presents improved methods for conducting station access planning. This paper discusses key findings, including development of a station ridership estimation model. It also produced a spreadsheet-based Access Planning Tool to assess demand, quantify the effects of access improvements, and measure the fiscal impacts.