The farmer household tourism is an important way of Chinese rural economic development,but sewage discharged by the farmhouse produce the great threat to surface water environmental quality,which is not a concern to take lightly due to the enormous quantity wide.The farmhouse"ecological kidney"concept was proposed in this paper,which is the miniature artificial wetland system used for farmhouse sewage treatment specially.The farmer household tourism,which is located in the upper reaches of Jialing River,Heping village in Guangyuan City,Sichuan Province,its design system of the miniature constructed wetland system used for farmhouse sewage treatment was analyzed,and its comprehensive benefits was assessed.Studies show the farmhouse miniature constructed wetland system not only can solve the problems of environment and development for peasants,but also provide a reference for the basin water environmental protection,and a good potential of popularization.


Abstract : This report presents the results of a research program examining the potential benefits of requiring minimum and maximum mortar contents for 37.5 mm (1-1/2 in.) nominal maximum size aggregate (NMSA) mass concrete and minimum and maximum paste-mortar ratios for 37.5 mm (1-1/2 in.) NMSA mass concrete. The purpose of the research program was to supplement existing guidance on proportioning mass concrete mixtures. Two 37.5 mm (1-1/2-in.) nominal maximum size (NMS) coarse aggregates were used. One was a crushed material consisting primarily of blocky particles. The other was a crushed material having more flat and elongated particles. All mixtures contained natural fine aggregate. The results indicate that a recommended minimum and maximum mortar content could be a useful guide to aid in proportioning workable mass concrete mixtures containing 37.5 mm (1-1/2-in.) NMS coarse aggregate. An approximate minimum and maximum mortar content was identified for mixtures containing favorably shaped coarse aggregate particles (primarily blocky with minimal flat and elongated) and for mixtures containing less favorably shaped coarse aggregate particles (higher percentage of flat and elongated). The paste-mortar ratio appears to be less useful. Recommendations are made to consider supplementing existing guidance on proportioning 37.5-mm (1-1/2-in.) NMSA mass concrete mixtures with minimum and maximum mortar contents.


Crosslinked ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer/montmorillonite (EVA/MMT) nano-composite was prepared by UV irradiation. Effect of MMT on gel content of crosslinked EVA was analyzed. Other factors, such as time, temperature and atmosphere of the irradiation and thickness of the samples were studied. The results show that MMT could promote the crosslinking reaction, with the optimal conditions of 100℃ irradiation of 2 min, where the gel content could be 95%. Irradiation atmosphere and samples thickness affected the gel content notably at beginning of the irradiation, but they became less effective on the gel content after 2 min of irradiation.


This study was undertaken to investigate the dietary behavior and sugar intake of korean school children. The subject were 131 school lunch program children and 149 non school lunch program children lived in Soung Nam city. Sugar intake, food intake, dietary behavior and anthropometric measurement were studied through personal interview using 24-hour recall dietary data and records. Total daily energy and nutrient intake of children were higher than RDAs except for intake of Calcium and vitamin A. The nutrients intake of school lunch program children were significantly higher than that of non school lunch program children (p. Sugar intake of school lunch program children () was significantly lower than non school lunch program children () (p, protein, niacin, calcium school lunch program, education of fathers are significant explanatory variables, explaining 44.8% of variation. Result of this study suggest that school lunch program is desirable for good dietary behavior and decreation of sugar intake of school children.


Indirect anaphors (Lisa went to a wedding in Italy. The bride was beautiful.) encompass two different dimensions of newness: they represent new information and they introduce a new discourse referent into the mental model. Previous event-related potential (ERP) studies show an enhanced Late Positivity effect for indirect anaphors relative to (coreferential) direct anaphors (A bridei bought a wedding gown. The bridei was very happy.), which has been associated with the processing of newness (Burkhardt 2006). An open question remains whether the increased processing costs of indirect anaphors arise from the integration of a new informational aspect or through the integration of a new discourse referent. This question was addressed in two experiments via a comparison of indirect anaphors and so-called specification anaphors (Mariei bought a wedding gown. The bridei was very happy). Specification anaphors resemble indirect anaphors in as far as they convey new information (about an already given referent, i.e. the bride=Marie) and they resemble direct anaphors by indicating a coreference relation. By contrast, indirect anaphors require the introduction of a new discourse referent.


A novel way of cultivating cyanobacteria in solvent limited condition is described using Westiellopsis sp MKU 157 as a model organism.


This investigation is concerned with Forth Flotation dynamics, which is studied on the effect of equivalent mean bubble size on the flotability in single bubble forth flotation. In order to do this, the experimental work was carried out with the typical mineral, i. e., ground glass powder (), in a modified flotation cell supported by dry air supply, and some hydrodynamic results were then obtained thereafter. Besides, theoretical dynamic equations were derived using the direct encounter hypothesis which was based on the collision between air bubbles and mineral particles and gas-liquid adhesion with a forthing agent such as pine oil. Accordingly, single bubble froth flotation was predominantly effected by bubble rising or bouyant force rather than surface force in the hydrodynamic point of view. In addition to this, the functional relations between equivalent mean bubble radius and the hydrodynamic factors such as Reynolds number, Weber number, number, and drag coefficient were also discussed.


It's more and more popular to make use of modern education technology as teaching means or assistant one. The popularization of multimedia technology helps build the plat form altering teaching quality. How to utilize effectively managing multimedia equipment is the problem concerning thinking and exploring. The essay set forth the thinking route and understanding when we are working.


This report looks at economic growth, bicycling, and the benefits of protected bike lanes. It presents case studies from five United States cities highlighting protected bike lanes and their impact on: urban development, health care costs, competition for workers, and use of public street space to benefit local businesses.


The Unit Commitment Problem (UCP) is proved to be strongly NP-hard even for special cases which are polynomial for a one-time period horizon. In the case the constraints are restricted to satisfy minimum up and down time, the UCP is polynomial when the number of units is fixed. The pricing subproblem commonly used in a decomposition scheme is also shown to be strongly NP-hard for a subset of units.


An up-to-date review and criticism of reports on the decomposition of chlorinated hydrocarbons led to the conclusion that temperature and metal surface were prime factors in the production of phosgene, hydrogen chloride, chlorine and other decomposition products. Carbon tectrachloride generally produced higher concentrations of phosgene than did other chlorinated hydrocarbons. Humidity influenced decomposition of the phosgene formed, but the degree was only slight at low concentrations. Flames caused production of phosgene but the reports showed great variance presumably due to the complexities of the nature of contact of the chlorinated hydrocarbons with flame.


current Pitzer model and interaction parameters at different and The Pitzer thermodynamic model with an extensive complexation of and the parameters are derived these experimental This the appliation of the extended model to predict the stability of the lead solid phases at varying pH and ionic strength with and without organic ligands


Context: Stability of hormones are being effected by consistent stress in the human body which leads tochanges in thoughts and situations that make the individual perplexed, restless or anxious. Laughter therapy isthe antidote for stress. It helps to release serotonin in brain which is essential for the uplift of mood.Aim: The aim of this research is to find out the efficacy of laughter therapy on the decline of stress.Setting and design: Data collection for the commenced study was conducted at Sri Sukhmani College ofNursing and Amar Professional College of Nursing, Dyalpura, District Mohali, Punjab. A quantitative approachwith "Quasi-experimental design" was adopted to conduct this research.Methods and Material: Technique used for selecting the subjects was purposive sampling technique. 60subjects were selected and sub grouped into experimental and control group (30 each). 5 point likert scale i.e.Sheldon Cohen?s (1983) Perceived Stress Scale which includes 10 items, was selected to evaluate the level ofstress among nursing students.Statistical analysis used: Descriptive and inferential statistics were used.Results:• Before implementation of laughter therapy, it was identified that stress scores were approximately samein both the groups.• After implementation of therapy, it was identified that stress scores in the experimental group was lowerthan the control group.Conclusions: Study concluded with the result that stress level is alleviating among student nurses with helpof laughter therapy


When and why did tomas (land occupations) begin? Despite the widespread belief that La Victoria, in 1957, was the first toma in Chile, and even in South America, many scholars affirm that this phenomenon began in the mid-forties. This article, through an analysis of the press and documentary sources, studies the land occupations that were carried out in Santiago, Chile between 1945 and 1957. Our hypothesis is that the toma was invented in the mid-fifties, when land occupations, which were previously realized silently, started to be displayed in the public space. In this manner they became political statements. This shift in the mobilizations of the pobladores (marginal squatters) can be explained by the political context, as well as by the change in the State's role in relation to housing problems and urban growth.


Abstract To investigate the impact of comorbid diseases on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) outcome. All patients diagnosed with RA since 2006, who were registered in our local Danbio registry, were included in this cohort study. Patients' demographics, serology results, and Disease Activity Score in 28 joints-C-reactive protein (DAS28-CRP) at the time of diagnosis and after 4 months of treatment initiation were collected. Patients' electronic hospital records were evaluated for a positive history of thyroid diseases, diabetes mellitus, primary hyperparathyroidism, vitamin B12 deficiency, and the presence of other diagnosed autoimmune diseases. 1035 RA patients were included. The observed prevalence of thyroid diseases was 11.8%, DM 10.4%, primary hyperparathyroidism 2.8%, vitamin B12 deficiency 5.8%, and other diagnosed autoimmune diseases 1.6%. There were significant associations between presence of thyroid diseases and female gender (P < .001); DM and greater age (P < .001); primary hyperparathyroidism and longer disease duration (P = .002); other diagnosed autoimmune diseases and antinuclear antibody positivity (P < .001). RA patients with thyroid diseases (P = .001) and other comorbid autoimmune diseases (P < .001) had significantly poorer initial response to the RA treatment compared to patients with isolated RA. Univariate analyses revealed that age, the presence of thyroid diseases, the presence of other diagnosed autoimmune diseases and DAS28-CRP at the time of diagnosis were significantly associated with &Dgr;DAS28-CRP. Additionally, multivariate analysis demonstrated that &Dgr;DAS28-CRP deterioration was significantly correlated to the presence of thyroid diseases (unstandardized regression coefficient (standard error); −0.188 (0.088), P = .030) and the presence of other diagnosed autoimmune diseases (−0.537 (0.208), P = .010). RA patients are at increased risk of specific comorbidities with possible impact on the treatment outcome. To improve this situation, periodic assessment of comorbidities should be considered.


The acknowledgement that something is complex, it is argued, implies that our knowledge of it will always be limited. We cannot make complete, absolute or final claims about complex systems. Post-structuralism, and specifically deconstruction, make similar claims about knowledge in general. Arguments against deconstruction can, therefore, also be held against a critical form of complexity thinking and a defence of the view from complexity (as presented here) should take account of them. Three of these arguments are investigated: that deconstruction and complexity-thinking lead to relativism, that they are subject to the performative contradiction and that their claims are vague. It is shown that these critiques are not really effective and it is suggested that a responsible approach to complexity has to be provisional, i.e. modest, without being vague or relativistic.


An alternative proof of a theorem of Pais which states that the charge correlation coefficients for an n‐π system are independent of the row of the representation of the symmetric group is presented in which no detailed knowledge of the representations is used.


In recent years, solar price drops and regulations have helped residential users to invest in grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) facilities. In Spain, a novel law promotes self-consumption by discounting electricity fed into the grid from the utility bill. However, the performance of PV-based facilities depends on diverse factors. The contribution of this paper is to evaluate the techno-economic performance of such installations for different considerations linked to the Spanish law. A simulation model is used to examine different representative cities, load profiles and alternative objectives: maximising profitability and self-sufficiency. For profit maximisation, results show that load profile variations entail PV size changes up to 5 kWp for the same location, together with huge economic and self-sufficiency differences. In contrast, the solar radiation and compensation rate have a more limited influence. For self-sufficiency maximisation, the economic performance drops close to EUR 0, as benefits are used to double the PV size, buy batteries and reach close to 70% self-sufficiency. Finally, a sensitivity analysis shows a limited impact of the utility tariff and the technology cost on the PV size, but a relevant influence on the benefits. These results can help investors and families to quantify the risks and benefits of domestic self-consumption facilities.


Indoor air temperature fluctuation of high-precision constant temperature room in a scientific experiment center can not exceed 0.2 ℃ within 900 s for long-term stability.With the specific requirements,the system of large supply air temperature difference and small air volume was applied.In this paper,the formula of temperature fluctuation range was determined and the relationships between fluctuation range and disturbances were discussed.And then,CFD simulation method was used to analyze the temperature dynamic response characteristics with single disturbance,and the disturbances' control scopes were confirmed.


The notion of America as land of refuge is vital to American civic consciousness yet over the past seventy years the country has had a complicated and sometimes fickle relationship with its refugee populations. Attitudes and policies toward refugees from the government, voluntary organizations, and the general public have ranged from acceptance to rejection; from well-wrought program efforts to botched ones. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary and historical material, and based on the author's three-decade experience in refugee research and policy, Safe Haven? provides an integrated portrait of this crucial component of American immigration-and of American engagement with the world. Covering seven decades of immigration history, Haines shows how refugees, their supporters and detractors continue to struggle with national identities and the effect this struggle has had on American institutions and attitudes.|The notion of America as land of refuge is vital to American civic consciousness yet over the past seventy years the country has had a complicated and sometimes fickle relationship with its refugee populations. Attitudes and policies toward refugees from the government, voluntary organizations, and the general public have ranged from acceptance to rejection; from well-wrought program efforts to botched ones. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary and historical material, and based on the author's three-decade experience in refugee research and policy, Safe Haven? provides an integrated portrait of this crucial component of American immigration-and of American engagement with the world. Covering seven decades of immigration history, Haines shows how refugees, their supporters and detractors continue to struggle with national identities and the effect this struggle has had on American institutions and attitudes.


The Farlie–Gumbel–Morgenstern family of bivariate distributions with given marginals is frequently used in theory and applications and has been generalized in many ways. With the help of two auxiliary distributions, we propose another generalization and study its properties. After defining the dimension of a distribution as the cardinal of the set of canonical correlations, we prove that some well-known distributions are practically two-dimensional. Then we introduce an extended FGM family in two dimensions and study how to approximate any distribution to this family.


In situ studies of the geospace environment, including space weather monitoring, is mainly based on the measurements of particles and fields. The particle content of the Earth's magnetosphere is studied with electron and ion detectors in various energy ranges, from the cold and dense eV solar wind to the MeV radiation belts. Here, the in situ high-energy (50 keV to 725keV) electron measurement is targeted. The design and development of space embedded electronic equipment require a specific approach . An Analog-Front-End (AFE) design methodology is proposed to optimize
noise, bandwidth, consumption, crosstalk and radiation hardness performances of such AFEs for Si semiconductor detectors. The conception of
an Analog-Front-End optimized in noise, band width, consumption, crosstalk and radiation hardness, dedicated to a silicon (SiA) detector. Each channel includes an 8 bits successive approximation register (SAR) ADC in order to digitize the incident electron energy. The chip was designed in a
0.35 μm HV CMOS process. The ASIC measurements have shown that for a charge range of 0.6 fC to 32 fC , the charge - to - voltage conversion gain
is approximately 60 mV/fC. The equivalent noise charge (ENC) is 3119 e- for 40pF input parasitic capacitance while consuming 2.5 mW. The circuit
can perform measurements up to a 650 kHz rate. The next step is to characterize the ASIC associated with the SC detector in a vacuum chamber. Furthermore, the total ionisation dose (TID) and the single event effect ( SEE ) tolerances must also be evaluated


In recent years, crossover services have attracted wide attention as an emerging service mode in the modern service industry. Crossover services can offer values that cannot be provided by single-domain services, and they usually need to cross the boundaries of domains, organizations, and processes, which puts forward more challenges for requirements modeling and analysis under the crossover scenarios. Given the characteristics of crossover services, the authors propose a value-driven meta-model framework from multiple viewpoints to support the requirements analysis of crossover services, which consists of three parts: a value network, a goal network, and a service network. Based on the proposed meta-model framework, a value-driven crossover service modeling tool is developed to help requirements analysts in requirements analysis and design, and a case study is presented to illustrate the usage of the proposed approach. Finally, we evaluate our methods and tools using a controlled experiment, and the experimental results show the effectiveness of the approach.


The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) publish methods for sampling and analysis of workplace air in its 'Methods for the Determination of Hazardous Substances'(MDHS) series. MDHS 42, 'Nickel and Inorganic Compounds of Nickel in Air', which was published in 1984, describes a laboratory method using FAAS. In 1992 HSE revised the exposure limits for nickel in air. Three maximum exposure limits (eight-hour time-weighted averages) were set at 0.5, 0.1 and 0.5 mg m–3 for nickel, soluble and insoluble nickel compounds, respectively. Soluble nickel compounds were defined as those with a solubility greater than 10% by mass in water at 20 °C. It was decided that this was an appropriate time to review MDHS 42 and this paper describes work carried out to develop and validate a revised method. New sample dissolution procedures have been included in the revised MDHS and the method has been extended to include ETAAS. The effectiveness of procedures was tested by analysing a range of dusts typically found in the working environment. Method performance was determined by taking doped filters through the described procedures, and this was assessed for compliance with the Comite Europeen de Normalisation European Standard EN 482, 'Workplace Atmospheres—General Requirements for the Performance of Procedures for the Measurement of Chemical Agents'.


Objectives
To assess biological variation of troponin T in emergency settings and establish limits for interpretation of serial results.

Methods
We studied 6,557 consecutive patients with troponin measurements. A stable reference subset was selected to estimate biological variation and threshold limits.

Results
The first troponin level was elevated in 32% of patients, and 2,490 had a second troponin level with a myocardial infarction (MI) prevalence of 16.2%. In the stable reference group with at least one abnormal value, the 99th percentile of the absolute delta between the first two samples was 16 ng/L. For MI diagnosis, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.85 (confidence interval [CI], 0.83-0.87) for the first troponin level and 0.94 (CI, 0.93-0.95) for the absolute delta.

Conclusions
An absolute delta of 16 ng/L has good specificity in the emergency setting. This threshold is valid for any sex, age, and sampling interval between 3 and 24 hours and is higher than published limits found in healthy outpatients.


Hypothesis / aims of study Sacral neuromodulation (SNM) is an effective treatment for overactive bladder syndrome (OAB) when conservative treatment fails. If patients show a successful response to test stimulation, a permanent device is implanted. Success is defined as more than 50% improvement in voiding diary parameters. Currently, the frequency, voided volume per void and number of leakages are the parameters used for evaluation of treatment effect. However, bladder sensations such as urgency and bladder fullness can also be documented by the use of sensation-related bladder diaries (SR-BDs). It has been previously shown that bladder sensations differ between OAB patients and healthy volunteers. Furthermore, SR-BDs could be used to evaluate treatment effect. The aim of this study is to evaluate the influence of SNM on bladder sensations in patients with OAB.


The application of tertiary recovery techniques through chemical injection (CEOR) is in full development in the mature oil fields of Argentina. An experimental study of nanofluids intended for enhanced oil recovery is presented in this work. A polyacrylamide solution prepared in brine with addition of silica nanoparticles was used as the focus of the study. Dynamic sweep tests of the displacement fluids in a laboratory-scale triaxial cell using a standard Berea sandstone cores that simulates the formation of the reservoir allow the calculation of parameters related to its injectivity, which take into account damage to the formation and blockade of poral throats , such as the resistance factor (FR), the residual resistance factor (FRR), the inaccessible pore volume (VPI) and the dynamic retention of the nanofluid (RD). The injection of the nanofluid has not produced an increase in the damage of the porous medium, so it is potential for its application in the displacement of crude oil.


Various proposals have been made to change the tax treatment of health coverage, which currently is tax free to both employers and workers. Proponents of these changes argue, among other things, that current tax rules are unfair and contribute to unnecessary spending for health care. This paper examines changes that policymakers are discussing, explores the history of tax laws concerning the tax treatment of health benefits and the cost to the federal government in forgone taxes because of these laws, and examines some of the advantages and disadvantages that could result from the proposed changes. Any honest debate of overhauling the federal tax treatment of health care in the United States needs to address not just what a new system might do, but what the trade-offs and unintended consequences might be, and who would be likely to be most affected by the change.


Summary form only given. As a model plant for legumes as well as a rich source of natural products (such as flavonoids, isoflavonoids and triterpenes), Medicago truncatula (Mt) is one of the subjects of current major US genomics initiatives. Nevertheless, data sources of gene, protein, and metabolite in relation to Mt are very limited in publicly available biological databases. Information about genes, proteins, and metabolites is usually distributed among multiple databases. Retrieval and organization of this information can be a laborious task. We present a relational database, B-Net, that is intended to gather information from multiple sources representing genes, proteins, metabolites, and biochemical reactions of Mt. This database represents known facts about the biochemistry of Mt, classified according to the Gene Ontology. We anticipate this new resource to be particularly useful as a reference data set but also a qualitative proteome and metabolome database.


Electrical cortical stimulation mapping (ECM) is a neurophysiological technique used to help identify the epileptogenic zone (area of brain responsible for a person's epilepsy). ECM accomplishes this in two ways: (1) direct stimulation of a specified cortical area resulting in the patient's habitual seizures and (2) the understanding of specific cortical function based on ECM studies. This chapter begins by reviewing neurophysiological concepts underlying ECM. It then continues with an anatomical survey of cortical function as defined by ECM and an explanation of how the identified cortical functions relate to understanding seizure semiology. It proceeds to examine the techniques for electrically provoking seizures and interpretation of such provoked seizures. It concludes by exploring advanced electrophysiological concepts and how they may improve characterization of the epileptogenic zone. In short, this chapter seeks to conceptualize the use of ECM in accurately identifying the epileptogenic zone and informing safe surgical treatment when necessary.


Proposed system is going to identify criminals at various security place such as airport, railway etc. Video Camera captures a fixed number of frames of a person coming in front of check in counter. Proposed system compares these captured images taken through the camera with the images of the criminals which are stored in the database. Proposed system is connection of two stages – Face detection using Haar Based Cascade classifier and recognition using Principle Component analysis with Eigen Face. The goal is to implement the system (model) for a particular face and distinguish it from a large number of stored faces with some real-time variations as well. General Terms Haar Based Cascade Classifier, Principal Component Analysis, Eigen Vector


From theoretical analysis of the radial distribution of bulk density in the neutron star interior it follows that a neutron star is a strongly stratified compact stellar object with a rather complicated layering structure: the density of outer layers (crust, neutron-rich nuclei, electrons) is much less than the density of the inner region of the stiff core (dense matter of superfluid neutrons, superconducting protons). Simplifying this picture we study the surface vibrations of a nonrotating neutron star in the model of a rigid-like inert core covered by the dynamical liquid-like layer; the effects of gravity are described in the Newtonian limit. The eigenfrequencies of surface pulsations are derived in the analytic form as a function of multipole degree of spheroidal configurations, densities and radii of the core and outer layer. The conclusions of the liquid layer model are compared with those for the Kelvin model of a heavy liquid drop to find out the difference in the eigenfrequencies of spheroidal vibrations corresponding to neutron stars with approximately uniform distribution of density and stars with stratified mass distribution.


The influence of stabilizing buoyancy forces on the spectral characteristics and spectral energy transfer of grid-generated turbulence was studied in a ten-layer closed-loop stratified water channel. The results are compared to the limiting ideal cases of the three-dimensional turbulence and two-dimensional turbulence theories. The velocity power spectra evolve from a classical isotropic shape to a shape of almost k−2 after the suppression of the net vertical mixing. This final spectral shape is rather different from the k−3 to k−4 predicted by the theory of two-dimensional turbulence and could result from the interaction between small-scale internal waves and quasi-two-dimensional turbulent structures as well as some Doppler shift of advected waves. Several lengthscales are derived from the cospectra of the vertical velocity and density fluctuations and compared with the buoyancy, overturning and viscous lengthscales measured in previous studies, e.g. Stillinger, Helland & Van Atta (1983) and Itsweire, Helland & Van Atta (1986). The smallest turbulent scale, defined when the buoyancy flux goes to zero, can be related to the peak of the cospectra of the buoyancy flux. This new relationship can be used to provide a measure of the smallest turbulent scale in cases where the buoyancy flux never goes to zero, i.e. a growing turbulent stratified shear flow. Finally, the one-dimensional energy transfer term computed from the bispectra shows evidence of a reverse energy cascade from the small scales to the large scales far from the grid where buoyancy forces dominate inertial forces. The observed reverse energy transfer could be produced by the development of quasi-two-dimensional eddies as the original three-dimensional turbulence collapses.


Two miniaturized antenna arrays for GNSS receivers are presented. The effects of the miniaturization on the performance of an interference mitigation STAP algorithm are analyzed. The performance degradation imposed by the miniaturization on the spatial gain is showed and a potential compensation is proposed.


In this work, an extensively comparative study is conducted to demonstrate the performance of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) variants based on five well-known benchmark functions in the area. According to the PSO's cognitive and social factors' contribution, we categorize the PSO algorithm into five variants. Different from other research work, which included only four PSO models, we propose an extra PSO variant called selfless Full-Model. Therefore, the five PSO variants, which named PSO Full-Model, PSO Cognitive-Only Model, PSO Social-Only Model, PSO Selfless Model and PSO Selfless Full-model, respectively, are applied to solve the benchmark functions. Their performances are compared based on the success rate, average function evaluations and the best fitness.


The invention discloses a high-temperature-resistant vapour-resistant sheath material for nuclear power station cables and a preparation method thereof. The sheath material is prepared from the following raw materials in parts by weight: 50-70 parts of methyl vinyl phenyl polysiloxane rubber, 20-30 parts of ethylene-propylene-diene monomer, 15-25 parts of poly(thiophenylene), 10-15 parts of C5 petroleum resin, 20-30 parts of acetylene black, 1-2 parts of zinc oxide, 2-3 parts of stearic acid, 3-5 parts of triallyl isocyanurate, 15-20 parts of magnesium hydroxide, 10-15 parts of antimony trioxide, 5-10 parts of zinc stannate, 1-2 parts of zine stearate, 1-2 parts of barium stearate, 1.5-2.5 parts of gamma-methacryloxy propyl trimethoxyl silane, 10-15 parts of dimethyl phthalate and the like. The cable material of the invention has excellent performances comprising high temperature resistance, vapour resistance, radiation resistance, corrosion resistance, aging resistance and the like, good flame retardant efficiency, does not spread flame and is automatically extinguished after on fire, has low smoke, no halogens, no toxicities and no corrosive gases, and is capable of satisfying special environmental requirements of special nuclear power stations.


Based on the analysis of the process of data masking, the formal definition of data masking was presented and a generic data masking model was proposed from a theoretical point of view. The key problems and algorithms of the model were described and analyzed. The generic model can ensure similarity and availability of data without the leakage of sensitive data. So it has a strong practical value.


Organic solar cells (OSCs) are a promising cost‐effective candidate in next generation photovoltaic technology. However, a critical bottleneck for OSCs is the electron/hole recombination loss through charge transfer state at the interface, which greatly limits the power conversion efficiency. In article number 1500024, W. Nie, A. Mohite, and co‐workers demonstrate a simple strategy of suppressing the recombination rate by inserting a spacer layer at the donor‐acceptor interface, resulting in a dramatic increase in power conversion efficiency.


A vacuum system for the Advanced Photon Source elliptical multipole wiggler (EMW) that will operate at a pressure of 10−9 Torr with a storage ring current of 100 mA at 7.0 GeV has been designed and is being fabricated. The major part of the system is a stainless steel chamber with a 66.6 mm by 19.6 mm rectangular cross section. The length of the vacuum chamber is 3100 mm, and the wall thickness is 1.2 mm. Two versions of the vacuum chamber will be produced: with and without distributed nonevaporable getter (NEG) pumping. The version with NEG pumping will have slides on the top and bottom walls to accommodate sintered plates available from SAES. To activate these plates, the entire vacuum chamber will be baked from the outside up to a temperature of 350° C–450 °C. Provision for the baking is included in the design of the vacuum system, its support, and in the EMW itself. The complexity introduced into the design by the need for external activation of the NEG plates is eliminated in the design of the second...


PRINCIPLE OF THE TEST The principle of the following enzyme immunoassay test follows a typical twostep capture or 'sandwich' type assay. The assay makes use of two highly specific monoclonal antibodies: A monoclonal antibody specific for SHBG is immobilized onto the microwell plate and another monoclonal antibody specific for a different region of SHBG is conjugated to horse radish peroxidase (HRP). SHBG from the sample and standards are allowed to bind to the plate, washed, and subsequently incubated with the HRP conjugate. After a second washing step, the enzyme substrate is added. The enzymatic reaction is terminated by addition of the stopping solution. The absorbance is measured on a microtiter plate reader. The intensity of the colour formed by the enzymatic reaction is directly proportional to the concentration of SHBG in the sample. A set of standards is used to plot a standard curve from which the amount of SHBG in patient samples and controls can be directly read.  CLINICAL APPLICATIONS Sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) is a glycoprotein composed of 373 amino acid residues and three carbohydrate side chains. SHBG has been known by many other names including Testosterone-estradiol Binding Globulin (TeBG), Sex steroid Binding Protein (sBP) and Sex Steroid Binding Globulin (SSBG). One of the main properties of SHBG is its high affinity for steroids, especially the C18, C19 and 17 α-hydroxyl groups. The binding of steroids to SHBG is temperature and pH dependent. The three steroids that have a high avidity for SHBG are Dihydrotestosterone, Testosterone and Estradiol. Very small amounts of these steroids are free in biological fluid; the majority are bound to SHBG and albumin. These two fractions, that is, free and bound exist in a state of dynamic equilibrium. When the level of SHBG concentration changes, a remarkable change occurs in both albumin-bound hormone and also in the free fraction. Throughout life SHBG increases until the eighties in both sexes. During the menstrual cycle SHBG does not seem to vary appreciably, however, according to some authors the concentration of SHBG is elevated in the luteal phase. During pregnancy the level of SHBG rises rapidly until about the 30th week of gestation. Many agents or conditions that affect SHBG levels include: • Estrogens and thyroid hormone cause an increase in the concentration of plasma SHBG levels. • Androgens, growth hormone (GH) (in vivo), prolactin (in vivo), insulin (in vitro), obesity and high lipids cause a decrease in the concentration of plasma SHBG levels.


Abstract Self-employment holds the key to continuity of employment. Self-employed members of self-help groups (SHGs) fare better than their wage-earning counterparts when it comes to continuity of employment. These were some of the findings of a study based on two rounds of primary surveys—one in 2005 and the other in 2009—of the same set of SHG members from the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal in India. The study dwelt on the factors influencing the different indicators of women empowerment among the members of 26 matured all-woman SHGs. It also isolated the socioeconomic demographic factors influencing the joint probability of a group member being both empowered and employed. The study concluded that training significantly influences various dimensions of empowerment, and the trained group members are more likely to be both empowered as well as employed.


ABSTRACT A call for epistemic decentring as a strategy to overcome Western/Eurocentrism has been growing in many fields of social sciences. Migration policy studies have been late in joining this trend that, however, is particularly needed to catch up with the operational decentring that migration policies themselves have undergone in the last years. The concept of externalization, while still pertinent, is insufficient to make sense of the rapid expansion of migration-related policies (and associated politics) in non-Western polities. Even in Mediterranean and African countries, where the impact of externalization is undeniably heavy, there is a risk of distortion in explaining all migration policy change through external (European) pressures and conditionalities. Such methodological exogenism is itself paradoxically Eurocentric, however critical in its tone and intentions. The essays in this special issue give us important empirical and analytical tools to correct such fallacy and to bring the decentring agenda to life. This is an important pioneer move in what will necessarily be a long-term endeavour fraught with structural difficulties ranging from persisting North–South asymmetries in research capacity to the growing obstacles posed to fieldwork by hyper-securitization and policy informalization trends, now compounded by health-motivated restrictions to mobility.


Underground exploration, in particular in places with no outcrops is a very important task. The only indirect way for defining shape, dimensions and depth of ore bodies which are buried underground is the quantitative interpretation of the geophysical data. Also finding a best point for drilling is defined mainly by quantitative interpretation of the relevant geophysical data. In this way, a software package entitled "QuantInt" including about 10,000 lines programming by Visual Basic language was prepared for quantitative interpretation of geomagnetic and gravity data. This package also has the abillity for calculation of terrain correction and average density of rocks. As an example for application of this package, exploration of uranium ore has been demonstrated.


Three dimensional optical simulations are performed to assess the design requirements for obtaining highly efficient tapered Si nanowires (TSiNWs)/polymer hybrid solar cells. To avoid the complex fabrication processes of Si p-n junctions, the TSiNWs are coated with a conductive polymer forming a large junction area between both materials and making the charge separation more efficient. The addition of PEDOT:PSS has been reported previously where the absorption occur in the Si only. P3HT:PCBM has been also used on top of Si nanostructures to enhance the absorption. However, the maximum absorption of P3HT and Si are in the same range resulting in competence between the absorption of each material. Thus, thick Si substrates are still needed to achieve decent absorption in these devices. We report a broadband absorption spanning the whole visible and near infra-red range of the solar spectrum with only 5 Microns TSiNWs coated with a low band gap polymer. The tapered structure provides efficient light trapping for the incident light enhancing the absorption in the short wavelengths. The addition of the low band gap polymer (pBBTDPP2:PCBM) significantly enhanced the absorption at long wavelengths (700-900nm). Thus, broadband absorption is attained without the need of thick Si substrates. Full 3D optical simulations were performed to optimize the polymer thickness and compare between the enhancements in absorption for different polymers.


For David Rose, no detail is too small in documenting an outrage so great as Gitmo. His short, dense book GUANTANAMO: The War on Human Rights (New Press, $21.95), based largely on a visit to the American military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in October 2003, overlooks nothing in its indictment: even the telephone service in the guards' quarters -up to 53 cents a minute for long distance! -is worth a few lines of indignation.


Six genotypes of potatoes,Ne16,Kexin13,Kexin17,Kexin18,Hua525 and BoC,were used to study the factors affecting the potato anther culture,including hormone and sucrose.The agronomy,cytology and morphology of dihaploids of potato were examined.The results showed that the regeneration abilities of the genotypes Ne16 and BoC were better than that of others.MS+NAA 0.5 mg·L-1+2,4-D 0.5 mg·L-1+KT 0.5 mg·L-1 was comparatively more suitable for callus induction.The better callus differentiation medium was MS+NAA 0.2 mg·L-1+6-BA 2.0 mg·L-1+ZT 1.0 mg·L-1.The culture medium with 6% sucrose gave the highest callus induction per-centage.The differences of the dihaploids and their parental tetraploid cultivars were noted in the traits such as plant vigor,leaf color and tuber shape.


Dramatic increases in infections due to Mycobucterium tuberculosis over the last few years have prompted renewed efforts to characterize virulence factors and other aspects of the pathogenesis of this disease. The study of microbial virulence was greatly facilitated in recent years through the use of molecular genetics.'" Previous methods for the identification of such genes involved the development of a shuttle vector system for gene transfer, mutagenesis methods, genetic library development, and subsequent screening of library clones. These methods are generally time-consuming and may be particularly difficult when working with newly discovered pathogens. RNA subtractive hybridization (RSH) is useful for the detection of constitutively expressed virulence factors whether or not an observable phenotype is present. This subtractive hybridization method requires RNA to be extracted rapidly after the lysis of a large volume of mid-log phase bacteria; therefore, a safe and novel lysis method using large scale nitrogen decompression and phenol-chloroform extraction was developed. cDNA was made to the extracted RNA from strain H37Rv and hybridized to a large excess of RNA from strain H37Ra on a hydroxylapatite column. Residual cDNA subtraction products were made double-stranded, polymerase chain reactionamplified, and subsequently used as colony and Southern blot probes (FIG. 1). Approximately 8.8 kb of DNA were identified in Southern blots which contain genes expressed in the virulent H37Rv strain that are not expressed in the avirulent H37Ra (FIG. 2). These genes have been isolated and are currently being sequenced from an H37Rv Pstl genomic library. In addition, we began a series of infections of H37Rv in the 5774 mouse macrophage cell line to identify bacterial genes that are induced during macrophage infection. This cell line displays many relevant properties of macrophages such as phagocytosis, antigen presentation, activation, and free radical production as well as allowing M. tuberculosis to invade and m~ltiply."~ During the days and weeks following invasion, bacteria will be harvested, RNA isolated, and electron microscopy and the RSH protocol will be followed as just described. Bacterial genes induced during the infectious process can be temporally identified using this procedure. These three techniques may simplify identification of the factors necessary for the pathogenesis of tuberculosis.


Welded wire mesh with low ductility (Class L) reinforcement is used in concrete ground slabs, footpaths, residential suspended slabs and footings for its ease in construction. The use of Class L reinforcement as a main tensile reinforcement in slabs, however, compromises the ductility of the concrete structure. With the low ductility achieved by Class L reinforcement, usual methods for analysis and design of concrete slabs at ultimate limit state are not valid. This study investigates the structural behaviour of a
concrete slab reinforced with Class L reinforcement and steel fibres through the tests carried out on eight
simply supported one-way slabs. The different types of steel fibres that were used were mill-cut fibre,
hooked end fibre and twincone fibre. The experimental results showed that the ductility behaviour of the
slab specimens with Class L reinforcement was improved with the inclusion of 40kg/m3 of twincone fibre.
Slab reinforced only with Class L reinforcement failed with a single major crack, however, distribution of
cracks were observed in the slab with Twincone fibre.


Frequency-hopping (FH) spread spectrum and direct-sequence spread spectrum are two main spread-coding technologies. Frequency-hopping sequences are needed in FH code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems. In this correspondence, three classes of optimal frequency-hopping sequences are constructed with algebraic methods. The three classes are based on perfect nonlinear functions, power functions, and norm functions, respectively. Both individual optimal frequency-hopping sequences and optimal families of frequency-hopping sequences are presented.


There is a strong tradition in public administration that reflects on the identity of the field, questions the rigor of the research, and suggests paths moving forward on both fronts. Jos Raadschelders's most recent book, "Public Administration: The Interdisciplinary Study of Government", develops a thoughtful survey of past debates while adding. The author successfully pursues three ambitious goals: connect knowledge sources through mapping as an interdisciplinary study, develop a bottom-up approach, and frame the identity challenge as a function of the complexity of society and government, not as a failing. The author makes a compelling case for public administration as "an umbrella discipline." The breadth and depth of the book defy a quick summary.


Gastric cancer (also called stomach cancer) is the 5 th most common cancer the human population suffer from, particularly in East Asia. For effective prevention, it is important to find biomarkers for early-stage diagnosis and prognosis. Further, finding the risk factors that are associated with undifferentiated early gastric cancer is the utmost required. Here, we explored the clinicopathological characteristics of undifferentiated early gastric cancer (EGC) in the elderly, and the risk factors for lymph node metastasis. A total of 187 elderly patients with undifferentiated EGC were selected as subjects, whose clinical data were analyzed retrospectively. They were divided into lymph node metastasis and non-lymph node metastasis groups, and the risk factors for lymph node metastasis were analyzed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. A nomogram model was established to predict the risk of lymph node metastasis, and then validated. Lymph node metastasis was detected in 32 (17.11%) of the 187 cases. Univariate analysis showed that tumor diameter, depth of invasion, vascular tumor thrombus and local ulcer affected lymph node metastasis ( P <0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that tumor diameter >2 cm, invasion to submucosa, vascular tumor thrombus and local ulcer were independent risk factors ( P <0.05). The nomogram model was constructed based on the independent risk factors, and its concordance index and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were 0.756 (95%CI: 0.684-0.830) and 0.758 (95%CI: 0.701-0.815), respectively. Calibration curve and model calibration curve suggested that the predicted probability of the model was consistent with the actual one, indicating high accuracy. Lymph node metastasis of the elderly with undifferentiated EGC is affected by many factors, among which tumor diameter >2 cm, invasion to submucosa, vascular tumor thrombus and local ulcer are independent risk factors.


OBJETIVE: To analyze the physical fitness of Brazilian schoolchildren, according to a health-referenced criteria assessment. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional, school-based, epidemiological study of 7,507 schoolchildren (4,114 boys and 3,393 girls) aged 7 to 10 years. The following variables were measured: body weight, height, flexibility (sit-and-reach), muscle strength/resistance (1 minute modified abdominal) and cardiorespiratory fitness (9- minute walk/run). The criteria and classifications used for the motor tests were recommended by the Physical Best. RESULTS: The motor tests demonstrated low physical fitness, representing health risk in terms of flexibility (boys: 58.3%; girls: 51.2%, p<0.001), muscle strength/resistance (boys: 75.3%; girls: 73.8%, p<0.001) and cardiorespiratory fitness (boys: 80.8%; girls: 77.6%, p<0.001). The overall classification derived from all the three motor tests showed that very high proportion of the schoolchildren (~96%) did not meet the preestablished cut-offs for a satisfactory level of physical fitness. CONCLUSIONS: Effective intervention programs promoting changes in physical fitness standards are needed in order to contribute to the development of healthier levels of motor performance, especially based on public policy initiatives that provide opportunities for physical activity and sports in neighborhoods, parks and condominiums.


A magnetic resonance (MR) probe head with a detection device (3) with at least one cryogenically of a cooling apparatus cooled antenna system as well as with a cooled pre-amplifier (16) in a pre-amplifier (15a, 15b) which is spatially separated from the detection device (3) arranged , and with a thermally insulating connecting means via which the detecting device (3) and the Vorverstarkungsgehause (15a, 15b) are connected to each other, wherein said connecting means (15c) at least one cooling duct (9a, 9b, 53a, 53b) for the supply and / or returning a cooling fluid, and at least one RF line (10, 52) for transmitting the electrical signals, characterized in that the connecting means (15c), including its RF and cooling line (10, 52, 9a ,,, 53b), 15b) by means of a clutch (from preamplifier 15a 9b 53a separable. The MR probe head according to the invention is an open system which with the possibility of using different measuring inserts very universally usable, low upgradeable for other measuring arrangements and is also very good and quickly handled at an optional arrangement with a flexible connecting line.


With the development of the Internet cafes in Guizhou,the scale of Internet cafe is expanding rapidly in order to meet the people's needs on culture and information,while Internet cafes promote the development of electronic information industry.However,the management does not improve the rapid increase of the number of Internet cafes because of the backward economic and social management in Guizhou.A series of social problems come into being with the increase of Internet cafes.These problems hold back the sound development of the Internet cafe industry.How to strengthen the management of the Internet cafe industry by itself and how to prove the government's regulatory functions become the main issue.Based on the current situation in the Internet cafe management in Guizhou,we will consider the causative factors from the legal view and propose the policies and measures in order to keep the sound development of the Internet cafe industry.


The teaching of history to Australians has been under the spotlight in recent years as experts, commentators, and politicians vie for command of the uses to be made of the past. This was very evident in the — one hopes — now concluded 'history wars' of the last decade or so. But the old warriors are oiling their rusty swords in preparation for what may be yet another battle, perhaps one that will be particularly bloody in this election year. The field for this battle will be broadly centred on the new national history curriculum, being developed by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Agency (ACARA).


The management of airport surface operations to provide shared situational awareness and to control taxi times through the use of 'virtual queues' has become an important component of Air Traffic Management (ATM) research and development in both Europe and the United States. Airport Collaborative Decision Making (CDM) has been implemented at a number of airports in Europe, and multiple departure metering concepts have now been tested in the US National Airspace System (NAS). This paper provides a review and comparison of the different airport surface departure management concepts, and describes one such concept in detail that has been evaluated operationally in the field in the US, the Collaborative Departure Queue Management (CDQM) concept. CDQM has been developed and evaluated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) under the Surface Trajectory Based Operations (STBO) project. This paper provides a description of the operational field evaluation of CDQM that was conducted in Memphis, Tennessee, during 2009 and 2010. An analysis of the effectiveness, accuracy and benefit of CDQM in managing departure operations during the field evaluation is presented. CDQM was found to provide reduced taxi times, and resultant reduced fuel usage and emissions, while maintaining full use of departure capacity. Keywords-airport surface traffic management; departure queue management; scheduling algorithms; collaborative decision making; equitable rationing of capacity


Previous thermal studies on planetary roller screw mechanism (PRSM) are mainly concentrated on frictional heat without the consideration of external thermal loads. However, the contact behavior of planetary roller screw mechanism varies greatly during the operation process. In this paper, a calculating method for frictional heat of planetary roller screw mechanism based on friction torque is proposed, and a transient thermal model is established to analyze the heat transfer of planetary roller screw mechanism at multiple thermal conditions. Then, an analytical method is introduced to investigate the temperature and the equations of its influences on the thermal deformation are derived. The influences of temperature distribution on the clearances and contact positions of the mating thread surfaces is studied as well. We found that the frictional heat, thermal resistance and thermal loads can significantly alter the temperature distribution consistency. The results indicate that the load-bearing capacity of planetary roller screw mechanism is greatly affected by the temperature differences between the planetary roller screw components. By allowing comprehensive thermal simulation, the proposed model can be utilized for PRSM optimization design.


Let R be a 2-torsion free commutative ring with identity, and δ a nonzero derivation of R such that R is δ-prime. Then Rδ is a prime Lie ring and any nonzero ideal of Rδ contains an ideal of the form Jδ where J is a nonzero δ-ideal of R.


In e-learning environments like Moodle it is easy to provide texts, videos and other multimedia material for writing or reading or even listening activities. Also it is quite easy to test the acquired skills in reading, writing and listening. However it is obvious that for setting up an e-learning course for learning a language it is also necessary to make the students speak. As far as a tutor is available, using Skype or any other online software that connects the student with the tutor talking to the student and let the student talk is not more difficult than in normal classes. But what about a course which runs without any tutor? A course where the students are learning autonomously using their own pace and where no teacher is available? This best practice session describes our efforts to provide exercises for a language course for "German as a foreign language for Japanese students" where the students are pushed to speak out loud. It will show several types of exercises which can be set up with Moodle-on-board-facilities as well as our evaluation of the students reactions to this type of exercises.


Smartphone shipment volumes have skyrocketed in recent years, and already overtook client PCs in 2011, 488 million smart phones, compared to 415 million client PCs. Unit sales will grow at nearly a 30% compound annual growth rate over the next five years, by 2016, it will exceed 1.5 billion units per year. It is driven by two factors, (i) replacement of nearly 5 billion feature phones with smartphones, which only make up 10% of handsets; (ii) and price declination, as International Data Corporation (IDC) suggests, from US$337 in 2013 to US$267 in 2017. In a few years, smartphones have grown from being a niche product segment at the high-end of the mobile phone market to becoming a truly mass-market proposition.


Traditional medicines that are derived mainly from herbaceous plants are widely used for years in many regions of the world. Currently, the world is facing the emergence of resistant microorganisms due to the overuse and misuse of antibiotics and the lack of new drug development. In consequence, the discovery of natural phytochemicals that are safe, cheap, non-toxic, and readily available would be an acceptable alternative source. Turmeric, scientifically known as Curcuma longa, in the family of Zingiberaceae (ginger) is well known for its diverse therapeutic properties. The medicinal properties of turmeric include antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-carcinogenic, cardioprotective, gastroprotective, hepatoprotective, and many more. Numerous studies have shown that curcumin (1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione), which is the most active compound of turmeric, plays a significant role as a therapeutic agent. The present article provides a brief overview of the plethora of research regarding the medicinal properties of golden spice (turmeric), specifically of curcumin's role in the treatment of various illnesses. Interestingly, turmeric might play a role in protecting COVID-19 patients against the development of lung injury caused by cytokine storms. Hence, this warrants further scientific research to monitor the anti-inflammatory effect of turmeric on SARS-CoV-2.


This article examines a particular social practice that attracted attention from visitors to the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century British West Indies: enslaved footmen accompanying white riders on horseback, often seeking to keep up by holding onto the horses' tails. Referred to here as 'master–horse–slave', this is interpreted as a 'hybrid co-mobility' (or co-present mobility involving humans and animals). The article argues that master–horse–slave was a manifestation of slavery as everyday social practice. More broadly, the article argues for the importance of practices of mobility as significant features of Caribbean slave societies and the place of animals in these.


With the popularity of computers and network, numeric technology is changing the social surrounding, which man has to depend on and makes people′s life and working have more characteristics of numeric. The rigorous upsurge of Campus network will bring great change of the office pattern in colleges. This passage mainly inquires into the function of campus intelligence office system, how to build office surrounding of campus intelligence and the future of campus intelligence system.uters and network,nu


The significance of the Smoluchowski theory transcends its initial goal of depicting pseudo-unimolecular irreversible kinetics. We show that a generalized Smoluchowski theory (GST) provides a short-time description for reversible geminate dissociation reactions even in the presence ofa potential of interaction. Using this property, we succeed in constructing an excellent approximation for the whole time dependence, in which the GST is the leading term. We discuss the implication ofthese observations to experimental data, particularly for excited-state proton transfer to solvent.


We present a rare case of invasive right breast carcinoma in a 72-year-old woman with Behçet's disease (BD). A radical modified right mastectomy and axillary lymphadenectomy were performed and postoperative hormonal therapy with the aromatase inhibitor anastrozole was administered for adjuvant therapy. At 10 months follow-up the patient remains disease free. Malignancies associated with BD are very uncommon. The pathological findings showed small vessel vasculitis and lobulitis of the breast in association with invasive carcinoma.


Chub mackerel (CM), Scomber japonicus, is a commercially important fish species in pacific countries including South Korea and its rapid quality deterioration by various spoilage mechanisms while marketed has been reported, leading to a dramatic decline of the market price. To overcome this problem, a combination of superheated steam roasting (270 °C for 4 min) and hot smoking (70 °C) on CM fillets was applied to impart extending shelf-life at the market level. Using different sawdust with time-dependent smoking revealed that Oak sawdust at 25 min of optimized smoking time significantly (p < 0.05) provided the highest sensory properties (appearance, odor, color, texture and overall preferences), improved physicochemical, microbial, and nutritional properties, and subsequently, promoted shelf life of processed CM during the storage period at 10 °C for up to 34 days. Moreover, the processed CM offered high nutritional value, especially, essential and non-essential amino acids were found to be 13.14 and 15.48 g/100 g of CM fillets, and also reduced the trimethylamine-N-oxide level to an acceptable limit, indicating its quality and safety with high nutritional standards to end-point users upon consumption.


We study stationary solutions in the differential kinetic equation, which was introduced in Dyachenko A et al (1992 Physica D 57 96–160) for description of a local dual cascade wave turbulence. We give a full classification of single-cascade states in which there is a finite flux of only one conserved quantity. Analysis of the steady-state spectrum is based on a phase-space analysis of orbits of the underlying dynamical system. The orbits of the dynamical system demonstrate the blowup behaviour which corresponds to a 'sharp front' where the spectrum vanishes at a finite wave number. The roles of the Kolmogorov–Zakharov and thermodynamic scaling as intermediate asymptotic, as well as of singular solutions, are discussed.


The debate about the theoretical foundations of the nature of the relationship between inflation and unemployment has been the subject matter of multiple reinterpretations involving most of the modern macroeconomic theories. The lack of research that proved the existence of the Phillips curve in the developing countries accounts for the objective of this study. In fact, our paper examines Tunisia as a case study to empirically prove the relation between inflation rate and unemployment rate. Our findings provide evidence about the existence of a long run trade-off between the unemployment rate and the inflation rate in Tunisia.


The distribution of CO2 in a storage formation following injection is highly relevant to the risk to drinking water aquifers potentially posed by geological carbon sequestration. Understanding where the injected CO2 is likely to migrate in the storage formation helps anticipate possible failure modes for the injected fluids. Supercritical CO2 injection and CO2 saturated- brine injection have been chosen for investigation in the current work. Results show that the areal footprint of supercritical CO2 is initially close to half the size of the dissolved CO2, independent of formation heterogeneity. Following injection, supercritical CO2 remains highly mobile, buoyantly flowing upward and significantly extending outwards along the sealing layer; whereas dissolved CO2 slowly sinks, essentially immobilized following injection. Additionally, dissolved CO2 distributes more uniformly throughout the storage formation in cases of simple and complex formation heterogeneity. These results indicate that dissolved CO2 injection may reduce the potential for unwanted release from storage.


Data fusion has been investigated by many researchers in the information retrieval community and has become an effective technique for improving retrieval effectiveness. In this paper we investigate how to model rank-probability of relevance relationship in resultant document list for data fusion since reliable relevance scores are very often unavailable for component results. We apply statistical regression technique in our investigation. Different regression models are tried and two good models, which are cubic and logistic models, are selected from a group of candidates. Experiments with 3 groups of results submitted to TREC are carried out and experimental results demonstrate that the cubic and logistic models work better than the linear model and are as good as those methods which use scoring information.


The role of the poet and collector of 'mythologies', Roland Robinson, in prompting the production of commercial bark-painting at Port Keats (Wadeye), appears to have been accepted uncritically - though not usually acknowledged - by collectors and curators. Here we attempt to trace the history of painting in the Daly - Fitzmaurice region to contextualise Robinson's contribution, and to evaluate it from both the perspective of available literature and of accounts of contemporary painters and Traditional Owners in the Port Keats area. It is possible that the intervention that Robinson might have considered revolutionary was more likely a continuation of previously well-established cultural practice, the commercial development of which was both an Indigenous 'adjustment' to changing socio-cultural circumstances, and a quiet statement of maintenance of identity by strong individuals adapting and attempting to continue their cultural traditions.


The degree of crystallinity in electronically conducting polymers can affect a variety of important properties such as the work function, conductivity, and charge mobility. In our previous work (O'Neil, K. D.; Shaw, B.; Semenikhin, O. A. J. Phys. Chem. B 2007, 111, 9253), we studied the distribution of the local conductivity and doping level of conducting polymers with nanometer resolution using Kelvin probe microscopy (KFM) and current-sensing atomic force microscopy (CS-AFM). An unambiguous correlation was found between the polymer morphology, the local oxidation degree (related to the work function), and the local conductivity. One of the possible explanations leading to this behavior was a variation in the crystallinity of polymer films during their nucleation and growth. In this work, direct measurements of the local crystallinity of a conducting polymer, polybithiophene, are performed at different stages of the electropolymerization process using phase imaging atomic force microscopy (AFM). It was f...


In the PEFP (Proton Engineering Frontier Project), a 350 MHz, 3 MeV RFQ (Radio Frequency Quadrupole) has been developed and tested. The tuning results showed that the resonant frequency is somewhat higher than 350 MHz and other methods in addition to slug tuners should be used to tune the cavity correctly. To check the cavity characteristics, high power RF test has been done. The required peak RF power of the cavity to consider the beam loading and 75% Q degradation is 535 kW and pulse width, repetition rate for initial test are 50 µs, 0.1 Hz respectively. To solve the problems in PEFP RFQ, the upgrade design of 3 MeV RFQ has been decided. The main concept of this upgrade design is constant vane voltage profile with the same length, compared with the old RFQ. The other parameters such as frequency, energy and current are the same with the previous RFQ. With constant vane voltage profile, fabrication of RFQ can be easier, and with the same mechanical dimension, other parts such as vacuum pumping station can be re-used. In this paper, the test results of the PEFP RFQ, and the design concept of the new RFQ is presented.


To investigate the immune level of four antibodies against measles,diphtheria,hepatitis B surface antigen and Japanese encephalitis in healthy population of Xishan district in Kunming City in 2009 and evaluate the effect of national immunization program.This surveillance study was carried out according to the National Guideline for Immunization(2005 year edition) released by Ministry of Health.The results showed that the total positive rate for diphtheria antibody is 57.67%,the positive rate of diphtheria antibody is 89.71% in the group under four years old,it indicated that a better immuno-barrier has been achieved with the routine immunization of diphtheria vaccine.The total positive rate of antibody against measles is 69.71%,and it is on less than the protective level,but in the group of 1-6 year old,the total positive rate of antibody against measles reaches 88.10%,it is higher than the index of 85% for the population set by the National Immunization Instruction.The positive rate of antibody against HBsAg is 75.55%,the positive rate of HBsAg is 1.57%.The positive rate of antibody against Japanese encephalitis in population is 70.53% and establishes the effective immuno-barrier.


Harris argues that linguistic theory is useful for solving certain problems encountered in technical writing theory and pedagogy [1]. However, he undermines his purpose by introducing irrelevant distinctions between competing syntactic theories (Generalized Phrase Structure Grammar and Transformational Grammar) and by failing to exploit the full potential of the few applications he mentions. The passive rule is a case in point. It not only constitutes an operational test for identifying passive sentences, it also contributes to the flow of discourse by rearranging both thematic roles (e.g. agent and patient) and given/new information. The passive rule is only one of a class of noun phrase-moving operations that technical writing specialists may find useful.


The scientific community in the humanities agrees that the work of the German post-war philosopher Hans Blumenberg is fascinating, compelling and inspiring, although the texts remain to some extent hard to understand. His extensive exchange with authors like Carl Schmitt, Jacob Taubes or Hannah Arendt show the often forgotten and sometimes systematically hidden political aspects of his philosophy. The theory of modernity, the theory of myth and of course his metaphorology are the main areas of debate which can be checked for their political implications and ramifications. However, the a priori exclusion of republican arguments and ideas points to a systematic problem in Blumenberg's thought. All his thinking remains in the framework of what has been called "subject-philosophy", it seems. While his early publications allowed a certain critique of ideology (from the perspective of metaphorology), this gesture almost disappears in his later writings. It is basically the single subject which works on myth, which seems to project "significance" (Bedeutsamkeit) into the world, which makes sense of his life in anecdotes. However, human self-assertion is always a common project, an inherited technique which creates not only myths but also institutions and law. The political aspects in Blumenberg's work therefore also make transparent the limitations of his thought.


Description of Procedure or Service Rhesus (Rh) D-negative women who are exposed to RhD-positive red blood cells can develop anti-Rh antibodies, which can cross the placenta and cause fetal anemia. If undiagnosed and untreated, alloimmunization can cause significant perinatal morbidity and mortality. Determining the Rh status of the fetus may guide subsequent management of the pregnancy. The use of cell-free fetal DNA in maternal blood has been proposed as a noninvasive method to determine fetal RhD genotype.


The resilience of agricultural production is perpetually challenged by a wide range of disturbances from the impacts of climate change, to political instability and urbanization. At the same time, agriculture production also depends on relatively stable socio-ecological conditions to ensure quality and yield. Understanding how producers in agricultural landscapes can increase adaptive capacity, and remain resilient in the face of these challenges has become a priority for farmers, for researchers and national political agendas on a global scale. The current state of knowledge on adaptation tends to focus overwhelmingly on "hard" adaptation, such as infrastructure and technological inputs, rather than "softer" strategies, such as agroecological management or social capital, which are less easily measured. This research aims to explore soft strategies for adaptive capacity, in particular, the effect of social capital on the adaptive capacity of agricultural systems, using a case study of the agricultural landscape in the Okanagan Bioregion. The findings suggest that soft adaptation is a vital strategy for cultivating agricultural resilience, and underpins the ability of producers to use other soft and hard adaptation strategies. Participants in this research highlighted the importance of social connection, networks, reciprocity, learning and knowledge transferral, as key tools used to increase their adaptive capacity. They also highlight social capital as a building block for other forms of capital, such as financial, physical and environmental capitals. Despite this importance of soft adaptation, participants also indicated that they would be more likely to focus on implementing "harder" strategies that respond more directly and tangibly to key disturbances, rather than "soft" strategies. These results suggest a contradiction between the importance and value that producers place on social capital and "soft" adaptation, and the strategies they actually plan to implement. Further research is required to understand this contradiction, and to explore how to communicate the value of "soft" adaptation to producers in a way that makes the benefits more concrete and observable, and allows them to capitalize on the currency of connection.


Copy of transcript for a letter from James Reed and Co. to James F. Perry regarding letters and drafts received on the matter concerning James Hamilton and the payment for a land deal between Barnard Bee and Stephen F. Austin.


In the present paper, the gallium modified lead zirconate titanate ceramics with Zr/Ti = 48/52 (near the morphotropic phase boundary, MPB), having a chemical formula Pb0.98Ga0.02(Zr0.48Ti0.52)0.995O3, was synthesized by a mixed-oxide reaction method and sintered. Analysis of phase formation confirmed the co-existence of two phases (tetragonal and monoclinic symmetry) in the system. Microstructural study by scanning electron microscope showed a non-uniform distribution of large grains over the sample surface and presence of a small amount of micro-size pores. Modulus and impedance studies were carried out at various frequencies (1 kHz– 1 MHz) and temperatures (300–350 °C) and showed the contributions of grains in capacitive and resistive properties of the material. The resistance and capacitance of the complex impedance plots are contributed by grains as observed from the Nyquist plots. The experimental data obtained from the Nyquist plot were implemented in an equivalent electrical circuit (RQC). The value of grain resistance and capacitance were obtained using fitting steps with precision at all temperatures. It is assumed that increase of dielectric constant at higher temperatures is due to the substitution of Ga ions at the Pb-site.


MEM resonators (FBAR) prove superior to quartz crystals for building Ultra Low Powered (ULP) wireless body area network (WBAN) systems owing to their fast wake-up which serves to reduce the energy overhead in the frequency synthesizer. The communication in some of these nodes which involve implantable devices occur through the human body which is a lossy medium that should be taken into consideration. The main source of the power dissipation in the WBAN systems is the radio required to communicate with the data collection hub. Using such resonators, the loop-based synthesizer (PLL) employing crystal oscillator reference can be replaced by a loop- free, almost fully digital synthesizers which not only can startup in ?>s, but also avoid the latency due to the settling of the PLL. The FBAR pseudo-lattice filter limits the noise bandwidth which prevents noise folding, a major drawback in sampling receivers.


A new distribution called the Weibull Generalized Burr XII distribution is introduced along with simple physical motivation. The new distribution includes fourteen sub-models, seven of them are new. The new model can be used in modeling bimodal data sets. Set of its properties are derived in details. Two applications are provided to illustrate the importance of the new model. The new model is better that other competitive models via two applications. The method of maximum likelihood is used to estimate the unknown parameters.


This paper presents the current status of the theory of electron anomalous magnetic moment ae ≡(g-2)/2, including a complete evaluation of 12,672 Feynman diagrams in the tenth-order perturbation theory. To solve this problem, we developed a code-generator which converts Feynman diagrams automatically into fully renormalized Feynman-parametric integrals. They are evaluated numerically by an integration routine VEGAS. The preliminary result obtained thus far is 9.16 (58) (α/π)5, where (58) denotes the uncertainty in the last two digits. This leads to ae(theory) = 1.159 652 181 78 (77) ×10-3, which is in agreement with the latest measurement ae (exp:2008) = 1.159 652 180 73 (28) ×10-3. It shows that the Feynman–Dyson method of perturbative QED works up to the precision of 10-12.


Objective To investigate the influencing factors of sleep quality in patients with cholecystectomy.Methods Self questionnaire,the Self-Rating Depression Scale(SDS),Anxiety Rating Scale(SAS),Social Support Rating Scale(SSRS) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index questionnaire(PSQI) from June 2010 to 2012 June cholecystectomy patients 26 cases of general surgery hospitalization in our hospital for evaluation,using logistic regression analysis method to find the factors that affect the quality of sleep in patients cholecystectomy.Results All of 26 cholecystectomy in patients with the PSQI total score(7.62±2.56) points.PSQI total score ≥ 8 of 12 patients,accounting for 46.15%,Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that the economic pressure,postoperative complications,anxiety and depression are risk factors of cholecystectomy in patients with sleep quality,social support rating scale total score high protection factors of cholecystectomy in patients with sleep quality.Conclusion Cholecystectomy prevalence of sleep quality in patients affected by a variety of factors,we have taken targeted interventions to adjust the patient's sleep,improve the patient's quality of sleep.


1. Introduction: the problem, incidence, etiology. A working hypothesis 2. Biology of the esophagus 3. Esophageal carcinogenesis 4. Epidemiology 5. Chemicals carcinogenic for the esophagus: the nitrosamines 6. Alcoholic beverages and tobacco 7. Plant products: phenolics, tannins, tea 8. Plant products: opium, silica, bracken, dihydrosafrole 9. Molds and mycotoxins 10. Dietry deficiencies: micronutrients, fresh plant food and protective factors 11. Possible mechanisms involved in carcinogenesis.


Role-taking is the process of mentally and affectively placing the self in the position of another, understanding the world from the other's perspective. Role-taking serves an expressive function within interpersonal interaction, supporting others to pursue instrumental tasks that are recognized, valued, and rewarded. In the present work, we compare role-taking accuracy between white women and black women across status-varying interactional arrangements. Data for this study come from a series of two laboratory experiments. Experiment 1 establishes racial differences in white and black women's role-taking accuracy, showing that women of color are significantly more attuned to others within social encounters. Experiment 2 implements an intervention to undermine racial disparities in role-taking accuracy, showing that expressive labors equalize when black women are empowered within the social structure. Findings highlight the entwinement of status structures with interpersonal processes while demonstrating the efficacy and value of structural reforms.


"From 1947 to 1992, dockworkers enjoyed a special status which guaranteed their wages even when they were not working, a quite common situation as maritime traffic always fluctuates. Blamed for the low competitiveness of French harbours, this status was regularly questioned by public authorities and private employers, but the power of the CGT trade unions on the docks allowed it to remain untouched for decades. In 1991, the French government finally dared to challenge it; it argued that, if cargo handling in the port were not reformed, French harbours would not be able to cope with international competition. In the Loire-Atlantique region, Nantes and Saint-Nazaire CGT dockworkers, although opposed to the reform, were divided about the best defense strategy to implement. Beyond the question of the dockworkers' status, it was the whole identity of a specific group that was played out in 1992."


Reversing the traditional classroom activities, in the flipped classroom model students view lectures at home and perform activities during class period inside the classroom. This study investigated the effect of a flipped classroom implementation on college physics students' motivation and understanding of kinematics graphs. A Solomon fourgroup design employing quantitative and qualitative methods was used to gather data. Four college physics sections participated in this study. Two groups received a researcher-developed, flipped classroom, instructional material over the course of 8 sessions. Test for Understanding Graphs in Kinematics (TUG-K) gain scores (post-test pretest) were significantly higher for the experimental groups (M=1.87, SD=2.909) compared with the control groups (M=0.54, SD=1.853). However, Physics Motivation Questionnaire II (PMQII) did not show a significant difference. The flipped classroom may enhance students' learning of kinematics graphs by improving their level of understanding, but was shown to have no effect on their motivation.


THE ideal screening device is an instrument that will indicate which students will pass a given course of instruction and which mill fail. Recent studies (Briskin I% Stennis, 1957; Fulkerson, Freud & Raynor, 1958; King, 1959) have explored, with varying degrees of success, the predictive value of the hlinnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (AlhlPI). In the search for an effective screening instrument, class advisors of three enlisted courses a t the Army Medical Service School have used the MMPI, in combination with personal interviews, in an attempt t o reduce attrition. The present study evaluates h lh lPI data obtained from subjects enrolled in these courses during the summer of 1959. The three courses, and a brief description of their content, arc as follows: 1. Neuropsychiatric Nursing Procedures-a four-meek course to train technicians for ward work with neuropsychiatric patients. Patient management, security, and rehabilitation are discussed in detail, together with many other typical ward problems. 2. Clinical Psychology Procedures-an eight-week course to prepare students to assist the clinical psychologist by administering and scoring the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, MhfPI, and various other standardized tests. 3. Social Work Procedures-an eight-week course to train students t o assist the social work officer by abstracting medical records, obtaining social histories from patients, and helping patients through the many general problems of hospitalization.


Minimising cross-talk in medical ultrasound transducer arrays requires accurate knowledge of the transducer surface vibration. Direct measurement of this vibration is complicated. Therefore, in this work the transducer surface velocity distribution is reconstructed from pressure measurements using a conjugate gradient inversion scheme operating on the spatial component only. Numerical experiments show that this approach decreases the spatial smoothing introduced by other methods. The method is tested on transducers operating in the MHz-range and with elements having spatial dimensions in the order of 200 μm. Actual measurements show improved localisation of vibrational energy.


In the report the stator and rotor equations of three-phase AC induction machine in the four-dimensional hyper-complex space are described. This motor model is based on the mathematical tool of quaternion algebra and allows to separate the electrical torque and instantaneous power into real and imaginary terms, thus giving new technique for improvement of dynamic and power performances of speed AC drives.


The paper surveyed 283 journalists in Beijing and finds that there are three main value-orientations including employee-orientation,professionalism-orientation and mouthpiece-orientation.Theses value-orientations suggest the impact of politics,capital and professionalism.


In the context of increased stresses of global climate change and human activities,watershed scale problems such as water quality degradation,eutrophication,soil erosion,as well as destruction of habitat,have greatly influenced the provision and sustainability of ecosystem services.Based on analysis of global research progress with focus on watershed ecosystem services,methods for classification and evaluation of cases of watershed(river,wetland) ecosystem services for study the world over have been summarized,characteristics and connotation of the products and services of watershed ecosystem with water cycling and water ecology as link are elaborated.It is concluded that the key of the research on watershed ecosystem services is water related water resource services and water ecological services,and it is emphasized that watershed scaled scientific research in future should be intensified and oriented toward serving policy-making and management and towards application.A scientific normalized evaluation of watershed ecosystem services is required to provide a solid knowledge basis for watershed ecological compensation,establishment of mechanisms for ecology restoration and integrated management of watershed water environment.


The purpose of this article is to discuss the issues associated with conducting clinical trials in pediatric spinal cord injury (SCI). The discussion will be limited to the areas of government regulation of pediatric participation in clinical trials, calcium metabolism, and the potential concerns for neurological and hormonal compromise in children with SCI. The guidelines regarding ethics and consent will be highlighted as recommended by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)/Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) section of pediatrics.


This study aimed to analyze the use of surrounding land of 143 sample plots in the mixed ombrophilous forest in Santa Catarina and investigate a possible relationship of land use with the vegetation status. We used a land use map in 2005 and vegetation data from 143 sample plots (SP) from the Floristic Forest Inventory of Santa Catarina (IFFSC) collected between 2007 and 2009. The surroundings were delimited by buffers of different distances from the SP center. Forest coverage and distance between SP and fragment edge showed significant correlations with richness and abundance of climax species and a negative correlation with richness and abundance of pioneer species (α=0.05) in the fragment. The landscapes with greater forest coverage and larger patches allow the best preserved forest maintenance and show less influence of the surrounding matrix.


[abstract] In most countries, government surveillance of activities that take place in public is not regulated or only lightly regulated. Similarly, in most countries police efforts to obtain records of everyday transactions usually requires, at most, a finding that the record is "relevant" to an investigation. Arguably, these rules should change now that technology – cameras, drones, computers, and the like – has made both visual surveillance and transaction surveillance easier and cheaper. Technology allows creation of "panvasive" systems that scan across and record the activities of large groups of persons and mining the accumulated data.


Reducing the energy consumption and extending network lifetime are key techniques for wireless sensor networks(WSNs).A novel reliable routing algorithm is proposed by taking advantages of both LEACH and PEGASIS algorithms.The new algorithm randomly selects five cluster heads linked into chains and the one with maximum residual energy is chosen to transfer information to the sink.Nodes with energy less than the threshold can not be selected as the cluster head thus to enhance the overall network robustness.Theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate that,compared with LEACH,the proposed algorithm can prolong the network lifetime by 117%~351% and balance the energy consumption of network nodes as well.At the same time,compared with the PEGASIS,the algorithm improves by 290% in terms of the network latency.


After orthognathic surgery, postoperative complications are studied by many clinician. The complications include sensory disturbance, jaw fracture, excessive bleeding, condylar positional changes and loss of pulp vitality. Few surgical procedures are as satisfying for the surgeon and patient as a well-done orthognathic surgery. On the other hand, the patient is more satisfied with the result than who are treated with only orthodontic treatment especially in severe deformity case. There are problems that patient overcome but it is not serious complications. One of these, the problem about loss of pulp vitality can't influence function but give a lot of discomfort to the patient. From September 1997 to January 1998, 7 patients who are treated for dentofacial deformity via Le Fort I osteotomy or anterior segmental osteotomy were examined pulp sensitivity using digital pulp tester. This preliminary study have a focus on the investigation of recovery of pulp vitality. The electric pulpal test were used at preoperative, postoperative, at intervals. And we report some results acquired from this study. Following result are obtained 1. In anterior segmental ostetomy case (1 case), total 12 teeth were examined. Postoperative 8 weeks, 1 tooth are positive reaction 2. In Le Fort I osteotomy case (6 case), total 71 teeth were examined. Postoperative 8 weeks, 5 teeth are positive reaction.


Summary

Two cases of uric acid lithiasis in ileostomy patients are presented.

The aetiology of stone formation in these patients is reviewed.

Suggested measures to prevent and treat this tendency are discussed in the light of current literature on the subject.


The inclusion interaction of perhydroxycucurbit[6]uril(HOCB[6]) with tetrachloro fluorescein(TSS) was studied by fluorometric method.The effect of some factors,such as concentration of HOCB[6],pH,temperature,inclusion time and common organic solvents on the fluorescence intensity and complex stability were investigated.The results indicate the emission peak of TSS appears a little blue shift and there is an obvious fluorescence enhancement along with the introduction of HOCB [6],the fluorescence intensity of the complex linear increased with the concentration of HOCB [6].The results obtained from the method Hildebrand-Benesi prove that the 1∶1 type inclusion complex is formed between HOCB [6] and TSS,and the thermodynamic parameters of inclusion reaction indicate that the inclusion process is a spontaneous exothermic process,which is mainly caused by the hydrophobic interaction and ion-dipole interaction between the host and guest molecules.


The management of pediatric airway pathology requires careful attention to sizing. This is particularly true for various stages in the treatment of laryngotracheal stenosis. Before contemplating airway reconstruction, the surgeon must make a precise and reproducible measurement of the subglottic airway caliber, which is generally performed by measuring the leak pressure for various endotracheal tubes (Myer et al.' have recently developed a new stenosis grading system based on endotracheal tube sizing). Later, during the reconstruction, endotracheal tubes are either used as stents for single stage laryngotracheoplasty or cut and used to estimate the correct insert size for long-term stenting. In subsequent endoscopy, airway size is used to assess the patient's suitability for decannulation and then for interval follow-up examinations to evaluate continued airway growth and to rule out subtle restenosis. The three most common devices inserted into the airway are endotracheal tubes, tracheotomy tubes, and rigid bronchoscopes. Unfortunately, no industry-wide standards exist for these products, and thus each is sized on a different scale, making comparison difficult. Furthermore, none of the scales refer to true outer diameter. Although inner diameter may be more important in calculating proportional airflow, outer diameter is the most logical measurement to consider when determining whether a device will fit comfortably in the larynx or tracheal lumen, as when an endotracheal tube or bronchoscope is used to assess airway caliber. The CottonLorentz stents used in airway reconstruction are numbered by outer diameter but do not numerically correlate with the sizes of the other devices. That is to say,a 6.0 stent is exactly 6.0 mm in outer diameter,


550 Background: 5187 postmenopausal women were originally randomized to NCIC CTG MA.17 to receive letrozole (LET) or placebo (PLAC) after 5 years of tamoxifen. The hazard ratio (HR) for disease-free survival (DFS) was 0.58 (0.450.76, p=0.00004) after a median follow-up of 30 months (mo). The trial was unblinded in October 2003 after the first interim analysis. Women randomized to PLAC were offered LET at the time of unblinding. The goal of this analysis was to determine whether women switching from PLAC to LET benefit in terms of disease outcome and to evaluate treatment related toxicities.

METHODS
LET and PLAC-LET have been compared to PLAC, based on the hazard ratio and adjusting for baseline patient and disease variables including, among others, tumor size, nodal status and prior adjuvant chemotherapy.

RESULTS
Information about their follow-up treatment after unblinding was available on 2268 women originally assigned to PLAC and who were free of recurrence and alive at the time of unblinding. Among them, 1655 crossed over from PLAC to LET while 613 elected no treatment. With 54 mo f/up the HR for DFS was 0.31 (0.18, 0.55: p<0.0001) favoring patients who crossed over to LET compared to those who stayed on no treatment. The treatment switch was well tolerated with no significant difference in bone fractures or cardiovascular events. An updated analysis of DFS, DDFS and OS by nodal and tumor receptor status, prior chemotherapy, menopausal status at the start of tamoxifen, and duration of prior tamoxifen therapy will be presented at the meeting.

CONCLUSION
Women with hormone dependent breast cancer prescribed LET after a prolonged delay from completing tamoxifen experienced a significant improvement in outcome (DFS, DDFS, OS) and should be considered for this therapy. [Table: see text].