Objective:To provide a reference index for feeding and surgery of patients with Robin Sequence by evaluation on general and local symptoms of 37 patients.Methods:A total of 37 patients with Robin Sequence treated in cleft lip and palate center,Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine from May 2009 to April 2010 were retrospectively reviewed.Data was regarded as age,gender,weight,height, BMI,medical history and clinical symptoms.Results:No significant differences were showed comparisons of height,weight and BMI between Robin Sequence cases and controls.Patients under 12 months are statistically different from control group.The incidences of snore,cough during feeding and inhalation pneumonia and sleeping position were significantly different between two groups.The most common associated deformities were chonechondrosternon,ankyloglossum and acleistocardia.Conclusion:General condition of patients with Robin Sequence above the age of 12 months can undergo cleft palate repair.Patients with Robin Sequence are more likely to have snore,cough during feeding and inhalation pneumonia than patients with isolated cleft palate.


The speech recognition problem hidden Markov models the acoustic model basic language modelling the Viterbi search hypothesis search on a tree and the fast match elements of information theory the complexity of tasks - the quality of language models the expectation - maximization algorithm and its consequences decision trees and tree language models phonetics from orthography - spelling-to-base from mappings triphones and allophones maximum entropy probability estimation and language models three applications of maximum entropy estimation to language modelling estimation of probabilities from counts and the Back-Off method.


This paper explores behavior patterns that inhibit effective communication in everyday, educational, and business cross-cultural settings. Opportunities to change these inhibiting patterns, metaphorically referred to as "stumbling blocks," into building blocks or tools for successful intercultural understandings are discussed in the paper through three structured intercultural simulation activities. The paper names six of these stumbling blocks as the assumption of similarities, language differences, non-verbal misinterpretations, preconceptions and stereotypes, tendencies to evaluate, and high anxiety. The paper suggests three activities: (1) the diversity board activity which encourages and challenges students to explore roles of others that they will encounter in a multicultural society; (2) the intercultural dart game, similar to the game "Trivial Pursuit," which concentrates on knowledge of intercultural information; and (3) "BARNGA" which is a card tournament where students play quick games of suits without engaging in any verbal communication. (Contains five references; a sample "diversity board" is appended.) (Author/CR) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ******************************************************************************** Intercultural Simulations 2 Abstract This paper explores behavior patterns that inhibit effective communication in everyday, educational, and business crosscultural settings. Opportunities to change these inhibiting patterns, metaphorically referred to as stumbling blocks, into building blocks or tools for successful intercultural understanding are discussed through three structuredThis paper explores behavior patterns that inhibit effective communication in everyday, educational, and business crosscultural settings. Opportunities to change these inhibiting patterns, metaphorically referred to as stumbling blocks, into building blocks or tools for successful intercultural understanding are discussed through three structured intercultural simulation activities. Intercultural Simulations 1 Running head: INTERCULTURAL SIMULATIONS Intercultural Communication Activities in the Classroom: Turning Stumbling Blocks into Building Blocks


Cu(In,Ga)S 2 thin films prepared by rapid thermal sulfurization of metallic precursors yielded solar cells with efficiencies reaching 12.9% [1]. A good short circuit current density was observed together with open circuit voltages up to 850 mV. However, the fill factor was close to, but typically did not exceed 70%. In this contribution we report on the role of junction formation by chemical bath deposition on these parameters. Concentrations in the bath and deposition times were varied. A comparison is made between CdS and Zn(S,O) buffer layers. The influence of the incorporated gallium on surface properties was investigated by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) for the valence band edge and near edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) for the conduction band edge. Even in our best cell (13.1%) the activation energy of the saturation current is found to be still smaller than the band gap. High diode ideality factors and voltage dependent current collection prevent higher fill factors.


The spleen has been examined as a possible site for transplantation of rat islets into diabetic mice. Marked prolongation of islet xenograft survival in the spleen can be achieved with in vitro culture (24 C) and a single injection of either rabbit antiserum to mouse lympho- cytes (MALS) alone or MALS and rabbit antiserum to rat lymphocytes (RALS) into the recipients. The per-PROLONGATION of islet allograft survival without continuous immunosuppression has been culture serum ALS.4


Chloroplasts of the diatom, Streptotheca thamesis, are considerably deformed when they pass the feeding tube of the parasitic dinoflagellate, Paulsenella sp. Nevertheless, chloroplasts resume their...


: Resilience is a notably challenging attribute to measure, as it has multiple interpretations and applications, even within specific disciplinary perspectives. Consequently, a wide range of elements and approaches are employed to quantify resilience, including in simulation models. This study aims to identify and categorise the main metrics of resilience across multiple disciplines and the most common approaches to measure resilience in simulation models.


Freshwater leeches belonging to the family Salifidae (Hirudinea: Erpobdelliformes) are mostly distributed through tropical and subtropical areas of the Old World but a few species occur in warm temperate regions of East Asia. Here, we report on the first record of a salifid leech in Russia. A previously unknown species was discovered from the Razdolnaya (Suifun) River basin in the southern part of the Russian Far East and is described here as Barbronia borealis Bolotov, Eliseeva & Kondakov sp. nov. based on morphological and molecular evidence. An updated checklist of the genus Barbronia Johansson, 1918 with verified information on the type localities, general range, and the presence/absence of the COI barcode data on type specimens or topotypes for each valid species-group taxon is compiled. This genus currently contains eight species. We present a taxonomic reappraisal of the COI sequences of two widespread species – Barbronia weberi (Blanchard, 1897) and B. gwalagwalensis Westergren & Siddall, 2004 – in the Barcoding of Life Database (BOLD IDS) to avoid confusion in identification of these species in the future. Finally, a growing body of B. gwalagwalensis occurrences in East and Southeast Asia (Myanmar, South Korea, and China) indicates that this species is native to Asia and that its locus typicus in South Africa is situated within the non-native part of the range.


Square steel tubular(SST) column and H‐shaped steel(HSS) beam systems have been widely used in engineering applications. The structural performance of this system largely depends on the behavior of the connections. This paper presents a new type of connections with bottom‐through‐diaphragm and top‐ring. Five specimens were tested under cyclic loadings to evaluate the seismic behavior and the moment‐rotation relationships. Finite element models were developed and compared with experimental testing to verify the accuracy of the model. The calculation equation of moment‐rotation curves were proposed according to the analytical data of finite element model. Furthermore, the moment‐rotation calculation model characterizing the general behavior of this new type connection were developed based on these parameters. The accuracy of the calculation model was examined by comparing with the results of finite element model. Finally, a reasonable moment‐rotation relationship was obtained using the parameters within this model.


We study the stability of the max-weight protocol for combined routingand scheduling in communication networks. Previous work has shownthat this protocol is stable for adversarial multicommodity trafficin subcritically loaded static networks and for single-commoditytraffic in critically loaded dynamic networks. We show: The max-weight protocol is stable for adversarial multicommodity traffic in adversarial dynamic networks whenever the network is subcriticallyloaded. The max-weight protocol is stable for fixed multicommodity trafficin fixed networks even if the network is critically loaded.
 The latter result has implications for the running time of themax-weight protocol when it is used to solve multicommodity flowproblems. In particular, for a fixed problem instance we show thatif the value of the optimum solution is known, the max-weight protocolfinds a flow that is within a (1-ε)-factor of optimal in time O(1/ε) (improving the previous bound of O(1/ε2)). If thevalue of the optimum solution is not known, we show how to apply themax-weight algorithm in a binary search procedure that runs in O(1/ε) time.


Most of the research on adolescents with illegal sexual behaviors (AISB) has focused on males. However, increasing numbers of girls have been coming to the attention of the juvenile courts as a result of illegal sexual behaviors. This article summarizes what is known about the characteristics and treatment needs of girls with AISB. 9 Adolescents With Illegal Sexual Behavior: Current Knowledge Barbara L. Bonner, PhD


The aim of this paper is to assess the possibility of constructing a European identity under the premise of nationally protected educational systems. Starting with theoretical lines of social legitimacy and identity creation the argumentation follows the historical-political role of curricula in relation with nation-building in the 19 century. The paper will continue to reflect upon the efforts on EC/EU level to establish educational policy in relation with identity politics on the one hand and counter measures taken by the member states on the other. Using Germany as an example the analysis will focus on the relevance of education in the process of identity formation. This will lead to the central question if the EU is capable (if willing) to use supranational identity creation as a means of enhancing social legitimacy without having educational implementation powers or access to educational systems, respectively. H. Walkenhorst, University of Essex 3


A new EU directive on used vehicles has recently been introduced. It demands that for every scrapped car, at least 85% by weight must be recycled by the year 2006 and 95% by 2015. Today this level is about 80%. The growing car disassembly industry was chosen as the study object of this thesis. Due to the increased demands on recycling, the disassembly industry is expected to undergo comprehensive rationalizations and expand into a modern mass-type production. Thus, this thesis investigates the current status of the car disassembly industry with special focus on production systems and ergonomics issues in this context. Paper 1 incorporated the initial efforts, which aimed to explore the current status of the car disassembly industry. The purpose was to obtain knowledge about ergonomics and production systems, as well as to obtain knowledge about ideas, plans and views on the future situation of the industry and production systems. Qualitative methods were utilized. Dismantlers, manufacturers and authority stakeholders described current production systems as 'craft-type', i.e. containing a rich variety of tasks as well as considerable periods of set-up time. The dismantling companies faced modest competition and reported good profitability. Future expectations about production systems were that the amount of non-profit work per car would increase. Due to the new legislative demands, disassembly of more parts and materials than today is expected. Today these materials lack market value. For production to stay profitable in spite of increased time in non-value-adding tasks, comprehensive rationalizations are anticipated. Paper 2 was a follow-up study to further investigate the hypotheses generated in Paper 1 with quantitative assessments of mechanical exposures in disassembly. New parameters were utilized for documenting changes in exposures due to rationalizations. Disassembly work was divided into four task groups. These were: direct work (value-adding tasks), and material/tool handling, casual tasks and unplanned breaks (all three non-value-adding). The study shows that disassembly implied high circulatory loads, more walking and higher lumbar peak loads as compared to assembly work. Value-adding tasks comprised only 30% of the total working time, and implied more awkward postures and higher velocities for the head, arm, upper back and wrist than non-value-adding tasks, as well as less time in rest. It is concluded that the 'craft-type' disassembly work of today offers a considerable potential for rationalizations. Rationalizations are expected to increase ergonomic exposures. This gives a reason to act proactively in the prevention of musculoskeletal disorders. Due to the legislation, the time span until the year 2015 gives an opportunity to work proactively to obtain future sustainable production systems for car disassembly. (Less)


We have conducted an empirical investigation into the long term survival rates of some small but representative samples of the 30,000 largest UK limited companies. These companies were either a control or known to have used, or been interested in the use of, spreadsheets, spreadsheet based monte carlo simulation software, other spreadsheet and decision analysis software and/or related management training. We show that there is a material and statistically significant increase in the long term survival rate of all of these groups of companies compared to the control.


In 1996, the U.S. Congress passed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (henceforward PRWORA). The law replaced Aid to Families with Dependant Children (henceforward AFDC), a need-based federal entitlement, with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (henceforward TANF), a form of assistance to poor parents conditional on their working for a wage. The law reflected a compromise among three theories of justice: libertarianism, conservatism, and liberalism. Libertarians believe that people deserve only what they can earn on the free market. They supported work requirements as a step toward forcing people to depend on market earnings rather than government. Conservatives believe that citizenship is based on a principle of reciprocity, in which citizens may claim rights to state support only if they behave responsibly and contribute to society. They supported work requirements as an enforcement of this principle. Liberals believe that citizens are entitled to public support on grounds of need. However, they saw that popular resentment against and alienation from nonworking welfare recipients, who were stigmatized as lazy, irresponsible, and morally deviant, had created a 'toxic' environment that blocked attempts to improve their lot. Some supported work requirements to win sympathy and respect for the poor as fellow members of 'working families,' and thereby increase support for antipoverty efforts [2]. Although welfare reform has been cast as an expression of a harsh libertarian philosophy [3], in fact it included substantial state subsidies for wage earners. Welfare recipients who obtained jobs were entitled to keep certain welfare benefits, notably Medicaid, and became eligible for others, such as subsidized child care. Liberals won expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, which has become the centerpiece of


While I agree with the basic substance of Peter Haff's review, I still think it does not focus quite enough on the physical energy consuming technologies that are still functioning today, compared with those that were invested in during the past and are no longer being used. Thus, it would be interesting to extend this article under review to a sector by sector analysis, for the main energy consuming sectors, namely transportation, buildings, and industry. Obviously, there are still many buildings that were built by components of long past GDP expenditures that having boilers and furnaces still in operation for 50 years, the time period analyzed. In constrast, there would be basically no significant number of vehicles comprising the transportation sector still operating after 50 years. Since the data for the energy consumption of each of these sectors exists (at least approximately in the US), it would be even more interesting to see how the ratio the authors highlight between current year energy consumption and cumulative GDP evolve for each of these three major sectors separately yielding the weighted average ratio for the entire economy. Again, while this trend line has (unfortunately) been amazingly constant in the past, as I said in my first comment, government policy could slowly but surely force this ratio to decline somewhat faster if the introduction of new more efficient energy consuming technologies (like electric vehicles and renovating old buildings with more insulation) were accelerated relative to those trends in the past. The paper would be more interesting if some analysis were done as I suggest for each major energy consuming sector separately. We would surely find a different trend line for each.


We present a framework to understand GAN training as alternating density ratio estimation and approximate divergence minimization. This provides an interpretation for the mismatched GAN generator and discriminator objectives often used in practice, and explains the problem of poor sample diversity. We also derive a family of generator objectives that target arbitrary $f$-divergences without minimizing a lower bound, and use them to train generative image models that target either improved sample quality or greater sample diversity.


The bidentate coordination of an α-keto acid to an iron(II) center via the keto group and the carboxylate gives rise to metal-to-ligand charge-transfer transitions between 400 and 600 nm in model c...


The German Federal Constitutional Court derives from the Basic Law a right of defence against the threat of destruction of the foundations of our liberal order. This is the core point of its climate protection decision. Does this also give individuals the legal power to control the future of the welfare state?


An objective of my bachelor's theses is to bring a view to the problem of the banking supervision and regulation as a whole, its gradual integration in the united banking supervision in the context of the European Union legislation and its implementation in the legislation of the Slovak Republic. The thesis is comprised of three following chapters. The first part familiarizes with the core and principle of the banking regulation and supervision, it explains its importance from the viewpoint of the NBS as a sole regulating and supervising authority in Slovakia, the second part describes legislative conditions of the Slovak banking sector and the third one deals with the current situation and prospects of the banking supervision and regulation in terms of the Slovak Republic.


A new design for a cryogenic X-ray detector has been developed and veriied to be successful. Absorption of 5:89 keV X-rays in a 450 m160 m tantalum lm was detected by measurement of coincident charge signals from two aluminum superconducting tunnel junctions (STJs). For a 40 m section in the middle of the tantalum lm the energy resolution was 78 eV (FWHM), consistent with the permeability of the tunnel barriers of the STJs (R n 2:5). We fabricated single Al/Al x O y /Al STJs using a combined method of photolithography and shadow mask techniques. An energy resolution of E = 27 eV (FWHM) was obtained for 5:89 keV X-rays with a room temperature JFET preampliier. The normal conducting resistance (R n) of the devices was of order 1 , the dynamic resistance R d varies from 50 kk to 2 MM. A simultaneously recorded electronic tail pulser showed a width of about 19 eV. However, only 11 % of the expected charge signal have been observed. A deecit in the charge yield of such symmetric STJs could be observed at low bias voltages, similar as in heterogeneous STJs. The charge yield has been measured in Al/Al x O y /Al STJs over a bias voltage range from about 20 V to 300 V.


Tamoxifen is used as hormonal therapy in the treatment of breast cancer patients. Tamoxifen tablet is a well tolerated and generally devoid of any life threatening adverse drug reaction. Pancreatitis is a rare but life threatening adverse drug reaction of tamoxifen. Rare side effects of drugs are usually missed. Previous case reports and review discussions are available and argue that tamoxifen leads to dyslipidemia and pancreatitis is mostly related to development of hypertriglyceridemia. Here we are reporting a case where patient developed pancreatitis after short term use of tamoxifen (only 1 month). To our knowledge this is a first case report where no dyslipidemia was detected prior to development of pancreatitis and, thus, such short term presentation may be linked to immunologic or idiosyncratic reaction to tamoxifen. Gynecologists are routinely referred patients on tamoxifen therapy for abnormal endometrial thickness and, thus, any patient with acute abdominal pain on tamoxifen therapy should be thoroughly investigated for pancreatitis too. From our case it comes to light lipid derangements may not be always associated with such event and discontinuation of tamoxifen is recommended.


Collaborative representation (CR) is an efficient method for hyperspectral image classification. There exists structure-aware CR with Tikhonov regularization (SaCRT) that utilizes the class label information of training samples into estimation of representation coefficients to provide better performance. It can be further enhanced by considering spatial features because neighboring pixels around the central pixel tend to belong to the same class with high probability. In this paper, a modified SaCRT is proposed for hyperspectral image classification. Its performance is analyzed on different types of spatial features (i.e., spatial averaging features), global feature (i.e., Gabor feature), shape features (i.e., derivative of extended morphological profile (DMP) features), and edge preserving feature. In addition, a majority voting-based ensemble technique is used to enhance the performance by combining different features. The experimental results illustrate that the proposed approach can yield better performance in comparison to state-of-the-art classifiers.


It has been known for some time that patients with advanced liver disease frequently exhibit an abnormal oral glucose tolerance test curve resembling that of a mildly diabetic patient. 1 It has also been a matter of concern to clinicians for many years that abnormally high blood ammonia levels may accompany hepatic failure particularly in the presence of portasystemic venous shunting. 2 The appearance of these two biochemical abnormalities together is very probably related. The tricarboxylic acid cycle for glucose utilization and the urea cycle for ammonia metabolism are closely related through use of common intermediates as oxaloacetate and aspartate (Fig 1). To obtain clinical and biochemical evidence that glucose and ammonia metabolism do, in fact, influence one another, a two-phase study was carried out. The first and principal study was to measure effects of glucose and blood ammonia levels in patients with advanced liver disease, particularly following portacaval shunt surgery.


This paper reports a new intramodal haptic illusion. This illusion involves a person pressing on a rigid surface and perceiving that the surface is compliant, i.e. perceiving that the contact point displaces into the surface. The design process, method and conditions used to create this illusion are described in detail. A user study is also reported in which all participants using variants of the basic method experienced the illusion, demonstrating the effectiveness of the method. This study also offers an initial indication of the mechanical dimensions of illusory compliance that could be manipulated by varying the stimuli presented to the users. This method could be used to augment touch interaction with mobile devices, transcending the rigid two-dimensional tangible surface (touch display) currently found on them.


Regulatory policy toward tobacco significantly affects oral health because tobacco use is a driver of diseases that manifest themselves in or near the oral cavity. Tobacco use in the United States has been associated with millions of cases of periodontal disease. Researchers have identified the role of combusted and noncombusted tobacco products in promoting cancers of the head and neck, leading to disease and premature death. Tobacco companies have moved increasingly toward so-called next-generation products (NGPs)—products that may emit fewer toxins than combustible forms of tobacco. Although NGPs may negatively affect the lungs and other bodily systems, they shift the injection site of nicotine from the lungs to the oral cavity and oral tissues. Because the long-term effects of NGPs are unknown, this tobacco marketing development has profound implications for oral disease. The US Food and Drug Administration exercises regulatory authority over tobacco products. The tobacco industry has avoided meaningful regulation of its products, especially smokeless forms. By publishing new research, oral health scientists can meaningfully shape the climate in which the administration's policy making occurs.


This dissertation explores the relationship between music in the community of Bloomington, Indiana and music at Indiana University from 1818-1898. Bloomington, Indiana had a rich tradition of band activity from the first settlement in 1818 through the present. The community musicians not only played for University functions, but also helped to shape the musical development at Indiana University. Additionally, the movement from music as a function to music as entertainment is apparent throughout the time period. Using archival sources, historical newspapers, and correspondence, this study examines the function of music in Bloomington, Indiana beginning in its settlement in 1818. Music was first enjoyed in solo performances for entertainment purposes. In the 1820s, bands were used in community patriotic celebrations and processions. Community musicians performed for University exams and scholarly exhibitions in the 1830s. Literary societies at the University were popular in the 1840s and hired a band to perform at their events. Bands were frequently utilized to play at Commencement exercises. Beginning in the 1860s, musical concerts became more popular and provided the community an opportunity to enjoy music. Orchestras and vocal ensembles developed towards the end of the 1880s and 1890s. Vocal ensembles performed in chapel services for the University, and orchestras were beginning to appear on commencement programs. These ensembles were not nearly as popular as the band for functional performances in the 1800s. The teaching and learning of music is a theme addressed throughout the study. Music instruction was typically informal, and was a by-product of collaborative music making. Few opportunities for formal lessons and education in music were available in Bloomington, Indiana during the 1800s.


One major idea that has emerged is that of a large latent market for small buses. There may be a tremendous market that could be tapped, but to identify it in such a way as to induce manufacturers to risk lots of dollars is difficult. There must be a demonstrable payback. Perhaps there is some role for the federal government in stimulating the market to provide this payback. At least half of each group's time was spent discussing the low-floor question. Achieving a low-floor bus clearly will require redesign of present vehicles. The new design will not produce any direct monetary benefit to weigh against its high cost. A low floor is one of the things needed to promote the national goal of accessibility. If everyone must comply with such a mandate, there is no need to worry about the benefit--everyone will be competing equally. Although no components compatible with the low-floor concept have been proved in transit service, the TRANSBUS development should provide a lot of experience in this area. We hope that some components can be passed down from TRANSBUS to the smaller heavy-duty buses. (Author)


Abstract In the daytime, the CO2 concentration in the air close to the water surface of a ponded paddy field was lowest and it increased with the distance above the water surface, while an inverse relation was observed in the nighttime. On the other hand, the pH of the ponded water changed significantly throughout a day and was expected to affect atmospheric CO2 in the vicinity of the water surface, because the solubility of CO2 in water depends on the pH. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the changes in the pH of the ponded water and the response of the CO2 concentration in the air above the water. The pH of the ponded water of the paddy field increased in the daytime and decreased in the nighttime, so that the water was alkaline in the daytime and weakly acidic in the nighttime. We found that the daily changes in the atmospheric CO2 concentration gradient almost corresponded to the daily changes in pH. The increase of the pH of the ponded water in the daytime was due to the absorption of dissolved CO2 by photosynthetic bacteria and micro-algae within the ponded water. Furthermore, we compared the pH with RpH, defined as the pH at which the CO2 concentration of the water is in equilibrium with that of the air, to determine whether CO2 was absorbed by or emitted from the ponded water. In the daytime, the pH value of the ponded water was higher than that of the RpH, and the water could therefore absorb CO2 , whereas during the nighttime, since the pH value of the ponded water was lower than that of the RpH, the water was expected to emit CO2. These results show that the ponded water absorbed CO2 from the air above the water surface in the daytime and emitted CO2 in the nighttime.


Normally, on an 8:00 p.m. flight from Montreal to Vancouver, I would read a novel or indulge in a video, after a brief, ultimately futile, effort to do some work. Not this time, since the work foray took the form of reading Fragmenting Fatherhood, by UK socio-legal scholars Richard Collier and Sally Sheldon. This book held my attention well beyond the flight's dinner hour (what dinner, on Air Canada, you may ask). Well written and extremely well documented, this book situates the (legal) fragmentation of fatherhood within the history of critical and feminist thought on ''the family.'' It reflects an excellent collaboration between a scholar of masculinity, fatherhood, and law, who situates his work within feminist literature—indeed, cites it generously—and a feminist scholar who works primarily on medical and reproductive law. This book is their second collaborative product published by Hart Publishing, the first being an edited collection of essays on the fathers' rights movement. Fragmenting Fatherhood is not actually a family law text so do not stop reading if you do not regard yourself as a family lawyer! Instead, it works across several different fields—natural and assisted reproduction, fatherhood within intact families, post-separation fatherhood, and unmarried fatherhood—to argue that the idea of fatherhood has become fragmented, just as the idea of ''family'' has become fragmented over the past couple of decades. Despite the ongoing power of the ideology of the family, there is no question that the traditional framework provided by the laws of marriage, parenthood, and the (hetero)sexual family has been disturbed by developments such as


A fin is a surface that extends from an object to increase the rate of heat
 transfer to or from the environment for enhancing convection. The heat
 transfer performance of the engine cylinder fin is investigated in this
 study using fin geometries with various extensions, including rectangular,
 trapezium, and triangular segmental extensions. These are compared to fins
 without extension and showed a 5-13% increase in heat transfer rate. The
 primary idea behind adding extensions to finned surfaces is to increase the
 surface area of the fin in contact with the fluid/coolant flowing around it,
 resulting in a faster heat transfer rate.


Education 1986 Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "Experimental and Theoretical Analysis of Oxidation and Growth Chemistry in a Fuel-Rich Acetylene Flame," J. B. Howard and J. P. Longwell, supervisors. 1974 M.S., Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University. "Desulfurization of Gasified Coal: Evaluation of Candidate High-Temperature Sulfur Acceptors," D. P. Harrison, advisor. 1973 B.S. with High Honors, Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University.


Reducing energy consumption by capital construction projects at all stages of their life cycle is an urgent task for the construction industry and the housing and communal complex. The article discusses ways to reduce energy costs in the operation of residential buildings. The aim of the study is to develop a methodology for predicting energy costs when using a home energy management system based on the machine learning method. All devices included in the "smart home" system are divided into three types, for each of them a method for calculating energy consumption is described. The algorithm of the home energy management system is to receive information from the energy supplier about their cost an hour in advance, calculate the energy consumption of all devices and predict energy consumption based on the reinforcement machine learning method. The effectiveness of the chosen method and the reliability of forecasting were evaluated by comparing the results with real costs for the selected time and calculating the average absolute error and the average absolute error in percent. The results of the study indicate the promise of using the method of machine learning with reinforcement to build a home energy management system based on forecasting energy consumption over time.


On the basis of the mathematical apparatus of the statistical theory of optimal control, the method and algorithm of guidance of an air-to-air guided missile with an active radar target-seeking head when aiming at a «helicopter» class air target with various modes of its flight, including when hovering have been developed. The synthesis has been carried out as a result of flight experimental studies of radar signals reflected from a real helicopter. Also, recommendations for ensuring continuous tracking of a helicopter in an active radar target-seeking head have been presented


This paper proposes a semi-automatic methodology to assist the user in creating surveys about FMEA and Risk Analysis, based on a customized use of the tools for semantic analysis and in particular a home-developed syntactic parser called Kompat Cognitive. The core of this work has been the analysis of the specific FMEA-related jargon and its common modalities of description within scientific papers and patents in order to systematize the linguistic analysis of the reference documents within the proposed step-divided procedure. The main goals of the methodology are to assist not skilled in the art users about FMEA during the analysis of generic and specific features, by considering large moles of contributions in restricted amounts of time. The methodology has then been tested on the same pool of 286 documents, divided between 177 and 109 patents, manually analyzed in our previous survey, in order to replicate part of its classifications through the proposed new modality. In this way we evaluated the abilities of the methodology both to automatically suggesting the main features of interest and to classify the documents according to them. KeywordsFMEA, Risk analysis, Patents, Parsing, Semantic


ABSTRACT There is growing concern across Advanced-Level (A-Level) providers and universities that many students are experiencing high levels of stress and physical illness, related to academic and/or social aspects of student life. The impact of academic pressure to 'succeed' is increasingly evident. There is an urgent need to provide appropriate student support. Two studies are reported which investigate students' experiences and perceptions of studying Advanced-Levels in England. By gaining insight into this period of study and the challenges encountered by students, the implications for enhancing student resilience can be better understood. Study One involved participants at four sixth forms in secondary schools in England (n = 805). Study Two comprised a larger-scale study of nine institutions offering A-Level education (secondary school, Sixth Form College and College of Further Education), with 2,040 Year 12 and Year 13 students participating in the study. In both studies, students completed a bespoke questionnaire which focused on transition to/from A-Level education and student perceptions of resilience. The findings suggest that much more needs to be done in supporting the mental well-being and resilience of students whilst studying for A-Levels. Indeed, the experience of studying for A-Levels was evidently stressful and anxiety-inducing for many of the student participants. This stage of post-secondary education could be seen as the culmination of all the pressures inherent in the present performativity culture of schools. The transition from A-Level study to university can be a very challenging one for a substantial minority of students.


The invention relates to a sensor and a system for measuring pressure, variation in sound pressure, a magnetic field, acceleration, vibration, or the composition of a gas. The sensor comprises an ultrasound transmitter, a cavity, and a passive sensor element. In accordance with the invention the sensor includes antenna means for receiving radio frequency signals (f1, f2), and connecting means connecting the antenna to the ultrasound transmitter for using the radio frequency signals for providing energy for driving the ultrasound transmitter.


The common belief is that water can affect the performance of iron nanocatalysts (FT) in Fischer-Tropsch reaction by reducing the activity, selectivity and the rate of reaction. In this study, using nano iron - Paraffin/polymer matrix as nanocatalysts have enhanced the FTS performance in the presenceof water partial pressure.Thermal decomposition method was successfully used to synthesize iron nanoparticles with different nano size, which measured using scattering of dynamic light. In the Fe - Paraffin/polymer (Fe-P/p) systemsthe polymers;polyethylene glycol (PEG) and styrene butadiene rubber (SBR)were used. The conversion of the synthesis gas which depends on the contact time wasfrom 4% to 74%.XRD and AFM confirmed that there are two forms of iron;Fe3O4 and δ-FeOOH. The high rateof reaction of FTS (RCO) was observed in the Fe–paraffin– PEG as nanocatalyst. The experimental data was used to analyze the kinetic models for the flow of CO;this gave water partial pressure(PH2O),kinetic and thermodynamic characteristics of the process.The relationship between the values of the activation energies and the polymers nature of the stabilizers were established.


The hydrolytic stability of both isotropic and oriented semicrystalline poly(ethylene naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylate), PEN, films in saturated steam at temperatures 120-160 °C is reported. The kinetics of hydrolytic degradation of the semicrystalline PEN samples, together with semicrystalline PET, was studied by determining the rates of formation of carboxyl ends using infrared spectroscopy. Water vapor diffusion rates and water vapor solubilities of PEN and PET samples at various temperatures were also measured. The water vapor diffusion rates of PEN were found to be 2-3 times slower than those of PET. However, the water vapor diffusion rates of both PEN and PET were 3-4 orders of magnitude greater than their hydrolytic degradation rates. The hydrolysis in all the cases is therefore believed to be a chemical reaction rate controlled process. PEN, especially when oriented, showed better hydrolytic stability than PET. A half-order autocatalytic reaction mechanism with the carboxyl end groups acting as the catalyst gave the best explanation of the experimentally measured degradation rates, and from this analysis hydrolytic degradation rate constants were derived for PEN and PET.


The author of Catcher in the Rye and other stories, J.D. Salinger is still considered a major writer despite his slim output and reclusive lifestyle. He died in 2010.


This paper connects the linear steady-state systematic error models of the time- and frequency-interleaved analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). Exposing their relations is of importance because estimation and compensation methods developed for one architecture may therefore apply to the other. Most critical impairments in both ADC structures include static mismatches and random jitter. The former has been well studied and can be generalized to the model connection, whereas not much is known regarding the latter. To support designers becoming more capable of making optimal design and architectural decisions on parallel ADCs, comprehensive phase noise analysis and comparison are carried out to reveal the distinctions between these two sampling architectures. Design examples with considerations are also provided for demonstration purposes.


Described is the production of isocyanate-based or silane-functional adhesives and coating materials in the form of reactive Einkomponentengranulate and their use.


The efforts of Korean reunification would involve greater difficulties than those experienced by the Germans in their reunification efforts. Eberstadt (1992) enumerated these difficulties as follows based on a comparative analysis:


This project was funded over two periods of three years each, with an additional year of no-cost extension. Research in the first funding period focused on the physics of uniform atmospheric pressure glow discharges, the second funding period was devoted to the study of the dynamics of nanometer-sized particles in plasmas.


Objective To evaluate the clinical effect of BiPAP ventilator used for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD) combined with respiratory failure patients.Methods Seventy-six COPD combined with respirtory failure patients were randomly divided into two groups:conventional treatment group(control n=30) and BiPAP ventilator treatment group(treat n=46).The accord ratio of clinical improve standard,alter of blood gas analysis and effect on HR,PR were compared.Results The accord ratio of clinical improve standard was forty-two and nineteen respective in treat group and control group,two groups showed significant difference(P0.005);The PaO_2,PaCO_2,HR,PR had notable difference after treatment in 4,24 hours(P0.001) between two groups and the treat group had better compliance than the control group.Conclusion The ventilation function,carbon dioxide retention,hypoxemia will be rapidly improved when BIPAP ventilator is used correctly to treat COPD combined with respiratory failure.


Bucovina is one of the most famous areas considering the natural and antropic tourist potential, the historical monuments and the folkhloric art, the therapeutical and curative factors, being the land of hardworking and welcoming people who keep traditions and customs from generation to generation. Bucovina, as tourist destination, has varied tourist resources, both natural and anthropic, which makes this are be well-know throught the whole country, and abroad. The tourism and travelling industry represents, worldwide, the most sought activity sector, the most important provider of workplaces. From an economical point of view, tourism is also a main resource for recovery of the economy of countries which have important tourism resources and exploit them properly. The sustainable development strategy of tourism in Romania and especially in Bucovina has the main purpose of generating an adequate database for increasing the internal and international tourist activity in a balanced and sustainable way, that would bring cultural and socio-economical advantages to Suceava County and its inhabitants. Postmodernity (Lipovetsky, 1996) brought over itself a change in values, ethics being imposed as a necessity and a responsibility towards the other. In our paper, we will bring into discussion a series of promoting strategies, emphasizing on the needs of the postmodern individual.


Traveling salesman problem (TSP) is a popular routing problem, which is a sub-problem of many application domains such as transportation, network communication, vehicle routing and integrated circuits designs. Among many approaches which have been proposed for TSP so far, evolutionary algorithms effectively applied to solve it, and attempt to avoid trapping in local minima. In this paper, a hybrid approach (named PMACO) is proposed for TSP, which is based on ant colony optimization (ACO) and the mutation operators in genetic algorithm (GA). In this manner, in the each iteration a hybrid mutation scheme is applied to search the neighborhood area of the solution corresponding with the two best ants (the best current ant, and the total best ant found so far). The population is divided to two parts: the first is regenerated according to the pheromone rule in ACO, and the last is generated by applying the proposed hybrid mutation scheme. Also in this paper, the initial population was not considered randomly; it was generated according to nearest neighborhood rule, which force the ants toward better solutions, and leads to reduce the running time. Finally, we compared the performance of PMACO, with ACO and GA separately. For each algorithm, the various parameters and operators were tested, and the bests were chosen to tune that. Experimental results were carried out on benchmarks from the TSPLIB for validation.


Flexure hinge is widely used in the compliant mechanisms for precision engineering. Generally, compliant mechanisms with flexure hinges are designed using the analytical stiffness formulas, which increases the design complexity. As the development of finite element analysis (FEA) and optimization methods, it is likely to design the flexure hinges directly using the FEA based numerical optimization methods. This paper developed a leaf spring type flexure hinge based micro-motion stage with specific stiffness constraints. Both topology and sizing optimization methods are used in the design of motion stage. The proposed methods is apply to optimal design formed the leaf spring type flexure hinge for a micro motion stage which serves as a guidance mechanism. Further numerical result shows the good stiffness stability of the refined stage.


Summary Stomatal closure is an important process to prevent water loss in plants response to drought stress, which is finely modulated by ion channels together with their regulators in guard cells, especially the S‐type anion channel AtSLAC1 in Arabidopsis. However, the functional characterization and regulation analyses of anion channels in gramineous crops, such as in maize guard cells are still limited. In this study, we identified an S‐type anion channel ZmSLAC1 that was preferentially expressed in maize guard cells and involved in stomatal closure under drought stress. We found that two Ca2+‐dependent protein kinases ZmCPK35 and ZmCPK37 were expressed in maize guard cells and localized on the plasma membrane. Lesion of ZmCPK37 resulted in drought‐sensitive phenotypes. Mutation of ZmSLAC1 and ZmCPK37 impaired ABA‐activated S‐type anion currents in maize guard cells, while the S‐type anion currents were increased in the guard cells of ZmCPK35‐ and ZmCPK37‐overexpression lines. Electrophysiological characterization in maize guard cells and Xenopus oocytes indicated that ZmCPK35 and ZmCPK37 could activate ZmSLAC1‐mediated Cl‐ and NO3 ‐ currents. The maize inbred and hybrid lines overexpressing ZmCPK35 and ZmCPK37 exhibited enhanced tolerance and increased yield under drought conditions. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that ZmSLAC1 plays crucial roles in stomatal closure in maize, whose activity is regulated by ZmCPK35 and ZmCPK37. Elevation of ZmCPK35 and ZmCPK37 expression levels is a feasible way to improve maize drought tolerance as well as reduce yield loss under drought stress.


OBJECTIVE
This study was designed to investigate the relationship between high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) level at admission and myocardial perfusion after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

METHODS
The study population consisted of 197 patients (154 men, mean age 60.94 +/- 11.62 years) who were admitted to our hospital with first acute myocardial infarction and underwent primary PCI in the infarct-related artery. Myocardial perfusion was evaluated by Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) myocardial perfusion grade (TMPG). Patients were divided into two groups according to TMPG after PCI. Group 1 consisted of 39 patients with TMPG 0 - 1 and group 2 consisted of 158 patients with TMPG 2 - 3. Serum hs-CRP levels at admission were measured.

RESULTS
hs-CRP level at admission was significantly higher in group 1 than that in group 2 (P = 0.026).

CONCLUSIONS
Higher hs-CRP level at admission in patients with acute myocardial infarction is related to poorer myocardial perfusion post primary PCI.


We present a method that can be applied to generate medium-sized peptidomimetic macrocycles equipped with disulfide bonds. The reaction hinges on amphoteric aziridine aldehydes and their ability to bridge the ends of linear peptides in the presence of isocyanides. Aziridine aldehyde dimers enable the initial cyclization, which is followed by site-specific aziridine ring-opening with sodium azide. Subsequent to that, thallium-induced oxidative disulfide bond formation furnishes the final product. The NMR characterization of the molecules obtained using this method indicates that conformationally well-behaved systems are readily accessible. The site-specific introduction of azide functionality should open the doors to subsequent functionalization using well-established protocols.


24-26: Can you briefly add representativeness for what – for the driver field that you have, all same important, or for the results from the network (which, CO2, GHG, energy radiation etc.). Later you write "capture the spatio-temporal variability of surface


Air-driven hydraulic pumps are widely used to pump high-pressure oil for small hydraulic systems, where it is uneconomic to set up a conventional hydraulic power pack. To obtain good performance of a small hydraulic system, input air flow and output oil flow characteristics of the air-driven hydraulic pump should be properly understood. In this paper, based on a mathematical model which has been experimentally verified, the model of an air-driven hydraulic pump is proposed. Using the software MATLAB/Simulink for simulation, the dynamic characteristics of the pumps are obtained. To set a foundation for the optimization of the pump, the influence of key parameters on the output characteristics of the pump was studied. Through analysis, it can be obtained that, firstly, with an increase in the input air pressure, output oil pressure and area ratio, the ratio of output to input volume flow rate decrease approximately linearly. Moreover, when the output oil pressure was fixed, an energy-saving method to enhance the output oil flow is to enlarge the area ratio of the pump. Furthermore, the output oil flow can be increased rapidly through increasing the input air pressure, but that may result in an increase in compressed air consumption. This research is of use in the performance and design optimization of air-driven hydraulic pumps.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


The influence of addition of Zenural 70, urea and Min-A-Zel Plus on chemical composition and quality of whole maize plant silage with different degree of compression was investigated in the paper. Experiment was two-factorial (2x3) with three replications, where factor A was a degree of compression (A, = 680 g/dm³; A2 = 550 g/dm³), while factor B was an additive type (Decontrol; B2=5 g/kg urea+2 g/kg Min-A-Zel Plus; B3=5 g/kg Zenural 70). Chemical analyses showed that with the addition of Zenural 70 and urea there was significant increase of pH value, total protein, mineral ammonia and soluble nitrogen content. The type of additive had no significant effect on production of lactic, acetic and butyric acid, while in silages with higher degree of compression (680 g/dm3) there was significantly more butyric acid. All silages were graded first class according to DLG and Flieg method, with the exception of lower compressed silage with added urea and Min-A-Zel Plus, which according to Flieg was second class. According to Zelter method, silages with added Zenural 70 were II and III class, while treatments with added urea and Min-A-Zel Plus were IV and V class.


This paper aims at designing a hybrid analog-digital coding scheme that can be applied for rate adaption in a broad dynamic range of channel conditions. The hybrid scheme is constructed by generating most of the output symbols from standard linear combinations of the input bits, as in Rate Compatible Modulation (RCM), and a few of them using a Low Density Generator Matrix (LDGM) code. RCM is able to achieve smooth rate adaption, but its performance is far from the Shannon theoretical limits. The few coded bits proceeding from the LDGM code are able to substantially reduce the number of uncorrected errors in the RCM scheme, substantially improving the system performance.


Abstract This short paper highlights some of the problems in making slow motion films of physical events and shows why they are not always as technically efficiently as some people expect.


Type 3 immune response defined by increased IL-22 production drives fibrosis during chronic liver injury via enhanced TGF-β signaling. Type 3 injury Chronic liver injury caused by infection, toxins, or other inflammatory conditions can lead to liver fibrosis. Several cytokines have been linked to liver fibrosis, and here, Fabre et al. define a role for the type 3 cytokines interleukin-17A (IL-17A) and IL-22 in driving transforming growth factor–β (TGF-β)–dependent fibrosis. They observed elevated levels of IL-17A and IL-22 in intrahepatic lymphocytes from patients with hepatitis. Hepatic stellate cells treated with IL-22 showed enhanced p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase–dependent TGF-β signaling. Liver-resident neutrophils and mast cells were identified as the primary sources of IL-17 in humans, and mouse studies showed that blockade of IL-17A and IL-22 could reduce fibrosis. Together, these findings define a role for type 3 cytokines in driving fibrosis during liver injury. Inflammatory immune cells can modulate activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and progression of liver fibrosis. Type 3 inflammation characterized by production of interleukin-17A (IL-17) and IL-22 by innate and adaptive immune cells is implicated in many inflammatory conditions of the gut and can be counteracted by regulatory T cells (Tregs), but its contribution to liver fibrosis is still poorly understood. Here, we evaluated the contribution of type 3 inflammation in liver fibrosis using clinical liver biopsies, in vitro stimulation of primary HSCs, and in vivo mouse models. We report dysregulated type 3 responses in fibrotic lesions with increased IL-17+CD4+/FOXP3hiCD4+ ratio and increased IL-17 and IL-22 production in advanced liver fibrosis. Neutrophils and mast cells were the main sources of IL-17 in situ in humans. In addition, we demonstrate a new profibrotic function of IL-22 through enhancement of transforming growth factor–β signaling in HSCs in a p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase–dependent manner. In vivo, IL-22RA1 knockout mice exhibited reduced fibrosis in response to thioacetamide and carbon tetrachloride. Blocking either IL-22 or IL-17 production using aryl hydrocarbon receptor or RAR-related orphan receptor gamma-t antagonists resulted in reduced fibrosis. Together, these data have identified a pathogenic role for type 3 immune response mediated by IL-22 in driving liver fibrosis during chronic liver injury.


Many practical problems, e.g., many engineering design problems, can be solved by known (routine) techniques. For many of these problems, these techniques have been incorporated into software packages so the solutions to these problems can be (largely) automated. However, there are still many other problems for which no routine techniques are known. For example, usually it is rather routine to design a new chip based on the known technologies, but when technologies change, the problems becomes nontrivial. To solve such hard-to-solve problems, we must use new ideas; we must use our intelligence. Any technology that helps us in solving such problems is called intelligent technology.


The paper examines the recent trends in international mobility, attractivity for international students, and the number of publications of two universities (Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra, Slovakia, CPU and Tbilisi State Medical University, Georgia, TSMU) to understand whether the COVID-19 pandemic affected these processes and whether the adverse consequences of the pandemic were still retained after its end. In addition, we examined the influence of EU support for these processes. For this purpose, we analyzed the rates of international mobility (the number of outgoing and incoming students and employees, the number of international students, and the number of publications indexed in SCOPUS and the WoS database of CPU and TSMU before, during, and after the abolishment of administrative restrictions induced by the COVID-19 pandemic. The comparison of CPU and TSMU demonstrated the similarity between these universities in the development of international contacts and cooperation. The indexes of international mobility and the number of publications in the EU university CPU were higher than those in the non-EU TSMU. On the other hand, before COVID-19, the indexes of international mobility and the number of publications of TSMU were stable or tended to decline, but in CPU, they increased. COVID-19 had a negative impact on all indexes of international mobility, but the number of international students continued to increase in both universities, even during the pandemic. The use of home offices during the pandemic promoted an increase in the number of international publications among authors from CPU but not among those from TSMU. After the end of the pandemic, in both universities, the indexes of international mobility increased but sometimes did not return to pre-pandemic levels. In the post-COVID-19 period, in both CPU and TSMU, the number of international students continued to grow, and the number of publications declined. These observations highlight the trend of internalization experienced by both universities, the negative impact of COVID on their international mobility, and the importance of EU support for research.


The paper investigates the introduction of a solar electric driven heat pump for an office building, placed in southern Italy, with low energy demand in comparison with the most common type of Italian buildings. Dynamic simulations to evaluate energy, environmental and economic performance of the proposed system, varying photovoltaic peak powers (4500 W 7500 W), tilt angles (20° 50°), electricity and natural gas unit prices, are carried out. To meet heating and cooling demand a heat pump driven by electricity available from solar photovoltaic panels is here considered. The system based on solar electric driven heat pump shows a saving in terms of primary energy and equivalent CO2 emission reduction up to about 81 % if compared to the reference conventional system based on a boiler fueled by natural gas and an electric-driven chiller. The results highlight that the solar based energy conversion system is more interesting when the electric energy and natural gas unit prices are high and government incentives are available.


OBJECTIVE
To obtain yeast strain Pichia pastoris that highly expresses human endostatin by gene recombination technology, and to evaluate the inhibitory effect of recombinant human endostatin (rhES) on the growth of mouse pulmonary adenocarcinoma cell line LA795.

METHODS
The gene coding for human endostatin was cloned into the genome of Pichia pastoris through LiCl transformation method, and the clones with high soluble rhES expression were selected. Purification of rhES was performed with heparin affinity chromatography. Effects of rhES on bFGF-induced proliferation of human endothelial cell line ECV-304 cells were observed. T739 mice with subcutaneous inoculation of LA795 cells were treated with injections of either rhES or PBS for 14 consecutive days, and the volume of the tumors were measured.

RESULTS
Clones with high rhES expression were obtained and purified rhES potently inhibited the proliferation of ECV-304 cells and the growth of LA795 cells in T739 mice.

CONCLUSION
rhES produced by Pichia pastoris possesses good biological activities and conspicuously inhibits the growth of LA795 cells.


The phenomenal growth of physics as a science over the past half century has been paralled, breakthrough for breakthrough, by the explosion of physics as a marketable commodity. Technology has followed close on the heels of research, and has sometimes even taken the lead and acted as a stimulus for research.


In recent years many experimental and numerical studies have been conducted on the fatigue behaviour of CNG storage pressure vessels. The main objective of these studies is to estimate the total fatigue life, which consists of two parts: i) Life till crack nucleation and ii) Crack growth life. Although fatigue evaluation methods for metal cylinders are widely covered in literature including the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, comprehensive approaches for fatigue evaluation of composite-reinforced pressure vessels are very few. This paper calculates the fatigue life till crack nucleation for a steel-lined hoop wrapped composite pressure vessel containing a surface flaw (notch) using strain-life approach. Firstly, static stress analysis taking into account the non-linear material behaviour of steel liner was performed using finite element method to provide input for the fatigue analysis. Then fatigue analysis was carried out by applying a cyclic pressure inside the pre-stressed cylinder using strain-life approach, and the results obtained by the numerical simulations are discussed. The approach associated with these calculations can be used to study the effect of various material and geometry parameters on the fatigue life of the pressure vessel.


Introduction: Preterm labor is still a global problem because it affects perinatal morbidity and mortality, especially in developing countries. An increase in hs-CRP in pregnant women is associated with the incidence of preterm labor. This study was conducted to prove that high serum hs-CRP levels are a risk factor for preterm labor. Method: The method used in this study is an observational case-control study, in which pregnant women with preterm labor are in cases group, whereas preterm pregnant women that are not in labor, included in control group. Cases and controls were not matched in the gestational age variable. In both groups blood samples were taken. Blood sampling was taken in the cubital vein to examine the serum levels of hs-CRP. From the data collected, data analysis was performed using SPSS version 23.0. In this study, after the data normality test was performed using the Shapiro-Wilk test, the result p values <0.05 or abnormal distribution data, the Mann Whitney test was chosen. A Chi-square test was performed to determine the increase in serum hs-CRP levels as a risk of preterm labor. Result: hs-CRP levels as a risk of preterm labor. Calculation of the OR is 19.46 times with 95% CI: 2.25–168.27. Conclusion: it can be concluded that high levels of hs-CRP as a risk factor for preterm labor. Sanjaya, I.N.H., Suwardewa, T.G.A., Megadhana, I.W., Putra, I.G.M., Budiana, I.N.G., Putra, I.W.A. 2022. High level of highly sensitivity c-reactive protein levels (hs-CRP) as a risk factor for preterm delivery.


Tubercular spondylitis of long-standing cases shows paradiscal body destruction. One or more vertebral bodies are involved and they are usually collapsed and wedged, besides the diminution of disc space. We present a case of tuberculosis of 15-year follow up treated conservatively with an unusual presentation of 100-degree kyphosis.


Background: The rapid spread of the virus around the world is raising alarms among scientists to identify vulnerable people who are at greater risk of infection. In this regard, the present study aimed to determine the prevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 in different blood groups. Methods: To find relevant studies, a comprehensive and systematic search was conducted based on the PRISMA guidelines in international databases such as PubMed, Scopus, Web of Sciences, and Google Scholar by December 31, 2020. Results: After the audit and exclusion of double and unrelated studies, 19 articles were included in the analysis. The most prevalent blood types in alive patients were A and O which calculated the aggregate prevalence at - 39.06 (95% CI: 36.22-41.94) and 35.60 (95% CI: 32.48-38.79). In addition, patients with blood groups B and AB were less than two other groups. The aggregated/estimated prevalence was 7.72 (95% CI: 5.06-10.88) and 16.23 (95% CI: 12.86-19.91) for AB and B, respectively. The results for the deceased had a similar pattern that was high for blood types A and O. Conclusions: The current meta-analysis validated different prevalence rates of blood group types in patients with COVID-19, confirming that types A and O blood groups are the most prevalent types of deaths and live patients.


In order to improve the teaching quality and learning interest,some teaching reforms of food analysis course have been carried out in the aspects of optimizing the teaching contents,changing the teaching methods etc.Combining the basic knowledge and research achievement during the lecture,we carry out the confirmatory test and comprehensive design experiment during the practice to deepen the teaching contents of food analysis,to enhance the understanding and solving ability of problems during the course study.


The sentiment analysis of social media for predicting behavior during a pandemic is seminal in nature. As an applied contribution, we present sentiment-based regression models for predicting the United States COVID-19 first dose, second dose, and booster daily inoculations from 1 June 2021 to 31 March 2022. The models merge independent variables representing fear of the virus and vaccine hesitancy. Large correlations exceeding 77% and 84% for the first-dose and booster-dose models inspire confidence in the merger of the independent variables. Death count as a traditional measure of fear is a lagging indicator of inoculations, while Twitter-positive and -negative tweets are strong predictors of inoculations. Thus, the use of sentiment analysis for predicting inoculations is strongly supported with administrative events being catalysts for tweets. Non-inclusion in the second-dose regression model of data occurring before the 1 June 2021 timeframe appear to limit the second-dose model results—only achieving a moderate correlation exceeding 53%. Limiting tweet collection to geolocated tweets does not encompass the entire US Twitter population. Nonetheless, results from Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) surveys appear to generally support the regression factors common to the first-dose and booster-dose regression models and their results.


The utility model relates to a circle corrector for large caliber pipe butt-joint, which comprises a circular and annular bracket, wherein the bracket is provided with more then two ejector rods provided with outer screw threads in a threaded connection mode; an axial line of the ejector rod is positioned on a radial direction of the bracket. In the construction of butt-joint of a large caliber pipe, the utility model can correct the part of a pipe port into circular and can lead outlines of pipe ports of butt joint pipes to mutually inosculate better. The utility model has the advantages of simple structure, reasonable structure and convenient and quick circle correction.


Six species (Platytomus indicus (Balthasar, 1941), P. nathani Pittino & Mariani, 1986, Rhyssemus karnatakaensis Pittino, 1984, R. procerus Petrovitz, 1973, R. loebli Petrovitz, 1975 and Neocalaphodius moestus (Fabricius,1801)) of the subfamily Aphodiinae (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae) are first report from Kerala and two first report from south India. Descriptions of species with images are provided.


Low-dropout regulators (LDOs) are one of the most important power management modules for providing clean supply voltages in all portable devices. This tutorial first describes the limitations of a generic CMOS LDO on the stability and the load transient response. Then, stability of the state-ofthe-art LDOs with intermediate driver stages is discussed. Finally, a LDO design example using impedance attenuation (BIA) technique is presented. The BIA technique is able to reduce the number of low-frequency poles of the LDO without using any low-frequency zero, thereby improving the stability and the load transient response simultaneously.


Program Description: Key aspects of thyroid surgery have been addressed by published clinical practice guidelines, consensus statements, and position papers from the American Academy of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HSNF), the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS), and the American Thyroid Association (ATA). This miniseminar efficiently presents these society publications, focusing on their content, interpretation, and limitations. Specific topics include surgery for invasive carcinoma, imaging selection, improving postoperative voice outcomes, nerve monitoring, outpatient surgery, and goiter management. These documents will also be used to highlight the important overall differences between practice guidelines, consensus statements, and position papers and their respective influence on clinical decisions. Educational Objectives: (1) Differentiate between a clinical practice guideline, clinical consensus statement, and position paper. (2) Analyze the content, interpretation, and limitations of the key publications sponsored by the AAO-HNSF, AHNS, and ATA regarding the management of thyroid surgical disease.


The photoluminescence of n-type GaN thin films in an argon plasma condition has been studied by in situ measurement. The characteristic near-band-edge (NBE) peak and yellow luminescence (YL) of GaN films are observed in the spectra. However, compared to the luminescence of GaN in air and in a vacuum, in the plasma of 80 W power, the NBE peak and YL intensity first increase dramatically and then decrease with extended time. The effects are attributed mainly to an increasing temperature induced by the plasma, but also to a lesser extent by damage to the film caused by the plasma.


Mild traumatic brain injury, commonly known as concussion, occurs frequently in children while playing sports. Whereas the negative impact of sport-related concussions on cognitive function is well known, the effects of concussions on sensorimotor function, especially in children, remain largely unknown. In this observational/case study, we investigated the association between neurocognitive function, assessed using a trail making test, and sensorimotor function, assessed using a visuomotor adaptation task, in three children who suffered from a concussion while playing sports. For the trail making test, children drew lines to connect numbers and letters alternately on a page. For the visuomotor adaptation task, children performed targeted reaching movements repeatedly under a novel visuomotor condition in which the visual display of reaching movements was rotated 30 degrees about the start position. Their neurocognitive and visuomotor performances were compared to those obtained from three children without a concussion. Results showed that only one of the three concussed children showed a score from the trail making test that was worse than the scores obtained from control subjects. However, the pattern of visuomotor adaptation observed in the concussed children was different from that observed in the control subjects in several ways. These data indicate that the concussed children may have some deficits in terms of their sensorimotor function as compared to the control subjects. Our findings provide preliminary data that suggest that children with concussion may have sensorimotor impairments even when they do not seem to have neurocognitive impairments.


According to Tianjin Municipal Engineering Budget Price,a model for construction cost of storm sewer system was built.Five low-cost schemes were found by enumeration algorithm and by applying global search under given conditions of design flow,original buried depth and length of pipe.The cost of these five schemes decreased by 10.13%,9.47%,6.25%,5.57% and 4.82% respectively compared with the originally planned scheme.The overflows of the above five schemes in different storm return periods were simulated by SWMM.The quantitative relations of overflow risk to storm return periods and structure of storm sewer system were determined.All six schemes would lead to node overflow,pipe overload and high load of pipe drainage in different return periods except for 0.5 a.


As teachers, we have both the power and the responsibility to create classrooms full of eager, curious, and active readers and learners. Teaching students to become strategic readers and thinkers and to actively use the knowledge they glean from reading are the focus of the comprehension practices discussed in this article. A longstanding research tradition suggests that comprehension strategies are best taught as tools for reading and learning, so that students acquire and use a repertoire of thinking strategies that further engagement and understanding. To become literate in the broadest sense of the term, students must learn to read, write and think across disciplines, evaluating information, asking questions and engaging in dialogue. The authors suggest principles and practices that keep comprehension at the core of 21st century teaching and learning.


Abstract : The characteristics of supersonic turbulent boundary layers on cooled surfaces having adverse pressure gradients were investigated to provide design information for hypersonic inlets. Tests were conducted at Mach numbers of 3 and 6 with values of wall temperature as low as 30% of the adiabatic recovery temperature. The adverse pressure gradients were generated by two-dimensional model including a circular-arc surface, an isentropic-compression surface, and an oblique shock generator. Velocity and temperature profiles through the boundary layer were obtained and the integral boundary layer parameters were evaluated along the surface. An analytical investigation was also conducted to provide a basis for evaluating the experimental results. It was found that cooled, turbulent boundary layers in adverse pressure gradients are thinner and less distorted than uncooled boundary layers, that the ratio of Stanton number to skin-friction coefficient is higher than the flat-plate value, and t at the total amount of heat removed is greater than that predicted by integrating local heat-transfer rates based on flat-plate conditions al ng the surface. (Author)


Sauter Mean Diameter of droplets plays a key role in many industrial applications like engines of gas turbine, furnaces, boilers and also in agricultural sprays. Prediction of optimum SMD is vital not only in the design phase of gas turbine combustor but also influences its performance. Due to complex phenomena involved in atomization of pressure swirl atomizers, the physical phenomena of atomization have not been sufficiently understood. Hence most of the correlations developed so far are empirical in nature. Different scientists have developed various theoretical and empirical correlations for measurement of SMD which are applicable under certain operating conditions. In this study empirical and semi empirical correlations developed for measurement of SMD by different scientists and researchers have been analyzed and compared using data from literature. The study shows how predicting accuracy of different correlations changes with changing atomizers geometry and operating conditions. At the end a collective comparison of the measured values and predicted values of SMD by different equations is presented.


In an earlier paper we calculated the condensate fraction and momentum distribution of atoms in liquid {sup 4}He, using a variational wave function which takes into account Jastrow and three-body correlations. In the present paper we point out an error in the expression used to compute the condensate fraction when three-body correlations were included. We report the corrected numerical results for both condensate fraction and momentum distributions for three densities. In addition, we calculate the condensate fraction and momentum distribution with and without the {ital l}=0 part of the three-body correlations in the wave function. Even though the {ital l}=0 part gives a small contribution to the ground-state energy, we find that the {ital l}=0 and {ital l}=1 terms have opposite and almost canceling effects on the condensate fraction and momentum distribution; each term separately alters the results obtained with pure Jastrow correlations by about 15--20 %, while when considered together they give only a small contribution.


In recent years, fall webworm that belongs to international Quarantine Pest appears widely in China, it did great harm to forest trees and brought the inconvenience for people's lifes. Distribution, damage characteristics, morphological characteristics, the life habit, control methods of fall webworm were described in order to let more people know and control it, which may control it better and reduce the loss to the minimum.


Two models to describe the phenomenon of corona discharge are presented: the first is known as the plasma model which with plasma chemistry defines the volumetric and surface reactions among charge carriers such as electrons, positive, and negative ions. This model uses Poisson's equation and a formulation of the space-charge density to calculate the electric field necessary to solve the species transport equations. Besides, only the plasma model determines the density of the charge carriers. The second is a simplified model which describes the corona discharge in terms of current conservation coupled with Poisson's equation. This model does not have any connection with the attributes of plasma chemistry. Both models propose solutions for the electric potential and space charge density distribution from the corona electrode to the ground electrode.


Despite national efforts to eliminate healthcare disparities, the poor have higher hospital admissions rates for conditions such as diabetes and asthma.


When bleeding depends on disorders of the ovaries, it is necessary to X-ray these latter, to achieve bloodless castration with x-rays; if, however, X-raying had to be started already in the 2nd half of the menstrual phase, then to obtain a favorable effect during the nearest regurgitation, spleen illumination must be joined to this.


The use of laser phototherapy is considered an enhancement factor for bone repair as it stimulates microcirculation as well as the cellular metabolism. Regarding this, the purpose of this research was to assess histologic changes after the use of laser phototerapy during induced mesial tooth movement with 40g/F of the upper left first molars of young adult male Rattus norvegicus weighing 250 to 300g. Thirty animals were equally divided into three groups (n=10), named according to the time of animal death, i.e. seven, 13 and 19 days (G7, G13 e G19). Half of the animals in each group were submitted to irradiation with infrared laser ( 790nm, 40mW, 20J/cm per session, every 48 hours, Ø~2mm), during orthodontic movement, the other half was used as controls. After animal death, specimens were sectioned, processed and stained with HE and Sirius red and were used for semi-quantitative histologic analysis with optical microscopy. Data was compared by inter and intra-group analysis using Kruskal-Wallis and Fischer tests, and results were considered significant for p = 0.05. Results demonstrated that Laser Phototherapy positively affected some important aspects of dental movement, such as decreased vascular density and inflammation, increased amount of osteoclasts and collagen and also modulated dental resorption and hyalinization. These results indicate that the use of laser phototherapy may create a more favorable condition for bone turnover in the periodontal ligament of Rattus norvegicus during orthodontic tooth movement.


The formation of shock and expansion waves by a moving piston is studied according to the kinetic theory of gases. A piston is impulsively moved at a constant but arbitrary speed with a diffuse reflection on either isothermal or adiabatic piston wall. The Bhatnagar‐Gross‐Krook equation has been solved by applying the numerical method proposed by Chu for the shock tube problem. The waves are developed through intermolecular collisions for various piston speeds (Mach number 0.438, 0.876, and 1.314). The properties across the shock wave agree quite well with the Rankine‐Hugoniot relations. A kinetic layer of several mean free paths near the isothermal piston wall is clearly observed. A temperature jump at the isothermal wall is also developed. Solutions for the adiabatic wall with zero temperature gradient are obtained and compared very well with the gas dynamic solutions. Temperature overshoots (Tx) inside the shock waves have been observed for higher piston speeds (Mach number 0.876 and 1.314).


Background: To compare the effectiveness of vaginal misoprostol with rectal misoprostol for termination of first trimester pregnancy. Prospective comparative study done on 138 women with unwanted pregnancy. Methods: This study was conducted in Vinayak hospital Kathmandu, from April 2005 to March 2006(Baisakh 2062- Chaitra 2062) i.e. one year. A total of 138 women with unwanted pregnancy of 612 weeks, and only those who agreed to participate were included in the study after written consent. Patients with scarred uterus following previous cesarean section, myomectomy or hysterotomy, known allergic to misoprostol, diarrhea, and fever, age below 16 and above 45 were excluded from the study. Abortion was induced with 8ooµgm of mesoprostol in alternative patients vaginally in posterior fornix (group A) and per rectally (group B) Result: The age of the patients ranged from 16 -42 years and parity primi to sixth gravida. In group A 54 patients out of 69( 78.2%) expelled products of conception after first dose of misoprostol within 24hours.15(21.7%) patients required repeat insertion of the drug .of these 8 expelled within the next 24 hours, whereas 7(10.1%) patients needed manual vacuum aspiration . In group B out of the 69 patients 59(85.5%) expelled product of conception within 24 hours of insertion of mesoprostol per rectally while the rest 10(14.4%) required re insertion of the drug. Out of these 10 cases 6 expelled within next 24 hours and four (5.8%) needed manual vacuum aspiration. Side effects of misoprostol: diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, headache and rigor were found to be more in rectal group than the vaginal.


The aim of this study is to examine the impact of parenting on emotional awareness of children. For this study a sample of 100 was taken between the ages of 14 years to 18 years and was assessed on perception of parenting scale (POPS), and emotional awareness questionnaire (EAQ). The correlation was made to see the relationship between the two variables. The result showed that there is no significant correlation between the two variables.


The fractional Josephson effect remains one of the decisive hallmarks of topologically protected Majorana zero modes. We analyze the effects of parity violating quasiparticle poisoning onto the current voltage characteristics of topological Josephson junctions. We include poisoning events directly within the resistively shunted junction (RSJ) model in the overdamped limit both in the short- and long-junction regime. We calculate the current voltage characteristics numerically where poisoning is modeled either via additional rates in the Fokker-Planck equations or by a time dependent parity and compare them to the limits of no and strong poisoning rates which we obtain analytically. Combining the tilted washboard potential with poisoning events, we show that the critical current of the long junction limit can be used as a probe of the junction topology even in the high temperature poisoning case where relaxation- and excitation processes are equally likely. Using the tilted washboard potential model we develop three different schemes to measure the poisoning rate thereby also extending the consideration to two pairs of helical edge states containing a constriction that allows for tunneling between the two pairs of edge states.


The article analyzes the possibility of using multi-fractal models for the description of the gravitational field arising from a stochastic self-similar distribution of matter in the Universe. The fractal distribution model is fundamentally different from the model of homogeneous distribution of matter in the standard cosmology. This model takes into account the subtle features of fractal distributions associated with mass clustering, which is of fundamental importance when calculating the distribution of the gravitational field in the presence of fluctuations of the density of matter in space. In the event of the typically assumed isotropic and homogeneous nature of large-scale mass distribution in space, the intensity of the field they create is, at a given point, on average equal to zero. Non-zero intensity is entirely due to fluctuations in the distribution of masses. Proposed bifractal model takes into account the fractal clustering of the distribution of matter in space, and the fact that the fluctuations at large distances make a significant contribution to the value of the field strength at a given point. The use of mathematical apparatus of the theory of fractals opens new possibilities in the study of self-gravitating systems.


In order to further improve the accuracy of gesture authentication, based on the traditional Frechet distance and Support Vector Machine (SVM), this paper proposes a two-level authentication algorithm that combines space trajectory similarity and feature classification, which is called the F-S algorithm. The method mainly uses the linear accelerometer data of the mobile phone to obtain the three-dimensional spatial trajectory of the gesture action in the mobile phone coordinate system after preprocessing, and then extracts the time domain features of the trajectory, and then uses the F-S secondary authentication algorithm to identify and authenticate the gesture. The experimental results showed that the false rejection rate FRR of the F-S algorithm in the gesture recognition process is 4.13%, and the false acceptance rate FAR is 1.26%.


Anisotropic ALE studies were conducted on Sn, which is one of the materials with a high extinction coefficient applicable to extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photo-lithography mask, by modifying the Sn surface with H/Cl radicals and followed by the removal of the modified layer by Ar + ions using an ion beam. During the adsorption of H/Cl radicals, it was possible to form highly volatile SnH x Cl y and SnCl x without spontaneous etching on the Sn surface while the adsorption of H radicals etched the Sn surface by forming volatile SnH x . The chemically modified SnH x Cl y /SnCl x was etched by Ar + ions at ~2.6 Å/cycle through optimized ALE processes. In addition, high etch selectivity could be obtained with Ru which is generally used as a capping layer of the EUV photo mask. The degree of physical and chemical damages on the Ru surface was investigated during the adsorption and desorption of the Sn ALE process, and no physical and chemical damages could be found on the Ru surface during the Sn ALE process. Atomic-Scale of a Native Thickness on for three-dimensional of on surfaces in, bonding with low annealing temperature. We empirically in Si-SiO 2 bonding, a native oxide on Si and thus a of the native oxide thickness significantly affects the resulting bonding strength. In our experiments, physical sputtering of Ar plasma ions finely controlled a native oxide thickness of a Si wafer, and the change in the native oxide thickness and the resulting bonding strength with a SiO 2 wafer were assessed via ex situ ellipsometry and a double cantilever beam method, respectively. In this presentation, we will discuss the correlation between a native oxide thickness and bonding strengths and the underlying mechanism. In this study, a cyclic isotropic plasma atomic layer etching (ALE) process for aluminum oxide was developed with two steps of plasma fluorination and ligand volatilization with trimethylaluminum (TMA). In the plasma fluorination step, the Al 2 O 3 surface was fluorinated to AlOF x with NF 3 plasma at 100 °C. As the plasma fluorination time increased, the atomic fraction of fluorine on the surface was increased and then saturated to a value of 25% after 50s of plasma fluorination. The formation of the AlOF x layer was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. The depths of the fluorinated layers were in the range 0.79 – 1.14 nm at different plasma powers. In the removal step, the fluorinated layer was removed by a ligand exchange reaction with TMA at an elevated temperature range of 250 – 480 °C. The etch per cycle (EPC) was 0.20 – 0.30 nm/cycle and saturated after 30 s in the temperature range of 290 – 330 °C. EPC increased in the temperature range of 250 – 300 °C during the removal step with the ligand exchange reaction and reached the maximum at 300 °C. The fluorine atomic fraction on the surface was reduced to 14% after the removal. The average surface roughness of Al 2 O 3 was reduced from 8.6 Å to 5.3 Å after 20 cycles of etching. In conclusion, Al 2 O 3 was successfully etched at the atomic scale by the cyclic plasma ALE process. first-principles based simulation investigation of this process suggests Ar + ion bombardment of an adsorbed HFC is accompanied by damage of the SiN and implantation of small H, F, and C containing fragments into the substrate. The quasi-equilibrium (QE) film structure is predicted to be associated with a significant density of coordination defects, an approximately half Gaussian distribution of H, F, C in the bombardment direction, and a stoichiometry determined by the HFC used. Model QE structures of appropriate structure and composition were then constructed based on the observed evolution of SiN films under simulated PEALD conditions. These structures were bombarded by argon ions to describe volatilization of the film. We find that F is critical for etch enhancement. A transition from etch initiation, through etch with emanation of nonequilibrium products, and then equilibrium products as a function of F load and ion energy is observed. The inhibiting or enhancing role of H and C load relative to F load is also demonstrated. Loading H instead of F is associated with minimal to no etch enhancement, whereas loading C results in the suppression of etch reactions from the formation of highly stable SiC. halogenated compounds result in damaged and non-conformal structures. is an important interconnect material, so scalable copper ALE is of high importance and further research of both metallic Cu activation and etch are required. Oxidation of metallic Cu surfaces with unselective oxidants (H 2 O 2 , O 3 , oxygen plasma etc.) tend to produce multiple oxidation states of Cu (+1 and +2) as well as Cu mobility at elevated temperatures. This study reports a comparison between conventional oxidants as well as milder, more selective oxidizing agents that produce a more controlled oxidation of Cu surfaces. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was used to directly observe Cu oxidation under oxidation conditions.Temperatures from ambient to 145°C were screened with oxidants and oxidation was found to be to Cu 2 O to detection limits.The depth was controllable from less than 2nm to complete oxidation under the conditions studied.The oxidation could be controlled by process conditions and, more importantly, by the nature of the oxidation reagent.These data are compared to in situ TEM measurements of Cu particles and measured oxidation thickness as a function of oxidant exposure and found to be comparable.The XAS technique was further benchmarked using conventional XPS measurements.These measurements illustrate that XAS is able to probe surface activation for ALE.In addition, XAS provides metal coordination number, oxidation state, and other mechanistic information about the surface metal state.These measurements combine to provide a better understanding of the relationship between oxidant strength versus depth as a function of various oxidants. These results give insight into the etch- per-cycle as well, Cu surface roughening, and other metrics for the final films. Long nucleation delays during area selective ALD of metals can lead to unwanted growth outside the patterned regions.Unwanted nucleation also results when a passivating film begins to breakdown.In the event non- selective nucleation occurs on passivated regions, we describe a low temperature ALE route to etch clusters/islands on the passivated regions faster than the desired film.This low temperature route exploits the general finding by others that metal oxides can be etched by a variety of vapor phase etchants – the issue is controlled oxidation while minimizing damage to adjacent surfaces.We present a low temperature route that involves vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) activation of O 2 to produce atomic oxygen and ozone, with atomic oxygen being the dominant species that oxidizes the near surface region of Pd and Ru.Oxidation extents differ between continuous films and discontinuous films enabling the removal of metal islands without significantly etching the film.Pd and Ru can be etched at temperatures ranging from 50 °C – 200 °C by co-exposing the zero-valent metal to 1 Torr of O 2 and VUV photons (6.5 < h ν < 11.3 eV) from a D 2 lamp.Density functional theory and nudged elastic bandcalculations are used to understand the diffusion of oxygen into the metal and the kinetic barriers that limit oxidation to the first and second layers.Metal oxidation proceeds because the flux of atomic oxygen is sufficient to compensate for competing recombinative desorption of molecular oxygen.The oxides of Pd and Ru are etched in an ALE half cycle with 0.50 Torr HCOOH vapor exposure for 30 sec.Metal islands/nuclei are completely oxidized in an exposure cycle while oxidation of a film is limited to approximately one atomic layer. the atomic oxygen can diffuse to any exposed surface before the atomic oxygen is lost through gas-phase loss reactions.This talk will also discuss the use of halogenated hydrocarbons that can possibly adsorb at the process temperature and be activated in the adsorbed state to restrict metal oxidation to those surfaces exposed to the photons. Silicon germanium (SiGe) and germanium (Ge) may play an important role in future generations of semiconductor devices. For example, one candidate of future logic devices will be a Ge-channel gate-all-around field- effect transistor (GAA FET), which may require lateral selective etching of the SiGe sacrifice layer with respect to the Ge-channel layer. Isotropic, self- limiting cyclic etching of SiGe selective to Ge will thus be attractive in developing future generations of logic devices. This paper addresses plasma-assisted, thermal-cyclic etching of SiGe, which is selective to Ge. Experiments were conducted with several SiGe and Ge samples with different Ge content. Radical-exposed surfaces of the samples were produced in plasmas excided with hydrofluorocarbon-based gas mixtures that contain nitrogen. Nitrogen was added to the gas mixture because it is essential for forming ammonium-salt-based modified surfaces. Photoelectron-emission measurements were conducted after transferring the samples in vacuum into an x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) system under ultra-high vacuum. The XPS spectra obtained after radical exposure consisted of a nitrogen 1s peak at 402 eV, which was likely ascribed to the N-H bond. One explanation of this observation is that a modified surface that consists of ammonium salt formed on the surface of the samples after radical exposure. The intensity of the N-H peak decreased as the Ge composition in the samples increased. The nitrogen 1s peak at 402 eV disappeared when the samples were heated at 100°C. This suggests that the ammonium-salt-based plasma. In the second step, the CoCl 2 layer was removed by ligand volatilization with Hhfac. Cobalt ALE process was conducted with changing process temperature at 100~250 degree, and the ALE window was confi


Highly crystalline and uniaxial-oriented polytetrafluoroethylene films, nanostructured in one dimension, were used to produce a fully crystalline, thermoreversible morphology in the ferroelectric copolymer poly[vinylidenefluoride-trifluoroethylene]. The resulting state is built up of regularly stacked lamellar crystals of about 100 nm thickness and lateral dimensions of about 6 \ensuremath{\mu}m.