Objective: There are minimal data available on nutrition after early repair of cleft lip and the factors influencing initiation of breastfeeding. This study assessed the impact of the length of surgery, length of ventilation support, and duration of hospital stay on breastfeeding rates after early cleft lip surgery. Design: This is a prospective observational cohort study comparing 2 hospitals providing early surgical repair of facial clefts from January 2014 to December 2016. Both hospitals are designated as Baby-Friendly Hospitals. Demographic and anthropometric data from mothers and newborns were recorded. Setting: Tertiary neonatal and pediatric surgery center. Patients: Hospital A: 61 newborns, Hospital B: 157 newborns. Interventions: Early (day 5 to 14) cheiloplasty in newborns with cleft lip or cleft lip and palate. Main Outcome Measures: Influence of duration of hospital stay, length of operation, and artificial ventilation on the rate of breastfeeding. Results: Significantly, more newborns were breastfed following early surgical repair of an isolated cleft lip compared to those with both cleft lip and palate, in both hospitals (hospital A 82% vs 0%, P = .0001, hospital B 66% vs 5%, P = .0001). Duration of hospital stay, length of operation, and duration of artificial ventilation did not significantly affect the rate of breastfeeding. Conclusions: The factors associated with early cleft lip repair (length of operation, length of ventilation support, and duration of hospital stay) do not affect breastfeeding rate.


The successful preparation of macroscopic carbon nanotube(CNT) films is a key direction for the development of organic thermoelectric materials.Since CNT film is only 200 nm thick and with porous and rough surface,characterization of its thermophysical properties becomes extremely difficult.This article presents the use of 3w technique for the measurement of thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity for single-walled(SW) CNT fibers curled from SWCNT films,and discusses the effect of curly layers on the results and the estimating method for the in-plane thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of films.The in-plane thermal conductivity for the two SWCNT films studied is 3.4 W/(m·) and 2.0 W/(m·K),while the thermal diffusivity is 24 mm~/s and 21 mm~/s.The results show that SWCNT films will contribute to the development of low-cost organic thermoelectric materials.


This paper introduces many parts of the CPU of TMS320C54X Digital Signal Processor.So this paper can make readers have a primary understand about it.


In the experiment,various functions of the polycrystalline X-ray diffraction apparatus,such as diffraction,independent rotation of sample and counting meter, measuring photo number in a fixed time and position,duplicating scan and so on,have been fully utilized to get experiment data.The Compton effect has been confirmed by different methods and the effects of different methods on the results have been analyzed.


A rate constant is deduced for the reaction of tert-butoxy radicals and trimethylsilane from the measurement of the phase shift between the modulated light source and the ESR signal of trimethylsilyl radical. The rate constant was found to at .


A theoretical investigation of bulk acoustic waves in multilayer structures is presented. This investigation is based on a rigorous solution of wave equations with correct boundary conditions on all the layer surfaces. Obtained results give a possibility to calculate the film bulk acoustic wave resonators with arbitrary quantity of layers, including the resonators with Bragg reflector. A frequency response, a resonance frequency, a temperature coefficient of frequency and a spatial distribution of all the wave parameters are available for these calculations.


The objective of this study was to examine the possibility of using Coreopsis tinctoria flowers as a new natural antioxidant. Flowers of C. tinctoria were solvent fractioned stepwise with n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate, n-butanol and water. In n-butanol fraction, soluble solid yield was the highest. Ethyl acetate fraction showed the highest contents of total polyphenol and total flavonoid whose RC was 643.67 and 318.47 , respectively. The most effective DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities were shown in ethyl acetate fraction whose RC was 0.063 and 0.072 , being even more effective than BHT and similar to ascorbic acid. Next was n-butanol with high DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities whose RC was 0.101 and 0.109 , respectively. In conclusion, it was confirmed that flowers of C. tinctoria have high antioxidant effect and thus have high potential as good sources of natural antioxidants.


Contemporary Educationists and psychologists emphasises that the education system stresses not to train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that one may be a better able to discover with accuracy, the peculiar bent of the genius of each. They also opine that, traditional schooling systems have been predominantly created by people who were unaware of the extraordinary diversity and potential of human learning. Hence traditionally, classroom settings were teacher-centered where the teacher often talks at the students instead of encouraging them to interact, ask questions or make them understand the lesson thoroughly. It is only recently that we have begun to truly understand that each and every one of us is a unique individual with innate predispositions and unique ways of perceiving and interacting with the world. Gardner (1983) pioneer in the field of multiple intelligence theory, in his long time effort in educational reform has showed that education based on multiple intelligences of pupil and their active involvement as one of the important factors in effective learning. Several other researchers who have examined the influence of multiple intelligence approach in the classroom have also found the same results. Hence this article makes an effort to understand the influence of Multiple Intelligence in the school curriculum. Various research articles associated with this subject have been reviewed and an effort has been made to put them together to draw a conclusion on the same. The reviews revealed that Multiple Intelligence teaching approach has improved the academic achievement, teacher-student relationship and better classroom management.


Liquid-phase synthesis of methyl formate (MF) was achieved by green carbonylation of methanol with CO on a soluble copper nanocluster catalyst with high activities (e.g. 2.7–6.1 molMF molCu−1 h−1) and 100% MF selectivities under mild reaction conditions (353–443 K, 0.3–3.0 MPa CO), showing that the Cu nanoclusters can potentially replace the caustic catalysts of alkaline metal alkoxides (e.g. CH3ONa), required for the current carbonylation process in industry.


THE ROLE OF SLEEP IN ODOR MEMORY CONSOLIDATION WITHIN THE PIRIFORM CORTEX Dylan Barnes Adviser: Donald A. Wilson Sleep is important for memory consolidation. One potential mechanism of memory consolidation is replay, where recently formed memories are repeated during post-learning sleep. For example, the firing sequences evoked in hippocampus during learning are spontaneously replayed during bouts of slow wave sleep (SWS). The phenomenon of replay during SWS is common in many neocortical systems. Odor memory may also rely on sleep-dependent consolidation, even though olfaction is not a neocortical system. The primary olfactory (piriform) cortex is a three-layered archicortex receiving direct input from the olfactory bulb. Piriform cortical activity during slowwave sleep-like states is modified by recent odor experiences and becomes highly coherent with the amygdala and hippocampus, suggesting a possibility of replay in the olfactory system. The goal of this research was to describe the role post-training sleep had in odor memory consolidation. The initial study utilized two different types of conditioning: standard odor fear conditioning and differential fear conditioning to examine how olfactory training can affect perceptual odor discrimination. Results from this study showed that animals that undergo differential odor fear conditioning are better able to discriminate similar odors following conditioning compared to animals that undergo standard conditioning. Furthermore, this change in perception is possible through changes in the receptive fields of individual units within the piriform cortex. The next study examined how SWS in the anterior piriform cortex is involved in olfactory memory consolidation following odor fear conditioning. The amount of time animals spent in SWS following conditioning significantly increased compared to baseline habituation days and the amount of time animals spent in SWS following learning predicted how much time they froze to the odor during testing. Finally, the last study assessed changes in both the strength and precision of olfactory memory following modifications made during post-training SWS. Imposing replay of the learned odor during post-training SWS enhanced the strength of the odor memory, while imposing replay of another odor stimulus caused animals to generalize their fear response to multiple olfactory stimuli. Taken together, these results underlie the importance of sleep in the consolidation of both the strength and precision of odor memory.


Current definitions of retention and graduation rates distort the picture of student success by limiting it to completion of a degree at the institution of entry. By incorporating data from the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), a clearer picture emerges. The NSC data captures retention and graduation at both entry and transfer institutions. To accommodate this polychotomous definition of success, more sophisticated methods of modeling limited dependent variables are needed. Though multinomial logit is often considered the most accessible method, the strict assumptions it imposes may be inappropriate. We therefore compare multinomial regression techniques to assess their utility in modeling multi-institutional student success.


AbstractThis paper proposes an improved k-nearest neighbor (k-nn) model for short-term traffic forecasting and examines its applicability to forecasting for different links and time periods. The traditional k-nn model is adapted by formulating the weighted distance metric and the state vector, which consider both the temporal and spatial information. The adapted model's performance is examined in a numerical test where the data are derived from global positioning system (GPS) devices in 180 taxis running in Guiyang, China. The test results demonstrate that the model that considers both the temporal and spatial information outperforms models that only consider temporal information and that adaptation of distance metrics could significantly improve the forecasting accuracy. The adapted model shows the promising performance in comparison with the historical average (HA) model and the artificial neural network (ANN) model. The test results also indicate that information from the upstream and the downstream li...


Four repeat structured seminars were run with groups of fifteen students two weeks after the students returned from India. Each group was comprised of students who participated in the overseas clinical placement and students in the same cohort who remained in their clinical placement in Australia. The seminar was designed to allow the students who participated in the overseas placement to share their experiences and, through this reflective practice, to identify how the overseas experiences might apply more widely.


Hybrid graphene photodetectors were prepared with endohedral fullerenes deposited on graphene using electrophoretic methods. Endohedral Sc3N@C80, which acts as an electron acceptor was used, and the ensuing electronic and optoelectronic properties were measured. Another endohedral fullerene, La@C82 adsorbed on graphene acted as an electron donor. Upon optical illumination, for the Sc3N@C80-graphene hybrid, the photoinduced free holes are injected into graphene, increasing the hole carrier concentration in graphene, while the photoexcited electrons remain in Sc3N@C80. We will discuss the photodetector response of these 0D-2D systems with both Sc3N@C80-graphene and La@C82-graphene hybrids. The exceptional performance gains achieved with both types of hybrid structures confirms the potential of endohedrals to dope graphene for high performance optoelectronic devices using a facile and scalable fabrication process.


Contrary to popular rhetoric, studies have shown that the relationship between immigration and crime is null or negative. However, recent studies found that crime rates are high in second-generation immigrants. This study posits that exposure to violence (ETV) is one potential risk factor related to the increase in crime and delinquency among immigrant youth, particularly in second-generation youth. Results show that, at baseline, second-generation youth reported the highest direct ETV. Also, ETV is positively associated with deviant outcomes, especially in second-generation youth, whereas ethnic identity casts a negative effect on delinquency across groups. Study results support that direct ETV is one of the risk factors and contributes to levels of delinquency among immigrant generations.


Purpose: An 18-gene classifier (18-GC) was developed to identify breast cancer patients of lowand high-risk in any recurrence. However, the benefit of adjuvant radiotherapy for high-risk patients identified by the 18-GC is still unclear. This study was therefore performed to explore if these highrisk patient would benefit from adjuvant radiotherapy. Methods: Two hundred and thirteen patients with operable breast cancer were enrolled in the study. Propensity score analysis was conducted with ratio of 2:1 to match patients with (n=142) or without (n=71) adjuvant radiotherapy by age, T stage, N stage, tumor grade and ER status. We use pre-defined 18-gene scoring algorithm to define scores ≥ 21 and ≥ 44 as the high-risk group of Distant Recurrence (DR) and Local/Regional Recurrence (LRR), respectively. The primary outcome is 5-years Relapse Free Survival (RFS) rate. Results: Forty two of the 213 patients had an 18-GC risk score lower than 21 (low DR risk) whereas the remaining 171 had a score greater or equal to 21 (high DR risk). The lowand high-risk group had an RFS at 96.8% and 77.4%, respectively. The radiotherapy treatment and the high DR risk score was found to have a statistically significant interaction (P=0.0122). The 114 and 57 patients treated and untreated with radiotherapy had a 5-yr RFS at 85.7% and 61.3%, respectively (P=0.0008). Conclusion: The 18-GC can predict both the extent of radiotherapy benefit and the risk of recurrence of breast cancer.


The utility model relates to a variable speed control system for a condensate fan. The control system is formed by a pressure transmitter, a PID adjuster, the condensate fan and a frequency converter, wherein the pressure transmitter is used for measuring inlet pressure of a condenser, an output end of the pressure transmitter is connected with the PID adjuster; an output end of the PID adjuster is connected with the frequency changer; and an output end of the frequency converter is connected with a motor of the condensate fan. The variable speed control system for the condensate fan is capable of conducting stepless frequency conversion speed regulation for the condensate fan through automatic control function, and controlling condensate pressure within a reasonable range, thereby prolonging the service life of the fan, ensuring safe and steady running of a refrigerating system, and further producing good energy-saving effect.


A method to fabricate nano channels narrower than 50nm without the need for any nano lithography is presented. The nano channels are formed by cracking a thin film of silicon dioxide on a silicon substrate by residual stress alone. However, for controlled initiation of cracks on oxide, stress raisers are planted on a silicon substrate by deep RIE. These channels are used to study capillary driven fluid flow through nanochannels. Experimental analysis suggests that the flow rate is inversely proportional to the square root of time, which is in agreement with the theoretical model. From the theoretical plot that fits the experimental data the value of the proportionality constant is determined. From this value it is possible to back calculate the meniscus contact angle if we know the surface energy of the fluid or vice versa.Copyright © 2004 by ASME


DNA fragments of mitochondrial cytochrome b genewere efficiently amplified from four Parrotfishes(Scaridae) species: Scarus collana Ruppell 1835; Scarusfrenatus Lacepede 1802; Scarus (Chlorurus) sordidusForsskal 1775 and Scarus niger Forsskal 1775 using cytochromeb gene's specific primers. Analysis of obtainedDNA sequence exhibited high nucleotides identity/similarity which reflected a close genetic relationshipand shared ancestry among studied parrotfishes. Nucleotidecomposition of studied partial cytochrome b sequencesdisplayed anti-guanine contents and preferencetowards AT contents, also revealed a favoritism towardshigher DNA base conservations. Phylogentic analysisunder Maximum likelihood (ML) and Unweightedpair group method with arithmetic mean (UPMGA) statisticapproaches reflected species assembly/grouping patternsamong studied species and/with other includedrepresentatives taxa which confirmed their similar geneticformation and probably to have better niche cosurviving.The phylogentic trees revealed two evolutionarylineages of Scaridae (scarainae) and Wrasses thatprobably outline to that Scaridae be supposed to retainfamily status. Results obtained here are possibly beneficialfor valuable parootfishes taxonomy, management,and conservation issues. Additional generated partialDNA sequence from other parrotfishes using the samecytochrome b genes specific primers employed herecould provide useful contribution to parrotfishes classification,phylogenic evolutionary studies in the Red Searegion.


Everyday urbanism, a bottom-up planning approach, exemplifies the discourse in current planning practice through the lens of critical urbanism. This study uses morphological mapping, observation, and open- and closed-ended questionnaire responses to identify factors that facilitate everyday urbanism in a neighborhood in Abu Dhabi and offer an action plan for putting everyday urbanism into practice. Findings indicate that everyday urbanism is facilitated by both formal planning and bottom-up interventions. Planning education and practice should teach, train, and encourage people-centered planning in a context-sensitive way that adapts to the social and cultural needs of the community.


Purpose – This purpose of this article is to identify important factors that influence consumers' responses to pro-social loyalty programs (pro-social LPs). These positive marketing programs reflect represent an emerging phenomenon in relationship marketing associated with companies' corporate social responsibility (CSR). Design/methodology/approach – The test of the proposed model relied on data from 350 US consumers, obtained through web-based experiments. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling. Findings – The results showed that consumers' CSR-driven cognition (CSR beliefs) and reciprocal emotion (feeling of gratitude) enhance their attitudes toward pro-social LPs and increased participation intentions. The perceived value of pro-social LPs also improved consumer attitudes and participation intentions. Practical implications – Pro-social LPs offer a noteworthy approach to relationship marketing that benefits both service providers that engage in CSR and society overall. Original...


Based on the LUCC data of 1984and 2000,this paper used logistic regression analysis and CLUE-S model to forecast the land use spatial patterns of 2006and 2009.A series of natural and socio-economic factors were used as driving factors.Compared to the interpreted LUCC data,the predicted result has the high accuracy with Kappa up to 0.75.The result indicates that The CLUE-S model can simulate the LUCC of coastal zone of Tinjin Binhai New area in a higher accuracy.Based on the adjusted model parameters,the land use patterns of 2020were simulated for the natural increase scenario,economic development scenario,and ecological protection scenario,respectively.The results show that there are obvious differences between spatial patterns of LUCC for different scenarios.The simulation results under economic development scenario are coincided with the reality.The forecasting maps indicate that the study area is still in a rapid development in the future.It will be speeding up the process of urbanization and much of the agricultural land will be appropriated,pond water surface will be cut and fill,and ecosystem will be seriously damaged.


Neutrophilic dermatosis of the dorsal hands (NDDH) is a rare cutaneous condition of the dorsum of the hands characterized by painful, erythematous plaques, pustules, and bullae on the dorsum of the hand or digits. It was first described by Strutton et al. (1995). Histologically, there is a dense neutrophilic infiltrate sometimes associated with a leukocytoclastic vasculitis. A 41-year-old woman presented with a 5-day history of worsening ischaemia of the entire tip of her left index finger. There was a painful, pustular nodule present on the dorsum of the distal phalanx. It was located on the radial aspect of the distal phalanx and measured approximately 1 x 1 cm. The distal phalanx was erythematous and cool to the touch with a delayed capillary refill. She had no systemic symptoms of fever, arthralgia, or malaise. There was no history of diabetes mellitus or trauma. A radiograph of her hands showed no abnormalities. She was treated initially with antibiotics. A dermatology opinion was sought and a diagnosis of neutrophilic dermatosis of the dorsal hands was made. The patient was started on minocycline and prednisolone. The pustular eruption was biopsied (Figures 1, 2).


In the article the results of a study of the phenomenon of cooperation in view of its interpretation by representatives of different scientific fields of human knowledge, including the positions of synergetics as a science, has an interdisciplinary character.


An evolution model of data fusion system based on evolution procedure of nervous system is proposed. There are lots of similar characteristics between the evolution of nervous system and the development of data fusion system. It is reasonable to try to find guidelines in the theory of nervous system. For example, the function and structure of data fusion nodes almost take a same role as neurons in nervous system do, so we name the data fusion nodes as data fusion units. Just as the nervous system, the basic evolution architectures of data fusion system include four phases: Chaos (Autonomous), Fully Distributed, Centralized, and Internal Model Based Hierarchical. In the last phase of evolution, interface among unites become independent intelligent parts step by step. It provides a more flexible hierarchical data fusion architecture, which makes it be possible to simulate the regulation and adaptation mechanism of nervous system. The application analyses of these mechanisms to the data fusion systems proved that this dynamic hierarchy architecture is capable of deciding not only what to fuse and how to fuse but also when to fuse.


: Bioretention is an efficient low impact development to reducing urban non-point source pollution. This paper studies a bioretention which was settled on one sides of urban roads. In three rainfall events, the content of TSS (Total Suspended Solids), TN (Total Nitrogen), TP (Total Phosphorus) NH 4+ -N, NO 3— N, Cu and Zn in inflow and outflow of the bioretention were analysed, and the bioretention's ability to reduce pollutants was evaluated. This work provides a reference for the design and construction of bioretention.


Although branding management is important to an airline company, the existing literature on brand equity within the airline industry is sparse. This study proposes an airline brand equity model from the customer's perspective and ope rationalize s the airline brand equity with four dimensions: brand awareness, brand image, perceived quality, and brand loyalty. In addition, the inter-relationships among four dimensions and their influences on brand equity are investigated empirically. Using an empirical survey data of Taiwanese air passengers, the results reveal that brand loyalty, among other brand equity components, is the main determinant of brand equity, and a causal relationship between perceptual and behavioral dimensions is confirmed in terms of inter-relationships among brand equity components. Managerial implications in brand management and customer relationship management to the airline industry are provided.


In this chapter, an intelligent Computer Vision (CV) system, for the automatic defect detection and classification of the terminals in a Bussed Electrical Center (BEC) is presented. The system is able to detect and classify three types of defects in a set of the seven lower pairs of terminals of a BEC namely: a) twisted; b) damaged and c) missed. First, an environment to acquire a total of 56 training and test images was created. After that, the image preprocessing is performed by defining a Region Of Interest (ROI) followed by a binarization and a morphological operation to remove small objects. Then, the segmentation stage is computed resulting in a set of 12-14 labeled zones. A vector of 56 features is extracted for each image containing information of area, centroid and diameter of all terminals segmented. Finally, the classification is performed using a K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) algorithm. Experimental results on 28 BEC images have shown an accuracy of 92.8% of the proposed system, allowing changes in brightness, contrast and salt and pepper noise. Automatic Defect Detection and Classification of Terminals in a Bussed Electrical Center Using Computer Vision Osslan Osiris Vergara Villegas Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, Mexico Vianey Guadalupe Cruz Sánchez Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, Mexico Humberto de Jesús Ochoa Domínguez Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, Mexico Jorge Luis García-Alcaraz Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez, Mexico


Abstract At present time, Ukraine faces the problem of small margins of acceptance criteria in connection with the implementation of a conservative approach for safety evaluations. The problem is particularly topical conducting feasibility analysis of power up-rating for Ukrainian nuclear power plants. Such situation requires the implementation of a best-estimate approach on the basis of an uncertainty analysis. For some kind of accidents, such as loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA), the best estimate approach is, more or less, developed and established. However, for reactivity initiated accident (RIA) analysis an application of best estimate method could be problematical. A regulatory document in Ukraine defines a nomenclature of neutronics calculations and so called "generic safety parameters" which should be used as boundary conditions for all VVER-1000 (V-320) reactors in RIA analysis. In this paper the ideas of uncertainty evaluations of generic safety parameters in RIA analysis in connection with the use of the 3D neutron kinetic code DYN3D and the GRS SUSA approach are presented.


Assessment on ideology and politics teaching in university aims to help teachers to find the right direction of teaching,encourage them to improve the quality of teaching and achieve the goals of teaching.Nowadays,problems in teaching assessment have weakened its function,therefore it needs to be studied and modified.


The present invention, in terms of the relationship between the leakage power, or the interface state density at the time of forming a device on a SOI substrate, is the interface state density of the SOI substrate for the measurement and a high-frequency of the measuring in advance the resistance, the equivalent resistance and a step place determined the relationship between the leakage power, evaluated by measuring the interface state density of the SOI substrate subject to obtain the interface state density, or a step to obtain the resistance to be converted on the basis of the interface state density, subject to a measurement evaluation SOI from the interface state density of the substrate, from the resistance that is converted from the interface state density in the SOI substrate the subject on the basis of the interface state density, and a relationship between the leakage power beforehand determined, evaluating the leakage power of the SOI substrate subject to evaluation, or the evaluation measurement, in advance based on the calculated resistance and the relationship between the leakage power, it has a step of evaluating the leakage power of the SOI substrate subject to evaluation An evaluation method of an SOI substrate, characterized by. Thus, without actually measuring the high-frequency characteristics, it can be evaluated in a suitable substrate for a high frequency by a simple method as possible.


Mona Lindqvist, Speaking about social suffering? Subjective understandings and lived experiences of migrant women and therapists. Karlstad: Department of Social and Psychological Studies, Karlstad University, 2016 : Subjective understandings and lived experiences of migrant women and therapists. Karlstad


Education for all has been stipulated in the Preamble of 1945 Constitution of Republic of Indonesia. As from the proclamation of Independence Day, the Indonesian government has been developing national education to give the Indonesians equal and broad opportunity to have access for education. This article discusses the implementation of nine years' compulsory education program to provide the citizens with equal access for education and simultanously to improve basic education quality. The discussion is focused in planning, implementation, and outcomes of the program, as it is assumed that the three aspects are inter-related each others in achieving the target. The discussion concludes, the nine years' compulsory education program in Indonesia is implemented through improving the opportunity to have basic education for all school age children and simultaneously to accelerate the quality of education. However, to reach the target of quality some recommendations are provided.


In this work, we applied eddy-current-testing-based HTS-SQUID non-destructive inspection (ECT-based HTS-SQUID NDI) system for inspection of metal 3D additive manufacturing (AM) objects, which were made of AlSi10Mg powder with powder bed fusion (PBF) method. The inspection system combines an ECT probe with an HTS-SQUID gradiometer as high sensitive readout magnetic sensor in low frequency range to overcome disadvantage of conventional ECT. We prepared 5 samples with different densities by changing parameters in the PBF process. Densities of the samples #1–#5 were estimated to be 2.65, 2.64, 2.62, 2.58, and 2.51 g/cm3, respectively. The samples were measured by the inspection system with an excitation current of 20 mA at 1.6 kHz, and lift-off of about 1 mm. In inspection results, anomalous magnetic patterns appeared on the sample #3, #4 and #5. The inspection results were verified with X-ray CT scanning. Comparison between the ECT inspection and the X-ray CT results reveals that the positions of the anomalous magnetic patterns show strong correlation with the positions of high porosity existing in the samples.


In the building and construction sector (AEC) one of the Project Management Knowledge Areas is "Project Risk Management" which describes the processes concerned with identifying, analyzing, and responding to project risk. It consists of risk management planning, risk identification, qualitative and quantitative risk analysis, risk response planning and risk monitoring and control. This paper exposes the specifications of a decision making tool to evaluate risks, analyzing them in the first stages of a project where the feasibility studies are carried out and also during the execution phase. This application will provide technical solutions and preventive measures for the evaluated risks and it will control and monitor them along the life cycle of the project. This tool will be based on an ontology whose development is essential for effective webbased concurrent project creation. Ontologies support knowledge management through the use of common taxonomies, axioms and non-taxonomical relationships. Therefore, this paper presents a domain ontology that should act as basis for the specific domains of "Project Risk Management" in the AEC sector.


This paper applies theoretical review and quotation of existing data to perform empirical analysis.Based on briefing the definition and measurements of happiness,the author firstly states three stages of studies on the relationship between income and happiness and discusses whether the increasing of income results in more happiness.Following this,concepts such as social comparison,adaptation level theory and aspiration level theory are introduced to deliver the explanation,combining both economic and psychological analyses.


What can we say, in good faith, about the moral status of animals? This article explores the above question through the prism of Emmanuel Levinas' theory of ethics. I begin by examining the ambiguous position of non-human animals in Levinas' writings. I argue that Levinas' theory is best read as suggesting that nonhumans present claims for recognition as ethical beings, but that these demands have a different character to those presented by humans. I then explore the implications of Levinas' view of ethics for the structure of moral reasoning. I contend that Levinas' theory yields a conception of moral reasoning as reflective, good faith engagement with primordial social judgements of ethical significance. In the final part of the article, I suggest that it is both possible and constructive to thematise the ethical claims of non-human animals in the language of rights. Indeed, from a Levinasian perspective, animal rights might properly be viewed as a model for the notion of human rights, since they capture the essential asymmetry of the ethical encounter.


An image encryption method based on fractional Fourier transform (FRFT) and odd-even quantification is proposed in this paper. First of all, Arnold transform is used to scramble a binary watermark image P to obtain W. The carrier image I is divided into 8×8 overlapping blocks, and then a FRFT with an order of (a,b) is performed on each block. After that, odd-even quantification is carried out on the transform coefficients of each block. Then one-bit watermark information is embedded into each block. Finally, the FRFT with an order of (-a,-b) is performed on each block embedded with the watermark information, obtaining the watermarked image. Simulation and various attack tests are carried out. The results show that the algorithm has very good robustness against image cut, salt and pepper noise, brightness adjustment, contrast adjustment, etc. The keys also have more degrees of freedom and better sensitivity, improving the image encryption performance.


A curable adhesive composition of two-component solvent comprising: (A) a polyol component and (B) a polyisocyanate component, wherein the viscosity of the mixture at 80 immediately after the time the components (A) and (B) are mixed together is not less than 900 mPas.


Aiming at solving low precision and high power consumption of the traditional gas flowmeters,flow measurement principle,driving transducers by low voltage,signal receiving and transmitting,power consumption were researched,and the novel ultrasonic gas flowmeter based on ultra-low power singlechip EFM32 and high precision chip TDC-GP22 was proposed. The novel ultrasonic gas flowmeter was tested by flow calibrating test rig. The results indicate that the novel ultrasonic gas flowmeter can real-timely acquire gas flow,gas concentration,pressure and temperature. The flowmeter is promising to be applied by its high precision and ultra-low power consumption.


A discussion of the modification of the phase-space commutators in a quantum mechanical relativistic theory with an invariant length scale (DSR) is presented. Two examples are discussed where a classical behavior is approached in one case when the energy approaches the inverse of the invariant length which appears as a cutoff in the energy and in the second case when the mass is much larger than the inverse of the invariant length.


Summary This 3-year-old boy with recurrent respiratory dis-tress, anemia, evidence of pulmonary hemor-rhage, and chest CT scans suggesting the pres-ence of a chronic disease had no evidence of renal disease or a systemic vasculitis. His condition ap-peared to respond to treatment with corticoste-roids, which is consistent with idiopathic pulmo-nary hemosiderosis. The diagnostic procedure in this case was probably a lung biopsy to rule out vasculitis and to confirm the presence of alveolar hemorrhage. Dr. Nancy Lee Harris (Pathology): Dr. Kinane, would you give us your thoughts when you saw this patient? Dr. T. Bernard Kinane: Although the clinical pre-sentation was typical of idiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis, we believed that a biopsy was necessary to rule out other processes, such as pulmonary venous obstruction or a rare intersti-tial lung disease, because of the lack of hemosid-erin-laden macrophages on the bronchoalveolar-lavage specimen and the somewhat atypical findings on the chest radiographs and the CT scans.Clinical DiagnosisIdiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis.Dr. Debra Boyer's DiagnosisIdiopathic pulmonary hemosiderosis.


The neonatal incubator is a developed project that has the purpose of to expand skills from the technical knowledge in Engineering and it is a challenge if we consider the needs in the health technology field. Thus, developing and executing strategies that optimize the learning process is the utmost importance to provide to the students some skills as pro-activity. Emphasizing the need to develop equipment for the improvement of medicine and biological sciences in general, we have that, acquire equipment capable of contributing to the technological evolution in the medical field has been comprehensive, because the advances of biological systems and apparatus that help the health professional became common worldwide. However, in general, medical equipments are really expensive. In view of this problem and


Jarisch-Hcrxheimer reaction may occur during antimicrobial treatment of a patient with infectious disease mainly eaused by spirochaetes. The reaction takes place within 24-36 h after the administration of the drug and it is characterized by fever and exacerbation of clinical symptoms and cutaneous manifestations [1]. It disappears within two days [1]. Jarisch-Herxheimer reaction was first described during the treatment of syphilis [2,3], relapsing fever [4] and more recently during the treatment of falciparum malaria [5] and an infectious disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi [6]. Penicillin, sometimes tetracycline, and rarely other antimicrobial agents are its commonest causes. We report here on a case of Lyme borreliosis in a child who presented a JarischHerxheimer reaction after treatment with Josamycin.


Infiltrating virtually all aspects of scientific discourse is the persistent notion that race is a biologic construct. To this end, the use of race as a biologic variable to study health disparities may inadvertently promote a notion of biologic inferiority between races. But how did we arrive at this point? Specifically, within the United States, the concept of equality became a central pillar in developing the original 13 colonies; however, chattel slavery was a vital portion of the economic development. As such, this concept applied only to property-owning White men. With the rising anti-Black sentiment and prevailing thoughts that Whites were more intelligent and more human than Blacks, race was used to categorize groups of people based on physical characteristics and appearance. For this reason, the author Ta-Nehisi Coates brilliantly stated, "Race is the child of racism, not the father."


Introduction Prediction models for clinical outcome after carotid artery stenting or carotid endarterectomy could aid physicians in estimating peri- and postprocedural risks in individual patients. We aimed to identify existing prediction models for short- and long-term outcome after carotid artery stenting or carotid endarterectomy in patients with symptomatic or asymptomatic carotid stenosis, and to summarise their most important predictors and predictive performance. Patients and methods We performed a systematic literature search for studies that developed a prediction model or risk score published until 22 December 2016. Eligible prediction models had to predict the risk of vascular events with at least one patient characteristic. Results We identified 37 studies that developed 46 prediction models. Thirty-four (74%) models were developed in carotid endarterectomy patients; 27 of these (59%) predicted short-term (in-hospital or within 30 days) risk. Most commonly predicted outcome was stroke or death (n = 12; 26%). Age (n = 31; 67%), diabetes mellitus (n = 21; 46%), heart failure (n = 16; 35%), and contralateral carotid stenosis ≥50% or occlusion (n = 16; 35%) were most commonly used as predictors. For 25 models (54%), it was unclear how missing data were handled; a complete case analysis was performed in 15 (33%) of the remaining 21 models. Twenty-eight (61%) models reported the full regression formula or risk score with risk classification. Twenty-one (46%) models were validated internally and 12 (26%) externally. Discriminative performance (c-statistic) ranged from 0.66 to 0.94 for models after carotid artery stenting and from 0.58 to 0.74 for models after carotid endarterectomy. The c-statistic ranged from 0.55 to 0.72 for the external validations. Discussion Age, diabetes mellitus, heart failure, and contralateral carotid stenosis ≥50% or occlusion were most often used as predictors in all models. Discriminative performance (c-statistic) was higher for prediction models after carotid artery stenting than after carotid endarterectomy. Conclusion The clinical usefulness of most prediction models for short- or long-term outcome after carotid artery stenting or carotid endarterectomy remains unclear because of incomplete reporting, methodological limitations, and lack of external validation.


Purity, density, and homogeneity results from manufacturing processes used to produce Ti, Mo, Ta, and W silicide sputtering cathodes have been evaluated in the light of sputtering characteristics. Resulting thin film properties of sheet resistivity, stoichiometry, and homogeneity were also determined. Metallographic studies of cathode materials are presented, along with sputtering parameters for planar silicide cathodes and film annealing conditions.


The purpose of this paper is to identify and evaluate major diversion of state aid in Poland in the recent years. On this basis the author formulated proposals for better targeting and using of the state aid in Poland in the future. The structure of this article includes: comparative analysis of the state aid in Poland and European Union, characteristic of area of support with an indication of the importance of state aid for social and economic development in Poland. In particular, it took into consideration largeness, forms and allocations of the state aid. Also, the author evaluated the effectiveness of the actions and effect of the state aid in the sphere of competition.latach


A rigorous and efficient method is presented for calculation of root-mean-square (r.m.s.) von Mises stresses for linear structures excited by stationary random loads. The r.m.s. value is expressed in terms of the zero time-lag covariance matrix of the loads, which in most applications of structural analysis will be calculated from frequency-domain, stress-component transfer functions and the cross-spectral density matrix of the applied loads. The key relation presented is one suggested in past literature, but that does not appear to have been exploited previously in this manner. The exact determination of r.m.s. von Mises stress is used to demonstrate that the Miles relation, commonly used in design, can be conservative or non-conservative. Finally, because of the efficiency with which the exact r.m.s. von Mises stress can be calculated, the analyst can now perform surveys on von Mises stresses routinely, allowing a thorough investigation into the reliability of an engineering design.


Abstract. The climatic conditions along the northern Antarctic Peninsula have shown significant changes within the last 50 years. Here we present a comprehensive analysis of temporally and spatially detailed observations of the changes in ice dynamics along both the east and west coastlines of the northern Antarctic Peninsula. Temporal evolutions of glacier area (1985–2015) and ice surface velocity (1992–2014) are derived from a broad multi-mission remote sensing database for 74 glacier basins on the northern Antarctic Peninsula (


Synopsis In this paper, the number of conjugacy classes in a finite group G is analysed in terms of the number of ordered pairs that generate it. Using this relation, we give a new elementary proof of one of A. Mann's results for finite groups, namely: |G| ≡ r(G) (mod. d|G|. δ|G|), where , prime and pi ≠ Pj for every i≠j, r(G) denotes the number of conjugacy classes of elements of G, d|G| = g.c.d. (p1 − 1, … pt − 1) and δ|G| = g.c.d. . The above congruence is obtained without using character theory. We also obtain new local congruences that slightly improve Mann's congruence.


The present invention relates to the field of agricultural machinery. Automatic Diaogua take seed machine includes a frame, a motor, melon breaking means, separating means and the seed meat seed film removing apparatus, and broken flesh melon seed separating means mounted on the frame means; holder is provided with a rack, pouring water , the interlocking system and an outlet; interlocking system comprises a lever mechanism and the gear set; melon break through bracket means mounted on the frame, comprising a feed hopper means breaking melon, melon mechanism and the cutting mechanism broken melon. Diaogua take advantage of the automatic machine is a novel seed structure, the seed takes Diaogua entire process is completely automated, high processing efficiency.


Scaling and root planing is mechanical non-surgical therapy which can be applied to treatment of almost all periodontal disease except for the cases of gingival overgrowth. Also, this procedure can be used in all areas except where curette access is difficult such as in the furcation areas. Longitudinal studies suggest that scaling and root planing is as effective as surgical procedures in arresting destructive periodontal disease. Scaling and root planing results in a gain of clinical attachment due to improved tissue tonus and maintenance care appears to sustain over time the results obtained with active non-surgical therapy. In addition, scaling and root planing is quite effective in treatment of acute periodontal abscess. Most treated patients experienced complete resolution of swelling and other clinical symptoms of periodontal abscess can be anticipated in a week's period. A recent study shows gingival crevicular fluid collagenolytic activity is reduced significantly by non-surgical therapy. However, complete removal of subgingival calculus is difficult, especially when probing pocket depth exceeds 5 mm. Scaling and root planing does not induce regeneration of lost connective tissue attachment. Frequently, the healing pattern after scaling and root planing is of a long junctional epithelium. This condition is not ideal, but even after surgical procedures a long junctional epithelium also usually develops. The potential of successful non-surgical therapy is greater than previously thought. Unfortunately, its efficacy is often reduced, apparently due to limited accessibility and visibility. In this thesis, new methods enhancing the effectiveness of scaling and root planing have been studied multifariously. Single episode of subgingival chlorhexidine irrigation after scaling and root planing attains a greater reduction of the surface bacterial deposit when compaired with scaling and root planing only. Application of citric acid gel after scaling and root planing is also promising for it may remove large amount of remaining plaque and calculus. Currently, studies on the clinical effect of tetracycline gel on the root surface are in process. Presently, clinicians have to rely on surgical measures in root concavities and furcation areas where calculus removal is thought to be difficult. Further studies are needed to develop methods to overcome the limitations of the blind technique of scaling and root planing and to find out the possibility of adjunctive use of several agents.


Objective: To explore the clinical influence of health education of jaundice at early stage for disease rate of new-born. Methods: 735 cases of new-born were randomly divided into experimental group (n= 369) and control group (n=366).Control groups were given routine health education and experimental group were given targeted health education. Results: The disease rate in experimental group was 3.8 %,and in control group was 19.4,the rate in experimental group were significantly shorter than that in control group (P 0.01),and the finding time and cure time in two groups showed significant difference,too. Conclusion: Carrying on targeted health education for parents of new-born,can significantly decrease the disease rate of jaundice and improve the life quality of new-born,so it deserved application and promotion in clinical work.


This paper presents theory for the Lagrange co-rotational (CR) formulation of finite elements in the geometrically nonlinear analysis of 3D structures. In this paper strains are assumed to be small while the magnitude of rotations from the reference configuration is not restricted. A new best fit rotator and consistent spin filter are derived. Lagrange CR formulation is applied with Hybrid Trefftz Stress elements, although presented methodology can be applied to arbitrary problem formulation and discretization technique, f.e. finite volume methods and lattice models, discreet element methods. Efficiency of CR formulation can be utilized in post-buckling stability analysis, damage and fracture mechanics, modelling of dynamic fragmentation of bodies made from quasi-brittle materials, solid fluid interactions and analysis of post-stressed structures, discreet body dynamics.


The purpose of the paper is to investigate the nature of variations among established and emerging middle class consumers in South Africa in response to the institution context factors associated with emerging markets that are established in international business studies.,An exploratory research approach using semi-structured expert interviews was used to collect data.,Key findings indicate distinct approaches in dealing with factors such as different fallback positions, asset ownership, education, language, family responsibility, career aspirations and risk protection in the middle class process of attaining and sustaining middle class status.,The focus on one country has the potential to minimize the generalizability of findings from the study, however, South Africa has a significantly high proportion of sub-Saharan middle class consumers. This provides a basis for further a basis for further research into other sub-Saharan African countries.,Findings from the study provide practical insights on risk profiling of middle-class consumers for marketing practitioners.,The study provides insights into the distinct variations between emerging and established middle class consumers in areas such as language and education. These insights have potential implications on the implementation of government policies such as the Empowerment Policy and consumer protection.,The paper expands the research agenda in the area of middle class consumer behavior in emerging markets. By concentrating on South Africa, the research expands existing knowledge beyond emerging giants like China and India, which are often a focus in literature.


Parthenium hysierophaons L. is a hazardous Weetf of many parts of the world. It cause various allergies like contact dermatitis or eczema, hay fever, asthma and bronchitis. This weed* entered India about three decades ago and has now spread throughout the couatry. Its spread and: distribution in India and abroad have been- discussed.


The mechanical impedance formulae of a composite bar are deduced according to the longitudinal vibration theory in this paper,and the modal mass and the fundamental frequency are estimated by Rayleigh method.The composite bar is tested on the impedance platform facility with single point excitation and the mechanical impedance data are obtained.The initial modal parameters are then identified with the experimental approach,theoretical approach and hybrid approach.After these,the optimal modal parameters are identified by nonlinear least square method called Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm.Research work shows that the single degree of freedom discrete system model using the optimal modal parameters coincides with the experimental data very well,and it can well describe the dynamic properties of the composite bar in the frequency range of test.


Medicinal plants have been very intensively screened for their bioactivity in order to treat various disease and disorders in human. In the present study, crude leaves extracts with different solvents (methanol, ethanol and aqueous) of Petunia axillaris were evaluated for antibacterial activity against medically important human pathogenic bacterial strains including two gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus sp.) and two gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeroginosa and Salmonella typhimurium). The different extracts were tested for the presence of antibacterial activity by agar well diffusion assay (AWDA) method. The leaves extracts with different solvents showed significant antibacterial activity against all the tested four bacterial strains. Among the tested bacterial strains, Staphylococcus aureus was highly susceptible to the extract as compared with other three bacterial strains. The results also showed that the methanolic extract of Petunia axillaris was the most effective as the widest inhibitory zone was observed as compared to the ethanolic as well as aqueous extract. The use of leaves extracts of the Petunia axillaris with known antibacterial properties can be of great significance in therapeutic treatments.


Research has shown that creating an online learning community is vital in Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) training programs and can be facilitated via the Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework. For professional learners, an online learning community is influenced by their organizational affiliations. The purpose of this research is to explore learning experiences in groups of professional learners with different and homogenous organizational affiliations in an asynchronous online MBSE module. Through the case study methodology, this research examines four sources of data from two cases: Case 1—learners from different organizations (n = 7); and Case 2—overwhelming majority of learners from the same organization (n = 19). Results showed that learners from the same organization reported higher social presence, which, in turn, corresponded to a higher cognitive presence and higher motivation for future MBSE learning. Based on our findings, we recommend that organizations seeking MBSE adoption coordinate with online course providers to create cohorts to participate in the same offerings to facilitate the process of learning community building. We also recommend MBSE course providers facilitate social interaction on multiple communication platforms and create orientation activities for learners from different organizations to promote social presence.


The thermal stability and topotactic transition of Ti 3 SiC 2 in vacuum, argon and air have been investigated by synchrotron radiation diffraction (SRD), in-situ neutron diffraction (ND) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS). In the presence of a low oxygen partial pressure such as in vacuum or argon, Ti 3 SiC 2 undergoes a surface dissociation to form non-stoichiometric TiC and/or Ti 5 Si 3 C at 1200°C. In contrast, it forms non-stoichiometric surface oxides of rutile at 1000°C and cristobalite at 1300°C when exposed to an oxygen-rich environment. Near-surface depth profiling of vacuum-treated Ti 3 SiC 2 by SIMS has revealed a distinct gradation in phase composition and confirmed the existence of Ti 5 Si 3 C in solid solution with oxygen.


In this paper, we study handoff control for point to multipoint (PMP) connections in mobile ATM networks. First, we introduce the background knowledge of PMP connections. Next, we define the primary functions required for mobility support in PMP connections. Then, we discuss the special issues for the handoff control in all three types of PMP connections, such as crossover switch (COS) discovery and handoff path re-routing. Based on our previous handoff protocol design for point to point connection, we propose a protocol for PMP connections signaling mechanism which works with all three types of PMP connections and has lossless control function. A signaling syntax for the protocol is given and the sequence is illustrated.


Nanostructured tin sulfide (SnS) films were grown by chemical bath deposition (CBD) employing trisodium citrate (TSC) as complex agent. Investigation of the effect of different molar concentrations of TSC (0.10, 0.15 and 0.20 M) on the phases of  SnS was done. Structure, morphology and optical properties were studied through the use of x-ray diffraction XRD, which proves that the as-prepared SnS films orthorhombic polycrystalline structure. XRD displays that peak of maximum intensity corresponds to the preferred orientation (002) of SnS films at TSC concentration 0.20 M. The decrement of average crystalline size values was due increment of TSC content. A study of SnS morphology indicates the presence of homogeneous grains, while when concentration of TSC of 0.20 M, the grains were not homogeneous and have different sizes. The AFM image showed that the grain size was observed in the area of 72.57 nm to 60.35 nm with concentration of TSC from 0.10 M to 0.20 M respectively. The results showed excellent optical transparency. The optical transmittance reduced from 95 to 80% with increasing TSC content. The ban gap was also reduced of 1.45 to 1.25 eV with increasing TSC content. The results refer that TCS act as a  crucial role in the grown of SnS films.


TOSHIHIDE SUDO is with Nippon Credit Bank Ltd. firm filing a bankruptcy petition generally will either be liquidated under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code or be reorganized under A Chapter 11. (Occasionally, a debtor will liquidate under Chapter 11.) The purpose of the Bankruptcy Code is to give the debtor: 1) time to decide whether to reorganize or liquidate; and 2) time to formulate a plan of action.' Once a company files for protection under the Bankruptcy Code, the company generally becomes a "debtor-in-possession," continuing to operate its business under the supervision of the court. When a firm is liquidated, creditors receive distributions based on the "absolute priority rule," to the extent that assets are available. The absolute priority rule is the principle that senior creditors are paid in full before junior creditors are paid anything. For secured creditors, the absolute priority rule guarantees their seniority to unsecured creditors and equityholders. For unsecured creditors, the absolute priority rule guarantees their seniority to equityholders. In liquidations, the absolute priority rule generally holds, although there is a good body of literature (Meckling [1977], Miller [1977], Warner [1977], and Jackson [1986]) that argues that strict absolute priority has not been upheld by the courts or the SEC. Franks and Torous [1989] and Weiss [1990] have found that the violation of absolute priority is common. Failure of the courts to follow strict absolute priority has implications for the capital structure of a firm. The view by Black and Scholes [1973] that the firm is effectively owned by creditors who have sold the shareholders a call option on the firm's assets is not sustainable if the stockholders are not viewed as residual claimants. In derivation of the pricing of risky debt,


Bipolar Cascade Lasers (BCLs) differ from typical semiconductor laser diodes by its ability to potentially produce more than one photon for every carrier injected into the device. This ability to achieve a quantum efficiency greater than 100% is accomplished by electrically and optically connecting more than one active region in series. Within MIT, gas source molecular beam epitaxy technology is used to deposit the epilayers necessary to create a BCL on GaAs substrates. These lasers contain two active regions that are connected in series by a tunnel junction, in which each active region contains an 8 nm thick In0.2Ga0.8As quantum well with GaAs barriers. The tunnel junction consists of a highly doped p-n junction placed in reverse bias with respect to the overall laser structure. The BCL operates by first injecting a carrier into the first quantum well, where it experiences a radiative interband transition. The carrier then tunnels from the first active region to the second active region, where it undergoes another radiative interband transition. Hence, a single injected carrier experiences multiple radiative transitions, thereby achieving greater than 100% quantum efficiency.


Based on the idea of taking simultaneous advantage of the effects of different types of fibers, new materials called Hybrid Fiber Reinforced Concretes (HyFRC) have been developed by combining fibers of different geometry and material. In the present paper, the benefits in terms of concrete toughness and shrinkage cracking from a combination of micro polypropylene fibers and macro steel fibers are presented. Concrete toughness was evaluated by means of bending tests on notched beams (according to Italian Standard UNI 11039) while an experimental set-up was developed for performing shrinkage tests to simulate the behavior of thin elements where cracking may occur. A numerical simulation based on non linear fracture mechanics (NLFM) of the experimental test was carried out in order to better identify the fiber contribution in the fracture propagation. The experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of a hybrid system where macro-fibers enhance the concrete toughness while polypropylene micro-fibers reduce shrinkage cracks. XVIII Convegno Nazionale IGF Cetraro (CS), 31 Maggio – 1 Giugno 2006


Liquid precursor infiltration technique is capable of incorporating a desired content of exotic elements with controllable distribution.The research history and progress of infiltration technique are reviewed,which demonstrated its features by analyzing mass transferring mechanisms,the types and properties of the green body and precursors,and unveiled the possibility of manipulating the composition and properties of the final material via adjusting infiltration processing parameters.The preceding investigations confirm that as a general strategy,liquid precursor infiltration technique boasts the potential of wider application for other materials,since it possesses the unique advantage in achieving minor content doping with high homogeneity,surface modification,gradient and functional materials and could serve as a promising technology in the future.


Animal models of diabetes have been widely used in experimental studies because they offer promise of new insights into human diabetes. Streptozotocin (STZ)–treated rats are an animal model of insulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus commonly used to study peripheral nervous system alterations even though the changes do not fully match the alterations observed in clinical conditions. Nevertheless, animal studies can be informative as to the changes that develop in the early stages of human diabetes. Male Wistar rats (n = 12) at 42 days of age were used. Induced diabetic animals (n=6) were fasted for 12 hours prior to being injected intraperitoneally with STZ (60mg/kg) in a single dose. Control animals (n=6) received vehicle. Ten weeks after STZ injection the animals were perfused intracardially with Karnovsky solution. Right and left sciatic nerves were dissected and processed for epoxy resin embedding. Samples were imaged with a transmission electron microscope. Large myelinated fibers with morphological signs of axonal atrophy in the sciatic nerves were readily observed. We also showed smaller myelinated fibers with sighs of demyelination. These results suggest that chronic STZ‐induced diabetes in rats caused alterations in the myelinated fibers as well as in the Schwann cells, compatible to the classic diabetes signs and symptoms reported in humans.


Most of the phenology detection studies aimed to capture single seasonal crop growth cycles per year. However, the phenological variability in agriculture, especially connected with winter crops interposed to summer crops, demonstrates the necessity of deriving more than one crop cycle per year (e.g. Patel & Oza, 2014; Li et al., 2014). Moreover, remote sensing of phenology has been largely applied using MODIS normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data with a spatial resolution of 250 m, which is often not sufficient to resolve highly fragmented agricultural land surfaces. The opportunities for deriving phenological indicators at high spatial resolution improved radically in 2008 when the Landsat program opened its archive (Woodcock et al. 2008).


As we noted earlier in this report, the DoD has a Congressional mandate to evaluate TSSD and make recommendations about its suitability as a permanent national program. The mandated evaluation was to include: 1. An analysis of the costs of the demonstration project to the United States and to the eligible individuals who participate in such a demonstration project 2. An assessment of the extent to which the demonstration project satisfies the requirements of such eligible individuals for the health care services available under the demonstration project 3. An assessment of the effect, if any, of the demonstration project on military medical readiness 4. A description of the rate of enrollment in the demonstration project of the individuals who were eligible to enroll in the demonstration project 5. An assessment of whether the demonstration project provides the most suitable model for a program to provide adequate health care services to the population consisting of eligible individuals 6. An evaluation of any other matters that the Secretary of Defense considers appropriate. We address each of these points in turn in this chapter. For most beneficiaries who lacked Medicare supplemental coverage, or who were paying for private Medigap coverage, the TSSD benefit had the potential to substantially reduce their out-of-pocket costs for medical care and significantly reduce the risk of catastrophic out-of-pocket costs, relative to the status quo. Because there was no meaningful way for us to assess the empirical effect of TSSD on health care costs (due to the very low enrollment), this conclusion about cost is based on our assessment of the actuarial value of the benefit in relation to its cost and the fact that enrollees overwhelmingly identified lower costs, good benefits, and prescription drug coverage as reasons for enrollment. TSSD represented a substantially more-generous benefit than any of the standard Medigap policies (particularly regarding prescription drugs), with generally 72 lower monthly premiums, guaranteed access for beneficiaries, and no medical underwriting. At the same time, the relative benefits of TSSD would be reduced somewhat for beneficiaries who lack access to TRICARE network providers, both because the level of coverage is lower for nonnetwork providers and because many network providers would require TSSD beneficiaries to file claims for reimbursement. We found some geographic differences within and between the two TSSD demonstration sites in the availability of TRICARE network providers. We note that TSSD included some cost-sharing by beneficiaries, which TFL …


This report describes the conceptual framework upon which modeling activities will be needed to predict the chemistry of water in contact with concrete and its degradation products cover a broad area, from developing databases for existing abiotic codes, to developing codes that can simulate the chemical impact of microbial activities at a level of sophistication equivalent to that of the abiotic modeling codes, and ultimately, to simulating drift-scale chemical systems in support of hydrological, geochemical,a nd engineering efforts.


The Intellectual Property,as a legal exclusive right,is set up to promote the innovation and to advance the social development.However,any right may be in risk of being abused,without exception of the Intellectual Property.If someone abuses the Intellectual Property,which may set back the innovation or destroy the competition order,he should be punished by laws.Therefore,to perfect the legal regulation of the abuse of the Intellectual Property not only needs the powerful regulation by the anti-trust law in exterior field,but also rely on the inside regulation system of the Intellectual Property Law itself and some basic principles of the Civil Law.


A warm spring welcome to our membership. As I write this, it finally looks like summer is just around the comer and I hear it's supposed to be a hot, wet one. I most certainly will not complain. This was a long, cold, snowy winter but I guess the reality is that we live in Canada not the Bahamas! Greening grass is a sign that it's time to renew your STA membership. It was necessary to increase annual fees slightly for the 2003 season, but I think you would agree that the membership still represents great value for the price. The new updated roster is being compiled based on information provided with membership renewals and will be mailed upon its completion.


Backscatter from the sea surface is governed by the roughness of the surface and subsurface micro bubble distributions. At low frequencies, due to the paucity of large bubbles, scattering results primarily from coherent and/or collective scatter from bubbles entrained by the subsurface vorticity or carried to depth by the Langmuir circulation and thermal convection. Theoretical treatments using the work of Mallock and Wood show that scattering from compact regions is a function of the volume fraction of air and to first order can be described by a Minnaert formula modified with the volume fraction. Experiments to test this theory were conducted in a lake and large tank facility. Back scattering from a submerged bubble cloud produced results consistent with our theory when parameters independently measured, such as bubble size distribution, volume fraction, and the cloud size, were used to calculate the resonant frequency with the modified Minnaert formula. This theory was further tested by backscattering ...


Stock Market plays a vital role in the economy of every nation. Having a transparent market may boost the confidence of not only stock brokers but also that of investors. One of the major problems that make investors to shy away from the market is lack of transparency. Another Problem which affect the market regulators is the lack of a system that enable them to check for compliance easily. In this work, an agent based distributed framework is presented. The idea behind the proposed system is that having one system that will serve all the market stake holders will guaranty strict compliance to the market rules, easier to manage and difficult manipulate by the market operators. The implementation of the proposed system followed Multi-Agent Software Engineering (MaSE) Methodology. The evaluation of the system show that, the distributed system developed using Java Agent Development Framework (JADE) is capable of addressing problems of reliability, compliance and transparency.


In the ESA Columbus Project, including in particular the European Space Station, applications are written in Ada and are distributed; moreover, the long lifetime of the space elements requires flexibility in order to support smooth software evolution. CHORUS is a distributed operating system, developed and supported by Chorus systèmes, which provides a basis for supporting efficiently distributed and dynamically reconfigurable Ada software.


T 1 he literature on intergroup relations abounds with studies comparing white and nonwhite differences in income and educational achievement, and comparisons of white and nonwhite incomes at each educational level are common.1 Studies comparing the age distributions of the two racial categories are also prevalent.2 Somewhat less well-known are the interrelationships between the age structure and economic differences. This study focuses upon one such relationship, namely, that of the difference in age to the difference in income at each educational level.3 The importance of this relationship is that it affects most of the estimates of the economic disadvantage of Negroes that have been reported. The study is limited to the male population 25 years of age and over with an income in 1959, as reported in the 1960 Census. A comparison of the age distributions of the two populations, TABLE 1. PERCENTAGE AGE DISTRIBUTION OF WHITE


Abstract 1 The article argues that narratives of transitional justice have been placed on a somewhat unexamined pedestal in the social sciences and the humanities. Within such narratives, transitional justice, as both a phenomenon and a conceptual tool, is regarded as inevitable and commonplace for anyone wishing to address the issue of past human rights violations. The article suggests that while the concept of transition, strictly speaking, is merely descriptive of processes of change and thereby assumedly a neutral signifier, it has been positively oversignified by various fields of study. The article also examines literary narratives that have political transitions as their foci, proposing that a literary theory approach to transitional narratives should not be dictated only by the privileged themes, forms and narrative structures of the normative narratives of transitional justice (such as truth commission reports), but be open to fictional narratives as having something valuable to contribute within the context of political transitions.


The difficulties in simulating CIE Standard Illuminant D65 are considered and an interior daylight illuminant is described, Illuminant ID65, representing exterior daylight attenuated by average window glass. The benefits of Illuminant ID65 are that it represents the daylight source which most commonly occurs in the viewing of critically coloured merchandise, and that it can be practically simulated using a filtered tungsten-halogen source. Its applicability to measurements, particularly to the assessment of fluorescent samples, is considered. The results of measurements on the two common classes of fluorescent samples are discussed and indicate that an Illuminant ID65 simulator can be used validly for the measurement of fluorescent materials, even including materials intended specifically for exterior use.


The invention relates to a sizing process of polyester low stretch filament on a warping-sizing combined machine, which comprises the following technical essentials: (1) the sizing process comprises the steps of double dipping and double pressing, discharging by a back discharging groove, and holding the yarn by a front discharging groove; sizing at low temperature, controlling the sizing temperature to be 40 to 50 DEG C, the pre-baking temperature to be 60 DEG C, and the co-baking temperature to be 50 DEG C; and (2) sizing composition: the filament composite sizing material is 50 kg, the viscosity of the sizing is 25%, and solid content of the sizing is 10%.The invention has the advantages that the warping-sizing combined machine is a conventional cotton spinning warping-sizing device, and the sizing process of the filament products on the device is a technique innovation and breakthrough of the production process of silk products. The process shortens the technical process, enhances the work efficiency and reduces the instrument investment at the same time.


The notothenid species Trematomus bernacchii has previously been shown, by allozyme analysis, to be a complex of two cryptic species, one of which being more closely related to T. hansoni than to the other T. bernacchii cryptic species. Two T. bernacchii colour morphs, "white blotch" and "brown", at McMurdo Sound, may correspond to these cryptic species. In this study, we present mitochondrial DNA sequences of the 12S and 16S ribosomal regions for six "white blotch" morphs, eight "brown" morphs collected in McMurdo Sound, one individual collected off the Antarctic Peninsula, and two T. hansoni individuals from McMurdo Sound. These sequences were compared with those of T. bernacchii and T. hansoni in the literature. Based on 14 phylogenetically informative sequences, no differences were found between "white blotch" and "brown" morphs. Furthermore, only one substitution separated these sequences from the previously published T. hansoni sequence, while 10 substitutions separated them from the previously published T. bernacchii sequence. Misidentified specimens, and sequence misreadings may be at the origin of these discrepancies. However, the presence of cryptic species within T. bernacchii and T. hansoni is not ruled out.


This paper is on the situation and development of information service of electronic literature, also analyses the construction of datawork which is influenced by the concept in libraries.


Abstract 1. Towards a typological sociolinguistics Is there any sense in pursuing a typological sociolinguistics? The idea recalls the relatively established field of linguistic typology, a comparison with which will provide an initial orientation to this question, as well as serve as the basis for the introduction to the current set of articles. Four points of comparison may be highlighted, situated along a set of common problems. I begin with linguistic typology.


The rapid development in the field of disposable polymers has brought about the important problem of their wastes and disposals . Although recycling is one way of using these wastes, but in some cases such as blood storage bags, the danger of contamination is a problem . Polyglycol succinates have been known for a long term for their use as biodegradable materials . It has been found that, in addition to their bioabsorbable character, polyglycol succinates are particularly well tolerated by the tissues In which they are implanted . Polyglycol succinates possess very good mechanical properties and they are insensitive to moisture . It was suggested that they can be used as biodegradable disposables due to their high mechanical properties as well as the ability to be adsorbed to the soil by the action of micro-organisms . A group of biodegradable polyesters, polyglycol succinates, were synthesized using polycondensation reaction with different diols . The biodegradation rate of these polymers was studied on thin films prepared from the polymer solution . The effects of different physical and chemical variables on the rate of their bioabsorption were also studied . Among all variables, it was shown that the pH of the soil and the chemical structure of the monomers used in the synthesis were the most important of all.


This chapter aims to show that the earliest discussion about continuity in Western thought is a debate within metaphysics and natural philosophy about homogeneity and divisibility. All parties to this dispute – the main proponents are Parmenides, Zeno, and Aristotle – agree that magnitudes which are continuous (suneches) are homogenous and without any gaps. They disagree, however, on which inferences to draw from this for the possibility of divisibility – whether it implies indivisibility, as Parmenides and Zeno assumed, or divisibility, as Aristotle claimed, building on a mathematical understanding of extended magnitudes. Furthermore, while a modern understanding of continuity may seem to be essentially anti-Aristotelian, Aristotle is shown to prepare many of the crucial features of a modern account of continuity in this debate.


This thesis describes a new architecture for generating two dimensional images from three dimensional volume data at video rates. The architecture has the advantage of not requiring a network or global bus thus allowing the system to be scaled to any size and take advantage of new technologies. The architecture can accept data from real time sampling devices and generate images from this data. The architecture is partitioned into ve major pipeline stages that are all highly parallel. The pipeline stages of the architecture are the Coordinate Swapper, the Warp Array, the Voxel Memory, the Ray Array, and the Shading and Compositing Subsystem. The Coordinate Swapper interfaces to an input scanning device and reduces the complexity of arbitrary viewing angles to a limited range of viewing angles. The Warp Array and Ray Array are two dimensional arrays of processing elements based on a new algorithm for parallel ray casting. The Warp Array e ectively rotates voxel data by shifting. The Ray Array calculates the paths of rays red from the screen and computes their intersections with the voxel data. The Shading and Compositing Subsystem calculates an intensity value for light re ected from a surface at the ray intersections and composites all the intensity values for one ray to create a pixel value for display on the output screen. The architecture has been simulated in software and images generated from voxelized geometric data and sampled data. The surface angle errors in the image results were measured and found to be comparable with other real time image generation architectures. The hardware for the pipeline stages is described and simulated. Using the simulation results it is estimated that the architecture is capable of generating images at speeds of 33 frames per second for a 2563 data set and 8 frames per second for a 5123 data set using currently available gate array technology. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank Graham Hellestrand for supervising me, giving me a job that supported me yet left me enough time to complete my thesis, motivating me and friendship. Thanks to Jayasooriah for his friendship and always being available to talk to about research and politics. Thanks to Mark Bickersta whose constant encouragement, help, ideas and proof reading has really made a di erence. Also thanks to Mark for helping me with the cost estimates for this system. Thanks to Tim Lambert for help with graphics and proof reading. Thanks to Amra Taureen for encouraging me to get an unusual job to support my PhD. Thanks to all the people in the VaST lab that helped me with work and gave me a place to escape to : Kevin Elphinstone, Chris Nicol, Steve Avery, Jerry Vochteloo, Ricky Chan, Ric Forster, David Goodall, Radha Nagalla, Morteza Saheb-Zamani, Choe See-Yew, Tommy Cheung, Ming Chi Kam, Leunghim Li, Herbert Chen, Janet Chui, David Barda, Chong Hee Tan, Mehdi Naghian-Fesharaki, Raymond Chan. Thanks to the people in the school o ce who showed me the funny side of university administration : Cassandra, Vanessa, Joan, Rita, Andrew, Colin, Sharee, Cathy. I would like to acknowledge G unter Knittel, Hanspeter P ster and J urgen Hesser for helping with my research and making me welcome in their countries and universities. I am grateful to my parents and family. For putting up with me at the beginning and sharing the happy moments along the way. Special thanks to Gaby for her constant faith in me, proof reading, emotional support, and sharing the experience with me. iii


This paper investigates how Daniel Berrigan, the playwright-cum-protagonist of The Trial of the Catonsville Nine (1970), sets out to use theatre as a podium, at a time of great political turmoil, to provide the facts of what is going on in the Vietnam War. In doing so, he documents the facts using the tribunal theatre, a genre derived from documentary theatre. Mary Canal's theory of Inclusionary and Exclusionary otherness, as expounded in her article "Othering: Toward Understanding of Difference," is adopted as a methodology. The paper attempts to find answers to the following questions: How are documentary theatre and its offshoot tribunal theatre used as revolutionary theatres? What are the forms of othering present in the play? How is gender bias present even in resistance? How does religion become an underlying cause for Inclusionary othering? The paper concludes that politics, religion, and gender are fused in the experience of the tribunal theatre of the Vietnam War.


In Brief Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion therapy can provide improved diabetes care and improve quality of life for some children with diabetes. However, insulin pump therapy in children poses unique problems not faced in adult diabetes management. Appropriate supervision of pump therapy in a young child requires an adult who is motivated, educated, and available at all times to manage the insulin pump.


We propose a new design of the atom bottom‐up technique that uses an optical trapping tool to form the atom trapping layer within a thin film grating. By using a PANDA ring resonator, where atoms can be trapped, pumped and controlled by light, where finally, the trapped atoms/molecules can be selected, filtered, and embedded within the required thin film grating layers, which later can form the nanobattery. In application, P‐type or N‐type atom can be prepared, trapped and embedded within the desired thin film layers, where finally, the nanobattery can be manipulated. The theoretical background of light pulse in a PANDA ring resonator is also reviewed. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 54:1097–1100, 2012; View this article online at wileyonlinelibrary.com. DOI 10.1002/mop.26691


A real-time multidatabase system provides a platform for integrating real-time data sources. It can not only process persistent data in traditional database systems, but also deal with temporal data in real-time systems. So the characteristics of real-time multidatabase systems are briefly introduced and the architecture of an extended real-time multidatabase system, named RT-Panorama is given. An XML-based Real\|Time Data Model (XRTDM) is introduced as the common data model for RT-Panorama. The real-time message processing mechanism corresponding to time constraints in RT-Panorama is also presented.


The evaluation of 3D data-cubes obtained by bidimensional spectroscopy is not a very simple task due to the huge amount of data that they contain. A typical data-cube could be 256x256 pixels in the spatial plane and 100 frames in the spectral direction. We present a powerful software package, MATADOR, which can easily handle this kind of data. MATADOR is written on IDL 1 but it is not necessary for the user to have any knowledge of this language. MATADOR ooers to the user a widget based interface, and any task is performed by simple manipulation of the mouse. The program is basically interactive, although some time/memory consuming operations can be executed as independent sub-tasks. The available tools can visualize an image at any desired wavelength interval and analyze the spectrum for any selected region on the image. The spectrum can, on the spot, be tted by the combination of the background and several Gaussian or Lorentzians. The asymmetry parameters of emission-lines can also be studied. Diierent possibilities exist for manipulating two-dimensional images, such as masking, con-touring and combining options. There are also tools for investigating the velocity distribution and the structure function of any chosen area. On-line help and a exible hardcopy option are available, too.


In this design study, we introduce a novel class of digital audio effects that extend the recently introduced modal processor approach to artificial reverberation and effects processing. These pitch and distortion processing effects mimic the design and sonics of a classic additive-synthesis-based electromechanical musical instrument, the Hammond tonewheel organ. As a reverb effect, the modal processor simulates a room response as the sum of resonant filter responses. This architecture provides precise, interactive control over the frequency, damping, and complex amplitude of each mode. Into this framework, we introduce two types of processing effects: pitch effects inspired by the Hammond organ's equal tempered "tonewheels", "drawbar" tone controls, vibrato/chorus circuit, and distortion effects inspired by the pseudo-sinusoidal shape of its tonewheels and electromagnetic pickup distortion. The result is an effects processor that imprints the Hammond organ's sonics onto any audio input.


Combining with concrete project example,it introduces structure treatment measures of the basement floor arch hump in effect of underground water,points out that the basement project should pay fully attention on possible influences of the basement project on hydrogeology condition changing,construction unit should get serious,layered and consolidation treatment on filling soil according to requirements.


Taylor product theorem is applied to the evaluation of a class of integrals that arise in high-frequency wave scattering problems. We expand a term <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1/(t^{2}+1)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> under the integral into exponentiated powers of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$t$ </tex-math></inline-formula> that are suitable for term-by-term integrations. We utilize the expansion in an example and make accuracy and speed analysis.


In this technique22966~93.94 the pH of the blood is measured before and after equilibration with two gas mixtures of different but known Pc02. The pH of the two equilibrated blood samples is plotted against the log Pcoz of the equilibrating gases and the points joined by a straight line. This is the buffer line of the blood. The pH of the blood as drawn from the patient is then interpolated in this line and the Pcoz read from the ordinate. Since the equilibration technique ultimately depends on only three blood pH determinations it is important to make these measurements as precisely as possible (see section on pH measurement). Astrup et a166 and Siggaard-Andersen et a122 have described a micro-equilibration unit,* comprising two H-shaped thermostatted glass chambers, which allows two samples of the blood to be equilibrated with each gas simultaneously. The whole unit is shaken mechanically at about 2,500 reciprocations per minute. The gases used for equilibration of the blood are usually 4 % and 8 % C02 in oxygent, but unless a certificate of analysis has been supplied by the manufacturers the user must check the composition by analysis. For this purpose the Haldane apparatus is commonly used; for accurate work the calibration of the analysis burette should be checked by mercury displacement. For clinical work the Campbell-Haldane analyser 123 is adequate. When the Haldane type of apparatus i s used the first few analyses will yield a


Using Zufiria's potential flow model with a point source in the velocity potential, we investigate the effects of viscosity on the growth of the bubble in Rayleigh–Taylor instability. The nonlinear asymptotic solutions are obtained analytically for the velocity and curvature of the bubble. We find that the viscosity decreases the velocity but does not affect the curvature of the bubble, consistent with Sohn's results based on Layzer's potential flow model without a point source in the velocity potential. Furthermore, the dependences of the bubble velocity on the Reynolds number and the Atwood number are studied and we find that both models give the same results at high Reynolds numbers and low Atwood numbers, but smaller velocities are found in Zufiria's model at low Reynolds numbers and high Atwood numbers. Finally, evolution of the velocity with time is studied and the results based on Zufiria's model are found to be in better agreement with recent experimental data than that based on Layzer's model.


Galilean invariance is a nonrelativistic principle,which should not be kept as a guid-ing principle in discriminating the interaction potential terms derived from field theory.


It is apparent that the criticism about knowledge management as a fad or a new name for information management is mainly expressed from the information science community. This behaviour possibly stems from the threat that information managers are facing with the emergence of knowledge management discipline and their difficulty to obtain strategic roles in the knowledge centred organisations. On the other hand the "explicit information" part of knowledge management initiative partially legitimizes the argument that knowledge management "is simply a more pretentious synonym for information management". The purpose of this paper is to critically appraise the criticism that knowledge management is another fad or a new term for information management. Four main aspects as criteria for differentiation between information and knowledge management are discussed. The criteria include: knowledge capital, knowledge sharing, knowledge management systems & technology, and e-learning. In addition, t he common-grounds between information and knowledge management are also presented. Finally some recommendations are provided for promoting and establishing a knowledge management culture within the academic libraries sector.


We use the tool provided in Sintel evaluation kit [1] to visualize flow fields in the main paper [2] and supplementary material. Fig. 1 illustrates the color code used in the visualization. Flow direction is encoded with color while magnitude is encoded with color intensity. Particularly, white color at the center corresponds to no visual motion. For the ease of visual evaluation, flow fields among the compared methods are normalized by the maximum flow magnitude of the ground truth (when evaluation is performed on training set) or LiteFlowNet3 [2] (when evaluation is performed on testing set) prior to the computing of flow color.


To avoid a loss in statistical power as a result of homozygous individuals being selected as parents of a mapping population, one can use multiple families of line crosses for quantitative trait genetic linkage analysis. Two strategies of combining data are investigated: the fixed-model and the random-model strategies. The fixed-model approach estimates and tests the average effect of gene substitution for each parent, while the random-model approach treats each effect of gene substitution as a random variable and directly estimates and tests the variance of gene substitution. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations verify that the two strategies perform equally well, although the random model is preferable in combining data from a large number of families. Simulations also show that there may be an optimal sampling strategy (number of families vs. number of individuals per family) in which QTL mapping reaches its maximum power and mini-mum estimation error. Deviation from the optimal strategy reduces the efficiency of the method. the number of families increases. This is especially so for the fixed model. Overall, the two strategies of QTL mapping perform equally well, except that the fixed-model approach is dif- ficult to implement for large number of families.


A previously healthy, 1-year-old boy was admitted to a local hospital due to a refractory convulsion. A peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) had been placed 3 weeks prior to admission in preparation for prolonged midazolam treatment. The catheter (ArgyleTM PI catheter kit, Covidien-Medtronic, Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan; 28 G, length 30 cm) was inserted via the right antecubital fossa. Subsequently, due to the difficulty of discontinuing midazolam, the patient was transferred to a tertiary neurological treatment center where clobazam was added for seizure control and midazolam was gradually tapered. One day before transfer to the tertiary center, the PICC was found to be occluded. Given that the catheter was manually irretrievable, the patient was referred to the present a


The blood of a patient with infectious mononucleosis was investigated when a discrepancy was noted between cell and serum grouping. The red blood cells of the patient were reactive with a commercial anti‐B. Her serum strongly agglutinated group A and group B cells. Anti‐B from four other commercial sources and from ten normal group A donors did not agglutinate the patient's cells.


Abstract Telomerase adds telomeric repeats to chromosome ends by processive copying of a template within the telomerase RNA bound to telomerase reverse transcriptase. Telomerase RNAs have single-stranded regions that separate the template from a 5′ stem and 3′ pseudoknot, and mammals gained additional stem P2a.1 separating the template from the pseudoknot. Using human telomerase, we show that the length of template 3′-flanking single-stranded RNA is a determinant of repeat addition processivity whereas template 5′-flanking single-stranded RNA and P2a.1 are critical for activity but not processivity. In comparison, requirements for the template sequence itself are confounding: different substitutions of the same position have strikingly different consequences, from improved processivity and activity to complete inactivation. We discovered that some altered-template sequences stabilize an alternative RNA conformation that precludes the pseudoknot by base-pairing of one pseudoknot strand to the template 3′ end. Using mutations to reduce over-stability of the alternative conformation, we restore high activity and processivity to otherwise inactive altered-template telomerase ribonucleoproteins. In cells, over-stabilization or destabilization of the alternative state severely inhibited biogenesis of active telomerase. Our findings delineate roles for human telomerase RNA template-flanking regions, establish a biologically relevant pseudoknot-alternative RNA conformation, and expand the repertoire of human telomerase repeat synthesis.