There are three main ways to assess the English School's contribution to International Relations (IR) theory. The first is to follow Barry Buzan in arguing that the English School is an 'underexploited resource' and that 'the time is ripe to develop and apply its historicist, and methodologically pluralist approach' to the subject (Buzan 2001: 472). Buzan argues that the English School has become recognized as a distinctive worldview that has much to offer the discipline. At the other end of the spectrum, some writers call for the School's closure. The 'English School' label was first written down by Roy Jones in 1981 in an article calling for the School's closure (Jones 1981). More recently, Hall (2001) went one step further and argued that the School no longer existed because it had been distorted by contemporary proponents such as Dunne (1998) and Wheeler (1992). According to Hall, Dunne and Wheeler's commitment to solidarism and constructivism eschew some of the English School's foundational ideas such as the centrality of states, importance of power politics and a deep skepticism about the possibility of different political communities reaching agreement on substantive political matters. A third perspective, somewhere between these two poles, has arisen as a result of the increased dialogue between English School ideas and other worldviews – most notably realism and constructivism. Both realists and constructivists alike have called for the further development of English School thinking to give it a more 'refined' theory capable of identifying the motors for change and lines of causation in world politics (Copeland 2003; Finnemore 2001). The purpose of this chapter is to evaluate these positions by investigating the English

School's contribution to IR theory in the twenty-first century. A frequent source of confusion about the School stems from the idea that there is a single common view within it. By contrast, as this chapter will demonstrate, there is not one but many theories and accounts of IR embedded within the School, which is united by 'family resemblances' (Dunne 1998). Thus, as Suganami (2005: 29) argues, the English School is best understood as 'a historically constituted and evolving cluster of scholars with a number of plausible and interrelated stories to tell'. This chapter substantiates this claim by focusing on core contemporary debates within the English School. It does so in four parts. The first briefly considers the School's evolution and relationship with constructivism. The second and third focus on the School's defining ideas of three traditions of international thought and three pillars of world politics respectively. The final part evaluates a central question about contemporary international society (is it under threat from US hegemony?) in order to illuminate how English School theorizing can help make sense of IR today and the potential for conversations with other disciplines and approaches.


A general method for the preparation o f a wide variety o f phosphonate derivatives, including phosphonamides, thiophospbonamides, thiophosphonates, and dithiophosphonates, from reduced phosphorus intermediates has been developed. Esters (or thioesters) o f tf-phosphinates are converted to the highly reactive phosphonochloridites by non-oxidative activation with dichlorotriphenylphosphorane. The phosphonochloridites react readily with alcohols, amines and thiols and after in situ oxidation or sulfurization, phosphonate derivatives can be isolated in moderate to very good yields (47-85%). This method was used to synthesize a thiophosphonate dipeptide, Boc-Val-i/f[P(S)(OBu)0 ]Ala-C>CH3 (15b), two thiophosphonam ide dipeptides, Boc-Val-i/4 P(S)(OrBu)NH]Gly-OCH2CH3 (1 6 b) and Fm oc-A ibi/4P(S)(OBn)NH]Gly-OCH2CH3 (20), and two phosphonate dipeptides, Fmoc-Aibi^[P(0)(0Bn)NH]Gly-0CH2CH3 (1 9 ) and Fmoc-Phe-V'tP(S)(OBn)NH]GlyOCH2CH3 (21). Compounds 15b , 16b and 20 represent the first five examples of such monothiophosphonopeptide analogues and compounds 19 and 20 the first incorporation o f a highly sterically hindered Aib-phosphonate amino acid into a phosphonopeptide. The successful preparation of 15b, 16b, 19,20 and 21 demonstrates the compatability of this method with a variety of potentially sensitive functionalities and applicability to easy preparation of new classes of peptide mimics. To test our chemistry on the solid-phase we prepared known and potential inhibitors. The phosphonoamidate peptides Z-Aibi//[(POOBn)NH]-Phe-OH (25), Z-Aiby/[(PC)0-)NH]-Phe-OH (26) and Z-Gly i//[(POQ-)NH]-Phe-OH (27) synthesized could not be isolated or purified due to instability factors, but we could isolate and characterize the phosphonate peptide Z-Phe-i//[(POO")0]Phe-Ala-NH2 (29).


A method of transferring error codes in a communication system in which digital data is transferred in the form of packets having CRC values between a host device and a client device over a communication path comprising: detecting the presence of an error (6602), selecting a pre-determined error code corresponding to said error (6610), and over-writing the CRC value with said code (6612).


Water is an element of great need for the maintenance of life, and is also considered the most abundant compound on our planet, occupying approximately 70% of its surface. However, 97% of this water is salty and therefore improper or with great difficulty to make it potable for human consumption. Less than 3 percent of the world's water is fresh, 2.5 percent of which is in glaciers, and the 0.5 percent remaining of the world's water, located in surface or underground aquifers. Nowadays, underground springs, due to the quality of raw water that usually low qualitative variability, have been considerate as a good alternative as a source of drinking water, especially in communities that have unavailability or need to increase their current treatment systems, usually only superficial, as new sources of raw water. Thus, this paper will present results obtained from an economic analysis of drinking water treatment costs for cities located within the territory of the state of Minas Gerais and with a population of less than 5,000 inhabitants. Analyzes were performed by comparing monthly labor and electricity costs in water treatment systems with different types of springs, surface and underground.


Based on many years'installation experiences,combined with the analysis and treatment for oil-in fault of sealing oil system in QFSN-300-2 type turbogenerator in Shenzhen Mawan Power Plant,the main causes of oil leakage and its diffusion to other channels of double-flow sealing oil system for this type turbogenerator,are summarized and analyzed.Then,treatment measures are introduced.


In this paper, the H∞ synchronization problem is investigated for a class of chaotic neural networks with time-varying delays based on disturbance observers. A disturbance observer is developed to estimate the disturbance generated by an exogenous system with the unknown disturbance and the design parameter of the disturbance observer is determined by solving linear matrix inequality (LMI). Based on the output of the disturbance observer, a robust H∞ synchronous control scheme is proposed for the chaotic neural networks. By utilizing the Lyapunov- Krasovskii functional method and combining it with linear matrix inequality technique, the H∞ synchronization performance is obtained for the master-slave structure of chaotic neural networks. Finally, a numerical example is given to illustrate the proposed synchronous scheme.


The radial temperature differences and the stability of the temperatures in the product outlet from scraped surface heat exchangers (SSHE) have been investigated over wide ranges of operating conditions.

When the flow was vortical, the temperature were stable and no radial differences occurred.

When the flow was laminar, channelling effects occurred. the radial temperature differences of the outlet from SSHEs were sometimes very large. the flow was unstable; this was most obvious from the temperature variations close to the blades. In some cases the central parts of the product passed straight through the SSHE without being heated or cooled.

Thus, efficient mixing of the product after the SSHE is of primary importance in many applications with high-viscosity products, e.g., aseptic processing, or the modelling of the performance of SSHEs.

A static mixer after the SSHE eliminated the radial temperature differences, but in some cases unstable temperatures remained after the mixer due to unstable flow conditions in the SSHE. the degree of stability was influenced by the design of the SSHE and by the flow rate.


In view of the plan and practical demand of culture of excellent qualified people,this article analyzes the current disadvantages of the organized content of Computer Network course,which lacking of practice,and indicates the education content and its organizational methods.This article also proposes an experimental system face to based network experiment,network security and network engineering according to the actual situation of the curriculum system of the software school of the Dalian University of Technology,and describes the relationships and implementation methods.The theory which this article proposed has the significance of reference.


In order to dispose propellant N2O4 leaking liquid in an emergency,uniform porous nano-size spherical Ca(OH)2 powder is prepared by CaO hydrolysis-azeotropic distillation method.The grain size of Ca(OH)2 is 200-300nm,the pore diameter is 8-15nm and the specific surface area is 63m2/g.A movable leakage disposal device is formed by filling the prepared powder into a pressure bottle.Leakage can be controlled by spraying the powder of the device over the leakage under pressure.Experiment results show that the removal rate of NO2 gas is up to 90%.Through adsorption,absorbtion,infiltration,interfacial chemical reactions,Ca(OH)2 powder capture NO2 gas and cover leaking liquid,preventing its evaporation and diffusion.


Significance This work establishes a fluorescence labeling method that can be used in living cells to derivatize specific proteins of interest with a small red fluorophore, resorufin. The method has extremely high sequence specificity and is based on a computationally designed fluorophore ligase, derived from Escherichia coli lipoic acid ligase. These results demonstrate the power of computational design to majorly reengineer enzyme specificity. Extensive screening of rationally designed enzyme mutants failed to achieve the same result. Chemical fluorophores offer tremendous size and photophysical advantages over fluorescent proteins but are much more challenging to target to specific cellular proteins. Here, we used Rosetta-based computation to design a fluorophore ligase that accepts the red dye resorufin, starting from Escherichia coli lipoic acid ligase. X-ray crystallography showed that the design closely matched the experimental structure. Resorufin ligase catalyzed the site-specific and covalent attachment of resorufin to various cellular proteins genetically fused to a 13-aa recognition peptide in multiple mammalian cell lines and in primary cultured neurons. We used resorufin ligase to perform superresolution imaging of the intermediate filament protein vimentin by stimulated emission depletion and electron microscopies. This work illustrates the power of Rosetta for major redesign of enzyme specificity and introduces a tool for minimally invasive, highly specific imaging of cellular proteins by both conventional and superresolution microscopies.


The study was carried out in selected companies found in Eldoret. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of capital budgeting techniques on profitability in selected companies in Eldoret. To meet this purpose specific research objectives include determining the contributions of various capital budgeting methods on profit levels of selected companies. The specific methods include the payback period, net present value, accounting rate of return, profitability index and internal rate of return .The study used a survey design with a targeted population of 110 tope level manager, departmental manager and supervisors of selected Companies found in Eldoret town. It used stratified sampling technique to sample a sample size of 85 which is 78% of the targeted population. Questionnaires and interview schedule was used to collect data from the respondents. Validity and reliability was tested through a pilot study. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data. The common Capital budgeting techniques used by selected companies in Eldoret town to make Capital decisions were found: net present value, pay pack period and internal rate of return. The indicators of profitability projects in capital budgeting techniques in include: positive net present value, short recouping periods, less risks of failure alongside high average income. The effects of net present value, payback period, and internal rate of return and profitability index on profitability levels include reduction the cost of Capital, increases amount of returns from the project and reduce level of risk of projects as the main levels of profitability. The study therefore recommends the following to be adopted to improve the performance of the company and the profit levels using Capital budgeting techniques, Creation of a separate department to deal with project capital budgeting techniques and identification of suitable projects, Mixing of project capital budgeting techniques of both traditional and modern to enable the business to circumvent the risks of project failure, Listing of projects to be invested in order of priority before sourcing for their funding, Computing the costs of finance for each source of a particular project and compare it with the expected future returns from each project, Provision of enough finance to implement Capital decisions in all organizations and Creating an oversight body to foresee the implementation Training of employees A further study carried out on the following areas to assist beef up the areas not covered by the current study, Evaluation of costs of sources of finance and Capital decisions and Factors influencing the effectiveness of project budgeting.


Abstract : The following topics are discussed: Operational considerations; Experiments with rifle-radios operating at HF (27 MHz); Experiments with rifle-radios operating at VHF (40-60 MHz); Miniature XMTR operating on 150 MHz for body and rifle; Use of magnetic rubber in radio-rifle coupling circuits.


In this work the extraction of substances from the common melon (Cucumis melo var. Acidulus) was carried out, which has more specific application in both, the food industry, as in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry, becoming more valuable than the fruit in natura. The objective of this study was to extract, quantify, characterize and modify chemically by sulfation pectin the common melon (Cucumis melo var. acidulus). The extractions were performed in neutral, acidic and basic conditions, with yields of 8%, 10.8% and 14%, respectively. In addition to the Elementary Analysis, pectin extracted with acid, it was characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance of carbon (C NMR) and Hydrogen (H NMR), Potentiometric Titration, Spectroscopy in the Infrared (FT-IR), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC), Rheology and Zeta Potential. Some of these analyzes were not performed for samples extracted in alkaline, neutral and sulfated acid, as well as for commercial use sample, for which the analysis depended on the purpose for which it was proposed, is it to determine a specific feature the material and the degree of esterification (DE) or to identify overall change in polymer structure such as sulfation. The 13C-NMR showed peaks characteristic of galacturonic acid. The FT-IR and potentiometric titration permitted the calculation of the degree of esterification (DE) of acidic, basic, neutral and sulfated samples and also a commercial sample from Sigma Aldrich; GE results of the samples obtained by these techniques were compared, showing that the samples are acidic and neutral low GE. The result of GE acid sample was also obtained by H NMR, confirming its low GE condition. The SEM of the sample showed particles with acidic spherical structure with surface flattening, typical drying spray dried, suggesting potential application in drug encapsulation. The XRD revealed that the material has amorphous character, an increase of crystallinity after chemical modification. The TGA technique revealed the pectin degradation in three stages. The DSC curve showed an endothermic peak at 150 °C and an exotherm at 245°C for the loss of water and the main step of breakdown of the material, respectively. The molecular weight of the acid sample, determined by GPC, showed values of typical polymeric materials 4.5 x 10 g/mol, consistent with pectins. The rheological study revealed the shear-thinning property of pectin solution.


High-speed coherent optical communication systems can effectively solve the current problems of transmission capacity and transmission distance in the field of communication, and have become an important research direction in optical communication. The optical signals generated by lasers are composed of different frequency components, which have different transmission speeds in optical fibers, causing dispersion effects. Dispersion causes inter-code crosstalk, which has an impact on coherent demodulation and threshold judgments at the receiving end. Dispersion has a constraining effect on the performance of high-speed coherent optical communication systems, and the development of optical communication requires the study of equalization methods to solve the dispersion problem. In this paper, we examine the dispersion problems and the corresponding solutions in coherent optical communication by reviewing various domestic and foreign literature, focusing on the classical optical communication dispersion equalization technique and analyzing the phenomenon of limited dispersion equalization effect due to the constant modal value of the classical technique tapping coefficient. We study and design the dispersion equalizer CMGD-FIR based on the momentum gradient descent optimization algorithm, which exponentially weights the average optimized gradient and corrects the deviation at each update iteration. Simulation results show that this technique can quickly update the tap weights close to the minimum value and improve the convergence speed while ensuring the dispersion equalization effect.


Robots have been widely used to replace human labors in the manufacturing factories, especially when dealing with hazardous environments such as chemicals, heat, etc. Other objective including ensuring consistent quality taking advantages of continuous operation of the robots. However, one major hindrance is the high initial investment of the robots despite the benefit acquired when the robots is used. Often, the skeptical opinion of the investors winding down the proposal. Therefore, the simulation of process improvement activities especially on the robot-based production process is a subject of great interest, which requires low to no-cost without jeopardizing the investor trust. In the ceramic factory, different value products are produced. Finding the highest benefit from robotics is something to consider. In this study, a simulation software, namely FlexSim is analyzed and simulated to optimize the painting process by robots.


Summary:  Purpose: We report the successful management of a 10‐year‐old girl with intractable frontal lobe epilepsy by using lidocaine tapes and continuous subcutaneous lidocaine infusion.


Larsen syndrome was first described in 1950 by Larsen, Schottstaedt and Bost. This rare inherited disorder is characterized by congenital dislocation of multiple joints along with other anomalies of heart, face, hands and bones. Awareness of this condition and assosciated complications helps in better follow up and management of these patients. Key words: Genu recurvatum; Short stature; Hypodontia; Bifid uvula; Submucosal cleft palate; Cardiac anomaly DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jnps.v32i1.5349 J. Nepal Paediatr. Soc. Vol.32(1) 2012 85-87


Summary: A major bacterial virulence protein is found to be targeted to plant plasma and its action is linked to down-regulation of the expression of an Arabidopsis gene ABSTRACT Many bacterial pathogens of plants and animals deliver effector proteins into host cells to 49 promote infection. Elucidation of how pathogen effector proteins function not only is critical for 50 understanding bacterial pathogenesis, but also provides a useful tool in discovering the functions 51 of host genes. In this study, we characterized the Pseudomonas syringae pv. 52 effector protein AvrE, the founding member of a widely distributed, yet functionally enigmatic, 53 bacterial effector family. We show that AvrE is localized in the plasma membrane (PM) and PM- 54 associated vesicle-like structures in the plant cell. AvrE contains two physically interacting 55 domains, and the N-terminal portion contains a PM-localization signal. Genome-wide microarray 56 analysis indicates that AvrE, as well as a functionally-redundant effector HopM1, down- 57 regulates the expression of the NDR1/HIN1-Like 13 gene in Arabidopsis. Mutational analysis 58 shows that NHL13 is required for plant immunity, as the nhl13 mutant plant displayed enhanced 59 disease susceptibility. Our results defined the action site of one of the most important bacterial 60 virulence proteins in plants and the anti-bacterial immunity function of the NHL13 gene. 61 carotovorum elicits plant cell death DspE/F but the P. carotovorum DspE does not suppress callose or induce expression of plant genes early in plant-microbe


In this article, the application of a nonlinear complex De Gersem-type polyharmonic finite-element (FE) model in the steady-state analysis of three-phase solid-iron rotor induction motors is discussed. Effective magnetic permeability, dependent on the fundamental time harmonic of the magnetic field, is used for the representation of the magnetic saturation effects. A new coupling scheme for the air-gap mesh nodes is proposed in order to make the model more time-competitive with the time-stepping model in cases where the number of air-gap nodes must be high. By means of comparative analysis of computed electromagnetic torque and harmonic losses, it is shown that omitting some nodes at the interface boundary results in the reduction of the execution time by a factor of 100 with only a slight loss of accuracy.


Recent advances in NLP have led to a rise in inter-disciplinary and application-oriented research. While this demonstrates the growing real-world impact of the field, research papers frequently feature experiments that do not account for the complexities of realistic data and environments. To explore the extent of this gap, we investigate the relationship between the real-world motivations described in NLP papers and the models and evaluation which comprise the proposed solution. We first survey papers from the NLP Applications track from ACL 2020 and EMNLP 2020, asking which papers have differences between their stated motivation and their experimental setting, and if so, mention them. We find that many papers fall short of considering real-world input and output conditions due to adopting simplified modeling or evaluation settings. As a case study, we then empirically show that the performance of an educational dialog understanding system deteriorates when used in a realistic classroom environment.


We present an efficient algorithm for the detection of voids which potentially emerge during deposition process simulation. The application of modern level set techniques and data structures enables the fast determination of connected components directly from the implicit level set representation without the need of an additional surface extraction. The algo- rithm exhibits optimal linear scaling with surface size and is demonstrated on an example, where an isotropic etching process followed by conformal deposition is simulated.


In this paper,the author proposes the goal model of the public healthcare facilities reform in our country from the view of property rights and reconstruction of public hospitals as state-owned assets. The characterisitcs of modern hospital system are analyzed from the view of improving hospital corporate governing structure. Also the problems which should be encountered in the reformation are pointed out.


A continuous film of desired electrical characteristics is obtained by successively printing and annealing two or more dispersions of prefabricated nanoparticles.


The relationship between the Chinese and Malays communities in the state of Terengganu have been established before the arrival of the Western colonization. The long-standing social relations periods has culturally spawned Chinese acculturating cultures and among them have converted to a new religion. In the current context, the Chinese Muslim community refers to the groups that have embraced Islam and are reorganizing their lives based on the framework of Islamic teachings and the dominant culture of Muslim society. Taking into account the Malay Muslim community is the dominant group in the state of Terengganu, the influence of Malay culture plays a role in shaping a new dimension of socio-cultural life of the Chinese Muslim community. The objective of this study is to look at the level of Malay cultural integration in the life of the Chinese community after conversion. This study uses a quantitative sampling method with a total of 86 respondents. Statistical analysis with mean (average) and percentage tests is used to measure the level, perception and application of the Chinese Muslim community towards the involvement and practice of the Chinese Muslim community towards the cultures of the Malay community in Terengganu. The findings show that most respondents are in a state of high integrity in the involvement of Malay cultural activities in the state of Terengganu. Hence, this study explains that religious equality factors accelerate the process of cultural integration in a society.


Karan Fries heifers (8), 1.5-2.0 year-old, were divided into 2 groups (4 each). Group 1 was exposed to direct solar radiation during summer (Dbmin 18°C, Dbmax 40.2°C), whereas, group 2 was maintained under existed shed at NOR!, Kamal. The feeding consisted of green fodder and water was ud lib. The surface body temperature at different body sites, viz. fore head, ear, dewlap, flank, fore and hind leg (lower, middle and upper) was recorded by using non-contact temperature measurement instrument at 3 h intervals. The physiological parameters (RR, HR and RT) were also recorded at similar intervals. The difference between maximum and minimum peripheral skin temperature in groups I and :2 at forehead (14.54° and 7.01°C), ear (19.50° and 19.12°C), dewlap (16.34° and 7.59°C), flank (14.50° and 14.04°('), respectively, were higher than at different locations offore-and hind-legs. The surface temperature was higher in exposed group than protected at all the sites and surface temperature rises in relation to the length of radiation exposure. The increase in the respiratory frequency over their lowest values in the exposed group was about 4-time, whereas in protected group it was about 2-times and distress symptoms were not pronounced in protected group ofanimals. Therefore, crossbred heifers should be protected from extreme hot conditions and direct sun exposure be avoided.


Objective To understand the current status of Vibrio parahaemolyticus (VP) contamination in seafood and freshwater products in supermarket and restaurants in the urban area of Huizhou and provide evidence for the risk evaluation of the VP contamination.Methods The samples of seafood and fresh-water products were collected in supermarkets,markets and restaurants to conduct detections according to national standard (GB/T4789.7-2008). Results VP were isolated in 25 of the 61 samples with the detection rate of 41.0%,in which the detection rate was 41.2% for raw aquatic product and 40.9% for fresh frozen aquatic product.The detection rate in summer and autumn were obviously higher than other seasons (P0.01). Conclusion The detection results showed that the VP contamination in aquatic product or seafood in Huizhou was serious,which posed threaten to people's health.It is important to take effective measures to control cross-contamination between the raw food and cooked seafood.


In this research, orthogonal design test was planed with cinefaction temperature, cinefaction time and cinefaction pressure. Ghee power was digested by microwave digestion method. The contents of elements Ca, Mg, Fe, Cu and Zn were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The best conditions for the digestion were gain as following temperature 200 ℃, pressure 15 atm and cinefaction for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, on the best experimental conditions, the recovery of the method was in range of 94.1%~105.1%, and relative standard deviation was in range of 0.41%~3.78% (n=6).


A trainer delivered sensory stimulation, similar to that received during self-stimulation, to one autistic and one multihandicapped child contingent upon correct response to a manipulative task. The use of an ABAB research design demonstrated the reinforcement effect of the contingent sensory stimulation. The use of this technique in applied settings is discussed, and the hypothesis that self-stimulation is a reinforcing behavior is supported.


Objective
To explore the potential mechanism of pimecrolimus in airway remodeling of atopic dermatitis (AD) and asthma mice.

Methods
Female BALB/c mice were randomly divided into three groups: control group, atopic dermatitis group and pimecrolimus treatment group. The cell in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) was calculated by Ray-Jimsa staining. The structural changes in lung tissue and skin tissue were observed by hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining, and the level of interleukin (IL)-33, IL-5, IL-13 in serum was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The expressions of type 1 collagen (Col1) in the airway of mice were detected by RT-PCR and Western blotting. And western blotting was also used to determine the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase P38 (P38MAPK) and mitogen-and stress-activated protein kinase 1 (MSK1) in the lungs of mice.

Results
Compared with those in the control group, the total number of leukocytes in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and the expression levels of IL-33, IL-13 and IL-5 in serum of atopic dermatitis group were significantly higher, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). In the atopic dermatitis group, the phosphorylation of P38MAPK and MSK1 protein was increased (1.50 ± 0.43 vs. 0.80 ± 0.43, 1.39 ± 0.08 vs. 0.62 ± 0.08) and the expression of Col1 protein and protein (1 vs. 3.20 ± 0.59, 1.40 ± 0.12 vs. 0.13 ± 0.16) was increased, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). After pimecrolimus treatment, the number of leukocytes in BALF, the levels of IL-33, IL-5 and IL-13 in serum (213.13 ± 11.89, 657.97 ± 86.47, 143.82 ± 33.02), the phosphorylation of P38MAPK and MSK1 protein in lung tissue (0.10 ± 0.04, 0.85 ± 0.05), and the expression of Col1 mRNA and Col1 protein were decreased (0.61 ± 0.22, 0.48 ± 0.08), and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The edema of lung and skin tissue and the infiltration of inflammatory cells were alleviated.

Conclusions
Pimecrolimus can alleviate the inflammation and airway remodeling in mice by inhibiting the activation of IL-33 related pathways, thereby reducing the incidence of asthma.

Key words:
Asthma; Interleukin; Atopic dermatitis; Pimecrolimus


Macdonald's criticism of structural models of mobility is empty because it denies ideas or theories a place in model con'struction. Specifically, the equivalent models proposed by Macdonald do not meet the criterion of minimal asymmetry that was applied in the selection of models for British and American mobility tables. Under certain conditions, equivalent models meet the symmetry criterion, but these conditions do not apply to the examples discussed by Macdonald. Also, he exaggerates the usefulness of odds-ratios in formulating models for non-ordered data, and he proposes an empirical revision of the Featheman-Hauser model of mobility to first occupations that is less appealing than the original model. Hope's criticism of the new mobility ratio rests on an illogical comparison between the Featherman-Hauser model and various saturated models of the mobility table. Also, his commenta y makes erroneous statements about the relationship between the FeathermanHauser model and their criticisms of Blau and Duncan and about the relationship between that model and Goodman's quasi-independence models. Macdonald's commentary on structural models of the mobility table is both instructive and cautionary, but I disagree with much of it. I wrote some time ago that "Any number of models may imply the same set of oddsratios, and in this sense they will be equivalent. One such model may be transformed into another by multiplicative rescaling" (b, 453). Macdonald cites this passage as the point of his note, but he questions whether "the force of the known has been attended to." I believe it has, but Macdonald ignores relevant features of my several published analyses of occupational mobility classifications. In this note I will show how Macdonald's criticism *This research was carried out with support from the National Institute for Mental Health (Grant No. 6275) and the National Science Foundation (Grant No. SES-8010640) using computational facilities of the Center for Demography and Ecology at the University of WisconsinMadison, which has core support from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Grant No. 5876). I thank Peter Mossel and Peter Dickinson for assistance in computation. I thank Richard T. Campbell for comments on a draft of this note. I thank John H. Goldthorpe, Robert D. Mare, Michael T. Sobel, Aage 8. Sarensen, and Halliman H. Winsborough for their advice. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author.


Chemotaxonomy is concerned with the application of chemical characters to problems of classification and phylogeny the special value of the chemotaxonomic approaches can be seen when chemical characters correlate well with data obtained from preliminary screening of secondary metabolites. The present work is aimed to screen secondary metabolites from various Monocotyledonous plants by different chemical methods and to summarize new concepts of monocotyledonous taxonomic ranks. The results revealed that the selected species of monocotyledons responded positively for flavonoids, phenols, tannins and steroids. Whereas Sorghum vulgare and Canna orientalis showed synergistic chemical constituents and Commelina benghalensis proved two constituents only. Sorghum vulgare showed maximum number of secondary metabolites viz., flavonoids, glycosides, phenols, lignins, leucoanthocyanins, tannis, fats, coumarins, steroids, emodins and anthocyanins, followed by Eragrostis tenella, Pothos scandens, Smilax zeylanica, Zingiber officinalis, Musa paradisiaca, Alliam cepa, Crinum asiaticum, Ravenala madagascarensis, Scilla hyacinthina, Cyperus rotundas, Dracaena fragrance, Gloriosa superba, Yucca gloriosa, Cymbopogan citratus, Acorus calamus, Typha angustata, Saccharum officinarum, Caryota urens, Cynodon dactylon, Kyllinga nemorates, Aloe vera, Allium sativum, Chloris barbata, Aristida hirtris, Eleusine coracana, Zea mays, Pandanus fascicularis, Borassus flabellifer, Bambusa arundinacea, Setcreasea purpurea, Commelina benghalensis. Amaryllis vittata, Curcuma longa, Sansevieria roxburghiana and Asparagus raccemosus. Poaceae members are found to be rich in glycosides, phenols and flavonoids. These findings of the present study will be helpful to taxonomist, phytochemists and pharmacologists to solve taxonomical problems and for identification of new active compounds from monocotyledons.


The present paper reviews functions of tundish covering agent in continuous casting and explains systematically the characteristics of various covering agents with different functions used for various steels and points out that the difficult problem in researching the covering agent assumes to be temperature holding of the tundish covering agent for the carbon free alkali tundish.


Dear Heart: For her science project, my daughter has chosen you. She's asked for my help. Four boxes are on the form. I will need assistance: some, a little, a lot. I have a few supplies. Her teacher's letter explains the problem need not be large, for example: think why the family cat claws the sofa. My daughter is thirteen, the age I was when the Beatles arrived and put girls into screaming fits. The three survivors (George, Paul, Ringo) are making a comeback, though I'm not sure why. Why reinvent the sixties: Kennedy in Jackie's lap, the endless bloody war? My daughter is busy tracing the vena cava, she pauses, Does it ever stop before we die? And I'm reaching for answers like a can of pepper on my shelf. I want to tell her about that first dance in the old gymnasium. There was a boy: short, polite, thick glasses. He asked me to slow dance; we moved chest-to-chest. It made me dizzy, a little short of breath. Something not governed by reason had me, a journey started, and I passed from one place to another. Do you remember, heart, how that sweet boy moved away in July, his father transferred? How you taught me to sacrifice cargo and lighten the ship's load? Heart, please notice how carefully she colors her graph on bypass surgery. How many attacks can one person have and survive, Mom? I believe it depends on the person and where the damage occurs. Some places in the heart can recover easier, but the heart is never the same. I mean, there's scar tissue forever. Did you hear that, heart? Look at this science project scattered around the kitchen, books, helpless before the steamy breath of my fried chicken, pages describing your constant bath of warm fluids, the coming in, going out, vessels like ivy vines embracing your pink cottage of four small rooms. You have lived the soft forest, a rose, an apple, radiant in your crimson dress. No prince could reach you, chop you down. Out here, leaves burn. Every day is a torn jacket, worn lapels, wind and sand slap the sclera. We feel the random movement of jaw bones and floor joists. And what have you planned for this child printing her note cards on resuscitation and brain death? Today, I'm wearing my favorite skirt, the one with huge pockets, a wedding band, my navy sweater's on the rocker by the desk, beside my daughter's baby shoes, some paper, this pen. I'm going into the next room to ride the stationary bike, ten minutes or five miles. Be ready, ready for anything, comb your red hair and smile. —Jeanne Bryner


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the ten most common malignancies in the world, with the greatest incidence in sub-Saharan Africa and the Far East. HCC also carries a dismal prognosis as a result of the advanced nature of the tumor at diagnosis, the lack of adequate therapy for HCC and the underlying cirrhosis onto which almost all HCCs are superimposed. Detection of HCC at a stage where intervention may change the natural history of the disease has been difficult; once symptoms from the cancer appear, the tumor is usually in an advanced, unresectable and, hence, incurable stage. The development of screening programs for patients at high risk for HCC-namely, patients with chronic hepatitis B or C infection or cirrhosis-has resulted in earlier diagnosis of HCC in high-risk individuals. The most effective screening programs have utilized ultrasonography in conjunction with measurements of serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP). However, despite the earlier detection of and surgical intervention for HCC in high-risk individuals, the overall survival remains poor, mostly resulting from high rates of recurrence of the primary HCC in the residual liver or in distant, extrahepatic sites. In this issue of HEPATOLOGY, Matsumura and colleagues conceived a novel strategy to identify patients with HCC who have the greatest risk of recurrence or metastases at the time of surgical intervention. They developed a polymerase chain reaction-based method to detect circulating malignant cells as a surrogate prognostic marker to predict recurrence after surgical resection of the primary tumor. The success of treatment for HCC has been marginal at best. There is no universally acceptable medical therapy, and surgical removal is the only chance for cure. Unfortunately, only 10% to 30% of patients have surgically resectable lesions at the time of diagnosis; curative resection is often hampered by anatomy, extent of tumor and lack of hepatic reserve because of underlying, usually severe liver disease. Even when small, seemingly resectable lesions are identified, recurrence rates are unacceptably high. In one study of 47 patients with HCC, in which 59% had tumors of less than 5 cm, the intrahepatic recurrence rate at 3 yr was 81%, with the greatest number of recurrences in patients with large tumors and high preoperative AFP levels (1). The


See related articles, pages 758–769

The multifunctional Ca2+ and calmodulin dependent protein kinase (CaMK)II is a serine threonine kinase that plays increasingly evident and important roles in regulating ion channels in heart and other excitable tissues. CaMKII activation initially requires an increase in intracellular Ca2+ that leads to binding of calcified calmodulin (Ca2+/CaM) to the CaMKII regulatory domain. This activating Ca2+/CaM signal is amplified within the CaMKII holoenzyme, which is composed of 10 to 12 monomers arranged in a wheel and spoke pattern (Figure, A), by an autophosphorylation process. Autophosphorylation of Thr286/287 (numbering varies by isoform) markedly increases the avidity of Ca2+/CaM binding to CaMKII but also renders CaMKII constitutively active even in the absence of Ca2+/CaM binding.1 Autophosphorylation of Thr286/287 prevents the reassociation of the autoinhibitory region with the CaMKII catalytic domain, leaving the autophosphorylated kinase in the open and active configuration. Reactive oxygen species modify a pair of methionines (281/282) near the autophosphorylation site to convert CaMKII activity from Ca2+/CaM-dependent to Ca2+/CaM-independent by a process that mirrors autophosphorylation (Figure, A).2 In this issue of Circulation Research , El-Haou et al3 have provided exciting new insights into the association of CaMKII with the MAGUK protein SAP97 by showing that a PDZ motif on the C terminus of KV4.3 partners with the SAP97-CaMKII module to enable CaMKII-dependent gating effects on KV4.3 channels. CaMKII-mediated increases in the transient outward current ( I to) require binding of the SAP97-CaMKII module to the KV4.3 C terminus. These findings provide a molecular framework for understanding how excitable tissues tune repolarization to manage …


The retrospective analysis of processes of birth rate and mortality in the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk area is made. The leading part of birth rate during reduction of the population is confirmed.


On 16.11.-19.11.2003, the Perspectives Workshop 03471 "Design of Systems with Predictable Behaviour" was held in the International Conference and Research Center (IBFI), Schloss Dagstuhl. During the workshop, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well a digest of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available.


Abstract : There are many differences between the fighter aircraft industry in the United States and in Russia. The United States has traditionally produced its weaponry within a capitalist framework which allowed free enterprise and competition between companies in private industry. The former Soviet Union's economy, and its fighter aircraft industry was based on a Marxist, command economy, where the central government dictated the type and number of aircraft produced and allocated resources for construction. Once among the most glamorous components of the Soviet military industrial complex, the Russian military aircraft industry has been described by some analysts as being on the verge of collapse. Russia's civilian aircraft industry has faced similar pressures, which does not bode well for the military aviation infrastructure. It may be difficult for fighter aircraft companies to find employment in Russia's beleaguered civil aircraft sector. The Russian government has attempted to reform its fighter aircraft industrial base and make it more efficient and competitive with western industry. It has initiated several reforms aimed at reducing the stratification and compartmentalization of industrial processes, as well as improving access to financial resources. These reforms have had mixed success. While Russia's military aviation infrastructure has consolidated dramatically, the overall effectiveness of these reform efforts still remains to be seen. As Russia reforms its fighter aircraft industrial base, there appear to be many parallels between their experience and what is happening in the United States in terms of declining domestic demand and pressure for consolidation. By examining the events in Russia's military aviation industrial base, especially the experience of the Sukhoi and Mikoyan aircraft design bureaus, policy makers in the United States may gain insight into current and forthcoming domestic fighter aircraft industrial base issues.


The reprocessed (version 7) daily total ozone observations made by the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) on the Nimbus-7 satellite over Athens (37.6 N, 23.4 E) for the period from November 1978 until April 1993 have been used to investigate total ozone depletion. To estimate the trends in total ozone content a linear fitting to the data has been applied, given that the other components like the quasi-biennial oscillation, the El Nino/Southern Oscillation and the solar cycle have a very small contribution to the total ozone depletion effects over that geographical region. The total ozone depletion over the 15-year period was derived from version 7 shows a strong seasonal variation from more than 6% in winter and early spring to about 1.5% in summer. The total ozone depletion over Greece is found to be about 1% (per decade) less using version 7 than using version 6.


In Iceland, although all preschools operate in accordance with National Curriculum Guidelines and the Preschool Act (log um leikskola nr. 90/2008), their daily schedules can vary depending upon each school's priorities and the teachers' views on how children learn. However, whereas some scholars stress the importance of schedules at preschools that balance the lead activities of teachers and children, others have posited that daily schedules are a means of control used by educators at preschools. In response, and in line with the emphasis on giving children the opportunity to influence their education in the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, the heightened importance of children's rights has guided preschools in Iceland in reorganizing their practices to consider children's needs and interests. Against this background, the aim of our study was to illustrate how the limitations in schooling that followed the first wave of COVID-19 influenced preschool practice in Iceland from the perspectives of preschool leaders. Those limitations, going into effect on 16 March and lasting more than 7 weeks until 4 May, were implemented differently in each municipality in Iceland, while nationwide preschool practice was limited across the country. Data were gathered by following a mixed-methods approach. On the one hand, eight individual interviews, each lasting 15–65 minutes, with preschool principals and preschool head teachers were conducted in April 2020 during the period of limitations. On the other, preliminary findings from the interviews facilitated a more targeted data collection via a questionnaire distributed shortly after the preschools fully reopened following the period of limitations in June 2020. The questionnaire was sent to 248 preschool principals in Iceland, 172 of whom responded, or a response rate of 69%. Participants were asked whether and, if so, then how the limitations due to COVID-19 had influenced children's play and the role of preschool teachers, as well as whether and, if so, then how those limitations would influence preschool practices in the future and what professionals might learn from the experience. The findings suggest that the limitations in schooling during the first wave of COVID-19 considerably influenced preschool practices. During interviews and in questionnaires, participants stated that preschool practices were of higher quality during the first wave of COVID-19 than before. This was largely because fewer children attended preschool each day and they were in smaller groups in each play area. In addition, participants believed that the limitations had heightened the well-being of the children and the adults, as well as promoting changes in daily schedules that cultivated a more relaxed atmosphere. For example, this resulted in less sickness within the staff group. Although the limitations also restricted children's access to play- and learning materials, such restrictions did not affect their play or well-being. However, some participants mentioned that because of more focus on cleaning and disinfection, in line with regulations from authorities, some preschool teachers found they had less time to take care of the children. Beyond that, whereas participants noted new friendships emerging within groups of children during the period of limitations, they also observed that some children missed peers who were no longer in their class group. Finally, some educators reported experiencing loneliness due to being unable to communicate with their peers as freely as they had before the limitations. Altogether, the study makes an important contribution to the preschool community by providing knowledge and understanding as to how the first wave of COVID-19 influenced preschool practices, at least in Iceland, and as to how it may continue to alter such practices in the future. In that light, the findings can also inform further reflections on how practices at preschools are organized and which ones are prioritized.


This chapter extends and integrates the analysis of innovation systems presented in Chapter 3 and the account of how different firms develop different kinds of organizational capabilities outlined in Chapter 6 to explain how leading firms in differently organized market economies develop distinctive innovative competences and strategies. It argues that firms have several choices in developing innovative competences and selecting innovation strategies that are guided by dominant institutions. These institutions include those governing the development of skills and labour markets, capital markets, and inter-firm relationships as well as the organization and conduct of research in the public sciences. As a result, societies with distinctive institutional frameworks encourage the development of particular kinds of innovative capabilities, and so manifest contrasting types of technological development and sectoral specialization, as illustrated by the examples of late 20th-century Germany, Japan, and the USA.


This work presents a means for extracting the statistics of the local fields in nonlinear composites from the effective potential of suitably perturbed composites. The idea is to introduce a parameter in the local potentials, generally a tensor, such that differentiation of the corresponding effective potential with respect to the parameter yields the volume average of the desired quantity. In particular, this provides a generalization to the nonlinear case of well-known formulas in the context of linear composites, which express phase averages and second moments of the local fields in terms of derivatives of the effective potential. Such expressions are useful since they allow the generation of estimates for the field statistics in nonlinear composites, directly from homogenization estimates for appropriately defined effective potentials. Here, use is made of these expressions in the context of the 'variational', 'tangent second-order' and 'second-order' homogenization methods, to obtain rigorous estimates for the first and second moments of the fields in nonlinear composites. While the variational estimates for these quantities are found to be identical to those proposed in previous works, the tangent second-order and second-order estimates are found be different. In particular, the new estimates for the first moments given in this work are found to be entirely consistent with the corresponding estimates for the macroscopic behaviour. Sample results for two-phase, power-law composites are provided in part II of this work.


This work analyzes the images of women in the literary works Eunice or A Educacao da Mulhe r, written by Afrânio Peixoto (1936), and A Infanta Carlota Joaquina , written by Madam Chrysantheme (1937). In our perception, the authors issue competing views on the on the women's status in society, both stress modes of conduct distinguished models that imprint or denounce, calling into question educational models to women moving the discussions on what to sanction. Although listening to what the other says, they do not dialogue to each other directly, but to their age, each one trying to intervene, from their own assumptions, in the ongoing changes. The images about women produced by the authors bring together possibilities of expressions that capture the female practices in the society of that period. While Afrânio Peixoto is committed to the permanence of women's allocation in the spaces traditionally intended for them, Madam Chrysantheme is dedicated to cause discomforts for these naturalized spaces. Taking into consideration that all speech implies the possibility of destructuring-restructuring networks the ways through which they are established, putting into cause the meanings generated, we made the two authors converse, observing the ways how they organize their speech, tensioned by institutional mechanisms that surround them. Thus, we analyzed the scope of the discursive arrangements forged by them, the elements they trigger against and the ones they direct their efforts towards. In this way, we seek to identify dialogues, interferences, institutional, educational, interpersonal and social ways of presence, which are in game in the negotiations about the representations of women in that period, in order to reflect about the clashes operated by the authors. Keywords: Afrânio Peixoto, Madam Chrysantheme, image of woman, 1930s.


Recently a method has heen described for estimation of protein quality using the response in liver xanthine oxidase activity as a criterion (Litwack et al., '52). We have found this response in liver xanthine oxidase activity generally to parallel growth in weanling rats fed the same protein. Ear lier, Williams and Elvehjem ('49) observed an increased availability of amino acids from casein after acid hydrolysis, using xanthine oxidase activity as the criterion. Later Lit wack et al. ( '50) found that the rapid loss of enzyme activity, when animals are fed a non-protein diet, is due primarily to a loss of the enzyme protein rather than to a deficiency of cofactors required in the enzyme system. The rapidity of in vitro xanthine oxidase formation was recently demonstrated by Dhungat and Sreenivasan ('52). The activity of this enzyme has also been shown to be main tained by nitrogen sources, other than amino acids, which ef fectively replaced a non-essential amino acid mixture which was added to a basal level of the essential amino acids (Lit-


Base on the airflow movement theory,the theory model of single fan and parallel multi-fans being installed in two sides of tunnel cross-cut was established and analyzed in allusion to the difficulty to install fans in the tunnel.Numerical simulation was carried out through Matlab and fruitful application investigation was carried on as well in a mine ventilation system with multi-fans.The parallel multi-fans being installed in two sides of tunnel cross-cut could play a significant role like an accessorial fan in transporting laneway,which could effectively resolve many airflow controlling problems such as air output lacking,airflow reversing,dreggy air circulating,etc.Therefore more than 35 m2/s ejecting airflow volume was got and the temperature of work surface was decreased more than 3 ℃.The adaptability of multi-fans ventilation mode was enhanced,the maintenance of multi-fans was reduced,the walking and transporting were not disturbed,the efficiency of diesel engine was elevated for the improved airflow quality in mining workings,and the blasting fume and dust were eliminated from mining network to the surface because of the improving air volume as well.All of above is helpful to workers' health and to the production safety in the mine.


In memory of Professor F. Karpelevic Abstract. Let G ⊃ H be Lie groups, g ⊃ h their Lie algebras, and pr : g ∗ → h ∗ the natural projection. For coadjoint orbits O G ⊂ g ∗ and O H ⊂ h ∗ , we denote by n(O G , O H ) the number of H-orbits in the intersection O G ∩ pr −1 (O H ), which is known as the Corwin-Greenleaf multiplicity function. In the spirit of the orbit method due to Kirillov and Kostant, one expects that n(O G , O H ) coincides with the multiplicity of τ ∈ H occurring in an irreducible unitary representation π of G when restricted to H ,i fπ is 'attached' to O G and τ is 'attached' to O H. Results in this direction have been established for


Abstract This thesis urges the change of the education system of popular music for globalization of K-POP in a longer point of view Korean popular music has developed not only musically but also sound quality itself. Moreoverit became popular in a global scale in the name of K-POP. However, it is still limited to idol music, and numerousissues related to the lack of musical talent are emerging Even though the routine of birth and death of several idol groups and singers are still repeated. Recently, the skills of artists enhanced due to audition TV shows but still it'snot enough. Under this situation, it is not appropriate to rely on audition TV shows and Entertainment Managementcompanies for picking up talented artists. Therefore, like Classic or Traditional music, schools concentrated for popular music must be founded. If this become enabled, young students going to entertainment companies or to unqualified but expensive private institutes will disappear. Moreover, it can prevent students from lacking behind in their academic activity. In addition, a reformation should be done education colleges for raising popular music educators


This paper presents some results achieved in the biomedical applications of the EBM® technology, and describes the resolved and unresolved challenges presented by modern medical implant manufacturing. In particular it outlines the issues related to the cellular structure design and metal surface modification. Moving to precision control of the metal surface at a micro-and sub-micrometer scale is a serious challenge to the EBM® processing, because it uses the powder with average grain size of about 0.04 to 0.1 mm. Though manufacturing of components with solid-mesh geometry and porous surfaces using EBM® is quite possible, post-processing (for example chemical or electrochemical) is needed to achieve desired control of the surface at smaller scales to realize full potential of the technology for biomedical applications.


The goal of this study was to ascertain how much influence celebrity endorsers and product quality have on purchasing decisions for Scarlett products. The research methods used are descriptive methods and associative methods. Scarlett product customers in Cimahi City are the unit of analysis on this study. Based on the results of the sample calculation using the lemeshow formula because the population is not known with certainty, there were 96 respondents in the study's samples. Multiple linear regression analysis is the technique utilized for analysis, in addition, t-test and F-test are also carried out. The findings of the research, the dependent variable (purchasing decision) is influenced by the independent factors (celebrity endorser and product quality) by 72.5%. The influence of celebrity endorser factors on purchasing decisions is 5.6%. While the influence of product quality is 66.9%. The implication of this research is that Scarlett products can review the criteria for using celebrity endorsers by having a good image and continuing to improve product quality for the better so that it can increase customer purchasing decisions


This paper presents a reduced order modeling method of inverter-based microgrid for stability analysis. The full order model of microgrid with three inverter-based distributed generations (DGs) is derived. Then singular perturbation method is applied to reduce the full order model. The dynamic system is divided into two subsystems based on the participation analysis of the original model. The states that have considerable effect on the dominant dynamics are preserved, and the states with negligible impact on dominant dynamics are eliminated. The reduced order model is verified by comparing original model and reduced models for numerical simulation and eigenvalue analysis.


The important role, which the utilization and sustainable development of plant resources of Qinling mountains in the development of China′s west, was analyzed. It is studied that the status, conservation, utilization and continued development of these resources. The results show that the sustainable development of tourist trade, the utilization of forest and grassland resources, the conservation of economic plants and the development of superior plants are the effective way of the utilization of plant resources and the continued development in Qinling mountains.


In this contribution we investigate the propagation through walls and the loss sensitivity to a variety of parameters including permittivity, conductivity, wall width, incident field angle, frequency and polarization. The wall is modeled as a finite depth homogeneous slab and its influence is calculated using the effective Fresnel transmission coefficient. A statistical investigation reveals that as increasing the wall conductivity or width the loss is increased, the general influence of the frequency and permittivity is almost negligible, and the loss for perpendicular polarization is higher than for parallel polarization. Sensitivity analysis shows that the incidence angle, conductivity and wall width are the most important medium parameters and the knowledge of only these input variables values is sufficient to estimate the loss variance.


4-(4-Fluorophenyl)-2-(2-methylpropanoyl)-4-oxo-N,β-diphenylbutanamide is a key intermediate of atorvastatin.Methyl isobutyryl acetate was transformed into 4-methyl-3-oxo-N-pentanamide by reaction with aniline;the resulting product could undergo Knoevenagel condensation with benzaldehyde giving 4-mehtyl-3-oxo-N-Phenyl-2-(Phenylmethylene)Pentanamide,which could further undergo Stetter reation with p-fluorobenzaldehyde thus giving aceess to the final molecule 4-(4-Fluorophenyl)-2(2-methylpropanoyl)-4-oxo-N,β-diphenylbutanamide.The synthetic route were easily available and the yield was reasonable.The structures of the main intermediates were identified by 1H NMR.


corporate culture is the ligand of rigid culture and flexible culture,this paper names the rigid culture as wolf culture and names the flexible culture as the sheep culture,on the basis of this,discusses how to select the type of culture for the enterprise. This paper argues that there are no absolute wolf culture and sheep culture,we can find sheep elements in the wolf culture,and vice versa;two types of cultures don't exist the fact that one is better than the other,the mission of the manager is to find the golden mid-point between wolf and sheep cultures according to the market environment,this golden mid-point is not fixed,as the development of market environment and the changes of business stage,it's location will change,too. Historically,more emphasis on the competition of business in the past years,so there could be more wolf culture,and now there are more emphasis on competence—cooperation,the wolf culture start to shift to sheep culture,we can predict that sheep culture will be the mainly culture in the future,but at any time,business will never lose wolf culture.


The identification of factors related to infant deaths can help in the planning of public health actions for the restructuring and improvement of maternal and child care, with a view to reducing infant mortality. The variables related to infant mortality continue to be incident in males, in those of brown color, with birth weight below normal and children of young mothers. Actions with technical and financial investment throughout prenatal care with a complete care network and strengthening childcare services for children by the Primary Care network at municipal level are necessary and urgent strategies to reduce the drama of preventable deaths of children in the first year of life.


The operating modes in the smelting process of fused magnesium are cyclically shifted, resulting in severe fluctuations in electricity load. Accurate prediction of its operating mode shifting can optimize the power supply curve of an electric furnace, to improve electric energy efficiency and reduce electricity expenses. In this paper, we propose a prediction model of fused magnesium operating mode based on ADASYN-XGBoost. Four supervised machine learning algorithms including a eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGB), ADASYN-LGB and ADASYN-RF, ADASYN-SVM were compared with the proposed ADASYN-XGB method. The results indicate that the ADASYN-XGB has the best prediction accuracy (92.5%), high average precision (>0.8), low hamming loss (0.03) and low ranking loss (0.075). Based on these results for classification performance and prediction accuracy, the ADASYN-XGB is a solid candidate for a correct classification of operating modes. These findings suggest that ADASYNXGB systems trained with real data may serve as a new tool to assist in fused magnesium smelting process. 


For some time, special education has been plagued by shortages of qualified teaching staff and by high turnover rates for these staff. While several factors—external, employment and personal—are largely responsible for this situation, the research demonstrates that the initial professional experiences of early career teachers are closely associated with their longevity in the field. This paper reviews the literature on mentoring support for beginning teachers, mentoring models and the use of information technologies in mentoring support. The paper concludes with recommendations for methods of support for Australian early career special-education teachers.


The rapid social, political, and economic transformations in Russia after the break-up of the Soviet Union led to a change in the traditional approach to sexual habits and values among the population. This was accompanied by a deterioration in the public health service, including prevention and control of sexually transmitted infections, which led to a dramatic increase in the frequency of syphilis.1 This increase was so pronounced that in 1996, the rate (254.2 cases per 100 000 inhabitants) was 48 times greater than in 1989. The disease mainly affected young women, and the number of reported cases of congenital syphilis multiplied 26-fold during the period 1991--1999 (from 8.04 per 100 000 to 209 per 100 000).2,3 Rates have fallen since then,4,5 although the incidence has remained high (56.7 per 100 000 in 2005; 30.5 per 100 000 in 2010; 23.6 per 100 000 in 2015) (Fig. 1). Russia is a key country for international adoption in Spain.6 In the present investigation, we analyzed a cohort of children adopted from Russia to determine the prevalence of active maternal syphilis during pregnancy, congenital syphilis in children, and the results of serology testing for syphilis after arrival in Spain. A total of 450 children adopted from Russia were studied after their arrival in Spain during the period 2000--2017 at the Center for Pediatrics and International Adoption (Centro de Pediatría y Adopción Internacional) in Zaragoza. The mean (SD) age was 31.3 (18.3) months, and 62.2% were boys. Similarly, we evaluated the preadoption medical reports from Russia. It is important to remember that the absence of a history of syphilis in the preadoption medical report


The foundation for Pier No.8 of the main bridge of Dashengguan Changjiang River Bridge in Nanjing was constructed by means of the steel boxed cofferdam.The plan dimensions of the cofferdam were great,the compartments thereof were many,the cofferdam was structurally complicated and the bottom tremie concrete sealing for the cofferdam was therefore difficult.In this paper,the construction techniques for the bottom sealing are dealt with.


The Cryogenic Limb Array Etalon Spectrometer (CLAES) to be flown on the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is a limb viewing radiometer operating in nine wavelength channels between 3.5 and 13 μm. Each wavelength channel is selected by a combination of a solid Fabry-Perot etalon and suitable blocking filter. Spectral scanning within a given channel is achieved by tilting the etalon. The spectral transmission for a perfect etalon in a collimated beam is given by the Airy function. Deviations from perfect parallelism, absorption in the substrate and coatings, and the instrumental field of view produce changes in the spectral transmission. These changes affect the peak transmission (T), the full width at half maximum intensity (FWHM), and the overall shape of the transmission peaks. High-precision retrieval of geophysical parameters requires that the slit function of the instrument be accurately characterized. We have developed models to accurately characterize the slit function. These models involve a convolution of the Airy function for a given thickness with the distribution of surface thicknesses; the effect of absorption in the substrate, which must be taken into account for the CLAES etalon operating in the 10- to 13-1.tm region; and the field of view broadening as a function of etalon tilt angle. We compare our model calculations with experimental transmission data for CLAES etalons centered at 3.52, 5.72, 8.0, and 11.86 μm. The model is also useful in setting tolerance limits on surface quality and permissible substrate absorption for other potential etalon applications.


ABSTRACT COVID learning loss has sparked fierce debate among stakeholders in education. There are debates among concerned educators about ways to understand learning loss reports, methods to measure learning loss, and strategies to recover from learning loss. In this article, we unpack opposing perspectives on these three controversies with the goal of extracting useful recommendations to guide post-pandemic education revival. Drawing from structural inequity theory, this article reviews the controversies through historical, current, and future lenses respectively: (1) Should we be talking about differential COVID learning loss? (2) Are we measuring COVID learning loss appropriately? and (3) Which recovery plans should we prioritize to address COVID learning loss? Within each controversy, the article makes suggestions on how practitioners may make sense of each controversy and integrate take-aways from them into their work.


The present study aims to determine the effect of training self-encouragement skills on Genital SelfImage in women with a physical-motor handicap. This research is a quasi-experimental study with pre and post-test design by the control group. The statistical population consisted of all married women with a physical-motor handicap in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province in 2016. Then, 50 people were selected using multistage cluster sampling method and divided into two experimental (25 subjects) and control (25 subjects) groups. Data were collected by Female Genital Self-Image Scale (FGSIS). Covariance analysis and repeated measures ANOVA were used to analyze the data collected. The findings indicated that self-encouragement training was effective on the total score of Genital Self-Image by 61% (P <0.05). Therefore, learning the selfencouragement skills can increase self-esteem in people; this leads to a positive body self-image. The higher the self-esteem, the higher will be the individual's satisfaction with life, sex, and ultimately, the closeness between couples.


Scanning-tunneling microscopy studies combined with atomistic modeling for Ag/Ag(100) homoepitaxy reveal complex growth behavior at 300 K: initial smooth growth up to ∼25 ML, where three-dimensional (3D) mounds develop from 2D islands; then an extended regime of mound steepening for ∼1000 ML producing unexpected rough growth; and finally an asymptotic regime with cooperative mound ordering and coalescence dynamics quite distinct from that in systems with up-down symmetry. The steepening regime is compressed upon lowering temperature, so while initial growth is rougher, asymptotic growth is actually smoother.


Fine‐needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) was performed on 300 patients. Among those, 57 cases failed in accurate diagnosis of malignancy and 243 were successful. Fourteen clinicopathological factors altogether were analyzed to elucidate any correlation with FNAC failure using uni‐ and multivariate analysis. The univariate analysis in each clinicopathlogical factor showed that these error cases were vaguely palpable cancers, estrogen receptor (ER) positive cancers, small‐sized of tumors, scattered type of cancer cell distribution in tumor tissues, with low tumor grade, with low Nottingham prognostic index (NPI), with benign‐like ultrasound findings and with low TNM stage. The multivariate analysis revealed tumor grade was the strongest factor for all, followed by cellular distribution type of cancer cells and benign‐like ultrasound findings. From these results, we speculated that diagnostic failure of FNAC at first clinic visit seemed to be caused by mainly two histocytological factors: extrinsic factor (structural factor of tissue‐like tumor cells' distribution pattern etc.); and intrinsic one (cellular factor of low atypism such as benign‐like ultrasound finding, low tumor grade and so on). J. Surg. Oncol. 2001;76:100–105. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


A comprehensive study of the test facilities used in hypersonic aerodynamics: flight models; firing tunnels; wind tunnels. The specific ranges of these various facilities are indicated in relation to the similarity problems encountered in hypersonic aerodynamics. The technological limitations of each type of facility are translated in terms of performance characteristics (velocity, density, flow temperature and duration) and the associated measurement capabilities are indicated.


Aiming at the deficiency of the current test data error processing metho ds in electronic range,this paper analyzes the time-varying error in electronic equipment test process;presents three indexes:time-varying error stability,ti me-varying error consistency and the precision-time probability as the evaluat ion basis of electronic equipment time-varying error;compares the error precisi on of two types of laser ranging equipment using a method based on CURE.The test results show that this method has a favorable dipartite degree for some electro nic equipment with time-varying error and prove the effectiveness of this metho d.


Introduction. The problem of combining continuous monitoring of the main informative process parameters (mass, temperature, melt consumption) and control of the pouring process is relevant for almost all filling devices today.Problem Statement. The development of pouring accuracy methods, particularly for small-dose pouring is an important task for the foundry industry.Purpose. The purpose is to study the dependences of the flow characteristics of the magnetodynamic equipment on the supplied voltage in various conditions of its operation.Materials and Methods. Physical modelling has been applied for the study of dosing accuracy for small doses in the range of 1.5—3 kg.Results. The coefficient of the numerical dependence of instantaneous mass flow consumption of a modeling fluid in the trough on the instantaneous mass of a modeling fluid in the trough has been established based on experimental studies with the use of a physical model of magnetodynamic device (MDD). The studies of filling doses within the range from 1.5 to 3 kg have shown that this coefficient corresponds to the range of the electromagnet supply voltage from 12.3 to 16.3 V. There have been determined the efficient range of the poured-metalmass to instantaneous-mass-flow-consumption ratio in the course of casting (2.20—2.25) and the corresponding range of the MDD electromagnet supply voltage to minimize the effect of jet pulsations on the dosing accuracy byreducing their amplitude. The dosing error does not exceed 1.5% by dose weight in the case of pouring small portions (1.5—3 kg).Conclusions. A new technical solution for MDD with an inclined weighting trough of a conventional design has been developed based on the electromagnetic transfer of a force proportional to the instantaneous melt massin the trough. The implementation of this solution makes it possible to reduce the number of strain gauge power sensors for the instantaneous measurement of the melt mass, from four sensors installed under the melting pot of the MDD prototype to one placed directly under the trough.


This paper, dealing with problems in the talent-cultivation mode for higher vocational education, comes up with a mode of "Total process, Total Staff, Flexibility (TTF)". The TTF mode states that Talent-Cultivation Mode of High Vocational Education is a an organic integration, which takes steps to do such cultivation matters such as the educational goals, environment, contents and conditions, rules and regulations, and so on.


The digital versatile disc (DVD) is a new optical recording medium with a storage capacity seven times higher than the conventional compact disc (CD). The major part of the capacity increase is achieved by the use of optics, shorter laser wavelength, and larger numerical aperture, which reduces the spot diameter by a factor of 1.65. The track formed by the recorded pits and lands, as well as the track pitch, can be reduced by the same factor. The storage capacity is further increased by a complete redesign of the logical format of the disc, including a more powerful error correction and recording code. The system requirements of the DVD and the related channel coding are outlined in this paper.


A new method of obtaining diagnostic data from induction motors, derived from the three supply currents using principal components analysis, is presented in this paper. The techniques presented here focus on extracting relevant information from spectral matrices. These techniques are qualified as parsimonious tools for exploring the behaviour of current vector valued signals in the frequency domain with minimal loss of information. In fact, the new diagnostic method obtains data from the three stator currents by exploring special fault characteristic frequencies in the power spectral density of the first principal component. The main advantage of this new diagnostic tool is its ability to extract automatically the characteristic frequencies relative to the different machine operating modes. This is accomplished using the proportion of the power attributed to the first principal component and/or using the sensor contribution to the power at specific frequencies. Thus, the new diagnostic method gives a good basis for an automatic non intrusive condition monitoring for rotating machinery.


The undersigned, pursuant to Fed.R.Bankr.P.2016(c) states that: 1. The undersigned is the petition preparer for the Debtor(s) in this case. 2. The compensation paid or agreed to be paid by the Debtor(s) to the undersigned is: A. For petition preparer services rendered in contemplation of and in connection with this case, exclusive of the filing fee paid B. Prior to filing this statement, received C. The unpaid balance due and payable is 3. $ of the filing fee has been paid. 4. In return for the above-disclosed fee, I have agreed to render the following services in the bankruptcy case, including: A. B. C. D. 5. The source of payments to the undersigned was from: A. Debtor(s)' earnings, wages, compensation for services performed B. Other (describe, including the identity of payor)


A numerical method has been developed to determine the stability limits for liquid bridges held between noncircular supporting disks, and the application to a configuration with a circular and an elliptical disk subjected to axial acceleration has been made. The numerical method led to results very different from the available analytical solution, which has been revisited and a better approximation has been obtained. It has been found that just retaining one more term in the asymptotic analysis the solution reproduces the real behavior of the configuration and the numerical results.


Background: Oral health is an important health status indicator of an individual. In India poor economic group mostly accommodate in rural areas, where there is lack of facility. The present study was carried out to determine the oral health status of the school going children in rural area. We tried to assess the oral health habits know more about the type of treatment they may need to increase awareness and attention towards oral health. Materials & Methods: The observational study was carried out in a school where a team of dentists examined the children and recorded their findings. Various study parameters like demographic profile, oral hygiene status, oral habits, dental caries, gingivitis, malocclusion etc. were assessed. Results: In total 133 children were studied, majority of them were girls. Dental caries was seen in 33.1%, gingivitis in 12%, Malocclusion in 21% & Hypocalcificaion in 12.7%. Overall health hygiene was poor 64.66%. There was a definite correlation of poor oral hygiene & use of toothbrush with dental caries. Conclusion: Poor oral hygiene is hazardous to oral health. Discoloration & poor oral hygiene warrants a complete dental examination. This can be achieved by educating the children as well as parents through school dental health program.


Anson W. Lowe and Richard H. Moseley, Section Editors 64 65 STAFF OF CONTRIBUTORS 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 Joseph Anderson, White River Junction, VT Darren M. Brenner, Chicago, IL Andrew T. Chan, Boston, MA Francis K. L. Chan, Hong Kong, China Massimo Colombo, Milan, Italy Gregory A. Cote, Charleston, SC B. Joseph Elmunzer, Charleston, SC Alex Ford, Leeds, United Kingdom Timothy B. Gardner, Lebanon, NH Lauren B. Gerson, San Francisco, CA


Exploiting the long experience in design and production of scintillating mixtures based on siloxane matrices with combinations of primary dye and waveshifter, a first set of 6LiF loaded scintillator disks has been produced. The synthesis is herein described and reported, as well as preliminary results on their light response towards thermal neutrons. The preservation of transparency and mechanical integrity of the scintillator material is challenging when introducing the inorganic salt LiF which is a "foreign body" to the organic polysiloxane host matrix Different strategies such as synthesis of nanoparticles and surface functionalization have been pursued to succeed in the entrapment of the neutron converter whilst maintaining moderate light output, optical transparency and flexibility of the base scintillator.


Dalong Formation of Matan is mainly composed of pyroclastic rocks and siliceous rocks. Microscopic analysis shows : (1) pyroclastic rocks can be divided into three subtypes, namely tuffs, sedimentary-tuffs and tuffaceous sedimentary rocks, and further into seven types of microfacies, (2) siliceous rocks can be divided into two subtypes, namely biogenic siliceous rocks, biogenic and volcanogenic siliceous rocks, and further into five types of microfacies. These microfacies comprise twelve types of main lithofacies,which can vertically be grouped into six types of sedimentary succession. These successions indicate there are two types of turbidity current. One is low-density turbidity current which is evolved from high-density turbidity current generated by pyroclastic debris current induced by subaqueous volcanic eruption, the other is that is induced by slumps and brings early sediments of tuffaceous grains and siliceous biogenic grains. Our research into sedimentary successions and geomorphology of Matan area at this stage demonstrates that there do not exist submarine fans. On the contrary, it accepts low-density tuffaceous turbidity current readily, resulting in extensively and relatively thin-bedded deposits


Hypertonic(7.5%)NaCl solution 2ml/kg or 4ml/kg was infused in 20 cases of operative patients. appropriate increase in
seram osmolality, sodium concentration and systolic blood pressure were noticed. In 42 cases of traumatic shock, after same
dosage of 7.5% NaCl was infused, as previously mentioned, systolic blood pressure rasied 1.33--6. 67kPa, pulse rate de-
creased to 100 bpm. In this series, 36 patients survived, the remaining 6 patients died due to uncontrollable bleeding. Authors
recommanded that it might be a potent adjunct of antishock therapy.


Deep learning has achieved great success in various applications, such as image processing and audio signal processing. However, deep learning methods usually require large and powerful computing resource, which greatly limit the practical application of deep learning methods. The spiking neural network is a new paradigm of neural networks and has the potential for low-power consumption. In this paper, we proposed a new computational model with the aim to provide an efficient and low-power computational model for speech recognition tasks. In the proposed model, the threshold coding method is employed to transform the speech signals to spike train patterns. The encoded spike patterns are then presented to the designed multi-layer spiking neural networks and trained by the surrogate-learning algorithm. After learning, the classification is decided by the firing rate of the neurons in the last layer. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method gets good accuracy in the speech recognition task. In addition, the proposed computational model works in an event-driven manner, hence, it holds great potential for low-latency and low-power consumption in neuromorphic hardware.


Pb0.4Sr0.6TiO3 films with submicron size grains have been prepared on Pt substrates by the metalorganic decomposition method. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that the films are polycrystalline with a perovskite crystal structure and negligible tetragonal splitting at room temperature. The room temperature Raman spectrum, however, shows all the characteristic phonon modes of a tetragonal ferroelectric phase. These modes lose their intensity with an increase in temperature but persist even up to 150 °C. This is in agreement with the dielectric permittivity versus temperature data which show a broad peak–room temperature, and ferroelectric hysteresis persisting up to ∼140 °C. Both Raman and dielectric data are interpreted as due to the presence of a distribution of phases in the film perhaps caused by a variation in Pb content along the film thickness and/or near grain boundary regions.


In Recent years, Data mining is an essential technique to discover useful knowledge from transactional dataset. Association analysis algorithm is one of the vital data mining techniques. It normally catches relationships among items in transactional dataset. Generally they are used to develop the strategy of the future business. The main step of association analysis is to catch the frequent patterns in large transactional dataset. Plenty of methods are available in the literature to catch the frequent patterns. Most of the techniques gave in the literature catch all frequent itemsets for a specified minimum support threshold value. But in some instance, it is desired to examine the existence of some of the few targeted patterns (for example special offer given for group of items to promote the retail sales) in large transactional dataset to develop the strategy of the future business. For this purpose, we previously introduced SIFPMM (Selective Itemsets Frequent Pattern Mining Method) method and TM-PIFPMM (Transaction Merging-Predefined Itemsets Frequent Pattern Mining Method). To improve the performance of TM-PIFPMM, this TPIITR-FPMM (Targeted Patterns Involved Items Transaction Reduction-Frequent Pattern Mining Method) is proposed and the performance of this method is compared with Apriori, FP-Growth, SIFPMM and TM-PIFPMM. The Experimental analysis of TPIITR-FPMM verifies that this method outperforms than Apriori, FP-Growth, SIFPMM and TM-PIFPMM.


Real estate mortgage loan securitization can make mortgaged loans with less liquidity securitized,and then can realize their circulation in the market,which has deserved great concern of many principals in the markets.However,there are series of legal obstacles at present for Real estate mortgage loan securitization with true significance.Starting from the business model of real estate mortgage loan securitization,related legal problems are analyzed,and legal institution design schemes are proposed from macro-legal viewpoint.


We have recently reported that human immuno deficiency virus type 1 (HIV -1) could be isolated from the cellular contents of peritoneal dialysate (both overnight and short-dwell samples) in 2 of 3 HIVseropositive patients (1). Appropriate methods for disposing of this virusinfected fluid have not been studied. Possible disposal methods including hold ing the used bags for a defined time or injecting an agent capable of killing the viruses were examined.


Cutaneous pigmentation is the outcome of exquisite interactions among various cell types in the skin, the best described of which are the interactions between epidermal melanocytes and keratinocytes, and between melanocytes and dermal fibroblasts. Melanocytes are the site of melanin synthesis, and keratinocytes are the recipients of melanosomes, melanin-containing organelles. The wide variation in constitutive pigmentation among humans is caused by enormous differences in the rate of synthesis of the two forms of melanin, eumelanin and pheomelanin, and the rate of transfer of melanosomes to keratinocytes. Cutaneous pigmentation is regulated by a wide array of factors, some of which are endocrine, and many are paracrine and/or autocrine. Many of those factors regulate constitutive pigmentation and also participate in the ultraviolet radiation (UVR)or inflammation-induced hyperpigmentation. There is convincing evidence that the tanning response to UVR exposure is mediated by a spectrum of locally produced cytokines and growth factors, such as -melanocyte-stimulating hormone ( -MSH) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and endothelin-1 (ET-1). Currently, more is known about the regulation of melanin synthesis than about the control of melanosome transfer. Only in the past few years


Group identity is an important way for an individual to get his social identity.However,excluded for systematic and non-systematic reasons,migrate workers are unable to establish a positive social identity,and thus suffered from a lack of self identity,self esteem and orientation,which result in a mental distance and opposition between them and urban community.By studying media influence on migrate workers' identity with respect to social categorization,meaning of identity and self categorization,the author hopes to promote mass media awareness of their social function and responsibility.


The lithology identification has a great importance to petroleum reservoir characterization and wellbore economic viability analysis, and it is usually made from core and geophysical log analysis. However, the process of coring is costly and well log analysis is a task that takes time and requires highly specific knowledge. Thus, there is a great interest in the ability to predict the lithology behavior of a wide area from a small number of samples. Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) is a computational method based on human brain function, extremely efficient in recognizing patterns previously trained. This paper proposes a siliciclastic and carbonate lithological classification with backpropagation neural network algorithm supported by petrophysical, mineral and elastic information, from a well dataset located in the South Provence Basin, at the southwest of France. The great accuracy in the simulation leads to suggest that ANN application can be an auxiliary tool for lithological identification based on well data, specially for prediction intervals in the well that has not sampled or adjacent wells.


The new standards of transducers - active transducers (AT) have been introduced. The principle of AT theory is developed on the basis of the nonlinear charge model. A Volterra functional series is used to calculate parameters of AT. Particular attention have been devoted to the microwave AT for control applications. An experimental AT for temperature and moisture telemetering control has been described to confirm the theoretical assumptions.


"Hmm," says Jeff Thomas, "I've never had one fail like this before." Even over the phone, his voice carries the fascination of an engineer faced with a new problem to solve. Left unsaid by both of us is the thought that "only a reporter could screw up a simple soldering job like this."


Democratization and democratic stability are issues that are increasingly important, if not indeed "trendy," within social sciences such as political science, sociology and even economics. Not only are there now specific journals devoted to these themes, but in recent years there has been a proliferation of books as well. Perhaps not surprisingly, many of these books have focused on cases within Latin America, given the long-term problems with democratization and democratic stability in the region.


Aim: Waterpipe smoking is becoming increasingly popular in the U.S., especially among minority groups. The purpose of this preliminary study was to explore the patterns of waterpipe use, as well as the association between acculturation factors and waterpipe use among Arab immigrants living in the Richmond, Virginia (VA) metropolitan area. Methods: We surveyed self-identified Arab American Immigrants in Middle Eastern Original Research Article British Journal of Medicine & Medical Research, 4(3): 816-827, 2014 817 restaurants/lounges and Middle Eastern groceries, in the Richmond, VA metropolitan area. A total of 221 Arab Americans participated in this study. Results: In this sample, higher rates of waterpipe use were found among male subjects (66.6%) than females (31.4%).Our results indicated no significant association between the type of tobacco used (exclusive versus dual) and desire or future intentions to quit waterpipe use. Upon examining the proxy indicators of acculturation, none of them was significant for the entire sample. However, upon stratifying the results by group (exclusive vs. dual), exclusive waterpipe use was significantly correlated with proportion of life lived in the US as r(16)=0.56, p=0.02 but the correlation remained not significant among dual smokers r( 23)= 0.08, p=0.6. Conclusion: Further studies are needed to confirm the relatively high prevalence of waterpipe use among Arab Americans. There is a need to develop effective prevention strategies that will consider the acculturation process when trying to control the spread of waterpipe use among minority groups in the U.S.


Based on our previous research works [7, 31] , we found out Venus's position at around 17.3 0 in Pisces in Lord Rama's birth chart. In this paper, we examined Lord Sri Rama's life events specific to planet Venus in Pisces. This analysis and review confirms that planet Venus and sign Pisces both conferred best results and at times planet Venus dominated over Pisces sign in Lord Sri Rama's birth chart. Our analysis also confirms that Venus in Lord Sri Rama's birth chart had conferred him a beautiful wife like Sachi Devi as Venus is dominant and exalted in Pisces


This article explores the significance of the Beatitudes, with a particular focus on poverty of the spirit, in the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises.


This paper proposes a simple method to design experiments for drawing the light paths at a lens to find its effective focal length and principal planes. In the designed experiments, long-exposure photography was used to record the light scattered using a moving sheet of paper, thus revealing the light path. According to the proposed experimental method, (1) the effective focal length of a lens and (2) the principal planes of a lens can be measured. Moreover, the system is easy to build, inexpensive, and can promote students' understanding of geometric optics by providing an intuitive physical phenomenon. The work is also of pedagogic interest as it reveals a new simple experimental method to find the principal planes of a thick lens and its effective focal length.