Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, a range of risk factors have been identified underpinning the severity of infection observed in some patients following SARS-CoV-2 infection. These include obesity, advancing age, co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease and more recent publications have also reported a significantly increased mortality in patients with underlying haematological malignancy. A greater risk may be anticipated in stem cell transplant recipients due to significant additional treatment-related immunosuppression although the magnitude of the additional risk from the transplant procedure versus that from the underlying diagnosis and patient-related factors is uncertain. A recent prospective study of the outcome for 272 HSCT recipients that tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in European transplant centres reported a mortality rate of 30% and 25 3% for allogeneic and autologous HSCT recipients respectively, emphasising the high mortality risk to HSCT recipients from this virus. A number of international guidelines have been published detailing steps to reduce the risk of viral transmission in this group including delay or deferral of non-essential procedures, screening patients and donors for infection before transplantation and during admission, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and distancing during hospitalisation and follow-up. Current UK guidance also recommends routinely testing asymptomatic staff, although the extent to which this has been undertaken or is feasible in UK stem cell transplant centres is not known. Data were collected from 42 out of 53 stem cell transplant centres in the UK and Ireland in September 2020 regarding current testing practice and the results are summarised in Table I. 57% of centres (24 of 42) are routinely testing asymptomatic staff with higher rates reported in those undertaking allogeneic transplantation compared to autologous-only centres or paediatric units (69% vs. 54% vs. 16% respectively). Among the centres performing routine testing, 83% employed weekly polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing of nose and/or throat swabs. Testing was voluntary in most centres and focussed predominantly on patient-facing ward staff although practice between units varied considerably ranging from only sampling a limited number of staff, to routinely testing of all staff working in clinical areas. Of the centres that are not testing asymptomatic health care workers, a number of barriers to implementation were reported including staff compliance, logistics issues around monitoring of results due to workforce mobility around the hospital, local/regional testing strategies, laboratory capacity and a low rate of positive test results. The reasons for the lower rate of testing in autologous transplant units and paediatric centres may reflect a perceived lower risk in these patients compared to allogeneic transplant recipients. The full impact of COVID-19 on stem cell transplantation is unknown although based on data collected by the British Society of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (BSBMTCT) registry, activity in UK centres declined


We developed a new generalized synthetic procedure, called as "heat-up process," to produce uniform-sized nanocrystals of many transition metals and oxides without a size selection process. We were able to synthesize uniform magnetite nanocrystals as much as 1 kilogram-scale from the thermolysis of Fe-oleate complex. Clever combination of different nanoscale materials will lead to the development of multifunctional nano-biomedical platforms for simultaneous targeted delivery, fast diagnosis, and efficient therapy. In this presentation, I would like to present some of our group's recent results on the designed fabrication of multifunctional nanostructured materials based on uniform-sized magnetite nanoparticles and their medical applications. Uniform ultrasmall iron oxide nanoparticles of <3 nm were synthesized by thermal decomposition of iron-oleate complex in the presence of oleyl alcohol. These ultrasmall iron oxide nanoparticles exhibited good T1 contrast effect. In in vivo T1 weighted blood pool magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), iron oxide nanoparticles showed longer circulation time than commercial gadolinium complex, enabling high resolution imaging. We used 80 nm-sized ferrimagnetic iron oxide nanocrystals for T2 MRI contrast agent for tracking transplanted pancreatic islet cells and single-cell MR imaging. We reported on the fabrication of monodisperse magnetite nanoparticles immobilized with uniform pore-sized mesoporous silica spheres for simultaneous MRI, fluorescence imaging, and drug delivery. We synthesized hollow magnetite nanocapsules and used them for both the MRI contrast agent and magnetic guided drug delivery vehicle.


Hiroshi Makino locking hooks of the collet bite into the neck portion of ground contact pin, making a secure connection. The coil spring, Industrial Research Institute of Kanagawa between the tubular body and collet, forces the collet inward Prefecture with respect to the tubular body. The projections, forming an Tadao Futami angle of 30 degrees with respect to the colet surface, are Futami ME Corp. received in the aperture of the tubular body. The collet is fastened to the pin with a force equal to 31W2 of the axial coil Iwao Yamane spring force, in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the pin. Hitachi Medical Corp. If the ground conductor is inadvertently pulled, the aperture of the tubular body forces the projections onto the collet with INTRODUCTION a force proportional to the tensile force exerted on the ground A N IMPORTANT CONSIDERATION in the operation of conductor. As the locking hooks of the collet will be forced ?electro-medical equipment is that of electrical safety [1towards the center axis of the pin, the socket will not be 51. Any equipment that operates from the power main has disengaged from the pin. The ground device is attached or some chassis leakage current. Normally, this leakage current flows from the chassis to ground via the third, or ground, wire in the power cord. If the equipment is used while poorly grounded, and a patient or operator comes into contact with any conductive part of the equipment, this leakage current can bypass the ground wire and flow through the body (6-9]. 4 In cases where leakage current has serious consequences to humans, incomplete grounding of equipment was involved as a substantial cause [6, 7].


The invention discloses a content delivery network server and a content downloading method. The content downloading method comprises that: an access content delivery network (CDN) server of user equipment receives a content request from the user equipment, wherein the content request carries an identifier of requested contents; the access CDN server acquires the position information of the contents corresponding to the identifier by a peer-to-peer overlay network; and the access CDN server downloads the contents according to the position information by a peer-to-peer universal content delivery network, and transmits the downloaded contents to the user equipment by the content delivery network server and the content downloading method, the application range of the peer-to-peer universal content delivery network can be widened, and user experiences can be improved.


Goal. Structure and mechanical properties of the steel can vary, sometimes significantly, by thermal welding cycles. As it happens in a metal heat-affected zone of welded joints of some of the most common low-alloy and micro-alloyed structural steels of strength classes from C350 to S490, it was necessary to explore. Methods. Investigations were carried out with respect to the treated by thermal cycle of welding samples and specimens, which were made of naplavlavok on the plate. Effect of welding thermal cycles on the metal structure of the heat affected zone was studied by dilatometric studies and optical microscopy. Mechanical tests on static tensile and impact tests were carried out using standard samples: type II according to GOST 6996-66 and type IX according to GOST 9454-78. Results. It is found that the effect of the thermal cycles of the welding metal structure of the HAZ most alloy steels ranges from ferrite-pearlite to martensite-bainite and martensite. Due to this static parameters the strength and toughness of the metal grow and its plastic properties decrease. In contrast to low-alloyed steel HAZ of welded joints of most micro-alloyed steels with  strength  class  area  of the  metal  structure  of  the  C350  to  S490  except  09G2SYuch  steel,  in  a  wide  range  of  cooling  rates remained stable, and the mechanical properties do not change significantly. Scientific novelty. Expanded view on the influence of thermal cycles of welding on the structure and mechanical properties of the metal heat-affected zone of welds low-alloy and microalloyed structural steels. Practical significance. The research results can be used in the development of welding technology for the manufacture and repair of metal structures made from steel of strength classes from C350 to S490.


Let G = GSp(2) be the symplectic group with similitude of degree two, which is defined over Q. For a generic cusp form F on the adelized group GA whose archimedean type is either a (limit of) large discrete series representation or a certain principal series representation, we show that its spinor L-function is continued to an entire function and satisfies the functional equation. 0. Introduction. Let G = GSp(2) be the symplectic group with similitude of degree two, defined over a global field k. Suppose that Π = ⊗ �Πv is a generic cuspidal automorphic representation of the adelized group GAk , that is, Π has a nonvanishing global Whittaker model. In the 1970s, Novodvorsky announced that the spinor L-function L(s, Π )o fΠ, which is originally defined for Re(s) � 0, is continued to an entire function and satisfies the functional equation when the base field k is a function field. Later the missing detailed proofs of the results in Novodvorsky's paper (N) are supplied by Bump (B1, §3) and Takloo-Bighash (TB). The purpose of this paper is to establish similar results to Novodvorsky's for the completed spinor L-function Λ(s, Π) when the base field k is a totally real number field, provided that the local factor Πv at each infinite place v of k is either a (limit of) square integrable representation modulo center or a certain principal series representation. In the text, we actually take the field Q of rational numbers as the base field k, for the sake of simplicity. In order to show the result mentioned above, Novodvorsky (N, §1) introduced a zeta integral ZN(s, F )( F ∈ Π) that represents the spinor L-function L(s, Π )o f Π. It is known that the zeta integral ZN(s, F) equals an integral transform of the global Whittaker function WF of F. If a cusp form F ∈ Π is decomposable in the restricted tensor product Π = ⊗ �Πv, then the global Whittaker function WF of F can be written as a product of local Whittaker functions: W (v) F ( gv), g =( gv) ∈ GA k .


: We present an efficient algorithm to decompose the ultraviolet (UV) divergences of Feynman integrals to local divergences and various types of sub-divergences. We show that with some reasonable assumptions the local divergences of Feynman integrals can be uniquely defined in dimensional regularization scheme. By an asymptotic expansion in the hard momenta, the computation of local and sub-divergences is reduced to the computation of local divergences of massless vacuum integrals. In theories with spin ≤ 12 , the beta functions and anomalous dimensions can be extracted directly from the local divergence of integrals. We also propose two methods to reduce the tensor structures which can be used in the computation of local divergence. The first method is based on dimensional shift and is extremely powerful for integrals with loop number L ≤ 3 . The second method is based on a PV reduction in a d ∞ dimension subspace, and it is more suited in four and more loops.


Objective To investigate the serum metabolic phenotype of rats with spleen-qi deficiency syndrome by the metabonomic method for screening their potential biomarkers, and to observe the therapeutic effects of Buzhong Yiqi Decoction. Methods Proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy(1H-NMR) was used to analyze the rat serum metabonome. Principal component analysis(PCA) and orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis( OPLS-DA) were carried out to investigate the metabonome difference among normal control group, negative control group and Buzhong Yiqi Decoction group. And then the biomarkers in rat serum were selected by the variable importance in the projection(VIP). Results The metabolic phenotypes of rats in the negative control group and Buzhong Yiqi Decoction group were changed greatly. Eight kinds of metabolites in the rats with spleen-qi deficiency syndrome were found. Conclusion The mechanism of rat spleen-qi deficiency syndrome is mainly related with the changes of energy metabolism which results into the increase of the anaerobic respiration. Buzhong Yiqi Decoction plays a role in energy metabolism and amino acid metabolism for the treatment of spleen-qi deficiency syndrome.


In practical wireless sensor networks,transmission channels are susceptible to interference,resulting in errors in the code.To ensure reliability of data transmission,we propose a simple and practical data transmission error correction scheme by integrating convolutional coding with interleaving technique.A flow chart is presented,and the approach is implemented on sensor nodes.The proposed method has low computation complexity,can resist high channel bit error,and is convenient to implement by software.Experimental results validate its effectiveness and practicality.


As modified hyperbranched polymer PNP can not only control the preparation of nano-silver solution with a small grain size,but also control the generation of nano-silver in situ for finishing textiles.This paper uses PNP to study the effect of silk fabrics finished with nano-silver steeping adsorption method and in-situ reaction methods,characterizes finished silk fabrics and tests their antibiotic property.The result shows that,finishing of silk fabrics by nano-silver with in-situ reaction method can produce a higher nano-silver content than steeping adsorption method and the finished nano-silver has a better fastness to washing.A lot of elemental silver nano-particles are uniformly distributed on the fiber surface of silk fabrics finished with in-situ reaction method.Finished silk fabrics have a good antibiotic property against staphylococcus aureus and escherichia coli.When the molar concentration of AgNO 3 in the finishing liquor is 0.05 mmol / L,the antibacterial rate of finished silk fabrics reaches over 99%.


A three-dimensional nanostructured graphene oxide–Mn_3O_4 hybrid was synthesized by a coprecipitation method and used as an anode material of lithium ion batteries, which reached an initial specific capacity of 1400 mA h/g. This method was developed to simplify the process of fabricating uniform composite nanomaterials for abundant applications. In this work, Mn_3O_4 particles were coordinately distributed on the surface of reduced graphene oxide nanosheets to avoid detrimental stacking of graphene layers by forming 3D nanostructures, as characterized by a scanning electron microscope. As demonstrated by the in situ observation of a scanning probe microscope, severe pulverization of Mn_3O_4 particles during charge/discharge processing was significantly abstained when graphene layers constrained swelling and shrinkage. The as-prepared graphene–Mn_3O_4 nanomaterials exhibited a large specific capacity of 949 mA h/g, high-rechargeable efficiency of ∼98%, and exceptional cyclic stability. After 100 constant-current charging/discharging cycles at 100 mA/g, the specific capacity remained at 792 mA h/g with a coulombic efficiency of 98.1%. Furthermore, the coprecipitation method proposed in this work provides a strategy to fabricate other nanostructured composites for different kinds of applications.


A forecasting system is developed for determining future imports of real goods and services by OPEC members. The forecasting system permits development of alternative forecasts as better and more accurate information becomes available. The information base of each OPEC country may be modified to generate different projections regarding future oil revenues.


This paper is a review of the recommendations about the equity premium found in the main finance and valuation textbooks. We review several editions of books written by authors such as Brealey and Myers; Copeland, Koller and Murrin (McKinsey); Ross, Westerfield and Jaffe; Bodie, Kane and Marcus; Damodaran; Copeland and Weston; Van Horne; Bodie and Merton; Stowe et al.; Pratt; Penman; Bruner; Weston & Brigham; and Arzac. We highlight the confusing message the textbooks convey regarding the equity premium and how it changes. The main confusion arises from not distinguishing among the four concepts that the term "equity premium" designates: Historical equity premium (HEP), Expected equity premium, Required equity premium (REP) and Implied equity premium (IEP). Some confusion also arises from not recognizing that although the HEP is equal for all investors, the REP, the EEP and the IEP are different for different investors. A unique IEP requires assuming homogeneous expectations for expected growth (g), but there are several pairs (IEP, g) that satisfy current prices. We claim that different investors have different REPs and that it is impossible to determine the REP for the market as a whole, because it does not exist.


Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) can have a significant detrimental effect on the lives of sufferers. Research into the psychological process involved in worry has an important role in the prevention and treatment of problems such as GAD. Negative problem orientation (NPO) has been identified as an important psychological construct involved in worry (Gosselin, Ladouceur & Pelletier, 2005). The focus of this meta-analytic review was to further our understanding of the relationship between NPO and worry, and a related construct called intolerance of uncertainty (IU). The review identified 31 articles reporting correlations between measures of NPO and worry. These articles detailed a total of 33 independent effect sizes. Using a random-effects model and raw and attenuation-corrected values, NPO was found to be significantly correlated to worry (r = 0.57, CI = 0.55–0.60, k = 33, N = 5376). The type of NPO measure moderated the relationship between NPO and worry. In addition, NPO was found to be significantly correlated with IU (r= 0.71, CI = 0.69–0.73, k = 14, N = 3072) and more strongly correlated with IU than with worry (p<.05). The findings have implications for theory, research and practice. Issues in the measurement of NPO are discussed, and the relationship between NPO and IU is considered.


The nucleon microscopic optical potential is obtained by calculating the mass operator of the one-particle Green function with an effective Skyrme interaction. The real and imaginary part potentials for finite nuclei are given by applying a local density approximation as usual, while the spin?orbit potential is further amended by using the Skyrme?Hartree?Fock approach and relativistic mean field results. The new variants of Skyrme interaction parameters are found by simultaneously fitting the characteristics of nuclear matter, the binding energy, charge radius and single-particle energy levels of double closed shell nuclei, the neutron induced reaction cross sections and polarization data. These data include the total cross sections, nonelastic sections, elastic scattering angular distributions and analyzing powers for the target mass range 24 ? A ? 209 with incident neutron energies below 100?MeV. Further, the Landau parameters are considered to describe the properties of an excited state. The obtained variants of Skyrme forces are used to predict the neutron?actinide reactions with incident energies below 100 MeV. It is found that the calculations can give a satisfactory description of the experimental data. Analogous calculations by the new Skyrme forces are performed to predict the proton induced reactions, which also yield reasonable results.


W E get many cancers because our tumor suppressor genes, which can prevent cancer, become damaged or destroyed. In 1991 I presented a review on tumor suppressor genes in this journal (Oppenheimer 1991). At that time, however, nobody knew how these genes worked. Understanding how they work should lead to therapies that may finally offer cures for advanced cancers. This update of the 1991 article was written because the major breakthrough in an understanding of the function of tumor suppressor genes has just occurred. It is believed that damage to the p53 tumor suppressor gene is responsible for up to 50% of all human cancers (Marx 1993). An understanding of how this gene prevents cancer and how damage to it causes cancer surely would be considered to be one of the most important developments in cancer research of all time. In the last few weeks this breakthrough has taken place. The work by Wade Harper, Stephen Elledge, Bert Vogelstein and colleagues has shown that the p53 tumor suppressor gene codes for protein that acts to turn on genes that code for other proteins that can suppress cell division (Harper et al. 1993; El-Deiry et al. 1993). Curt Harris of the National Cancer Institute described this finding as "pretty spectacular" (Marx 1993). Enzymes known as cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) become associated with proteins called cyclins. Together, they bring cells through the cell cycle and cell division. The p53 gene makes a protein that turns on the gene for a 21 kilodalton protein. This 21 kD protein complexes with the cyclin-dependent kinase/cyclin units in normal cells, preventing DNA synthesis and cell division (Figure 1) (Harper et al. 1993; El-Deiry et al. 1993). What is especially exciting about this finding is that the 21 KD protein just described blocks cell division and appears to be increasingly expressed in aging cells (Marx 1993). The gene for this protein has become a good candidate for explaining how senescent cells lose their ability to divide. A key to aging as well as cancer now may be in hand (Marx 1993). The dream of slowing down the aging process and successfully treating advanced cancer may well become a reality in the not-too-distant future. Drugs based on the 21 KD protein may be developed that could slow down cell division in cancer cells, or speed it up, perhaps negating some of the characteristics of the aging process. The final part of this brief review deals with the discovery of a human colon cancer gene and how it functions. One in every 200 people possess a defective gene that causes up to 15% of all colon cancers. This defective gene was discovered by Fishel's group at the University of Vermont and Kinzler and Vogelstein's group at Johns Hopkins University (Fishel et al. 1993; Marx 1993). In the normal state this gene codes for a protein that functions in the repair of DNA. Obviously, anything that causes improperly repaired DNA could result in many cellular defects, including cancer (Figure 2). The defective gene called HNPCC, for hereditary nonpolypoisis colon cancer, was mapped on chromosome 2. All patients with this form of colon cancer were found to possess the defective gene (Fishel et al. 1993; Marx 1993). A final piece to the puzzle fit into place when it was found that DNA repair was indeed defective in colon cancer cells and that the DNA of these cells was 100 times more easily mutated than that of normal cells (Marx 1993). The identification and chromosomal localization of the HNPCC gene is making the possibility of mass public screening for this gene a reality. Since colon cancer is very curable if found early, screening for this gene, followed by careful monitoring of those who possess it, promises to substantially decrease mortality from one of the most common human cancers. Advances in molecular biology are making their way into the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. There is great optimism that advances such as those described here will lead to the conquest of diseases that so far have escaped medicine's not-so-mighty sword. Steven B. Oppenheimer, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Cancer and Developmental Biology, and Trustees Outstanding Professor at California State University, Northridge, 18111 Nordhoff St., Northridge, CA 91330-8303.


Prediabetes is a key risk for type 2 diabetes and its remission to normal glucose regulation has been shown to prevent or delay the onset of diabetes. However, which factors play roles in remission is not fully understood. We prospectively examined the relationships between liver enzymes at baseline and future remission from impaired fasting glucose (IFG) to normal fasting glucose (NFG). We included 3334 middle-aged Japanese men with IFG and not taking diabetic medications at baseline. They were followed for up to 11 years. IFG was defined as fasting plasma glucose level 100-125 mg/dL and HbA1c In conclusion, elevated ALT was inversely associated with future remission from IFG to NFG, but AST was not. Disclosure I. Shibata: None. K.K. Sato: None. M. Shibata: None. H. Koh: None. S. Uehara: None. K. Oue: None. H. Kambe: None. M. Morimoto: None. T. Hayashi: None.


An effective numerical simulation method for reliability,line sampling technique,is proposed to analyze the probability and sensitivity characteristics of flutter with structural random parameters.By computing the eigenvalues of the state equations of aeroelastic system,the flutter characteristics can be analyzed.The safety margin of flutter is founded by using of flutter critical velocity.The partial derivatives of the failure probability with respect to the random parameters are derived in detail,which can describe the effect of random parameters on the failure probability quantificationally,so it can guide the structural optimization design.And then considering a two-dimensional three-degrees of freedom airplane wing with aileron as the calculation model of flutter,importance sampling(IS) method and line sampling technique(LST) are used to analyze the randomness uncertainty of flutter.The results show that the random variables of frequency have more significant effects on the flutter reliability than the structural size and mass ratio.Then the reliability of the wing flutter is analyzed with the randomness of frequency.Considering the results of importance sampling as the approximately exact ones,the results of LST are agreed with the exact ones. The computational efficiency of LST is improved greatly than that of IS method.


This book was written to help candidates sitting for their professional examination in anaesthesia, and provides the detailed anatomical knowledge necessary for the daily practice of anaesthesia. Unlike a textbook of anatomy, which must cover all parts of the body with equally exhaustive thoroughness, this book concentrates specifically on areas of particular relevance to anaesthesia, and highlights those features of practical importance to anaesthetic techniques. The text is divided into five sections: the respiratory pathway; the heart; the vertebral canal; the peripheral nerves; and zones of anaesthetic interest. Detailed guidelines for producing local anaesthetic blocks are given throughout the book.


A single-feed circularly polarised (CP) patch antenna loaded with a single dielectric superstrate for a wideband high-gain CP radiation is presented. Along with the gain enhancement, the emphasis is on extra CP radiation of the antenna caused by the superstrate, which broadens the axial-ratio (AR) bandwidth significantly. A prototype antenna was fabricated and measured at a frequency of 11 GHz. The antenna with overall size of 40 × 40 × 17.45 mm has a voltage standing wave ratio 26% (10.0-13.0 GHz), and a radiation efficiency of >90%. The presence of superstrate produces a ~350% increase in 3 dB AR bandwidth and a ~7 dB increase in the broadside gain relative to the conventional CP patch antenna.


Nutritional information provided on food labels can impact healthy dietary decisions of consumers. The accuracy of the information provided is of paramount importance to guide consumers' food choices and prevent food-related chronic diseases. The present study aimed to verify the veracity of nutritional labels of 103 food products purchased online through well-known e-commerce websites (80 processed and 23 unprocessed items) using near infrared spectroscopy. Among processed food products, surprisingly, 28 food products out of 80 (35%) did not bear nutritional labels. Considering the European tolerances for nutrient values declared on a label, the comparison of experimental values with those reported on the labels showed that more than 74% of the values declared on the label were congruent with the NIR experimental data, whereas 7.5% of the label values were non-compliant with the tolerance limits, and about 11.3% were slightly outside the tolerance limits. Note that 6.6% of the values indicated in the labels did not abide the regulation at all. Finally, 35.8% of the samples showed at least one value outside the tolerance limits. The current study demonstrated the capability of NIR spectroscopy for monitoring the compliance of nutritional labels with EU tolerance limits and guiding the choice of reference methods for further confirmation purposes. Graphical Abstract


Summarized development characteristic and problem of agricultural mechanization in Dali of Yunnan Province, analyzed development circumstance and keystone, put forward measures and countermeasures to accelerate agricultural mechanization development in Dali.


The American Physical Society (APS) annual meeting last March in Portland, Ore., featured more than 100 presentations touching on microbiology and many others on cell biology. Early in the 20th century, physicist Ernest Rutherford said, "In science there is only physics; all the rest is stamp collecting." The subsequent involvement of physicists in the early development of molecular biology, although unpopular in some circles, helped to overcome that earlier antagonism. Even if rivalries persist between the disciplines, cooperation once again is on the rise.


Today sports have become one the most important as well as an inseparable phenomenon of our social life. Among the sports, soccer has reached its apex or we can say it that it has made its own apex of human civilization and it's all because of the competitive, interest and love for the game and also it even improves the nature and thinking of the mankind. People these days improve relationship among each other supporting the same team in every sports not only the soccer. The acquisition of new knowledge and skills in the individual in any game improves his or her knowledge and maturity of thinking and the most important thing is that sports are even used as a tools for peace and development where so many instances in the history had taught us.But apart from the knowledge of games, acquiring new skills and motor ability one of the most important things that every players, coach, and people who are the lovers of sports should keep in mind that so many players of different games had just ended their sports carrier in their life due to injuries sustained while playing. It should focus that every players or any person involved in the sports should be aware of the injuries and know the specific injuries and the safety tips of the game they play. As concerned to soccer injuries there are two types of injury mainly overuse injury and acute injury. Overuse injury are mainly due to over time stress on muscle, joints and soft tissue without giving proper time for healing. Acute injury occurs mainly due to sudden blow or impact on the body. Acute or Traumatic injury is one the most danger and dramatic injury which sometimes even cause death of a player in the field itself when the hit goes wrong and forcefully. Wrong in the sense means hitting the body area where it can stop the functioning of our body mainly the brain which controls our body part. Concussion also known as minor head trauma or mild traumatic brain injury is the most common types of traumatic brain injury.It is typically defined as a  head injury  with a temporary loss of  brain function . Concussion is not a life-threatening injury, but it can cause both short-term and long-term problems. A concussion results from a closed-head type of injury and does not include injuries in which there is  bleeding  under the skull or into the brain.A mild concussion may involve no loss of consciousness (feeling "dazed") or a very brief loss of consciousness (being "knocked out"). A severe concussion may involve prolonged loss of consciousness with a delayed return to normal. In Soccer the player which head more are likely to have more concussion as it mainly occurs during heading the ball or try to head the ball.Soccer is one of the most popular sports in Europe and the Americans. It has a vivid and interesting history in the world of sports. Early evidence of soccer being played as a sport occurred in China during the 2 nd and 3 rd centuries B.C [1] .


The Turing test for comparing computer performance to that of humans is well known, but, surprisingly, there is no widely used test for comparing how much better human-computer systems perform relative to humans alone, computers alone, or other baselines. Here, we show how to perform such a test using the ratio of means as a measure of effect size. Then we demonstrate the use of this test in three ways. First, in an analysis of 79 recently published experimental results, we find that, surprisingly, over half of the studies find a decrease in performance, the mean and median ratios of performance improvement are both approximately 1 (corresponding to no improvement at all), and the maximum ratio is 1.36 (a 36% improvement). Second, we experimentally investigate whether a higher performance improvement ratio is obtained when 100 human programmers generate software using GPT-3, a massive, state-of-the-art AI system. In this case, we find a speed improvement ratio of 1.27 (a 27% improvement). Finally, we find that 50 human non- programmers using GPT-3 can perform the task about as well as–and less expensively than–the human programmers. In this case, neither the non-programmers nor the computer would have been able to perform the task alone, so this is an example of a very strong form of human-computer synergy. stimulate competition among teams of computer and social scientists developing human-computer systems that perform far better than either people or computers alone. We believe this could benefit our economy and society by fostering the development of software to augment humans rather than just replace them. And in the long run, it might also lead to creating "superintelligent" human-computer systems.


In Part I of this contribution, energy coupling and transport mechanisms were considered in detail. The second part concentrates on the effect of the spatial distribution of the energy in the laser beam, which will be discussed in connection with applications of laser surface technologies. Along these lines, a variety of beam shaping facilities is presented for laser hardening and cladding. Their purpose is to adapt the irradiated area to the workpiece geometry in order to achieve optimum energy coupling and processing quality. As an example, the use of beam combining optics permits of pre‐ and postheating, thereby offering interesting variations in the process. Means and techniques to enhance quality by controlling the process are also demonstrated. The principles discussed are practically independent of the laser wavelength, so that this aspect will not be treated explicitly.


334 CHAPTER EIGHT Conclusion 8.0 The Research Question and its Impact on the Existing Literature The purpose of this thesis has been to examine the interpretation and application of the buyer's remedy of avoidance 1 under the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods 1980. 2 The main research question was: 'How is the remedy established, exercised and what are the consequences of avoidance?' The aim of the examination was to determine whether the remedy was suitable for international sale of goods transactions. For the purposes of this thesis 'suitable' was defined as meaning that the remedy must be capable of being applied to contracts for different types of goods and contracts commonly bought and sold in international trade. 3 Additionally the remedy must be one that the parties can lawfully establish and exercise swiftly and with certainty. 4 The research question was designed to respond to certain criticisms of the CISG mainly in reference to the buyer's remedy of avoidance. A number of criticisms have been levelled against the remedy, including that it is overly 'complicated', specifically that certain rules only apply to specific types of breaches; that the exercise of the remedy requires giving notice; that the buyer needs to fix an additional time for performance; and that the remedy is limited by the seller's right to cure the breach. 5 However, the most serious criticism of the buyer's remedy of avoidance under the CISG is that its main


In this paper, an efficient numerical method is proposed to calculate the anisotropic permeability in porous materials characterized by a periodic microstructure. This method is based on pore‐scale fluid dynamic simulations using a static volume of fluid method. Unlike standard solution procedures for this type of problem, we here solve an average constitutive equation over both fluid and solid domain by use of a subgrid model to accurately capture momentum transfer from the fluid to solid interface regions. Using numerical simulations on periodic arrays of spheres, we first demonstrate that, by using the subgrid interface model, more accurate results can be produced, for the velocity and pressure fields, than via more conventional approaches. We then apply numerical upscaling over the unit cell to calculate the full anisotropic permeability from the pore‐scale numerical results. The obtained permeability values for a variety of periodic arrays of spheres in different arrangements and packing orders are in good agreement with semianalytical results reported in literature. This validation allows for the permeability assessment of more complex structures such as isotropic gyroid structures, or anisotropic cases, here modeled in their simplest form, the ellipsoidal inclusion.


Contemporary ecological crises and environmental devastation chal-lenge the dominant narratives of the history of technology, which are linear and triumphalist, emphasizing successful innovations and an accumulation of continuous progress and which were demanding part of our historicity regime. The article explores the different proposals of an alternative history of multi-temporal techniques that is no long-er isolated from political, social, cultural or ecological issues and that is more attentive to forgotten experiments and technological solu-tions of the past long considered marginal or retrograde. It is a question of rethinking the ontology of techniques and their history to rediscover the share of political, military or ideological choices they entail and to act, in the present, on our relationship to technology, a central issue in our contemporary relationship to the world.


1. In the rat isolated duodenal and ileal segments the active baseline force and spontaneous contractile frequency were inhibited by spermine; the relative potencies, estimated as an ED50, were adrenaline papaverine spermine. The changes in baseline force, but not frequency, due to spermine were sensitive to increased calcium.


This thesis studies the theories of Kammaṭṭhāna found in Vimuttimagga and Visuddhimagga. By comparing the two treatises, this thesis aims to clarify the structural changes incurred upon the theory of Kammaṭṭhāna during its development in Visuddhimagga from Vimuttimagga, and how the two contents vary. Firstly, from the structural perspective, the study finds that the 38 categories of Kammaṭṭhāna in Vimuttimagga acted as the base for Visuddhimagga (a prominent treatise of the school of Tāmraśāṭīya) and was expanded to 40 categories in the latter by Buddhaghosa. The adjustments made were identified to be in the structures of the ten kasiṇa and two arūpa.Secondly, from the perspective of the content, the common practices found in the two treatises were illustrated, followed by their main differences. Without going into details the results of the comparison study, some of the most important findings are given as follow. For example, while there are two types of Buddhānussati in Vimuttimagga, namely the "Buddhānussati of the early Buddhist tradition"(初期傳統之念佛) and the "Buddhānussati with Mahāyana tendency"(傾向大乘之念佛), only the first type remains in Visuddhimagga. Moreover, while there are three categories of Mettā Bhāvanā in Vimuttimagga, namely the "Mettā Bhāvanā practice of human and heavenly beings (人天修慈)", "Mettā Bhāvanā practice of Sāvaka-pacceka yāna (二乘修慈) ", and "Mettā Bhāvanā practice of bodhisatta (菩薩修慈)", only the first category remains in Visuddhimagga, and so on.


The transmission property of power line channel has been analysed in this paper,and power line carrier communication has been expounded too.The author emphasizes on the analysis of carrier modulation technology about power line carrier communication,and puts forward the OFDM technology as Numeral Communication to Power Line Carrier Home Network,finally,gives out the concrete scheme of home network based on power line as the transmission medium.


ABSTRACT Suppose G is a graph. Let u be a vertex of G. A vertex v is called an i-neighbour of u if . A 1-neighbour of u is simply called a neighbour of u. Let s and t be two non-negative integers. Suppose f is an assignment of non-negative integers to the vertices of G. If, for any vertex u of G, the number of neighbours v (resp. 2-neighbours w) of u with (resp. ) is at most s (resp. t), then f is called an -relaxed -labelling of G. The span of f, denoted by , is the difference between the maximum and minimum integers used by f. The minimum span of -relaxed -labellings of G is called the -relaxed -labelling number of G, denoted by . It is clear that is the so called -labelling number of G. This paper studies the -relaxed -labellings of trees. Let T be a tree with maximum degree Δ. It is proved that and both lower and upper bounds are attainable. For s=0 and fixed, a polynomial-time algorithm is designed to determine if equals the lower bound.


This study aimed to compare the performance and economic efficiency of greenhouse solar and hot air drying. These are widely used and inexpensive techniques for preserved fruit production in Thailand. Two drying methods were used to dry mango fruit, var. Nam Dok Mai. During the process of both drying methods, the moisture content of mango slices was reduced from an average 85.6% to 12.5% wet basis. To determine the most profitable dryer system for investment, economic analyses of greenhouse solar and hot air drying, involving the main variables affecting their profitability, were investigated, including production and maintenance cost, capital costs, revenue, and drying capacities. The internal rate of return (IRR), net present value (NPV), benefit to cost ratio (BCR) and payback period (PBP) were all evaluated. The results of economic evaluation revealed that high values of IRR, NPV, and BCR, and low value of PBP made the two drying systems cost efficient. However, when the incremental rate of return (ROR) was determined, 66% incremental ROR was much greater than the minimum attractive rate of return (MARR = 4.875%). Consequently, the greenhouse solar drying method proved to be the most suitable method for small-to-medium-scale entrepreneurs to produce crispy mango.


The widely accepted expression for conductance in polycrystalline metal oxides cannot take into account of the observed decrease in conductance of nanostructured materials with respect to their larger counterpart. We provide here an explanation for this phenomenon suggesting that tunneling through the Schottky barrier has a comparable importance to thermionic crossing in ruling the electron transport in these materials.


A high-quality label layout is critical for effective information understanding and consumption. Existing labeling methods fail to help users quickly gain an overview of visualized data when the number of labels is large. Visual clutter is a major challenge preventing these methods from being applied to real-world applications. To address this, we propose a context-aware label layout that can measure and reduce visual clutter during the layout process. Our method formulates the clutter model using four factors: confusion, visual connection, distance, and intersection. Based on this clutter model, an effective clutter-aware labeling method has been developed that can generate clear and legible label layouts in different visualizations. We have applied our method to several types of visualizations and the results show promise, especially in support of an uncluttered and informative label layout.


Based on The Dictionary of M. Sholokhov's Literary Language and the contextual background, author-invented compound adjectives are analyzed in quantitative, structural and semantic aspects; their language and lexicographic status is defined.


In this paper, we propose a comprehensive indicator consisting of distance, time pressure, and order revenue as the order selection criterion to help drivers choose the right order for multi-period food delivery problem. We model the order selection as a sequential decision-making problem, where the decision of assigning an order to a driver is determined from the driver's perspective. Then the routing problem is solved using nearest neighbor algorithm. Finally, through extensive simulation experiments, the proposed approach delivers improvement on the driver's efficiency and total revenue.


Heart failure in women frequently occurs at an older age than in men with less ischaemic aetiology and is more frequently characterized by preserved ejection function. Gene expression profiles in heart failure are different in both sexes. Sex-specific activation of ion channels may lead to differences in arrhythmia propensity, and QT prolongation. Women develop smaller and stiffer hearts under stress, whereas in men, eccentric hypertrophy seems to dominate. Imaging is crucial for the diagnosis, and cardiac dimensions should be normalized to body surface. Differences in medical therapy exist, and women are less frequently referred for resynchronization therapy and heart transplantation than men.


This work studies an ascetic approach to statistical machine translation. We assume that only a small parallel corpus is available, and no other monoor bilingual corpora or linguistic tools can be used, which is the case for many resource-scarce languages. Our aim is to find out how a baseline SMT system can be improved under this condition. In such a case one of the natural choices is to use unsupervised NLP. Although training SMT systems on aligned parallel corpora is implemented with supervised learning, essential parts of current state-of-the-art SMT approaches are unsupervised. For instance word-based SMT (Brown et al., 1993) uses the EM algorithm to estimate word alignments, essential to the rest of the training. Here we present some experiments on using the unsupervised morphology information to improve the output quality of SMT from Estonian to English. The Estonian language is highly inflectional and thus offers good ground for morphologyrelated experiments. We model such morphological phenomena as word lemmas, endings and compound words using the output of Morfessor (Creutz and Lagus, 2005).


In 2005, Pon et al. proposed a generalized signature scheme based on the intractability of solving two well-known cryptographic assumptions, the factorization (FAC) and the discrete logarithm problem (DLP). They claimed that their scheme is still secure, provided that one of these two assumptions is solved. This paper, however, will show that Pon et al.'s scheme is insecure against the universal forgery attack if the adversary can solve the DLP.


This thesis is an analysis of the accommodation of science policy at the federal level in Canada during the 1963 to 1977 period. A general definition of science policy is developed in the first section. This 'national science policy" concept is then used to study changes in the administration of science and research at the federal level. Two distinct sets of developments were found to be responsible for the incorporation of national science policy into the administrative procedures and the political arean. A "TFl'&riC ANALYSIS OF ISATTCNAL T ^ I E ^ C r POLICY I F "AFA^A


Antidepressant drugs such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin and noradrenergic reuptake inhibitors, noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressants are a primary treatment for major depression disorder (MDD). However, only about two thirds of MDD patients achieve remission after undergoing up to several cycles of antidepressant treatment, with one-third of patients showing no response[1]. Genetic variations are thought to contribute to the variable responses to antidepressants[2], which was also supported by a genome-wide association study[3]. As such, identifying single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with treatment resistance can potentially predict patient treatment outcome. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophin associated with response to antidepressants in MDD[4]. It is widely expressed in the brain, especially in the hippocampus and cortex[5]. Not only can BDNF promote differentiation and survival in peripheral and central neurons, but also regulate brain maturation, synaptic plasticity, and axon outgrowth[6]. Evidence from animal models[7], neuronal cultures[8], and clinical[9,10] and post-mortem[11] studies have Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor's Val66Met and C270T Polymorphisms Influence Citalopram/ Escitalopram Response in Chinese Patients with Major Depressive Disorder


This research aimed to observe the appearance of Coix lacryma-jobi L. as affected by number of seeds and plant spacing. Randomized Blok Design comprised of 2 factors (number of seeds, J; plant spacing, T) with 3 replications was arranged, while the parameters included plant height, stem diameter, number of leaf, length and width of leaf. The experiment was conducted at experimental field of Agriculture Faculty in Teuku Umar University, Meulaboh, from March to October 2017. The results showed that the number of seeds significantly affected plant height in 49 days after planting, 63 days after planting, and also showed a significant effect on leaf length in 77 days after planting. Statitical analysis showed the interaction effect among the factors. The most significant effect was observed in plant height and leaf length in 21 days after planting.


Abstract Not Available – First paragraph follows:
Preliminary trials indicate that gibberellic acid sprays will delay maturity of limes as well as lemons (California Agriculture, January, 1964). In southern California, Bearss lime trees bear some fruit most of the year, but much of the crop colors and ripens in the fall and winter and must be picked. As with lemons, the lime industry would benefit if more fruit matured later in the season when the demand is greater.


A new approach to the problem of constraining the pi pi scattering amplitudes by means of the axiomatically proved properties of unitarity, analyticity, and crossing symmetry is developed. The method is based on the solution of an extremal problem on a convex set of analytic functions and provides a global description of the domain of values taken by any finite number of partial waves at an arbitrary set of unphysical energies, compatible with unitarity, the bounds at complex energies derived from generalised dispersion relations and the crossing integral relations. From this domain the authors obtain new absolute bounds for the amplitudes as well as rigorous correlations between the values of various partial waves.


The European monetary union (EMU) is dealing with domestic policy challenges. Inflation has been mildly above target almost since the beginning of EMU. In those circumstances, fiscal policy is effectively set to counteract the monetary stance. Furthermore, related to the domestic imbalances is the issue of global imbalances centered on the United States. The most likely way to unwind these imbalances is by a depreciation of the dollar as investors diversify out of the United States' assets. EMU is largely about getting the institutional frameworks right for domestic policy co-ordination, for taking a coherent role in global economic policymaking and managing enlargement.


Despite the heightened interest in bursty bulk flows (BBFs) in the magnetotail, there have been relatively few studies on how these fast intermittent flows occur in a region where slow and steady convection is expected. Conventional wisdom attributes BBFs to the formation of a near-Earth neutral line (NENL) on the appropriate side of the flow. We demonstrate that this view is not inevitable or necessary. We develop an alternate mechanism of BBFs generation based on the magnetohydrodynamics of a plasma situated in a Harris-type current sheet. We find that without a NENL or other extraneous assumptions, a highly curved current sheet (characterized by a field ratio |Bz/Bx| « 1) can generate high-speed cross-field flows of > 100 km/s when perturbed by modest impulses of ∼ 10 km/s at its boundary. The flow has an Earthward sense in a thinning current sheet. The dependence on the field ratio of the maximal speed has the form c1 + c2|Bx/Bz|2, where c1 and c2 are constants. For reasonable parameters the BBF threshold of 400 km/s is reached when Bz/Bx is approximately 0.1. The investigation also reveals attendant effects and signatures of the BBF-generating process, and these effects and signatures are listed as our theoretical predictions, against which better resolved satellite data from upcoming missions may be compared. We conclude with discussions on the potential role fast intermittent flows might play in the excitation of the substorm and other interesting magnetotail phenomena.


This study aims to analyze the type of stuttering found in a stand-up comedian's speech when speaking offstage. It used a descriptive qualitative method. The theoretical concept used is from Carrol (1986) on the types of language disorders and it adapted the theoretical framework of Handoko (2014) and Saragih (2018) to analyze the types and the occurrence of stuttering language disorder. Based on the results of the analysis, there are two kinds of expressive language disorders found in namely fluency disorder and voice disorder. Fluency disorder occurs in the form of repetition, prolongation, interjection, and pause. The type of stuttering mostly found is repetition. There is no characteristic of circumlocution stuttering. In addition to bringing up the types of individual characteristics, the utterances also show combinations of voice disorders.


Since1990's, there has been an upsurge in the financial services provided by various banks and financial institutions. Financial services are the economic services provided by the finance industry. Financial services are important for an economy because serves the basic needs of its citizen i.e.to save, to invest and to protect. Digital finance is a financial service that covers financial services delivered through digital network/ infrastructure including mobile and internet. The present study is conducted to explore the growth potential of digital finance and major problems faced in developing nations. The present paper focuses on the role of digital finance in inclusive growth. Digital finance has a great potential to boost the GDP of emerging economies. Digital infrastructure, financial service markets and financial products are three essential building blocks of digital finance.


F IFTEEN years ago, few would have imagined that employees could work entirely remotely or that an entire business infrastructure could exist on the Internet. With the adoption of services computing, a service that allows companies to access processing and data storage through the Internet, these business models are becoming a reality. Services computing requires a multidisciplinary lens that integrates science and technology to bridge the gap between business services and information technology (IT) services [item 1) in the Appendix]. Services computing management involves 1) ensuring services computing strategy which is allied with how the organization manages IT and how IT is aligned with organizational strategy, 2) designing, building, sourcing, and deploying resilient computing solutions, trusted, efficient, and address quality of service (QoS) expectations, and 3) overseeing all matters related to business and IT services operations and resources both across business domains and within domains such as retail, finance, healthcare, logistics, and others [item 2) in the Appendix]. The goal of services computing is to enable IT services and computing technology to perform business services more efficiently and effectively [item 3) in the Appendix]. The pervasive nature of services computing management is exhibited in almost all industry settings [item 4) in the Appendix]. In everyday life, new business service innovations will give rise to an emergent dataand information-focused economy that will only pick up steam as both consumer and business utilization of Internet of Things are advanced. Concomitantly, we are moving toward an era of artificially intelligent (AI) (e.g., cognitive computing) services, which are deployed in multiscale, complex distributed architectures. Cognitive computing is the use of computerized models to simulate the human thought process in complex situations where the answers may be ambiguous and uncertain. Computers are increasingly capable of doing things that humans could once do exclusively. Today smart machines are becoming like humans by recognizing voices, processing natural language, learning, and interacting and learning with the physical world through their vision, smell, touch, and other senses, mobility, and motor control. In some cases, they do a much faster and better job than humans at recognizing patterns, performing rule-based analysis on a very large amount of data, and solving both structured and unstructured problems [item 5) in the Appendix].


In this paper, we characterize the k-cost effective domination in the join of graphs.Further, we investigate the k-cost effective domination, cost effective domination index, maximal cost effective domination in the join of graphs.


The majority judgment theory is developed by Michel Balinski and Rida Laraki for social choice [2, 3]. In this paper we will show that majority judgment theory does not always yield a majority choice, is winner and rank inconsistent and the median based majority judgment may yield paradoxical results.


The T-H phase diagram of the random antiferromagnet Fe/sub 0.725/Co/sub 0.275/Cl/sub 2/ is investigated by neutron scattering for applied field H parallel to the c axis (the direction of average anisotropy). We find an unusual disordered spin-flop phase in high fields in which the spins formed finite-size domains with their moments perpendicular to H. We argue that the disorder is a consequence of the random off-diagonal exchange interactions and the spin-flop phase is probably a realization of the three-dimensional XY model in random fields.


Photon echo from trions and excitons in (In,Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots has been studied theoretically and experimentally. Theoretical analysis allowed us to distinguish photon echo signals from excitons and trions measured in the same range of wavelength using different polarization configurations of laser excitation. The theoretical predictions are in good agreement with the experimental data.


Romanian enterprises can use an easy handled and legal instrument with the purpose to influence public power in law's elaboration and application. As a strategy, lobby must be, first of all, an ethical activity. In the present international environment, lobby becomes a useful weapon for Romanian enterprises if they want to survive in the strong battle of international competitivity.


Taking up future challenges of AI has brought researchers to look for new scientific domains that can provide models, methods and solutions. Some of us found them in neuropsychoanalysis, a rather young discipline that brought together neurology and psychoanalysis. The authors believe that engineers can gain a lot from getting acquainted with the concepts and methods of this discipline, however uncommon they may sometimes appear to an engineer. This paper sums up some of the relevant ideas that build the foundation of cooperation between scientists from both fields. It also gives an overview of the current ongoing research and the expectations for the future.


Metabolic and vascular conditions have been independently associated with dementia and cognitive decline among older adults, but research on the combined effects that these conditions have on cognitive decline, especially among older Mexican Americans, is lacking. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between metabolic and vascular conditions and cognitive decline among older Mexican Americans.


To provide a scientific basis for developing the resources of Silene jenisseensis var.oliganthella,the wild species at high altitude area of Changbai Mt.was studied on its introduction and domestication,The results showed the normal growth and development after introduced from 1900 m of the origin to 730 m of the Erdaobaihe with a drop of 1.6 times in altitude;single-flowering anthesis was 6 d,group flowering period was May 21 to September 15 extended 50 d than the origin.Reproduction method can be by seeding and division.


Abstract. The cosmic noise absorption (CNA) is compared with the precipitating electron flux for 19 events observed in the morning sector, using the high-resolution data obtained during the conjugate observations with the imaging riometer at Poker Flat Research Range (PFRR; 65.11° N, 147.42° W), Alaska, and the low-altitude satellite, NOAA 12. We estimate the CNA, using the precipitating electron flux measured by NOAA 12, based on a theoretical model assuming an isotropic pitch angle distribution, and quantitatively compare them with the observed CNA. Focusing on the eight events with a range of variation larger than 0.4dB, three events show high correlation between the observed and estimated CNA (correlation coefficient ( r 0 )>0.7) and five events show low correlation ( r 0 Keywords. Energetic particles, precipitating – Energetic particles, trapped – Ionosphere-magnetosphere interactions


Facial aesthetics is of utmost importance in person's life. Aging is associated with loss of teeth, residual ridge resorption and reduced tonicity of the facial muscles, leading to an unesthetic appearance and sunken cheeks in some individuals. Aesthetics in such individuals seeking complete dentures can be improved with the help of cheek plumper by supporting and lifting the cheeks. This article describes an innovative, simple, cost-effective attachment system made by modifying the casted sprue as mode of attachment in completely edentulous patient requiring complete denture prostheses with detachable cheek plumper.


It is established that the block implementation and the multipath realizations of digital filters are equivalent. This is done by showing that the matrix transfer functions of both implementations are identical. An example to demonstrate this is provided. It is shown that the direct implementation of block realization requires considerably less hardware compared to that of multipath realizations for the same throughput rate. The second multipath scheme, even though it consists of only N transfer functions, requires much more hardware than the delayed multipath realization partly because the order of each transfer function in the second multipath realization is much higher than that in the delayed multipath realization. >


In this paper, the photo thermal treatment of cancer with Ag nano- particles is studied. The PTT for tissue under the effect of heat by laser source with injection of silver nano- particles on the affected area. Bio-heat equation is solved by the numerical simulation methods. Results are summarized in the effect on the increasing of temperature at different time durations. These results are looked that the depth penetration of laser that lead to increasing heat raising during the increasing the time duration of exposure. Then, it estimated the peak value of depth on limited temperature.


We report here our study on suppression of fluorescence blinking of colloidal CdSe/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) for potential applications as high performance single-photon sources. Blinking is an interesting property for single QDs, but it is undesirable for their applications. We have demonstrated that by coupling these QDs to adjacent silver nanoprisms, we could not only completely suppress the blinking but also enhance the fluorescence quantum yield, and also increase the fluorescence decay rates. These single QDs also exhibit anti-bunching behavior which is a signature for a single-photon emitter. In addition, we have also achieved blinking suppression by embedded the QDs in agarose gel. The electrostatic environment around QDs due to negatively charged fibers of gel might strongly affect the extent of blinking suppression. The mechanisms of blinking suppression will be discussed in the frame work of diffusion-controlled electron transfer model.


Abstract We review special issues in multiplicity adjustment where the sampling distributions are discrete. These include (1) incorporating discreteness into the multiplicity adjustments, (2) incorporating correlations versus using Bonferroni or independence-based approximations, and (3) using discrete tails in two-sided tests. Incorporating discrete characteristics can greatly improve the power of the tests that maintain a given familywise error rate. Use of correlations also can improve the power, but it is shown that independence-based multiplicity adjustment is not necessarily a conservative procedure. Exact methods that incorporate discreteness and correlations are generally recommended.


This paper presents a method for fabricating a fundamental MEMS tool—microtweezers. Microtweezers offer an attractive option to meet the increasing need to grasp, manipulate and excise microstructures or biological components. The microtweezers presented here augment a standard micromanipulator, allowing precise positioning in three dimensions. An additional micro-drive control knob, which is affixed to the micromanipulator, allows actuation of the tweezer tips through the use of a tether-cable drive system. This drive actuates the tweezer tips by the reciprocating motion of two microfabricated parts: the tweezers and tweezer box. A simple three-layer planar fabrication scheme allows for a broad range of tweezer styles (straight and serrated tips) and sizes (microns to millimeters). For these studies, 20 µm wide and 10 µm thick nickel beams were developed for the tweezer tips, which could endure 20 mN of force. To demonstrate the concept of microassembly, pick and place operations were performed on 10 µm thick film structures. Additional functionality was achieved by integrating platinum-black microelectrodes into parylene-coated tweezers to allow electrophysiological functions such as cellular stimulation and recording. Ultimately, this unique and simple design affords extraordinarily delicate control that is potentially beneficial for applications in microassembly, electrophysiology and microsurgery.


A sterilization method and an electrolytic water ejecting apparatus are provided to produce very efficiently the electrolytic water by electrolysis. A spray device(1) includes a container(3) containing the original water(2). A head(4) is connected with an upper opening member of the container. The material of the container is hard material or flexible material. Preferably, the container is made of hard material such as various hard resin, metal, glass or ceramic. The capacity of the container is preferably about 100 to 1000ml, more preferably, 200 to 500ml. A transportation pipe(5) is arranged at the container. The lower end of the transportation pipe is positioned at an opening toward the original water. The diameter of the upper end of the transportation pipe is reduced and stretched toward the head.


Results: Median age at manifestation of PCNSL was 39.1 years and median CD4 cell count was 11 3 10 cells/l. Seventy per cent of the patients had had a prior AIDSde®ning illness. Cranial radiation (CR) was given to 12 out of 29 patients. Six patients were treated with HAART. Survival time of these patients and of the patients treated with CR alone differed signi®cantly from those receiving neither CR nor HAART (median Kaplan±Meier survival estimate: 1093, 132, and 33 days, respectively). In the multivariate regression model, HAART and CR were identi®ed as the only variables independently associated with prolonged survival. HAART versus no HAART and CR versus no CR increased the time to event by a factor of 6.1 (95% con®dence interval, 2.4±16.0; P ˆ 0.0002) and 3.1 (95% con®dence interval, 1.5±6.3; P ˆ 0.002), respectively. Four out of six patients on HAART showed a marked immune recovery and survived for more than 1.5 years, with two patients still alive.


It is very well known that as technology nodes move to smaller sizes, the number of design rules increases while design structures become more regular and the process manufacturing steps have increased as well. Normal inspection tools can only monitor hard failures on a single layer. For electrical failures that happen due to inter layers misalignments, we can only detect them through testing. This paper will present a working flow for using pattern analysis interlayer profiling techniques to turn multiple layer physical info into group linked parameter values. Using this data analysis flow combined with an electrical model allows us to find critical regions on a layout for yield learning.


The purposes of this study are to understand the background of collective housing formation in Japan after World War II; and to investigate the general trend of Kunio Maekawa's architecture. Based on such purposes, attempts are made to understand the architectural characteristics of the Harumi Apartments, Japan's first high-rise collective housing built in 1958; and to analyze architectural data and literature review to derive architectural characteristics. Furthermore, the architectural characteristics of Unite d'Habitation are analyzed, and a correlation between the two apartments is obtained to check the influence of Le Corbusier on the Harumi Apartments.


The present invention relates to antigenic proteins derived from White Spot Syndrome virus having an estimated size of 19 kDa (VP19) or 13 kDA (VP13), to the use of these proteins in vaccines and to vaccines on the basis of these proteins. Furthermore, the invention relates to antibodies against these proteins and to the use of antibodies in vaccines, to nucleic acid Sequences encoding these proteins and to their use in vaccines. Also, the invention relates to the use of Said proteins in the manufacture of a vaccine for prophylaxis and/or treatment of White Spot Syndrome in crustaceans, to vector vaccines and to diagnostic kits com prising Said nuclei acids or antibodies.


This paper gives a simple analysis of the aesthetical features of the Chinese and English poesy: Chinese poems esteem the artistic conception and sense of beauty, while English poems stress nature and evidences. Then it tries to search for the inter-textuality between Chinese poem and English poem, the relationship between version of conveying spirit with remote implication and interpretation of transmitting nature to acquire the genuineness, which is based on the common and complementary features of Poetry translation between English and Chinese and it is the essence of poetry above the linguistic form, as the qualitative soul of poetic flavor is so glorious that gusto is generated and "afterlife" of poetry is held.


We solve the problem of decentralized uniform finite‐time stabilization for a large‐scale network of nonlinear systems in triangular form which are not feedback linearizable and whose input–output maps are not invertible. For this, we provide a new recursive design to satisfy the conditions of a certain modification of the small‐gain theorems for the case of the uniform finite‐time stability of large‐scale networks. In the general case, we consider the general triangular form systems whose input–output links are surjections only. In addition, we consider the special case of the triangular form systems with polynomial integrators, which is also needed as the first step of the proof of our main result. In the latter case, the design becomes constructive, the decentralized stabilizers can be designed explicitly, and this is demonstrated by examples.


There is a growing number of spectroscopy applications in the near-infrared (NIR) range including gas sensing, food analysis, pharmaceutical and industrial applications that requires highly efficient, more compact and low-cost miniaturized spectrometers. One of the key components for such systems is the wideband light source that can be fabricated using Silicon technology and hence integrated with other components on the same chip. In this work, we report a ring-patterned plasmonic photonic crystal (PC) thermal light source for miniaturized near-infrared spectrometers. The design is based on silicon and tuned to achieve wavelength selectivity in the emitted spectrum. The design is optimized by using Rigorous Coupled-Wave Analysis (RCWA) simulation, which is used to compute the power reflectance and transmittance that are used to predict the emissivity of the structure. The design consists of a PC of silicon rings coated with platinum. The period of the structure is about 2 μm and the silicon is highly-doped with n-type doping level in the order of 1019–1020 cm-3 to enhance the free-carrier absorption. The ring etching depth, diameter and shell thickness are optimized to increase its emissivity within a specific wavelength range of interest. The simulation results show an emissivity exceeding 0.9 in the NIR range up to 2.5 μm, while the emissivity is decreased significantly for longer wavelengths suppressing the emission out of the range of interest, and hence increasing the efficiency for the source. The reported results open the door for black body radiation engineering in integrated silicon sources for spectrometer miniaturization.


T THIS publication continues the series of studies which have grown out of the president's conference on unemployment of I92i. The first of these was the survey of Business Cycles and Unemployment made in I922-23; the second was a study of Seasonal Operation in the Construction Industries, made in I923-24. Recent Economic Changes, like Business Cycles and Unemployment, is based on a series of detailed scientific studies made under the direction of the National Bureau of Economic Research, the final report, in each case, being made by a committee of business men and other non-professional students of economic phenomena. Though the stated objective of the study is "current appraisal of factors of stability and instability," the attention given to unemployment and to fluctuations in business activity is much smaller than in the previous reports. The real objective in the minds of many of the collaborators seems to have been to provide material for the understanding of the whole sweep of economic history since I92i, rather than to analyze the factors which are making for steadiness or variability. The Report of the Committee, which runs to only seventeen pages, consists of a summary of the characteristics of the years I922-29, analysis of price and wage relationships and the standard of living during the period, and a brief discussion of "economic balance." The basic survey consists of an introduction by Edwin F. Gay, which places the recent period in its historical setting as a part of the long story of the growth of American economic civilization; twelve chapters by leading scholars dealing with special phases of current economic life; and a closing review by Wesley C. Mitchell, which ventures on the difficult task of identifying ' Report of the Committee on Recent Economic Changes, of the President's Conference on Unemployment. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., i929. Pp. xXxVi+950.


Fletcher has proposed the use of a logarithmic frequency scale such that the frequency level equals the number of octaves, tones, or semitones that a given frequency lies above a reference frequency of 16.35 cycles/sec., a frequency which is in the neighborhood of that producing the lowest pitch audible to the average ear. The merits of such a scale are here briefly discussed, and arguments are presented in favor of this choice of reference frequency. Using frequency level as a count of octaves or semitones from the reference C0, a rational system of subscript notation follows logically for the designation of musical tones without the aid of staff notation. In addition to certain conveniences such as uniformity of characters and simplicity of subscripts (the eight C's of the piano, for example, are represented by C1 to C8) this method shows by a glance at the subscript the frequency level of a given tone counted in octaves from the reference C0 = 16.352 cycles/sec. From middle C4, frequency 261.63 cycles/...


Through quality control of ECG machine,we discussed quality assurance of methods for medical equipment.The hospital management,clinical medicine and engineering theories were used in combination with reform of the health care system for discussion.Mandatory testing of ECG was performed to improve the quality of the passing rate and effectively ensure the needs of clinical application.


ABSTRACT The present investigation is focused on to find out the role of TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) on altering the dielectric and electro-optical parameters of nematic liquid crystal (NLC). In addition to this, we also optimized the concentration of dopant (0.25 wt%) for a saturation value of permittivity and dielectric anisotropy in the doped system. Dielectric spectroscopy has been performed with the variation of frequency and temperature to investigate the various dielectric parameters, which demonstrate that the investigated NLC is of positive dielectric anisotropy; the observed result shows a decrement in the value of relative permittivity and dielectric anisotropy; however, the permittivity value increases for higher concentration of dopant but remains less than that of pure NLC. Electro-optical measurements have also been performed to compute the optical response of pure and dispersed NLC. It is found that optical response decreases for the NP-doped systems. This optimized concentration of NPs in NLC matrix can have various credential applications in the field of active matrix display and holography.


For stable power system operation, various system parameters like voltage, current, frequency, active and reactive power etc. are monitored at a regular basis. These data are either stored in the database of the system or transmitted to the monitoring station through SCADA. If these data can be compressed by suitable data compression techniques, there will be reduced memory requirement as well as lower energy consumption for transmitting the data. In this paper, an algorithm based on Arithmetic Coding is developed for compressing and decompressing such parameters in MATLAB environment. The compression ratio of the algorithm clearly indicates the effectiveness of the algorithm.


Global climate change is increasing thermal variability in coastal marine environments and the frequency, intensity, and duration of marine heatwaves. At the same time, nutritional resources are being altered by anthropogenic environmental changes. Marine ectotherms often cope with changes in temperature through physiological acclimation, which can take several weeks to occur and is a nutritionally demanding process. Here, we tested the hypothesis that different ecologically relevant diets (omnivorous, herbivorous, carnivorous) can impact thermal acclimation rate and capacity, using a temperate omnivorous fish as a model (opaleye; Girella nigricans). We measured acute thermal performance curves for maximum heart rate because cardiac function has been observed to set upper thermal limits in ectotherms. Opaleye acclimated rapidly after warming, but their thermal limits and acclimation rate were not affected by diet. However, the fish's acclimation capacity for maximum heart rate was sensitive to diet, with fish in the herbivorous treatment displaying the smallest change in heart rate throughout acclimation. Mechanistically, ventricle fatty acid composition differed with diet treatment and was significantly related to cardiac performance in ways consistent with homoviscous adaptation. Our results suggest that diet is an important, but often overlooked, determinant of thermal performance in ectotherms on environmentally relevant timescales.


Radical polymerization of methacrylic acid (MAA) and acrylonitrile (AN) in the presence of p-nitrobenzyl triphenyl phosphonium ylide (p-NBTPy) in dimethyl sulphoxide at 65 ± 0.1°C under inert atmosphere was investigated by dilatometry. The ylide failed to initiate the polymerization, but significantly accelerated the rate of polymerization. An interesting feature is that the average polymer molecular weight (Mv) is a direct function of [p-NBTPy]. The radical polymerization of MAA follows ideal kinetics since calculated monomer and initiator (AIBN) exponents are unity and 0.5, respectively. However, the AN system follows non-ideal kinetics due primarily to radical termination and transfer reactions. The energy of activation, in the presence of p-NBTPy, is low. The accelerating effect of p-NBTPy has been attributed to decreased termination because the ylide did not affect the rate of decomposition of AIBN, as well as form a complex with monomer(s).


From its early days, the World Wide Web space has demonstrated strong agglomeration trends with a very small number of web sites capturing the larger part of the Internet population. The large majority of Internet users uses only a small number of sites (for searching for information and products, interacting with others and socializing), thus producing dense concentrations and locational patterns similar to those observed in the physical space, where few cities and industrial clusters host the huge majority of population as well as the entire industrial activity. Does this phenomenon depend on the attractiveness of the popular web sites or are there positive feedback mechanisms providing incentives to users to be in a location which have been visited by other users or pointed-in by other sites? This paper provides a sound basis for the dynamics of population concentration in the Web and puts forward an explanation to web sites' growth by developing an agent-based computational model, with behavioural and economic variables. The model reproduces the empirically observed power law distribution of Internet users across web sites and demonstrates that a plausible explanation of web agglomeration phenomena lie on the existence cumulative processes, involving some form of increasing returns and the percolation-like diffusion of the


The size of the data that is owned by an application today is very influential on the amount of space in the memory needed one of which is a mobile-based application. One mobile application that is widely used by students and the public at this time is the Complete Natural Knowledge Summary (Rangkuman Pengetahuan Alam Lengkap or RPAL) application. The RPAL application requires a large amount of material storage space in the mobile memory after it has been installed, so it can cause this application to be ineffective (slow). Compression of data can be used as a solution to reduce the size of the data so as to minimize the need for space in memory. The levestein algorithm is a compression technique algorithm that can be used to compress material stored in the RPAL application database, so that the database size is small. This study describes how to compress the RPAL application database records, so as to minimize the space needed on memory. Based on tests conducted on 128 characters of data (200 bits), the compression results obtained of 136 bits (17 characters) with a compression ratio is 68% and redundancy is 32%. Keywords : compression, levestein, aplication, RPAL, text, database, mobile


This report demonstrates how California can improve its school finance system steadily over time as economic and demographic conditions permit. The improvements we suggest here are derived from our analysis of California's current system using the following five principles:  Meet resource needs: Schools should have the resources necessary for their students to meet state academic standards, and the cost of those resources may vary from school to school for a variety of reasons.  Structure incentives properly: The formulas allocating revenue to schools should not give schools incentives to deviate from actions in the best interest of students and taxpayers.  Allocate funds transparently: The formulas for allocating revenue to schools should be clear and relatively simple.  Treat similar districts equitably: When the state has chosen the factors that determine the revenue a school district receives, school districts with the same values for those factors should receive the same revenue.  Balance state and local authority: Restrictions on the use of funds must properly balance the state objectives with the realities that schools differ widely across the state and that school administrators have unique knowledge about local conditions. California's school finance system violates these principles in many ways. Under the current system, different districts are funded at different rates, a clear violation of horizontal equity. Unlike school finance systems in other large states, California does not adjust revenue to school districts based on regional differences in the cost of hiring employees, failing to recognize a large and obvious cost difference among districts. Because of the many state categorical programs directing revenue to public schools, the allocation of revenue to districts is not transparent, and the many restrictions on the use of funds in those programs unduly constrain local school administrators. Moreover, although California does provide additional funds for school districts with many economically disadvantaged students, the additional funds are not large enough to compensate for the differences in student need correlated with poverty. Our analysis also reveals several other areas in which California's system could be improved. Making improvements without making some districts worse off would require additional revenue, which is now in short supply. However, as the economy improves, state tax revenue will rise, and the state can afford to invest again in its schools. At the same time, school enrollments are projected to rise relatively slowly, allowing an increase in revenue per pupil. This increase will …


A single-item single-period Economic Order Quantity model for deteriorating items with a ramp-type demand and Weibull deterioration distribution is considered. The shortages in inventory are allowed and backlogged completely. The model is developed over an infinite planning horizon and the optimal replenishment policy is derived by minimizing the total inventory cost per unit time. The numerical solution of the model is obtained, and the sensitivity of the parameters involved in the model is also examined.


In order to elucidate the thermodynamic properties of phosphorous in liquid {Cu-Co-P} alloys, 2-phase coexistence of {Cu-Co-P} liquid alloys and (Cu-Co-P) solid solutions were brought into equilibrium with a mixture of Al 2 O 3 and AlPO 4 at 1573 K. The equilibrium reaction underlying the experiments can be expressed by the formula (Al 2 O 3 ) + 2P(%, in Cu) + (5/2)(O 2 ) = 2(AlPO 4 ). The equilibrium oxygen partial pressures were determined via electrochemical measurements involving stabilized zirconia as a solid electrolyte and a mixture of Mo and MoO 2 as a reference electrode. The activities of phosphorus were then determined along liquidus line of the ternary system of Cu-Co-R.


The objective of this work was to evaluate the bunch yield and to estimate the genetic parameters of F1-progenies between caiaue (Elaeis oleifera) and African oil palm (E. guineenses). The progenies were planted in plots with a variable number of plants. The number of bunches (NB), average bunch weight (ABW), and fresh fruit-bunch yield (FFB) were evaluated, per plant, from the seventh to the thirteenth year after planting. These data were analyzed by REML/BLUP in 59 progenies, with a row-and-column unbalanced design. All characters showed a considerable genetic variability, with genetic variation coefficients between 18.1 and 25.5% for progenies, and 25.6 and 36.0% for individuals. Gains of more than 30%, for NB and FFB, and above 20% for ABW can be obtained selecting the five best progenies. By selecting the five best individuals, gains of more than 65% for NB and FFB, and above 60% for ABW, can be obtained. The progenies show a high-genetic variability for bunch yield. High-genetic gains can be obtained by selecting both for individuals, for clonal propagation, and for progenies, for seed propagation.


Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is difficult to cureradically. Long non‐coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in LUAD are a hotspot in molecular research, however, the role of lncRNA ASMTL‐AS1 in LUAD is still unknown. Our study explores the role and mechanisms of ASMTL‐AS1 in LUAD. Quantitative reverse transcription PCR or western blot was utilized to analyze the expression of RNAs or proteins. The influences of ASMTL‐AS1 and SAT1 on LUAD cells were analyzed by functional assays. Biological instruments were applied to observe ferroptosis‐related markers. In vivo assays were performed to uncover the impact of ASMTL‐AS1 on LUAD. Moreover, mechanism assays were done to confirm the relationship among ASMTL‐AS1, SAT1 and U2AF2. Results showed that ASMTL‐AS1 was down‐regulated in LUAD cells and ASMTL‐AS1 up‐regulation resulted in retarded LUAD cell and xenograft tumor growth along with stimulated ferroptosis. ASMTL‐AS1 recruited U2AF2 to stabilize SAT1 mRNA. Furthermore, SAT1 exerted a cancer suppressor role in LUAD cells. In conclusion, we first demonstrated that ASMTL‐AS1 positively regulated SAT1 to promote ferroptosis and could stabilize SAT1 mRNA via recruiting U2AF2, shedding a light on a novel molecular mechanism in LUAD progression.


The lignin was extracted from straw with extractant of 1,4-butanediol solution by microwave radiation.Studies were conducted on the effects of microwave radiation power,microwave radiation time,solid-liquid ratio and mass fraction of extractant on the extraction yield of lignin.The optimal extraction conditions are as follows: microwave radiation power:900 W,microwave radiation time:40 min,solid-liquid ratio:1/12(g·mL-1),mass fraction of extractant:90%.The extraction yield under such conditions was 45.5%.


The paper deals with the formation of the thermocline and the mixed layer in a sea polluted with crude oil when the natural optical parameters of eutrophic seawater are seasonally variable. Differentiation of the degree of eutrophication of the seawater is expressed in terms of the concentrations of chlorophyll and yellow substances. The occurrence of crude oil pollution is taken into account by modifying the time-variable absorption coefficient of the seawater – crude oil system. The variability in the absorption spectra of natural seawater in the spring – summer season is estimated on the basis of investigations of seasonal changes in the chlorophyll concentration in the southern Baltic. Numerical simulations were carried out for Baltic and Gulffax crude oil using the one-dimensional integral DKTz–2 model. The computations were performed for monthly average values of parameters determining the state of the southern Baltic environment collected over several years. Experimentally found crude-oil optical parameters (light refraction and absorption coefficients) were applied, as were the variability with time of these parameters and that of the crude oil layer thickness. The results of the numerical simulations show that the increase in the volumetric concentration of crude oil in the upper sea layer causes the thermocline to be formed closer to the water surface. Simultaneously, the thickness of the mixed layer decreases but its temperature rises. If a crude oil layer appears on the water surface, the trend of the changes is the same.


This qualitative case study aims to assess the contribution of the PSE Commission in alleviating poverty and to analyze PSE institutional strengthening in the success of poverty alleviation priority programs. Institutional strengthening is the key to the sustainability and success of poverty alleviation programs. However, there are studies that show that institutional strengthening through legal aspects, Provincial Drinking Wages and public policies have been effective enough to alleviate poverty. Of the many findings that exist, researchers discovered new things, namely through institutional strengthening in aspects; Structure, HR, Finance, Organizational Funding and Assets, Monitoring and Evaluation, Legality, Data and Information and Collaborative Networks can determine the success of the institution in alleviating poverty and the sustainability of poverty alleviation priority programs. The pattern of the empowerment approach carried out by the government is seen as less touching on the problems of the poor because it is project oriented, while the one carried out by the Catholic Church is oriented towards religious values.


We address security and privacy problems for digital devices and biometrics from an information-theoretic optimality perspective, where a secret key is generated for authentication, identification, message encryption/decryption, or secure computations. A physical unclonable function (PUF) is a promising solution for local security in digital devices and this review gives the most relevant summary for information theorists, coding theorists, and signal processing community members who are interested in optimal PUF constructions. Low-complexity signal processing methods such as transform coding that are developed to make the information-theoretic analysis tractable are discussed. The optimal trade-offs between the secret-key, privacy-leakage, and storage rates for multiple PUF measurements are given. Proposed optimal code constructions that jointly design the vector quantizer and error-correction code parameters are listed. These constructions include modern and algebraic codes such as polar codes and convolutional codes, both of which can achieve small block-error probabilities at short block lengths, corresponding to a small number of PUF circuits. Open problems in the PUF literature from a signal processing, information theory, coding theory, and hardware complexity perspectives and their combinations are listed to stimulate further advancements in the research on local privacy and security.


A framework for computing feasible and constrained trajectories for a fleet of quad-rotors leveraging on Signal Temporal Logic (STL) specifications for power line inspection tasks is proposed in this letter. The planner allows the formulation of complex missions that avoid obstacles and maintain a safe distance between drones while performing the planned mission. An optimization problem is set to generate optimal strategies that satisfy these specifications and also take vehicle constraints into account. Further, an event-triggered replanner is proposed to reply to unforeseen events and external disturbances. An energy minimization term is also considered to implicitly save quad-rotors battery life while carrying out the mission. Numerical simulations in MATLAB and experimental results show the validity and the effectiveness of the proposed approach, and demonstrate its applicability in real-world scenarios.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the variability in the duration of action of a single dose of rocuronium or cisatracurium, and duration of subsequent top-up doses in anesthetized dogs.

ANIMALS
Thirty dogs requiring ophthalmic surgery with neuromuscular block.

PROCEDURES
Neuromuscular function was monitored with train-of-four (TOF) and acceleromyography. Dogs received an initial dose of rocuronium 0.6 mg/kg, or cisatracurium 0.15 mg/kg IV, which produced complete neuromuscular block. Upon return of the first response (T1) of TOF, a third of the initial dose was repeated. The duration of the initial dose and its variability were compared between agents. Duration of subsequent top-up doses was assessed with mixed effect models. Spontaneous (from last return of T1) or neostigmine-enhanced (from administration to complete recovery) recovery times were measured for each agent.

RESULTS
Duration of action of the initial dose was [median (range)] 25 (10-60) min with rocuronium and 35 (15-45) min with cisatracurium (p = .231). The variability of rocuronium was 3.25 times larger than cisatracurium (p = .034). Duration of top-up doses did not vary for either agent. Spontaneous recovery was shorter for rocuronium [15 (10-20) min] than cisatracurium [25 (15-45) min] (p = .02). Neostigmine-enhanced recovery times were 5 (5-25) for rocuronium and 10 (5-10) for cisatracurium (p = .491).

CONCLUSIONS
Duration of action for a single dose is significantly more variable with rocuronium than cisatracurium. Time to spontaneous recovery was longer for cisatracurium, and cases of unexpectedly long recovery times were observed with both agents. Objective monitoring is recommended.