This paper uses Moran's index to measure the spatial correlation of apple,citrus and banana price among provinces in China,on which,a spatial panel econometric model is built to study the formation and the spatial transmission of apple,citrus and banana price among provinces.The results show that the apple,citrus or banana prices are spatially dependent among provinces,that is,the domestic markets of apple,citrus or banana are becoming an integrated one.Meanwhile,the price of apple,citrus or banana of one province is affected by its yield,sale cost,per capita income,urbanization rate and price of its substitutes.Besides,the spatial coefficient of geography of apple,citrus or banana price separately is 0.91,0.91 and 0.69,the spatial coefficient of development level of which separately is 0.86,0.51 and 0.62,the spatial coefficient of openness level of which separately is 0.13,0.64 and 0.42,the spatial coefficient of local market protection of apple or banana price separately is 0.35 and 0.36,which point that factors such as geographic distance,difference of local market protection,openness level and economic development among provinces block the spatial transmission of apple,citrus or banana price among provinces.


This article builds on research into child-related perceptions of family when foster care has occurred (Gardner, 2004). It compares each adult participant's retrospective childhood family representation with the representation they constructed of their adult family. It presents a quasi-longitudinal perspective on ways in which perceptions of family developed as the participants matured. The 39 adults who had been fostered as children, provided a representation of current, childhood, and ideal family, and participated in an in-depth interview. The development of relationships with biological and foster family was followed from a retrospective representation of childhood through to adulthood. Adult biological relationships tended to be with siblings, while foster relationships were mostly with parents. Findings show many similarities between childhood and adult representations. However, some participants established or re-established relationships with biological parents or siblings, while other participants did so with selected foster parents. It is suggested that options be kept open to provide maximum opportunity for relationships to flourish.


The principle and the structure of air-source heat pump with condensing heat recovery system (ASHPHR) were introduced, and the process modes at different status were put forward. An experimental study was carried out to study the system performance in the condition of different status. The impact of domestic hot water temperature on the seasonal performances of ASHPHR was mainly analyzed. In summer, ASHPHR can recover the condensing heat effectively. COPa+w changes with the temperature of domestic hot water, and the average value is 3.39. In winter, the machine can carry out heating function and domestic hot water supplying function at the same time, but the temperature of domestic hot water should be set at reasonable value. In spring and autumn, the average COPw is about 1.25.


Inequality is a major issue in the contemporary world, both in scholarly discourse and popular debates. As material inequalities both within and between nations are growing (see, for instance, Korzeniewicz and Moran 2010), discussion of the issue also has increased, as evidenced by the popularity of Piketty's (2014) statistics-heavy, best-selling tome, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Outrage over inequality ignited the global 'Occupy' movement, beginning on Wall Street in 2011, and continues to drive contentious political battles around the world today. Within the last year or two, International Journal of Comparative Sociology (IJCS) has published several articles on various aspects of this phenomenon. Gender is an extremely salient aspect of world inequality in the 21st century, even though many of the leading studies (including Piketty's and recent ones published in this journal) do not place it at the center of the analysis. Of course, women make up over half of the planet's population, and arguably, gender inequalities are at least as persistent and pervasive as those based on class, race, or any other dimension (see, for example, Lorber 2012). A key to persistent gender inequalities is the obdurate nature of ideologies that enforce differential treatment of men and women in labor markets and political arenas. The articles in this special issue – which represent another grouping that emerged from open submissions, not any formal 'call' – focus on gender differences across societies. Two of them (Price and Dämmrich/Kosyakova/Blossfeld) look explicitly at factors influencing women's unequal economic treatment in jobs and employment; the third (Lorenzini/ Bassoli) analyzes how gender impacts young women's participation in a particularly type of activism: political consumerism. These studies differ in their geographic scope (two on Europe, one on the Middle East) and particular methods and data (though all are quantitative), but each points to continued gender inequality and highlights the role that culture and ideology play in this outcome. The initial article by Anne Price begins with the observation that despite rapid changes in recent decades, women's employment rates in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are, on average, the lowest in the world. Using data from the World Values Survey and sophisticated hierarchical linear modeling, she provides evidence that people who live in this region are significantly more likely to hold patriarchal or less egalitarian attitudes toward women's equal rights to employment, even controlling for various demographic factors. What factors account for this? One popular argument about this gender subordination in the Middle East stresses the divide between Muslim and Western societies and the specific role of Islam. Another stresses the over-reliance on oil rent for various forms of distorted development, including persistent patriarchy. But Price's findings (from a global analysis of 59 countries, of which 19 were in the MENA region) suggest that neither Islam nor oil is a definitive cause. Rather, a more complicated combination of factors converge to discourage a gender-equitable ideology about employment, which include a nation's level of economic development, women's school enrollment, political involvement, and others. Interestingly, personal religiosity, measured in terms of intensity of beliefs, does impact patriarchal gender 635358 COS0010.1177/0020715216635358International Journal of Comparative SociologyEditorial research-article2016


The photosynthetic characteristics of a peanut variety,Huayu 22,under shading treatments(50%,85%)and subsequent recovery under full light were studied at seedling stage in the field.The shading treatments were last 40d.Relative to those under full light,the peanuts grew in shading environment had lower net photosynthetic rate(Pn),the light compensation point(LCP),the carboxylation efficiency(CE),the non-photochemical quenching(NPQ),higher apparent quantum yield(AQY),maximal photochemical efficiency(Fv/Fm)and the content of total chlorophyll content.It shows that peanut has self-adjusting and adaptation ability to low light stress.When exposed to strong light at noon,Fv/Fm,which can reflect the efficiency of PSⅡ,decreased obviously in both shading seedling leaves and full light seedling leaves.In all treatments,Photoinhibition was more severe in lower light treatment seedlings.Otherwise,when removed shading stress,Fv/Fm and Pn of peanut seedling leaves continued to decrease in 5d relative to those of the control under full light,and began to increase subsequently.Fv/Fm and Pn of 50% shading seedlings recovered to the same level as the control in 8d and 10d,respectively;however,Fv/Fm and Pn of 85% shading seedlings reached the top values in 15d and 20d,respectively,whereas Pn was still lower than that of the control.


Diesel engines are cleaner than ever. So why is the California Air Resources Board calling for more zero emissions vehicles?


Cryogenic transfer hose for offshore, the inner hose defining a flow path for the cryogenic fluid (3) (2), an outer hose (4) surrounding the inner hose (2), an outer hose (4) and the inner hose including the arranged intermediate insulating element between the (2) (5), a. Insulating element (5) has a multilayer structure, each layer (6) comprises an open structure insulating material. .The


The nonadditive thermodynamic formalism is a generalization of the
classical thermodynamic formalism, in which the topological pressure
of a single function $\phi$ is replaced by the topological pressure
of a sequence of functions $\Phi=(\phi_n)_n$. The theory also
includes a variational principle for the topological pressure,
although with restrictive assumptions on $\Phi$. Our main objective
is to provide a new class of sequences, the so-called almost
additive sequences, for which it is possible not only to establish a
variational principle, but also to discuss the existence and
uniqueness of equilibrium and Gibbs measures. In addition, we give
several characterizations of the invariant Gibbs measures, also in
terms of an averaging procedure over the periodic points.


where pί9 ,/?" are arbitrarily given positive real numbers. Here we would like to emphasize that the domain E(pί9 ,/?") is not geometrically convex and moreover its boundary is not smooth in general. In the special case where all /?f's are positive integers, the domain E(pί9 •••,/>") has C-smooth boundary and the correspondence (zί9 , zn) i—• ( ( z ^ 1 , , (zπ) ) gives rise to a single-valued holomorphic proper mapping from E(pί9 *,/?") onto the unit ball B in C. In the previous paper [12], by making use of these facts and some extension theorems of holomorphic mappings due to Rudin [18; p. 311] and Forstneric-Rosay [4], we succeeded in characterizing the domain E(pl9 -,/?") with 0 < / 7 I E Z ( l < / < « ) from the viewpoint of biholomorphic automorphism group. However, if some of /?f's are not integers, then dE(pl9 •,/?") is not smooth and the above correspondence is not even a single-valued holomorphic mapping defined on the whole domain E(px, *,/?"). These raise new difficulties to characterize the domain. The main purpose of this paper is to overcome these difficulties and show that exactly the same characterization of the domain E(pί9 ' m 9pn) as in [12] remains valid for arbitrary real numbersp ί 9 -,/?">0. In fact, after some preparations in Section 1, we can prove the following theorem in Section 2, which was announced at the 1989 AMS Summer Institute on Several Complex Variables and Complex Geometry in Santa Cruz, California:


Education plays a crucial role in ensuring political stability and driving socio-economic progress within a country. However, the presence of varied education systems offering distinct forms of instruction has resulted in an uneven educational framework. The researchers conducted an examination of Pakistan's education system, its operational mechanisms, and associated challenges, utilizing a mixed methodology. Within the quantitative segment, the researchers employed a survey technique alongside a questionnaire to gather data from a sample of 450 participants through a multi-stage systematic sampling approach. For the qualitative phase, the researchers employed an interview guide to engage 40 participants, including university-level teaching staff and students. The findings of the current investigation reveal that education serves as a catalyst for political stability by instilling a sense of national rights and responsibilities among individuals. This heightened awareness subsequently fosters cooperation, participation, and harmony. Furthermore, education molds individuals' characters, enabling their active participation in societal affairs. It emerges as a fundamental tool for empowerment, promoting human rights and gender parity.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify key determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows in developing countries by using unbalanced panel data set pertaining to the years 1990-2012. This study considers 20 developing countries from the whole of South, East and South-East Asia.

Design/methodology/approach

Using seven explanatory variables (market size, trade openness, infrastructure, inflation, interest rate, research and development and human capital), the authors have tried to find the best fit model from the two models considered (fixed effect model and random effect model) with the help of Hausman test.

Findings

Fixed effect estimation indicates that market size, trade openness, interest rate and human capital yield significant coefficients in relation to FDI inflow for the panel of developing countries under study. The findings reveal that market size is the most significant determinant of FDI inflow.

Research limitations/implications

Like any other study, this work also has some limitations. Lack of data on key determinants such as labor cost, exchange rate, corruption, natural resources, effectiveness of rule of law and political risk may be considered one such limitation. Further, controlling for variables such as exchange rate, corruption, labor cost and political risk could make significant improvements to this study.

Practical implications

This study has significant implications for policy makers, mangers and investors. Policy makers would be able to understand the importance of the major determinants of FDI mentioned in the paper, and take steps to formulate policies that encourage FDI. Such measures could include developing market size, making regulations more international trade friendly and investing in the nation's human capital. Further, steps could be taken to keep interest rates and inflation rates under control as these factors have been found to influence FDI.

Originality/value

The sample of 20 developing nations chosen for this study has not been considered by any study earlier. This is a unique contribution to existing body of research, and highlights the originality value of this paper.


Practice shows that in most cases the effective speed of a massively parallel processing system(MPP) is much lower than its peak speed,often reaching only about 25% of the latter.At present MPP is used to perform high\|performance scientific computation in many research fields,so the above\|mentioned problem has been followed with interest by experts both at home and abroad.Here discussed is the cache missing latency problem,that is one of the main factors influencing MPP systems effective speed. Taking Exemplar SPP1200/XA for example, some programming methods for increasing the systems application properties are tested and summarized in discussing both the hierarchical algorithm and localizability.


This chapter takes its point of departure from the fact that the idea of using neurointervention as an instrument of crime prevention carries a very dark prehistory. However, the history of the use of various types of treatment methods over the last century plays a somewhat unclarified role in the modern neuroethical debate. Some theorists seem almost to believe that the use of neurointerventions constitutes an entire novel ethical issue. Other theorists are much more explicit about the historical precedent but direct attention to how such treatment has previously been administered without devoting much effort to clarify the present relevance of past experiences. Both approaches are unsatisfactory. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to consider the moral significance of the sordid prehistory of neurointerventions for the present ethical discussion of the use of such treatment in crime preventive.


Address for Correspondence: Dr. Saif Omar, Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Katihar Medical College, Katihar 854105, Bihar, India. Mobile No. +919431229999. E-Mail: email@example.com Access this Article online Quick Response code Web site: *1 Assistant Professor, Department of Anatomy, Katihar Medical College, Katihar, Bihar, India. 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, North Bengal Medical College, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India. 3 Sainthia Nursing Home, Sainthia, Birbhum, West Bengal, India. Mirror foot, a form of polydactyly, is a rare congenital anomaly. In this form of congenital anomaly, there are several additional digits with accessory tarsal bones. It may be associated with fibular dimelia, tibial aplasia and tibial dysplasia. Cause of such anomaly is not known. On experimental basis it appears to involve ectopic SHH (Sonic hedgehog) signaling in the limb bud mesenchyme.


diagnosed as having bronchiectasis, had been down-graded to 3, and his discharge from the R.A.F. had been recommended at another hospital. We found no evidence in support of this diagnosis and did not act on the recommendation. Case 7 was also incorrectly labelled " bronchiectasis." This seems to be the important point arising from these cases-namely, that a chronic cough and clubbed fingers are not sufficient for a diagnosis of bronchiectasis, with its consequent gloomy prognosis, although it is apparently not rare for this combination to be so evaluated without exclusive investigation having been made.


This review article uses the contributions in this important book "Financial Liberalization and Rural Credit in India" to look at the policies surrounding rural credit in India, its links with the macro-context and the situation on the ground in the post-reform period.


More than 3 years have passed since the eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its impact on social life across the globe was so strong that it was immediately discussed in terms of its potential to trigger a major social transformation, not least by scholars in the social sciences and humanities.1 By now, it may seem as if such interpretative reaction was premature. Although policy measures and restrictions on behavior often lasted for a long time, in most countries social life appears to have returned to a kind of normality that was not expected and is not much different from the situation before the pandemic. Rather, the pandemic may have been superseded in public attention by newer as well as older urgencies. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the financial crisis of 2008 have been and are, arguably, more impacting on society and politics than the COVID-19 pandemic. All three events have had multiple impacts on the global economy and world politics as well as on everyday life, as some supplies become insecure, food prices go up, and mortgages can no longer be paid. Despite the current impression, therefore, one should not lose sight of the pandemic. It can be seen as part of a sequence of global crisis events with possibly accumulating long-term consequences. Let us carve out some broad commonalities: The financial crisis, the pandemic, and the invasion of Ukraine have all local or world-regional origins, but global impact and consequences. They were all perceived as relatively sudden events, but once they have happened, it becomes easy to see that they have a longer history of comparatively minor events of a similar kind that preceded them. By implication, they were indeed not as unexpected as they were treated once they had happened, because prior knowledge was well available, about the deregulation of global finance and its risks; epidemiological and virological knowledge about coronaviruses and their spread; and about Russian aggression against other former states of the Soviet Union, including Ukraine itself in 2014. There are many reasons why this knowledge was not heeded, but one of them stands out: Since the 1980s, a view of 'globalization' and 'individualization' as dominant trends of global economic, political, and cultural developments had emerged. Intensified commercial exchanges and a new global division of labor; information and communication technologies of instant global reach; and the increasing integration and subordination of existing states into functional global arrangements were indicators of these trends. Without this often being made explicit, (relevant parts of) humankind had returned to a belief that had first arisen in the 17th and 18th centuries, namely that spontaneous order would be generated as the aggregate of the multitude of actions and interactions of free human beings. Doux commerce would reign supreme, and the possibility that the truly significant 1188177 SSI0010.1177/05390184231188177Social Science InformationEditorial editorial2023


R E M A T I O N was the normal way of disposing of the dead in antiquity. In Europe, the practice was discontinued after it was made illegal in Rome in the fifth century. There were two principal reasons for this change of heart: new-found respect for the human body based on the Christian dogma of the resurrection of the body; and religious culture, especially the traditions of the saints.' In Hydriotaphia, Ume-Buriall(1658), Thomas Browne summarizes the general feelings of Christians about cremation, which had led to its suppression for over a thousand years: "Christians abhorred this way of obsequies, and though


Preface: writing, imagining, counting 1. Toward a semiotics of mathematics 2. Making marks on paper 3. How ideal are the reals? 4. God tricks or, numbers from the bottom up? 5. Counting on non-Euclidean fingers Notes Index.


Charles P. Steinmetz: I have practically nothing to add, because the paper is so complete and the experimental investigations given check so closely with what we should expect theoretically, that the paper can be considered as one of those contributions which prove that our electrical engineering theory really is correct, that where, in practise, lines whether artificial lines, lumpy lines, or distributed lines, are traversed by current, we find this current to be the same character as calculated by theory. A number of parabolic curves, as in Fig. 15, are given. Such curves have been advocated, based on theoretical assumption, but here you see they are reproduced from actual experience in a transmission line, showing that, at least in electrical engineering, theory and practise are identical.


A TiN coated chamber system has been developed to reduce outgassing from the walls of the vacuum chamber. The outgassing rate of the XHV chamber measured by the throughput method was 1 × 10−13 Pa m s−1. The outgassing rate measured by the pressure rise method using an extractor gauge (EXG) and a spinning rotor gauge was 3 × 10−10 Pa m s−1 and 2 × 10−13 Pa m s−1, respectively. The outgassing rate measured by the pressure rise method using the EXG is not correct because of outgassing from the gauge itself. The ultimate pressure measured by the EXG and an AxTran gauge was 3 × 10−10 Pa and 5 × 10−11 Pa, respectively. Pressure measurement using the EXG was limited to about 3 × 10−10 Pa because of factors such as x-ray effects, effect of electron stimulated desorbed ions and outgassing from the gauge itself. The results of outgassing and ultimate pressure measurement indicate that the coating of TiN film on surfaces of the vacuum chamber is effective in reducing the outgassing rate from the walls of the chamber.


Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the histopathologic manifestation of the dog renal atery embolized with crinis carbonisatus particulates(CCP),and provide the experimental evidence for clinic.Methods: A Chinese medicine product,crinis carbonisatus was made into particulates with a size 200 to 500 μm in diameter.These CCPs were delivered into arterioles in left kidneys of three domestic dogs through 4F cobra cathter under fluoroscopy.A super selective renal artery embolization was performed in 3 dogs by using these materials.The both kidneys of the three dogs,which were performed at different intervals within 8 weeks after embolization(7th,14th,56th days), were removed and prepared for pathological examination and histopathologic study.Results: All 3 dogs well tolerated the anesthetic and endovascular procedures.On the seventh day after embolism,decreased in renal size and thrombosis of the renal arterioles was noted on examination of the gross kidney specimens.Under microscope we could find that CCP attached to intima of target vessels and induce thrombosis.When it came to the forteenth day,obvious inflammatory reaction,little hemorrhage,inflammatory necrosis of vessel wall and organization of the thrombos could be observed.During the 8 weeks after embolization,a progressive,marked decrease in renal size occurred.Histopathologic evaluation confirmed satisfactory embolization of peripheral arteries.Acute or chronic inflammatory cells were observed in several vessels containing CCP microparticles.The occlusion of vessels by CCP lasted at least for 8 weeks when a little recanalization was observed in the target tissue.Conclusion: In the embolization mechanism,CCP attached to intima of target vessels firstly,induced thrombosis and a severe form panarteritis.Organization of the thrombos then take place and a complete occlusion of the vessels occurred,leading to severe ischemia as infarction of embolized area.


The assembly (10A) comprises a base spring layer (14), porous and elastic, intended to be placed opposite a surface (12) of the motor vehicle and an intermediate thin film (16), assembled on the spring layer base (14) and having a basis weight less than 200 g / m2. It comprises a porous stiffening layer (18) having a strength greater than the air passage 500 Nm-3.s, the porous stiffening layer (18) being disposed on the intermediate thin film (16), and a layer upper (20), disposed on the porous stiffening layer (18). The upper layer (20) is porous and has a resistance to air passage of between 200 and 2000 Nm-3.s Nm-3.s.


At very low doses dexfenfluramine, a serotonin agonist, is a potent inhibitor of hoarding behavior. The dose able to suppress 40% of this food motivated response (ED 40) is approximately 0.3 mg/kg. The action of dexfenfluramine is mediated through serotoninergic receptors because it is suppressed by a pretreatment with metergoline, a selective serotonin-receptor blocker, but is not modified by haloperidol, a dopamine antagonist.


In eighteenth-century Britain, rhetoric was just one of the many fields of human knowledge "nearing perfection." The leading rhetoricians and aestheticians of the era such as Burke, Priestly, Kames, Blair, Campbell, and Smith approached their subject in a manner they deemed scientific, and although their methodology was not rigorously empirical by twentieth-century standards, they certainly believed that they were working toward the universal truth about human discourse. Applying state-of-the-art psychological theories of perception and cognition, they developed principles of rhetoric to match their understanding of the human mind.


F more than 10 years guidelines have recommended against treating asymptomatic bacterial colonization of the urine (asymptomatic bacteriuria [ASB]) with antibiotics. Despite this, 83% of hospitalized patients with ASB are treated inappropriately with antibiotics (1). So, how may hospitalists change their approach to improve outcomes? The following 3 representative cases highlight principles that can help clinicians avoid inappropriate testing and treatment of ASB.


Unidirectional alignment of liquid crystal (LC) molecules is a prerequisite for advanced LC devices. We present a novel approach for the alignment of LC molecules. The process consists of reactive mesogen (RM) stamp production, RM transfer onto a polyimide (PI) layer, and LC device fabrication. Physicochemical and optical measurements show that thin films of RMs are well transferred onto PI layers from the RM stamp via contact printing. Uniform and unidirectional alignment of the LC molecules is achieved on the RM/PI surfaces. In addition, the pretilt angles of the LC molecules can be controlled by the compositions of the bottom PI layers. The no-bias-bend π-cell using RM/blended PI polymeric stacks exhibits superior electro-optical properties.


Credit ratings are a means by which the financial strength of both business and governments are assessed. They are an essential part of measuring credit risk and impact both on sovereign and private borrowers. In recent years, there has been much academic and public policy debate generated in relation to the agencies that provide these ratings. Criticisms, particularly those levelled at the nationally recognised agencies, concern a lack of transparency and competence, competing incentives and anticompetitive practices. Problems include collusion between debt issuer and credit rating agency (CRA) and immunity from legal challenge and liability. One recurring theme in the debate is that CRAs contributed to the global financial crisis. With this have come questions over governance, gaps in accountability and call for regulatory reform. Andrea Miglionico's book provides a valuable addition to the discourse in this area, giving a comprehensive and holistic interdisciplinary analysis from a law and policy perspective. As the author states (47), CRAs serve both a 'private and public purpose' underlining the importance of subjecting them to scrutiny. The book, as a central theme, posits that current regulatory schemes are ineffective and that any regulation should be created in the context of the potential systemic risk posed by CRAs' approach to their function. The book highlights inherent dichotomies and tensions that arise in current frameworks. It delves into the regulatory responses to the sometimes problematic nature of the role of the CRA and demonstrates the lacuna in regulation through lack of oversight in relation to poor performance. It provides an overview of potential solutions and recommendations, for example the imposition of professional standards and clear accountability. The book is well structured, making it easy to read, and is divided into four Parts. The delineation of background and context is contained in Part I providing a detailed summary of how the credit rating industry works and the role CRAs play in financial markets. It introduces, inter alia, the importance of investor protection and market confidence, an explanation of the reputational capital of CRAs, and the relationships that arise in the credit rating process. The discussion then moves to rating methodologies and consequential impact on the credit quality of the product being assessed. Conflicts of interest are a particular concern in relation to the 'issuer pays' model and the author provides a detailed analysis of how this can occur, for example in the context of overreliance on credit ratings by both regulators and market participants. Here the author also highlights the importance of a disclosure regime within a governance framework, before moving on in Part II to the detailed discussion of regulation at international and national level. CRA liability is covered in Part III, again with a comparative approach, before finally in Part IV coming to a number of conclusions and recommendations. Having set out the 'modus operandi' of CRAs and the impact this has, the author provides a thorough and interesting analysis of current regulatory frameworks, both international and more specifically across the European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK), and United States (US). The book examines how these approaches attempt to address the 'weaknesses' of the CRA market. There is a comprehensive discussion of global soft-law approaches such as the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) Codes of Conduct and of problems with the effective implementation of the regulation of External Credit Assessment Institutions (ECAIs) under EU rules. The EU regulation, and its incremental nature is covered in further detail, including the inevitable influence on the UK regime. However, there is also reference to the principles-based approach of the UK regulator. Even though the Dodd Frank Act brought in reforms, remaining gaps in the US approach are also explored. The book presents arguments surrounding CRA credibility, accountability and liability. Accountability can, of course, be understood in wider terms, and has an integral connection not


This research investigates whether the knowledge-based decision support system (KBDSS) paradigm provides the necessary supporting structure and developmental framework for product development evaluation. To address the research questions posed in this study, it is necessary to develop and implement KBDSS's at specific decision points along the product development cycle. This paper describes the design, development, and implementation of a KBDSS to support a product development manager's decision concerning full-scale development of a new product. From the systems design perspective, this paper addresses the integration and innovative use of a variety of techniques for knowledge acquisition, modeling, and processing. The approach utilized obtains the benefits of normative modeling as well as the flexibility and developmental advantages of knowledge-based systems. Since its implementation, the system has been successfully used by a development manager to support his recommendation for an ongoing project. His complete satisfaction with this system served as the impetus for the design and development of a multi-expert system which was implemented at the strategic level.


Memantine (1-amino-3,5-dimethyl-adamantane) is the only clinically used NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate) glutamate receptor antagonist. The present experiments were carried out to compare the dose–response for memantine's predictive therapeutic and side-effects in a variety of tests in C57BL/6J/Han mice, and to elucidate if tolerance may develop to them. Memantine produced a dose-dependent (2.5–15 mg/kg) antidepressant-like effect in the tail-suspension test (TST); this anti-immobility effect of 15 mg/kg of memantine appeared to persist with its sub-chronic administration (3 days, twice daily). Treatment with the same doses of memantine produced no effects on locomotor activity, and sub-chronic treatment with 15 mg/kg did not affect locomotor activity. Exploratory activity was assessed in the open field. Given acutely 5 min before the test, memantine reduced rearing (1.875–30 mg/kg), ambulation (7.5 and 30 mg/kg) and grooming (30 mg/kg). These effects were more pronounced 35 min after its administration. As measured in three different tests, ataxia and stereotypy appeared only at the single dose of 30 mg/kg, 5 and 35 min after administration. In mice treated sub-chronically with 30 mg/kg, the dose of 30 mg/kg increased ambulation, and continued to decrease rearing and grooming, but no signs of ataxia and stereotypy were detected. The present data indicate that different doses of memantine are required for the purportedly therapeutic and side-effects, and that tolerance may develop to the ataxic, but not anti-immobility actions.


In this work we present a comparative study for the transmission of a wavelet-compressed still image using FFT-OFDM over multipath channels with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN). Rather than using a global threshold for the compression of the wavelet coefficients, we chose to compress the data by transmitting only the low-pass subbands from each decomposition level. 16-QAM is considered for the modulation of the data and various wavelets are considered. A comparison is also performed between the common discrete cosine transform (DCT) compression method and the DWT to compare accuracy and efficiency of data transmission using the two methods. The performance criteria for our compression methods include the compression ratio and relative root-mean-squared (RMS) error of the received data.


: Communication with the proper information can be helpful for any person to carry out conversations. The proposed system is to help people to interact freely with full information about the past conversations with the person they are meeting. The device UPAL will identify the face and voice of the person and will store necessary details about the meeting, by recording the conversations or by taking inputs from the user. Next time when the user meets the same person, the device will fetch the information from the storage that can be used for a comfortable conversation. UPAL is made up of a Camera and microphone that will use the Face recognition technique and voice recognition system to collect the data. A mobile-based application will be provided to the user for viewing, editing the stored information. UPAL will ensure smart conversation by guiding and reminding the user.


The characteristic of the present invention lies in that the mixture of the fermentation liquors of A.Chroocuum, B.Mcgatherium and B.Polymyxa is adsorbed on the carrier to form solid dry powder preparation, which is mixed with the chemical fertilizer synergist and organic matrix in accordance with a specific proportion, through processing the biofertilizer is obtained. Compared with the existent technologies said invention can increase the crops yield, highten the crops quality and strengthen the anti diease property, the economic benefit is very remakable.


Abstract 553 First National Level Estimate of Emergency Department Charges for Sickle Cell Disease It is estimated that there are 100,000 people with sickle cell disease (SCD) living in the US. Little data is currently availabel on the number of emergency room visits made per year by this patient population. Given prior data demonstrating the cost savings associated with comprehensive care delivery and specialized day hospital units that have decreased ED visits and hospitalizations, our goal was to estimate the national burden of SCD care in the ED setting. The purpose of this study was to estimate the number of ED visits made by SCD patients in 2006, the total and average charges for those visits and the subsequent hospital admissions, and to identify factors that predicted if patients were admitted to the hospital. In addition, we used the online Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project program (HCUP) to compare the number of SCD visits with the number of ED visits and subsequent admissions for other chronic illnesses. Methods: The Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) contains information from 950 hospitals and approximates a 20% stratified sample of US hospital based EDs. Data is currently only availabel for 2006. Using this dataset we identified all ED visits with the following SCD ICD9 codes 28260,28261,28262,28263,28264,28268,28269,28241,28242 listed anywhere in the diagnosis list. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted using t-tests, oneway ANOVAs, and multiple linear or logisitic regressions as appropriate. Sampling weights are included in the NEDS to allow for the generation of national estimates. In addition to the full NEDS dataset the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality makes availabel on-line a query system based on HCUP data free on its website. We used this system to collect data on total ED visits for asthma, HIV and congestive heart failure (CHF) that ended in a hospital admission using the clinical classification software codes 128, 5, and 108 as defined in the HCUP system. Results: There were a total of 58993 ED visits for patients with SCD sampled in the NEDS in 2006, representing a national estimate of 232,381 ED visits. Using the weighted data there were an estimated 190,000 adult ED visits and 44,000 pediatric visits. The total charges for all of the ED visits were estimated to be $266 million of which 191 million were for patients not subsequently admitted to the hospital. Being female and adult resulted in significantly higher ED charges. 50% of the visits were covered by Medicaid, 22% by Medicare, 18% were private pay, 7.5% self-pay and the remainder were no charge or other. 60% of the visits occurred in the South, 18% in the Northeast, 15% in the Midwest and 7% in the West. 5% of the visits had a code for pneumonia, 0.25% had a code for stroke and 7.3% had a code for asthma. These ED visits resulted in an estimated 91,000 hospitalizations. Pediatric patients were more likely to be admitted than adult patients (44% v 38% p=0.03). The combined ED and inpatient charges for those admitted were estimated to be $2.7 billion with a mean charge of $23,669 (range $591-871,111). 64 individuals are estimated to have died in the ED and another 522 died during their hospital stay. The average age of those that died in the ED was 33 and in the hospital was 42. In adjusted analyses being female, in the pediatric age group, or having a code for sickle crisis, asthma, stroke or pneumonia all were associated with a significant increase in odds of being admitted to the hospital. Table 1 shows the comparison number of admissions from the ED for SCD, asthma, HIV and CHF. Conclusions: Given the size of the US sickle population this data suggests that the ED is a major source of care for this patient population. Given that there are over 2 billion dollars in charges for those admitted from the ED, a focus of improving quality of care and decreasing costs of care should be eliminating ED use by the SCD population by providing alternative venues for treatment of painful crises that is more likely to result in a discharge home. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Objective:To research the clinical significance of enzyme and hydrogen peroxide(H2O2) concentration changes in vaginal secretions of senile vaginitis.Methods:Detect the H2O2 concentration,neuraminidase(NAase),leukocyte esterase(LE) in the vaginal secretions of 1070 cases of senile vaginitis patients and 263 normal olders,and conventional microscopic examine vaginal secretions at the same time.Results:In senile vaginitis patients,the positive rate of the H2O2 concentration and NAase and LE are 77.9% and 20.5% and 77.6%.There are 21.1% senile vaginitis patients found clue cell positive in microscopic examination.We found the positive results of LE and vaginal discharge microscopic examination(white blood cells result is "+" or more) are very correlatd(r=0.79,P0.01).Conclusion:Enzyme and H2O2 concentration changes in vaginal secretions of senile vaginitis patients.It is sensible to detect the H2O2 concentration and NAase and LE when we do vaginal discharge microscopic examination.


Classification is a technique used to find the value of a data. Classification is one part of data mining techniques. Classification will build a model from the sample data into one similar group. Classification belongs to supervised learning, where training data is needed to build a classification model. There are 5 classification techniques based on statistics, distance based, decision tree based, neural network based and rule based. The classification algorithms that are often used are the Naive Bayes algorithm and the decision tree. This study uses language data and uses two algorithms, namely decision tree and gradient boots, where both methods will be compared in a case study of language classification. This study resulted in a comparison of the accuracy of the two methods of decision tree and gradient boots, so that it can be seen which methods are effective and can be used in data classification. The results of the comparison show that the two methods are quite effective to be used in identifying languages with an accuracy value of 0.65 or 65%. However, judging from the confusion matrix, the Gradient Boost method is more effective than the Decision Tree with accuracy values of 0.6525 and 0.6509 or 65.25% and 65.05%. Keywords—Decision Tree, Gradient Boots, Clasification,Identification, Comparison


Since Morton and Pickles (1) showed that enzyme-treated red cells are agglutinated by "incomplete" antibodies in the absence of hydrophilic colloids the observation has been put to practical use in the detection of "incomplete" antibodies in the maternal blood. In comparing techniques for demonstrating "incomplete" antibodies, using pooled human serum, 30% bovine albumin and enzyme-treated group O, Rh positive erythrocytes, Kuhns and Bailey (2) found the method using papain-treated cells to be the most sensitive, with pooled human serum as a diluent giving the lowest titres. Other reports are in general agreement and it is believed that the test using enzyme-treated cells gives reliable information regarding the presence of "incomplete" anti-Rh antibodies.
 In a study of the agglutination of enzyme-treated red cells we have compared the titres of anti-Rho agglutinating sera and anti-Rho blocking sera when measured against treated and untreated cells.


We investigate the application of 't Hooft's anomaly matching conditions to gauge theories at finite matter density. We show that the matching conditions constrain the low-energy quasiparticle spectrum associated with possible realizations of global symmetries.


Category: Midfoot/Forefoot Introduction/Purpose: Osteoarthritis of the lesser Lisfranc joints is a debilitating foot condition. Arthrodesis is a well known procedure to eliviate pain and improve quality of life of the affected person. The use of a transplant screw made of allogenic human bone material is considered a new technique for lesser Lisfranc joint arthrodesis. This article investigates the clinical outcome and radiological integration of the allogenic bone screw for arthrodesis of the tarsometatarsal joints II/+III. Methods: This is a prospective study involving 20 feet of 17 patients who received TMT II/+III arthrodesis with an allogenic bone screw. A Visual Analogue Scale (VAS pain and function), Foot Function Index (FFI), American Orthopaedic Foot & Ankle Society Outcome Score (AOFAS) and Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (FAOS) were used as measures to compare preoperative with postoperative results. Radiologic integration in the recipient bone was also evaluated. Results: A significant mean pre- to postoperative improvement of all evaluated scores has been observed (P< .05) after a mean follow-up of 16 months (12-33). VAS (pain) decreased from 7.6 points to 1.4 points, VAS (function) from 7.25 points to 1.8 points. The FFI improved from 62.3% to 16.7%, the AOFAS score from 29.7 points to 79.9 points of the. In all surveyed subscales of the FAOS score an increase was observed: symptoms: 55.2 to 85.6; pain: 30.5 to 86.9; function: 33.1 to 88.3; quality of life: 27.8 to 79.7. The radiologic evaluation did not show any pseudarthrosis at last follow-up. Moreover, in 19 of 20 feet (95%) a complete radiological integration of the screw into the receiving bone was seen after a minimum follow-up time of 12 months and was no longer distinguishable from the original bone. Conclusion: With these first results of the use of an allogenic bone screw in TMT II/+III arthrodesis, a significant improvement from preoperative to postoperative clinical status was confirmed and a full radiographic integration demonstrated in all feet.


In this study of the medical writings of Robert Boyle, the author argues that, in addition to his reputation in chemistry, Boyle deserves recognition for his strong medical interests. Drawing on both his published and his unpublished writings, Kaplan shows that Boyle's contemporary reputation was not restricted to chemistry: he was consulted for medical advice and shared remedies among his friends; he also accompanied the physician, Thomas Sydenham, on visits to patients. He also wrote in depth about the human organism, pathology and therapy and therapeutic action.


Many technologically-important materials do not form the single crystals "necessary" for determining their solid state structures using conventional crystallographic techniques. Knowledge of the crystal structure of a material makes it possible to explain many other properties, and facilitates the use of diffraction techniques to obtain morphological and mesostructural information from powder data. Having the structure "in hand" when it is needed saves time and money; the effort of determining crystal structures thus is a sort of "intellectual capital investment", and can be justified as such.


The public transport sector in Germany is in a state of fundamental structural flux. Competition in the sector is inevitable, whatever its prospective basic legal framework. Many transport operators are often too hesitant when it comes to making improvements in their cost structures, or take the necessary steps too late. The only way to secure a competitive position on the open market is to ensure that they undergo comprehensive restructuring under their own impetus. Some local councils responsible for the sector are striving to tighten their control by going competitive, but in the process threaten to suppress the freedom companies have to organise their own affairs. This can lead to red tape turning competition into a tragic farce. Council-run transport companies are constantly selling out to strategic partners who are prepared to restructure, while trade unions and politicians consider it a competitive factor to neutralise pay scales. The ways and means chosen to do this are often constitutionally a moot point and a risk factor for companies already in the restructuring process - indeed for the quality of public transport in general.


Abstract Characteristics of domain walls and related properties in 2d Ising systems were calculated from the analytic theory and by Monte Carlo simulations. Both ideal lattices and lattices with point defects were considered. Static quantities determined and discussed as functions of temperature, interactions, and specimen size are: correlation-functions, -lengths and -(effective) decay constants for small separations, wall profiles and -widths, and free and internal energies and entropies of walls. Dynamic quantities considered are: individual wall migration paths - which exhibit a pronounced stepwise motion at low temperatures -, averaged paths and -velocities, and wall mobilities. The retarding effect of defects is discussed.


This paper presents the recurrence of pan-Andean features in practices and sacred representations of members of Mapuche williche religious congregations in t...


The concept of recursion lies at the core of many modern programming languages and it is applied to many data structures like lists and trees. On the other hand, the core concept behind a dynamic programming algorithm is to store the results of smaller sub-problems and look them up when they are needed later to solve larger sub-problems instead of re-computing the smaller sub-problems over and over again. Well known algorithms textbooks (e.g. [5, 6]) use the 0--1 knapsack problem, matrix-chain multiplication, and other classical examples to introduce dynamic programming to students. Nonetheless, many students find these problems uninteresting and sometimes difficult to understand. Shortage of interesting problems when introducing dynamic programming to students leads to the shortcomings of grasping the technique to apply it to other real life scenarios. This paper introduces an interesting example, the Jump-It game, which can be used to teach dynamic programming to students. This example can also be used when teaching recursion in the CS1 and CS2 classes.


Objective To observe the effect and safety of microsurgery combined with therapy of autologous bone marrow stem cells mobilization and simvastatin for hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage.Methods Sixty cases of hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage were divided into group A receiving microsurgery,group B receiving microsurgery and simvastain,group C receiving microsurgery and autologous bone marrow stem cells mobilization treatment and group D receiving the combination therapy of autologous bone marrow stem cells mobilization and simvastatin after microsurgery,15 cases each.CD133+CD34+ cells were detected before and 3 weeks after microsurgery by flow cytometry.Neurological impairment(NIHSS score) and activities of daily living(Barthel index) were evaluated before and after microsurgery 1,3 and 6 months,meanwhile the adverse reaction was observed.Results CD133+CD34+ cells three weeks were higher after microsurgery than those before microsurgery in group C and D(P0.05),and were higher than those in group A and B(P0.05).The NIHSS score and Barthel index were not significantly different in four groups before microsurgery(P0.05).In 1,3 and 6 months after treatment,the NIHSS scores of group A,B,C and D stepped down,and the Barthel index stepped up in turn,which showed significant differences compared with those before treatment.While compared group C and D with group A and B,there were significantly differences(P0.05).There were significantly differences between group C and D in 3 and 6 months after microsurgery.No adverse reaction was found.Conclusion Microsurgery combined with autologous bone marrow stem cells mobilization and simvastatin is effective and safe for hypertensive cerebral hemorrhage.


The main result is an improvement of previous results on the equation f(x) + f(y) - f(x +y)= g[O(x) + O(Y) - O(x) + y)] for a given function O. We find its general solution assuming only continuous differentiability and local nonlinearity of O. We also provide new results about the more general equation f(x) + flu) - fix + v ) = glHjx, yjj for a given function H. Previous uniqueness results required strong regularity assumptions on a particular solution f o ; g o . Here we weaken the assumptions on f o , go considerably and find all solutions under slightly stronger regularity assumptions on H.


Device for collecting spilled on water oil containing overflow trough formed by the basin of the tank wall and connected to a wedge belt slanted bars, floating on the water overflow mat cooperating with facing the overflow chute side inclined lattices, characterized in that the rear wall of the overflow trough formed filled air-sealed chamber, such as a waterproof PVC film with the reinforcing layer of fabric bonded longitudinal seam by hot air welding, one of the forming wedge belt gratings overflow trough located in a horizontal plane, and the other at an angle of approximately 30 degrees to the first grating made of a rod bent rectangular "snake", one longitudinal side units which are connected to each other, and located at the apex of the wedge belt towing cable by means of split sleeves opposite longitudinal side parts of one and the other gratings are fixed, respectively on opposite sides of the sealed chamber via hinges PVC film strips while at the apex of the wedge zone between bars is air-filled sealed chamber, float, providing position of the vertex of the wedge belt just below the water level of the reservoir, along with this device is provided with the bottom side of the container made of PVC film, one longitudinal edge of which is connected to the sealed chamber along its the upper part and the other is thrown and along the tow line is connected to the inner longitudinal edge of a floating weir mat through an inclined grating rods along the bottom Conte


Land data assimilation system (LDAS) has been a powerful tool to optimally combine the advantages of microwave remote sensing and land surface model together and then improve the accuracy of land surface fluxes and status estimation. In this study, we developed a land data assimilation system, in which the water imbalance is constrained by using a multiply times assimilation approach. The first step is a standard variational assimilation operating at normal assimilation windows. And then the LDAS will run at an optimal assimilation window for several times to minimize the water imbalance accumulated in the first step. The LDAS is tested over CEOP Mongolia network. The microwave brightness temperature (TB) observation of AMSR-E are assimilated into the LDAS. Sensitivity test which considering the impacts of assimilation frequency and length of assimilation window are conducted. The results show that for soil moisture assimilation 48 hours window with 2 times assimilation could control the accumulated residual into the acceptable region.


The oasis Population, Resource, Environment and Development (PRED) system has the same charac-ter as the other regional PRED system, it is a nonlinear complicated huge system, also it is distinctive character-istic by big expanding spatiality, high frequency of natural disaster, and rich in illumination and heat quantityresources, and so on. But it is a very fragility ecosystem.By using the method of analytic hierarchy process (AHP method), the front 3 factors among 25 factors forthe sustainable development of oasis PRED system are per capita water resources(weighting value 0. l24), areaof dedesertification(0. 077), education degree of population(0. 062). The comprehensive states and potential ofsociety, economy, population, resources and environment of 20 counties(or city, district) in Hexi corridor werecalculated and analyzed by the sustainable development index, and expressed by a map visually, the spatial dis-tribution characteristics are described according to the sustainable development index (SDI) and the map. Thefront 4 counties were Mongo1ian Autonomous County of Subei (SDI=0.437), Jiayuguan City and Yumen City(SDI = 0.406), Jinchuan District (SDI = 0.405). Sustainable using of water resource is the basis for the socialand economic sustainable deve1opment. Per capita water resources quantity of Mongolian Autonomous County ofSubei is maximum in 20 counties. At the back 3 counties were Gulang County (SDI = 0.l50), Minqin County(SDI = 0.2l3), Tibetan Autonomous County of Tianzhu (SDI = 0.2l7). For the sustainable development ofoasis, the optimum ratio among agriculture, industry, and the third estate (service trades, tourist trade, infor-mation etc. ) is very importance, the causes are ana1yzed and some answers to the question are given.


Receptive field (RF) plasticity in primary auditory cortex of adult animals, specifically selective increased response to a tonal conditioned stimulus (CS) relative to other frequencies, can be induced both by behavioral conditioning and by pairing a tone with stimulation of the nucleus basalis (NB). This study determined whether cortical muscarinic receptors are necessary for NB-induced RF plasticity. Single units in layers II–IV were studied in Urethane anesthetized adult rats. The cortex was perfused with saline or saline + atropine sulfate. Conditioning, 30 trials of pairing a tone with NB stimulation, produced a significant CS-specific response increase (n = 8). Local atropine blocked NB-induced RF plasticity, actually resulting in CS-specific response decrease (n = 6). Therefore, NB-induced RF plasticity requires engagement of muscarinic receptors in auditory cortex.


In this work, we propose a method for reconstructing three-dimensional scenes from a sequence of images which only one image is calibrate. The system is initialized by a calibrated image. The projection matrices of the other images in the sequence are estimated from the first projection matrix (obtained by the calibration of the camera), and the matching between the images is determined by solving a system of linear equations. The intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of the camera used are estimated from the Cholesky decomposition of the projection matrix. Finally, obtaining the 3D scene is based on the Euclidean reconstruction of the detected and matched control points in the pairs of images.


Hashimoto's encephalopathy (H.E.) is probably of autoimmune etiology, and manifests with seizures, stroke-like episodes, cognitive decline, neuropsychiatric symptoms, myoclonus. It is presumed to be autoimmune in origin with high serum titers of antithyroid peroxidase antibodies (anti-TPA). Thyroid function might often be normal. The diagnosis is arrived at by excluding other toxic, metabolic and infectious causes of encephalopathies, supportive clinical profile, elevated thyroid antibodies and optimum steroid response. We present the characteristic phenotypic manifestations, magnetic resonance imaging and electroechography observations and response to immunomodulation with follow-up in three cases of H.E. All the three cases manifested with subacute to chronic progressive encephalopathy, cerebellar dysfunction, seizures, behavioral abnormalities and oculomotor disturbances and had evidence of hypothyroidism, elevated titers of anti-TPA and positive thyroid anti-microsomal antibodies. Atypical and uncommon presentations are known. This report emphasizes that a high index of suspicion is often required in cases with "investigation negative encephalopathy" for early diagnosis of H.E.


SUMMARY
Growth curves for Buellia canescens have been constructed using photographic measurements of thalli in situ over yearly intervals. The curves approximate to a simple model based on the assumption that relative growth rate is proportional to the area of thallus in an annulus of constant width within the growing margin.


Microblogging sites like Twitter contain a huge repository of user-generated sentiment about world-events, reviews and products. Sentiment analysis can be very useful if utilized properly. Sentiments cannot be 100% accurate, though it is a useful metric that can be used in relation with other metrics. Existing systems depict the sentiment as a data point over a varying time period. The data point is used to determine the context of the text. This paper proposes the use of a Gauge chart (speedometer) to determine the range of sentiment in web posts. The chart hints whether something is 'on the whole positive' or 'on the whole negative' without confining itself to a single data point. IndexTerms Data Analytics, Data Visualization, Sentiment Analysis, Text Mining, Gauge Charts ________________________________________________________________________________________________________


In this paper the author presents certain results which were obtained by him in studying the hydraulic jump over a period of years. A general characteristic of the "state" of flow is introduced through the notion of "Kineticity of Flow," expressed numerically by a "Kinetic flow factor." The fundamental relations, referring to the jump, are presented in generalized form. A physical basis is offered to explain the different forms in which the jump occurs. The practical important cases of a jump below a sluice and at the foot of a weir are studied in detail. Formulas are devised and charts given which make it possible to solve different problems of engineering practice.


This study aims to determine: (1) To find out whether there is a significant relationship between mental toughness and referee karate performance, (2) To find out if there is a significant relationship between competitive anxiety and referee karate performance and (3) To find out whether there is significant relationship between mental toughness and competitive anxiety with the performance of karate referees. The research method used is a qualitative approach with a descriptive method that uses 15 karate referees (kumites) that are licensed by the national college through a questionnaire. Data analysis techniques using descriptive data analysis techniques while the calculation in a questionnaire using Microsoft Excel and SPSS. Based on the results of this study show that based on the analysis it can be seen that the relationship between mental toughness and competitive anxiety with the referee's performance is significant in other words the relationship is large and very influential when leading the match.


Based on the daily temperature inversion data at 07:00 and 19:00 at the basic sounding stations and the daily average atmospheric pollutants data(SO2,NO2and PM10) of environmental monitoring station in Xining City during 2010-2012,the basic characteristics of temperature inversion in Xining and their correlations with the concentrations of air pollutants were analyzed.It is found that temperature inversion frequency was 69%at 07:00 and 41% at 19:00.The near the ground inversion layer was thickest in winter,and thinnest in summer.The changing trend of monthly average temperature inversion thickness was basically identical at 7:00 and at19:00.Temperature inversion frequency in the winter half year was significantly higher than that in the summer half year;the inversion intensity in autumn and winter was significantly better than that in spring and summer.There were 148 d of air pollution in the three years.Between the temperature inversion frequency and monthly average concentration of air pollutants there was good positive correlation.Daily air pollutant concentrations had a positive correlation with the thickness of the temperature inversion at 8 am,and a negative correlation with the intensity of inversion.There were positive correlations between average air pollutant concentration and temperature inversion thickness,intensity in winter and spring.


Abstract; Women entering menopause usually occurs around the age of 50 years will happen biological changes in the body, particularly the hormone produced by the ovaries. The loss of estrogen and progesterone progressively during menopause increases the risk of women's health and will affect the quality of a woman when his life is supposed to achievesuccess. The purpose of this study is known relationship with anxiety physical changes women aged 40-50 years in the face of menopause in the Village Papusungan Southern District of Lembeh. This study uses the research methods research design is descriptive analytic survey with cross sectional approach. The population in this study were premenopausal mothers, whereas sampled in this study of premenopausal women who meet the inclusion and exclusion criteria as many as 30 respondents, using a sample taking  technique is simple random sampling. The instrument used in this study was a questionnaire. Analysis of the data used are univariate and bivariate analysis in which statistical test used is the Spearman rank, using SPSS 16.0. The results are consistent test results obtained statistically significant level of p = 0.966 and  r = 0.008 or < r = 0.05 means there is a very strong relationship between the physical changes to the anxiety of women aged 40-50 years in the face of menopause in the Village Papusungan District of South Lembeh Keywords: physical changes, anxiety, mother premenopausal


The paper summarizes rock spectroscopy mechanism and rock spectral features,and sums up the common methods of obtaining lithologic information from Remote Sensing data at present.Considering for lucubrating the spectroscopy mechanism of rocks and minerals,the paper intends to measure single mineral's spectrum,analyze the diagnosable features,establish and consummate the spectral database of minerals.And the most important thing is to measure and study the spectral correlative features,rules and diagnosable features of the lithologic stratum units which are composed of several minerals and rocks.The Remote Sensing lithologic identification study in South China should search the change rules of corresponding spectral information by analysing the correlation between rock geochemical features of different lithologic stratum units and chemic features of covered soils or biochemical features of covered vegetation.The authors suggest enhancing integrative analysis on RS and non-RS information,and exploring the remote sensing lithologic identification methods with new high spatial and hyperspectral remote sensing data.


Tor is an anonymous communication network [3]. If more users are becoming interested in their privacy, the need for such anonymous services might increase. The secondgeneration Onion Router design Tor and its previous designs seems to have been under research and there have been rather recent papers on Tor's vulnerabilities. We will discuss the current attacks on Tor and make an effort to categorize them for further analysis.


This thesis analyzes the relationship between the exchange rate of Korean Won and US dollar and the amount of foreign exchange, and studies the direction of the amendment of the risk control of foreign exchange. The GARCH (Generalized Auto Regressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity) model which visually embodies the auto-regress of the wave of exchange rate shows that the amount of trade will enhance the fluidity of the exchange rate, that is, the various expects of the participators of the market affect the amount of trade and the fluidity, so in the process of trading, the trader who is in the dry tree of information bears more trading expenditure. It is predicted that the liberalization of foreign exchange rate and fluctuated exchange rate system will jointly bring the enhancement of the fluidity of the exchange rate and the amount of exchange trade. The change of this system will bring the rise of participators in foreign exchange market; meanwhile, it will also initiate superfluous fluidity of foreign exchange market. In order to overcome this problem, the government needs to implement the development strategy of the understructure of the foreign exchange market and the enterprises need to carry through systemic exchange rate risk control.


Honey composition could change during storage, which might affect the quality of honey. Subsequently, it could reduce the honey commercial value. However, data on the effect of the storage on several types of local honey is still lacking. Thus, in this study, moisture content, pH and antioxidant level of honey stored at 4°C were analysed after six-month of the storage. Initially, physicochemical properties (moisture, electrical conductivity, ash content, pH, free acidity and hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) level) and antioxidant levels of five local honey samples (Tualang, Gelam, Pineapple, Acacia and Kelulut honey) and Manuka honey as a control were determined. Afterwards, honey samples were stored at 4°C for six months and their moisture content, pH and antioxidant levels were monitored monthly. Physicochemical properties were measured based on the standard method set by the International Honey Commission (IHC). Antioxidant activity was determined based on previous studies. Most of the honey samples exhibited physicochemical properties within the range set by the Codex Standard for Honey but displayed lower antioxidant level compared to other studies. On average, honey moisture content increased by 0.1 to 0.4% while their antioxidant level increased by 2.6 mg GAE/kg to 6.3 mg GAE/kg monthly. In contrast, pH level of honey decreased by 0.03 to 0.09 monthly. Storage of honey at low temperature increases its moisture and antioxidant level while decreases its pH level. However, further study needs to be carried out to observe whether the pattern will continue even after a lengthy storage period exceeding six months.


The effect of ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure on the room-temperature hydrogen (H2) sensitivity of nanocrystalline indium oxide (In2O3)-doped tin oxide (SnO2) thin-film gas sensor is investigated in this article. The present sensor is incorporated into microelectromechanical systems device using sol-gel dip-coating technique. The present sensor exhibits a very high sensitivity, as high as 65 000–110 000, at room temperature, for 900ppm of H2 under the dynamic test condition without UV exposure. The H2 sensitivity is, however, observed to reduce to 200 under UV radiation, which is contrary to the literature data, where an enhanced room-temperature gas sensitivity has been reported under UV radiation. The observed phenomenon is attributed to the reduced surface coverage by the chemisorbed oxygen ions under UV radiation, which is in consonance with the prediction of the constitutive equation, proposed recently by the authors, for the gas sensitivity of nanocrystalline semiconductor oxide thin-film sensors.


Learn more about the sustainability initiatives at TCC Southeast Campus and resources to help you add sustainability to your education and life. Resources for making your life more sustainable or for working on school assignments related to sustainability.


This study aimed to investigate the species diversity  and distribution of crabs caught by bottom gill net along coast of Prachuab Kiri Khan which were carried out 6 stations during  February-November, 2017.              The species richness of crabs were totally 95 species, 55 genera and 22 families. The dominant species were Portunus pelgicus , Dorippoides facchino , Doclea canalifera and Podophthalmus vigil . The rare species had the maximum numbers of species at 79.80% of total number of species. The species diversity and distribution of crabs were spatial and seasonal variation. The highest species richness at 65 species were belonged to Bankood station. While in August and November had high species richness at 69 and 65 species. The important factors had affected on species diversity of crabs were supposed to be the different habitat on sea substratum and wave which also affected on the community structure of crabs. Koakralok had the highest Shannon's diversity index and Peilou's evenness index at 2.789 and 0.742  while Bankood had the highest species richness index at 9.582. The crab community were divided into 4 groups; Kaotakeab, Koakralok, Huayyang and the most similar groups were Nongprom, Bankood and Bangsaphannoi. The amount of discarded species caught by bottom gill net in this area were quite high at 52.22-73.41 % of total catch and the discard ratio at  2.27-2.76. The major discarded species were wasted crabs which had high numbers of species about 82.65 % of total numbers of species. The knowledges from this study were important criteria for management and conservation of crabs and for further development for effective and sustainable utilization of crab biodiversity. Key Words: crab, Prachuab Kiri Khan, crab community, wasted crabs, bottom gill net


The insecticidal activity of some substituted sulphones and sulphonamides and their cyanoethylation products is discussed in relation to the already well-known insecticides. Some of the compounds prepared showed excellent activity. In the experimental part, the preparation of the substances thus tested has been described.


[Objective]To learn about the occurrence,prevalence and change tendency of category B infectious diseases in Pulandian from 1999 to 2008,in order to provide basis for its control and prevention.[Methods]Epidemiological data of category B infectious diseases from 1999-2008 were analyzed in Pulandian.[Results]A total of 13 kinds and 12 091 cases of category B infectious diseases were reported from 1999-2008,the average incidence rate was 146.61/100 000,22 cases died,The average mortality rate was 0.27/100 000.The average incidence rate of intestinal infectious disease was 61.39/100 000,accounting for 41.87% of the total;The average incidence rate of blood and sexually transmitted diseases was 44.59/100 000,accounting for 30.41% of the total;The average incidence rate of respiratory diseases was 39.18/100 000,accounting for 26.72% of the total;The average incidence rate of Natural Focal Infectious Endemic Diseases and insect-borne infectious disease was 1.46/100 000,accounting for 0.99% of the total.The incidence of the top three were viral hepatitis(75.70/100 000),Pulmonary tuberculosis(36.26/100 000),Bacillary dysentery(16.49/100 000).[Conclusion]Tuberculosis,viral hepatitis and bacillary dysentery are the focus of prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in Pulandian city.


Background Pancreas allografts from pediatric donors are considered less suitable due to the increased risk of surgical complications and reduced islet cell mass that may compromise function. Methods All pancreatic transplants, procured from donors younger than 18 years, between January 2007 and March 2017, were included in the analysis. The grafts were subdivided into 3 groups by donor's weight: less than 30 kg, 30 to 60 kg, greater than 60 kg. Analysis of patient and graft survival was done between the groups, and subsequently between the pediatric cohort and the adult-donor control group. Results Sixty-three pediatric-donor pancreas transplants were performed. The mean donor age and weight were of 12.10 ± 4.13 years and 47.8 ± 21.3 kg. Excellent metabolic control was achieved in 59 (93.65%) patients at the time of discharge and at a mean 5 year follow up, with the average hemoglobin A1c of 5.30 ± 0.61% and blood glucose level of 102.75 ± 20.70 mg/dL in those with a functioning graft. Nine graft losses were registered, of which one (1.6%) was due to arterial thrombosis. Eight (12.7%) patients experienced rejection. Overall graft survival and patient survival were of 85.7% and 92.1%, respectively, at a median follow-up of 37.07 months (minimum, 0.19 to maximum, 119.57). No differences among the 3 groups were identified. Long-term patient and allograft survival was comparable to that of the adult-donor pancreatic transplants. Conclusions Pediatric-donor pancreas demonstrated excellent short-term outcomes with no surgical complications and promising long-term outcomes despite the smaller islet mass. Pancreata from pediatric donors should not be marginalized and can offset worsening organ shortage.


When a body is subject to simple internal constraints, the deformation gradient must belong to a certain manifold. This is in contrast to the situation in the unconstrained case, where the deformation gradient is an element of the open subset of second-order tensors with positive determinant. Commonly, following Truesdell and Noll (1), modern treatments of constrained theories start with an a priori additive decomposition of the stress into reactive and active components with the reactive component assumed to be powerless in all motions that satisfy the constraints and the active component given by a constitutive equation. Here, we obtain this same decomposition automatically by making a purely geometrical and general direct sum decomposition of the space of all second-order tensors in terms of the normal and tangent spaces of the constraint manifold. As an example, our approach is used to recover the familiar theory of constrained hyperelasticity.


The Renewable Energy system enhances rural communities' development in the country, specifically in North-East and North-West, Nigeria. The ability to overcome extreme poverty and improve their living conditions is related to the renewable energy technology available. The rural electrification planning approach consists of socioeconomic, environmental, and institutional sustainability dimensions. This study establishes specific objectives to achieve sustainability in rural electrification programs. Conceptual frameworks are proposed for achieving universal access anywhere with similar experiences. The methodology is proposed to 3000 isolated communities in North-East and North-West, Nigeria that lack electricity. Three different strategic approaches are formulated as a research-based investment analysis framework. Confirmatory Factor Analysis under Structural Equation Modelling is shown in Figure 2. While figure 3 addressed the technology aspect through blockchain technology. The findings of this work are intended to contribute to the improvement of rural electrification programs with Renewable Energy (RE) of the solar system.


Collaborative governance approaches involve different accountabilities for the achievement of community outcomes. Command-and-control systems (hierarchical governance) have clear lines of accountability: the regulatory authority to the community through public reporting and election processes; regulatory agency to their governing body; and consent holders to the regulatory authority. This is referred to as "vertical accountability".


Abstract An analytical method based on liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry (LC‐MS/MS) was developed and validated for the determination of etoricoxib in spiked human plasma and pharmaceutical dosage forms. Etoricoxib and piroxicam (internal standard) were extracted from the plasma by liquid–liquid extraction using tert‐butyl methyl ether as extraction solvent and separated on a C18 analytical column (50 mm×3.0 mm I.D.). The mobile phase consisted of acetonitrile:water (95:5)/0.1% acetic acid (90:10, v/v). Detection was carried out by positive electrospray ionization (ESI+) in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The chromatographic separation was obtained within 2.0 min and was linear in the concentration range of 1–5000 ng/mL. The mean extraction recoveries of etoricoxib and piroxicam from plasma were 96.09 and 95.54%, respectively. Method validation investigated parameters such as the linearity, precision, accuracy, specificity, and stability, giving results within the acceptable range. Moreover, the proposed method was successfully applied for routine quality control analysis of pharmaceutical products and the results compared with those obtained by the RP‐HPLC method, showing significant correlation (P>0.05).


Aim: Evaluation of meloxicam, levofloxacin, pazufloxacin, and enrofloxacin for their effect on the plasma antioxidative activity (AOA) and the body weight in rabbits. Materials and Methods: Thirty two male Soviet Chinchilla rabbits were divided to eight groups of four rabbits each. Group A, serving as control, was administered 5 % dextrose. Group B, C, E and G were gavaged meloxicam, levofloxacin, pazufloxacin and enrofloxacin, respectively, in 5% dextrose. Levofloxacin and pazufloxacin were administered at the dose rate of 10 mg/kg body weight b.i.d 12h, whereas the meloxicam and enrofloxacin were administered at 0.2mg/kg body weight o.i.d and 20 mg/kg body weight, respectively. Groups D, F and H were co-gavaged meloxicam with levofloxacin, pazufloxacin, and enrofloxacin, respectively, at the above dose rates. All these drugs were administered for 21 consecutive days. The plasma AOA and body weight was determined on 0, 7, 14, and 21 day of treatment. th Results: The plasma AOA of meloxicam treated group was significantly lower than the control from 7 day of treatment. On th the 14 day of treatment, the levofloxacin treated group had values significantly higher than the enrofloxacin-meloxicam cotreated group. Except for the levofloxacin treated group, a significant decrease in the antioxidative activity was observed in all st treatment groups when compared to the control group on 21 day of treatment. The body weight of all groups differed nonsignificantly throughout the study period. Conclusion: The results from this study indicate that although these drugs have no effect on the body weight, a decrease in the plasma AOA is observed, especially when the duration of treatment is increased.


The literature on electron beam welding has been reviewed with regard to (1) weldability and material properties; and (2) production applications. Each section has been sub-divided to allow easy reference to publications on specific materials or particular industries. This report should be read in conjunction with CIT Memo 69, "Bibliography on Electron Beam Welding".

Starting in 1946 as the College of Aeronautics, the Cranfield Institute of Technology was granted university status in 1969. In 1993 it changed its name to Cranfield University.


In this paper, a controller for two wheeled inverted pendulum robot, i.e., Segway type robot that is a convenient and easily handled vehicle is designed to have more stable balancing and faster velocity control compared to the conventional method. First, a widely used PID control structure is applied to the two wheeled inverted pendulum robot and proper PID control gains for some specified weights of users are obtained to get accurate balancing and velocity control by use of experimental trial-and-error method. Next, neural network is employed to generate appropriate PID control gains for arbitrarily selected weight. Here the PID gains based on the trial-and-error method are used as training data. Simulation study has been carried out to find that the performance of the designed controller using the neural network is more excellent than the conventional PID controller in terms of faster balancing and velocity control.


A time-domain measuring technique utilizing the peak-to-average ratio (PAR) of a received pulse, in conjunction with a few other simple transmission measurements, serves to provide a fast quality check on channels for data communications. Facility makeup of the circuit must be known, since the PAR meter is designed to be especially responsive to envelope delay distortion. This raises potential continuing administrative problems and facility-trunk coordination of changes in makeup caused by high frequency rolls, etc. Troubleshooting via the PAR meter for both switched message network and private line circuits are discussed.


Four metal complexes of antibacterial agent lomefloxacin (LFX) with zirconium(IV) in the presence of aniline (An), pyridine (Py) and o-tolidine (o-Tol) as nitrogen donor molecules and dimethyl formamide (DMF) as oxygen donor molecule have been prepared and characterized with physicochemical and diverse spectroscopic techniques (IR, UV-Vis. and 1H NMR spectroscopes) as well as thermal analysis. The deprotonated lomefloxacin complexes of Zr(IV) were isolated as solids with the general formula, [ZrO(LFX)2L]Cl2,where L = An, Py, o-Tol and DMF. The infrared spectral data show the chelation behavior of LFX toward Zr(IV) through oxygen of pyridone, one oxygen of carboxylic group and complete the coordination number with nitrogen or oxygen atom of L. The thermodynamic parameters are calculated from the thermal analysis curves using the Coats–Redfern and Horowitz–Metzger methods. The antibacterial of LFX and their Zr(IV) complexes were also evaluated for their antibacterial activity against three Gram (+Ve) and three Gram (-Ve) microorganisms.


Inequalities play an important role in almost all branches of mathematics as well as in other areas of science. Books by Hardy, Littlewood and Polya appeared in 1934 [50], Beckenbach and Bellman published in 1961 [27] and by Mitrinovic published in 1970 [59] made significant contributions to the feld of inequalities and provides motivations, ideas, techniques and applications. Since 1934 a huge amount of effort has been devoted to the discovery of new types of inequalities and to the applications of inequalities in many parts of analysis.The usefulness of mathematical inequalities is felt from the very beginning and is now widely acknowledged as one of the major driving forces behind the development of modern real analysis.The theory of inequalities is in a process of continuous development state and inequalities have become very effective and powerful tools for studying a wide range of problems in various branches of mathematics.This theory in recent years has attracted the attention of a large number of researchers, stimulated new research directions and in uenced various aspects of mathematical analysis and applications.Among the many types of inequalities, those associated with the names of Jensen, Hadamard, Hilbert, Hardy, Opial, Poincare, Sobolev, Levin and Lyapunov have deep roots and made a great impact on various branches of mathematics.The last few decades have witnessed important advances related to these inequalities that remain active areas of research and have grown into substantial fields of research with many important applications.The present monograph provides a systematic study of some of the most famous and fundamental inequalities.There is no doubt that convex functions play an important role in the theory of inequalities. Many important inequalities are the consequences of the applications of convex functions.For example Jensen's inequality Hadamard's inequality for convex functions provided a good start in the development of the theory of inequalities. Some other important classes of functions are based on the definition of convex functions.Sometime it turns out to be more convenient to replace convex function with starshaped function.A convex function passing through the origin is starshaped. It is very interesting to note that now Jensen's, Hadamard's and many other inequalities have their generalizations, renements, improvements by using as tool a class of functions which are more than convex functions.This is class of superquadratic functions introduced by S. Abramovich, G. Jameson and G.Sinnamon.
In the first Chapter we give basic notions and results brie y to provide the motivation and make the monograph friendly readable. In Chapter 2 we give renements of the inequalities of Aczel, Popoviciu and Bellman and some results related to power sums. We also consider divergence measures, J-divergence, K-divergence and results related to these measures are proved. In Chapter 3 we give results related to Hadamard's and Jensen's inequalities for superquadratic functions.Then we give generalizations and improvements of these results by using converse Jensen's inequality for superquadratic functions. Also we consider renement of Hardy's inequality and prove analogue results. In the last Chapter we consider an Opial type integral inequality for a particular class of convex functions.We prepare results to give applications to fractional derivatives.


Developing agents for automated game playing is a demanding task in the general game production cycle. Especially the involvement of frequent balance changes after the release, which for example often occur in collectible card games, require constant updates of the developed agent. The game's developers need to continuously analyze and understand the current meta-game for adjusting the agent's parameters, making balance changes to the game, and, thereby, sustaining the satisfaction of its player base. The underlying analysis largely depends on evaluating players' play traces. Necessary adjustments to the agent's and the game's parameters are taken care of by the game's developers. This paper proposes a first step in automatically observing the current state of a collectible card game, which will assist the developers in their understanding of established deck archetypes and, therefore, speed up the update cycle. Fuzzy multisets are used for modeling decks and frequently occurring subsets of cards. We propose the definition of a (fuzzy) multiset centroid to uniquely represent the cluster and its contained decks and show that it is better able to match the deck archetype than the often reported deck core. The proposed clustering procedure identifies deck archetypes and keeps track of its common variants in the current meta-game. We evaluate the approach by comparing the result of our clustering procedure with a hand-labeled data set and show that it is able to reproduce clusters of similar quality to a labeling provided by experts.


Submitted for the APR18 Meeting of The American Physical Society Automated Bio-mechanical Modeling of the Human Breast Using the Finite Element Method ANDREW KYUNG, Northern Valley Regional HS at Demarest, JOO HEE LEE, The Stony Brook School — Creating a patient-specific modeling of the breast tissue is important in various biomechanical applications. FEM (Finite Element Method) is a numerical and computational tool that can be used to perform biophysics analysis as well as mathematical and engineering analysis. The FEM technique allows mesh generations of complex geometry to divide into smaller elements, such as triangles, quadrilaterals, and other two dimensional or three dimensional elements, to model a continuum or solid geometry. In this research, a 3D mesh was efficiently created for breast cancer imaging using FEM software. Pre-processing and post-processing mechanisms for automatic mesh generation of breast was implemented for the breast cancer imaging. In the discretization process, the mesh of the desired shape was created by filling the nodes in the mesh to create the present image for the biophysical analysis, and triangle elements with hyperelastic properties were used to model the surface of the breast. The results show that using the FEM software to model breast tissue led to great savings in computer running time, compared to manual construction. The efficiency of the FEM software was further emphasized for elements with irregular and complex geometry shapes. Richard Kyung Choice Research Group Date submitted: 17 Apr 2018 Electronic form version 1.4


It is suggested that choropleth maps of population characteristics exhibit serious graphic distortions when the population concerned varies greatly in density. The topological cartogram is proposed as a viable alternative in such situations. The example of an urban cartogram provides a focus for discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the proposal. It is concluded that the topological cartogram may provide an improvement in graphic communication by avoiding the terrestrial distortion inherent in the choropleth method.


Spiritual leaders play a very important role in the development and growth of the church. They are not only responsible for leading and teaching the congregation, but must also be concerned for the spiritual and emotional well-being of its members. Being competent is not an easy job. A spiritual leader in the context of the New Testament can be seen from the lives of Jesus' disciples. They were also competent pastors who had the leadership skills and qualities required of the day. They lead the congregation and guide according to the purpose that God calls leaders in every context.


A process of preparing copper dialkyl dithiophosphates and their use as lubricating oil additives were introduced. Sereral analysis method of organic copper salt were compared. Using oxidation-reduction standard method. Copper content in its synthetic fluid was measured. The component of analyze method of copper dialkyl dithiophosphates was discussed. The suitable equivalence point was chosen. The relative error was 0.30 %~0.63 % and The standard deviation was 0.05 %~0.08 %.


Using a novel ball mill with controlled ball movement, titanium and zirconium nitrides were synthesized by simple milling, at room temperature, of titanium and zirconium elemental powders in molecular nitrogen atmosphere. The structural evolution during milling is studied using x‐ray diffractometry.


Because of the uncertainties associated with the nation's petroleum supply and the possible effects of federally imposed fuel contingency measures on transportation, the steering committee of the Metropolitan Planning Organization in the north central Texas region directed the development of a plan to minimize the impact of federal fuel contingencies on transportation in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area. This paper summarizes the planning effort that resulted. The major objective of the plan was to minimize the impact of fuel allocation and rationing on local mobility, especially work trips, and thereby to reduce the adverse effects of a near-term energy shortage on the local economy. Through an examination of these federal regulations, the impact of the 1973/1974 Arab oil embargo, and projections of future petroleum supply and demand characteristics, alternate fuel shortage scenarios were developed and transportation-related problems identified. Potential solutions of these problems were analyzed as to their effectiveness and applicability. A set of recommendations for actions by local governments, public transit systems, and the private sector was developed from the results of these analyses. /Author/


AIM
To investigate the current public understanding and perceptions of nursing.

BACKGROUND
In recent years, attention to large scale health-care failures has focused considerable concern upon nursing standards. To avoid short-term solutions, and the temptation to see individual failures as representative of the wider profession, it is important to understand contemporary public perceptions of nursing.

EVALUATION
A systematic review and narrative synthesis of peer reviewed papers from January 2010 to September 2015.

KEY ISSUES
Four main themes were identified: (1) media portrayal of nursing as a troubled profession; (2) entertainment value in demeaning nursing; (3) role incongruity - nursing trusted but not respected; and (4) nursing roles remain poorly understood.

CONCLUSIONS
Although there is evidence of strong public trust, this does not generally appear to be born out of an understanding of nursing work and impact; rather it appears to stem from the respect held for the traditional, more sentimental stereotypes of selfless, hardworking young females.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT
A long-term, strategic solution is required that focuses on public engagement and interaction with the profession in a context wider than personal health/ill-health, and that goes beyond the marketing campaigns seen in the past to address recruitment crises.


Allegations of witchcraft that result in violence and murder have long been a part of the history of rural India. But witch hunts in modern times are continuously reported by the UNHCR of the UNO as a massive violation of human rights. In spite of that the modern practice of witch hunting in India includes violence and beliefs that have led to the torture and murder of alleged witches. Most of the accused are women and children but can also be elderly people or marginalised groups of the community. These victims are often considered burdens to the community, and as a result are often driven out, starved to death, or killed violently, sometimes by their own families in acts of social cleansing. The causes of witch hunts include poverty, epidemics, social crises and lack of education. The leader of the witch hunt, often a prominent figure in the community or a "witch doctor", may also gain economic benefit by charging for an exorcism or by selling body parts of the murdered. Indian rationalists and women's rights activists have pushed for more effective and concrete efforts. Though they have sought stricter laws to punish violence stemming from witchcraft allegations, several groups want to change perceptions toward women and supernatural belief. Because the fact remains that legislation is not a cure for superstition; change in the mindset is the key.


The commitment for developing investment in Jambi can be found in
activities implemented by Investment and Promotion Board of Jambi Province.
Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the performance of the organization in
executing the task as coordinator of investment development plan. The analysis
also analyzes the factors that influence the performance. This research is
conducted using qualitative method using primary and secondary data. Primary
data were collected through in-depth interview and participatory observation