Fully differential data on H2(D2)-dissociation in carrier-envelope-phase (CEP)stabilized 6fs laser pulses were recorded with a reaction microscope. By varying the CEP control over the proton emission direction, and, thus, the charge localization was achieved.


The text points out the action of God in the act of conceding gifts and ministries, as well as emphazing certain aspects of the carisma of lay ministry, of ordained ministry, and of episcopal ministry. All are considered as divine vocation.


Contraposing to the situation of no more than 1 000 publications of college journals, this paper puts forward a few measures to enlarge publication of Liaoning journals. Changing tenet of college journals, enhancing propagandistic intensity, transforming quarterly into monthly, transforming integrative journals into specialistic journals and improving publishing ways are all the effective measures to enlarge the publication of college and university journals. In the meantime, all the measures must be taken on the basic of guarantee of journal quality.


Author(s): Hoburg, Warren Woodrow | Advisor(s): Abbeel, Pieter | Abstract: Recent advances in convex optimization make it possible to solve certain classes of constrained optimization problems reliably and efficiently.These techniques offer significant advantages over general nonlinear optimization methods.In this thesis, conceptual-stage aircraft design problems are formulated as geometric programs (GPs), which are a specific type of convex optimization problem.Modern GP solvers are extremely fast, even on large problems, require no initial guesses or tuning of solver parameters, and guarantee globally optimal solutions.They also return optimal dual variables, which encode sensitivity information that is especially relevant in an aircraft design context.These benefits come at a price:all objective and constraint functions -- the mathematical models that describe aircraft design relations -- must be expressed within the restricted functional forms of GP.Perhaps surprisingly, this restricted set of functional forms appears again and again in prevailing physics-based models for aircraft systems.Moreover, for models that cannot be manipulated algebraically into the forms required by GP,one can use methods developed in this thesis to fit compact GP models that accurately approximate the original models.Each of these ideas is illustrated by way of concrete examples from aircraft design.


With the recent discovery of the pulsar PSR 1951 + 22 in CTB 80, four pulsars are now known in supernova remnants (SNRs) of the plerion and composite classes. It is argued that this success rate of pulsar detections implies that young fast pulsars have long fan-beams that enable them to be seen from most directions. Based on calculations that use a pulsar luminosity model and allow for selection effects, it is suggested that the best SNRs for future pulsar searches are 3C 58, MSH 11-62, G24.7 + 0.6, and MSH 15-56. It is also concluded that the failure to detect pulsars in shell SNRs implies either that there are no pulsars in these SNRs or that the pulsars are unusually weak, possibly due to slow rotation or weak magnetic fields. 25 references.


Kallikrein is a multitalented enzyme in hemostasis and inflammation. Normally, kallikrein is formed in intrinsic hemostasis and activates factor XII. A total of 10 µL of 0 to 100 µg/mL human plasma kallikrein in 6% human albumin—PBS were incubated with 90 µL 111.1 µg/mL prothrombin in 6% human albumin in absence and presence of 23 mM Ca++. After 0 to 64 minutes (37°C), 100 µL of 2.5 M arginine, pH 9, were added. Fifty microliters of 0.72 mM HD-CHG-Ala-Arg-pNA in 1.36 M arginine were added and increase in absorbance at 405 nm was determined. Within 8 minutes (37°C), 1 µg/mL kallikrein, ie, 2.5% of the normal plasmatic prekallikrein concentration, generates approximately 3 mIU/mL thrombin in absence and 27 mIU/mL thrombin in presence of Ca++. Kallikrein can directly activate prothrombin; there is a shortcut in the intrinsic hemostasis system that generates catalytic amounts of thrombin without following the known intrinsic clotting pathway.


The paper presents an EPSRC and industry funded research project which aims to integrate Virtual Reality (VR), Telepresence (TP), and mobile video telecommunications technologies. A mobile, real-time, 3D hybrid VR/TP system is being built at Strathclyde University, Glasgow. Once the system is completed, it will permit the user to integrate telepresence images with computer generated virtual environments superimposed over the remote real world view. This integrated system will incorporate emerging mobile telecommunications technologies to give rapid and easy access to the real and virtual construction sites from arbitrary locations. This system will also allow remote surveillance of a construction site, and integration of real world images of the site with virtual reality representations, derived from planning models, for progress monitoring. First, the background of this research is described and the research objectives and methodology are presented. Then, the system components are briefly described with an emphasis being placed on the role of VR in the system. Finally, the research challenges in the development of the VR sub-system and Mobile Hybrid Virtual Reality and Telepresence for Planning and Monitoring of Engineering Projects 81 81 its integration into the system are discussed and the applicational aspects are outlined.


The present invention concerns a process for removing liquid from a MUD (10) of solid particles and liquid, which is contained in a container (1) in the presence of a gas, and comprising DEGASSING (12) MUD AND SPEND MUD DEGASIFICATION (14) through Crossflow filter (16) and separating sludge degassed liquid and CONCENTRATED IN A MUD. The present invention further relates to a process for the preparation of HGO, WHICH comprises a synthetic gas contacting, in a reactor vessel, WITH A slurry of catalyst particles solid and a liquid, thereby producing HGO, Y SEPARATE PROCEDURE FOR SUCH LODO the liquid containing heavy hydrocarbons.


Objective:Select some Qingre Jiedu herbs which can affect the CEA of the colon cancer cell.Methods:Sandwich ELISA and Immunohistochemical detection were used to detect the CEA of the cancer cell culture supernatant.ALL Qingre Jiedu herbs inhabit the growth of colon cancer cell,and with the decreasing concentration of herbs,effect of inhibition also reduced.Used the method of Sandwich ELISA and immunohistochemical detection,the expression of CEA can be inhabited by all herbs.Huan lian are the most significant in reduced the expression of CEA.Results:Conclusion:The Qingre Jiedu herbs all inhibit the expression of CEA of the colon cancer cell.


The 7 International Workshop on Advanced Computational Intelligence and Intelligent Informatics (IWACIII2021) Beijing, China, Oct.31-Nov.3, 2021 1 Abstract. In the gas supply system, the pressure regulation system is required to regulate the gas from high pressure to low pressure on the customer side, where the pressure energy can be recovered by the expander driven generator operation. However, the existing regulator system and generator torque control loop have the problem of difficult PI parameter adjustment, in addition to the strong non-linearity of the hysteresis comparator and switching table in the traditional direct torque control, which causes difficulties in controller design and leads to large fluctuations in generator torque. To this end, this paper constructs fuzzy PI controllers for expander pressure regulation and generator torque control loops respectively, and realizes adaptive adjustment of PI parameters; meanwhile, with the control objective of making the generator torque and flux linkage stable, the optimal voltage vector calculation is performed directly by using model predictive controller instead of the hysteresis comparator and vector switching table in the generator internal loop control loop, which improves the efficiency of the algorithm and improves the control performance by delay compensation. The simulation experimental results show that the proposed control algorithm reduces the generator torque fluctuation range by 84.5%, the speed fluctuation range by 66.7%, and the three-phase current fluctuation range by 65.6% compared with the traditional direct torque control algorithm.


LiHongzhang developed himself by supressing the Taiping′s army in the province of ZheJian and JianSu, but LiXiu Cheng said that he developed himeslf by the help of foreign aggressors. This ideal affected our history research. In fact Li HongZhang exerted his effort of subiectivity and took a lot of measuer. So that he could make the army in the province of HuaiHe turn into a picked army successfully. So he could supperss the Taiping′s army in the province of Zhe Jian and JianSu in a shot time.


Mechanical stress compromise the performance and structural integrity of Integrated Circuits (ICs). Stress-sensing devices are becoming important tools to detect and correct stress related problems, improving the performance and yield of ICs. This works introduces a new Eight Terminals Silicon Piezotransducer (8TSP) fabricated using a commercial CMOS process, designed to measure the stress state on the (100) silicon surface. Each sensor integrates a resistor rosette in a single octagonal plate, and the complete stress state can be estimated by the relation between the resistance change in different directions, since the change of resistivity in silicon can be related to mechanical stress by the piezoresistive effect. In order to characterize the device, a four-point-bending apparatus using a circular substrate was designed to have control of both magnitude and direction of the applied uniaxial stress. The device was attached to a disk and stress was applied in the main crystallographic directions to observe the piezoresistance characteristics and calibrate the sensor. We applied stress in some other directions and the stress behavior fit the predicted by the theory. Those results confirm that the 8TPS can be used to find the stress state over the surface of a silicon chip.


Burning plasmas in ITER constitute a challenging new field of physics, which requires, in particular, understanding of fundamental issues associated with the superAlfvénic energy range of fusion-born alpha-particles and ions used in auxiliary NBI heating. Since the ITER scale plasmas with many modes and small ratio between the fast particle orbit and minor radius, 2 10 / − ≅ a α ρ , goes well beyond the present-day


A calculation of the binding free energy of the u repressor-operator complex is described based on free energy component analysis. The calculations are based on a thermodynamic cycle of seven steps decomposed into a total of 24 individual components. The values of these terms are estimated using a combination of empirical potential functions from AMBER, generalized Born - solvent accessibility calculations, elementary statistical mechanics and semiempirical physicochemical properties. Two alternative approaches are compared, one based on the crystal structure of the complex and the other based on the molecular dynamics simulation of the u repressor-operator complex. The calculated affinity is m 19.7 kcal/mol from the crystal structure calculation and m 17.9 kcal/mol from the MD method. The corresponding experimental affinity of the complex is about m 12.6 kcal/mol, indicating reasonable agreement between theory and experiment, considering the approximations involved in the computational methodology. The results are analyzed in terms of contributions from electrostatics, van der Waal interactions, the hydrophobic effect and solvent release. The capabilities and limitations of free energy component methodology are assessed and discussed on the basis of these results.


We have shown the plausibility of considering time as a Fuzzy concept instead of classical time [7], [8]. By considering time as a fuzzy concept, we will have new classes of Complexity. Here, we show that how some famous problems will be solved in this new picture.


Objective\ To investigate the influence of hyperbaric oxygen(HBO) on the cell apoptosis in vitro of Ara cinduced Acute myeloid leukemia(AML).\ Methods\ Ara c was added to mononuclear cells of AML patients .The morphological appearance of apoptotic cells was investigated for HBO treated Group and Non HBO treated Group. Cell activity,Bax/Bcl 2 ratio and TUNEL positive rate of two groups were detected. \ Results\ The cell activity with typical feature of AML for HBO treated Group was lower than that for Non HBO treated Group ( F=7.75, q=2.41,P 0.05); Bax/Bcl 2 ratio and TUNEL positive rate were higher than those for Non HBO treated Group ( F=10.06,q=3.97, P 0.05 and F=30.79, q=4.44, P 0.01, respectively). \ Conclusion\ HBO enhances the sensitivity of AML cells to Ara c in vitro and increases cell apoptosis of Ara c induced AML.


In this paper we are going to explore the importance of the design of a Low power and less area square and cube architectures using Vedic sutra , the optimized multiplier are having regular, less complex and parallel structure in design thus this kind of algorithm and its designs used to design square and cube circuit using Vedic sutras over and over again times square and cube are the most sustained on operations in several digital signal processing applications and computation can be condensed using Radix8 and the overall processor performance can be improved for numerous applications. KeywordsDWT, Radix8, Parallel Structure, VEDIC, Urdhva Tiryagbhyam, Anurupyena Sutra, Modified Booth,


Research on student engagement has been incrase in recent years. Therefore, to determine the high or low level of student engagement, a valid and reliable measuring instrument is required. This means that the measuring instrument of student engagement must measure only the construct of student engagement reliably and consistently in measurement. The purpose of this research was to test the validity and reliability of the student engagement construct based on Fredrick et al theory. The components of student engagement that are used as a reference for making measuring instruments consist of behavioral engagement, emotional engagement, and cognitive behavior. The study was conducted on 100 high school students using a proportional sampling technique. The measuring instrument is constructed using a semantic differential scaling model. The validity and reliability test used the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) approach with the help of PLS 3.2.9 software. The results showed that the student attachment measurement tool was declared valid and reliable to be used as a measuring tool. The convergent and discriminant validity tests have met the standards, with loading factor score value of P> 0.5, while the Cronbach alpha reliability score is 0.753 and the composite reliability is 0.835. This measuring instrument is also declared fit with an RSMR value of 0.033. 7 items dropped out of the 18 items tested. Keywords :Student Engagement, Validity,Reliability, Measurement


A 40-year-old man born in Bangladesh developed alpha heavy chain disease whilst a resident in the United Kingdom. An incomplete, low molecular weight alpha heavy chain protein, devoid of light chains was demonstrated in his serum. Clinical remission of his disease was achieved by antibiotics alone.


Summary
The quote by Sir Isaac Newton, 'If I have seen further it is by standing on ye sholders of Giants' was the theme of the British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) Annual Lecture 2012. Illustrations of the seminal contributions of six 'giants' of nutrition science, chosen because of their links to the BNF and to vitamin and mineral research in Cambridge, were used to give a historical context to recent studies and controversies on calcium and vitamin D requirements, particularly focusing on rickets and maternal and child nutrition.


The apparatus described in this paper, which will be called for shortness an electron camera, is intended to study the diffraction patterns formed by the reflection of cathode rays from crystalline surfaces. It differs from the original apparatus used by Davisson and Germer for this purpose in that the method of detection is photographic instead of electrical, and that the energy of the electrons is much greater, being at least 6000 volts (more usually 30,000) instead of about 300. In consequence of the much greater penetrating power of these fast rays it is not necessary to use an elaborate vacuum technique. The principle of the apparatus is that a narrow beam of cathode rays generated in a gas-filled discharge tube is selected by passing through two fine pin-holes and then strikes the crystalline target, where it is diffracted into divergent beams which ultimately strike a photographic plate.


Exact solutions of the Navier‐Stokes equations are given for certain flows in which an infinite plane and the adjacent fluid have relative rotation and translation. Equations for the boundary‐layer profiles are given in a general form that includes the possibility of time‐dependent solutions. Numerical results are restricted to two cases of steady flow, in which either the fluid is translating and the plate is rotating, or the plate is in pure translation adjacent to a rotating fluid. Analytical solutions are discussed, including time‐dependent cases, for vanishing and for small differences between the angular velocities of the plate and the fluid.


Xenon and samarium concentrations changes occur in a nuclear reactor as a consequence of power level variations. To compensate for the reactivity introduced by these isotopes, the boron concentration in the reactor coolant also needs to be changed. Boron concentration changes result from boration or dilution operations. Both boration and dilution operations have economic effects due to the cost of boric acid and the treatment of the effluent. A method is presented that finds the nuclear power level change that leads to an optimization of the boration and dilution operations. The use of the method for practical applications is demonstrated by comparing the absolute reactivity change for the optimum power ramp and a ramp of [plus minus]3%/h. The numerical calculations are very fast. Thus, the method may be implemented in the process computer of any nuclear power plant.


Some examples of university-industry cooperation leading to a suitable engineer's education are considered. The role in this interaction of research centers in research cooperative programs is emphasized. The main cooperative actions between France Telecom, university, and industry are also presented.<<ETX>>


The invention discloses an infrared stealth light trapping structure of a moving target. A light trapping microstructure layer is arranged on the surface of the moving target, the cross section of the light trapping microstructure layer is formed by a plurality of isosceles triangles, and the length of the bottom edge of each isosceles triangle and the height of each isosceles triangle are in micron dimensions. According to the infrared stealth light trapping structure of the moving target, a microstructure of which the cross section is formed by the plurality of isosceles triangles is manufactured on the surface of an elastic body by utilizing the electromagnetic coupling characteristic of light and the microstructure, so that infrared trapped light is realized, and the reflectivity and emissivity of the moving target are reduced, thereby reducing the detected possibility of the moving target.


Introduction. Nowadays general theoretical economic security issues are investigated in the scientific literature . N evertheless , there are a lot of aspects of the specific areas acivity t hat require special treatment. The activity of bakery enterprises is accompanied by specific narrow specialization which is caused by the uniqueness of both the raw materials, which they dispose , and of  the peculiarities of its processing and storage. Due to this fact , there is a need for the formation of a unique range of threats to bakery businesses economic security. The conduction of strategic analysis of the industry has to create the idea as for the characteristics of the industry and lay the foundation for the creation of economic security of baker y companies. Timely determination of threat factors is a prerequisite for a satisfactory level of ability to withstand adverse circumstances for production, to ensure stability of the company, the stability of its development, the objectives of the company and the ability to avoid threats and eliminate the negative impacts. Issues of strategic threats of this area become very important. It leads to the necessity of conduct ion of strategic  analysis of the industry for the purpose of drawing up a list of distinct strategic threats for specific industries. Goal. The purpose of this article is to ground the need for strategic analysis for bakery industry , for structuring its key segments that are specific, for identif ication of sectoral characteristics and for creation of the list of threats to economic security. Analysis and structuring of the classification should improve the understanding of threats to economic security and bakery businesses and to optimize their ability to confront the destructive processes. Results. A strategic analysis of the bakery industry has been conducted. The characteristics of the industry in five specified areas of strategic analysis are defined. It allow ed to create a list of specific threats to economic security of bakery enterprises. Effective use of this list will create a basis for economic security compliance system .


Purpose To present the reasons of recurrent retinal detachment(RRD)in oil-retained eyes and evaluate the management of RRD.Methods Records of 54 patients(54 eyes,38 males,16 females)were retrospectively reviewed. Results All the eyes with RRD were examined.37 eyes(68.5%)had recurrent inferior retinal detachment.The inferior open retinal breaks were noticed in 22 of 35 eyes with breaks(62.9%).The reformation of inferior proliferation within vitreous cavity was seen in 53.7% of 41 eyes with proliferation.51 eyes were operated on again.Among them 38 eyes had vitreoretinal surgery after silicone oil was removed.The last follow-up data of completed retinal reattachment(CRR)was 35 eyes(35/38).7 oil-retained eyes underwent scleral buckling surgery.The data of CRR was 5 eyes.Conclusion The result indicated that the pathological and physical change in oil-retained eye was most often in the inferior retina.The retinal reattachment could be obtained in most eyes after subsequent surgery.


Determination of particle size distribution by image analysis is often rendered ineffective due to the presence of touching and overlapping particles in the acquired images. The size and shape estimation done on the image without separating the touching and overlapping objects lead to gross errors in estimated values of size and shape. The existing methods of separation like watershed segmentation and morphological processing suffer from problems like over segmentation and relatively large processing times. A new automatic algorithm to separate the touching and overlapping particles based on the intensity variations in the regions of touching and overlapping particles and geometric features of boundary curves is developed. The performance of the algorithm is compared with that of the watershed segmentation algorithm as well as visual examination of images.


This study examines change initiated from the center of mature organizational fields. As such, it addresses the paradox of embedded agency — that is, the paradox of how actors enact changes to the context by which they, as actors, are shaped. The change examined is the introduction of a new organizational form. Combining network location theory and dialectical theory, we identify four dynamics that form a process model of elite institutional entrepreneurship.


Steatocystoma multiplex can be caused by mutations in the KRT17 gene. This gene provides instructions for making a protein called keratin 17, which is produced in the nails, the hair follicles, and the skin on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. It is also found in the skin's sebaceous glands. Keratin 17 partners with a similar protein called keratin 6b to form networks that provide strength and resilience to the skin, nails, and other tissues.


The TiO2-photocatalytic degradation process starts with the formation of h/e charge carriers which can react with hydroxyl group or dissolved oxygen to give ·OH and O2· radicals [1]. Organic pollutants can be degraded either by reacting with these radicals or by direct reaction with electrons or holes [2-4]. The process result is determined by different factors, particularly the presence of nearby reactive adsorption centres. The organic pollutant interaction with TiO2 surface can result in the re-arrangement of photoactive hydroxyl group or dissolved oxygen adsorption centres, thus determining degradation mechanism. In this work, the obtained results with individual phenolic compounds, their binary mixtures among them or with carboxylic acids and the effect of H2O2, are studied. The observed degradation behaviours of individual compounds are different with respect to their mixtures or the presence of H2O2. Thus, individual degradation of catechol and phenol are slower than those of resorcinol, m-cresol and o-cresol. Nevertheless, the opposite is found in presence of H2O2 or in mixtures (Figure 1). Figure 1. Initial degradation rate of catechol ◊, phenol ■, m-cresol •, o-cresol ж and resorcinol ∆ at different initial concentracion. 0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 0 50 100 150 Initial concentration (ppm) (m ol es /(l ·s ))· 10 7


A speech recognition subsystem based on ARM and DSP chip, was designed for embedded systems. The subsystem can accomplish speech recognition independently, with ARM chip as system control chip, and DSP for setting up hidden Markov model of speech signal. It makes speech recognition simply, commonly, and easy_to_cutout.


This article examines thermal properties of lightweight block walls and their changes over the course of time. Three different types of lightweight blocks and two types of heat insulation are used in construction. Aeroc aerated concrete blocks are in use, as well as compacted LECA (Lightweight Expanded Clay Aggregate) Fibo blocks made from burned clay and Silbet blocks produced from oil shale ash. Expanded Thermisol EPS60F polystyrene plates and glass wool Isover OL-P plates are used for thermal insulation. The actual and computational values of thermal conductivity and the water draining properties of walls over time are compared in this article. Water draining from glass wool walls is relatively fast. Water-draining can take over a year in polystyrene insulated walls. All four wall constructions can be used as external walls, but care must be taken regarding the moisture content of the blocks during construction (the construction should be handled with care to minimise the moisture in the blocks), especially in polystyrene board-insulated walls.


Earthquakes are sudden and cannot be predicted when, where and how harmful it could occur. Alert systems need to deliver vital information just as quickly as possible. In this paper, a near real-time audio-visual alarm system feature is integrated in the Philippine earthquake intensity meter. By applying this technology, it can give a loud alarm notification and the necessary information needed by the PHIVOLCS personnel could be obtained right away through the smart TV.


Pharmaceutical acne treatments are costly and have potentially severe side-effects. Adolescent acne is typically the result of clogged, infected, pilosebaceous follicles. Adults may experience fewer comedones and more inflammatory lesions. 1 Normally, sebum travels up the follicle to the skin surface. Hormones may increase sebum production and cause follicular cells to hyperproliferate and block the follicular opening, forming a comedo. 4 Complete follicle blockage results in closed comedones (i.e. "whiteheads"), whereas incomplete blockage results in open comedones ("blackheads"). Comedo formation typically occurs over the course of 2–3 weeks. Acne may manifest in the form of noninflammatory comedones, superficial inflammatory lesions (papules, pustules), and/or deeper inflammatory lesions (nodules, cysts). Inflammatory lesion formation occurs most commonly when Propionibacterium acnes colonizes the pilosebaceous unit, triggering follicular rupture and a neutrophil cascade. 5


Objective To understand the current status of smoking in medical personnel and their attitude to participating in smoking intervention during their routine work,as a result,to increase their awareness and active behavior on smoking control.Method 300 medical professionals from 4 urban hospitals of Beijing were surveyed with questionnaire on their smoking status and attitude towards participa ting in simple smoking intervention as well as its causes.Results The smoking rate in male was 48 1%.The proportion of smoking in age 40~49 group was significantly lower than that in other age groups.Medical professionals were still lack of the knowledge about some health hazards in cigarette smoking.The majority of interviewers agreed on their obligation of stoppign smoking.73 6 percent of them were willing to put simple smoking intervention into their routine work.Non smokers obviously intended to help patients to stop smo king. The major reasons that someone did not want to involve in stopping smoking intervention were lack of time,forgetfulness and being smokers themselves.Conclusion Medical professionals played a very important role in smoking control.We should improve the awareness of medical professionals on the importance of their involvement in smoking cessation,ahd promote more and more medical professionals actively to participate in smoking control.


The research objective is to establish the link between heat shock protein 27 and ubiquitin mRNA expression as well as Jukart tumor cell apoptosis. The method of flow cytofluorometry has been used to evaluate apoptosis realization using FITC-labeled annexin V and propidium iodide along with the amount of reactive oxygen species. Spectrofluorimetry has been applied to register the caspase-3 activity. The content of hydroxyl radicals has been determined by spectrophotometry. The level of ubiquitin and heat shock protein 27 mRNA expression has been identified using real-time PCR. Intact Jukart tumor cells and blood lymphocytes of healthy donors served the material for the research. Following the carried out research it has been found out that the fall in the amount of annexin V positive cells and the reduced caspase-3 activity were accompanied by the rise in the content of hydroxyl radicals and reactive oxygen species against the backdrop of the increased heat shock protein 27 and ubiquitin mRNA expression in Jukart tumor cells.


Can we accurately estimate CBRC from France and provide new insight on CBRC patients' experiences and motivations? We present preliminary results of a digital survey.

 Estimating CBRC is an important methodological challenge that requires extensive dissemination and collaboration among ART medical centres to avoid technique and destination bias.

 CBRC is a worldwide, growing and multifaceted phenomenon, involving many different countries, medical centres and associations, and concerning people with diverse sociodemographic characteristics and reasons for crossing borders.
 France is one of the top four European countries whose residents seek CBRC. However, the national scale of CRBC cannot be estimated from existing studies because of important methodological limitations.
 Quantifying CBRC is an important challenge to be taken up, in order to assess the extent of the phenomenon, which shows a mismatch between the national demands/needs of the population and the ART possibilities in a country.

 All French residents concerned by MAR are invited to fill in an online questionnaire between October 1st, 2021 and September 30th, 2022. These participants can also volunteer for post-survey interviews. Macro data are extracted from massive administrative data (registers). The survey has been approved by the French Ethics Commission (CNIL).
 The analysis will use cutting-edge statistical methodologies (Benchmark Multiplier) from "Hard-to-reach" population research to get annual estimates of CBRC patients from France.

 The inclusion criteria are being a French resident aged 18 and over who used in the past or are currently using ART in France or abroad, or considering it in the future. Mid-term survey results will be presented (October 2021 to March 2022). By the end of January 2022, 367 persons having used CBRC participated to the online survey.

 The 367 first participants declared to have done 666 different CBRC (one CBRC is defined as using one technique in one center of one countries during a same year). The average number of CBRC by participant was thus 1.8.
 The majority of the first 367 respondents were in a union (62%), particularly in a same-sex couple (62% of those in a union). They were mainly between 30 and 40 years old (52%). They were informed about the survey mainly through social networks (68%) and associations (28%). Surprisingly, very few of them were informed by medical centres (1%).
 CBRC mainly concerns sperm donation (48%). Surprisingly, egg donation represents only 11% of CBRC. Regarding countries, Spain (50%) and Belgium (21%) appear as the main destinations followed by Portugal (9%) and Denmark (7%). Surprisingly, Greece is absent and some other countries represent a low proportion of CBRC from France, like those from Eastern Europe (6%).

 Compared with the literature and with our previous study in 2010-2012, we consider that some techniques and destinations are underrepresented. It is therefore essential to better broadcast the survey, especially through more European medical centers for better coverage of the CBRC population.

 This project is a first step to develop a larger European survey to estimate the size of CBRC.

 ANR-21-CE36-0006-01


This article introduces the rationale for bringing more closely together those parts of the Home Office and Department of Health that were concerned with policy for health and offenders. The experience of the Prison Health partnership, now entering its fifth year, has demonstrated the enormous potential for improved joint working. Information about the morbidity rates among offenders is included.The paper also introduces three main developmental projects being taken forward across the new organisation: improving the quality of health services for people in police custody (jointly with the Police Leadership and Powers Unit/Home Office), court diversion and care, and improving health and health services for offenders in the community.The projects are described and the challenge noted of bringing together more effectively and efficiently these two large systems.


We paired a 361 d laboratory mesocosm experiment and a 383 d field experiment with rhodoliths (Lithothamnion glaciale) collected in Newfoundland (Canada) to test the overall hypothesis that growth in subarctic rhodoliths is chiefly controlled by irradiance. Rhodoliths in the laboratory were exposed to 1 of 5 seawater temperatures (ambient, 2, 4, 7, and 10°C) and 1 of 3 irradiances (low [0.02], intermediate [0.11], and high [0.27 mol photons m-2 d-1]). Rhodoliths in the field were held in cages at 3 depths (8, 15, and 25 m). Laboratory results demonstrated that growth is unaffected by temperatures between ~1 and 16°C. Field results suggested that growth ceases at temperatures near or below 0.5°C and showed that the annual growth profile of L. glaciale comprises 3 distinct phases, namely 2 of positive growth separated by 1 of arrested growth, and that the switch from one phase to the next coincides with seasonal shifts in sea temperature and light regimes. Rhodoliths at 25 m appeared to utilize light nearly twice as efficiently as rhodoliths at 15 m, which enabled similar growth at both depths despite the ~60% lower irradiance at 25 m. We conclude that growth is chiefly controlled by irradiance and that temperature effects may override, but not interact with, those of irradiance during the coldest months of the year. Subarctic L. glaciale rhodoliths are resilient to changes in sea temperature over a relatively broad thermal range, with sustained growth even at temperatures above those normally observed during most of the year in Newfoundland coastal waters and northwards.


Given the remit of addressing the potential of "worlded" comparative literature, I raise here two principal questions. First, the importance of history in reading intertexts, or the historicity of the reception of texts (a reception which is often shielded by a penumbra of ignorance from those for whom the text was "intended" or from those who are the object of interest of a particular text), for in the shade of parallel but distinct trajectories of history yet further meaning is produced. Texts discussed include the poetry of Byron in the context of its reception in China, the Chinese ballad Mulan, and its détournement by Disney. The second reflection is on the nature of the impact of the "global" on literary and cultural studies, and on the meaning of global or world cultural production; a consideration of this seemingly new "worldly" culture also obliging us to invoke the historicity of this concept. In discussing these two areas, I tangentially seek to broach my discomfort with the metaphors with which we imagine and write literary and cultural studies. Bio-profile Gregory B. Lee is First Vice President of Jean Moulin University (Université de Lyon), Professor of Chinese and Transcultural Studies, and Director of the Institute for Transtextual and Transcultural Studies (www.iett.eu) at Jean Moulin University, Lyons. He previously taught Chinese and comparative literary studies at the universities of Chicago and Hong Kong. His research focuses on transnational and diasporic cultures and cultural history. His publications include Troubadours, Trumpeters, Troubled Makers: Lyricism, Nationalism, and Hybridity in China and Its Others (Duke UP, 1996) and Chinas Unlimited: Making the Imaginaries of China and Chineseness (Hawai'i; Routledge, 2003). He is also editor of the recently launched tri-lingual (English, Chinese, French) journal Transtext(e)s Transcultures (www.transtexts.net). Comme nous donnons notre attention à un objet nous pouvons le donner à deux à la fois.... La comparaison n'est donc qu'une double attention. Condillac, Logique, I,7. Except in France, where I write this article and where the discipline remains firmly anchored in the comparison of European high literatures and where incidentally the popularity of Derrida and Foucault remains quite relative, comparative literary studies at the end of the twentieth-century evolved in multiple and overlapping ways, sometimes sheltering behind the mantle of CompLit and sometimes brazenly shedding its mask. In a positive sense, comparative literature has enabled post-modern theorizing, the development of cultural studies, the inclusion of film studies in what was once a purely literary domain, and the writing of comparative cultural histories. It could be argued that comparative literature has ceded its place to a more generous schema of "global literary studies". On the level of tolerance and openness, global literary studies gives, at least, the chance to study and discuss marginal and "hybrid" literatures. 1 However, within the framework of the "global" (and in French there is a nice distinction between global in the sense of "general", and mondial relating to the totality of the earth, leading to the English globalization being translated as mondialisation) it would be a mistake to lose sight of the specifity and possibility for difference afforded by the comparative, for the comparative resists totalization. The Greek eikon (translated similitude in Latin) underlines the difference between metaphor and simile. Eikon, or image, what is similar, the simile, the likeness, was for Quintillius, explained by comparatio, what happens in a simile, the difference emerging from the parallel, the parallel-difference. Thus, similitude/simile maintains the difference, the like prevents total assimilation, while it may be argued the global-globality (the general, generalized) tends to efface it. Given this caveat, the notion of a possible "worlded" comparative literature makes possible several vectors for enquiry. I am particularly attracted by the fact that the editors of this special issue of Gramma have privileged both the "pathways it has opened up and the ones it has foreclosed or left unexplored". For me these pathways are crossed, interweaved and superimposed. The importance of the past, and ways of remembering and telling it are central to 1 One of the paradoxes of French intellectual life, anchored as it is in a hegemonic, centralized education system, is that while much of the theory used in this domain emanates from French intellectuals (Castoriadis, Deleuze, Foucault, Derrida – all considered as philosophers in France albeit largely excluded from philosophy syllabi) its impact on traditional French critical production has been minimal. Similarly, the impact of postcolonial theory (for example, the work of Fanon and Césaire both Martiniquais and thus French colonial subjects, and Edward Saïd, translated into French in 1980 with a preface by Tzvetan Todorov) on the French academic world remains much more measured than in the Anglophone world. Indeed, any map of the sphere of influence and practice of cultural and postcolonial studies could hardly be made to include France. any future for a new sort of comparative field; similarly the relationship of time to space, and the often simplistic paradigms with which we attempt to conceptualize and imagine the temporalspatial conjunctures, demand to be re-thought. No question we may "choose" to address can escape this necessity. The function of the temporal in the constitution of parallel-difference must not be ignored, as it often has been in traditional comparative literary and philosophical studies. If there remains a connexion between the traditional conception of Comparative Literature and global literary studies it would without doubt be the importance given to intertextuality, a relationship between texts that cannot be imagined outside of history. A good example of such historicity, and this is just one of many examples that could be given of the function of the intertext in Asian cultural consumption and production, would be the historical reception of George Gordon Byron (1788-1824). That Byron's work should have its place in Anglo-Greek comparative literary history, that the English aristocrat should still be a mythic figure in the Greek national imaginary, is comprehensible to the European reader. But why should Byron be lauded by the Chinese reader ? At first sight the Chinese attraction to Byron seems misplaced, even perverse. The Chinese, and similarly the Japanese, fascination with the Other's literary practice was real enough. But Asian interest in European textual practice, which developed in the mid to late nineteenth century, did not centre on English-language poetic production, so closely associated in the radical intellectual's mind with European colonialism. Rather, the object of poetic desire was for the most part with French free verse. While in Europe and America pre-modern, « classical », Chinese poetry was avidly read and reworked by Anglophone translators and poets the translations of Arthur Waley (18891969) and Kenneth Rexroth (1905-1982) being of a prime importance in the literary construction of a mythic, ancient, exotic and Othered China in China, the would-be intellectual class sought to understand foreign modernity; from the end of the nineteenth century novelists such as Dickens, and even more popular writers such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (as author of Sherlock Holmes) were translated and appreciated for the critical insight into Western industrial world that they offered. In the domain of poetry, the exponents of China's New Poetry sought a total liberation from the shackles of constraint imposed by the classical Chinese poetic mode. Inventors and practitioners of the New Poetry in the main looked to the emancipatory possibilities of the vers libre of nineteenth-century French symbolism, and to the revolutionary passion of Mayakovsky (1893-1930) and Esenin (1895 1925). Unlike most of their contemporaries two major poetic figures of the first half of the twentieth century (what is often called the Republican period), Xu Zhimo (1896 –1931) and Wen Yiduo (1899-1946) were attracted to the more ordered and orderly romanticism of nineteenth-century English verse. But, Byron figured only belatedly in the pantheon of Xu Zhimo's poetic models, the Chinese poet only translating his English predecessor's Corsair (1814) in 1924. But already, at the beginning of the twentieth century, Byron was considered in China to be not only a poetic reference, but a great man, a hero. We know that the Greeks have greatly admired him for the support, more effectual on the moral rather than military plane, that he lent to their struggle for sovereignty. Upon the news of his demise the Greeks declared a three-week period of national mourning for this peer of the British realm who had clearly pushed to the fore in his poems and in his speeches his disgust with the policies of his own country from which since his youth he had continuously sought to distance himself. But why should the Chinese so many decades later, discover a hero in the person of Lord Byron, who had never set foot outside of Europe and had never consecrated a single line to China ? 2 Xiaoshuo yuebao, 15:4. The answer lies in the history of the nineteenth century, and more particularly in the history of imperialism, and the nationalist, anti-colonialist reaction to it. Greece had long been subjected to rule by a foreign dynastic empire, and China's last dynasty, the Qing, that of the Manchus, had imposed its rule by force. Greece, was perceived by Chinese intellectuals as resembling China in that it was the successor to an ancient civilization that had been subjugated to foreign domination and was now confronting the challenge of Western modernity. Furthermore, that Byron had supported the Greeks in their struggle for independence from


In Philosophical Explanations, Robert Nozick aims to present an analysis of knowledge not susceptible to Gettier-type objections, as well as to other types of objections. He means to accomplish this by introducing subjunctive conditionals into his analysis. In this note I show by way of a counter-example that Nozick's analysis in terms of subjunctive conditionals does not turn back all Gettier-type examples. My counterexample raises broader questions whether any "subjunctive analysis" will do the trick. Nozick's idea is that when S knows p there must be "the right kind of causal connection" between p's being true and S's believing p to be true. This idea is unpacked further by saying that S's belief that p must be sensitive to p's falsity and must be sensitive to p's truth. These two sayings, respectively, are then formulated as subjunctive conditionals as follows:


Acquired external auditory canal (EAC) stenosis is a rare clinical condition. Infection is most common cause which cause acquired EAC stenosis. Trauma is a rare cause. Treatment should be removal of the soft tissue causing the stenosis, doing a canaloplasty, covering the bare areas with skin graft to achieve a patent EAC. We describe a case of the left EAC partial stenosis following road traffic accident 10 years back in which the soft tissue causing the stenosis was surgically removed, canaloplasty was done and bare areas covered with skin graft. The patient has been followed up and no restenosis has occurred.


Network culture is a new-type media culture. Positioned at the psychological level, network culture has most obviously been manifesting itself in such aspects as network language, network literature, network cartoon and network entertainment. The technical properties of networks have made it possible for network culture to become open, diversified and innovative. Network culture has its own unigue values, which is mainly shown in advocating equality and encouraging individuality.


Aim To pursuit the mode and its policies about tourism industry of small cities agglomerated with resources for their sustainable development. Methods Theoretical deducing, mode constructing with case analysis. Results A model based on the social environment improvement with their prestige, invitations and finance interchanging is constructed. Conclusion The small cities agglomerated with resources such as Lintong can achieve sustainable development by using the mode.


Abstract Benign tumours of the tonsils are rare. Only a few cases of tonsillar lipoma have been previously reported. The case of a pedunculated polypoid lipoma of the palatine tonsil in a 44-year-old Japanese woman is presented. The 'polyp' was excised and an histopathological examination was carried out. The 'polyp' contained dilated lymphatics in the dense fibrous connective tissue beneath the overlying mucosal epithelium and below the mature fat tissue with intervening strands of fibrous tissue.


The problem of staffing for the implementation of projects to create innovative products of aerospace technology (ACT) is developed and solved. The relevance of the study is related to the modeling of specialist profiles to acquire the competencies necessary to complete the project on the new AST product creation. The study creates the set of competencies necessary for the implementation of the project to create AST products by training (retraining) specialists, considering the requirements of the industry professional standards (IPS) and the requirements competencies necessary for the new project. Much attention is paid to the architecture of the complex AST product, which is presented as a set of components. The basic product (BP) representation is done in the form of typical components which creation is associated with the necessary specialties and competencies that meet the requirements of the IPS. Specialties contain many competencies, which, in their turn, are divided into knowledge, skills, and abilities. The project to create the new AST product includes the product architecture, which may differ from the BP architecture and therefore requires the activities to develop the new components. To represent the component architecture, specialties, and competencies of the developers, the precedent base (PBBP) is used. The comparison of new product architectures and BP is carried out using both qualitative and quantitative assessments. For qualitative assessments, linguistic variables and the lexicographic ordering of variants are used. Quantitative evaluations are used to compare and evaluate the proximity of the technical characteristics of the components of the new product and BP. The assessment of the closeness of the specialties and competencies required in the new project and existing in the PBBP is carried out using qualitative assessments presented in the form of letters of the Latin alphabet. An optimization model was developed to minimize the difference in competencies based on scores. The optimization is carried out using integer (Boolean) linear programming. Admissible values of costs, time, and risks associated with the training (retraining) of specialists for the implementation of the project to create the new AST product are used as restrictions. An example of how to create the competencies for the implementation of the project to create helicopter blades from composite materials is given. The scientific novelty of the study is related to the development of a method to staff the implementation of innovative projects to create the new AST products using component and competence-based approaches. It is recommended to use the results of this study to staff the implementation of the project created the innovative AST product with a complex component architecture.


We study the dynamics of magnetization coupled to a thermal bath of elastic modes using a system plus reservoir approach with realistic magnetoelastic coupling. After integrating out the elastic modes we obtain a self-contained equation for the dynamics of the magnetization. We find explicit expressions for the memory friction kernel and hence, via the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, for the spectral density of the magnetization thermal fluctuations. For magnetic samples in which the single domain approximation is valid, we derive an equation for the dynamics of the uniform mode. Finally we apply this equation to study the dynamics of the uniform magnetization mode in insulating ferromagnetic thin films. As experimental consequences we find that the fluctuation correlation time is of the order of the ratio between the film thickness, h, and the speed of sound in the magnet and that the linewidth of the ferromagnetic resonance peak should scale as B 1 h where B1 is the magnetoelastic coupling constant.


Method: We analyzed data of 10,148 subjects (4,239 men; 5,909 women) aged 19-39 years from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2008-2010. Self-reported sleep duration was categorized into five groups: ≤5h, 6h, 7h, 8h, and ≥9h. The prevalence of atopic dermatitis and asthma was examined based on a questionnaire and compared between participants from five sleep duration groups after adjusting for potential confounding factors, including model 1 [age], model 2 [model 1 + BMI, current smoking, current alcohol use, regular physical activity, household income, and serum 25(OH)D level], and model 3 [model 2 + stress levels].


A tie-breaking point (TBP) for football is proposed. When a game becomes tied, the team whose score produced the tie then attempts a TBP, what is normally a two-point conversion, but scored differently: if this play succeeds the offensive team scores one point; if this play fails the defensive team scores one point. Thus the tie is broken. Examples are given. The special case of a scoreless tie is treated. Why the success rate for a two-point conversion or a TBP should be 50% is discussed. Results of the reactions from an informal survey of university football coaches to the suggested TBP are appended.


The pathogenesis of this syndrome has not been elucidated. The present case-a 12 years old boy-demonstrated dwarfism, stenosis of medullary spaces of bones, intracranial calcifications and permanent hypocalcemic hyperphosphatemic tetany. Thyroxine and growth hormone levels were normal. Plasma parathormone was elevated. The response to parathormone was normal: a significant rise in serum Ca, a fall in serum phosphate, an increase is renal phosphate clearance, and an increase in urinary proline and OH-proline. Microradiographs of cross sections from the fibula shaft showed normal bone structure and density. However there was remarkably little remodeling activity: only one or two forming osteones in the entire section and only one resorption cavity. This is the first child with this syndrome in whom the bone is examined.


Aim at lightning prevention of temporary dwelling in Wenchuan after earthquake,the kinds and hazard of lightning was analyzed.Based on the research of average number of days that lightning happens in Chengdu,mianyang,deyang,yaan,etcetera,and the grade of damage cost by lightning,measures of lightning prevention for temporary dwelling were expatiate.


The invention relates to a device for recording the geometry of the environment of the apparatus in a detection field by means of laser scanning with a steered by an oscillating micro-mechanical mirror beam. According to the invention, that the detection field in the vertical and in the horizontal direction can be predetermined by adjusting the vibration amplitude of the micro-mechanical mirror. Driver assistance systems are used for both tasks in the near field and the far field of the vehicle. By way of example, a parking function, an object in the near field, a distance control or detection of obstacles on the road but a task in the far field. According to the invention the amplitude of oscillation of the micromirror reduced in the horizontal and / or vertical direction, hereby the spatial resolution for the reduced detection area is improved. Furthermore, the light incident on the reduced detection area higher intensity of the laser radiation improves the signal-to-noise ratio of the detected signal.


This paper presents a memetic approach combining the Modified Artificial Bee Colony algorithm (MABC) and the Hooke-Jeeves method to improve its performance to solve constrained numerical optimization problems. The operator used by the employed bees was modified in such a way that more diverse solutions are generated. For constraint handling, the set of feasibility rules used in the original MABC was replaced by the ε-constrained method. Furthermore, the application frequency of the local search depends on a measure based on diversity of the solutions in the current population. The proposed algorithm is tested in a set of 24 well-known benchmark problems and the results are compared against the original (MABC) and also against one state-of-the-art approach. The overall performance provided by the proposed memetic algorithm outperforms those of the compared algorithms.


A member of the ${R}_{3}{\mathrm{MO}}_{7}$ family containing two magnetic cations, ${\mathrm{Gd}}_{3}{\mathrm{RuO}}_{7},$ has been synthesized by high-temperature solid-state reaction. The structure has been determined by single-crystal methods: space group $\mathrm{Cmcm}(#63),$ ${a}_{0}=10.643(2)\AA{},$ ${b}_{0}=7.345(1)\AA{},$ ${c}_{0}=7.380(1)\AA{},$ $V=576.90(14){\AA{}}^{3},$ $Z=4,$ $R1=0.021,$ $\mathrm{wR}2=0.047.$ The most important structural feature is the one-dimensional ${\mathrm{RuO}}_{6}$ chain running parallel to the c axis. In a wide temperature range the conductivity of ${\mathrm{Gd}}_{3}{\mathrm{RuO}}_{7}$ follows the dependence $\mathrm{ln}(\ensuremath{\rho})\ensuremath{\propto}{T}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2},$ which is typical for Mott variable-range hopping of localized carriers in one dimension. The magnetic susceptibility obeys the Curie-Weiss law with ${\ensuremath{\theta}}_{p}=\ensuremath{-}7.5\mathrm{K}$ and Curie constant ${C}_{\mathrm{mol}}=25$ emu K/mole. Magnetization data reveal two successive transitions at about 14.5 and 8 K, which indicates independent ordering of Ru and Gd moments, respectively. The analysis shows that in total 27 ${(8A}_{g}{+8B}_{1g}{+5B}_{2g}{+6B}_{3g})$ Raman-active modes are expected for ${\mathrm{Gd}}_{3}{\mathrm{RuO}}_{7}.$ As a larger number of ${A}_{g}$ lines (10) are observed in the polarized Raman spectra, we suggest that two of the ${A}_{g}$ lines (at 233 and $780{\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1})$ either arise from local vibrations or are of nonphonon origin.


Background Genetic epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+) is a type of epileptic syndrome closely related to heredity factors, which can be caused by gene mutations. However, it still remains unclear how these mutations result in seizures. Previously, we identified a new heterozygous missense mutation of the KCNAB3 gene, H258R, in the GEFS+ family; the electric currents of the human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK293) cells co-expressing Kvβ3 (H258R) and Kv1.1 showed obvious inactivation. This study sought to examine the effects of this mutation on the potassium channels in the mammalian brain. Methods Mutant mice were generated by introducing the human H258R missense mutation within exon 10 at an equivalent position in the mouse KCNAB3 gene via CRISPR/Cas9 and homologous recombination. A patch clamp was used to detect the potassium currents in the pyramidal cells of the hippocampal CA1 region of the mutant mice. The total potassium currents of the pyramidal cells in the hippocampal CA1 region of KCNAB3 [wild-type (WT)] and KCNAB3 (H258R) adult mice were recorded with increased voltage. Results We found a decreased total potassium current in the H258R group but no significant differences at a maximum voltage (+80 mV; P>0.05). Conclusions These results suggest that the KCNAB3 mutation reduced hippocampal potassium currents in this mouse model.


(1994–99, 1999–2004); Viktor Yushchenko (2004–10); and Viktor Yanukovych and Petro Poroshenko (2010–13 and 2013–15), offering the reader an excellent analysis of the wide array of issues and problems that came together to define the UkrainianRussian as well as the tripartite relationship. The overall result is a text that provides a much-needed update for Ukraine specialists and at the same time offers international affairs experts an excellent case study in conflict (mis)management. The extent to which D'Anieri succeeds in explaining the how and why of the Ukrainian-Russian conflict is, in this reader's view, somewhat problematical. If by how and why he means only those issues and problems that came to the surface between Kyiv and Moscow specifically in 1989–2015 (the Commonwealth of Independent States and integration in the post-Soviet space more generally; Crimea; the Black Sea Fleet and Sevastopol; NATO; the EU; oil and gas supplies and transit) then the how and why is clear and clearly presented. But if we are talking about underlying issues and problems in the Ukrainian-Russian relationship, a formula that the author often employs, then we need to look elsewhere—and the first stop would be the longstanding conviction of Russian elites and much of the Russian citizenry that Ukrainians and Russians, as Vladimir Putin never tires of reminding us, are one narod (people), and that much of Ukraine is actually Russia, which is to say that Ukraine and Ukrainians are "fakes." Now that is an underlying problem.


The invention provides a charging hydraulic tool which comprises a handle, a hydraulic driving part and an end part structure, wherein the end part structure comprises a working head; a replaceable working component is arranged on the working head; the charging hydraulic tool further comprises a connecting mechanism used for connecting the hydraulic driving part with the end part structure; and the connecting mechanism adopts a rotatable component, and can enable the end part structure to rotate by 360 degrees while transmitting a jacking action force of the hydraulic driving part. The charging hydraulic tool can realize multiple operation functions, is convenient to use, and has a wide application prospect, and moreover, the end part structure can rotate by multiple angles.


Objective: To optimize β-cyclodextrin(β-CD) inclusion process of volatile oil from Xingqi Na'nihua granules.Method: β-CD inclusion complex was prepared by saturated aqueous solution method,inclusion process was optimized by uniform design with inclusion ratio of volatile oil and inclusion yield as indexes,taking ratio of volatile oil to β-CD,inclusion temperature and inclusion time as factors,and phase of this prepared inclusion complex was testified by XRD,DSC,IR,UV and TLC.Result: Optimum inclusion process was as follows: ratio of volatile oil to β-CD 1∶ 11,inclusion temperature at 60 ℃ and inclusion time 1 h.Inclusion ratio of volatile oil was as high as 96.84% under these optimized technology conditions.Validation result showed that inclusion compound had been formed.Conclusion: This optimized inclusion process was simple,stable and applicable to industrial production.


The density-gradient description of quantum transport is applied to the analysis of tunneling phenomena in ultrathin (<25 /spl Aring/) oxide MOS capacitors. Both electron and hole tunneling are included in the one-dimensional (1-D) analysis and two new refinements to density-gradient theory are introduced, one relating to the treatment of Shockley-Read-Hall recombination and the other a modification of the tunneling boundary conditions to account for the semiconductor bandgap. Detailed comparisons are made with experimental current-voltage (I-V) data for samples with both n/sup +/ and p/sup +/ polysilicon gates and all of the features of the data are found to be understandable within the density-gradient framework. Besides providing new understanding of these experiments, these results show that the density-gradient approach can be of great value for engineering-oriented device analysis in quantum regimes.


We present a version of the matrix-tree theorem, which relates the determinant of a matrix to sums of weights of arborescences of its directed graph representation. Our treatment allows for non-zero column sums in the parent matrix by adding a root vertex to the usually considered matrix directed graph. We use our result to prove a version of the matrix-forest, or all-minors, theorem, which relates minors of the matrix to forests of arborescences of the matrix digraph. We then show that it is possible, when the source and target vertices of an arc are not strongly connected, to move the source of the arc in the matrix directed graph and leave the resulting matrix determinant unchanged, as long as the source and target vertices are not strongly connected after the move. This result enables graphical strategies for factoring matrix determinants.


We present results from the analysis of a multiphase O VI - broad Ly-alpha absorber at z = 0.19236 in the HST/COS spectrum of PG 1121+422. The low and intermediate ionization metal lines in this absorber have a single narrow component, whereas the Ly-alpha has a possible broad component with b(HI) $\sim 71$ km/s. Ionization models favor the low and intermediate ions coming from a $T \sim 8,500$ K, moderately dense photoionized gas with near solar metallicities. The weak O VI requires a separate gas phase that is collisionally ionized. The O VI coupled with BLA suggests $T \sim 3.2 \times 10^5$ K, with significantly lower metal abundance and $\sim 1.8$ orders of magnitude higher total hydrogen column density compared to the photoionized phase. SDSS shows 12 luminous ($> L^*$) galaxies in the $\rho \leq 5$ Mpc, $|\Delta v| \leq 800$ km/s region surrounding the absorber, with the absorber outside the virial bounds of the nearest galaxy. The warm phase of this absorber is consistent with being transition temperature plasma either at the interface regions between the hot intragroup gas and cooler photoionized clouds within the group, or associated with high velocity gas in the halo of a $\lesssim L^*$ galaxy. The absorber highlights the advantage of O VI-BLA absorbers as ionization model independent probes of warm baryon reserves.


An on-road field study was conducted to assess how attention demand changes as a function of auditory display characteristics. Two auditory message set characteristics were manipulated: speech rate ("normal" 125 wpm vs. "time-compressed" 225 wpm), and auditory format in which information was presented in either prose form where the content is embedded within declarative sentences (e.g., the Ramada has a vacancy and is 48 miles away), or in lists (Ramada, vacancy, 48 miles). Twenty-four subjects completed a two-hour drive using an instrumented vehicle in which they experienced auditory and visual displays on both freeway and parkways. Subjects used the information presented to them to complete a range of tasks such as selecting the quickest route to a destination, or navigating to avoid congestion. Primary measures included: minimum headway, speed variance, maximum steering wheel velocity, steering wheel variance, lane deviation, peak lateral acceleration, and subjective workload ratings. Auditory format and speech rate significantly affected vehicle steering (steering variability), speed (average, minimum, and variance), and headway (variance). Evidence suggests that accelerated speech displays (225 wpm) can be used without sacrificing driver comprehension or driving performance, and that auditory content communicated in list-type formats is equal to or better than full length prose messages in terms of driver performance and information processing.


A shift control apparatus (80) for a power transmission system (10) of a vehicle (6) provided with a vehicle drive electric motor (M2) and a step-variable automatic transmission (20) is provided, wherein said switching control unit (80) controls the vehicle drive electric motor (M2), a recuperation in a coasting operation of the vehicle (6) run, and the automatic transmission (20) controls to execute a shift-down operation at a predetermined thrust downshift vehicle speed value in the pushing state, said switching control unit executes (80) the following processes: Changing the thrust downshift vehicle speed value according to a recuperation of the vehicle drive electric motor (M2); Controlling the vehicle drive electric motor (M2) in the thrust state of the vehicle (6) to execute the recuperation operation at a vehicle speed that is higher than a predetermined driving / Abtriebsumschaltfahrzeuggeschwindigkeitswert, and for generating a vehicle drive torque at a vehicle speed that is lower than the predetermined drive / Abtriebsumschaltfahrzeuggeschwindigkeitswert; and Lowering in which the downshift operation of the automatic transmission (20) to obtain the lowest gear position of the push down-shift vehicle speed value, and the driving / Abtriebsumschaltfahrzeuggeschwindigkeitswerts with an increase in the recuperation of the vehicle drive electric motor (M2).


Introduction: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a public health issue that affects millions of Americans each year. As IPV victims have an increased risk for unintended pregnancy, strategies to promote contraception provision and utilization in this population is important. The randomized controlled trial intervention "Addressing Reproductive Coercion in Healthcare Settings (ARCHES)" provides education and screening of IPV, harm-reduction counseling, and referrals to services in healthcare settings. The purpose of this analysis is to determine the effects of ARCHES on contraceptive behaviors.
Methods: Data from 3683 women aged 18-29 years from a parallel-group cluster randomized controlled trial in 25 family planning clinics (17 clusters) in Western Pennsylvania were analyzed. Women were surveyed at baseline, 4 months, and 12 months after the intervention. Women pregnant at baseline or not recently sexually active were excluded. Generalized linear mixed models were used to determine the impact of the intervention on recent changes in any contraceptive use, use of any female-controlled contraceptive, self-efficacy of condom use score, and no contraceptive use. Covariates included age, race/ethnicity, education, nativity, relationship status, pregnancy history, pregnancy intention, and pregnancy status at 12-month follow-up.
Results: Most participants were younger than 24 years of age (73.1%), white (80.9%), had at least some college education (54.5%), and reported a history of recent contraceptive use (73.8%). In both groups, female-controlled contraceptive use increased between randomization and the end of follow-up. Women in the intervention exhibited a smaller improvement as compared to the control group (AOR:0.723, 95%CI:0.555,0.941). There were no other significant differences between the intervention and control groups from baseline to follow-up timepoints.
Discussion: There were not significant changes in contraceptive behaviors in the intervention arm compared to the control arm. Future studies should focus on contraceptive use as a harm-reduction strategy for unintended pregnancy in victims of IPV on a more diverse population. This is the first study to comprehensively examine the effects of a clinic-based IPV intervention on changes in different contraceptive behaviors to prevent unintended pregnancy.
Public Health Relevance: Clinic-based interventions like ARCHES can aid in improving contraceptive behaviors in victims of IPV/RC and reduce unintended pregnancy in high-risk populations.


A multiphase flow metering method is described which comprises the steps of determining two pressure values P 1 and P 2 at two different points (A and B) within a sampling chamber (4) and the value of the internal pressure P 0 of the main chamber (8). From these values and the known gas and /or liquid densities, the level of the interface (h l ) between the liquid and gas phases may be determined, as can the flow rate of the multiphase, that of liquid phase and that of the gaseous phase. Apparatus capable of performing said method is also described.


In this letter, we study an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-aided non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) multi-way relaying networks (MWRNs). Multiple terrestrial users aim to exchange their mutual information via an amplify-and-forward (AF) UAV relay. Specifically, the realistic assumption of the residual hardware impairments (RHIs) at the transceivers is taken into account. To evaluate the performance of the considered networks, we derive the analytical expressions for the achievable sum-rate (ASR). In addition, we carry out the asymptotic analysis by invoking the affine expansion of the ASR in terms of high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) slope and high SNR power offset. Numerical results show that: 1) Compared with orthogonal multiple access (OMA), the proposed networks can significantly improve the ASR since it can reduce the time slots from [( ${M}-1)/2] + 1$ to 2; and 2) RHIs of both transmitter and receiver have the same effects on the ASR of the considered networks.


Creative Commons Non Commercial CC BY-NC: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). Neuro-oncology has made fundamental progress during the past two decades. Embracing highthroughput 'omics' strategies, we have dramatically increased our knowledge on the development and on therapeutic vulnerabilities of brain tumors, including gliomas, brain metastases, medulloblastomas and primary central nervous system (CNS) lymphomas. This knowledge has enabled defining patient subgroups particularly benefitting from approved treatments such as irradiation and alkylating chemotherapy based on high-precision molecularly based stratification, thereby improving treatment outcome and avoiding treatment-related side effects. While this knowledge has not yet translated into the approval of novel therapeutic modalities, advancements in molecular diagnostics, imaging, and therapy development that have already resulted in a number of major practice-changing developments improving outcome of patients with brain tumors.


The literature concerned with the helminthic fauna of Anseriformes is briefly surveyed. A host/parasite list, which includes nine new host records, the descriptions of fifteen species of trematodes which were collected from British freshwater birds during 1956-58 and a key for the separation of the genera of the subfamily Notocotylinae Kossack, 1911, are given. One other species has been described elsewhere (Beverley-Burton (1958)).


ABSTRACT Marc Bauder's finance film, Master of the Universe (2013) won the European Documentary Film Prize in December 2014. Bauder's film focuses on a series on interviews with a former leading investment banker, Rainer Voss, high up in one of Frankfurt's deserted bank skyscrapers. Voss's statements, set against the skyline of Frankfurt's 'Mainhattan' financial sector, allow Bauder to constitute an aesthetic that, I argue, successfully addresses a key problem in moving image studies, namely how to find an appropriate film form to register the workings of contemporary finance. Bauder's film offers an unusual depiction of the self-constitution and self-understanding of a banker-turned-whistleblower, focusing on Voss's speech acts of explication and justification. Drawing on Judith Butler's analysis of performative agency and of the separation of economics and politics through iterative perlocutionary acts, I argue that Bauder's investigation into the performativity that establishes the autonomy of the financial sector and grants it extensive social power offers a significant aesthetic engagement with financial performativity and contributes to debates about documentary and performativity and about routes to a reconnection of economics and politics.


The image processing apparatus of the present invention, the region of interest used for generating the stereoscopic image, the viewpoint position, the range of the stereoscopic space, and setting of conditions including rendering function, and the setting of the first region of interest based on the conditions, said calculating an input unit for accepting an input value for setting the second target region in a region different from the 1 region of interest, the first focal position of the first parallax image group of the first target region on the basis of the condition and, by using the volume data obtained from the imaging apparatus to generate a first parallax image group from the first focal position, even on stereoscopic centerline that was set during the first parallax image group generating said second calculating a second focal point of the same depth direction position as the point in the target region, generating a second parallax image group from the second focal position, with the second parallax image group and the first parallax image group and characterized by comprising a processing unit for generating a stereoscopic image, the Te That.


At a recent meeting on the subject of electronic money, host John Perry Barlow looked over the audience of assembled experts."We're all bozos on this bus,"he began.


Traffic flow monitoring plays a crucial role in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) by dealing with real-time data on traffic situations and allowing effectual traffic management and optimization. A typical approach used for traffic flow monitoring frequently depends on collection and analysis of the data through a manual process that is not only resource-intensive, but also a time-consuming process. Recently, Artificial Intelligence (AI) approaches like ensemble learning demonstrate promising outcomes in numerous ITS applications. With this stimulus, the current study proposes an Improved Artificial Rabbits Optimization with Ensemble Learning-based Traffic Flow Monitoring System (IAROEL-TFMS) for ITS. The primary intention of the proposed IAROEL-TFMS technique is to employ the feature subset selection process with optimal ensemble learning so as to predict the traffic flow. In order to accomplish this, the IAROEL-TFMS technique initially designs the IARO-based feature selection approach to elect a set of features. In addition, the traffic flow is predicted using the ensemble model that comprises a Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU), Long Short-term Memory (LSTM), and Bidirectional Gated Recurrent Unit (BiGRU). Finally, the Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA) is applied for the adjustment of the optimum hyperparameters of all three DL models. In order to highlight the improved prediction results of the proposed IAROEL-TFMS algorithm, an extensive range of simulations was conducted. The simulation outcomes imply the supremacy of the IAROEL-TFMS methodology over other existing approaches with a minimum RMSE of 16.4539.


work of Milne on the foundations of Natural Philosophy, wherein it has been demonstrated that both the law of gravitation and the laws of motion, with certain "relativistic corrections," are deductive consequences of a definite concept of scientific method and are, therefore, equally normative in character. A posteriori considerations determine the actual phenomena to which they can be applied and the degree to which they assist us in analysing these phenomena. Admirable though Mr. Pap's essay is in many respects, the world is still waiting for someone to write the twentieth century counterpart of the Kritik der reinen Vernunft. G. J. WHITROW.


OBJECTIVES
The purpose of this study was to construct prediction models for 1.5-year-old children who were at risk for the development of caries.

METHODS
The participants were 5,107 Japanese children who resided in 21 municipalities in the Shizuoka prefecture and received oral health examinations at both 1.5 and 3 years old. General practitioners in the respective municipalities conducted the examination and the evaluation of plaque deposit. At the examination at 1.5 years old, the guardians were asked to complete a questionnaire concerning the child care environment and the health habits of the children and themselves. They were divided into four groups based on the population of the concerned municipality. Approximately 30 percent of the subjects in each group were found to be in the high-risk category (deltadft > or = 1 during both examinations). A stepwise multivariate logistic regression analysis in each group was performed using high-risk subjects as the dependent variable and 28 independent variables from the examination at 1.5 years old and the questionnaire.

RESULTS
A significant model could be constructed for each group using eight to 14 independent variables, respectively. The variables common to more than three groups are related to the child's characteristics, especially sugar consumption, feeding, and caries experiences. The predictive ability of the models had a sensitivity of 58.0 to 64.0 percent and a specificity of 64.1 to 70.5 percent. Because the negative predictive value was 77.4 to 80.5 percent, these models might be considered to be in the permissible range.

CONCLUSIONS
The models could not predict caries risk but may be able to predict those cases who will not develop caries.


In this paper, an innovative method called Weak Trefftz Discontinuous Galerkin Method is
proposed to solve the vibration problems composed by low and mid frequency band. Several methods
have been developed to solve low frequency problems, the most common used of them is the Finite
Element Method. Facing to mid frequency problems, Variational Theory of Complex Rays (VTCR) is
developed, which is revisited as a discontinuous Galerkin method. By weakening the Trefftz constraint,
this Weak Trefftz Discontinuous Galerkin Method enables hybrid FEM and VTCR approaches applied
together to easily resolve engineering problems.


Abstract : An artificial neural net controller was developed for a typical fighter aircraft's longitudinal Stability and Control Augmentation System (SCAS) , using elevator and thrust-vector-angle controls, and operating at high angle of attack. The 'baseline' neurocontroller (NC) was in the feedforward loop (Kawato Type-C), with inputs from the pilot's pitch rate commands and rates and SCAS feedback error. An Adaptive Clustering Network algorithm was used to train the radial-basis-function neurons. Significant improvements in performance resulted from the NC action and these effects were analyzed by frequency domain describing functions. Thrust vector failures were handled satisfactorily, but reconfiguration of the SCAS was not possible within the simplified aircraft and NC effects. Phase II recommendations are included, such as: ways to choose signals for the neural net to more efficiently identify and separate failures of correlated control effectors; the further use of frequency domain describing functions to identity neurocontroller dynamic processes; and the development of a Neuro-controller Analysis Toolbox with diagnostic forcing functions, methods, analyses, and benchmark criteria for evaluation to a common NC standard.


During the last global recession, economists, bloggers, and journalists from Australia to Canada argued that unemployment had hit white male workers harder than other demographic groups, spawning a...


IN sere a recent suggests article that the in this destination Journal prinMessere suggest that he destination principle is the only alternative to existing border tax adjustment practices, when tax rates are not equal among jurisdictions. (1) The author contemplates product taxes which are fully added to price and concludes: "any coherent modification of the destination principle turns out to be an administrative nightmare." (2) The purpose of this note is to dispute the conclusion. Specifically, we argue that this result does not follow necessarily and depends critically on the author's implicit assumption that taxes are collected according to the credit method.


Cationic surface excesses of Li+, Na+, Mg2+, and Al3+ are obtained from electrocapillary curves corresponding to aqueous perchlorate solutions. They are compared with earlier reported data on chlorides, obtained under similar conditions. The influence of ionic sizes on the ion-free layer thickness is discussed in the framework of Gouy−Chapman and the generalized UDCA theory. Differences between the surface excesses of a given cation in the presence of perchlorate and chloride find a plausible explanation in terms of the anion distance of closest approach to the electrode.


The P calibration test was carried out from March 2015 to January 2016, the selected location was in Kentrong Village, Malangsari Village, Cipanas, Lebak, Banten Province. The research objective was to determine the recommendation for P fertilization of shallot plants in Ultisols using soil testing, with a single location approach. The study used a split-plot design with 5 replications.The main plot treatment was the soil P nutrient status, namely 0X, 1 / 4X, 1 / 2X, 3 / 4X, and X, where X is half the value of nutrient absorption P of 1033.3 kg P ha−1. The P application used phosphoric acid (H3PO4), the dosages of each level were 0, 258.3, 516.65, 775, and 1033.3 kg P ha−1, equivalent to 0, 0.97, 1.94, 2.9, and 3.87 kg P plot−1. Fertilization of P in subplots using SP-36, the doses of P fertilizer for subplots were 0, 591.6, 1183.3, 1774.9, and 2366.6 kg P2O5 ha−1, equivalent to 0, 0.44, 0.89, 1.33, and 1.77 kg P2O5 plot−1. The results showed that the interval limits for the availability of P nutrients extracted with Truog for very low, low, medium, high and very high classifications were <1, 1 - <9, 9 - <28, ≥ 28 ppm P. Maximum requirement for P fertilizer for shallot plants in ultisol soils in low and medium nutrient availability classes are 1850 kg P2O5 ha−1 and 1310 kg P2O5 ha-1. The optimum requirement for P fertilizer is 1315 kg P2O5 ha−1 and 765 kg P2O5 ha−1


Photodarkening is presently a major concern for the long term reliability and efficiency of high power Yb-doped fiber lasers and amplifiers. This phenomenon has been associated with the formation of color centers in the fiber core of single-clad and large mode area Yb-doped fibers. However, its origin is still not well understood and to date no comprehensive model that could predict the lifetime of Yb-doped fiber-based devices has been put forward. A semi-empirical approach seems at the moment the best way to gain a better understanding of the growth behavior of photo-induced losses in Yb-doped fibers in the presence of both photodarkening and photobleaching processes. A rate equation describing the activation and deactivation of color centers involving stretched exponential functions has been developed. For this approach to be effective and reliable, a minimum of parameters is used, four to describe photodarkening and three for photobleaching. A large mode area Yb-doped fiber fabricated at INO using the MCVD process has been characterized. By properly choosing the initial pumping conditions, each parameter of the stretched exponential functions has been measured separately from the others. The model has then been used to simulate the power decay from a 1 kW, 10 ns-pulse, 100 kHz Yd-doped LMA fiber power amplifier. We show that the photodarkening behavior predicted by the model is in good agreement with the experimental results over more than 6000 hours. Such a model is general in its application but the stretched exponential parameters are unique to the type of fiber tested. The model will be a useful characterization tool for developing photodarkening-resistant fibers and for evaluating the lifetime of Yb-doped fiber-based devices affected by photodegradation.


Even after decades of spearthrower studies, researchers have relatively little reliable data on spearthrower performance, and yet prehistoric lifeways are often reconstructed through consideration of the capabilities of such weapon systems. Experimental study and considered dependence on ethnographic knowledge clarify the realities of the spearthrower in use.


Awareness of the safety of medication use has not been investigated from the perspective of medication users. This study focused on medical experts' opinions concerning the safety of using transdermal patches with printed therapeutic classification marks. We conducted a questionnaire study of cardiac transdermal patch users, including doctors, pharmacists, and nurses. In addition to traditional statistical analyses, we developed a pseudo-distance measure and applied an agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm to questionnaire data. Medical experts supported the validity of transdermal patches and therapeutic classification mark design. Opinions regarding displays on labels differed by occupation. Following the opinion of pharmacists and nurses, who deal directly with the medications, we conclude that the display of therapeutic classification marks and product names should be promoted.


In the present paper we investigate the transport of accreting plasma across the magnetopause onto a strongly mag- netized massive star (i.e. white dwarf or neutron star) by mag- netic reconnection. A simplied axisymmetric magnetic eld model of an aligned rotator is used to study the reconnection process. To be able to separate effects caused by instabilities of the system from intrinsic time-dependent behaviour, we rst constructself-consistentstationarystatesofthemagnetosphere- disk system. We include a rigid magnetospheric rotation and Keplerian rotation of the magnetized disk plasma. Thestationarystatesarecomputednumericallywitharelax- ationmethodwhichconservesthemagnetictopology.Therefore wecanprescribeaninitialconditionoftherelaxationprocessus- ing a magnetic eld consisting of a dipole of the compact object and a homogeneous eld threading the disk. The magnetopause then separates the regions of closed eld lines with corotating plasma from open eld lines with plasma in Keplerian motion. Theresistivestabilityofthestationarystatesisexaminedby two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations. We nd that magnetic reconnection leads to mass transport across the magnetopause onto closed magnetic eld lines The accretion disk material is accelerated along the magnetic eld lines that are connected to the magnetic poles of the compact object and will eventually be accreted by the star at its polar caps.


Get the practical reference for using Visual Studio Team System in your software development lifecycle-and maximize project success. Designed for software project managers, this book offers straightforward product information and expert insights for collaborating with architects, developers, and testers in one integrated development environment.


Operation decision is the core of operation command. Operation command IDSS (Intelligence Decision Support System) is a sort of computer software applied to aid operation decision. It's an important component of command automation. Operation scheme evaluation is a key step in operation command decision process. This paper, through studying operation scheme evaluation IDSS, demonstrates the structure and functions of operation command IDSS.


Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major cause of disease worldwide and a leading cause of mortality. Fortunately, CRC is a disease that meets the criteria for successful early detection and treatment through population screening. Moreover, CRC incidence is decreasing in some countries which, at least in part, may be due to the establishment and expansion of screening programmes. Screening tests can be applied either in one-step screening using colonoscopy or flexible sigmoidoscopy, or in two-step screening using simpler non-invasive tests such as faecal tests for occult blood. Tests for the assessment of blood in faeces are widely considered to be the best currently available for two-step screening and are very suited to large scale population-based screening programmes [1]. Traditionally, guaiac-based faecal occult blood tests (gFOBT) have been used and four randomised controlled trials, in the setting of population-based programmes, showed a modest intention-to-treat decrease in mortality [2] that has been demonstrated to occur also in practice [3, 4]. However, gFOBT have many well-known limitations [5] that do not apply to the newer faecal immunochemical tests (FIT) for haemoglobin (Hb) [6]. FIT are now being widely adopted in new screening programmes and existing programmes using gFOBT are moving to FIT. The merits of FIT over gFOBT are summarised in this issue of the journal by Huang and colleagues [7], who collected faeces in a single specimen collection device from a representative random population in China. The specimens were then analysed using one quantitative and two qualitative FIT. The authors documented the cut-off haemoglobin concentration which they used for referral of the participants for colonoscopy as 20 μg Hb/g faeces for the quantitative FIT and 20 μg Hb/g faeces and 40 μg Hb/g faeces for the two qualitative FIT. The appropriate use by the authors of μg Hb/g faeces for reporting FIT concentrations is consistent with good practice, and our recent recommendations [8], since these units facilitate more objective comparison of data across different FIT, a process impeded by the current wide use of proprietary ng Hb/mL buffer units. The study demonstrated different positivity rates for the two qualitative FIT, evidence of the different faecal Hb cut-off concentration needed for a colour change on the immunochromatographic test strips. This is an important finding which confirms previous evidence that available qualitative FIT are not all the same [9]. The cut-off faecal Hb for qualitative FIT are set by the manufacturers and, as a consequence, it is the manufacturers that determine the important clinical outcomes. As the cut-off faecal Hb concentration is decreased, the positivity rate and colonoscopy demand increase, the clinical sensitivity increases, specificity decreases, positive-predictive value decreases and number needed to scope increases. Surely this critical clinical variable, the cut-off faecal Hb concentration, should be set by screening programme organisers so that effective use of the endoscopic resources is enabled and clinical expectations met. Huang et al. provide a novel solution to the setting of the cut-off faecal Hb concentration for qualitative FIT [7]. The criteria for a positive result for the qualitative FIT were set according to the density of the colour appearing in the test strip. The authors created 10 positive criteria for the qualitative FIT by measuring the density of the colour in the strips of the qualitative FIT, producing a colour ladder from faint pink to dark red with the different grades corresponding to increasing faecal Hb concentrations. Faecal specimens with a test strip colour darker than the designated cut-off colour grade were regarded as positive. Setting the cut-off subjectively at a specific colour rather than the simple presence or absence of colour for one of the qualitative FIT did improve the comparability of results across the quantitative and both qualitative FIT. However, we are not convinced that this approach could be successfully adopted for large-scale population screening programmes. Indeed, the authors state that it would be necessary to intensify quality control and refine positive criteria for qualitative FIT to be used for CRC screening and suggest that, otherwise, quantitative FIT might be a better choice [7]. We agree and have recently documented


We note that a recent result of the second author yields upper bounds for odd-primary homotopy exponents of compact simple Lie groups which are often quite close to the lower bounds obtained from v1-periodic homotopy theory. 1. Statement of results The homotopy p-exponent of a topological space X, denoted expp(X), is the largest e such that some homotopy group πi(X) contains a Z/p-summand. In work dating back to 1989, the first author and collaborators have obtained lower bounds for expp(X) for all compact simple Lie groups X and all primes p by using v1-periodic homotopy theory. Recently, the second author ([11]) proved a general result, stated here as Lemma 2.1, which can yield upper bounds for homotopy exponents of spaces which map to a sphere. In this paper, we show that these two bounds often lead to a quite narrow range of values for expp(X) when p is odd and X is a compact simple Lie group. Our first new result, which will be proved in Section 2, combines Lemma 2.1 with a classical result of Borel-Hirzebruch. Theorem 1.1. Let p be odd. a. If n < p + p, then expp(SU(n)) ≤ n− 1 + νp((n− 1)!). b. If n ≥ p + 1, then expp(SU(n)) ≤ n + p− 3 + (bn−2 p−1 c−p+2 2 ) . Here and throughout, νp(−) denotes the exponent of p in an integer, p is an odd prime, and bxc denotes the integer part of x . All spaces are localized at p. It is Date: January 17, 2006.


Lc:={(x,y): P(x,y) = c} and Mc := {(*, y): Q(x, y) = c). Notice that P(x, 0) = xn + • • • , so P(x, 0) is certainly not a constant function. By elementary calculus, one has that P(x, 0) takes infinitely many values; in particular the level curves Lc are nonempty for infinitely many c. We wish to apply the theory of Lagrange multipliers to the curve Lc. We thus need that Lc is nonsingular, that is, for all points {a, b) on Lc we have