A novel numerical method to solve Fokker-Planck equations in quantum optics is presented, based on a Monte Carlo simulation of the probability diffusion process. The method is especially useful for multimode analysis and hence for studying realistic models of nonlinear optical systems. Two simple examples are given: the first is a 1D Fokker-Planck equation in the number representation, which describes a simple model of optical amplifier; the second is a 2D equation in the P-function representation-the quasi-probability for normal-ordered averages-which corresponds to the customary Van der Pol model of the laser threshold. In this case also the field correlation function and spectrum are numerically simulated.


In the course of the transformation of our country's society from the times of the planning economy into the times of the market economy, because of the common effect of various factors, the social credit system were damaged to a great extent, which basis of a nation's prosperous economy and social development is credit, which also serves influence the ordered progress of people's life and economy. This paper briefly expounds the meanings of the credit principle, sums up and analyzes on the various expressions of the "credit shortage", and makes deep-level analysis on the reasons of the "credit shortage".


Hybridization in plants may result in hybrid speciation or introgression and, thus, is now widely understood to be an important mechanism of species diversity on an evolutionary time scale. Hybridization is particularly common in ferns, as is polyploidy, which often results from hybrid crosses. Nevertheless, hybrid speciation as an evolutionary process in fern lineages remains poorly understood. Here, we employ flow cytometry, phylogeny, genome-wide SNP datasets, and admixture and coalescent modeling to show that the scaly tree fern, Gymnosphaera metteniana is a naturally occurring allotetraploid species derived from hybridization between the diploids, G. denticulata and G. gigantea. Moreover, we detected ongoing gene flow between the hybrid species and its progenitors, and we found that G. gigantea and G. metteniana inhabit distinct niches, whereas climatic niches of G. denticulata and G. metteniana largely overlap. Taken together, these results suggest either some degree of intrinsic genetic isolation between the hybrid species and its parental progenitors or ecological isolation over short distances may be playing an important role in the evolution of reproductive barriers. Historical climate change may have facilitated the origin of G. metteniana, with the timing of hybridization coinciding with a period of intensification of the East Asian monsoon during the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods in southern China. Our study of allotetraploid G. metteniana represents the first genomic-level documentation of hybrid speciation in scaly tree ferns and, thus, provides a new perspective on evolution in the lineage.


We developed the world's first middle size full in‐cell LCD for PC with IGZO technology. We evaluated a new Gate driver In Panel structure with latch circuit and confirmed that there were no problems with display and touch panel performance. Furthermore, we did a feasibility study of higher display resolutions and larger size panels, which showed future possibilities.


An automatic apparatus for producing barkies by scraping chocolate paste film from a roll. A scraper engaging the roll scraps chocolate onto a collecting plate, and after sufficient accumulation on the plate, means are employed for moving the plate away from the roll to a position where the accumulated chocolate is cut into sections. The means employed then moves the collecting plate and the cut chocolate thereon to a conveyor belt and tilts the collecting plate so that the chocolate will be deposited on the conveyor. A scraper may also be utilized at this point to assist in moving the chocolate off the collecting plate onto the conveyor.


The Civil Law, or the civil legal law, gives the subjects of the civil legal report extensive prerogatives as subjective civil rights. These rights are part of the elements that form the civil legal report. The subjective civil rights are various and varied so that they can be classified according to several criteria: 1. If the holder can exercise it with or without the consent of another part. 2. According to the nature and the content of the rights. 3. According to their correlation.


In this paper, we propose a new concept called mobile Femtocell (MFemtocell) network, which can be considered as a practical implementation of mobile relays (more precisely, moving networks). MFemtocells can be deployed in moving vehicles, such as trains, buses, or private cars to provide enhanced user throughput, extended coverage, and reduction of the signaling overhead and drop calls. We investigate the spectral efficiency of cellular systems with MFemtocell deployment and two resource partitioning schemes. Simulation results demonstrate that with the deployment of MFemtocells, the spectral efficiency and average user throughput can significantly be increased while the signaling overhead is reduced.


Be it legal duality, legal dualism or, as preferred in Canada, bijuralism, the idea captured is one of legal coexistence. Whether it is approached as '[t]he simple co-existence of two legal traditions, the interaction between two traditions, the formal integration of two traditions within a given context (...) or, on a more general level, the recognition of and respect for the cultures and identities of two legal traditions', 1 it describes, in all cases, a reality that finds echo in a Canadian context. 2


The invention discloses a microelectrode array which contains microelectrodes formed by micro holes of a cell size. Single cells are positioned directly on the microelectrodes containing the micro holes of the cell size, activation cholesterol in cell membranes reacts with cholesterol oxidase in a solution to produce hydrogen peroxide on the electrode surface to cause measurable luminol electroluminescence, and the luminous intensity is related to the activation cholesterol amount in the cell membrane. By connecting with a multichannel converter and a voltage generator, pulse triangle wave voltages are successively applied to the microelectrodes in the array, when a voltage is applied to the surface of a microelectrode, the cell or the microelectrode may shine, and a photomultiplier (PMT) is used for detection of luminol chemiluminescence intensity to obtain the activation cholesterol amount in the membranes. In the microelectrode array, the single cells are selected by the voltages to detect, the microelectrode array facilitates detection automation and analysis of flux. The microelectrode array can realize the rapid detection of the activation cholesterol content in the cell membranes.


This book by the ophthalmologic staff of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto is an extremely complete and practical coverage of the subject. This hospital with over 800 beds of which 35 are for eye patients is reported to be the largest children's hospital in the Western Hemisphere. With more than 11,000 visits to the Ophthalmic Out-Patient Department and more than 1,500 admissions annually, the observations of the staff are certainly based on an extensive clinical experience. Beginning with a short chronologically oriented chapter on the development of the eye, the book covers the examination of a child's eye, refraction, strabismus, orthoptics, diseases of the various constituent parts of the eye and adnexa, and concludes with the education of the child with defective vision. Each topic is completely covered, even including extremely rare conditions. The chapters on the examination of the child's eye, refraction, diseases of the lids, lens,


This study investigates the case of Qatar Singapore Regional Training Center for Public Administration.As a tool for this process of policy transfer, the article further evaluates the case of Singapore- Qatar Asia-Middle East Dialogue (AMED) Regional Training Centre for Public Administration (RTCPA) in Doha, Qatar, as a mechanism to foster this policy transferThe study suggests that this evaluation would be a fruitful example in revealing the strengths and weakness of such initiatives and can offer a scheme for insights regarding effective tools of policy learning.


The biologically active guaianolides, zaluzanin C and zaluzanin D, and the stereoisomeric guaianolide, 3-epizaluzanin C, have been synthesized by two different procedures. The stereochemistry at C3 of zaluzanin C has been established to be S configuration by this synthesis.


Objective. To establish that the implantation of smallerfixed rate intrathecal infusíon pumps is the best choicefor the early treatment of severe spastic quadriparesis and dystonia and to determine its optimal placement Materials and Method. Seven patients were implanted withfixed rate pumps. In two patients the indication was chronic pain and were excluded from the present study. Three patients were operated with 5.6 centimeters of diameter Tricumed pumps and two patients with Codman Arquimedes pumps. Results. Two patients implanted with tricumed pumps and two with codman pump evolvedfavorably up to date, with a refill of 190, 200, 232 and 245 micrograms respectively. The device had to be explanted from the last patient due to post-op infection and dysfunction. Conclusion. Early implantation of a baclofenpumpfacilitates and simplifies neuro-orthopedic treatments and gastrostomy implants. With an adequate subfascial technique and smaller infusion pumps satisfactory results can be achieved.


This paper empirically examines the convergence of cryptocurrency markets with particular attention to top 30 cryptocurrencies. The study applies the novel Phillips and Sul panel convergence techni...


The synthesis of organo-soluble hybrid particles with a hydrophobic, α-helical polypeptide shell and silica core has been achieved by combining ring-opening polymerization and click chemistry. Alkyne end-terminated poly(γ-stearyl-α-l-glutamate) (alkyne-PSLG) was prepared by the ring-opening polymerization of the N-carboxyanhydride of γ-stearyl-α-l-glutamate using propargylamine as initiator. The molecular weight and structure of this polypeptide were characterized by GPC and MALDI, and the α-helical nature was established by 1H NMR and FTIR. Azide-functionalized silica particles (azido-silica) were prepared by the functionalization of silica particles with 3-bromopropyltrichlorosilane followed by nucleophilic substitution with sodium azide. The azide functionalization was confirmed by FTIR and XPS. Alkyne-PSLG was coupled to azido-silica by click reaction in tetrahydrofuran or toluene in the presence of pentamethyldiethylenetriamine and copper(I) bromide. Further characterization of the product using XPS,...


This paper is a comprehensive analysis of economic terminology. Its topical subject is indisputable given the fact that we live in the era of globalization where economic terminology not only is increasing, but also it is interacting with other spheres of life. The language of economics is a variety of specialized languages with a commanding share in them, and it is conceived as a means of language. It is used by all groups of people working in different fields of national economy, such as management, marketing, accounting, in finance and banking, including trade. The work aims at analyzing and exemplifying methods of equivalence degree of economic terms. The goal of the paper derives from the current trend of linguistic research in the economic language. Its purpose is to highlight the importance of economic terminology, the problems arising and the application of different methods to overcome some shortcomings. Language problems aroused from economic terminology are numerous and ample, the most complex one is to find the equivalence between the source and target languages, thus the paper's contribution is to elucidate it and to find different ways to simplify its difficulty.


In this paper, a novel blind watermarking technique based on quantization is proposed. Quantization is performed in a special domain which converts one dimensional signal to a 2-D one named Point to Point Graph (PPG). Basis of the method is on the separation of this domain into two portions; while, only one portion is quantized. Furthermore, in the dewatermarking procedure, by using the unquantized portion and zero norm, the embedded data can be extracted. The performance of the proposed method is analytically investigated and verified by simulation with artificial Gaussian signals. Experimental results over several audio signals shows the great robustness of the technique in comparison with the algorithms presented so far.


The least squares symmetric solutions of the matrix equation with several variables are too difficult to be obtained by applying matrices decomposition.An iterative method is presented to solve the least squares symmetric solutions of the linear matrix equation and its convergence is proved.And minimum norm of the least squares symmetric solutions can be obtained by choosing a special kind of initial symmetric matrices.In addition,the unique optimal approximation solutions to the given matrices in Frobenius norm can be obtained.The given numerical examples demonstrate that the iterative methods are quite efficient.


Didactic translations and translation projects are one of the ways of familiarising students simultaneously with a foreign language and culture, allowing them to develop language competences and learn about cultural similarities and differences. The aim of this article is to present a way of acquainting students with elements of foreign culture through translation, show the benefits of working with translation for language learning and present difficulties related to the translation of cultural elements and solutions used by translators. Teaching language and culture through translation has many advantages. First of all, working with the original text gives students access to the elements of the source culture in a specific communication context. Moreover, the translation assumes an in-depth understanding of the original, including intercultural allusions and intertextual references. The effort put into the translation process by the students makes them better memorize foreign elements and structures.


PURPOSE: A wafer dividing method and a semiconductor device manufacturing method is provided to be capable of decreasing the degree of chipping on the rear side of wafers and preventing a decrease in breaking strength of chips. CONSTITUTION: Grooves(22) are formed in a surface(21') of a wafer(21), on which semiconductor elements are formed, along dicing lines or chip parting lines on the wafer(21). The grooves(22) are deeper than the thickness of a finished chip, and each of them has a curved bottom surface. A holding sheet is attached on the surface of the wafer on which the semiconductor elements are formed. Subsequently, the rear surface of the wafer is lapped and polished to the thickness of the finished chip, thereby dividing the wafer into chips. Even after the wafer is divided into the chips, the lapping and polishing is continued until the thickness of the wafer becomes equal to the thickness of the finished chip. The lapping and polishing amount(A) required to attain the thickness of the finished chip after the lapped face of the wafer(21) reaches the bottom surface of the groove(22), and a depth(B) of a region of the curved bottom surface of the groove(22) defines a ratio(A/B) of not less than 0.3.


SECOND OPPOSITION LEADER, RUSLAN LABAZANOV, EX-CONVICT AND FORMER HEAD OF PRESIDENT'S BODYGUARDS, RECOUNTS SPLIT WITH DUDAYEV, CALLS CHECHNYA'S FEUD WITH RUSSIA NEEDLESS ... Special to Moskovskiye Novosti: RUSLAN LABAZANOV. (Interview conducted by Special Correspondent Dmitry Balburov. Moskovskiye novosti, No. 32, Aug. 7-14, pp. 1, 4. Condensed text:) Argun A criminal convicted of murder, a defender of the poor a Chechen Robin Hood a captain in the Presidential Guard, the former head of President Dudayev's personal bodyguards and now his mortal enemy, and finally, a crime-world "kingpin" who controls Chechnya's Shali and Vedeno Districts all those things describe Ruslan Labazanov. After his group was routed in Grozny, he settled in the village of Argun, to which this Moskovskiye novosti special correspondent was admitted only after three security checks. The fourth was the most menacing. Labazanov himself warned the journalist: "You write anything bad and we'll shoot you!" The 27-year-old giant, who is almost two meters tall, gazed at me with wary blue eyes, drank tea and gave laconic answers to my questions. ... Question. When did you first get involved in politics? ... Answer. It all started in 1990, when I was imprisoned in Rostov. I knocked somebody off. Then they transferred me to the Grozny pretrial detention center. During the 1991 coup, I freed the whole prison, nearly 600 men, ahead of time. They obeyed me. Then I formed my own team out of those I had freed. We hooked up with ... the new government, with Dudayev, and provided protection for him. ... Q. Why did you leave Dudayev? ... A. The only thing he thinks about is his own pocket. I see it this way: If you're the boss, then establish your own law. Order. Dudayev can't do it. . . . ... Q. When did your armed confrontation with Dudayev begin? ... A. As soon as I left his service, he started trying to get rid of me. Last winter in the settlement of Voikovo his men attacked us, killed two of my comrades and wounded me. . . . I lay in the hospital in the center of Grozny. On the second day Dudayev's men attacked the hospital with three tanks. They paid no attention to the fact that there were civilians all around. ... Q. And then there was June 12 and 13? ... A. Yes. I learned of the attack on my headquarters in Grozny two hours beforehand and told Geliskhanov, chairman of state security, to get outside the city and sort things out there. I didn't want my neighbors to suffer. But Dudayev's men surrounded the building, drove six tanks up to it and started firing. . . . ... Q. And now you've declared a blood feud? ... A. Yes. Especially against Dudayev and Geliskhanov. They won't get away from me. . . . ... Q. Do you have any other goals? ... A. I want freedom for my people. I want Dudayev and his people to stop drinking the blood of Chechens like leeches. . . . ... Dudayev has gotten into a major feud with Russia, and he shouldn't have done that. I feel certain that Chechnya's independence won't get in Russia's way. I get along well with Russians. . . . ... Q. Have you met with any of Russia's politicians? ... A. No, but I would really like to. I'd like to meet with your President. With Yeltsin or his representatives, to reach an agreement on any joint actions, to become friendly with him. . . . ... Q. Do you have any contact with Umar Avturkhanov? ... A. No. I've met with him on several occasions in the past. ... Q. What kind of future do you envision for Chechnya? ... A. I see it as a sovereign state, but with help from Russia. Strong, independent and prosperous.


COVID-19 is an unprecedented event that has devastated the world. Almost all sectors of the economy are impacted. Coupled with the designation of this virus as a global pandemic, it caused the biggest changes in stocks. The tourism and hospitality industry suffered the most due to the travel bans and lockdown. This examines stock market reaction on Pandemic COVID-19 by measuring the differences of stock prices and stock trading volumes in the South East-Asia capital market, namely the ASEAN Exchange for the period before and after the pandemic occurred. The sample used was 49 companies from the tourism and Hospitality sector included in the ASEAN Exchange. The data analysis technique used paired sample t-test and Wilcoxon signed rank test with quantitative data. The results found that the tourism and hospitality companies from Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand reacted to the Covid-19 pandemic.


Little is known about preschoolers and their engagement with digital tablets. This article addresses this gap by drawing on findings from two research projects. The aim is to illustrate how childre ...


In dictionary-based Cross-language Information Retrieval systems, structured query translation has been shown to be an useful method for improving system performance. In this paper, we examine the effects of using pseudo relevance feedback to refine the structured query in the target language. We propose different methods for term weighting based on word distributions and the mutual information between expanded terms and original query terms. Our experimental results in a dictionary-based Vietnamese-English CLIR system show that while changing query terms weights has effects on improving precision, query expansion improves recall rates. The combination of these two techniques helps to improve system performance up to 12%, in terms of Mean Average Precision. Keywords— CLIR, dictionary-based, Vietnamese, structured query, Pseudo-relevance feedback, reweight query terms, query expansion


Physicians are occasionally presented with the problem of evaluating a patient who has an abnormal urinalysis 1 but who has no other sign or symptom of genitourinary (GU) tract disease . For example, patients may present with hematuria, pyuria or slight proteinuria, but they may have no other clinical or laboratory abnormality to suggest glomerulonephritis, renal failure, urinary tract infection, obstruction, hypertension, or stones. There are a wide variety of lesions which may produce such isolated abnormalities,2·3 and a rational approach is indispensable in preparing an efficient and definitive diagnostic plan. The urinalysis may be abnormal because of the presence of red blood cells, white blood cells, or excessive amounts of albumin . To understand the diagnostic possibilities of such abnormalities it is useful to begin by considering the sensitivity of the routine urinalysis (Table l ). Detection of the presence of only l + albuminuria requires albumin in a concentration of 30 mg/ 100 ml. In the case of red cells and white cells in a centrifuged urine specimen, our limits of detection extend to recognition of a single cell under the microscope. Let us next consider the quantity of each of these elements in a single milliliter of blood. Blood normally contains 4 gm of albumin per 100 milliliters, which is equivalent to 40 mg/ ml. White blood cells number approximately 10,000/ mm3 of blood, which is equivalent to 10 million / ml. Similarly, 5,000,000 red blood cells per mm3 of blood is equivalent to 5 billion / ml. Let us assume that some


Let F be a fleld of characteristic difierent from 2 and assume that F satisfles the strong approximation theorem on orderings (F is a SAP fleld) and that I 3 (F) is torsion-free. We prove that the 2-primary component of the torsion subgroup of the Brauer group of F is a divisible group and we prove a structure theorem on the 2-primary component of the Brauer group of F. This result generalizes wellknown results for algebraic number flelds. We apply these results to characterize the trace form of a central simple algebra over such a fleld in terms of its determinant and signatures.


Special education stressing the unity of the professionalism,theoreticality,practicality and operationality which trains applied undergraduate teachers of practical innovative ability is the basic requirements of today's special education career developments in our country.Teachers trained by traditional high Special Education Normal School have been difficult to adapt to the needs of today's special education career developments which need diversified special education talents.Special education profession of newly established local undergraduate universities which should be based on services to local special education career developments and requirements of its own developments,actively trying to reforms these aspects of orientation of talent cultivation curriculum,curriculum setting,teaching work,cultures applied professional talents of both theoretical knowledge and practical skills


Print ISSN: 0355-3140 Electronic ISSN: 1795-990X Copyright (c) Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health Editorial Scand J Work Environ Health 2020;46(6):554-556 doi:10.5271/sjweh.3929 Causal inference and evidence-based recommendations in occupational health and safety research by Rugulies R, Burdorf A Affiliation: National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark. firstname.lastname@example.com Refers to the following texts of the Journal: 2020;46(6):557-569 2019;45(5):429-443 2019;45(2):103-113 2018;44(4):385-393 2018;44(2):134-146 2018;44(2):113-133 2015;41(3):268-279 Key terms: cancer; causal inference; editorial; evidence-based recommendation; exposure; night shift; observational study; occupational health; potential outcome; shift schedule; shift work


Nowadays, pervasive environments force maintainers to provide agile solutions for migrating legacy information systems to mobile applications. While business knowledge can be easily reused in tier-based modularized systems, the migration of user interface tiers to a mobile application entails a bigger (but usually ignored) challenge. This paper presents AndrIU, a reverse engineering tool based on static analysis of source code for transforming user interface tiers from desktop applications to mobile ones. AndrIU has been specially developed for migrating traditional systems to Android applications. AndrIU is generic and extensible since it manages all the embedded knowledge in a common, standard repository according to the Knowledge Discovery Metamodel. This metamodel represents legacy knowledge in a platform-independent way. The main advantage is that AndrIU is designed to be extended for different migrations to others mobile platforms. Keywords—Migration, User Interface, Android.


The fields radiated by an arbitrarily oriented electric dipole in an unbounded, loss-free magnetoplasma are synthesized in terms of cylindrical waves, with the direction of the magnetostatic field as their axis of symmetry. Six independent modes specified by two radial and three azimuthal mode numbers are found to be excited. The total radiation resistance of the electric dipole is shown to be obtainable as the superposition of the contributions arising from the individual modes. Integral expressions for the radiation resistance due to the various modes are obtained and are used in the numerical evaluation of the radiation resistance for some typical values of the parameters of interest. The radiation resistance of an arbitrarily oriented electric dipole is found to become infinite in two frequency ranges on account of the gyro- and plasma resonances, as well as at the upper hybrid resonant frequency, and a discussion of the procedure for eliminating the infinite behavior of the radiation resistance is in...


The demand for accurate and reliable analytical methods is a common factor in the last decades of technology advancement and modes of production. Numerous studies for analytical tests were proposed, creating several parameters of answers that led to conflicts of interpretation when compared. To allow for the possibility of comparison and reliability verification of the answers obtained in these tests, agencies and institutions determine guidelines and regulate guidelines that allow validating the methods, certifying them as methodological parameters to be followed. In Brazil, ANVISA and INMETRO regulate the validation tests of analytical methodologies. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a source of research in analytical methodologies for the identification of compounds, among them those directed to the branch of drugs and pesticides. The aim of the present study was to validate an analytical methodology for quantification of the active principle of Fipronil by HPLC with ultraviolet detector. In relation to the analytical parameters used for the validation, the linearity verified for the method presented a value of r = 0.9999 and the equation of the adjustment was obtained by linear regression in least squares. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.128 mg.L and 0.426 mg.L, respectively. The repeatability and reproducibility, also verified for the analytical method, returned residual standard deviation within the limits established by the standard and consonants for those verified in the literature corroborating for validation and robustness of the evaluated method.


Abstract A novel liquid refractive index sensor based on the connected single-mode fiber (SMF), no-core fiber (NCF), four-core fiber (FCF), and silver mirror (SM) to form an SMF–NCF–FCF–SM Michelson probe structure is proposed and fabricated. The change of light field in the probe structure has been simulated by the light-beam propagation method. The theoretical results show that light is excited in the NCF and couples into the cores and cladding of FCF at the junction of NCF and FCF. The interference fringes are generated between the cladding modes and core modes of FCF. The sensitivities of the probe in NaCl, sucrose, and glycerol are 171.75 dB/RIU, 121.41 dB/RIU, and 207.50 dB/RIU, respectively. The temperature sensitivity is 0.05 nm/°C, and the intensity change of temperature (≤0.046 dB/°C) is very small and has little effect on the liquid refractive index. Thus, the cross-sensitivity of temperature for the liquid refractive index can be removed. The proposed probe structure has the advantages of easy fabrication, good stability, and linear response, having potential application in the liquid refractive index monitoring environments.


In Ecuador there is a lack of professionalism in sport events in account of the absence of preparation from the people or organizations that execute them. These inconvenient prompts a gap in the offer of sport events in the country, which in many cases are only undertaken once and for financial reason cannot be repeated over time, the objective of the business plan is to fill that gap and to educate the people behind the organization and execution of sport events. To fulfill this objective, a management methodology has been developed, this method will help the company understand the way the people that execute events makes their decision, and the impact that decision have in the profitability of the project. The first step is to analyses the external aspects that has connection with the project, the aspects to analysis will be political, economic, social and the technology development in the country. Finally, there will be present a countable result of the effect these aspects have in the project. In addition, it will be presented a customer analysis in which the objectives are to understand the reasons for the clients to have problems financing their events, their needs, and if the idea will be accepted by them as a solution for this issue. Subsequently, a proposal for marketing will be submitted, all the aspects that were investigated before will be considered, as well as the approach they will have to make this project financially strong. Sport Events Management will be a limited company, in the first year it will have 9 workers, by the fifth year this number will grow to 14. Finally, it will be done a financial screening, to make this evaluation, the income, expenses, investment criteria, etc. will be considered. The objective of this will be to determine the financial feasibility of the project.


Genetic algorithm has been very successful in solving optimization problems. However, due to the absence of utilizing specific knowledge of the particular context in which it is applied, its performance still requires improvements. An enhanced genetic al- gorithm in which the standard crossover operator and mutation operator are specifically optimized for the application of robotic path plan- ning is proposed. The evolutionary efficiency is noticeably enhanced by incorporating map information in genetic operators. The simu- lation results demonstrate that, the proposed algorithm achieved considerable improvements, with respect to the basic genetic algorithm, in convergence speed and optimal solution output rate.


With the advent of modern sequencing technologies massive amounts of biological data, from protein sequences to entire genomes, are becoming increasingly available.
This poses the need for the automatic analysis and classification of such a huge collection of data, in order to enhance knowledge in the Life Sciences.
Although many research efforts have been made to mathematically model this information, for example finding patterns and similarities among protein or genome sequences, these approaches often lack structures that address specific biological issues.

In this thesis, we present novel computational methods for three fundamental problems in molecular biology: the detection of remote evolutionary relationships among protein sequences, the identification of subtle biological signals in related genome or protein functional sites, and the phylogeny reconstruction by means of whole-genome comparisons.
The main contribution is given by a systematic analysis of patterns that may affect these tasks, leading to the design of practical and efficient new pattern discovery tools.
We thus introduce two advanced paradigms of pattern discovery and filtering based on the insight that functional and conserved biological motifs, or patterns, should lie in different sites of sequences.
This enables to carry out space-conscious approaches that avoid a multiple counting of the same patterns.

The first paradigm considered, namely irredundant common motifs, concerns the discovery of common patterns, for two sequences, that have occurrences not covered by other patterns, whose coverage is defined by means of specificity and extension.
The second paradigm, namely underlying motifs, concerns the filtering of patterns, from a given set, that have occurrences not overlapping other patterns with higher priority, where priority is defined by lexicographic properties of patterns on the boundary between pattern matching and statistical analysis.
We develop three practical methods directly based on these advanced paradigms.
Experimental results indicate that we are able to identify subtle similarities among biological sequences, using the same type of information only once.

In particular, we employ the irredundant common motifs and the statistics based on these patterns to solve the remote protein homology detection problem. Results show that our approach, called Irredundant Class, outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in a challenging benchmark for protein analysis.
Afterwards, we establish how to compare and filter a large number of complex motifs (e.g., degenerate motifs) obtained from modern motif discovery tools, in order to identify subtle signals in different biological contexts.
In this case we employ the notion of underlying motifs. Tests on large protein families indicate that we drastically reduce the number of motifs that scientists should manually inspect, further highlighting the actual functional motifs.
Finally, we combine the two proposed paradigms to allow the comparison of whole genomes, and thus the construction of a novel and practical distance function.
With our method, called Unic Subword Approach, we relate to each other the regions of two genome sequences by selecting conserved motifs during evolution.
Experimental results show that our approach achieves better performance than other state-of-the-art methods in the whole-genome phylogeny reconstruction of viruses, prokaryotes, and unicellular eukaryotes, further identifying the major clades of these organisms.


28 girls and 26 boys (93% African American) ages 9 to 12 years were enrolled in an after-school physical activity program for 12 wk. and completed measures of exercise self-efficacy, tension, and depression. Significant negative correlations were found between changes in ratings on Exercise Self-efficacy Scale for Children scores and Profile of Mood States Tension (r = −.44) and Depression (r = −.33) over 12 wk., indicating that as rated exercise Self-efficacy increased, rated Tension and Depression tended to decrease. Findings are consistent with behavioral explanations of the relationship between exercise and mood changes. Caution is appropriate as there was no control group, and familiarity might be an explanation of the findings.


The abstract of the social science thesis is an essay,which is written by the author of the thesis,provides the general content of the thesis for purpose,and concisely and certainly describes the important content without comments and explanations.The social science thesis plays a role,which is a guide,index and basis,and contains characteristics of independence,self-inclusion,conciseness,standardization and integrity.Most problems in the abstract are that the abstract doesn't profoundly grasp characteristics of the digest,is written in the first person,make many comments and explanations,and so on.This paper puts forward these requests that the abstract of the social science thesis should give prominence to characteristics of independence and self-inclusion,focus on reflecting innovations in the thesis,be written in the third person,and use standard nomenclatures by discussing the effect and characteristics of the abstract and giving examples.


Copyright: © 2015 DippenaarThis is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Introduction and Context of StudyOne of the goals of higher education is to prepare students to participate in civic life (Iverson & James, 2010). Several studies attest to the importance of community engagement (CE) for student learning (Billig & Eyler, 2003; Boyer, 1996; Kolb, 2014; Kolb & Kolb, 2005), claiming that students' involvement in communities enhances their commitment and prepares them emotionally and socially to make a contribution to society. Service learning is defined by the Council on Higher Education in South Africa (CHE) as an operational component of CE providing:a structured learning experience that combines community service with preparation and reflection. Students engaged in service learning provide community service in response to community-identified concerns and learn about the context in which service is provided, the connection between their service and their academic coursework, and their roles as citizens. (CHE, 2011, p. 76)Westheimer and Kahne (2004) pointed out that academic service learning is an approach that universities can utilise to strengthen democracy through education. It also reflects a university's commitment to its local community. Service learning enhances citizenship, and develops and tests personal and social responsibility (Westheimer & Kahne, 2004) which, as Iverson and James (2010) pointed out, seem to be development goals particularly relevant for student teachers. Service learning "compels educators and students to analyse educational issues in interdisciplinary ways and to consider not only the cognitive development of students, but also other facets of students' development" (Billig & Eyler, 2003, p. 27). Students understand the world outside the lecture hall better when they are able to apply theory to practice and learn through real-life experiences.Universities were developing social responsibility and community awareness amongst students through community service programmes long before the White Paper on South African Higher Education policy (Department of Education, 1997) called upon them to do so. Over the last decade, a "scholarship of engagement" was promoted across South African Higher Education in official documents such as the good practice guide for managing the quality of service learning by the Higher Education Quality Committee (HEQC, 2006, p. 10). Academic Service Learning (ASL) was one response to the call for engagement.ASL, as described by Furco and Root (2010), incorporates a community engagement project within a creditbearing module to provide students with authentic contexts in which to apply theory while simultaneously working with community partners to address identified needs. This enhances student learning and creates a meaningful symbiotic relationship between the university and local communities (Vickers, Harris, & McCarthy, 2004).In this article, we explore perceptions of preservice teachers in their second year of study at a South African university, about their service learning experience. The study covers a journey of 7 years, during which we gradually incorporated a community engagement project into an existing undergraduate module. The project formed part of the compulsory module Language across the Curriculum, which focused on preparing students to teach any subject across the school curriculum through the medium of English. The rationale for the development of the module was embedded within an ecological framework of teaching: the student teacher needs to develop language skills to function well as an individual, in the classroom, the school context, and the wider community (Dippenaar & Peyper, 2011). …


The mechanical properties of thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) consisting of 6-arm star block polymers with glassy, crystalline, or composite crystalline–glassy physical cross-linking (hard) domains were investigated and compared to the analogous linear triblock or pentablock polymers. The 6-arm stars exhibited qualitatively similar solid-state morphologies and phase behavior to their linear counterparts, as demonstrated by small-angle X-ray scattering and differential scanning calorimetry. Consequently, the architecture had minimal impact on the small-strain behavior in uniaxial extension at room temperature. As the applied strain increased, the star polymers exhibited more pronounced strain hardening than the corresponding linear TPEs, resulting in an increase in the ultimate strength of 20% for the polymers with crystalline end blocks and 30% when the end blocks were glassy. Each of the three star polymers exhibited superior recovery (i.e., lower residual strain) and lower hysteresis than the correspondi...


Freedom is a key value in Eugene Onegin, which the author himself designated "a free novel." Freedom, more specifically, as an ability to love freely and engage in a platonic or sexual relationship with the person of one's choice, is also the central value for adulterous or quasi-adulterous characters in Who Is to Blame? and Anna Karenina. As the foundational text of the Russian novel as a whole, and the novel of adultery in particular, Eugene Onegin sets the terms for discussing issues of love and freedom. The question for the characters is this: what is the "correct" hierarchy of freedom, peace, and the happiness of love? In their excellent studies, Douglas Clayton and Olga Hasty have shown how various characters define freedom differently, and how the overall idea of freedom evolves over the course of the novel. Onegin's pursuit of purely external "freedom from" does not preclude internal enslavement that makes him impotent to exercise any "freedom to." In contrast, Tatiana does not deliberately "pursue" freedom, yet Pushkin describes her as "free" throughout the novel, notwithstanding her "restrictive rank" in Petersburg. What does he mean, then? In my paper I will show how Pushkin uses grammatical forms to distinguish between external and internal freedom: whereas the outwardly "free" Onegin is most often described as an object of his mental states, feelings, and circumstances, Tatiana appears in most cases as a subject. Pushkin's definition of freedom as "subjecthood" frames subsequent discussions of freedom in the Russian novel of adultery.


Background. Cervical trauma can be closed or open, have different degrees of severity, incidence rates, prevalence, or mortality, with variations in the presence of demographic factors. The different types of traumatic injuries have a certain pattern of occurrence depending on criteria related to sex, age, alcohol consumption, and socio-demographic factors. Increasing the rate of trauma is becoming a public health problem and it is necessary to study their epidemiology and implement control strategies. Aims. The objectives of the study are to establish the particularities of epidemiological, morphopathological, and pathophysiological factors involved in complex neck traumatology. Methods. The study group consisted of 384 patients, representative for the population of Moldova, who presented at the ENT Clinic, Hospital "St. Spiridon" Iași and the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Iași during 2012–2016, with complex cervical trauma pathology, produced by various mechanisms, such as car accidents, domestic accidents, aggressions, ballistic trauma, self-inflicted attempts, hanging or strangulation. Data were collected from autopsy reports and medical records. Results. Complex cervical trauma occurs with a predisposition in males, with an average age of 43 years, from rural areas. The mechanism of cervical trauma is predominantly self-inflicted—hanging in 78.4% of the total number of cases, followed by 14.8% of stabbing aggression. The majority of neck injuries, both open and closed, are located in anatomical zone II (73.6%), vascular and pharyngeal are produced by stabbing. Psychiatric disorders and blood alcohol levels are correlated with complex cervical trauma caused by self-inflicted mechanism—hanging and can be considered a predictive factor of suicide attempts. Conclusions. Overall, the vast majority of closed neck injuries were caused by the self-inflicted mechanism, attempted suicide by hanging, followed by the accidental mechanism. Regarding the penetrating complex aero-digestive cervical traumas, they were mostly produced by stabbing both in aggression and self-inflicted circumstances. Aggravating addictive factors such as alcoholism and mental disorders require a competent assessment in terms of the indication of institutionalized treatment, prevention of repeated self-inflicted attempts, or social reintegration.


Accurate detection and pixel‐wise classification of brain tumors in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans are vital for their diagnosis, prognosis study and treatment planning. Manual segmentation of tumors from MRI is highly subjective and tedious. With recent advances in deep learning, automatic brain tumor segmentation is an emerging research direction in the medical imaging domain. We present a study to improve the automatic segmentation process by introducing size variability in the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). For pixel‐wise classification of tumorous slices convolutional neural network‐based encoder‐decoder UNET model is referred. A multi‐inception‐UNET model is proposed to improve scalability of the UNET model. Extensive experiments have been performed using the Brain Tumor Segmentation Challenge (BRATS) datasets to establish the validity of our proposed model. Experimental results show that our proposed method achieved the best results on BraTS 2015, 2017 and 2019 datasets for complete tumor, core tumor and enhancing tumor regions respectively.


The results of researches of the water encroachment of some offshore fields (Neft Dashlary, Guneshli, Pirallahi, Darwin Banka, Apsheron Banka, Western Apsheron, etc.) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, most of which are at a late stage of development, have been presented. These fields are represented by weakly cemented and loose reservoirs of heterogeneous structure, in which there is an uneven fluid flow. Water breakthrough occurs through high-permeability layers, and layers with low permeability are involved in development to a less extent. Subsequent attempts to involve them in the development process cause an irrational increase in the volume of injected water, which leads to product encroachment. The type of reservoir, characterized by the presence of fracture zones, contributing to the flow of water from the aquifers to the producing wells, as well as improving their hydrodynamic connection with the injection wells, also contributes to the growth of the rate of watering. The geological and technological reasons for the water encroachment have been determined. The heterogeneity of the above mentioned deposits has been proven. It is indicated that an additional reason for the early water encroachment of production wells is the violation of the annulus tightness. Maintaining high rates of oil production is achieved by bringing in new production wells, while most of the watered wells are retired from operation without having exhausted their potential. It is proposed to carry out the measures that will ensure isolation of the most washed out zones and depleted areas of the main productive layer of the field. Methods of selective water isolation and flow diversion technologies should be carried out, first of all, in wells with an increased density of current reserves in order to obtain additional oil production and increase the oil recovery factor, as well as in wells with a high fluid flow rate.


Objective To observe the clinical effects of sulpride of small dose in the treatment of foreign body sensation of pharynx. Methods 217 patients with foreign body sensation of pharynx were randomly divided into two groups: study group and control group. Control group (108 cases) were treated with conventional lutation therapy in the lateral pharyngeal bands (CLTLPB), once a week, the course is four weeks; study group (109 cases) were treated with the combination of CLTLPB and oral sulpride (200~400mg/d). Results The healing rate and the improvement rate for the study group (75.2%, 89.0% respectively) were significantly higher than that of control group (38.9%, 68.5% respectively). After treatment the scores of SCL 90, HAMA, and HAMD for study group were significantly lower than before treatment. The side effects for the two groups were minor, except that a few patients in study group were observed to have insomnia, skin eruption, and menoxenia et al. Conclusions Based on the treatment with CLTLPB, the augmentation of sulpride is a safe and effective method for treating foreign body sensation of pharynx, and is worthy of being extended into clinical practice.


The extensive research of semantic web technology provides a new way of studying on social network analysis methods,which has become the focus of social network analysis area.This paper takes the application of semantic web technology in social network analysis field as its object.First,the article reviews the achievement on the semantic web and social network analysis achieved by both domestic and foreign scholars.Second the paper makes an analysis on the social semantic networks,and proposes an application model Semantic Web-based social network analysis.The paper puts forward technical difficulty in the course of developing of the model as well as its future research field in the end.


Purpose: Villas built before 1960 represent around 45% of the dwelling in Sweden. Since the average U-value in their walls is around 0,5 W/m2K, there is a great concern to improve  these values. Th ...


Objective To explore the risk factors of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD). Methods Self-made questionnaires were used to survey 204 ADHD children aged between 6 and 12 years and 199 normal children at the same age.The risk factors which resulted in the occurrence of ADHD were studied. Results Single factor analysis showed that the differences between the two groups were statistically significant in child's personality type,family type,father's educational level,mother's occupation,family income,mother's mood during pregnancy,delivery conditions,child's past disease history,family disease history,and so on.Unconditional multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that child's outward personality(OR=7.12),parental corporal punishment(OR=6.27),parental overprotection(OR=5.94),low family income(OR=2.99), parental harsh discipline(OR=2.27) were the risk factors for children to suffer from ADHD,while children without past disease history(OR= 0.08),nuclear family (OR=0.38),father with high literacy(OR=0.64),without family disease history (OR=0.36) were the protective factors. Conclusions There are many important factors in the etiology of ADHD,such as parents' education methods,parents' educational level,family type,family economy status and other factors.Therefore,medical professionals should fully consider these risk factors in the course of prevention and treatment of ADHD.


Cohesive soils are very often found in the soil subbase. In order to be a fully-fl edged building subbase, they must be improved. A popular way to improve is to stabilise with binders. In addition to common cement, mixtures of Portland clinker, ash, slag and additives, known as hydraulic road binders, are used. Standard binders allow for increased compressive strength, but do not provide the expected frost resistance that should protect the road structure from frost damage. In the paper the use of a hydrophobic additive of organic origin, produced from natural raw materials – vegetable and animal fats is proposed to reduce water absorption into the stabilised layer, providing improved compression strength and frost resistance of the layer. The addition of diamidoamine lactate to the soil–cement mixtures increased their compressive strength 3 to 8 times, for samples containing 7% binder and 2 to 2.5 times for samples containing 9%, in relation to standard binders.


Conceptual perspectives on the innovation process have moved dramatically in the past decade from a linear model of the innovation process to one based on an evolutionary or systems perspective of innovation. This has also been referred to as moving from a closed to an open innovation paradigm. In this systems perspective, innovation networks are critical with innovation being driven by interaction and co-operation between firms and other organisations. Empirical research has supported this paradigmatic shift by providing evidence that firms engaged in innovation networks are more likely to undertake innovation, have higher sales from innovation and be growing faster. From a resource based view of the firm this might suggest that the competitive position of the firm is due to their internal resource base being enhanced through external innovation links. For small firms, innovation links may be particularly important in providing access to financial, technological and human resources and increasing the probability of innovation. Together, the conceptual and empirical literatures have encouraged changes in policy initiatives to promote innovation resulting in the formulation of regional and national innovation strategies. This paper draws on longitudinal plant-level survey data in Ireland from 1991 to 2002 (Irish Innovation Panel) to determine if evidence exists to support the conceptual perspective that innovation links have increased in recent years. The data analysis also examines if there have been changes in the intensity of innovation links, and if differences exist in innovation links by firm size, sector, ownership or location over the period. The paper also compares the use of horizontal and vertical links and examines if this has changed over the 1991 to 2002 period. This is significant given increased emphasis on technology transfer initiatives by the public sector in recent years. The paper also examines the extent to which the pattern of innovation links reflect the underlying innovation system and public policy initiatives to promote technology transfer and networking as implemented throughout Ireland from 1991 to 2002.


The Development History of Wigry Lake as Shown by Subfossil Cladocera Environmental changes in Wigry Lake during the Late Glacial and Holocene were studied on the basis of subfossil Cladocera analysis. Cladocera are present in a long core WZS/03 (Słupiańska Bay), and a surface sediments. The sediment contains remains of twenty-seven species belonging to 5 families. Species composition of plankton and the variability in the frequency of specimens of Cladocera made possible to distinguish five phases of their development, which well correlated with palynological phases. The correlation proves that the biological development of Wigry Lake was determined mainly by climatic changes. During the history of the lake, planktonic forms were dominant and represented by Bosminidae. It indicates that the lake was (excluding the initial part) deep and oligo- or mesotrophic. The mesotrophic state has been noted during the Atlantic chronozone and temporary. Taking into consideration the size and the depth as well as the rare human population around the lake it can be stated that the trophy rise was the result of the warm climate. It is also possible that during the last few decades the natural and anthropogenic factors could add. Probably mild winters, warm and long summers, increased tourists number were partly responsible for changes of water state.


The statistical characteristic of stealth aircraft's RCS cannot be described exactly by classical RCS fluctuation model in VHF band. The dynamic RCS characteristic of typical stealth aircraft's spiral flying was obtained by simulation method in this paper firstly. The statistical characteristic of nose direction RCS is analyzed based on classical fluctuation models,and the difference of modeling results between VHF band and L band are compared through distribution verification method. The accurate statistical modeling of RCS in VHF band by Gaussian mixture is proposed,which can improve the anti-stealth ability. The research can provide a theoretic support to radar system design and anti-stealth battle.


During the past decade, medical education has evolved from the traditional classroom and bedside clinical instruction to system-based instruction with emphasis on small-group interaction with a facilitator and student-directed learning. The typical medical school curriculum employs a variety of smallgroup sessions to focus on special medical topics and to expose students to ethics, evidence-based medicine, and current scientific literature. One such small-group experience that plays an integral role in exposing students to the clinical side of pediatrics is the third-year pediatric clerkship. Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSU Health) in Shreveport, Louisiana, provides a range of educational opportunities for students in the Schools of Graduate Studies, Allied Health Professions, and Medicine. In addition, LSU Health Shreveport is an acute care hospital that provides a regional burn center, and neonatal, pediatric, and adult critical


The main objective of this study was to perform assessment of water quality of Gracanica River (Kosovo), impacted by Kishnica and Badovci flotation tailing dams, using ICP-OES method. The obtained results show that the mean values of all heavy metals in studied river water samples were significantly high, with following maximal concentrations: As (0.033 mgL−1), Cd (0.002 mgL−1), Cr (0.225 mgL−1), Cu (0.015 mgL−1), Hg (0.004 mgL−1), Mn (15.66 mgL−1), Ni (0.255 mgL−1), Pb (0.013 mgL−1), and Zn (0.612 mgL−1), but only two samples from locations influenced by Kishnica and Badovci flotation tailing dams showed statistically anomalous values of Cr3


The present paper reviews the study of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) flats under shear in reinforced concrete beams. Many failures in concrete structures in particular bridges are due to corrosion of reinforcement, particularly in aggressive environments. This has prompted researcher's world over to look for an alternative non corrosive and non metallic reinforcement for strengthening the reinforced concrete structures both in flexure and shear. The objective of the present research is to study the behavior of the beams reinforced with GFRP flats in shear.


.We studied the clinical samples from 60 patients who presented to surgery Out Patient Department (OPD) for various ailments and in whom MRSA infection wasnewly identified in the microbiology laboratory and who fulfilled the inclusion and exclusion criteria for CA-MRSA.Antibiotic sensitivity pattern of these MRSA was studied using modified Kirby Bauers disc diffusion method. Antibiotics used were amoxyclav, gentamicin, netilmycin, erythromycin, trimethoprim+sulfamethoxazole, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, linezolid and vancomycin. Vancomycin and linezolid resistant strains were further subjected to minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) detection.The CA-MRSA isolates were susceptible to various classes of antibiotics. High degree of susceptibility was shown to vancomycin (96.7%), linezolid (96.7%), and clindamycin (93.3%). The susceptibility to vancomycin and linezolid was found to be 100% by MIC detection. This is consistent with the previous findings of 100% susceptibility to vancomycin among CA-MRSA strains by Huang et al.


Drought stress is one of the most important constraints in crop production, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions of the world. Seed priming and foliar application of growth hormones, osmolytes and nutrients is an important tool to decrease the drastic effects of drought stress.The effects of thiourea in improving drought tolerance in maize were studied from 2010-12.Four green house and one field experiment was carried out at Research Area of Agronomy Department. First experiment was screening trial in which seven maize hybrids (32F10, 32B33, 33H25, 3335, 34N43, 6142, 6525) were sown under three water regimes (80% WHC, 6O% WHC, 40% WHC).Among seven hybrids, 34N43 recorded vigorous germination, maximum growth and improved water relations under stress as well as under well watered conditions and hybrid 32F10 recorded least vigorous germination, growth and water relations. So on the basis of screening trial hybrid 32F10 was selected as sensitive and hybrid 34N43 as tolerant to drought stress for further studies.Three green house experiments with different levels of thiourea application were conducted. In first experiment four levels of thiourea (200mg/l, 400mg/l, 600mg/l, 800mg/l) was applied through seed treatment under two water regimes (80% WHC, 40% WHC). Seed treatment with TU increased growth under normal and drought stress conditions and improved water relations, increased proline contents, decreased MDA content and electrolyte leakage and increased the activities of antioxidant enzymes in both the hybrids, however effect was more pronounced in hybrid 34N43 than 32F10 and 800 mg/l TU proved to be best for seed treatment.in rooting medium again TU increased shoot length, root dry weight, shoot dry weight, leaf area, improved water relations and increased proline contents, decreased electrolyte leakage and MDA content.In third experiment three thiourea level (500mg/l,1000mg/l,1500mg/l) were applied through foliar application. Foliar application of TU increased plant biomass, increased water potential, turgor potential and relative contents.One field experiment was conducted in which tensiometers were used for measuring soil water potential and irrigation was made on Lthe basis of tensiometer reading.Thiourea levels and its method of application for field experiment were decided on the basis of green house experiments.From seed treatment
experiment, 800 mg/l TU was best treatment and from foliar application, 1500mg/l TU was best. These two treatments were used in field experiment along with dry seed sowing and distilled water foliar application using as control.The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with split-split arrangement using four replications.Data regarding various agronomic, physiological and biochemical traits of crop were recorded using standard procedures available in the literature. The present study suggests that seed priming with TU and its foliar application not only improved water relations, increased growth, nutrients uptake and yield of maize crop under water stress but also improved performance of maize under normal availability of water


Colombia has been suffering from internal violence for more than four decades. Drugtraffickers, guerrillas and paramilitaries have deeply undermined the macroeconomic performances of the country, in spite of its richness in natural resources. The internal conflict has also led to a state of humanitarian emergency, which places Colombia among the most dangerous countries in the world. This places the stability of the whole Andean region at stake, considering the potential new crises in the neighbouring countries. Several interests of the European Union could be affected. This situation has led the United States to intervene through military and economic assistance to the Colombian government, aimed at blocking the flow of drugs at its source. More recently, the US involvement has been also aimed at preventing the guerrillas from attacking the economic infrastructures of the country, notably the oil pipelines. The US policies have raised a number of questions and have been partially opposed by the European Union, which considers development cooperation and political dialogue to be the only tools for stabilizing the country. However, the lowprofile political involvement of the EU has not corresponded with the important initiatives undertaken under the first pillar. Although the different perceptions of the member states over the Colombian crisis have partially converged after 9/11, many problems still remain, preventing the Union from setting a list of priorities and acting in accordance with them. This paper tries to assess the EU's performance in Colombia, and gives suggestions for a more effective common European approach towards this "forgotten" crisis.


Poly(azomethine), ZnO, TiO 2 , poly(azomethine)/TiO 2 , and poly(azomethine)/ZnO nanocompos- ites were synthesized and structural characterization were studied using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, UV-Visible spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Photocatalytic experiment was carried out by varying dye concentrations from 10 to 50 ppm using synthesized photocatalyst in presence of natural sunlight. The degradation efficiency, reaction kinetics, and isotherm studies revealed that the poly(azomethine) PAZ/ZnO (PNZ) nanocomposites have excellent photocatalytic activity than PAZ, ZnO, TiO 2 , and poly(azomethine)/TiO 2 (PNT). At optimum dye concentrations of 10 ppm methyl orange and Alizarin Red S shows maximum degradation efficiency was 87% and 86% using PAZ/ZnO nanocomposites, as a photocatalysts. The maximum time that required for the dye to degrade was 5 h. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy UV-Visible spectroscopy, SEM, and EDAX were used to describe the samples after the photocatalytic investigation. To examine the effect of decolorisation of dyes using synthesised photocatalysts pseudo-first-order kinetic, pseudo-second-order model, Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms studies were carried out. This can be a step or an economical social measure to get into a generation which effectively uses the available resources for the essential human needs rather than creating a system which can destruct the environment sooner or later causing chaos to the future generation.


INTRODUCTION:
The open angle glaucomas are a group of asymptomatic and potentially sight threatening conditions, for which Intraocular Pressure (IOP) is the only modifiable risk factor. The main modalities for lowering IOP include topical anti glaucoma medication and surgery. Even in seemingly well controlled patients, fluctuations in IOP over the 24 hour period pose a significant risk factor for progression of the disease. Very few studies have been undertaken to compare the efficacy of surgery and medical management with regard to controlling the circadian peaks and fluctuations in IOP.
OBJECTIVES:
This study aimed to compare the 24 hour IOP profiles, peak IOPs and IOP fluctuations in patients with open angle glaucoma, who had achieved target IOP with topical anti glaucoma medication, versus those who had undergone trabeculectomy.
METHODS:
This was a prospective cross sectional observational study which included 40 eyes of 22 patients who had achieved target IOP as per IOP measurements performed in the
outpatient department. 20 patients were on various topical anti glaucoma medication (medical group), whereas 20 had undergone trabeculectomy (surgical group). Patients
were hospitalized for a 24 hour period to undergo phased IOP measurements with both Goldmann Applanation Tonometry and Tonopen, at 10 am, 2 pm, 6 pm, 10 pm, 2 am and 6 am. To study the effect of posture on night time IOP, Tonopen readings at 2 am and 6 am were performed in the supine position.
RESULTS:
The mean 24 hour IOP in the medical group was found to be 15.40 + 1.95 mm Hg, with a range of IOP fluctuation of 6 + 1.97 mm Hg. In the surgical group, the mean IOP was
12.69 + 2.30 mm Hg, with the range of IOP fluctuation being 4.25 + 1.91 mm Hg. The peak IOPs in the medical group and surgical group were 18.65 + 2.39 mm Hg and 15.05
+ 2.98 respectively. At all times, though the surgical group had lower IOPs, these differences were not statistically significant. Comparison of the diurnal IOP curves
showed an early morning peak in the medical group, but no peak in the surgical group, with the nocturnal IOP also being lower in habitual supine position in the surgical group. Short term change in posture did not seem to affect IOP measurement.
CONCLUSION:
The surgically controlled, as well as lower IOP fluctuation over a 24 hour period with no IOP peaks, as compared to medical management, although these differences were not statistically significant.


Solidification and melting processes involve a range of physical phenomena and their interactions (i.e., multiphysics). Computational modeling of such processes presents a significant challenge, both in representing the physics involved and in handling the resulting coupled behavior. Two methods for the computational modeling of multiphysics processes in complex geometries are highlighted in the context of four challenging applications


In order to resolve the problem of capturing double shadow images in the shooting range test, a novel automatic image mosaic algorithm is proposed in the paper. Each double shadow image will be split into the odd field image and the even field image, then two field images will be complemented to two frame images, finally mosaic the middle image of two frame images by the algorithm. The mosaic algorithm mainly adopts SUSAN algorithm to abstract the feature points in the two images, then a pseudo matching set is obtained by comparing local neighborhoods of features through intensity cross-correlation method, these pseudo matches are divided into inliers and outliers using robust RANSAC algorithm, then estimate the point transformation matrix between two images accurately, finally seamlessly stitch two overlapping images. The experimental results show that the image mosaic effect is wonderful; the algorithm expands the applicable scope of the traditional mosaic algorithm.


We consider an elliptic boundary problem defined in a bounded region Ω ⊂ Rn and where the spectral parameter is multiplied by a weight function ω(x). We suppose that ω(x) ≠ 0 for x ∈ Ω, but vanishes in a specified manner on the boundary of Ω. Under limited smoothness assumptions, we derive results pertaining to existence and uniqueness of and a priori estimates for solutions of the boundary problem. If S(λ) denotes the operator pencil induced in L2(Ω) by the boundary problem with zero boundary conditions, then results are also derived pertaining to the spectral properties of S(λ).


Alders are well recognized for their ability to colonize the harsh environments created by either natural processes or human activity. They establish symbiosis with the actinomycete Frankia which supplies 70 to 100 % of the plant's nitrogen requirements. An important challenge facing the oil sands industry in Alberta, Canada, is management of the toxicity of Tailing Sands (TS) that are alkaline, saline and contain Naphthenic Acids (NA).In order to begin to understand how alders, Frankia and their symbiosis perform and adapt to these challenging environmental conditions, the tolerance of the microsymbiont (Frankia), the host plants (alders) and their symbiosis to specific compounds found in TS was studied. In addition, the metabolic response of Frankiaalni ACN14a to the presence of NA was characterized. The Frankia strains tested tolerated both high pH and NA levels in addition to salts near or at the concentrations found in TS. Furthermore, actinorhizal symbiosis can establish itself under these conditions. NaCl was observed to exert the greatest stress on the establishment of symbiosis, decreasing the efficiency of the actinorhizal symbiosis. Inoculation of the alder plants with Frankia induced a significant increase in aerial biomass allocation. Finally, intracellular proteins in Frankiaalni ACN14a whose expression level were influenced by naphthenic acids were identified. Together, these results demonstrate that actinorhizal alders show significant promise for use in the revegetation of lands affected by the mine tailings of the Canadian petroleum industry.


In this paper, we first construct a model for free surface flows that takes into account the air entrainment by a system of four partial differential equations. We derive it by taking averaged values of gas and fluid velocities on the cross surface flow in the Euler equations (incompressible for the fluid and compressible for the gas). The obtained system is conditionally hyperbolic. Then, we propose a mathematical kinetic interpretation of this system to finally construct a two-layer kinetic scheme in which a special treatment for the " missing " boundary condition is performed. Several numerical tests on closed water pipes are performed and the impact of the loss of hyperbolicity is discussed and illustrated. Finally, we make a numerical study of the order of the kinetic method in the case where the system is mainly non hyperbolic. This provides a useful stability result when the spatial mesh size goes to zero. Notations concerning geometrical quantities θ(x) angle of the inclination of the main pipe axis z = Z(x) at position x Z(x) slope Ω w (t, x) cross-section area of the pipe orthogonal to the axis z = Z(x) filled with water Ω a (t, x) cross-section area of the pipe orthogonal to the axis z = Z(x) filled with air Ω(x) Ω(x) = Ω w (t, x) ∪ Ω a (t, x) S(x) area of Ω(x) R(x) radius of the cross-section Ω(x) σ(x, z) σ(x, z) = β r (x, z) − β l (x, z) width of the cross-section Ω(x) at altitude z with β r (x, z) (resp. βl(x, z)) is the right (resp. left) boundary point at altitude z. Notations concerning the water model ρ 0 density of the water at atmospheric pressure p 0 H w (x, z) water height at section Ω w (t, x) A(t, x) the wet area u(t, x) velocity Q(t, x) Q(t, x) = A(t, x)u(t, x) is the discharge c w air sound speed Notations concerning the air model γ adiabatic index γ, set to 7/5 for a diatomic gas A(t, x) A(t, x) = S(x) − A(t, x) air cross-section area ρ a constant reference density p a constant pressure reference Ω(x) at altitude z ρ(t, x, y, z) density of the air at the current pressure ρ(t, x) ρ(t, x) = 1 A(t, x) Ωa(x) ρ(t, x, y, z) dy dz is the mean value of …


Due to external disturbances on the satellite, unwanted momentum is accumulated on reaction wheels. To remove this momentum, three magnetic torquers which are installed along the satellite's axes are used. The magnetic torquers generated torque indirectly by interactions with the earth's magnetic field. Thus, during momentum dumping, we should consider both the magnetic torquer and the earth's magnetic field generated on the magnetic torquers at the same time. When low earth orbit satellite with high inclination angle holds nadir pointing attitude, weak earth's magnetic field is generated along the satellite's pitch axis. In this case, one magnetic torquer is overloaded and momentum dumping performance is degraded. This research will review the method to improve the momentum dumping performance by adjusting magnetic torquers arrangement.


The wives of 45 Central African Republic men who were clinically asymptomatic but positive by Western blot for antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were tested for evidence of heterosexual transmission. The men who ranged in age from 19-32 years had lived with their wives for at least 1 year during which time there was regular sexual intercourse without condom use. 8 of the man had 2 wives yielding a sample size of 53 women. Only 20 (38%) of these wives of seropositive men were HIV-infected. An earlier study of wives of HIV-infection men conducted in Zaire had identified an infectivity rate of 53%. The incidence of heterosexual transmission of HIV infection reported in this and other studies is higher than that reported for spouses of men infected through blood transfusions (9-19%). There is a need for prospective studies to assess more accurately the risk of heterosexual transmission of HIV infection in Africa and the role of various cofactors. Specifically worthy of further investigation is whether the high prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in Africa especially genital ulcers facilitates disease transmission.


A concurrent multiscale model coupling discrete dislocation dynamics to the finite element method is developed to investigate the plastic mechanism of materials at micron/submicron length scales. In this model, the plastic strain is computed in discrete dislocation dynamics (DDD) and transferred to the finite element method (FEM) to participate in the constitutive law calculation, while the FEM solves the complex boundary problem for DDD simulation. The implementation of the whole coupling scheme takes advantage of user subroutines in the software ABAQUS. The data structures used for information transferring are introduced in detail. Moreover, a FE mesh-based regularization method is proposed to localize the discrete plastic strain to continuum material points. Uniaxial compression tests of single crystal micropillars are performed to validate the developed model. The results indicate the apparent dependence of yield stress on sample size, and its underlying mechanisms are also analyzed.


textabstractIn western countries breast cancer affects approximately 1 in every 10 to 12
women. It is the leading cause of cancer death in women in these countries and
the leading cause of overall mortality in women aged 35 to 55 years. Many risk
factors for breast cancer have been identified including menstrual history.
reproductive behavior, exogenous hormones, and a positive family history for the
disease. Although most of these factors have only a small impact on breast
cancer risk, the role of familial susceptibility can increase the risk for breast
cancer up to a lifetime risk of close to 50% (Claus et al, 1994 ). Genetic
susceptibility for breast cancer obtained attention and practical relevance upon
the identification of the first two major breast cancer susceptibility genes,
BR(east)CA(ncer)1 and BRCA2 (Miki et al, 1994; Wooster et al, 1995).
Breast cancer, like all cancers, is a 'genetic' disease, as it results from an
accumulation of somatic mutations in genes or the altered expression of genes in
the absence or presence of germline mutations.


This thesis seeks to show the evolution of the bank system through the analysis of financial ratios, using principal component analysis and cluster analysis. The objective of this paper is to determine the relationship between the financial accounts and the obtained economic performance, in terms of the main financial ratios that the bank entities present annually to the Superintendence of Banks . It has been investigated in the information of the regulatory agencies like the Superintendence of Banks and Sure and the Central Bank of the Ecuador, in financial institutions and in publications and books related with the statistical theory in their biggest part and in a small part the econometric theory to take the models of analysis of principal components and the conglomerate analysis. The hypothesis of the evolution of the bank system is presented, represented in a multidimensional space, you can represent in main components that you/they explain the variance of the system.


The reason caused by urea dust of prilling tower and its harmfulness were discussed,comparison was made for 3 kinds of recovery schemes of urea dust,summarization was made for clean production scheme from aspects of economic benefit,social benefit and environment,the result indicates that it is more practical that the scheme for recovering urea dust by electro-deduster which is additionally installed at the top of prilling tower.


Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease. The World Health Organization Global Burden of Disease Study estimates that nonoptimal blood pressure [(BP) ie, systolic BP of >115 mm Hg] is responsible annually for 7.1 million deaths and the loss of 64.3 disability-adjusted life years worldwide.1 The associated economic burden of hypertension is also substantial. The average annual medical care cost for individuals with hypertension has been estimated at $3900 (in year 2000 US dollars) in Canada,2 with similar values ($3787) for the United States.3 The increase in medical care costs is greater for those with moderate-to-severe BP elevation (diastolic BP >104 mm Hg) than for those with mild disease.4

Although a broad range of hypertension medications have been demonstrated to reduce BP, and BP control is an achievable goal,5 reports suggest that up to two thirds of patients with hypertension are not successfully treated, that is, achieve BP control.6–8 According to the Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC-7), BP control rates are far below the "healthy people" goal of 50% set in 2000.9 A major (and modifiable) reason for lack of BP control is failure by patients to use medications as prescribed.10 Appropriate use of medications includes compliance, taking medications at the prescribed frequency/interval and dose/dosing regimen, and persistence, continuing their use for the specified treatment time period, which, in the case of hypertension therapy, is usually lifelong.11 Poor compliance with hypertension medications is associated with adverse health outcomes.12

Studies have demonstrated that poor BP control is associated with greater healthcare costs.13 For example, in the United States, inadequate control of hypertension has been estimated to result in &40 000 cardiovascular events, >8000 …


Ferredoxin-nitrite reductase (EC 220.127.116.11) of spinach, an enzyme that catalyzes the six-electron reduction of nitrite to ammonia, contains siroheme, the new type of prosthetic group recently found in several sulfite reductases (both assimilatory and dissimilatory) that can catalyze the reduction of sulfite to sulfide, also a six-electron reduction. The prosthetic group of sulfite reductase had previously been shown to be an iron-tetrahydroporphyrin of the isobacteriochlorin type (adjacent pyrrole rings reduced) with eight carboxylate side chains. This finding suggests that both types of "multi-electron" reduction processes may share common mechanistic features.


Pigmented Villonodular Synovitis of the Pes Anserine Bursa To the Editor: I read with great interest the case report in the January 2007 issue (20[1]:44-47) of The Journal of Knee Surgery by Riccio et al. This is indeed a rare presentation of pigmented villonodular synovitis disease spectrum, described initially by Jaffe et al.3 However, I would like to point out a few discrepancies. Review of the literature reveals not two, but at least nine similar reports of pes anserine pigmented villonodular bursitis (including the cases of Riccio et al and Present et al9).1-6,10 In fact, Riccio et al's second reference to Peterson et al8 is not a case of pes anserine pigmented villonodular bursitis. Rather it involves the lateral aspect of the tibia. Interestingly, the authors refer to articles by Jaffe et al3 and Granowitz et al,2 but fail to recognize that each of them also reports one case of pes anserine pigmented villonodular bursitis. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the modality of choice for diagnosis and follow-up. However, I disagree that the T2-weighted images will have predominantly increased signal intensity in all patients.4,5 Although scattered areas of high signal may be seen on T2-weighted images, the diffuse and modular thickening of the synovium shows predominantly low to intermediate signal intensity on all sequences due to varying amounts of hemosiderin deposits.4,5 This characteristically differentiates this lesion from others and readers should know this. Apart from localization, MRI may also show the extension of abnormal synovial tissue in the periarticular region, in adjacent joints or bursae. Expansion of pigmented villonodular synovitis along an adjoining bursa has been described; Ohnuma et al7 reported an intraarticular lesion with expansion along the pes anserine bursa. They stated that extension into a bursa may be a cause of inadequate resection and subsequent recurrence. Therefore, it is important to distinguish this intra-articular connection. Although MRI is helpful in identifying this, Present et al9 used an intraoperative arthrogram to confi rm this. Review of the literature reveals the mean age for pes anserine pigmented villonodular bursitis to be 35 years (range: 11-63 years) with no predilection for either sex or side.1-6,9,10 No cases were associated with a history of trauma. No cases had limitation of knee motion, although an associated osseous lesion led to a moderate joint effusion in one case.9 This usually has been monofocal, although Kay et al6 reported a metachronous lesion in the wrist. No cases have recurred after excision, although the maximum follow-up has only been 30 months.1-6,9,10 This is in contrast to pigmented villonodular synovitis and could be attributed to the localized nature of pes anserine pigmented villonodular bursitis, which allows the surgeon to be more aggressive and completely resect the mass without fear of signifi cant functional loss.


LOVE FOR CARS "Most kids like to play with cars, but for some it becomes an obsession. This type of person, and there are millions of us, have an unusual pre-occupation with cars. And sometimes it's not at all rational. Indeed we are talking about people of all ages, and all walks of life, who are certifiably car-crazy. Why are people so car-crazy?" (TV Show The people behind the cars) Passion for the automobile is an inspiring and worldwide phenomenon. What makes a car so special and why is it so much fun? Why do people love cars? What is that experience that car owners have, especially car enthusiasts with their beloved classic car and hobby project? "The real challenges of car design are going to be addressing the future generations' perceptions of what they want car's to be in their lives. They are kind of like avatars, how to show myself to the outside world through this car." (Chris Bangle) HEYNSDYK SPORTS CARS Heynsdyk's philosophy is developing open 2-seater sports cars based on an existing chassis through traditional production technologies and providing a both raw and pure building and driving experience for the user. Re-using the 944 chassis, powertrain and driveline extends the life cycle of the existing parts and shows that a passion for special cars can very well be combined with a sustainable solution. Heynsdyk offers the client the possibility to participate in the (dis-)assembling process and by working on such a great project, addressing his or her (hidden) creativity. It is about having fun, getting dirt under your nails and experiencing something new. LOVE Love is "a rewarding, dynamic, and long-term relationship people build with special products they own and use" (Russo, 2006). Love is best described as a relationship. How can we inspire designers to design for love and foster rewarding, long-term, affective, emotionally stable and, ultimately, sustainable person-product relationships? Russo identified a number of aspects related to the experience of love that are relevant to the field of design: • Components of love: passion, intimacy, commitment • Interaction & factors • Relationships over time: attraction > building > continuation > deterioration > break-up PRODUCT AND EMOTION Emotion is a central quality of human existence and most of our behavior, motivation, and thought is enriched with and influenced by emotions. A product, or using a product, can elicit a wide range of emotions. Ignoring the emotional side of product experience would therefore be like denying that these products are designed, bought and used by humans. Within the research-pillar of User Experience, research concerning the Design & Emotion and Designing for a Love Experience has led to theoretical frameworks of emotional processes concerning user-product interaction. Understanding how to design for a user-product love experience can provide designers with better communicative tools and insights useful for enhancing product usability and future design projects. The combination of design and psychology stimulates researchers to bridge the gap between behavioral sciences and design practice. Designing products that have an added emotional value requires an approach that focuses on appraisals and concerns. The Appraisal theory uses the factors stimulus, concern, appraisal and emotion. In short, when a person perceives a stimulus (which can be a product) he or she immediately appraises the situation ('Is this good or bad for me?') using a stock of concerns. After the appraisal the user experiences an emotion and possibly acts on this (Desmet). A stimulus can be a product or product feature which elicits a certain user-product interaction, after which the user immediately experiences a positive or negative emotion, based on the appraisal he or she has made. This approach provides an addition to the established and conventional ways of designing and engineering. REASON OF EXISTENCE Heynsdyk Sports Cars and Delft University of Technology want to benefit from the synergy of academic theory and automotive practice. My objective is to develop a feasible car concept based on a loveable character. I want the user to be involved with the car from the very start so that he or she can develop a relationship with it in such a way that the car and the user are part of each other's identity and legacy. DESIGN TOOL Determine the type of relationship you want to design for and you will know the different phases the user will go through with that product. The next step consists of giving qualitative descriptions of the most relevant user-product interactions in that relationship. These descriptions combined provide the designer with the desired list of product characteristics and the desired product character which answers to the user's concerns and facilitate the love experience: Phase 1: Attraction • Context: seeing the car for the first time, knowing it is yours • Essence: reflecting approachability • Characteristics: familiar, accessible, expressive Phase 2a: Building • Context: working together, blood, sweat, tears, perseverance • Essence: progressive battle • Characteristics: stubborn, confrontational, moldable Phase 2b: 1st Test Drive • Context: high expectations of the end-result, inevitable moment • Essence: resisted receptiveness • Characteristics: strong will, impressible Phase 3: Continuation • Context: creating memories, driving intuitively • Essence: sincere dominance • Characteristics: trustworthy, loyal, honest A LOVEABLE CHARACTER I concluded my research with an analogy that provided me with a character-development or narration: THE DRESSAGE HORSE • Phase 1: Attraction Seeing each other for the first time, finding that one horse, soul mate, knowing it is already yours, raw and untouched in the wild, familiar and expressive • Phase 2a: Building Working together, blood, sweat and tears, perseverance, confronting you with your pros and cons, formable, recalcitrant, progressive battle • Phase 2b: 1st Test drive High expectations of the end-result, inevitable moment, resisting, admissible, strong individual, that long expected first ride on its back • Phase 3: Continuation Context: creating memories, driving intuitively driving & owning, winning contests, merged intuition earned each other's trust: two bodies, one mind


In the work data of development innovative economical surfacing materials and also strengthening technologies which providing the increase of wear resistance due to receipting in the structure of deposited metal metastable austenite and realization effect of self-hardening are generalize. Efficiency combination of electroarc cladding with subsequent heat, chemicothermal and deformation-thermal treatments is show.


The kinematic model of paraller manipulators presents an inherent complexity due to their closed-loop structure and kinematic constraints and, correspondingly, the algorithm for the solution to relavant direct kinematic problems is complex. An algorithm of RBFNN for kinematic problems is thus presented in a nearest neighbor-clustering way to solve simply the positions and orientations of Stewart platform with needed precision, of which the process of solution is simple with good result provided. Comparing with the Newton-Raphson algorithm, the errors of neural network are appproximatively invariable without the effects of initial values and rated number of cycles on them. The results show that this approach can be used for the in-line control of parallel manipulators.


The growing number of female suicide bombers in the Muslim world has recently received a lot of attention by academics and journalists in the West. This developing literature has tended to understand these women as victims or pawns of Islamic patriarchy. This article offers critical review of the causal accounts of female suicide bombing in order to show how these discourses of victimization reify a masculinist justification for American empire. This narrative of empire produces Islam as a religion/culture of patriarchy and, thus, reads Muslim women as needing rescue from their religion and their men in order to validate military intervention in Iraq and Afghanistan. Working from the post-colonial insights of Gayatri Spivak, this article argues that female suicide bombers reflect a subaltern status in the war on terror. As such, these conceptualizations of the causes of female suicide bombing proffer a narrative of masculine rescue against the barbaric force of Islamic patriarchy, rendering the war on terror as a homoterritorial war over masculine dominance in the region.


JoAnn Del Vecchio, BSOT Rehabilitation Therapy Supervisor Children's Home Health Care Services Children's National Medical Center Washington, DC P EDIATRIC REHABILITATION in the home care setting is a growing area in health care requiring experienced occupational, physical, and speech therapists to meet the needs of the children and their families. At Children's Home Health Care Services, located in the Washington, DC metropolitan area, our volume as well as our staff has tripled in the last 3 years. This growth continues and is attributed to many factors.


Developing new ways of generating white light is of paramount importance for the design of the next generation of smart, energy-efficient lighting sources. Here we report tunable white light emission of hybrid organic–inorganic nanostructures based on colloidal ZnO nanocrystals conjugated with organic fluorophores. These materials act as single nanophosphors owing to the distance-dependent energy transfer between the two components. The defect-based size-tunable ZnO nanocrystal blue-green emission coupled with complementary color emission from different fluorophores allows for the generation of white light with targeted chromaticity, color temperature, and color rendering index. We further show that silane layer-protected nanoconjugates result in increased stability of white light emission over a long period of time. The results of this work demonstrate an inexpensive, green, and sustainable approach to general solid-state lighting, without the use of rare earth or heavy metals. Colloidal form of the repo...