We review our recent formulation [1, 2] of computing entanglement entropy in aholographic way. The basic examples can be found by applying AdS/CFTcorrespondence and the holographic formula has successfully been checked in manyexamples of conformal field theories. We also explain the covariant formulationof holographic entanglement entropy which is closely related to the covariantentropy bound (Bousso bound) in an interesting way.


Abstract : The practical demonstration of basin-scale ocean state estimation has been realized through the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) whose projects provide complete descriptions of the temperature, salinity, and velocity structure of the global ocean. The ocean circulation, temperature and salinity distributions of coastal regions are characterized by smaller scale processes typically not resolved by basin-scale estimates of the ocean structure. The overarching goal of this project is to assess the impact of the large-scale ocean structure (as produced by GODAE), when used in conjunction with satellite observations, on the numerical prediction of the coastal ocean environment. Although the coastal circulation of the Monterey Bay and greater California central coast is in part driven by strong local forcing when present, the generally narrow continental shelf and open coastline of this region also leave it exposed to the energetic circulation of the California Current System offshore and more generally to the stratification and transports of the eastern Pacific ocean. The objective of this proposal is to use the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) and a recently developed suite of numerical tools (the ROMS 4 Dimensional variational data assimilation, ensemble prediction, and generalized stability analysis toolkits) to quantitatively explore the influence that open boundary conditions from Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE) products and satellite-derived data have on the observability and predictability of the circulation in this coastal region.


Abstract Graphite intercalation compounds (GICs) with the trichlorides of Y, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu have been prepared and characterized by chemical analysis and X-ray diffraction. Attempts to synthesize binary GICs with LaCl3, CeCl3, PrCl3, and NdCl3 failed. By heating mixtures of YCl3 + LnCl3 (Ln = La - Lu) with graphite ternary GICs were obtained. The molar ratios LnCl3:YCl3 in the GICs were found to increase from La to Dy which runs parallel to the decrease in the ionic radii of the Ln3+ ions.


This study aims to analyse the effect of exposure to benzene vaporagainst immunoglobulin G andworker health complaints at gas stations in Surabaya throughphenol levels In urine. The research methods ofthis study is Analytic observationalwith crossectional study. The sample in the study group of 11 people exposed to the gas station operator and unexposed groups of 11 administrative officers gas stations. Data collection techniques with interviews, measurement of the levels of benzene in the air, the measurement of phenol in urine, blood sampling and questionnaires. Independent variable is the concentration of benzene in the air. Dependent Variable is the concentration of immunoglobulin G and health complaints. Variable between is the phenol content in the urine. Age, nutritional status, length of service and length of employment isconfounding variable. Result: The mean levels of benzene where the operator of 1.4454 ppm and administrative space for 0.1234 ppm. Mean urine levels of phenol in the exposed group is 36, and the 6064 ppm group was not exposed to 2.9773 ppm.Mean levels of immunoglobulin G in the exposed group was 1518.7 mg/dl and non-exposed groups at 1048.8 mg/dl. Most health complaints in the group is exposed and unexposed nervous system disorders. By using linear regression, the levels of benzene in the air significantly affect the levels of phenol in urine (p> 0.05) and phenol in urine affect the increase in immunoglobulin G (p <0.05). Whereas phenol in urine no effect the health complaints using logistic regression. Conclusion: exposure to benzene vapor affect the increase in immunoglobulin G and no effect health complaints. Keyword:- exposure to benzene vapor, gas stations, phenol content in urine, immunoglobulin G, health complaints.


This paper will discuss Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) and its application in the humanities, with special focus on questions of concern to literary history. I begin with an introduction to ABM. Unlike text mining, topic modeling, and social-network analysis, which apply quantitative analysis to already existing text corpora, ABM creates a simulated environment and measures the interactions of individual agents within that environment. Like video games, agent-based models simulate rule-bound behaviors and generate outcomes based on those rules. However, unlike most games, where the "procedural rhetoric" of the game "persuades" users (Bogost), ABM does not depend on human interaction, but can be run many times with changing variables. Researchers can alter the parameters of agent behavior and compare how different models generate different outcomes. In the fields of ecology, economics, and political science, ABM has been used to show how the behaviors of individual entities—microbes, consumers, and voters— collectively alter large emergent phenomena. ABM offers a promising new way to approach longstanding humanistic questions, such as how literary genres change over time, how publics form and transform, how consumer markets influence authors, how ideologies move across national boundaries, or how family structures affect reading practices.


In this paper, we study the dynamics of the family of complex maps given by , where c and λ are complex parameters such that c lies in the interior of a hyperbolic component of the Mandelbrot set but not at its center and λ is arbitrarily small. We prove that the Julia set of F λ consists of a countable collection of inverted copies of curves that are homeomorphic to the Julia set of F 0 and uncountably many point components that accumulate on each of these curves.


The purpose of this study is to implement a landscape lighting system that displays full color video by precisely controlling the R, G, B (Red, Green, Blue) LEDs which have a resolution of 256 each. The system implemented in this study consists of a PC, MASTER, SLAVEs and MODULEs. The PC sets the various landscape lighting displays, and the image files can be sent to the MASTER through a virtual serial port connected to the USB (Universal Serial Bus). The MASTER sends a sync signal to the SLAVE. The SLAVE uses the signal received from the MASTER and the landscape lighting display pattern.


The Handbook is written for academics, researchers, practitioners and advanced graduate students. It has been designed to be read by those new or starting out in the field of spatial analysis as well as by those who are already familiar with the field. The chapters have been written in such a way that readers who are new to the field will gain important overview and insight. At the same time, those readers who are already practitioners in the field will gain through the advanced and/or updated tools and new materials and state-of-the-art developments included.
This volume provides an accounting of the diversity of current and emergent approaches, not available elsewhere despite the many excellent journals and textbooks that exist. Most of the chapters are original, some few are reprints from the Journal of Geographical Systems, Geographical Analysis, The Review of Regional Studies and Letters of Spatial and Resource Sciences. We let our contributors develop, from their particular perspective and insights, their own strategies for mapping the part of terrain for which they were responsible. As the chapters were submitted, we became the first consumers of the project we had initiated. We gained from depth, breadth and distinctiveness of our contributors' insights and, in particular, the presence of links between them.
The chapters were rigorously refereed blindly by the contributors to this volume. Referee reports were sent to each author and changes made accordingly. We supervised this process to guarantee that authors received reviews that would be useful for finalizing their chapters. The soundness of the comments and ideas have contributed immensely to the quality of the Handbook. Fortunately, we were dealing with truly exemplary scholars, the most distinguished and sophisticated representatives of the fields of inquiry.
We thank the contributors for their diligence, not only in providing extremely thoughtful and useful contributions, but also in meeting all deadlines in a timely manner and in following stringent editorial guidelines. Moreover, we acknowledge the generous support provided by the Institute for Economic Geography and GIScience, Vienna University of Economics and Business. Thomas Seyffertitz greatly assisted in keeping the project well organized. Last but not at least, we have benefitted greatly from the editorial assistance he and Ingrid Divis provided. Their expertise in handling several word processing systems, formatting, and indexing, together with their care and attention to detail, helped immeasurably.


For accurate beam analysis of a radiating antenna array on a complex platform, the mutual coupling and platform scattering effects are important. We proposed a beam pattern analysis method for an antenna array on a complex platform, which combines the active element pattern method of the receiving mode and hybrid geometrical theory of diffraction antenna current Green's function technique. This proposed method clearly and mathematically divides the beam pattern of the antenna array on a complex platform into mutual coupling and platform scattering components. For a 12 linear dipole array embedded in a complex aircraft, analyses of the beam pattern and boresight error using the proposed method were verified with the method of moment results, which were simulated with FEKO. With reasonably good accuracy, the proposed method can efficiently analyze a beam pattern reflecting the mutual coupling effect and the platform scattering effect. Additionally, convex optimization with the proposed method is simply applied to synthesize the compensated beam pattern.


EnglishThe goal of the present article is to analyze the Preface to the Letter to d'Alembert, written by Jean-Jacques Rousseau and published in 1758. Beyond the criticism against the theater made by the philosopher, I will try to clarify what is the work's register by showing the connection among literature, feeling and politics and the work he seems to be engaged to from its beginning. In order to do so, I will compare Rousseau's posture with two dramatic characters from the French classical theater. This strategy seems interesting if we consider the polemic motivated by the mentioned work and also the lack of studies dedicated exclusively to its Preface. portuguesO presente artigo tem por objetivo analisar o Prefacio da Carta a d'Alembert, de Jean-Jacques Rousseau, obra publicada em 1758. Para alem da critica ao teatro efetuada pelo filosofo, tentarei explicitar o registro em que a obra se insere, mostrando a ligacao entre literatura, sentimento e politica na qual desde o inicio da Carta a d'Alembert Rousseau parece se engajar. Para tanto, aproximarei a postura do filosofo genebrino a de dois personagens dramaticos do teatro classico frances, estrategia que parece interessante se pensarmos na polemica motivada pela obra e, tambem, na ausencia de comentarios consagrados exclusivamente ao Prefacio.


Background Marfan syndrome (MFS), an inherited disorder caused by FBN1 gene mutations, causes fatal aortic aneurysm. Selective angiotensin II (Ang II) type 1 (AT1) receptor blockade is a preventive option for patients with MFS aortopathy, and recent clinical studies demonstrated that the inhibitory effect of an AT1 receptor blocker (ARB) losartan on aortic aneurysm growth is equivalent to that of β-blockers. At present, several ARBs are clinically available, and they have drug-specific differences in pharmacological properties. Especially, inverse agonism of ARBs has potential benefits for cardiovascular protection, but its impact on MFS aortopathy remains poorly understood. Methods Candesartan-7H is a candesartan derivative which lacks the carboxyl group critical for inverse agonist activity and works as a neutral antagonist for AT1 receptor. Candesartan cilexetil (1 mg/kg/day), candesartan-7H (1 mg/kg/day or 20 mg/kg/day), or vehicle was administered to Fbn1C1041G/+ mice, and aortic aneurysm formation was analyzed using echocardiography, histological staining, and in situ MMP assay. Activation of TGF-β signaling and mechanosensitive signaling was studied using western blot and immunohistochemical analysis. Results Candesartan cilexetil (1 mg/kg/day) and candesartan-7H (20 mg/kg/day) lowered blood pressures equally in Fbn1C1041G/+ mice, but that candesartan-7H (1 mg/kg/day) did not. Aortic aneurysmal progression in association with aortic wall thickening, degeneration of elastic fibers, deposition of collagen, MMP activation, and TGF-β signaling activation in Fbn1C1041G/+ mice was significantly suppressed by treatment with candesartan cilexetil (1 mg/kg/day), but not by candesartan-7H even at 20 mg/kg/day. In addition, candesartan cilexetil, but not candesartan-7H, inhibited up-regulation of mechanical stress–responsive transcriptional factor Egr-1 in ascending aorta of Fbn1C1041G/+ mice. Conclusions Our findings support a crucial role of inverse agonist activity of ARB for prevention of mechanical stress-induced AT1 receptor activation and aortic aneurysm formation in MFS mice.


Influence of 35% rice flour addition to wheat flour was investigated for chemical, functional and baking quality of pretzels. Results revealed that rice flour addition increased the lightness and true density while as emulsion activity, gelatinization temperature and least gelation concentration decreased. Farinographic characteristics indicated that water absorption capacity increased with decreasing mixing tolerance index. Pretzels developed with 35% rice flour addition showed increase in diameter, spread ratio of pretzels as well as fracturability.


Drawing on resource-based theories of self-regulation and the spillover–crossover model, we investigated not only how leadership role occupancy may affect job occupants' obesity but also how its influences may cross over to shape their spouses' obesity. Adopting a programmatic approach with three panel datasets from the US, the UK, and Australia, we found that leadership role occupancy was positively related to job demands, which in turn was positively related to job occupants' loss of sleep and obesity. Moreover, the spillover– crossover influences of job demands were also revealed: incumbents' job demands were also positively associated with spouses' loss of sleep and obesity. Our research enriches the leadership research by offering a new spillover–crossover perspective to the consequences of leadership role occupancy, and contributes to work–family research by highlighting the importance of holding a leadership position as an antecedent of the crossover effect of job demands on health outcomes.


In this paper a method for computing a feedback controller for a manufacturing assembly cell modeled by a Petri net will be presented and a method for dealing with uncontrollable and unobservable transitions is proposed. The control goal is tocenforce a set of linear constraints on the marking behavior or state of thepetr i net. The method discussed here is a powerful means of realizing these constraints because it is simple to calculate, and t,he Petri net structure of the solution makes the controller easy to implement,. The controller computation is derived using the concept of Petri net place invariants. This derivation originally appeared in [.5] and produces controllers identical to the monitors {2] of Giua et al. This approach has been recently extended to apply to Petri nets which contain uncontrollable transitions, the firing of which cannot be forced to or prevented from occurring if they are currently enabled. This extension also relates to placeinvariant s and is easy and transparent to implement with excellent numerical properties. This invariant based approach to design of Petri net feedback controllers has a number of advantages:


Perovskite pure BaTiO3 (BT) nanoparticles with spherical morphology and PX-phase PbTiO3 (PT) nanowires with acicular morphology, were synthesized by microwave–hydrothermal process, and their atomic-scale microstructures were characterized by electron microscopy. Both X-ray diffraction (XRD) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns demonstrated that the produced BT nanoparticles remained a cubic perovskite structure at room temperature. The BT nanoparticles exhibited a spherical morphology with a nearly uniform size of 50 nm. The PX-phase PT nanowires exhibited acicular morphology with diameter sizes of 40–60 nm and length up to several micrometers, and the aspect ratio was close to 90. They tended to grow into a regular structure with parallel arrangement along their long axis in the [001] direction. The extinction rule for the diffraction indexes (h, k, l ) in the XRD pattern is the sum of (h, k, l ) equal to odd number, similar to body-centered cubic crystal. In the SAED patterns of the PX-phase PT nanowires, both super electron diffraction spots with a threefold modulated periodicity along the [110] direction and the appearance of strong diffraction spot (008) but the forbidden (004) spot, were clearly observed, which indicated that the PX-phase PT has a threefold modulated periodicity along the [110] direction, and fourfold modulated periodicity in the [001] direction, respectively. This result was confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images. The Raman bands centered near 146, 193, and 292 cm−1 observed in the nanowires at room temperature, could be assigned to the E(1LO), E(2TO), and E+B1 phonon modes of the tetragonal PT structure, respectively. However, no phonon modes of the tetragonal PT structure were responsible for the additional three Raman bands centered near 175, 548, and 832 cm−1, which are presumed to be resulted from the additional Raman modes of the PX-phase PT with a large and complex unit cell.


As a result of the heterogeneity of decision-makers, it is more suitable to use multi-granular linguistic information to express assessing information over alternatives for decision-makers. Decision-makers may only provide partial preference information as the limitation of knowledge over the alternatives. Thus, the incomplete multi-granular 2-tuple fuzzy linguistic preference relations (IMGFLPRs) can be applied to manage the GDM problems in complex environments. In this paper, we propose a novel group decision-making (GDM) model based on mathematical programming with IMGFLPRs. It is more important that the proposed mathematical programming can directly deal with IMGFLPRs and does not need to be converted into a uniform form. By this means, we construct a consensus reaching process based on IMGFLPRs, considering simultaneously dynamic adjustment of experts' weight. Finally, an emergency plan selection problem is solved by the proposed model, which shows the result of GDM is effectiveness.


Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been extensively investigated in recent decades owing to their multi-functionalities for applications such as gas absorption, catalysis and sensing. A subset of MOFs, called zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIFs), has been found to be of particular interest due to their potential to play a role like zeolites. However, the melt-quenched ZIF glasses are of recent origin. It has been discovered that certain types of ZIFs can melt prior to decomposition, and hence, can be vitrified upon quenching. 1-3 Study of this new family of glasses gives new angles to understand fundamental glass problems such as crystal melting, glass formation, glass transition, and glass relaxation. In the present work, we study enthalpy relaxation and thermodynamic properties in ZIF-62 (Zn(Im) 1.75 (bIm) 0.25 ) glass. Its enthalpy relaxation time described by the Kohlrausch model demonstrates a broad distribution with the stretching exponent β of 0.4 to 0.8. We have found that β increases with increasing annealing temperature. These relaxation behaviors indicate a high degree of the structural heterogeneity at medium-range scale in ZIF-62 glass. Moreover, we have studied the temperature dependences of the enthalpy, entropy and Gibbs free energy of ZIF-62. The smaller Gibbs energy difference at temperatures close to T g could be the thermodynamic origin of the ultrahigh stability of ZIF-62 glass against crystallization, e.g., compared to metallic glasses.


Early in the treatment of pneumonia with sulfapyridine and sulfathiazole, attention was drawn to the side effects of those drugs on the kidney. Complications involving the urinary tract have been caused by obstruction of the ureters, kidney pelves, calices and tubules by crystals of the acetylated form of the drug and secondly by toxic effects of the drugs on the kidney tissue. Changes noted in renal tissues were cloudy swelling and desquamation in the tubules. Such changes were noted by Smith and Delaney, 1 who have recently reported 5 cases of pneumonia in which renal complications developed following treatment with sulfapyridine and sulfathiazole. Two patients failed to survive and came to postmortem examination. In the first instance sulfapyridine was administered. Pathologic examination of the kidneys showed definite degenerative changes confined largely to the convoluted tubules. The second patient suffered from chronic glomerulonephritis, contracted pneumonia and was treated with sulfathiazole. Postmortem


Artificially multilayered copper/nickel thin films with bilayer repeat lengths between 1.6 and 12 nm were produced by ion beam sputtering. The mechanical properties of these films were investigated by low load microhardness and nanoindentation (force versus depth) techniques. It was found that none of the films displayed bilayer repeat length dependent enhanced elastic behavior (the supermodulus effect) as measured during unloading in the nanoindenter. However, enhancements in hardness, as measured by both the nanoindenter and the low load microhardness tester, were observed in films with small bilayer repeat lengths. These measurements displayed a Hall-Petch-type relationship, using the individual layer thickness (equal to half the bilayer repeat length) as the characteristic "grain size." This hardness behavior can be understood in terms of a mechanism involving dislocation pinning at the interfaces analogous to the mechanism of grain boundary hardening.


The COVID-19 pandemic has placed health services under an extraordinary degree of clinical pressure. Concomitantly, we have faced an unprecedented educational demand. In a short period, those working in anaesthesia, operating theatres and critical care needed to learn how to work in a different way, conform to ever-changing infection control guidance and use cumbersome personal protective equipment (PPE). Translating national guidance on COVID-19 into a form that would work effectively in our institution posed an additional challenge. Furthermore, many colleagues volunteered to extend their roles to work in expanded critical care units. As a team of anaesthetists and critical care doctors working at a major teaching hospital, we followed our professional associations' advice to 'think sim' in our preparatory strategy for COVID-19.1 In this short paper, we report our insights from using simulation in the workplace to rapidly address the educational needs of those involved in delivering critical and perioperative care to patients with COVID-19. When the World Health Organization declared the pandemic on 11 March 2020,2 we volunteered to act as educators in the departments of anaesthesia, cardiothoracic anaesthesia and critical care, in order to develop and deliver simulation training. Because of time pressures, recruitment to these roles was pragmatic, based on prior simulation experience and subject matter expertise. Initial simulations helped to develop standard operating procedures (SOPs) based on resources from the icmanaesthesiacovid-19.org and gov. uk websites.3,4 These initial simulations took place in the working environment and involved 'walking through' clinical scenarios that we anticipated would be encountered during the pandemic, based on the reported experiences of colleagues internationally. Multiple stakeholders were involved, including clinicians, managers and infection prevention specialists; pauses occurred regularly, and open discussion was encouraged so that SOP development could be informed by the views of all team members. This enabled the rapid development of COVID-19-specific procedures, including for emergency tracheal intubation and prone positioning, that were implementable at our institution using equipment and techniques with which colleagues were familiar.


Treatment of guaiazulene ( Ia ) with NBS in benzene gives various, side-chain-brominated compounds, but in hexane it affords exclusively 3-bromoguaiazulene ( Id ). Compound Id is stable in hexane at 5°C in the absence of oxygen, whereas in benzene it changes very rapidly to a mixture of similar compounds as those directly obtained from Ia and NBS in benzene. Possible pathways for the formation of these compounds are briefly discussed. By utilizing these reactions, various kinds of side-chain functionalized azulenes that are otherwise not available by conventional methods can be readily prepared from Ia .


Different testicular temperatures and some physiological parameters were determined in native goats from the northeast of Brazil, to evaluate the response of animais with different scrotum morphologies to high environmental temperatures. In goats with "divided scrotum trait" it was observed a lower increase in respirato1y rate and testicular temperatures when environmental temperatures increased, in comparison with goats without divided scrotum. suggesting that they have a better the1moregulatory response to the l ocal clim atic conditions.

KEY WORDS:caprines- theJTTioregulation- testicles- reproduction- cli.mate- semen


Due to space information of defect can not be exactly estimated in non-destructive testing of industrial CT, reconstruction algorithm of defect is proposed in this paper. Octree is used to save memory space, the method of growing from inside and carving from outside is used to find exact edge of defect, and the isosurface extracted through MC is used to get final reconstruction model by topology simplification. Experiment proves that this method can view the 3D space shape of defect, improve efficiency of the detection, and get distribution of defect in any direction of space.


Single-atom noble metal on catalyst support tend to migrate and agglomerate into nanoparticles due to high surface free energy at elevated temperatures. Temperature-induced structure reconstruction of support can firmly anchor single-atom Pt species to adapt high temperature environment. We used Mn 3 O 4 as a restructurable support to load single-atom Pt and further turned into single-atom Pt-on-Mn 2 O 3 catalyst via high-temperature treatment, which is extremely stable under calcination conditions of 800 o C for 5 days in humid air. Experiments reveal that high valence Pt 4+ with more covalent bonds on Mn 2 O 3 are essential for anchoring isolated Pt atoms by strong interaction. Optimized catalyst by moderate H 2 O 2 etching exhibits the best catalytic performance and the excellent thermal stability of single-atom Pt in high-temperature CH 4 oxidation on account of more exposed Pt atoms and strong Pt-Mn 2 O 3 interaction.


Photosynthetic capacity(Amax),transpiration rate(Tr) and photosynthetic water use efficiency(PWUE) were measured for 49 species in four green spaces in spring in Wuhan City,Hubei Province,using a portable photosynthesis system(CIRAS-2,PP systems,Amesbury,USA).There were significant differences in Amax,Tr and PWUE among green spaces,shrubs and trees and deciduous and evergreen plants.However,the variation among green spaces was mainly related to differences among species and to a minor extent to differences in microclimate.Based on these gas exchange parameters,the species studied can be divided into four groups: low photosynthesis and low transpiration species(25 species),high transpiration and low water use efficiency species(12 species),high photosynthesis and high water use efficiency species(6 species) and low transpiration and high water use efficiency species(6 species).


The possibilities to use methods and tools of the near-field microwave microscopy for studying small-dimension biological objects are analyzed. Methods for optimization of the resonant sensor structure with regard to the objects features are developed, the system of the information signals formation is proposed.


Hypothermia is the best available therapy for neonatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI) brain injury, but its primary mechanisms remain uncertain1. We hypothesize that HI induces, whereas hypothermia represses, uncoupling of oxidative-phosphorylation (OXPHOS)—an increase of the cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) despite reduction of the mitochondrial energy output2,3. We used a multi-parametric photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) system to compare the effects of HI and post-HI hypothermic treatment on CMRO2 in awake 10-day-old (P10) mice4–9. Here we show that hypoxia (10% O2) elevated CMRO2, but the addition of unilateral carotid artery ligation suppressed CMRO2 and sparked a rapid overshoot of post-HI CMRO2 in the ipsilateral cerebral cortex for at least 2 hours. The post-HI surge of CMRO2 was linked to an increase of mitochondrial oxygen consumption and superoxide outburst, despite reduction of the mitochondrial membrane potential. Notably, post-HI hypothermia blocked the surge of superoxide and CMRO2—primarily by limiting oxygen extraction fraction (OEF)—leading to better preservation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), creatine (Cr) and N-acetylaspartate (NAA) after HI. Mice that did not receive hypothermia exhibited ~80% reduction of CMRO2 at 24 h post-HI, coupled to a large cortical infarction. These results suggest that mitigation of post-HI uncoupling of OXPHOS is an early and/or pivotal effect of hypothermia. Further, optical measurement of CMRO2 may be a sensitive and non-invasive method to monitor brain damage in hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE)10–15.


An urn contains m balls of value -1 and p balls of value +1. At each turn a ball is drawn randomly, without replacement, and the player decides before the draw whether or not to accept the ball, i.e., the bet where the payoff is the value of the ball. The process continues until all m+p balls are drawn. Let $\overline{V}(m,p)$ denote the value of this acceptance $(m,p)$ urn problem under an optimal acceptance policy. In this paper, we first derive an exact closed form for \overline{V}(m,p) and then study its properties and asymptotic behavior. We also compare this acceptance (m,p) urn problem with the original (m,p)$ urn problem which was introduced by Shepp [Ann. Math. Statist., 40 (1969), pp. 993--1010]. Finally, we briefly discuss some applications of this acceptance (m,p) urn problem and introduce a Bayesian approach to this optimal stopping problem. Some numerical illustrations are also provided.


A Thermoelectric Heat Pump (THP) controller system with smart Graphical User Interface (GUI) was introduced to solidify liquid samples for laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) analysis. This paper describes the smart GUI and THP controller system based on the Arduino platform. The THP controller system was built to provide a user-friendly smart GUI for controlling the Peltier Thermoelectric Cooler (TEC) temperature and monitoring the sample temperature acquired from the temperature sensor. Instructions on the construction of the smart GUI and THP controller circuit were explained in this paper. The experimental results on solidifying distilled water and maintaining its freezing phase are presented in this work that demonstrated the excellent performance of the developed system.


We consider the problem of designing state feedback control laws for output regulation in a class of dynamical systems which are described by variational inequalities and ordinary differential equations. In our setup, these variational inequalities are used to model state trajectories constrained to evolve within time-varying, closed, and convex sets, and systems with complementarity relations. We first derive conditions to study the existence and uniqueness of solutions in such systems. The derivation of control laws for output regulation is based on the use of internal model principle, and two cases are treated: First, a static feedback control law is derived when full state feedback is available; In the second case, only the error to be regulated is assumed to be available for measurement and a dynamic compensator is designed.


Taking the soil around the coal gangue mountain in the Fengfeng mining area as the research object, 30 soil samples were collected in the east, southeast and southwest directions within 300m of the coal gangue mountain boundary, and the soil in the mining area was measured by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The contents of five heavy metals such as Cr, Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn were detected, and the spatial distribution characteristics, pollution status and ecological risk of heavy metals in the mining area were analysed. The results show that: (1) the five heavy metals content of Cr, Pb, Cd, Cu and Zn show different decreasing trend from the farther gangue heap and the increase of soil depth. (2) Referring to the background value of the national secondary soil environmental standard, among the five heavy metals in the soil, except for Cu and Cr, the average values of three heavy metals of Zn, Cd and Pb are higher than the soil background value; Single factor index evaluation results show that the Pb pollution is the most serious, followed by Cd pollution. The Nemero comprehensive index method shows that the surface soil is moderately polluted when the distance is zero in the three directions, and the rest places are mildly polluted. (3) According to the ecological risk assessment results, the order of potential ecological hazards of single heavy metals are ranked from strong to weak: Cd>Pb>Cr>Cu>Zn, and the soils are all slightly ecologically harmful.


9576 Background: The PK of ch14.18, a chimeric monoclonal antibody (cMoAb) that significantly improves survival in high-risk neuroblastoma, was previously reported to be highly variable in children, and its clearance (CL, 130 mL/h · m2) and volume of distribution (Vdss, 32 L/m2) were >10-fold higher than the CL and Vdss of other cMoAbs. Characterizing the PK of ch14.18 and the factors responsible for its variability could lead to alternative dosing strategies that reduce toxicity. Methods: Detailed PK sampling was performed prior to, during and for 25 d after 4 daily 10 h infusions of 25 mg/m2 of ch14.18 administered with sargramostim (ANBL0032) in children enrolled on an IRB-approved institutional correlative protocol supported by United Therapeutics Corp. Ch14.18 concentrations were measured with a validated ELISA with a lower limit of detection of 0.44 mcg/mL. PK parameters were derived using non-compartmental methods and reported as median (range). Results: 5 males and 4 females, median (range) age 3....


of the teeth and tonsils has been followed by shock equal to that following a major surgical operation. The patient's resistance has been lowered, and the disease has made rapid progress owing to this. This has happened more often than is realized. It must not be thought that I am opposed to drainage of pus-containing areas; but I do advise caution, and more moderation, because the results have not been successful enough to justify the increased pain and suffering inflicted. The humiliation to the individual of losing all the teeth is considerable. In my opinion it is open to argument whether these so-called septic foci are really primary ; it might be claimed that they are just as likely to be manifestations secondary to a general disease, and part and parcel of it. The infection may come from an entirely different source.


Non‐muscular myosin heavy chain IIA (NMMHC IIA) plays a key role in tissue factor expression and venous thrombosis. Natural products might inhibit thrombosis through effects on NMMHC IIA. Here, we have shown that a natural saponin, D39, from Liriope muscari exerted anti‐thrombotic activity in vivo, by targeting NMMHC IIA.


Business Process Reengineering needs to be carried out in line with technological developments and changes in the environment. The goal is to modify procedures, systems, structures, responsibilities, and skills. the need for technology and the importance of increasing the efficiency and competitiveness of the organization or company in the face of organizational change. This article aims to classify, identify scientific publications and conduct a thematic analysis of the current literature in order to create an extensive and detailed understanding of Business Process Reengineering. The research method used is a systematic mapping study (SMS) to examine scientific publications produced from time to time, focus, locus, the type of research that is most widely investigated, as well as the most widely used research method. The SMS procedure follows established empirical guidelines and mapping data relies on the Scopus electronic database. Based on the results of SMS on research in the field of rural banks, it is known that there are 40 studies that meet the inclusion criteria. We classified 40 articles in topic areas by category of paper type, method, focus, locus, and year of research publication. Then, categorized and quantified current studies are generated on various dimensions, a summary of topics, and current research trends.


This paper examines the relation between Research and Development (R&D) intensity and both of the financial performance and firm value for pharmaceutical companies listed on Egyptian Stock Exchange. Because of the future benefits related to R&D, the researcher examines the relationship between R&D intensity and both of the current and future performance. R&D intensity is measured as the ratio of R&D expenditures to total revenues. The financial performance as a first dependent variable is measured using three accounting-based operating performance measures; Return on asset (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), and return on sales (ROS). ROA is computed as the ratio of Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) to total assets; ROE is the ratio of Net income after tax to stockholder equity, and ROS is the ratio of Net income after tax to net sales. With regard to the second dependent variable, firm value, Tobin's Q is used, which is measured by (market value of equity+ book value of liabilities) divided by book value of total assets. Using data of listed pharmaceutical companies on Egyptian stock market for the period between 2000 to 2019, empirical results showed a significant negative relationship between R&D intensity and current performance measured by ROE and ROS, in addition to Tobin's Q. However, the results showed an insignificant negative relation with ROA. On the contrary, Findings indicated a significant positive relationship between R&D intensity and future firm performance measured by ROA only and Tobin's Q, and an insignificant positive relation with ROE and ROS.


The utility model relates to a thermotank of a maximum power point tracking air photoelectric complementary electricity supplying and storing battery in a communication base station. The thermotank comprises a tank body internally provided with a storage battery, wherein the tank body is internally provided with an integrated air conditioner which is controlled and driven by a air photoelectric complementary electricity supplying device with a photovoltaic maximum power point tracking function, an air inlet/outlet pipeline which is communicated with the indoor base station and is formed by a plurality of blind window holes, an exhaust fan and an air inlet fan is arranged at two side plates of the tank body, and a fan of the air inlet/out pipeline is also controlled and driven by the air photoelectric complementary electricity supplying device with the photovoltaic maximum power point tracking function. During working, the temperature in a control box can be always kept at 23-25 DEG C which is an optimum environment temperature required by a storage battery by an intelligent controller of the air photoelectric complementary electricity supplying device. The implementation of the thermotank not only can meet the constant temperature environment in the communication base station, but also can guarantee the optimum environment temperature for using the storage battery, so that the thermotank has the advantages of being reasonable in structure, convenient in use, small in investment, low in electric energy consumption, good in economic benefit and the like.


Discrimination against the elderly is a very latent problem that exists at both the international and national levels. Reaching older is a process of physical and mental changes that occurs over time in a natural way in all human beings. That is why, this campaign seeks to remind Ecuadorian society that becoming an adult is a stage of the life cycle that we are going to spend, that is why it should be treated with the same importance and value it giving them the same Care and rights.


In the case of internal oscillation grinding of deep straight hole which is longer than a wheel width, a workpiece is finished in a taper shape because of a larger elastic deformation of wheel spindle in grinding process. In this paper, the controlled internal oscillation grinding technique for optimal form accuracy of a deep straight hole is developed, introducing retraction grinding method in which a grinding wheel head rapidly retracts a small amount against infeed direction at the beginning of spark-out grinding. Main conclusions obtained in this paper are as follows; (1) In internal grinding of a deep straight hole with retraction motion, the setting retraction amount is decided by the wheel spindle recovery which is almost in direct proportion to the retraction amount. (2) At the optimal retraction amount finishing a workpiece to a minimum taper error, the elastic deformation of wheel spindle just after retraction motion is constant decided by the grinding system even if the plunge speed or the speed ratio are different. (3) The optimal retraction amount is decided by subtracting the above own elastic deformation of wheel spindle from the elastic deformation of wheel spindle just before the beginning of spark-out grinding process without retraction motion.


Harnessing new technologies is vital to achieve global imperatives to restore degraded ecosystems. We explored the potential of genomics as one such tool. We aimed to understand barriers hindering the uptake of genomics, and how to overcome them, via exploratory interviews with leading scholars in both restoration and its sister discipline of conservation – a discipline that has successfully leveraged genomics. We also conducted an examination of research trends to explore some insights that emerged from the interviews, including publication trends that have used genomics to address restoration and conservation questions. Our qualitative findings revealed varied perspectives in harnessing genomics. For example, scholars in restoration without genomics experience felt genomics was over-hyped. Scholars with genomics experience emphatically emphasised the need to proceed cautiously in using genomics in restoration. Both genomics-experienced and less-experienced scholars called for case studies to demonstrate the benefits of genomics in restoration. These qualitative data contrasted with our examination of research trends, which revealed 70 restoration genomics studies, particularly studies using environmental DNA as a monitoring tool. We provide a roadmap to facilitate the uptake of genomics into restoration, to help the restoration sector meet the monumental task of restoring huge areas to biodiverse and functional ecosystems.


The paper questions the complexity of climate change and its relation with education. It discusses the contributions that education can bring to this problem and the challenges that she meets to transform individuals towards climate crisis equating. The reflection dialogues with area's literature and also with theoretical contributions of critical environmental education, political ecology, complexity thought and Beck and Giddens risk sociology. Defends the argument and concludes that environmental education has a rich contribution to offer to climate challenges since it could create critical and complex educational environments able to go beyond the reductionisms that points the recent debate and the answers that insists in repeating past experiences even if they are in the roots of present crisis.


For estimating fuzzy system which is imprecise and represented by fuzzy sets, a regularized least squares support vector fuzzy regression model is proposed. The proposed fuzzy regression model is applying the fuzzy sets principle in weight vector and bias term. Determining the weight vector and the bias term of the proposed fuzzy regression model only requires a single matrix inversion, as against the solution of a complicated quadratic programming problem in previous support vector fuzzy regression model. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed fuzzy regression model.


A secondary emission chamber (SEC) has been built using .00025¿ aluminum foils with a 200Å vacuum-deposited silver coating. After baking the assembly, the foils were cleaned with an argon glow discharge. The chamber was then installed in a primary proton beam at the Brookhaven AGS. A difference in sensitivity of 6% was noted between the chamber's two emitter foils. After exposure to a flux of 1018-1019 protons/cm2, the sensitivity of one of the foils was found to have increased by 0.2% and the other to have decreased by 1.2%. This is substantially better than earlier designs.


about the RepoRt This report examines the role played by Sudanese universities in the country's social and political transformation, past and present. Students and faculty there have historically served as vital voices for political change and community and international engagement, but recent educational policies have severely limited their voices. This report describes these recent policies and their effects and makes recommendations for changes aimed at recovering and expanding the traditional productive role of higher education in Sudan. Linda S. Bishai is a senior program officer in the United States Institute of Peace's Education and Training Center–International Programs Division. She has developed and implemented peace and conflict-resolution programs for Sudanese faculty, students, and civil-society organizations. e d u c a t i o n a n d c o n F l i c t


The purpose of the study. The article considers the problem of taking into account and analyzing factors affecting the political consciousness of modern Russian youth. Theoretical and scientific-instrumental approaches of foreign and domestic political scientists and sociologists to the study of the political consciousness of youth, motives and archetypes of political behavior are analyzed. Socio-psychological, economic and political factors of the political consciousness formation and transformation of young Russian voters are identified and investigated. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the need to develop in Russian political science a methodology for analyzing the factors of modern Russian youth political consciousness, as well as to make copyright proposals for the development of this methodology. Conclusions. The author concludes that methodological approaches to studying the political consciousness of young people exist in Western European and American socio-political science (the concept of a "purposeful voter", political behaviorism, globalization and virtualization of the political and social space) need some adjustment in relation to the study of the political consciousness of Russian youth. We must take into account the peculiarities of the national mentality such as antinomies of political consciousness, irrational motives for political participation. Another important factors are: specifics of the functioning of the Russian political system ("catching up" with the nature of political modernization, underdeveloped forms and mechanisms of political participation, scarcity of electoral democratic experience) as well as modern challenges and risks of the development of Russian statehood (multiple crises of socio-economic and political nature, characteristic of turbulence). The political consciousness of Russian youth, like the youth of any modern state, is characterized by instability and a tendency to radicalism. The political archetypes inherited by modern Russian youth from the generation of the 1990s do not contribute to the harmonization of their political consciousness. In these conditions, the most important theoretical and applied task of Russian political science is the development of a methodology for identifying and analyzing political factors that affect the political mentality of young voters in modern Russia.


In this paper,we introduce the l×m×n matrix A and face operation on A.Then we modify the Morse Lemma and probe the local structure of function at its critical point.Last construct a new algorithm using directions of negative curvature.


The transmembrane flux and exchange of amino acids is mediated by various cooperating transporters that control cell and body amino acid homeostasis. To characterize the function of specific amino acid transporters and their cooperation in live cells, we aim at measuring subcellular changes in amino acid concentration in real time. To generate a highly sensitive biosensor, we modified a previously described L‐tryptophan FRET biosensor composed of CFP and YFP linked together by a bacterial L‐tryptophan binding protein and expressed this new CTY in wild type COS‐7 cells. These cells display high endogenous levels of the amino acid antiporter LAT1‐4F2 (SLC7A5‐SLC3A2), a high affinity exchanger of L‐tryptophan and of other neutral amino acids. Additionally, we expressed the low affinity aromatic amino acid uniporter TAT1 (SLC16A10) that can cooperate with Lat1‐4F2hc. As a low affinity facilitated diffusion pathway, TAT1 can also be used for the control of intracellular L‐tryptophan concentration and sensor calibration. Using a microplate reader and live cell imaging FRET, we show that the new biosensor displays a much improved FRET efficiency compared with the previously described CTYT. Thus, the new CTY biosensor allows us to understand better how the cooperation of amino acid exchangers (antiporters) and facilitated diffusion pathways (uniporters) can together control cellular amino acid homeostasis.


It is shown from the experimentation that the yield stress,tensile stress and Young's modulus are decreased obviously while temperature rising;The cycle hardening happens at 20 ℃~150 ℃ and the hardening degree weakens while temperature rising.The cycle softening happens at 200 ℃~300 ℃ and the softening velocity increases while temperature rising;Its relaxation behavior is similar to metal.Based on these experimentation data,the thermal-elasto-plastic-creep constitutive model is deduced for the brake disc stress-strain analysis and life prediction.In addition,the micro-crack mechanism is also analyzed.


Our recent investigations have identified a method to produce ITO-like films that are less sensitive to variations in the oxygen-containing deposition ambient. Specifically, we are studying the effect of adding small amounts of Zr to both In2O3 and ITO ceramic sputtering targets.


The known polymerization of 4,4′-difluorobenzophenone (DFB) with the dianion of hydroquinone to poly(phenylene ether ether ketone) (PEEK) and polymerization of either DFB with the dianion of 4,4′-dihydroxybenzophenone or self polycondensation of the anion of 4-hydroxy-4′-fluoro-benzophenone to poly(phenylene ether ketone) (PEK) were studied in N-cyclohexyl-2-pyrrolidone (CHP), which is a high-boiling aprotic polar solvent. The formation of high-molecular weight PEEK and PEK in this solvent was very efficient. The reactivity in CHP can be ascribed to effective solvation of metal ions rendering the anion very reactive toward nucleophilic substitution. The polymerization was extended to 4,4′-bis(4-fluorobenzoyl)diphenyl ether and 1,4-bis[4-(4-fluorobenzoyl)phenoxy]benzene to give a high molecular weight polymer with PEK and PEEK repeating units and PEEK respectively. The polymerization of DFB with purified anhydrous sodium sulfide in CHP gave rapidly a high molecular weight poly(phenylene ketone sulfide) (PKS). In contrast, diphenyl sulfone (DPS) was not very effective in obtaining such a high molecular weight PKS even with prolonged heating, which suggests the uniqueness of CHP in promoting a high degree of polymerization.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Introduction: Cognitive dysfunction after stroke is an important concern. We explored the utility of everyday abilities scale for India (EASI) for screening for dementia among young stroke survivors. Methods: We interviewed 150 young stroke survivors and caregivers. Vascular dementia was diagnosed according to American Heart Association-American Stroke Association (ASA-AHA) criteria. EASI was administered to all caregivers. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine the area under the curve and optimum cut-points for EASI for the identification of dementia. Results: Median EASI scores among subjects with dementia (n=35; 23.3%) was 2 (interquartile range: 0-4) and significantly different from those without (median: 0; interquartile range: 0-1; P<0.001). The area under the curve was 0.768 (95% confidence interval: 0.674-0.863), and at the optimum cut-point of 2 on EASI, a sensitivity of 60% and specificity of 91.3% was achieved for the identification of dementia. Conclusion: EASI appears to be a promising tool to screen for dementia among young stroke survivors.


Mental and behavioral disorders are responsible for 7.4% of the total disease burden. Even with optimal care and service delivery, <30% of the burden of disease attributable to mental disorders can be averted, making a strong case for an increase in preventive efforts in psychiatry and mental health promotion. Clinicians can play an important role in implementation of preventive interventions. To carry out these important preventive skills, the training of the future physicians and psychiatrists should incorporate mental health prevention and promotion in the medical curriculum. Although preventive aspects of mental health have been included in the medical curriculum for undergraduates and postgraduates, most of the emphasis during training is on the curative aspects. In this article, various ways of enhancing mental health prevention and promotion component in the undergraduate and postgraduate medical curriculum have been discussed.


The forging technique for large blade of turbine is a kind of important machining technique.In order to decrease the machining quantity of blade forging,"the forging technology of little allowance and close tolerance " is put forward.Four kinds of machining allowance,tolerance,technology for forging method and comparison are illuminated,and the reason that Wuxi turbine blade Co.Ltd.uses "The forging technology of little allowance and close tolerance" is indicated.


By A. P. Giiiii W ITHIN THE PAST 10 years the pathogenesis of certain drug-induced hemolytic anemias and favism has been clarified by a number of investigators.14 Primaquine sensitivity, among others, is now known to be associated with a deficiency of erythrocyte glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6PD). The incidence of this defect has been estimated at approximately 10 per cent among American negroes and is found in variable frequency among a number of ethnic groups in the Mediterranean littoral, Middle East, and Africa. A survey of the incidence of G-6-PD deficiency has not previously been made on the Arabian peninsula and it is the purpose of this communication to provide some preliminary data relating to the incidence of G-6-PD deficiency in Saudi Arabia.


We study the four-wave mixing (FWM) effect in a hybrid atom-optomechanical system, which is composed of an ensemble of two-level atoms trapped inside an optical cavity and a moveable cavity mirror serving as a mechanical resonator. It is shown that the FWM signal in this hybrid system can be significantly enhanced due to the coupling between the optical cavity and the atom ensemble. The larger the atom-cavity coupling strength is, the stronger the FWM will be. More interestingly, the FWM signal can be effectively modulated by the atom-pump detuning. It is demonstrated that, just by tuning this detuning to be positive or negative, the FWM signal can be easily switched on or off for the zero probe-pump detuning case. The obtained results may have potential applications in all-optical wavelength convertors, all-optical switches, or other optical devices.


The article describes the relevance of the development and use of air dehumidification systems in animal husbandry premises, the installation for maintaining the optimal relative humidity of the air is developed. Optimum microclimate in livestock buildings contributes to a more complete realization of the genetic potential of animals and birds, prevent disease, increase natural resistance and prolong the service life of buildings and installed equipment. Ensuring an optimal indoor microclimate is achieved by observing the scientifically based values of the environmental factors that form it (temperature, humidity, air velocity, etc.), which are generalized and given for each type of animal in the relevant standards of technological design of livestock enterprises.


The rapid development of sequencing technology has led to an explosive accumulation of genomics data. Clustering is often the first step to perform in sequence analysis, and hierarchical clustering is one of the most commonly used approaches for this purpose. However, the standard hierarchical clustering method scales poorly due to its quadratic time and space complexities stemming mainly from the need of computing and storing a pairwise distance matrix. It is thus necessary to minimize the number of pairwise distances computed without degrading clustering performance. On the other hand, as high-performance computing systems are becoming widely accessible, it is highly desirable that a clustering method can be easily adapted to parallel computing environments for further speedup, which is not a trivial task for hierarchical clustering. We proposed a new hierarchical clustering method that achieves good clustering performance and high scalability on large sequence datasets. It consists of two stages. In the first stage, a new landmark-based active hierarchical divisive clustering method was proposed that partitions a large-scale sequence dataset into groups, and in the second stage, a fast hierarchical agglomerative clustering method is applied to each group. By assembling hierarchies from both stages, the hierarchy of the data can be easily recovered. Theoretical results showed that our method can recover the true hierarchy with a high probability under some mild conditions and has a linearithmic time complexity with respect to the number of input sequences. The proposed method also facilitates an efficient parallel implementation. Empirical results on various datasets showed that our method achieved clustering accuracy comparable to ESPRIT-Tree and ran faster than greedy heuristic methods.


FIELD: medicine, microbiology. SUBSTANCE: absorbing products including lactic acid bacteria to be kept for prolonged period of time under imperfect conditions could be obtained by applying suspension of lactic acid bacteria upon absorbing product, then the latter is dried to obtain moisture content of not more than 10%, predominantly, lower than 5 %, and mostly predominant to be lower than 1%, calculated as percentage against the weight of absorbing nucleus in product. Absorbing product could be represented by swaddling cloth, hygienic napkin, panty shield, safeguard in case of urine incontinence or by any similar product. It contains lactic acid bacteria, and product is indicated to come in touch with skin in area of patient's perineum where lactic acid bacteria are able to be transferred onto consumer's skin, and, when applied, onto mucosa in area of perineum to develop microbiological barrier to prevent development of unfavorable strains of microorganisms in mentioned area of patient's perineum. EFFECT: higher efficiency. 10 cl, 2 dwg, 3 tbl


Recently, a multiuser MIMO system has attracted much attention because of an important area of focus for next generation wireless system because of their potential for higher capacity, increased diversity and interference suppression with leading higher data rate support. In Multiuser MIMO (MU-MIMO) systems, precoding is essential to eliminate or minimize the multiuser interference (MUI) as in the downlink of the multiuser MIMO system where the base station simultaneously transmits signals to terminals. However, the design of a suitable precoding algorithm with good performance and low computational complexity at the same time is quite challenging, especially with the increase of system dimensions which increases with number of antennas. In this thesis, we mainly focus on MU-MIMO broadcast channel, consider the case where the multiple transmit antennas are used to deliver independent data streams to multiple users and compare the performance for linear and non linear precoding techniques in terms of BER, SNR and complexity point with increase in the number of users and the number of transmit antennas. We propose a new practical scheme leads with low computation complexity and better BER performance with better system utilization.


Reports of increased levels of neuropeptides in sensory nerves innervating a chronically inflamed tissue, as in rat adjuvant arthritis, have been presented.',* Intraplantar injection of Freund's adjuvant in only one of the hind paws of rats leads to the development of localized, monolateral, peripheral inflamrnati~n.~ The contralateral paw remains unaffected during the first 2 weeks of this response and can serve as a control. Using this unilateral inflammation model, we questioned if any unilateral increase in the neuropeptide (calcitonin gene-related peptide, CGRP) content of the corresponding sensory nerve cell body, dorsal horn, dorsal spinal cord, and sciatic nerve could be observed 12 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, and at 5 days after inoculation. We also wanted to know how the neuropeptide level in the supplying nerve fluctuated with the situation in the inflamed tissue itself, that is, the paw skin. On day 5 of inflammation, the CGRP content in the sciatic nerve supplying the inflamed paw was increased by 75% when compared to that of the contralateral side. At this time point, a 40% increase also was noted in the CGRP content in the sciatic nerve dorsal root ganglia (L4-L6) and in the L,-L, segments of the dorsal spinal cord on the inflamed side. CGRP content was also increased in the dorsal root ganglia as early as 12 and 48 hours after induction of inflammation in the paw. At the other time points investigated, CGRP levels remained in the range of those of the contralateral, noninflamed side, where the levels of CGRP in all the tissues did not change during the 5-day observation period. On day 5 of inflammation, axonal transport of CGRP in the sciatic nerve towards the inflamed paw was increased 60% over that on the control side. However, despite this increase in content and transport in the supplying sensory nerve, the amount of CGRP in the inflamed paw itself either was reduced or remained unchanged from day 1 to day 5 of inflammation. This points towards reduced storage and increased release of CGRP in the inflamed tissuee4 On the basis of this finding, we then searched for factors that could be responsible for a continuous increased release rate of CGRP during inflammation. In in uitro release experiments of CGRP from normal rat paw skin, we demonstrated that the release of CGRP was significantly stimulated by either a 60-mM K +


New achieves in wireless network technology, satellite services and cellular communication allows to usage of mobile computing. This mobility is troublesome for doing mobile computing that need to retrieve information from database. System movement during transaction execute, causes to disconnection of mobile unit from wireless network and this disconnection due to transaction abort and mobile system have to redo transaction from start. One of methods that used to prevention of transaction abort is using of cache in mobile units. The information that need to current transaction execution, are saved in cache. Prediction and sending Appling additional information for mobile unit in order to prevention of transaction abort during disconnection of mobile system with wireless network. Our goal of this work is present a solution for prediction information for send to mobile unit in order to use cache operation with usage Fuzzy theory.


Precoding-aided spatial modulation (PSM), which conveys information partially by the indices of receive antennas, has some advantages over conventional spatial modulation (SM) using the indices of transmit antennas. In PSM, the precoder may be optimized for different purposes. In this paper, we study the transmitter design in the PSM systems, which motivates to provide secrecy communications. Specifically, we consider a pair of communication terminals overheard by an eavesdropper. The precoder is optimized by jointly minimizing the power received by the eavesdropper and maximizing the power received by the desired terminal. Both the error performance and the ergodic secrecy rate achievable are studied when assuming communications over independent Rayleigh fading channels. Our studies show that positive secrecy rate and low-complexity detection can be attainable simultaneously for the desired receiver even when the eavesdropper employs more receive antennas than the desired receiver.


The kinetics of CO2 absorption into 30% w/w K2CO3 solutions containing 0.1–0.5 M K4V2O7 was investigated at temperatures of 40, 60, and 75 °C using a wetted wall column. Vanadium(V) speciation diagrams were developed under these conditions as a function of CO2 loading using 51V NMR spectroscopy. From these studies it was determined that there are two oxyvanadate ions that promote the absorption of CO2, HVO42–, and HV2O73–. The Arrhenius expressions for the rate constants of these two species were found to be kHVO4 = 2 × 1011 exp(−4992/T) and kHV2O7 = 5 × 1018 exp(−10218/T), respectively. Comparison of the observed rate constants with other promoters revealed that both active vanadium species showed performances comparable with that of MEA and vastly superior performances over those of other inorganic promoters. Due to speciation changes as the vanadium concentration is increased, the relative performance of vanadium diminished with increasing total vanadium concentration. As such, vanadium may be more sui...


Various models of permanent-sustainable agriculture have flourished since 1980's.Their common tenets are maintaining permanent cultivating,keeping ecosystem balance,protecting healthy of human being and guarding the earth permanent development.This paper introduces three models of permanent-sustainable agriculture,then analyses their five basic characteristics,finally points out their application in Western China Development.


This invention discloses one in-restorable linear temperature detector and its shortcut alarm method, which comprises linear temperature detect element and its switch case and terminal resistance on both ends of the detection parts, wherein, the linear temperature sensor element is composed of two pieces of detection conductors and NTC isolation layer in between with at least one conductor is easy to be fused wires. This invention provides the method can send different alarm signals according to the shortcut fault or break fire.


Abstract
 We report the first know case of male hind-wing aptery among the net-winged beetles (Lycidae). Five male specimens of Cautires apterus sp. nov. were discovered by sifting forest litter in a very small (approximately 300 meters by 50 meters) Kamwala Forest within the North Pare Mountains, Tanzania. Besides being wingless, males of C. apterus sp. nov. have remarkably small body, shortened elytra and reduced pronotal and elytral costae. Generic assignment of this externally unusual new species is based on the molecular phylogenetic analysis, the structure of the male genitalia and the shape of the pronotum. We discuss biological and evolutionary significance of the discovery and suggest that the winglessness of male lycid beetles correlates with the female neoteny.


This study aims to investigate Turkish EFL learners' attributions for success and failure in speaking English, and to find out whether gender and department variables exert any impact on their attributions. The attributions were analyzed and compared in terms of the four dimensions: locus of causality, external control, stability and personal control. The data were gathered through Causal Dimensions Scale adapted to Turkish by Kocyigit (2011). The sample consisted of 104 tertiary EFL students studying one-year-long English in the preparatory program of a state university. Descriptive statistics were utilized to analyze the emergent data as well as independent samples T-tests and ANOVA to test significance between/among the variables. The results indicated that personal controllability and internal reasons—a lot more apparent in attributions for success than for failure though—were the two leading factors which were ascribed to both success and failure in speaking English. In addition, the students' attributions for failure tended to be less stable and more externally controllable in comparison to success. The gender variable had no significant effect on attributions for success and failure. With reference to the department variable, a significant difference was observed not in the attributions for success but those for failure, and only between English language teaching and Civil aviation management departments, in terms of locus of causality dimension.


Financial Inclusion is an Important for economic growth and development of Rural Areas. Benefits of development in most of the developing countries are shared of the society which is a small percentage of total population. Financial inclusion is that stair through which, it is possible over a period of time to transform economically deprived people into a large section of society that actively contributes to the economic development of their country. In this study the growth of various schemes has been studied which being launched for the development of the society in the state of Haryana. These schemes helped poor section of the society to get in touch with banking sector regularly.


Introduction: Rituximab (Rtx) is an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody that is clinically active in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL). In vitro and in vivo data indicate that Rtx mediates its biologic effect through multiple mechanisms including apoptosis, complement dependent cytotoxicity (CDC), and antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). Objetive: To study in vitro sensitivity to apoptosis by Rtx of isolated cells obtained from B-CLL patients Binet stage A, in the presence of complement from different sources and correlate with CD20 and CD59 molecules expression. Methods: PBMCs were isolated from peripheral blood samples by centrifugation on a Ficoll/Hypaque gradient and cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen. Cells from 21 patients were cultured at 1X10 6 cells/ml in RPMI 1640 culture medium supplemented with 20% AB serum or 10% heat inactivated fetal calf serum (FCSi) with increasing quantities of rabbit complement (RC) added as a source of complement. Apoptosis was determined by Annexin V-FITC Apoptosis Detection Kit. The absolute number of CD20 and CD59 molecules pretreatment was measured using DAKO QIFIKIT (DAKO Denmark). Comparison of apoptosis and antigen expression between models of culture was performed by the t Student test and U-Mann Whitney respectively. Results: Incubation of cells with AB alone, FCSi with rabbit complement (RC) or Rtx alone did not induce cell death. A Rtx dose-response study was first performed. Rituximab was added at 1ug/ml, 10ug/ml, 50ug/ml and increasing quantities of RC (10, 30, 60 and 120ul/well). The effect was doses dependent for both Rtx and RC. A discriminant cytotoxic effect was observed with 10 μg/mL Rtx in the presence of 60 ul RC. Cells treated with Rtx 100ug/ml and AB serum for 24 hours caused apoptosis in 52% of patients (11/21 with median of 7%)(Model A). However, when cells from these patients were treated with Rtx, FCSi and RC, at much lower concentration, 10ug/ml and 60ul RC, cell death was observed in 69% of patients (13/21 with median of 37%) (Model B) p Conclusions: Rituximab alone was unable to induce a cytotoxic effect on B cells. The addition of a source of complement is necessary to obtain such an effect. This effect was highest when cells were treated with RC and the citotoxicity was doses dependent. Rituximab-induced cell death was significantly associate with high CD20 expression, and also correlate with the CD59/CD20 ratio independently of complement source used. Correlation between Model A and B, with CD20 and CD59 expression


A calculating system of dissolved inorganic nitrogen exchange total fluxes at the sediment-water interface in Yangtze estuary tidal wetlands was presented.This software system is based on MapObjects ComGIS technology,mathematics modeling method and Visual Basic language.It has many functions such as querying and searching,and spatial interpolation analysis,and can perform dynamic and general calculating for dissolved inorganic nitrogen total fluxes for different sections of Yangtze estuary tidal wetlands in different seasons.Using this software and first-hand measurement data of inorganic nitrogen fluxes of Yangtze estuary tidal wetlands from October 2000 to July 2004,dissolved inorganic nitrogen exchange total fluxes at the sediment-water interface for different sections and different seasons were calculated.The result indicated: in the spring,Yangtze estuary tidal wetlands release inorganic nitrogen fluxes into the water;in the summer,autumn and winter,the wetlands purify inorganic nitrogen in the water;and over the whole year,the wetlands purify inorganic nitrogen in the water.The application of this system indicated that it played a key role in analyzing the ecological function of Yangtze estuary tidal wetlands.


The study compares socialization values held by respondents of different ages from ethnic Estonian and Russian-speaking minority groups living in Estonia over a period of 6 years. Data were collected in three rounds (2006, 2008, and 2012) of the European Social Survey (ESS) in Estonia. In each round representative samples of the noninstitutionalized population aged 15 years and older filled out the Socialization Value Questionnaire (Tulviste 2013). They were asked to mark five qualities in a list of 17, which they considered the most important to develop in children at home. The study found that although the consensus between socialization values of two social groups has been relatively high and stable in the three rounds, it was bigger in older people than younger ones. Respondents placed social values (except independence – that is a self-direction value) among the qualities most desired in children. The stability vs. change and sex were linked to the specific quality rather than to the type of socialization values. The study contributed to the existing literature by demonstrating that the socialization values held by people relate strongly to their age: older people tended to choose qualities related to social values more frequently, and those of self-direction less frequently than younger people.


In the present invention a method and apparatus is disclosed for measuring energy distributions LET and hadron beam or ion. The method and apparatus of the present invention objects are based on ionisation chambers, tools commonly used in radiotherapy dosimetry. The invention is directed to techniques dosimetric verification of hadron therapy beam or ion.


The problem of hydrogenation of InP without surface degradation has been surmounted by exposure of the InP surface to a hydrogen plasma through a thin SiNx(H) cap layer. This layer is H permeable at the hydrogenation temperature of 250 °C, but P or PH3 impermeable thus minimizing PH3 loss and the attendant In droplet formation. In contrast to our results for this type of plasma exposure of GaAs, we find that shallow acceptors in InP are heavily passivated, whereas shallow donors are only very weakly affected. For example, p+‐InP(Zn) of 3×1018 cm−3 has its residual hole concentration reduced to ≤3×1014 cm−3 over a depth of 1.3 μm by a 250 °C, 0.5 h deuteration. The presence of acceptors impedes H (or D) indiffusion, as indicated by D diffusion under the same conditions occurring to depths of 18 and 35 μm in p‐InP (Zn, 2×1016 cm−3) and n‐InP (S or Sn), respectively. Annealing for 1 min at 350 °C causes the acceptor passivation to be lost and the hole concentration to be returned to its prehydrogenation leve...


Assessment of agricultural resources richness rate of county area has practical meaning.A resources richness rate index model was created to analyze and assess the agricultural resources conditions of Fengqiu County in Henan Province in this essay.It was concluded that Fengqiu County had rich agro-climatic resources,but poor land and water resources that needed to be supplied by irrigation and fertilization.Then,the main measures to realize sustainable and effective use of agricultural resources was put forward,including rational utilization of water resource,improvement of soil quality and reasonable distribution of land and water resources.


ABSTRACT Land titling the formal registration of land previously used without formal title, is a policy that is currently in vogue throughout the developing world. As part of this trend, Honduras undertook a land titling project in 1982. Expected outcomes of the project included increased access to credit for small farmers, and subsequently, increased on-farm investment and enhanced tenure security. Analysis of the survey data indicates that titling by itself did not bring the intended outcomes, and that institutional factors must be considered in policy design if policies are to have their intended effect.


There are many problems in conceptual modeling process,such as difficulty of modeling conception sharing,complexity of modeling method,difficulty in cooperative modeling by experts from different domains,and so on.In order to solve those problems,we study the metadata and semantic of geographic conceptual scenarios,geographic conceptual entities and relationships among them.In this paper,geographic conceptual entities are represented by the configurable icons,the relationships among entities are represented while geographic conceptual scenario is organized,and finally the geographic conceptual scenario is built.As the manifestation of geographic conceptual entities and relationships among them,those icons contain the meaning of geo-model,geo-semantics,geo-data,and the match rules between models and data.According to the geo-problem domain,geo-study area,and temporal and spatial scale,geographic icons are chosen to represent geographic conceptual entities and relationships,and match rules are used to build geographic conceptual scenarios.During this process,spatial data specification and geographic model metadata specification are designed as its induction and matching rules,and conception/relationship constrain engine,graphics/conception constrain engine and model/data match engine are designed to guide the model match and data match process. In this paper,the geographic conceptual model of hydrological cycle at regional scale is applied to validate the geographic conceptual modeling environment.By the experiments,it is shown that our research is a new attempt for geographic conceptual modeling,and that this environment is flexible for geographic conceptual scenario building,modeling conception sharing,and modeling result reusing.As a result,it provides a convenient and visualized modeling method for experts in multi-domain of geographic fields.


Pseudomonas syringae pv. phaseolicola, the causative agent of halo blight in common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), was isolated from weeds associated with bean crops in Spain. The bacterium was recovered from Fumaria sp, Mercurialis annua, Solanum nigrum and Sonchus oleraceus. Ps. s. pv. phaseolicola had previously been isolated from leguminous plants and S. nigrum, but to our knowledge, this is the first time it was recovered from the other three species. The isolates were phenotypically and genetically characterized, and they were compared with isolates recovered from common beans. Five different genotypic profiles were detected by PmeI‐PFGE, two of them being of new description. Weed isolates were as pathogenic on bean plants as bean isolates, but they were not pathogenic on S. nigrum. Regarding the survival of the pathogen in weeds, Ps. s. pv. phaseolicola was isolated from So. oleraceus 11 weeks after the end of the bean crop. These results strongly support the idea of weeds as a potential source of inoculum for halo blight in bean.


The stabilization of soft clay is one of the most important construction techniques in geotechnical engineering. The injection method using chemical grouting in the ground has been widely used to improve soft ground. Chemical admixture stabilization (with lime and cement as the chemical admixture) has been extensively used in both shallow and deep stabilization to improve the inherent properties of soil, such as strength and deformation behavior. These methods involve mixing soil with chemicals. The other technique—the so-called chemico-lime pile or chemico-pile method—involves forming columns of chemically treated lime in the soil without mixing. This method is widely used in Japan and Singapore and is a fast, effective, and well-recognized way of improving soil with soft clay deposits. The chemico-pile method has been used in a full-scale test embankment project at the Nong Ngo Hao site near Bangkok, Thailand. The site is part of the second Bangkok International Airport project, located in the Samutprakan Province, 30 km east of the Bangkok metropolis. Both laboratory and field investigations were performed to evaluate the effectiveness of lime columns on soft soil. In situ cone penetration tests were performed to evaluate the reduction in compressibility and the increase in the shear strength of the soils. Numerical modeling using the finite element program PLAXIS was employed to model the chemico-pile–supported embankment. This paper presents the improved effect of chemico-pile on soft clay, discusses the improved embankment behavior seen in the field data, and compares the field data with numerical modeling results for pore water pressure, vertical settlements, and lateral movements.


The article considers the problem modernization of the university. The author puts the question about the traditional humanitarian values and modern brand. He explores the language brands that create the modern image of classical university today. "Educational service", "The cost of knowledge", "Student as a product of the educational process", "The teacher is the seller of knowledge "and etc. are these the language brands.


The invention discloses health bean vermicelli capable of moistening the lung to arrest a cough. The health bean vermicelli is prepared from the following raw materials in parts by weight: 45-50 parts of sweet potato starch, 15-20 parts of red bean powder, 4-6 parts of notoginseng powder, 2-4 parts of chicken, 6-8 parts of avena sativa kernel, 4-6 parts of tremella, 10-12 parts of soybean, 4-6 parts of red peony root, 10-12 parts of cinnamon, 3-5 parts of elecampane, 2-4 parts of semen cassia, 6-8 parts of houttuynia cordata, 10-15 parts of lophatherum gracile, 4-6 parts of day lily, 9-11 parts of loquat leaves, 4-6 parts of fragrant-flowered garlic, 2-4 parts of garlic and 10-12 parts of salt. With the sweet potato starch, the red bean powder and the notoginseng powder as raw materials, the health bean vermicelli is balanced in nutrient, pure in taste, and fine in mouthfeel; and meanwhile, supplemented by the Chinese herbal medicines such as the lophatherum gracile, the loquat leaves and the garlic, the health bean vermicelli has the efficacies of nourishing blood, tonifying blood, moistening the lung to arrest the cough, resolving sputum and relieving asthma.


An 89-year-old female patient received an IV infusion of clindamycin 1.35 g dissolved in 0.9% sodium chloride 250 ml once daily for bronchitis.Ten minutes after infusion started,drug extravasation occurred and the dorsum of hand of the patient became swollen.The needle was pulled out immediately and her lesion was treated with applying compound sodium aescinate gel and receiving wet dressing with magnesium sulfate.The next day,she presented with a blister of 2 cm in diameter at the infusion site and then the blister ruptured.Skin ulceration and necrosis occurred and progressed to black crusts.Dressing change and other treatment were given and,about one month later,her skin ulceration gradually healed.


Household butter expenditures are modeled by market participation and infrequency-of-purchase specifications. The market participation model assumes that zero expenditures represent either traditional corner solutions or consumers who never use the product, whereas the infrequency-of-purchase model assumes that zero expenditures represent either corner solutions or consumption out of storage. We determine that the infrequency-of-purchase specification is preferred to the market participation model by applying a nonnested test based upon likelihood functions. If household expenditure surveys contained information about participation and frequency of purchase, a likelihood function which contained both models could be written and estimated.


Flow-induced vibration in heat exchangers has been a key source of concern in the process, power generation and nuclear industry for several decades. Many incidents of failure of heat exchangers due to apparent flow-induced vibration have been reported. Design of tube bundles with loosely supported tubes in baffles for process shell and tube heat exchanger and steam generator needs estimation of energy dissipation mechanisms or damping for a safer and long term operation. Damping has a major influence on the flow induced vibrations and is dependant on a variety of factors such as mechanical properties of the tube material, geometry and number of intermediate supports, the physical properties of shell-side fluid, type of tube motion, tube frequency, shell-side temperature etc. Various damping mechanisms have been identified and quantified such as Friction damping, Viscous damping, Squeeze film damping, Support damping and Two-Phase damping which affect the performance with respect to flow induced vibration design, including standard design guidelines. But generally the effects of the higher operating temperatures on the various damping mechanisms are neglected in the general design procedure. The operating temperatures play significant role on the contribution of various damping mechanisms. The current paper focuses on the thermal aspects of damping mechanisms subjected to single phase cross-flow in process heat exchangers and formulates the design guidelines for safer design based on experimental and empirical formulations. The research results show that he increase in the temperature results in the increase of the damping. Moreover it found that the natural frequency is higher for lower mass flow rate and lower working pressures and lower temperatures.Copyright © 2008 by ASME


The purpose of this study is to optimize the improvement of foaming properties of albumen protein by papain hydrolysis.Foaming capacity and foam stability were investigated with respect to 4 variables including hydrolysis time,papain dosage,temperature and pH.Two quadratic polynomial regression models describing foaming capacity and foam stability were established based on a Box-Behnken experimental design.According to response surface analysis,the foam stability model was not statistically significant,the foaming capacity model displayed a statistical significance,and the optimum enzymatic modification conditions were hydrolysis time of 45 min,enzyme dosage of 38.2 mg/5 mL of egg white,hydrolysis temperature of 47.5℃,and pH 6.3.Under the optimum conditions,the foaming capacity was up to 2.09,indicating an increase of approximately 140% when compared to non-modified albumen protein.


This paper details the process of Korean women's abandoning traditional dress and its accessories for the more functional western dress. We analyzed the reported reactions of a sample of Korean women to their experiences during the acculturation period from 1945 to 1962. The 21 women selected for interviews had lived in Korea through the acculturation period and were now living in the United States. The findings generated from this study of Korean women's adoption of western-style dress during the acculturation period revolve around the variables of age and education, physical and psychological comfort, body image, societal and peer pressures, and clothing symbolism as ethnic identity makers. This exploratory study using acculturation as a framework for understanding the different reactions of Korean women showed that change has been dramatic and relatively swift, influenced by two major factors: age and educational background The adoption of western clothing by Korean women reflects their acceptance of this new cultural milieu.


This article describes the b asic princi ples of dichotomous analysis. The features of human perception dichotomous concepts. Are paradigmatic expression evaluation complexity. This article describes the parse tree is applied when analyzing dichotomous complexity. A criterion of "complex" "simple" systems and evaluation of the system's complexity


Purpose. To investigate the transparency, mechanical properties and terms of biodegradation of certain types of synthetic polyester matrices – poly(lactide-glycolide) (PLG), poly(lactide-caprolactone) (PLC) and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) as possible carriers for cultured limbal epithelial stem cells. Material and methods. In the course of the study, the transparency of all polyester matrices of various thicknesses was evaluated by the width of the scattering angle of a helium-neon laser beam with a wavelength of 632.8 nm. The mechanical properties of the matrices (only 5 microns thick) and amniotic membrane (AM) (strength, elongation at break, modulus of elasticity) were studied under their uniaxial tension on a universal installation. Biodegradation was evaluated for all matrices from PLG, PLC and PCL – on 18 rabbits (12 eyes). The matrices were transplanted and sewn onto intact corneas. The biodegradation of the matrices was evaluated on the 3rd, 10th, 21st and 30th days after surgery. Results. The optical and mechanical properties of matrices made of polylactide-glycolide (PLG), polylactide-caprolactone (PLC) and poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) were studied during the study. The terms of biodegradation of matrices from PLC with a thickness of 5 microns were about 30 days. Conclusion. Taking into account the optimal combination of strength, elasticity, elasticity and transparency, the most acceptable for use as a carrier for transplantation of cultured LESC in order to eliminate limbal insufficiency is a matrix of PLC with a thickness of 5 microns. Keywords: transparency, mechanical properties, biodegradation, polymer matrices


The chapter is devoted to description of a novel method of breast cancer diagnostics based on the analysis of the distribution of the DNA concentration in interphase nuclei of epitheliocytes of buccal epithelium with the aid of novel algorithms of statistical machine learning, namely: novel proximity measure between multivariate samples, novel algorithm of construction of tolerance ellipsoids, novel statistical depth and novel method of multivariate ordering. In contrast to common methods of diagnostics used in oncology, this method is a non-invasive and offers a high rate of accuracy and sensitivity.


The study looked at work environment and job performance as factors influencing library personnel turnover intentions in private university libraries in Nigeria's South-South region. The correlational survey design was used in the study. The study included 113 library personnel, including 39 professionals, 46 paraprofessionals, and 28 support staff. A questionnaire created by the researcher was used to collect data. The on-the-spot mode of data collection was used. A total of 103 copies of the 113 copies of the questionnaire were obtained, resulting in a 91.15 percent return rate. To analyze data derived from the research questions, descriptive statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlational Coefficient (r) (PPMCC) were used. The findings of the study show that there is a high relationship (r = 64) between work environment and turnover intentions and a medium relationship (r = 0.41) between job performance and turnover intentions and a high relationship (r = 64) between motivation and turnover intentions of library personnel in private university libraries in South-South, Nigeria. The study recommends that private university managers should make the library working environment conducive by providing and making available amenities such as well-furnished offices with modern cabinets and furniture, air-conditioner fans, and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The private university library managers should ensure that library personnel who perform credibly, very well, and stand out in their job responsibilities are recognised, recommended, rewarded, and compensated monetarily and otherwise.


Some may regard silicone as old history. Whereas Dr Jack C. Fisher's book Silicone on Trial: Breast Implants and the Politics of Risk does focus on silicone, its greater value may be in addressing the inconsistencies that characterize so many of the practices and policies that are used by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the evaluation of medical devices in general. In this instance, silicone is the vehicle that takes the reader through this odd "neverland" in which it becomes apparent that politics, the courts, the media, and special interests can influence the evaluating and approval process every bit as much as medical facts and scientific truths. Many of the elements that combined to produce and complicate the issues surrounding silicone were not peculiar to silicone: as the reader learns, the nonscientific elements cited above (which are constants in this flawed process) were more instrumental in influencing the unsound rulings that occurred during the silicone hearings than any of the manufacturers' alleged data deficiencies, oversights, or lack of clinical studies. As tedious as the beginning chapter, entitled "A Bureau in Search of its Power," might first seem, after a few pages the narrative becomes absorbing as one begins to appreciate the pattern of dysfunction that has characterized the FDA from its very beginning. This pattern only becomes more obvious and disturbing in the chapter entitled "An FDAValidated and Empowered." The egos, ambition, politics, and misplaced priorities that have influenced the evolution of this once-small governmental agency into the massive bureaucracy that it is today are described in detail. Information related to the manufacturer's strategies when interacting with the FDA is both informative and illuminating. Dr Fisher provides multiple examples of the unsettling corporate decisions that specifically impacted the evaluation of silicone breast implants. The decisions that were made by the manufacturers in regard to the data that might have reasonably been expected to be required for FDA approval may appear baffling to the reader, until it becomes clear that many—if not most—corporate decisions are based on cost/benefit ratios rather than need. A corporate mentality is revealed that appears focused on providing less rather than more. As a matter of policy, many corporate boards dealing with the FDA apparently direct their executives to provide the FDA "only the information that is required." Clinical studies and additional laboratory information that could have been provided on silicone breast implants were not pursued simply because the manufacturers hoped they would not be required. Periodically throughout the book, Dr Fisher identifies the various efforts of organized plastic surgeons to influence the breast implant evaluation. Years of open cooperation between plastic surgeons and the manufacturers that related to implant quality and design occurred prior to the implant crisis. Unfortunately, this interaction led to a perception of a too-close relationship between surgeons and manufacturers, a perception that should have been avoided. The reviewer (who was there at the time) believes that Dr Fisher is much too charitable in describing the errors in judgment that caused plastic surgeons to become too