T he three reports, dealing with glaucoma surgery, published in this issue of Acta serve as a timely reminder of many important facts (Drolsum 2003; Fagerli et al. 2003; Vuori 2003). Facts that deserve our undivided attention as ophthalmologists and researchers in the field of vision. Failing to see these facts and acknowledge their significance would be clear short-sightedness. Nine out of ten blind people live in the developing world, where glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness. Roughly half of the world population live on an income that is less than 2 US$ /day, and the available ocular hypotensive medications cost around 1 US$/day, making them a highly nonviable option for a considerable percentage of glaucoma patients. Glaucoma surgery therefore offers a favourable option from an economical standpoint. Other advantages of glaucoma surgery are the elimination of the compliance factor (Konstas et al. 2000) for glaucoma therapy, the association of almost no systemic complications, minimal IOP diurnal fluctuations (Medeiros et al. 2002), and long-term sufficient IOP reduction (Migdal et al. 1994). The three reports at hand serve, among other things, to remind us of the shortcomings of our techniques, and to point out the dire need for more precise and focused surgical modalities. Fagerli and coworkers retrospectively report on the safety and efficacy of needling revisions of failed filtering blebs (Fagerli et al. 2003). After a mean follow-up of 14months, the needling procedure was successful, in approximately half the patients, in reducing IOP to a value below 18mmHg without medications. In 40% of the cases IOP was controlled below the same IOP level with the help of medications, yielding a total success of 88%, thus establishing needling as a valuable tool in our postoperative manipulations armamentarium. The authors rightfully, draw our attention to the fact that their results should be viewed in light of their decision to perform needling quite early after trabeculectomy. They argue that based on their work and on the work of others (Kapetansky & Kapetansky 1999), bleb needling is probably more effective when there is still a bleb present, and that early needling affords the best opportunity to successfully restore the function of a failing bleb. We are reminded that the main dilemma of glaucoma surgery is that success depends on winning a fight against the normal body response to trauma, in that we struggle to maintain a surgically created fistula, and even in an era were antimetabolites have become almost routinely used, at least in high risk cases, we still have to consider postoperative management of equal importance to the surgical procedure itself (Azuara-Blanco & Katz 1998). This is contrary to cataract surgery for example, where technological leaps in the last 20 years have made the surgical treatment of cataract, that does not require exhaustive postoperative care, an effective and safe method and an economically feasible one at the same time. The World Health Organisation(WHO) excluded glaucoma from its 2020 vision initiative, sighting the lack of feasibility and affordability of glaucoma interventions as the main reason behind its decision. In what could well be a step forward for glaucoma surgery, Drolsum reports on the results of deep sclerectomy, a nonpenetrating surgery, in exfoliative glaucoma (Drolsum 2003). The roots of nonpenetrating glaucoma surgery can be traced to the work of Krasnov (Krasnov 1968) back in the 1960s, in the procedure he termed sinusotomy. The procedure never gained popularity, largely because of its relative complexity at a time when microscopes where a novelty, as well as the lack of histopathological knowledge of the disease process at that time. Zimmerman and coworkers (Zimmerman et al. 1984), a quarter of a century ago, published their pioneering work, on what they termed, ab-externo trabeculectomy. Benefiting from a better understanding of where the maximum resistance to aqueous outflow resides, the procedure was designed to selectively target the implicated tissue and,at thesametime, leave inplaceanaturally occurring membrane [TrabeculoDescemet's membrane (TDM)] that will prevent a sudden drop in IOP during the surgical procedure, which is widely considered to be the main cause of intraand early postoperative complications associated with trabeculectomy. Drolsum reports a significantly higher success of deep sclerectomy in exfoliative glaucoma compared to primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), even after adjustments for disparities in baseline characteristics. Furthermore, the postoperative IOP tended to be lower in exfoliative glaucoma patients. These are indeed interesting results. Exfoliative glaucoma patients have been well identified to be specifically prone to surgical complications (Tarkkanen & Hietanen 1995). Furthermore, because substantial blood– aqueous barrier breakdown has been ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA SCANDINAVICA 2003


The proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller is a popular control loop feedback mechanism that allows users to efficiently regulate their system outputs. As demonstrated in this project, one of the main applications of PID control is temperature regulation. This project describes the process of setting up the PID parameters of the controller with a trial-and-error tuning method that aims to implement better control system responses. MATLAB/Simulink is the software environment used to replicate the PID temperature controller, and then a real PID controller is tuned with an Arduino microcontroller. The temperature is regulated by a thermocouple, which employs the Seebeck effect to provide power based on a temperature gradient. Simulated and experimental results are compared to observe how a closed-loop PID system should behave.


Formulas and graphs are developed for determining the heat transfer efficiency of a bundle of tubes, expressed as the value of the heat flux transferred per unit heat transfer surface area or per unit volume of the exchanger bundle, as a function of the power consumption on movement of the heat carrier through the bundle.


It is known that the sectional genus of a polarized variety has an upper bound, which is an extension of the Castelnuovo bound on the genus of a projective curve. Polarized varieties whose sectional genus achieves this bound are called Castelnuovo. On the other hand, a lattice polytope is called Castelnuovo if the associated polarized toric variety is Castelnuovo. Kawaguchi characterized Castelnuovo polytopes having interior lattice points in terms of their h∗-vectors. In the present paper, we give a characterization of all Castelnuovo polytopes in terms of their h∗-vectors. Finally, as an application of our characterization, we give a necessary condition for IDP polytopes, which is a generalization of a result proven by Katthän and Yanagawa.


Globalization means that China's open policy not only should be embodied in such respects as economy and trade etc,but also in culture and education.Medical education is a part of globalization,so we should nail down its connotation and take forceful measures to carry out the medical education globalization to promote Chinese medical education reform.


Prasetya, Selia M. 2014. OBSESSION OF WOMAN IN PJ HOGAN'S CONFESSIONS OF A SHOPAHOLIC IN A FEMINISM STUDY, Faculty of Language and Cultural Studies, Under Graduate Program of the University Of Stikubank Semarang.
Key words: Woman, Personality, Obsession, Shopaholic, Liberal Feminism
This thesis presents "Obsession of Woman in PJ Hogan's Confession of a Shopaholic in a feminism study. The story tells about a shopaholic woman that has a financial problem. The aim of this thesis is to describe the characteristics of shopaholic on Rebecca Bloomwood's character, and to find out the negative impacts of shopaholic on Rebecca Bloomwood's character.
This research is used to gain the references related to the object of the analysis. The structural approach is used to describe and learn the structural elements, such as character and characterization. Meanwhile, the Liberal Feminism approach is also used to analyze Rebecca Bloomwood's personality. The discussion was begun by analyzing the character and characterization of Rebecca Bloomwood as the main character in the film.
After analyzing the film, the result indicates that Rebbeca Bloomwood is described as a developing character. She is described as she does not have any control to herself to stop shopping; she likes to avoid her financial problems, a dreamer, selfish and childish. As a developing character, Rebbeca Bloomwood's personality is changing to be brave, wise and mature as before.


Regression analysis of data obtained in statistically designed experiments has become an important source of information for the quality practitioner working on improving industrial processes. Leas...


Non-hydro-dewaxing activities of HZSM-5/Al2O3 and HM/Al2O3 catalysts were evaluated under atmospheric pressure using hydrocracking tail oil from Liaoyang Petrochemical Company as raw material. The effects of reaction temperature, using time of catalyst and space velocity on product yield and properties such as pour point and flash point of white oil were studied. The surface area, pore size distribution and acid site strength distribution of catalysts were characterized, and it was found that there was a consanguineous relationship between the catalytic activity and these physicochemical properties of catalysts. The experiment results show that,under condition of atmospheric pressure and absence of hydrogen, HZSM-5 molecular sieve catalyst has higher catalytic activity and catalytic stability in dewaxing than mordenite zeolite.


Background The responses of mice to the mite allergen Der p 1 have been used to study the mechanisms of allergic sensitization and the development of new types of immunotherapy. Many of the studies require a knowledge of the T cell epitopes, and because Der p 1 is polymorphic, the effect of natural amino acid substitution in the allergen. The intranasal administration of peptides containing T cell epitopes can induce a mucosal tolerance but it is not known if the major activity is limited to stimulatory peptides and if, as found for autoimmunity, some epitopes are not inhibitory.


The aim of this article is the analysis of possible legal basics for processing of personal data on employees' addictions in Polish labour law. The Author analyses the concept of "addiction" in social, medical and legal aspects. She qualifies the data on addictions as the sensitive data. It is connected with strict regime of processing them in labour relations. In most situations in Polish law the processing of personal data on addiction of employees is done in indirect way. The most common legal basis of processing of personal data on addictions in serious cases is legal obligation of employer connected with ensuring health and life of people in the workplace. It is also possible to process the data on addictions on the basis of some other legal basics analized by Author.


Ultra-endurance events under extreme heat conditions have become popular. Prolonged exercise imposes a transient physiological stress on the immune system; this stress is augmented when exercising in hot ambient temperature conditions. To date, no field study has investigated the immune response to ultraendurance cycling under extreme heat conditions. To determine the effect of completing a 164km cycling event in a hot ambient temperature on white blood cell count. Thirty-nine experienced cyclists (36 men and 3 women; 49.4 ± 8.6 yr, 83.0 ± 15.0 kg, 176.2 ± 7.3 cm, 19.9 ± 6.6% body fat) participating in the August 2013 Hotter'N Hell Hundred ride held in Wichita Falls, TX, were recruited. Blood samples were collected within 2 hours of the start (PRE; ~0500-0700h) and immediately after completion (POST) of the event. During the event there was minimal cloud cover and the wet bulb globe temperature was 31.4 ± 3.8 C with a maximum of 36.1 C. Samples were analyzed for complete blood count with partial differential. To examine the effect of (a) duration of heat exposure and (b) change in plasma volume, participants were grouped and compared based on finishing time (fastest and slowest 25th percentile) as well as on plasma volume (PV) change (>10, 1-10, and <0%). Total white blood cell (PRE: 5.54 ± 0.23; POST; 12.12 ± 0.46 x 109 L-1), lymphocyte (PRE: 2.47 ± 0.1; POST: 3.52 ± 0.22 x 109 L-1), mid-size range cells (MID) (PRE: 1.27 ± 0.08; POST: 1.49 ± 0.1 x 109 L-1), and granulocyte (PRE: 1.81 ± 0.11; POST: 7.11 ± 0.41 x 109 L-1) increased significantly (p < 0.05) from PRE to POST. This change resulted in a significant decrease in %lymphocytes (PRE: 44.63 ± 1.19; POST: 29.45 ± 1.62%) and %MID (PRE: 23.41 ± 0.79; POST: 12.89 ± 0.86%) and a significant increase in %granulocytes (PRE: 31.96 ± 1.02; POST: 57.66 ± 1.99%) in circulation. No differences were observed for leukocyte subsets between the fastest and slowest 25th percentile finishers or among groups based on PV change. Prolonged cycling (164km) in a hot environment induced changes in abundance of the major circulating immune cell populations; these changes were independent of exercise duration/intensity or PV change.


The solutions for a class of Maxwell's Equations in matter are presented. These solutions describe the magnetic fields as generated by a hard ferromagnet of finite length with missing mass and are important in the area of nondestructive evaluation.


This new publication by Stephen Bokenkamp renders accessible in plain English the first part of one of the Daoist Canon's most cryptic sources, the Declarations of the Perfected (Zhēn'gào 真誥). Consisting of a huge succession of purported "revelations," the modern edition of this text included in the Zhōnghuá Dàozàng 中華道藏 volume  stretches over no less than twenty fascicles (pp. –). Compiled by Táo Hóngjı̌ng 陶弘景 (–), this collection presents utterances attributed to deities channeled by the medium Yáng Xī 楊羲 (–ca. ). It provides a rare insight into these early interactions with the deities, often explaining the context in which they were channeled, and the individuals involved. In short, these scriptures built the foundations of what became the Upper Clarity (Shàngqīng 上清) order of Daoism. In addition, editorial choices made by Tao Hongjing in selecting these sources are rigorously documented, showing how he attempted to verify the authenticity of the handwritten fragments he had access to and the historicity of their protagonists, thereby providing a wealth of historical information, which Bokenkamp carefully analyzes while abstaining from taking everything at face value. Before delving into this much anticipated translation and the trove of data it provides, a short disclaimer appears appropriate. Although my area of expertise does not formally extend to Daoism, I spent the last several years dealing with a Buddhist text compiled at the beginning of the fifth century that emerged in a context similar to that of the Declarations of the Perfected. Thus,  China Review International: Vol. , No. , 


Catholic case against the typical use of consecration and sacrifice that so often derails ecumenical dialogue (pp. 165–167). In Chapters 8 and 9, the ecumenical rubber hits the ecumenical road so to speak, as Belcher lays out pastoral imperatives that follow from her prior reflections, most notable of which is her hope that the closed table might serve as a "goad of unity" for Roman Catholics provided that they first "experience the frustration and shame of the practice themselves" (p. 189). In Chapter 10 Belcher summarizes the full argument of her work, opening her summary with the evocative claim that the future of Christian ecumenism will entail an expansion of "what forms of Christian diversity can be considered legitimate" (p. 198). In this book, Belcher has given a remarkable gift, both to those interested in the renewal of the ecumenical enterprise and to those seeking a deeper understanding of the meaning of the Eucharist within the Christian life. Apart from the work of theological construction it must be said that Belcher has also given us one of the most accessible explications of the work of Jean-Luc Marion for Christian sacramental theology to date. Her use of images like a tea thermos, donated shopping bags, and acknowledgments pages in monographs are just a few notable moments wherein she brings the work of an extremely difficult phenomenologist to bear on the ordinary life of faith. Seminarians will be hard pressed to find a more useful explication of a corpus as diverse and difficult as the one given here. Some minor criticisms may be offered: first, Belcher repeatedly draws on Marion's use of the term "erotic" without as clear an explication of this term as she gives for similar phenomenological terms. Second, despite eschewing analytical clarification of doctrine, her work on consecration and sacrifice results in what is surely a clarification of theological language, not merely in the pastoral use of terms but of their analytical meaning. Yet, I imagine Belcher's work will draw readers of this journal to the question of our own divisions within the Anglican Communion. Specifically, the question arises whether receptive ecumenism can produce unity in contexts in which the obstacles to unity are not metaphysical disagreements over the nature of the Eucharistic presence but are, rather, ritual-praxical disagreements over the boundaries of Christian salvation and vocation implied by the experience of the Eucharist. Such divisions seem a formidable obstacle to a shared reception of gifts, but Belcher's work ought surely to encourage us that hope for the eschatological unity of the Church to be more fully realized in our Communion here and now is not a hope in vain.


A psychological and pedagogic study was made of a group of children between the ages of 7 and 12 years in whom the only abnormal feature in the case history was neonatal cerebral effects. There were no obvious neurological sequelae, adverse effects from the family environment, or any general retardation. Many different anomalies of function were observed, which caused learning problems in three specific areas: inadequacy of attention, inadequacy of motor control and inadequacy of emotional and thymic control. These were manifested in difficulties in the integration of inner experiences and problems in the development of a stable personality and cognitive and affective structures, despite the normality of the family environment.


Ulcerative colitis(UC) has become one of the commonly seen chronic digestive system diseases in China.Early assessment of activity and severity of UC is helpful for the appropriate treatment.Aims:To analyze the correlation between protein,lipid metabolisms and disease activity,severity in active UC patients.Methods:Ninety-seven UC patients and 100 normal controls from Jan.2006 to Nov.2012 at Shanghai Putuo District Central Hospital were enrolled.Total protein(TP),albumin(ALB),globulin(GLB),total cholesterol(TC),triglyceride(TG),apolipoprotein A(ApoA),apolipoprotein B(ApoB),lipoprotein a(LPa),high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDLC),low-density lipoprotein cholesterol(CDL-C) were measured,and their correlations with ESR,CRP,CAI score and Baron score were analyzed.Results:BMI,TP,ALB and TC in active UC patients were significantly lower than those in controls(P 0.05).Compared with mild active UC patients,ALB in severe and moderate active UC patients was significantly decreased(P 0.05),TG in severe active UC patients and ApoA in moderate active UC patients were significantly decreased(P 0.05).Correlation analysis showed that TP was correlated with ESR(P 0.05),ALB was correlated with ESR,CRP,CAI score and Baron score(P 0.05),TC was correlated with Baron score(P 0.05).Conclusions:Disorder of protein and lipid metabolisms occur in active UC patients.TP,ALB and TC are associated with disease activity,ALB can be used as an evaluation indicator for the disease severity.


Purpose – The study examines the roles of external facilitation in the internationalization process of high-tech firms.

Methodology/approach – The study elaborates on the roles of external facilitation through a case study of two small high-tech firms that took part in a partly governmentally financed facilitation program.

Findings – The study illustrates the internationalization of a high-tech firm as a process that includes actions of both the facilitating actors and the high-tech firm. It defines the primary roles of external facilitation over the facilitated internationalization process of firms.

Research limitations/implications – The internationalization was followed only during the time that the firms participated in a facilitation program. The external facilitation under study is of a program type; therefore the process followed is not a spontaneous one but the facilitation has certain planned phases. Future research should be conducted on the entire internationalization processes of these firms and on the utilization of various types of external facilitation.

Practical implications – The study shows how high-tech firms can benefit from external facilitation in their internationalization. It gives insight into how the type of the company and its background are related to the roles of external facilitation.

Originality/value – The study extends the existing research on the internationalization of small high-tech firms by focusing on the roles of external facilitation in their internationalization. There are numerous institutions and actors who aim to facilitate the internationalization of small firms, but there is a limited amount of research on the roles of these facilitators.


Measurements of magnetic susceptibility, electrical resistivity, thermoelectric power and thermal expansion have been performed on the half-metallic magnet UNiSn. A second-order transition from a paramagnetic semiconductor to an antiferromagnetic metal takes place at T N =47 K without any significant lattice deformation. Unlike in the usual antiferromagnets, the curve of magnetic susceptibility sharply turns up at T N . Magnetic fields up to 13.5 T have no significant influence either on T N or the semiconducting energy gap. On the contrary, hydrostatic pressure increases T N at a rate of d T N /d p =0.50 K/kbar, but suppresses the gap energy at a rate of d E g /d p =-0.6 meV/ kbar. Thermoelectric power has an extremely sharp peak at 42 K, which is 5 K lower than T N .


Blood alcohol concentrations (bac's) of drivers involved in casualty accidents in metropolitan Adelaide were obtained in the course of an in-depth study and also by police and hospital personnel. Bac's of control drivers were obtained by means of breath tests administered without the assistance of the police while the drivers were stationary at red traffic signals. The controls were matched by age and sex and by the time of day, day of week and location of the accident. The association between BAC and the risk of accident involvement was found to be similar to that from the Grand Rapids study. (TRRL)


Kirk McKusick sat down with Margo Seltzer and Mike Olson to discuss the history of Berkeley DB, for which they won the ACM Software System Award in 2021. Kirk McKusick has spent his career as a BSD and FreeBSD developer. Margo Seltzer has spent her career as a professor of computer science and as an entrepreneur of database software companies. Mike Olson started his career as a software developer and later started and managed several open-source software companies. Berkeley DB is a production-quality, scalable, NoSQL, Open Source platform for embedded transactional data management.


The objective of the study is to analyze the psychometric measurements of the Burnout Inventory for Referees (BIR) offering validity evidence of the instrument through the analysis of its internal structure, estimating reliability indicators and comparing the total score of Burnout in referees and assistant referees. Participants were 284 soccer referees from six Brazilian states. The mean age was 31.3 years old (±6.1), being 255 male participants (89.7%), and the average experience time of the referees was 6.9 years (±5.5 years). The BIR consists of a questionnaire of 9 items, arranged on a 7 points likert scale. The result of the exploratory factor analysis pointed to one factor that explained 53.1% of the data variance. The Comparative Fit Index = 0.923 (95% CI 0.883-0.950) and Non-Normed Fit Index = 0.897 (95% CI 0.844-0.933) indicates suitability to a single-factor. There was no burnout difference between referees and assistant referees. The instrument presented a reliability index (McDonald ́s omega) of 0.823. It is concluded that the factor structure of BIR ́s version for Brazilian referees focuses on a single dimension that guided the development of the instrument. This result is also different from that found in other studies carried out previously using the instrument.


In recent years, more and more concerns have been paid on the increasing suicide risk induced by antidepressants.This article reviewed the research advances on the relationship between antidepressants and suicide risk, and emphasized the importance of timely and adequate treatment for depressive patients.The possibility of increasing suicide risk of antidepressants need to be paid enough attention.


This paper reviews several studies of image de-noising on digital image processing and applications. Noisy images contain different noise that exist either due to environment or electronic interferences. Ergo, de-noising is crucial to eliminate the noise that disturb data collecting process. The impact of de-noising on image processing can result for accurate and precise data collected from the image. Additionally, de-noising process required several crucial steps that help to enhance knowledge on digital image and its application. Hence, study and understanding de-noising can improve multiple aspect such as image quality, data sensitivity and specificity, accuracy of the collected data, and increase the percentage of each parameter.


Considering control theory aspects, the operation of wind energy converters can basically be distinguished between part load and full load operation. At part load operation, the system is operated below nominal wind speed and control methods are generally designed to gain as much power as possible by the wind. For this purpose, generally MPPT tracking methods with underlying torque or speed control are used. At full load operation, the system is operated at nominal wind speed and beyond before it is disconnected when the wind speed becomes too strong. Full load operation is characterized by the fact that the power withdrawn from the wind must be limited to the nominal power of the system. For this purpose, a pitch system is used. The speed remains almost constant at this operating range, and the torque introduced from the rotor side is limited by an adjustment of the rotor blades. Due to the fact, that both of the control systems access the same mechanical system and are therefore coupled, interactions arise at the transition point around the nominal wind speed which involves extensive mechanical loads when both control methods are not adjusted to each other. The transition between the two operating ranges may lead to significant increases of the load spectrum of the drive train and to a mechanical loading of the wind power system. The special straining of the drive train is particularly emphasized within the scope of this paper. Of considerable influence are control methods of the respective operating ranges (MPPT and pitch control methods). The relatively "hard" transition between the operating ranges, may lead to stimulations of the eigen-frequencies of the drive train, particularly when the transition is crossed several times. In this case it is important to adjust the control methods to each other and to use control systems with "soft" transition ranges (e.g. SK controller).


A method of catalyst exhaust gas treatment system of a hybrid vehicle heating, comprising converting by the motor rotational speed of the engine to a speed within a predefined range, and the engine manifold pressure is reduced to within a predefined pressure range. And the rotational speed of the engine manifold pressure of the engine within a predefined pressure range after the engine is supplied with fuel within a predefined speed range. When the engine is supplied with fuel, engine manifold pressure is increased to the catalyst light-off pressure range, and the torque output of the engine is increased to a catalyst light-off operation of the torque range. From exhaust gas generated within a predefined range of speeds, a pressure within the range of the light-off catalyst and a catalyst in the combustion operation of the engine operating torque range of heating the catalyst while minimizing emissions.


Abstract : This paper will examine the United States' current strategic approach to combating domestic terrorism and explore potential recommendations for deterring and defeating it in the twenty-first century. In order to reach sound, strategic recommendations for combating terrorism, the author will begin with some background on terrorism, review the various definitions as defined by the Department of Defense and other agencies, describe the United States' current policies toward combating terrorism, offer an evaluation of prospective measures in the form of pros and cons, and make seven recommendations for implementation.


Information and adequate data on intensity–duration–frequency of rainfall are regularly required for a variation of hydrologic, environmental and hydraulic applications. This paper presents rainfall intensity-duration-frequency equations for Makurdi, Nigeria. Rainfall intensities from Makurdi were used to establish empirically derived constants for about thirteen different equations. These equations were evaluated statistically using analysis of variance (ANOVA), total error, model of' selection criterion (MSC), Coefficient of Determination (CD), Correlation coefficient (R) and Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), with the main objective of selecting the best equation for the location. The study revealed that rainfall intensity can be expressed in terms of either the amount of rainfall time only, frequency or both duration of the rain and time of return with empirically derived constants. Statistical evaluation revealed that the correlation coefficients of equations for Makurdi were between 0.896 and 0.894, respectively. Model 12 was discovered to be most accurate model for prediction of rainfall amount as against model 15 presented in literature. The model had the highest correlation coefficient for Makurdi. According to findings, functions of the duration of rainfall, return time, and empirically derived constants are the best functions, which explains the severity of the rain the best based on the values of MSC, CD, AIC and R.


Series Editor's Introduction Marc Holzer Introduction Alexander C. Henderson Part 1: Introduction and Theoretical Considerations 1. Municipal Size, Resources, and Efficiency: Theoretical Bases for Shared Services and Consolidation Mildred E. Warner 2. The Costs of Services Cooperation: A Review of the Literature Christopher V. Hawkins and Jered B. Carr 3. Communities and Culture Sydney Cresswell and Anthony Cresswell Part 2: Municipal Shared Services and Consolidation in Practice 4. Service-Level Consolidation and Sharing Arrangements Michael R. Hattery 5. Lessons Learned from the Nonprofit-Government Relationship for the Municipal Government Manager Lauren Miltenberger 6. Managing Interlocal Contracts and Shared Service Relationships Eric S. Zeemering 7. Do Shared Services Achieve Results? The Performance of Interlocal Agreements Daniel E. Bromberg 8. Toward Interlocal Collaboration: Lessons from a Failed Attempt to Create a Fire Authority William D. Hatley, Richard C. Elling, and Jered B. Carr 9. Mapping the Shared Services Landscape Ricardo S. Morse and Charles R. Abernathy 10. Alternative Service Delivery Arrangements: Creativity and Innovation in Local Government Suzanne Leland and Reid Wodicka Index About the Editor and Contributors


This paper analyzes Richard W. Miller's argument for favoring compatriots in the allocation of tax-financed aid. It argues that Miller's patriotic bias is derived via an incorrect framing of the problem. It furthermore contends that Miller's notion of equal respect is too uninformative to ground such a patriotic bias. A better definition of respect in terms of human rights is offered. This definition is more informative but fails to uphold the stringent bias Miller argues for. National borders occupy a curious position in political philosophy and ethics. Their existence and location is often the result of mere historical accident. Yet, despite this arbitrary nature, the nation states defined by these borders are often chosen as the primary actors in theories of international relations. Similarly in ethics, there is a tension between the fact that citizenship seems morally arbitrary, insofar as it is usually bestowed upon persons at birth, and on the other hand the moral obligations that participation in a particular society seem to give rise to. In the context of global poverty national borders take on another moral dimension since they often, as Michael Blake puts it, ―divide not simply one jurisdiction from another, but the rich from the poor as well‖ 1 . 1 Michael Blake, ―Distributive justice, state coercion, and autonomy‖, Philosophy and Public Affairs 30, no. 3 (2001), 257.


Hybrid quantum mechanics / molecular mechanics (QM/MM) calculations on lysozyme show significant distortion of the bound saccharide is required to facilitate the catalytic reaction. Hen egg-white lysozyme (HEWL) belongs to a large family of enzymes known as the glycoside hydrolases (GH) or glycosidases, whose function is to catalyze the cleavage of glycosidic bonds found in complex carbohydrates. HEWL is a retaining β-glycosidase and is a mechanistic paradigm as the first enzyme to have its 3D structure solved by X-ray crystallography, as well as the subject of the first ever QM/MM calculation performed on an enzyme. Critical to understanding catalysis in GHs, and for designing inhibitors for these enzymes, is identifying the conformations adopted by the pyranose ring of carbohydrate substrates during reaction. The nature of the bound and reactive conformation of the substrate in HEWL and other related enzymes has been a long-standing debate. Here, a combination of molecular mechanics (MM) molecular dynamics (MD) and QM/MM-umbrella sampling and adiabatic mapping simulations on HEWL identify the conformational itinerary over the course of the enzyme-catalysed reaction, including indicating that reaction may occur via nucleophilic attack of the anti lone pair of Asp52 and subsequent conformational change. The results demonstrate that saccharide distortion is essential for efficient reaction. HEWL catalyses the cleavage of a glycosidic bond found in its natural substrate, peptidoglycan, a key component of the cell wall of Gram-negative bacteria, consisting of alternating Nacetyl-muramic acid (NAM) and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (NAG) pyranose rings joined by 1,4 glycosidic bonds. The enzyme binds a six-saccharide section of the polysaccharide chain in six sites in a binding cleft (termed A to F, or −4, to +2). HEWL catalyses the cleavage of the glycosidic bond between the NAM and NAG rings located in the −1 and +1 binding sites (NAM-D and NAG-E, respectively). The reaction is now believed to take place via a retaining double-displacement mechanism originally suggested by Koshland, mediated by Glu35 acting as the general acid and Asp52 as the base. In the first step of the reaction, a proton is transferred from Glu35 onto the oxygen of the glycosidic bond between NAM-D and NAG-E, followed by cleavage of the bond and formation of a covalent intermediate. This intermediate is broken down by attack of a water molecule on the top face of NAM-D at the anomeric carbon, in a SN2-type reaction, with cleavage of the O2Asp52-C1NAM-D bond formed in the first step. This results in the formation of the product with retention of the stereochemistry of the anomeric carbon. The intermediate is proposed to be flanked by two oxocarbenium ionlike transition states (TSs) with a conformation in which the C5O5-C1-C2 atoms in the ring are believed to be approximately coplanar. Despite significant advances in structural biology, it still remains extremely challenging to obtain a GH structure with its natural substrate bound productively. Consequently, many studies investigating the wild-type reaction have been conducted on mutant enzymes and/or modified substrates. To address this limitation, and enable the study of the wild-type enzyme reaction, we used a high-resolution crystal structure of HEWL containing a trisaccharide, 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-D-muramic acid-β(1,4)-2acetamido-2-deoxy-D-glucose-β(1,4)-2-acetamido-2-deoxy-Dmuramic acid (i.e NAM-B, NAG-C, NAM-D, respectively), situated in the −3, −2, −1 binding sites. This is the only crystal structure of wild-type HEWL containing a ligand with a NAM subunit occupying the −1 binding site. We re-examined the crystallographic data for two of the HEWL complexes mentioned above (kindly supplied by the original investigators) and created multiple structural models consistent with the crystallographic date (using annealed omit maps and twin model and multiple conformer refinement, tested by cross-validated R-factor (Rfree) differing in the conformation of the D site sugar and showing its conformational variability in the complex (see SI: S13). Based on these multiple models, we perform here, extensive conformational sampling by molecular dynamics simulations to explore possible bound structures. We model the reverse reaction (from structures derived from experiment) by QM/MM methods; the choice of modelling the reverse reaction is necessitated by starting with a product complex. Modelling of the reverse of the second step of the forward reaction is in many respects effectively equivalent to the first step of the forward reaction as both involve cleavage of a glycosidic bond assisted by Glu35. Water is a comparable leaving group to the NAG-NAM (E–F sites) disaccharide, with a relatively small basicity difference (1–2 pKa units). Here, we apply a significantly higher level of theory (B3LYP-D) than in previous studies, allowing accurate characterization of the conformational itinerary adopted by the NAM-D in the −1 binding site, over the course of the reaction. Previous QM/MM simulations applied low levels of theory that do not provide reliable predictions of saccharide ring conformations. Multiple MM MD simulations were performed to generate suitable starting structures for the reaction calculations. QM/MM umbrella sampling calculations were then used to assess the reactivity of the different conformations adopted by the NAM-D when bound in the active site. We compare the reactivity of different conformations and show that substrate distortion is required for efficient reaction. Crystallographic refinement indicated alternative conformations for the sidechains of Val109 and Asn59, and also suggested four possible conformations of NAM-D. The combination of all these possibilities resulted in sixteen different starting structures for the MD simulations. MM MD calculations were performed with the AMBER12 simulation package, utilizing the CHARMM22 force-field (with the CMAP correction) for the enzyme and additional sugar parameters which were developed for the trisaccharide based on CHARMM22 sugar parameters,as applied previously. CHAMBER was used to convert the parameters for use within AMBER. Following equilibration (see SI: S.1), 100ns of MD with periodic boundary conditions was performed on each of the sixteen starting structures. Each [a] Dr Michael A. L. Limb, Dr Reynier Suardíaz, Dr Ian M. Grant, Prof Adrian J. Mulholland* School of Chemistry, University of Bristol Cantock's Close, Bristol, BS81TS (UK) E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com [b] Present address: Ian M. Grant Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London Denamrk Hill, London SE5 8AF (UK) Supporting information for this article is given via a link at the end of the document.)


Stock market efficiency has been of considerable importance in finance literature. Three forms of efficient market hypothesis (EMH) have been examined by researchers and analysts. This paper examines the stock price reactions to dividends, one of the publicly available information, to test the semi-strong form of EMH. The study is based on the dividend announcements of 149 companies which are part of the BSE-200 Index that announced dividends for the financial year 2002. To test the stock price reactions, the expected returns are found out by regressing the daily returns of companies and market index for the period January 1998 up to the relevant date applicable to companies. Based on these results, abnormal returns, average abnormal returns (AAR) and cumulative average abnormal returns (CAAR) are worked out for 29 days prior to and 30 days after the dividend announcement (event) date. The analysis of the results shows that AARs do not approximate to zero and CAARs show wide fluctuations indicating that abnormal returns can be earned several days after the event day. CAARs show that abnormal returns can be earned 24 days after the event day. From this we conclude that Indian market is not efficient in the semi-strong form.


Excavator systems like electric shovels are critical high power equipment in the mining industry. The individual motions of a shovel system are called hoist, swing, crowd and propel. All the motions are powered by AC asynchronous motors which are fed by IGBT vector controlled inverters. The propel system consists of two independently controlled motors. A transfer switch allows sharing of inverters between hoist and propel 1 or crowd and propel 2 motor operations. The transfer switch is controlled by the PLC. Typical industrial transfer switches consist of a motor module which drives multiple switch modules. The switch modules could be single pole double throw or double pole, double throw. The motor module being a mechanical device needs greater than 2 seconds to perform a transfer. This paper proposes to a solution to integrate two single pole disconnect switches to operate them as a single pole double throw changeover switch. The objective is to gain improvements in the transfer time. The proposed scheme is supported by experimental results.


Editorial (Manuscript invitation only) states and territories, and since the state and territory jurisdict Australian and New Zealand A (ANZASM). According to the 2 Australian public hospitals and were participating in the audit.6 Private hospitals in New Sou have been slow to embrace the a Without comprehensive audit, it will remain difficult to highlight problems leading to poor surgical outcomes


Along with the developments in mass media, communication tools are increasingly in our lives. Especially with the developing technology, children's interest in these tools is increasing day by day. Children use digital media tools not only in leisure activities, but also in school and homework. This study aims to determine the habits of digital media usage in leisure activities of children. As a basis for research, the authors determine the habits of digital media consumption during leisure time of children in the 6-14 age group. In-depth interviewing method with 31 children will be applied in the research.


Bangladesh project supported by USAID. The project partners (Winrock International, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies, Center for Natural Resources Studies, and Caritas Bangladesh) have worked closely with the Department of Fisheries since 1998. The aim was to establish community based co-management and restore and increase sustainable productivity at the ecosystem level in three large wetlands: Hail Haor in Sreemongal, Turag-Bangshi river and wetlands in Kaliakoir and the Kangsha-Malijhee basin in Sherpur. In the wet season these wetlands cover about 32,000 ha, and in the dry season they include over 100 distinct waterbodies. Over 110 villages inhabited by over 184,000 people are directly involved.


Abstract Background Blood cultures (BC) are ~50% sensitive for diagnosing IC. T2Candida (T2) detects five leading Candida spp. directly in blood and was ≥90%/90% sensitive/specific (S/Sp) for candidemia in clinical trials. Optimal use of T2 in clinical practice is unclear. We targeted T2 to specific ICU patients at-risk for IC, and implemented AF management algorithms developed with ICU teams. Methods A DS team ordered concurrent T2 and BC, and used results to guide AF in patients fulfilling pre-specified criteria for septic shock (medical ICU (MICU)), sepsis after abdominal surgery (trauma ICU), or sepsis with mechanical circulatory support (cardiothoracic ICU). We focused on groups with anticipated pre-test IC probabilities of ~3–15%. Proven IC was defined if BC+ and possible IC if BC- but a compatible clinical picture was observed. Results Seven percent (6/88) of BC in ICU patients with sepsis were Candida +. T2 and BC results are shown in the table. Using BC as gold standard, T2 S/Sp and PPV/NPV were 50%/87% and 33%/96%, respectively. Including possible IC, T2 S/Sp increased to 69%/96%, and 67% (4/6) of T2+/BC− results were likely true positive; two false-positive results were for C. parapsilosis. We focused on MICU outcomes initially since 75% (66/88) of tests were performed here. Empiric AFs were discontinued in 12 patients following a T2- result; AFs were avoided in all others. Median combined days of therapy (DOT)/month for caspofungin and fluconazole as empiric or definitive treatment prior to and after introducing DS were 26 (range: 10–53) and 15 (3–32), respectively (P = 0.0047). AF consumption was decreased 47% (figure). Conclusion Targeted DS using T2 in select ICU patients with sepsis significantly reduced AF usage. 14% of patients with sepsis were diagnosed with IC using either T2+ or BC+, compared with 7% with BC+ alone, as would be expected if BC S was 50%. T2 S and T2−/BC+ results were lower and higher, respectively, than previously reported, indicating that treatment decisions should be based on results of both tests. Most T2+/BC− results were ascribed to possible IC.Table. Rates of T2 and BC Positive Results and Corresponding Candida Species % (n) tests Candida spp. T2+ 10% (9) 5 CP, 4 CA/CT BC+ 7% (6) 5 CA, 1 CP T2+/BC+ 3% (3) 2 CA, 1 CP T2+/BC- 7% (6) 2 CA/CT, 4 CP T2-/BC+ 3% (3) 3 CA T2-/BC- 86% (76) Disclosures M. H. Nguyen, Merck: Grant Investigator, Research grant. Astellas: Grant Investigator, Research grant.


We have measured the electrical resistivity, Hall effect, and magnetization of a NdB 6 single crystal, in a temperature range from 2 to 300 K, and in magnetic fields of up to 7 T. We find that the low-field Hall resistivity varies strongly with temperature. This variation arises entirely from the large anomalous Hall effect we find in NdB 6 . In the paramagnetic region, the anomalous Hall coefficient is much larger than the ordinary one and is independent of temperature. As the antiferromagnetic order sets in, below , 8 K, it decreases sharply with decreasing temperature. We do not find any significant variations of the anomalous Hall coefficient in the neighborhood of the critical point. Both magnetization and Hall resistivity show an anomaly in low magnetic fields, which may arise from domain rotations.


Estimation on the characteristic of remote plasma considering prospective application in biomedical field is presented. Plasma can be applied in sterilization and stimulation of bio-substances including live cell and tissue. Non contact and low temperature treatment can be obtained by non-thermal plasma. Among possible non-thermal plasma concept, remote plasma is tentative for this application because remote plasma has embedded current path resulting in no current path to target substances, preventing possible electric shock. In this work, discharging characteristics of remote plasma with different type of working gas including NO, air, He is tested. Optical emission spectroscopy reveals information on activated species. Information on the functional species such as NO will be a guide for future application of plasma for various aspects of sterilization and disease control.


The speed and magnitude of tropical pastures expansion in Brazil are related to the availability of quality seeds. This research aimed to evaluate the physiological quality of seeds of two Brachiaria species submitted to germination and viability tests and also estimate, for both species, the fresh and dry mass yield, under different irrigated crop-livestock integration systems. For field analysis, the experimental design was a randomized complete block, in subplots, with four intercrops in the plot ( Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu and Brachiaria ruziziensis simultaneously established with corn and nitrogen fertilization coverage), and four forage cutting times, in the winter/spring season, in subplots, with four replications. In the laboratory, the experimental design was completely randomized, with four replications per treatment/test. The germination and viability tests indicated that B. brizantha seeds showed higher physiological quality, when compared with B. ruziziensis , while the tetrazolium test and germinated seedlings characteristics were similar. The B. ruziziensis , simultaneously intercropped with corn, was the less viable intercrop, due to the lower fresh and dry mass yield and litter deposition on the soil surface. In general, the pasture formation for the second season cultivation, intercropped with corn, was an excellent alternative for crop-livestock integration under a no-tillage system. KEY-WORDS: Controlled deterioration; accelerated aging; germination; tetrazolium; vigor.


The diagnosability of a system is defined as the maximum number of faulty processors that the system can guarantee to identify, which plays an important role in measuring of the reliability of multiprocessor systems. In the work of Peng et al. in 2012, they proposed a new measure for fault diagnosis of systems, namely, g-good-neighbor conditional diagnosability. It is defined as the diagnosability of a multiprocessor system under the assumption that every fault-free node contains at least g fault-free neighbors, which can measure the reliability of interconnection networks in heterogeneous environments more accurately than traditional diagnosability. The k-ary n-cube is a family of popular networks. In this study, we first investigate and determine the Rg-connectivity of k-ary n-cube for 0 ≤ g ≤ n. Based on this, we determine the g-good-neighbor conditional diagnosability of k-ary n-cube under the PMC model and MM model for k ≥ 4, n ≥ 3 and 0 ≤ g ≤ n. Our study shows the g-good-neighbor conditional diagnosability of k-ary n-cube is several times larger than the classical diagnosability of k-ary n-cube.


OF THESIS ELECTRON-BEAM PATTERNING OF TEFLON AF FOR SURFACE PLASMON RESONANCE SENSING Variable pressure electron beam etching and lithography for Teflon AF has been demonstrated. The relation between dose and etching depth is tested under high vacuum and water vapor. High resolution structures as small as 75 nm half-pitch have been resolved. Several simulation tools were tested for surface plasmon excitation. Grating based dual mode surface plasmon excitation has been shown numerically and experimentally.


Going back to basics and visiting one of the backbones of the medical aesthetics sector, Alexandra Mills Haq details important information on dermal fillers


Objective To assess the safety and long-term efficacy of the treatment for symptomatic atherosclerotic high-grade stenosis in middle cerebral artery with Gateway-Wingspan system.Methods A total of 69 cases treated with Wingspan stenting for symptomatic middle cerebral artery high-grade stenosis from July 2007 to June 201 1 in our hospital were reviewed.The baseline state of the patients,angiographic findings of pre-or post-procedure or during follow-up,peri-procedural complications,In-stent restenosis,ischemic events during the long-term follow-up were recorded.The cumulative probability of any stroke in the 30 days and ipsilateral strokes beyond 30 days was estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method.Results Sixty-seven of 69 patients were successfully stented(successful rate,97.1%).The mean degree of stenosis reduced from(80.1±8.0) % to(15.2±6.4) %.All the information of 69 patients within 30 days was collected.Seven complications were recorded and the rate was 10.1% (7/69).The complications included four hemorrhagic strokes and three ischemic strokes.Two of them were dead and one of them was disabled.Clinical follow-up beyond 30 days was achieved in 54 patients with follow up time of more than two years.The mean follow-up period was 39 months in 54 patients.In the period,four ischemic events(7.4%,4/54) happened,with 3(5.6%,3/54) ipsilateral recurrent strokes and 1(1.9%,1/54) ipsilateral transient ischemic attack.The cumulative probability of adverse events was 13.7%(95%CI 5.3%-22.1%) at 2 years and 15.9% (95%CI 6.7%-25.1%) at 3 years.The median imaging follow-up was seven months(Range,6-69 months) in 36 patients.Six patients(16.7%) suffered from in-stent restenosis and 2 had symptomatic restenosis.Conclusions Stenting for symptomatic atherosclerotic high-grade stenosis in the middle cerebral artery with wingspan has prominent long-term preventative effect against ischemic strokes.But the relatively high rate of peri-procedural complications at the early stage may influence the curative effect.

Key words:
Infarction, middle cerebral artery;  Stents ;  Follow-up studies


Objective—Transthyretin can cause amyloidosis attributable to destabilization of transthyretin tetramers in plasma. We tested the hypothesis that genetic stabilization of transthyretin associates with reduced risk of vascular disease and increased life expectancy. Approach and Results—We included 68 602 participants from 2 prospective studies of the general population. We genotyped for 2 stabilizing genetic variants in the transthyretin gene (TTR), R104H and T119M, and determined the association of genotypes with plasma levels of transthyretin, measures of thyroid function, risk of vascular disease, and life expectancy. During a mean follow-up of 32 years, 10 636 participants developed vascular disease. We identified 321 heterozygotes for T119M (frequency, 0.47%); R104H was not detected. First, mean plasma transthyretin and thyroxine levels were increased by 17% (26 µg/mL) and 20% (19 nmol/L), respectively, in heterozygotes versus noncarriers (P=0.007 and P<0.0001), demonstrating functionality of this variant in the general population. Second, corresponding hazard ratios were 0.70 (95% confidence interval, 0.51–0.97) for all vascular diseases, 0.85 (0.59–1.23) for cardiovascular disease, 0.45 (0.25–0.81) for cerebrovascular disease, 0.47 (0.25–0.88) for ischemic cerebrovascular disease, and 0.31 (0.04–2.22) for hemorrhagic stroke. The cumulative incidence of cerebrovascular disease as a function of age was decreased in heterozygotes versus noncarriers (P=0.005). Third, median age at death from all causes, from vascular and cerebrovascular diseases, and after diagnosis of vascular disease, and median age at diagnosis of vascular disease, was increased by 5 to 10 years in heterozygotes versus noncarriers (P=0.002–0.05). Conclusions—These results are compatible with an association between genetic stabilization of transthyretin and decreased risk of cerebrovascular disease, and with increased life expectancy in the general population.


In order to efficiently direct traffic, this paper designs a control system of traffic lights based on MUC AT89C51. Designed the hardware, reset circuit, clock circuit and display circuit, and used Keil to realize design of software. Simulation results prove that the system can realize what time alternates red, yellow and green of traffic lights, then realizes the control of traffic. For its simple structure, low cost, high reliability and balance between the hardware and software, this system can be used in transport system.


Introduction In the last two decades, chiropractic manipulative treatment has gained more attention because of the scientific evidence supporting its effectiveness for low back pain. At least 43 randomized controlled trials of spinal manipulation have been performed for acute, sub-acute and chronic low back pain. Thirty of these studies favor spinal manipulation over comparison treatments. Only 13 studies have found no significant difference and not one study has found spinal manipulation to be statistically or clinically less effective than the comparison treatment. (1) Chiropractic manipulation is perhaps the most studied treatment intervention for low back pain.


Soiling rate (g/m2/day) and daily/annual soiling loss (%) of photovoltaic (PV) modules are primarily influenced by climatic condition of the site and tilt angle of PV modules. Therefore, for all the performance and energy prediction models used by the industry, accurate climate-specific and tilt-angle-specific soiling rate and daily/annual soiling loss data are needed. The primary focus of this work is to demonstrate the effectiveness of regional soiling stations designed to systematically collect this data and they are deployed in five regions in the United States. This paper presents information on the design, calibration and installation of soiling stations. Four of the sites are at the U.S. Department of Energy Regional Test Centers (RTC) in Albuquerque, NM; Golden, CO; Cocoa Beach, FL; and Essex Junction, VT, while a fifth site is in Mesa, AZ. Each soiling station is equipped with a data acquisition system and 10 laminated coupons tilted at angles of 0°, 5°, 10°, 15°, 20°, 25°, 30°, 35°, 40°. Each coupon contains two identical half-cells cut from a single monocrystalline silicon cell. In this test setup, the right half-cell is periodically cleaned and left half-cell is allowed to soil naturally so the above stated data can be collected throughout the year.


The reform of the CAP has been analysed using a number of different sector level models such as those operated by FAPRI, the OECD, EuroCARE and the European Commission. The results of these different studies are broadly consistent in many cases, despite the radical nature of the reform in changing the relationship between payments and production. In some instances there are important differences. In this paper the approach that FAPRI has taken to decoupling in the US and the EU is discussed. The results from various analyses of CAP reform are compared to determine the extent to which results are driven by assumptions regarding the extent of decoupling of the EU payments, and how much can be attributed to different model specification.


Energy costs now dominate IT infrastructure total cost of ownership, with datacentre operators predicted to spend more on energy than hardware infrastructure in the next five years. With Western European datacentre power consumption estimated at 56 TWh/year in 2007 and projected to double by 2020, improvements in energy efficiency of IT operations is imperative. The issue is further compounded by social and political factors and strict environmental legislation governing organisations. One such example of large IT systems includes high-throughput cycle stealing distributed systems such as HTCondor and BOINC, which allow organisations to leverage spare capacity on existing infrastructure to undertake valuable computation. As a consequence of increased scrutiny of the energy impact of these systems, aggressive power management policies are often employed to reduce the energy impact of institutional clusters, but in doing so these policies severely restrict the computational resources available for high-throughput systems. These policies are often configured to quickly transition servers and end-user cluster machines into low power states after only short idle periods, further compounding the issue of reliability. In this thesis, we evaluate operating policies for energy efficiency in large-scale computing environments by means of trace-driven discrete event simulation, leveraging real-world workload traces collected within Newcastle University. The major contributions of this thesis are as follows: i) Evaluation of novel energy efficient management policies for a decentralised peer-to-peer (P2P) BitTorrent environment. ii) Introduce a novel simulation environment for the evaluation of energy efficiency of large scale high-throughput computing systems, and propose a generalisable model of energy consumption in high-throughput computing systems.


Oxidative desulfurization can be carried out under very mild conditions,without using expensive hydrogen and has lower investment and operation cost,so it has become a hot issue.H2O2 is widely used as oxidant in the present oxidative desulfurization system.But it is also pointed out that it has the problem of high cost,not renewable,sulfur-containing waste water and other issues.Using cheap air as oxidant can avoid the shortcomings of H2O2.This paper also described the progress of oxidative desulfurization of fuel oil with air under different catalyst systems and proposed to take measures to improve the oxidation performance of air.


Simple Summary Despite the recent approval of some FLT3 inhibitors by drug regulatory agencies, treatment guidelines for FLT3-mutated AML still require allogeneic transplantation as a necessary procedure to treat the disease in first or second CR, due to the high relapse incidence related to the use of these drugs. The study of the heterogeneity of leukemogenesis and resistance mechanisms related to the use of FLT3 inhibitors, alone or in combination, represents one of the additional challenges in attempting to achieve the eradication of the mutated FLT3 leukemic clone. The analysis and knowledge of these pathways might drive future approach in this setting. Abstract FLT3 ITD and TKD mutations occur in 20% and 10% of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), respectively, and they represent the target of the first approved anti-leukemic therapies in the 2000s. Type I and type II FLT3 inhibitors (FLT3i) are active against FLT3 TKD/ITD and FLT3 ITD mutations alone respectively, but they still fail remissions in 30–40% of patients due to primary and secondary mechanisms of resistance, with variable relapse rate of 30–50%, influenced by NPM status and FLT3 allelic ratio. Mechanisms of resistance to FLT3i have recently been analyzed through NGS and single cell assays that have identified and elucidated the polyclonal nature of relapse in clinical and preclinical studies, summarized here. Knowledge of tumor escape pathways has helped in the identification of new targeted drugs to overcome resistance. Immunotherapy and combination or sequential use of BCL2 inhibitors and experimental drugs including aurora kinases, menin and JAK2 inhibitors will be the goal of present and future clinical trials, especially in patients with FLT3-mutated (FLT3mut) AML who are not eligible for allogeneic transplantation.


A large capacity, random access storage device is described which uses 50 rotating magnetic disks. Total storage capacity is 5×l05 alphanumeric characters with access time between 0.15 and 0.8 sec.


Nuclear weapons testing during the 1950's has left the soil and ground water on Bikini Atoll contaminated with cesium-137, and to a lesser extent, strontium-90. Plans currently are underway for the clean-up and resettlement of the atoll by removal of approximately the upper 30 cm of soil. Any large-scale resettlement program must include provisions for water supply. This will be achieved principally by catchment and storage of rain water, however, since rainfall in Bikini is highly seasonal and droughts occur frequently, ground water development must also be considered. The quantity of potable ground water that can be developed is limited by its salinity and radiological quality. The few ground water samples available from Bikini, which have been collected from only about the top meter of the groundwater body, indicate that small bodies of potable ground water exist on Bikini and Eneu, the two principal living islands, but that cesium and strontium in the Bikioni ground water exceed drinking water standards. In order to make a reasonable estimate of the ground water development potential for the atoll, some 40 test boreholes will be drilled during July/August 1985, and a program of water quality monitoring initiated. This paper will describe preliminary results more » of the drilling and monitoring work. « less


In a bio-refinery focused on fast pyrolysis, hydrogen (H2) producible from reforming of the aqueous fraction of bio-oil with steam can be utilized for upgrading pyrolytic lignin into fuels by hydrotreatment. In this work, propylene glycol (PG) was chosen as a typical compound symbolizing higher polyols in the bio-oil aqueous fraction. Catalytic processing of PG into H2 at low temperature (T = 500°C) was investigated using several commercial catalysts such as Ni/Al2O3, Ru/Al2O3, Ru/C, Pt/C, and Pd/C in a laboratory-scale fixed-bed reactor. The efficiencies of the catalysts were presented as selectivity to CO, CO2, CH4 and H2, and PG conversion into gaseous phase. Wide ranges of temperature (300–500°C), W/FO (18.6–92.9 g h/mol), and S/C ratio (5.6–12.7 mol/mol) were examined using Ni/Al2O3. At T = 500°C, H2 selectivity (73.7%) and PG conversion (66.2%) were maximized using ratios of catalyst mass to molar flow rate of PG (W/FO) = 18.6 g h/mol and steam to carbon (S/C) = 12.7 (10 wt% PG solution). It was found that Ni/Al2O3 demonstrates stable operation for at least 6 h of time-on-stream. Finally, a plausible reaction pathway for PG reforming was proposed.


This Social robot can be defined as a physical robot with capabilities of interacting with their surrounding in a social manner. Social robots should be designed both physically and socially. Designing them requires more than technical knowledge and should be taken as a transdisciplinary process in which engineers, program-mers, behavioral scientists and designers co-work. This study aims to explore the transdisciplinary nature of social robots as an emerging social artefact.A repertory grid study is conducted with 13 participants from different back-grounds to reveal the perceptual keywords about social robots. 50 potential users contributed to an anticipated user experience survey to understand their percep-tions. Outcomes of these two studies are compared. Results show that different professions involved have their own approach and way of understanding that cover varying aspects of social robotic field. This highlights the position of this study which supports transdisciplinary work, and believes transdisciplinarity's positive contributions in the future research.


Two marine corrosion problems were selected for attention during the three-year Sea Grant Program on Marine Corrosion. These were: 1) the nature of calcareous deposits and their relation to cathodic protection in seawater, and 2) the localized corrosion of aluminum and stainless steel alloys. The first project aimed at developing a more fundamental and practical understanding of calcareous deposits as they form on cathodic metal surfaces in seawater. It also analyzed the practical significance of the structure-property relationships of calcareous deposits and predicted the current- potential-time relationships under exposure to seawater. The second project sought to clarify the roles of magnesium, copper, organic films and velocity of flow on the pitting corrosion of aluminum- magnesium alloys in seawater. Effects of various parameters--such as crevice geometry, surface finish, cathode-to-anode area ratio, seawater temperature and velocity on crevice corrosion of stainless steel alloys--were determined. Research techniques included electrochemical laboratory work, accelerated lab test procedures, mathematical modeling and natural seawater testing. The basis was laid down for the practical design data needed to create a system that would recommend a specific alloy or, conversely, identify the proper alloy under a specified system of constraints.


This article explores street children's exposure to and responses to violence based on data collected in 21 major towns in Uganda. Findings show that violence among Ugandan street children is endemic, perpetuated by both street children against each other and adults. Both male and female children suffer outright abuse from police, occasional strangers, and from each other. Boys were more frequently physically abused while girls were more frequently abused emotionally and sexually. The study recommends policy-oriented actions linked to addressing the variations in the vulnerability to violence among children on the basis of gender, age and other risk factors and targeting the change of attitudes and behavior among duty bearers in various settings, which result in violence against children on the street.


Prenatal diagnosis is an effective approach for preventing birth defects and improving population health.Chromosomal karyotyping,sonography,serum screening,fluorescence in situ hybridization,and PCR-based techniques are examples of current prenatal diagnostic technologies.In recent years,the clinical utility of chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) have been well demonstrated in postnatal genetic diagnosis and it has been recommended as the first tier test for global developmental delay,mental retardation,congenital multiple anomaly,and autism spectrum disorders.CMA is now also being applied to prenatal testing.However,there are still many unresolved issues regarding the proper use of CMA in prenatal testing.The issues include but not limit to the clinical indications for prenatal CMA,interpretation for copy number variations of unknown significance,selection of array platforms,and genetic counseling.These issues should be addressed in order to properly use CMA in prenatal diagnosis.We believe close collaboration from professionals of different disciplines involved in patient care is necessary to help establish the clinical guideline and best practice recommendation for application of CMA in prenatal diagnosis.(Chin J Lab Med,2013,36:6-9)

Key words:
Chromosome aberrations; Prenatal diagnosis; DNA Copy number variations; Oligonucleotide array sequence analysis


For the binary classification tasks in supervised learning, the labels of data have to be available for classifier development. Cohen's kappa is usually employed as a quality measure for data annotation, which is inconsistent with its true functionality of assessing the inter-annotator consistency. However, the derived relationship functions of Cohen's kappa, sensitivity, and specificity in the literature are complicated, thus are unable to be employed to interpret classification performance from kappa values. In this study, based on an annotation generation model, we develop simple relationships of kappa, sensitivity, and specificity when there is no bias in the annotations. A relationship between kappa and Youden's J statistic, a performance metric for binary classification, is further obtained. The derived relationships are evaluated on a synthetic dataset using linear regression analysis. The results demonstrate the accuracy of the derived relationships. It suggests the potential of estimating classification performance from kappa values when bias is absent in the annotations.


The charge distribution and Fukui function in Nickel-containing superoxide dismutases were calculated in the method of atom-bond electronegativity equalization.The results show that charge transfers of metal ions range about 0.15 e,and charge transfers of the coordinated atoms and others are quite small when the active center in the superoxide dismutase catalyzes the superoxide anion radical.Fukui function of a metal ion is bigger than those of the coordinated atoms and others at the active center.The prediction that Ni ions are the active center sites in manganese-containing superoxide dismutase agrees with both the quantum chemical theoretical computation and the experiments.


ABSTRACT Following a scholarly thread in political theory that looks to American literature to deepen understanding of social problems and potential solutions, this paper explores James Baldwin's conceptualization of racial innocence and the manifestation of the "culture of Whiteness" in social work practice. The paper begins by introducing the complicated history of the social work profession and its, perhaps inadvertent, collusion with structural racism via the promotion of imperialism. Next, is a discussion of contemporary social workers' potential socialization into the culture of Whiteness, an expression of White supremacy. Third, Baldwin's conceptualization of innocence is introduced, followed by deliberation of how this conceptualization bolsters an understanding of harmful helping. With this deepened understanding, the paper ends by considering steps towards disruption and interruption of damaging clinical patterns. Implications for social work practice, clinical supervision, and future research are introduced.


Methods currently approved by the Environmental Laboratory Approval Program (ELAP) for the measurement of radon ( 222 Rn) in water in New York State are liquid scintillation counting and de-emanation into alpha scintillation cells. Though not a method approved by ELAP or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a passive system that uses electret ion chambers (EIC) was evaluated as an alternative for the measurement of radon in water. Water samples from a community water supply containing 870 pCi/L and standards containing 18,500 pCi/L were measured using EIC over 1- to 4-day exposure times. For comparison, identical samples were measured using liquid scintillation counting. The results of duplicate samples were typically within 5% for liquid scintillation counting and within 10% for the EIC. With respect to accuracy, the EIC produced results that were consistently lower by 10-15%, in agreement with other evaluations.


The invention relates to a method of manufacturing a medical device (1, 299, 399), the method comprising: (i) receiving in a first cleanroom environment categorised by a first airborne particulate cleanliness a plurality of medical components (10, 20, 50, 50', 210, 220, 320, 350) prepared in a second cleanroom environment categorised by a second airborne particulate cleanliness, which is higher than the first airborne particulate cleanliness, where each of the plurality of medical components (10, 20, 50, 50', 210, 220, 320, 350) comprises a sealed surface portion, (ii) assembling at least the plurality of medical components (10, 20, 50, 50', 210, 220, 320, 350) in the first cleanroom environment, thereby providing a sub-assembly, and (iii) establishing an enclosure for the sub-assembly capable of maintaining an internal airborne particulate cleanliness equivalent to the first airborne particulate cleanliness.


Importance
Limited evidence suggests exercise reduces blood pressure (BP) in individuals with resistant hypertension, a clinical population with low responsiveness to drug therapy.

Objective
To determine whether an aerobic exercise training intervention reduces ambulatory BP among patients with resistant hypertension.

Design, Settings, and Participants
The Exercise Training in the Treatment of Resistant Hypertension (EnRicH) trial is a prospective, 2-center, single-blinded randomized clinical trial performed at 2 hospital centers in Portugal from March 2017 to December 2019. A total of 60 patients with a diagnosis of resistant hypertension aged 40 to 75 years were prospectively enrolled and observed at the hospitals' hypertension outpatient clinic.

Interventions
Patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to a 12-week moderate-intensity aerobic exercise training program (exercise group) or a usual care control group. The exercise group performed three 40-minute supervised sessions per week in addition to usual care.

Main Outcomes and Measures
The powered primary efficacy measure was 24-hour ambulatory systolic BP change from baseline. Secondary outcomes included daytime and nighttime ambulatory BP, office BP, and cardiorespiratory fitness.

Results
A total of 53 patients completed the study, including 26 in the exercise group and 27 in the control group. Of these, 24 (45%) were women, and the mean (SD) age was 60.1 (8.7) years. Compared with the control group, among those in the exercise group, 24-hour ambulatory systolic BP was reduced by 7.1 mm Hg (95% CI, -12.8 to -1.4; P = .02). Additionally, 24-hour ambulatory diastolic BP (-5.1 mm Hg; 95% CI, -7.9 to -2.3; P = .001), daytime systolic BP (-8.4 mm Hg; 95% CI, -14.3 to -2.5; P = .006), and daytime diastolic BP (-5.7 mm Hg; 95% CI, -9.0 to -2.4; P = .001) were reduced in the exercise group compared with the control group. Office systolic BP (-10.0 mm Hg; 95% CI, -17.6 to -2.5; P = .01) and cardiorespiratory fitness (5.05 mL/kg per minute of oxygen consumption; 95% CI, 3.5 to 6.6; P < .001) also improved in the exercise group compared with the control group.

Conclusions and Relevance
A 12-week aerobic exercise program reduced 24-hour and daytime ambulatory BP as well as office systolic BP in patients with resistant hypertension. These findings provide clinicians with evidence to embrace moderate-intensity aerobic exercise as a standard coadjutant therapy targeting this patient population.

Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03090529.


Parkinson's disease is a slowly progressing degenerative disease of the human nervous system associated with the loss of neurons that produce dopamine, a chemical that functions as neurotransmitter. This reduction is characterized by changing blink rate, a non-motor symptom. This paper introduces a noninvasive and reliable technique of eye blink analysis, by image processing in MATLAB. The proposed system can be used by physicians as an alternative to the other existing costly analysis techniques.


This article describes a project that builds on authors previously body of knowledge on Trust and uses it to leverage higher levels of engagement in eLearning contexts. The presented research aims to investigate on unobtrusively strategies to evaluate a toolset of Trust indicators that monitor trust levels thus facilitating the deployment of trust level regulation interventions. So far results include project concepts, the design, develop and implementation of tools and indicators to measure trust in eLearning formal contexts. The Project underlying hypotheses aims in real time offering possible future directions to the study of the roles of learning engagement, participation and overall sustainability to support selfdirected and sustainable learners activities that imply a strong need for cooperation between learners and learning systems and technologies, and between learners through systems and technologies in the context of open learning scenarios.


This article posits that the Indian 'aesthetic sports' industry which exists outside the mainstream competitive sports industry such as cricket, hockey and football is a potential 'soft power' which can leverage India's otherwise dwindling standing in the international sporting arena. This goal is attainable provided these sports incorporate some elements from the Indian performing arts within them. Furthermore, just like other creative works, such sports should be accorded copyright protection provided they fulfil the strictures of the Indian Copyright Act, 1957 (the Act). This will potentially enable such sports to be undertaken as a full time profession and incentivize Indian youth to take up sports such as gymnastics, figure skating and artistic swimming on a regular basis. It should be clarified that by taking the specific case study of aesthetic sports, my intention is not to disregard the importance of other neglected but equally important sports such as hockey, kabaddi and tennis etc. The case of aesthetic sports has been selected due to its soft power potential, the benefits of which should be availed by India.


The previous 2nd and 3rd reports described methods by which to improve the accuracy of the convex corner, corner R and large concave corner R on the rough cut of a workpiece, where the wire discharges symmetrically on front surface of the wire. The present paper describes methods by which to improve the accuracy of the concave corner having small radius corner R on the rough cut, where the wire discharges asymmetrically on the wire surface. A new method that combines the dwell operation method with the over cut method is proposed. The procedure and expressions used to calculate these control values based on a wire deflection model are described. In addition, the advantage of high wire tension is discussed. The proposed method was found to be useful for improving the concave corner accuracy and saving machining time.


Dr. Kim: A lot of our data comes from epidemiology studies in which statins were used to lower cholesterol to improve cardiovascular health. In many of these studies, the observation was made that patients with prostate cancer who were on statins were less likely to die of their cancers. The other line of evidence comes from basic science research. People like Dr. Michael Freeman have done preclinical laboratory studies showing that lowering cholesterol levels in mice can slow down the growth of prostate cancer. (See page 4 for an conversation with Dr. Michael Freeman about his work.)


e14539 Background: Circulating tumor DNA provides an opportunity to assess the genetic profile of a patient's tumor without performing a tissue biopsy. The Guardant360 assay is one platform available to perform genetic sequencing of circulating tumor DNA from a blood sample. This can allow for assessing the BRAF mutation status of patients with malignant melanoma from a liquid biopsy. Methods: Retrospective chart review was done of patients with malignant melanoma with a positive BRAF V600 mutation based on a tissue biopsy. The BRAF V600 mutation status of these patents as determined by a Guardant360 assay, which was not necessarily done at the same time as the tissue biopsy, was gathered. The status of each patient's malignancy at the time of each liquid biopsy was assessed and divided into three categories, which included active distant metastatic disease, active locoregional disease, and no evidence of active disease. Results: 51 total patients with a positive BRAF V600 mutation based on tissue biopsy were included in this analysis. Some patients had multiple Guardant360 assays which were done at different timepoints, which made for 83 total liquid biopsies. Out of 30 liquid biopsies done when the patient had evidence of active distant metastatic disease, 21 (70%) were positive for a BRAF V600 mutation. Out of 13 liquid biopsies done when the patient had evidence of active locoregional disease, 2 (15.4%) were positive for a BRAF V600 mutation. Out of 40 liquid biopsies done when the patient had no evidence of active disease, 3 (7.5%) were positive for a BRAF V600 mutation. Conclusions: The Guardant360 assay in detecting a BRAF V600 mutation had it's highest sensitivity in the setting of active distant metastatic disease. This assay can allow for sparing patients more invasive tissue biopsies when the suspicion for metastatic melanoma is high and the BRAF mutation status is unknown.


Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has outbid Endo Health Solutions with a deal to buy neurology specialist NuPathe for US$144 M upfront in order to gain access to Zecuity® (sumatriptan iontophoretic transdermal system), a prescription migraine patch that was approved by the US FDA in January 2013. NuPathe shareholders also stand to receive up to US$3.15 per share in contingent consideration linked to net sales levels of the product. Teva is in need of new sources of revenue ahead of the arrival of generic competition on its key asset Copaxone® (glatiramer acetate), which could occur in June 2014.


Fe3O4 nanoparticles were prepared by chemical coprecipitation method.The properties of Fe3O4 nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD) and transmission electron microscopy(TEM).The effects of the concentration of Fe2+,Fe3+,NH3·H2O and the ultrasonic on the average diameter of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles are studied.


By analyzing the problems lying in the packaging of local national traveling products,it puts forward packaging design principles like unity between tradition and fashion,personalization,brand and convenience,and it also expounds the design strategies of making national brands through conformity of national visual elements together with modern packaging design in order to strengthen the connotation and cultural inside story of national traveling products,and improve the local economy development.


SummaryThe overall pattern of nest-box occupations by European bees in Louisiana indicated a minimum acceptable volume of c. 10 litres, a maximum acceptable volume of c. 40 litres, and no preference between these extremes. Africanized bees in Venezuela had a nest-box occupation pattern indicating a minimum acceptable volume of c. 20 litres, no maximum acceptable volume within the limits of the sizes available in the experiment, and no clear preference between volumes from 20 to 120 litres. These data suggest a model of nest-cavity selection formulated as a hierarchical set of choices.Africanized swarms weighed more, although the individual bees in them weighed less, and they always built a smaller total area of comb and tended to include fewer drones, than swarms of European bees.


In this paper we exploit Iterative Learning Controllers (ILC) schemes in force adaptation tasks. We propose to encode the control signal with Radial Basis Functions (RBF), which enhances the robustness of the ILC scheme and allows to vary the execution speed of the learned motion. For that a novel control scheme is proposed, which updates the feedforward compensation signals based on current iteration cycle signals in contrast to the standard ILC, which uses signals from the previous iteration cycle. This reduces the computational burden and enhances the adaptation speed. Stability of the proposed control law is analysed and discussed. The proposed approach is evaluated in simulation and on a Kuka Light Weight Robot Arm where the task was to perform force-based surface following with both discrete and periodic movements.


A software-controlled processor for analog signals, called the signal microprocessor (SMP), is described. The SMP is enabled by the high-speed buffer memory technology of acoustic charge transport (ACT) which stores samples of wideband signals as quantities of charge. The signal samples are processed in a massively parallel architecture which uses ultrasound to transport the samples from one processor to the next. In this high-speed computational engine, digitally programmable attenuators serve as multipliers and a summing bus is used as an accumulator. This architecture has demonstrated multiply-and-accumulate rates in excess of 45 billion operations per second. A digitally programmable 128-tap finite impulse response filter is described. This device may be used in each of the basic signal-processing functions of signal generation, extraction, modification, and characterization. Some SMP applications and examples are discussed.<<ETX>>


In this paper, an adaptive multivariable continuous terminal sliding mode (CTSM) controller with robust input shaper (RIS) is proposed for flexible spacecraft under model uncertainty and external disturbance. Firstly, for the problem of flexible vibration introduced by flexible appendage, the RIS based on disturbance observer is designed. The proposed input shaper can eliminate the flexible vibration effectively even if there are some disturbances in flight. Then, an adaptive multivariable CTSM controller is proposed for attitude tracking of flexible spacecraft, using only information about the output and its first derivative. The features of the developed methods are that it is continuous multivariable controller which attenuates the chattering effectively and the attitude tracking can be achieved in finite time. The stability and robustness properties of the system are proven using Lyapunov function. Finally, some numerical simulations are performed to validate the efficiency of the developed algorithm.


In America, academic freedom at last confronts the danger which led to the formal establishment of rules of academic freedom at the German universities in the last century: that is, the powers of the central government to influence and direct the work of universities. Although German doctrines of academic freedom strongly influenced John Dewey and other founders of the American Association of University Professors, those American educators did not look upon the federal government of the United States as a potential menace to the intellectual liberties of professors?except, perhaps, in time of war or of controversies over foreign policy. For in those days, the federal Office of Education, and Congress, scarcely touched at all upon the concerns of university and college; and the great majority of students then were enrollled at independent, or "private," institu tions which owed to the federal government nothing at all, and to the state governments nothing but their charters. Yet a century after the German universities gave the term "academic freedom" to the higher learning, American universities and colleges are compelled to spend a great deal of time and money? often in vain?to satisfy or resist the intervention of federal and state political functionaries in their most intimate concerns. (That is one reason why one perceives a tendency in university and college to choose lawyers as academic administrators nowadays.) Federal and state "compliance officers" make their rounds of the big campuses almost weekly. University officials appeal to the courts, or beseech the intervention of congressmen. Merely to fill out federal forms and comply with governmental demands may cost a fair-sized university a million dollars a year. And the intervention of central political power seems increasingly pervasive and increasingly arbitrary. A good many professors still think of "academic freedom" as freedom from the meddling of Vested Interests, or religious fun damentalists, or zealous patriotic groups. But very rarely, nowadays, is there any need for repelling interference from such quarters. It has become the civil servant who dictates to president, dean, and profes


This study highlights the Scale-up of enzymatic hydrolysis of wheat starch from the phenomenological-based semi-physical model and control theory tools. The state variables involved were glucose co...


The research to describe the effectiveness of multicultural education implementation model in Social Science learning using Contextual Teaching and Learning in improving creativity and social attitude of Junior High School students in Surakarta City. This research was conducted using research and development design, was conducted in three stages: (1) preliminary study, (2) model development, and (3) model evaluation. Subject of research consisted of students and Social Science teachers in Junior High Schools in Surakarta City Result of research showed that multicultural education implementation model in Social Science using CTL evidently improved creativity and social attitude of Junior High School students in Surakarta City effectively. During preliminary study before the model was applied, the students' creativity score was 59.73 (belonging to low category); but after the model had been applied, this score increased to 84.40 (high category). Similarly, social attitude score of students was 58.60 (low category) before the application of model, and it increased to 82.55 (high category) after teachers implemented multicultural education model in Social Science learning using contextual teaching and learning.


This paper describes a reduced finite element formulation for mildly non-linear transient heat transfer analysis problems based on the Lanczos algorithm. In the proposed reduced formulation, all material non-linearities of irradiation boundary elements are included using the pseudo-force method. Numerical time integration of the reduced formulation is conducted by the Galerkin method. The results of numerical examples demonstrate the applicability and the accuracy of the proposed method for transient heat transfer analysis when restricted to mildly non-linear situations. In particular, the example of a bridge under environmental thermal condition shows that the proposed method is about 20 times faster, without loss of solution stability and accuracy, than a direct integration method for the unreduced formulation. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Growing reports arguing the value of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support on COVID-19 survival. The earliest studies reported prohibitively high mortality in small cohorts. International medical organizations still recommended, early in the pandemic, that ECMO should be considered if conventional treatment was not successful. To evaluate the impact of add-on ECMO on the outcome of critically ill COVID-19 patients.

 An observational study recruited critically ill COVID-19 patients necessitating ECMO support during their stay in governmental hospitals of Kuwait from March 2020 to December 2021. Socio-demographic characters (age, sex, smoking history, comorbidities), clinico-laboratory parameters (days of mechanical ventilation before ECMO, routine investigations, LDH, ferritin, D-dimer, arterial blood gases &reporting any positive cultures; sputum, blood &/or others), chest radiological findings, and different lines of management (steroids, antivirals, antibiotics, biological therapy and anticoagulants) were recorded for all patients. Moreover, various complications and acute events during ECMO were reported with special stress on bleeding or thrombotic event, RBCs or platelet transfusion in addition to acute kidney injury (AKI) on ECMO. Final outcome was recorded regarding ECMO duration, ICU stay, mortality, and need for ventilatory support post discharge.

 Most of the studied patients (n = 135) were males (61.48%), non-smokers (80%) in their middle age (41.28±9.88 years). DM was the most prevalent comorbidity (24%). The reported survival rate was 58.5%. Non-survivors were older (43.6± 8.7 vs. 38.92 ±8.75 years, p = 0.01), predominantly males (p = 0.046), had higher mean platelet volume (21.78±7.55 vs. 13.47±8.19, p = 0.02), median D-dimer (4312±2146 vs. 2795±1545, p = 0.04) and mean CO2 (65.1±25.69 vs. 52.45±24.05, p = 0.01). Most of non-survivors (56.9%) had computed tomography (CT) chest findings consistent with COVID-19 (vs. 35.7% among COVID-19unmatched CT) (p = 0.028). Moreover, non-survivors were more likely to be shocked and supported with vasopressors (50 out of 56 patients) or developed AKI while on ECMO (44 out of 56 patients), (p <0.001, 0.012 respectively). Most patients who were managed by biological agents survived compared to those who did not receive it (75% vs. 49.5% respectively, p = 0.038). We found a significant positive correlation between ECMO duration, age (p = 0.012), and LDH (p = 0.041); a significant positive correlation between LDH and ICU stay (p<0.001); a significant positive correlation between D-dimer, CRP (p = 0.006) and PaC02 (p = 0.015). We found that post-discharge ventilatory support among survivors was needed in 48.1% and 11.4% (as O2 supplementation or CPAP, respectively).

 ECMO should be considered for critically ill COVID-19 patients who develop refractory respiratory failure despite standard care.


This paper explores social movement organizing within social institutions, using the cases of the Surrey book banning and the Trinity Western University, two cases of activist litigation in British Columbia, Canada. In these cases, lesbian and gay teacher activists challenged heteronormative constructions in educational practices, in one case by introducing lesbian and gay-positive reading materials in the elementary grades, in the other by challenging the right of an evangelical university to train teachers for the public education system. In the context of the existing literatures on social movements within institutions and challenges to education practices, the paper emphasizes two main conclusions: 1) challenges to educational practice may be mounted by teachers themselves, despite their professional and 'insider' status and 2) a range of different types of relationships are possible between social movement challenges within social institutions and social movements outside of institutions. In the cases presented here, the strategies, discourses and frames of 'insider' challenges to educational practices were drawn from the teacher-activists' location as part of the broader legally focused Canadian lesbian and gay movement.


Thermal properties of a polymer composite is a function of resin type, fiber type, architecture, fiber volume fraction, direction of heat flow and service temperature. The thermal response of Fiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites plays a critical role in their performance. The objective of this project is to attain better understanding of thermal behavior of a composite structural system through fundamental understanding of thermal behavior conductivities properties and thermal stability. In this project Natural fiber composites were fabricated by hand layup process. LY556 resin and HY951 hardener mixed in the ratio 10:1 was used as matrix. Composites were fabricated using hybrid mixture of sisal and banana. The effective thermal conductivity is determined by using rule of mixtures. The thermal stability was determined by TGA/DTA techniques. Among the fabricated composites, samples with 13% sisal and 11% banana shows higher thermal stability. The sample with sisal 13% and banana 11% showed least thermal conductivity.


Revised! HS188, a 5-page fact sheet by William M. Stall, provides updated recommendations for weed control in beans and peas. Published by the UF Department of Horticultural Sciences, March 2010.
HS188/WG025: Weed Management in Bean and Pea (Bush, Pole, Lima Bean, English Pea, and Southern Pea) (ufl.edu)