AIM To study the regulative effects of electroacupuncture (EA) at zusanli on gastric acid secretion of in rats. METHODS The pHs 2c Meter was applied to measure the pH value of the gastric juice. The acidity of gastric juice was measured by means of colorimetric titration. Radio immunoassay was used to measure the contents of gastrin (Gas) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) in gastric juice, plasma, gastric mucosa and submaxollary gland. RESULTS Gastric acidity in naloxone group was significantly higher than that of in NS (35.3±1.7) vs (26.8±2.0) mmol·L -1 , P 0.01. The pH value of gastric juice in naloxone zusanli group was remarkably higher than that of in naloxone group (2.9±0.1) vs (1.9±0.2), P 0.01. The contents of Gas increased, whereas concertration of EGF decreased in the gastric juice, plasma and acid gastric mucosa in both groups. After injecting cimetidine into rats, the volume of fasting gastric juice decreased. Meanwhile, pH value rose, and the acidity dropped (19.8±0.8) vs (26.8±2.0) mmol·L -1 , P 0.01. There was no significant difference of EA at zusanli with cimetidin observed. The contents of Gas and EGF in plasma, gastric juice, gastric mucosa and submaxollary gland had increased significantly in both groups. CONCLUSION Naloxone could prompt the inhibitive effect of EA on gastric acid secretion in rats. Cimetidine inhibits gastric acid secretion as well as promotes the synthesis of EGF in submaxillay. EA at zusanli can not alter the fact that the gastric acid secretion is inhibited by cimetidine.


An NHC-catalyzed cascade cycloaddition reaction is developed for quick access to structurally sophisticated tetrahydrochromeno[4,3-b]pyrrole derivatives. A sterically congested tetrasubstituted chirality carbon center is formed during the cyclization process. All the α-, β-, and carbonyl carbons of the enal substrates are functionalized in chemo- and stereoselective fashion. The multicyclic chromeno[4,3-b]pyrrole products are generally afforded in good yields with excellent enantio- and diastereoselectivities. Heavily substituted pyrroline derivatives can be afforded from the chiral products through simple protocols.


Notably valuable efforts have focused on helping people with special needs. In this work, we build upon the experience from the BlindHelper smartphone outdoor pedestrian navigation app and present Blind MuseumTourer, a system for indoor interactive autonomous navigation for blind and visually impaired persons and groups (e.g., pupils), which has primarily addressed blind or visually impaired (BVI) accessibility and self-guided tours in museums. A pilot prototype has been developed and is currently under evaluation at the Tactual Museum with the collaboration of the Lighthouse for the Blind of Greece. This paper describes the functionality of the application and evaluates candidate indoor location determination technologies, such as wireless local area network (WLAN) and surface-mounted assistive tactile route indications combined with Bluetooth low energy (BLE) beacons and inertial dead-reckoning functionality, to come up with a reliable and highly accurate indoor positioning system adopting the latter solution. The developed concepts, including map matching, a key concept for indoor navigation, apply in a similar way to other indoor guidance use cases involving complex indoor places, such as in hospitals, shopping malls, airports, train stations, public and municipality buildings, office buildings, university buildings, hotel resorts, passenger ships, etc. The presented Android application is effectively a Blind IndoorGuide system for accurate and reliable blind indoor navigation.


This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of colonic neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) and to validate the prognostic value of the European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS) and American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) 8th staging systems.


Corneal injuries are common in ophthalmology clinic, and corneal healing is critical for visual recovery. The healing process after corneal injury is the combined effect of various cells and cytokines. IL-6 plays an important role in mediating inflammatory response and tissue repair. In recent years, studies have shown that IL-6 plays an important role in the process of corneal healing.


Modern field science, including archaeology, utilizes a massive amount of digital data captured by state-of-the-art measurement instruments. Large archaeological data sets may include images, geospatial data, analytical data, and metadata. Geospatial information plays a central role in the life cycle of those data; information is collected, organized, and published for analyses and visualization as final output using geospatial data as an index. The web is an ideal place to publish scientific data and promote diverse collaboration, and thus we need a system to publish digital archaeological data efficiently so that it is also integrated in our data management workflow. In order to realize this goal, we designed and implemented a web-based application named ArcheoSTOR Map, which visualizes and publishes raw archaeological data onto a map.


This paper affirms the significance of the discovery of ancient inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells by WANG Yirong from the angle of linguistics and philology. The discovery of ancient inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells by WANG Yirong has attracted scholars at home and from abroad to collect, unearth, conduct resarches and write reports over the last one hundred years and has brought about epoch-making changes in the studies on linguistics and philology in China, especially in the field of paleography and history of the Chinese language, and with far-reaching influences.


To better understand the influence of habitat on the genetic content of Candidate Phyla Radiation (CPR) bacteria, we studied the effects of transitioning from soil to groundwater on genomic divergences of these organisms. Bacterial metagenome-assembled genomes (318 total, 35 of CPR bacteria) were generated from seepage waters and compared directly to groundwater counterparts. Seepage water CPR bacteria exhibited 1.24-fold greater mean genome size, while their inferred mean replication rate was 21.1% lower than groundwater lineages. While exploring gene loss and adaptive gains in closely related lineages in groundwater, we identified a zinc transporter, a surface protein, and a lipogylcopeptide resistance gene unique to a seepage Parcubacterium. A nitrite reductase gene unique to the groundwater Parcubacterium, likely acquired from pelagic microbes via horizontal gene transfer, was also identified. Groundwater Parcubacteria harbored nearly double the fraction (9.4%) of pseudogenes than their seepage kin (4.9%), suggesting further genome streamlining.


The present invention relates to a mobile terminal and a method for the data sending between the television functional module of the terminal and the mobile functional module. At least one working state output port is arranged on the television functional module and the mobile functional module of the terminal, to output the self working state; at least one working state input port connected with the working state output port is arranged on the television functional module and the mobile functional module, to get the working state of the working state output port. The method comprises the following steps that the working state of a module for receiving data is got firstly before a module needing to send data in the television functional module and the mobile functional module sends data, and before the working state of the module for receiving data does not need to be waken up, the module directly sends data, otherwise sending data after the module for receiving data is waken up. The present invention effectively improves the efficiency of the serial port communication.


Hyroxyapatite (HA) and its nanocomposites reinforced with 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 wt% graphite nanosheets (GNs) and multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) are fabricated by means of spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. The effects of MWNT and GN additions on the morphology, mechanical behavior, cell adhesion, and biocompatibility of HA were studied. Three‐point‐bending test shows that the bending strength of MWNT/HA nanocomposites increases with increasing MWNT content. However, the bending strength of GN/HA nanocomposites initially increases by adding 0.5 wt% GN, and then decreases markedly as the filler content increases. Cell culture and viability test results demonstrate that the GNs with diameters of several micrometers retard osteoblast cell adhesion and proliferation on the GN/HA nanocomposite. In contrast, the addition of 2 wt% MWNT to HA is beneficial to promote osteoblast adhesion and proliferation, thereby enhancing the biocompatibility of MWNT/HA nanocomposite.


EDITOR—The West might well learn from Tanzania, which in the early 1970s invited the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in Moshi, Tanzania, to train experienced medical assistants to do nearly all the things normally reserved for qualified doctors.

The teaching was on a problem solving basis; each teacher had just two or three students for their three months. There would …


Cultural marketing means that enterprises investigate,cultivate or create some certain core value idea in marketing activities and take some series of cultural adaption and communication strategies to the cultural environment of the target market to realise enterprises' business objectives.Carrying out cultural marketing in West Hubei Eco-culture Tourist Circle is good to set up the brand image,improve the competitiveness and tourist administration.Efforts should be given to dig the cultural connotations of the tourist products,determine the cultural orientation of different areas,design tourist products and improve service quality and carry out comprehensive publicity activities.


Dielectric nanostructures are cherished because of their great potential for low-loss optical devices. Achieving strong optical resonances in dielectric nanostructures is the key to realizing practical dielectric metadevices. In particular, the exploration of new mechanisms for high quality (Q) factor resonances in dielectric architectures provides the basis for actively tunable responses and nonlinearities. In this work, we study the switchable optical responses from dielectric/plasmonic hybrid systems and the nonlinearities in pure dielectric nanostructures supporting optical resonances associated with the bound states in the continuum (BICs). First, we show that, under optical excitations, hybrid metasurfaces based on a dielectric nanoantenna array of active materials (such as silicon (Si) and zinc oxide (ZnO)) on a plasmonic (e.g., silver (Ag)) backplane exhibit broadly tunable topological properties. Accordingly, enormously strong polarization manipulation of near-infrared light in the vicinity of the topological features is observed. Second, we study the efficient second harmonic generation (SHG) from asymmetric lithium niobate (LN) metasurfaces. Third, based on the large Kerr nonlinearities of silicon, we explore the nonlinear chiroptical response from a planar Si metasurface supporting high Q-factor guided mode resonances (GMRs) at near-infrared wavelengths. Fourth, leveraging the momentum-space polarization vortices observed in photonic structures, we investigate the switchable and nonlinear optical vortex generation from Si photonic crystal slabs. Our work shows that dielectric nanostructures which support high-Q resonances via careful nanoengineering can serve as a transformative platform for active and nonlinear photonics.


Equivalence theorems for best approximation by splines with equidistant nodes on a finite interval are established. They yield characterizations of the generalized Lipschitz spaces $(\omega _r (t,f)_p $ being the rth modulus of continuity) \[ Lip(\psi ,q,r;p) = \{ f \in L_p (a,b):\left\{ {\begin{array}{*{20}c} {\int_0^1 {[\psi ^{ - 1} (t)\omega _r (t,f)_p ]^q {{dt} / {t 0$ is non-decreasing, an aspect not covered by pr...


This dissertation analyzes the process by which alcohol production, distribution and consumption in British Columbia became subject to state control between 1871 and 1925. The dissertation utilizes primary and secondary sources to examine the construction of economic, moral, and medical-moral discourses about alcohol. Archival material including official reports, private correspondence, relevant newspaper articles and articles published in professional magazines was examined in order to allow a reconstruction of the ways in which these discourses were designed and employed. The analysis of these historical documents reveals that the enactment and administration of alcohol regulations originated in a dynamic process of negotiations among reformers, professionals, civic officials and liquor entrepreneurs. Struggles over alcohol consumption and its control reflected the ideas of reformers and professionals about the kind of social and moral order which should prevail in the Province. These ideas originated in the response of these moral entrepreneurs to waves of immigrants coming to the Province starting in the 1890s. Believing that scientific knowledge allowed experts to create an "ideal type of citizenn, professionals and reformers designed and applied a whole range of legal and social regulations. They believed that through the inculcation of middle-class white Anglo Saxon values hard work, discipline and temperance members of iii the working classes and various non-white races could be absorbed into modern democratic society. The enactment of alcohol regulations entailed an expanding intervention by state and professional institutions into private life. The research indicates that the introduction of alcohol regulations primarily targeted women, workers and members of racial minorities. Alcohol regulations, like many other system of regulations, helped to partly construct the differences between minority groups and other members of British Columbia society. These regulations became a vital part in the process by which the moral texture of British Columbian society was produced.


Introduction to the Special Issue: The Role of Therapeutic Recreation With People on the Autism Spectrum By Guest Editors: Mary Ann Devine and Jo Ann Coco Ripp Subscribe to TRJ


Currently there is a wide range of different kinds of power tools on the market. In the case of impact drills the major threat to the user's health are vibration and acoustic impacts. Knowing that the actual drilling conditions may vary significantly from standardized conditions. It is important to determine the actual maximum level of dangerous factors present during drilling. Furthermore, it is also very important to link that factors to the conditions in which they occur. Among many factors affecting the level of vibration of an impact drill, change of the working position, the length of the drill bit and the diameter of the drill bit were verified in this paper. Verification was based on a comparison of vector-weighted mean values of acceleration of vibrations RMS a registered on the handles of the impact drill, while drilling in concrete, under different working conditions.


Leptin is an adiopokine that plays a pivotal role in the progression of liver fibrogenesis and carcinogenesis. Recently, leptin was shown to be mitogenic in human liver cancer cell lines HepG2 and Huh7. Whether leptin can act as a mitogen in normal hepatocytes is unclear. Methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT) is an essential enzyme that catalyzes the formation of S‐adenosylmethionine (SAMe), the principal methyl donor and precursor of polyamines. Two genes (MAT1A and MAT2A) encode for the catalytic subunit of MAT, whereas a third gene (MAT2β) encodes for a regulatory subunit that modulates the activity of MAT2A‐encoded isoenzyme. The aims of this study were to examine whether leptin's mitogenic activity involves MAT2A and MAT2β and whether this can be modulated. We found that leptin is mitogenic in HepG2 cells but not in primary human or mouse hepatocytes. Leptin induced the expression of MAT2A and MAT2β in HepG2 cells and normal human and mouse hepatocytes, but although it increased SAMe level in HepG2 cells, it had no effect on SAMe level in normal hepatocytes. Leptin‐mediated induction of MAT genes and growth in HepG2 cells required activation of extracellular signal‐regulated kinase and phosphatidylinositol‐3‐kinase signaling pathways. Treatment with SAMe or its metabolite methylthioadenosine (MTA) lowered expression of MAT2A and MAT2β and blocked leptin‐induced signaling, including an increase in MAT gene expression and growth. Increased expression of MAT2A and MAT2β is required for leptin to be mitogenic, although by entirely different mechanisms. Conclusion: Leptin induces MAT2A and MAT2β expression in HepG2 cells and normal hepatocytes but is mitogenic only in HepG2 cells. Pharmacological doses of SAMe or MTA lower expression of both MAT2A and MAT2β and interfere with leptin signaling. (HEPATOLOGY 2007.)


Previous analyses of quartz samples recovered after being submitted to laser shocks of very short duration (nanosecond order) have shown the presence of CaCl2-like silica [T. de Resseguier, P. Berterretche, M. Hallouin, and J. P. Petitet, J. Appl. Phys. 94, 2123 (2003)]. To date, this transition has never been observed under shocks of longer duration (microsecond order) generated by explosives or plate impacts. While this phase is produced from stishovite under static compression at very high pressure (above 50GPa) and disappears on pressure release, it is observed after low pressure laser shocks (below 5GPa) and it is quenched to ambient conditions. The origins of these differences are still unclear. This paper presents complementary laser shock experiments involving setups to provide additional information on the influence of various shock parameters. The results suggest a direct transition from α-quartz to CaCl2-type silica following a diffusionless mechanism involving high shear strains. They also sho...


Lower back pain is the most common cause forcing adults to seek for medical assistance; it is associated with severe functional disorders and burdens on patients themselves and health care system that require in-depth study of its causes, management, and prevention. The aim of this research is to investigate the peculiarities of autonomic nervous system status depending on indices (rates) of anxiety and depression in patients under 45 years with lower back pain and to develop more effective treatment. We examined 104 male patients with neurological manifestations of the lumbar spine osteochondrosis without obesity, somatic and cardiovascular pathology (average age was 34,05±5,7 years) and 25 practically healthy volunteers (the mean age constituted 35,04±3,6). All patients were shared into two groups. The 1st group consisted of 50 patients with radiculopathy caused by herniation of intervertebral discs, whereas the 2nd group involved 54 patients who suffered from radicular signs of lumbar spine osteochondrosis. The patients underwent clinical (somatic) and neurological examinations, thorough assessment of the autonomic nervous system, psychological states by Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in addition. We have revealed that the muscular-tonic disorders with myofascial syndrome occurred in all patients. We also found a reliable increase in the expression of vegetative complaints and symptoms in comparison with the control group. Analysis of anxiety and depression indices by HADS has reflected that average anxiety level in control group amounted to 8.33±1.24 scores and the depression level made up 0,8±1,06 scores; in the patients with vertebrogenic radiculopathy, the average anxiety level constituted 9.78±1.58 scores and the depression level was assessed as 4.1±2.13 scores. The patients suffering from reflexogenic lower back pain had the anxiety level, which equalled 8.01±1.16 scores and the depression level of 1.53±1.5 scores. Severe muscular-tonic signs and the development of vegetative dystonia syndrome in association with subclinical increasing levels of anxiety in spite of unchanged depression rates have been found as key features of neurological manifestations of the lumbar spine osteochondrosis in young male patients.


A new technique is described for generating droplets in the size range between 240 and 750 μm. The droplets are characterized by Reynolds numbers (in air at standard conditions) greater than 100, hence, with a liquid fuel as the droplet fluid, this technique has applicability in studies of convective droplet burning. The concept behind the technique is simple. A capillary tube is employed to deposit a droplet in the center of a flight tube. Gas flow through this tube detaches the droplet from the capillary, and the droplet accelerates down the tube. Droplets remain stable in the tube for tube diameters of 1.5 to 3 times the droplet diameter. Generation rate is dependent on the liquid flow rate through the capillary and can be varied sufficiently to produce droplets at a rate between 1 and 100 per second. Exit velocities are reported as a function of droplet size for a variety of flight tube lengths and diameters. Water was used in all experiments reported here, but no difficulty should arise in using the ...


Background: The ability of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii to survive in any situation including the acquisition of many different kinds of virulence factors and antibiotic resistance genes is the primary source of worry in hospital settings. Despite their low hydrolysis capability, oxacillinase (OXA) types are often associated with genetic factors such as insertion sequences (ISs) in order to enhance carbapenemase production and mobilization. As a result, assessing the frequency of IS genes in A. baumannii is extremely essential in many hospitals and medical institutions. Aims: The goal of this work is to find the IS ISAba2, which may have a role in antibiotic resistance in extensively drug-resistant (XDR) A. baumannii. Methods: The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to confirm the presence of A. baumannii by identifying the blaOXA-51 gene. According to the current Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute recommendations (2020), antimicrobials are determined using the Kirby–Bauer disc diffusion technique on Mueller-Hinton agar. The molecular research of ISAba2 includes PCR and Sanger sequencing of the PCR results. Results: Among 38 A. baumannii isolates, 23 (61%) and 25 (66%) were resistant to meropenem and imipenem, respectively. The blaOXA-51 gene was detected in all 21 XDR strains tested; furthermore, ISAba2 was found in all 21 XDR-analyzed A. baumannii isolates. Conclusions: ISAba2 has a high predominance between extreme drug-resistant A. baumannii. The identification of these parameters can assist in the control of infection and decrease of the microorganism's prevalence rate.


This article is centered on the management system frame of the folk cultural art inheritance,which serves the development strategy of non material inheritance taken by governmental organizations,and on the setting up the management diamond frame system model for the inheritance.It mainly discusses the art management target,management system,management culture,management method,management organization and management information system.


The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a multi-sensor measurement processing unit, comprising a processor, one or more sensors coupled to the processor and a wireless interface unit coupled to the processor, wherein the wireless interface unit is adapted to receive measurement information from an external sensor via a wireless interconnect and to communicate with a device including another multi-sensor measurement processing unit, and wherein said processor is further adapted to estimate one or more navigational states based on said measurement information.


The invention of the transistor almost fifty years ago was one of the most important technical developments of this century. It has had profound impact on the way we live and the way we work. This paper describes the events that led to the invention of the point-contact transistor in December of 1947. It continues with the development of the theory of the junction transistor in early 1948 and the fabrication of the first grown-junction transistor in 1950. The paper next covers the major hurdles that had to be overcome and the major breakthroughs that had to be made to turn an exciting invention into a far-reaching technical innovation. The final part of the paper suggests some of the reasons why such an important technological progress could occur in a relatively short period of time.


Regioselective N-substitution of the less active nitrogen within uracil analogues has been achieved following preliminary N-protection at the more active N-position with a benzhydryl protecting group. This protecting group is stable to concentrated HCl (aqueous) at reflux temperature, TFA at room temperature, and Pd-C-catalyzed normal pressure hydrogenation at room temperature; the benzhydryl group can be removed quantitatively and selectively with a 10% triflic acid solution in TFA at 0 degree C.


Diplycosia rigidifolia sp. nov. from Mount Kinabalu, Borneo, Sabah, Malaysia, is described and illustrated. This species is similar to D. urceolata, but differs by its shorter petiole, thicker, strictly elliptic leaf blades, longer pedicels, calyx lobes with sharply acuminate apex, and larger purplish black fruiting calyx. The species is known only from Mt Kinabalu in northern Sabah state, Malaysia.


The public has a short attention span regarding problems of the world's have-nots, but experts are partly to blame, too. Economists have made such a fuss about how complicated the food crisis is that they have created the impression that it has no ready solution, making it seem like one of those intractable problems, like poverty and disease, that are so easy to stash in the back of our minds. This view is wrong.


Lie Jin is one of the traditional rhetoric forms and mostly used in the ancient Chinese poetry and poetic genre.It is a non subject predicate sentence used to express one's thoughts and feelings composed of the key nouns or noun compounds.It addes more artistic style and effects to the poetry and poetic genre by its unique form.


The developments in position control methods have enabled us to obtain a rapid response or high control bandwidth for improving control performance. However, there is an emerging problem in which a control system with a high control bandwidth may excite mechanical vibration, which deteriorates control performance. This is the case especially in a mechanism that has a flexible joint between the motor and the load, such as the feeding tables of machine tools, the arms of industrial robots, and rolling mills. Therefore, there is a strong demand for vibration suppression control with a high control bandwidth while maintaining productivity. For high-precision control of a two-inertia system, the position information of both the motor side and load side is usually required to obtain a high control bandwidth. In order to reduce the implementation cost and space, a novel control method, which employs the load-side information only, is proposed using a high-resolution encoder. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is implementable and exhibits good control performance.


With the rising importance of air travel and the globalization process, retailers have started to change their perception of airports as not merely being marginal settings for their business, but rather an important part of the entire retail chain. Air transport has been developing rapidly, and low-cost carriers now offer cheap and regular flights to many destinations that were off the beaten track in the past. Due to this development, retailers are trying to respond to the rising demand and are also trying to tackle the rising competition and make airports function as full-sized shopping malls. Air transport is the youngest traffic branch in Croatia, but it is also the fastest-developing one, bringing more and more tourists every year and connecting the country with the rest of Europe and the world. This paper aims at presenting key characteristics of passenger retail at airports, with special focus on the analysis of duty-free shops on Croatian airport market. The primary research aimed at exploring students' perception of duty-free shops at Croatian airports. The findings confirm that this population is highly price-sensitive and often opt for cheaper products and more affordable transport and do not therefore frequent duty-free shops at the airport as much. In addition, it has been concluded how students lack information on what duty-free shops offer, and the advantages and conditions of buying at a duty-free. Alcoholic drinks, tobacco and perfumes are the best-selling products and therefore, more affordable at duty-free shops. More effective marketing efforts and * Assistant Professor at Department of Trade and International Business, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb; firstname.lastname@example.com ** Assistant at Department of Trade and International Business, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb; email@example.com *** Asset protection system coordinator, HŽ Infrastructure LLC; email@example.com Intereulaweast, Vol. VI (1) 2019 22 price cutting would result in better sales and revenues for duty-free shops and would additionally stimulate their development worldwide, especially in the Republic of Croatia.


Technical editing is a necessary stage in the publishing of sci-tech journals.The attention and care to this stage is important to the quality control.At present,some journals have technical mistakes,and these mistakes resulted in serious quality problems of journals,which should not be ignored.Strengthening the quality control of technical editing and summarizing the experience and lessons can promote the journal development.


The present paper reviews ion separation by charged reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes on the basis of the author's research work. The separation mechanism of charged reverse osmosis and nanofiltration membranes is based mainly considered to be on both electrostatic (charged) and sieve effects. First, ion separation ability by charge effect was investigated in the system where sieve effect is negligible. In single electrolyte solutions, electrolytes having divalent coions were rejected more than other types of electrolytes such as mono-monovalent electrolytes. In mixed electrolytes having common counterions, divalent coions were rejected much more than monovalent coions therefore, the separation of coions by charged membranes in reverse osmosis was found to be possible. On the other hand, the separation of counterions was not satisfactory based on the valence types. The experimental results were well explained by using the extended Nernst-Planck equation which considers the contribution of volume flow to the ion transport through charged membranes. Secondly, bipolar membranes were proposed in order to improve ion selectivity based on the valence types of ions. Positively charged layer was formed on a negatively charged layer. Experimental and theoretical investigation revealed that the separation of monoand divalent ions was achieved by bipolar membranes in reverse osmosis. The bipolar membrane was also found experimentally and theoretically to be successfully applied to separate ions of sea water. Finally, a new model is proposed by considering both charge and sieve effects. Ion distribution, the diffusion and the coupling with volume flow are restricted due to steric-hindrance effect (sieve effect) in the system where the sieve effect cannot be negligible. The electrostatic and steric-hindrance model was formulated by modifying the extended Nernst-Planck equation, and supported by permeation experiments of organic electrolytes with a supporting electrolyte salts (sodium chloride.)


Background: Local drug delivery has always been chosen as a better treatment protocol over systemic therapy to avoid any systemic effects, maximize efficacy and minimize systemic side effects. Mouthwashes, suspensions, paints, lozenges, ointments, gels and toothpastes etc have been various modes of delivery researched upon. With the reign of materials used in dentistry, denture resin having been the most commonly and frequently used material was chosen to study the application of drug delivery. Aim and Objective: The aim of the study is to ensure the drug leaching activity, the effect of modulation of concentration of the drug on the microbial inhibitory activity, as well as the efficacy as compared to the pure form of the drug. Material and Method: Three experimental groups were chosen which were as follows: the first group the denture resin was impregnated with 150gm of Fluconazole powder; the second group the denture resin was impregnated using 300gm of Fluconazole powder, whereas the third group was used as control which contained 10mcg Fluconazole paper disc. The three discs, one from each group was placed over Sabouraud Dextrose Agar medium containing C.Albican species and cultured for 24 hours at 30 °C. The readings were noted after 24 hours to measure the zone of inhibition. The readings were again taken after 48 hours to re-establish the efficacy. Results: The results of our study reported gradually increasing leaching activity over 48 hrs. 60mcg concentration of the drug concentration in the disc showed similar effects as compared to 10mcg of the pure drug. Conclusion: Within the limitations of the present investigation resin system can be used for intraoral delivery of antifungal drugs. The concentration of the drug mixed with the denture material can be modulated to achieve the desired concentration of the drug acting at the local site.


This paper discusses typological theory and its important role in target-oriented language.This is of singnificant reference value to the deeper understanding of the concepts of the target-oriented language and the developing skill of new generation software.


The environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) represents an inverted U-shaped relationship between environmental degradation (such as carbon dioxide emission per capita) and economic growth (defined as per capita GDP). Accordingly, pollution levels rise as income level increases in the early stages of economic development, but reach a certain threshold where pollution begins to fall. Most of previous studies on this subject are based on estimating parametric quadratic or cubic stationary regressions. In this study, however, we examine the EKC hypothesis for CO2 emission based on the unit root test and panel cointegration analysis for the different income groups of countries. We have three panels such as 48 high income countries, 38 middle income countries, and 41 low income countries. Verifying the EKC hypothesis using unit root and panel cointegration tests, we investigate the existence of EKC phenomenon among different income groups through an error-correction model. Our results show that there is cointegration relationship between CO2 emission per capita and GDP per capita. More importantly, we examine the EKC hypothesis using ECM. We find the income elasticity in the long run is smaller than the short run only in high-income countries group. Also we divided country groups based on per capita forest area and tested the EKC hypothesis for the groups. It shows the forest area has a decisive effect on explaining the EKC.


The selectivity of substituted benzyl derivatives toward ethanol and water during solvolysis was examined. The results provide a detailed description of the solvolytic intermediates formed during solvolysis. p-Chlorobenzyl and benzyl derivatives are found to undergo product formation via intimate ion pairs, p-methylbenzyl derivatives via intimate ion pairs at low solvent polarity but through increasing proportion of solvent separated ion pairs as the polarity of the medium is increased, and p-methoxybenzyl chloride predominantly through solvent separated ion pairs. A leaving group effect on selectivity is proposed as a new diagnostic tool for the identification of solvent separated ion pairs. Application of this tool leads to conclusions identical to those we obtain based on the study of solvent effects on selectivity.


Seven kinds of resin absorption performance had been investigated in isolation and purification sinap- ine from cauliflower, then the DK-16 was selected to purifying of the sinapine. The result shows: DK-16 has the best resin absorption among these 8 resin; the effect was regard as good when the liquid was 25 ℃, 7 for pH and 8.57 VB/h for fluidity; as the elution solvent was 90 % C2H5OH, the best absorption was 90 %, the recovery rate was 85.088 %. The absorption saturate point of macroporous resin was about 550 mL.


The present paper explores the structure and size of employment in the childcare and social inclusion services sector in Europe. It focuses on employment in childcare and social work, two sectors with high relevance for social inclusion and changes related to the socio-ecological, societal and skill transitions. The analysis relies on data from official EU statistics and EU-wide surveys and provides an overview of the current situation (2011) and trends (2001-2011). Accounting for socio-demographic characteristics such as gender, age and education, it investigates EU-wide and local employment levels and working conditions in the childcare and social inclusion services sector. It also investigates the development and extent of the rather large gender gaps – also gender pay gaps - in the observed sector, and if the growing sector can offer employment chances, especially for older workers. NEUJOBS Working Documents are intended to give an indication of work being conducted within the NEUJOBS research project and to stimulate reactions from other experts in the field. Texts published in this series are ultimately destined for academic publishing. The views expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily represent any institution with which he is affiliated. See the back page for more information about the NEUJOBS project.


That non-profit organizations and businesses are to seek cooperation in the field of social welfare is one of the trends of their development,due to their goals,the majority of the cooperation between the two sides usually ends in failure.A poor choice of coalition partner is the underlying cause.In this paper,the strategic selection of alliance partner on the part of non-profit organizations is studied by using the AHP(Analytic Hierarchy Process) to create a strategic alliance partner selection model,which will help non-profit organization with a scientific basis for selection.


The contemporary Higher Education research environment demands 'real-world' impact as a key means of accounting for public sector funding. As such, there is increased pressure on researchers and research institutions to ensure research delivers outcomes for public good. This paper reports on research focused on a Digital Futures collaborative research program. The aim of the research was to explore how researchers and research stakeholders understand research impact. Impact was articulated as 'making a difference' however that 'difference' was translated by research participants as meaning the tangible impacts relating to quantitative components of research activities. The more subtle influences of research impact on society were less well articulated. Results from this research suggest that in the complex world of impact, action, awareness and accountability, as elements of research practice, are key to creating maximum value from knowledge creation initiatives.


THAT HISTORY IS A COSMOPOLITAN DISCIPLINE seems to be accepted today at least as a vision by a large number of historians. Recent presidents of the American Historical Association have alluded to and confirmed this vision. Bernard Bailyn has called historical scholarship "an international enterprise" and noted the increasing "transnational communication of parallel information"; John Hope Franklin has written that "scholarship knows no national boundaries"; and William H. McNeill has spoken of "the moral duty of the historical profession" to cultivate "a sense of individual identification with the triumphs and tribulations of humanity as a whole."1 History, it seems, has come a long way in the last one hundred years. When this organization was established, "history" mostly referred to European and especially American history, and the mission of the association was said to consist in the preservation of historical manuscripts and in the promotion of "American history, and of history in America." George Bancroft, president of the association in 1885, declared that the AHA devoted itself "to the affairs of the United States of America."2 In the intervening years, as Arthur S. Link noted in his centennial presidential address given four years ago, there has been "growing diversity in the membership and leadership of the AHA," and there has developed a "catholicity of interest" in all aspects of the past and in all parts of the world.3 Today, the association's 13,000 members represent diverse methodologies and specializadons, many ethnic groups, nearly all ages, and scores of countries.4 This last seems to me to be of special significance, for, although our organization is called the American Historical Association, it has been an international community of historians. From its inception, it has been open to historians of all countries, and today scholars from over forty countries belong to it. More than five hundred members have overseas mailing addresses; while some are undoubtedly American historians residing abroad, their number must be more than matched by foreign scholars living in the United States. Some of the most distinguished


orpancreatic complaints, possibly suggesting asphincter ofOddidysfunction. Inthepresent study, sphincter ofOddi(biliary tract) phasic contractility was measured byperendoscopic manometryin13 subjects without specific clinical symptomsofbiliopancreatic disease andwith anormal common bile andpancreatic ductatERCP.FourT-tube patients with no evidence ofcommon bile duct stonesor papillary stenosis were studied forcomparison (transductal sphincter ofOddi manometry). Basalfrequency was foundtorange from0to7c/min(M±SE:2-99±0.46) in perendoscopic manometry(85minofrecording time) andfrom0 to12c/min(2.0±0.3) in transductal manometry(2546 minofrecording time). Longlasting transductal recordings also showedthatfrequency ofactivity derived fromthesphincter areavaried cyclically inclose relation withtheduodenal migrating motorcomplex. Itisconcluded that thesphincter ofOddiin man islikely toparticipate intheinterdigestive gastrointestinal motoractivity andthatshort perendoscopic recordings may notberepresentative oftheoverall sphincter ofOddiactivity.


Metabolic engineering – the improvement of cellular activities by manipulation of enzymatic, transport and regulatory functions of the cell – has enabled the industrial production of a wide variety of biological molecules from renewable resources. Microbial production of fuels and chemicals thereby provides an alternative to oil-based production. To compete with petrochemistry, not only the kinetics of product formation, but also the product yield needs to be optimized. Whereas reduction of byproduct formation, modification of redox-cofactor balances and optimization of the stoichiometry of product formation is studies in many laboratories, the ATP yield of product formation is often overlooked, although it is of paramount importance for the product yield that can be obtained. In this thesis, several opportunities for improvement of free-energy (ATP) conservation in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a key industrial microorganism, were investigated. For product pathways with excess ATP and biomass formation, a widely applicable strategy (relocating sucrose hydrolysis) was presented to decrease free-energy (ATP) conservation and thereby increase the product yield. On the other hand, the efficiency of free-energy (ATP) conservation was increased by expression of a maltose phosphorylase, which forms the basis for further development of these strategies towards increasing the ATP yield of many industrial target pathways and specifically to potentially enable efficient anaerobic homolactate production with S. cerevisiae.


The paper mainly focuses on investigating the current development of the mass sports in rural areas of Qinhuangdao City. With the method of questionnaire, it analyzes the influential factors of the development of mass sports in this area and concludes that, only proper use of fitness equipment, stronger awareness of physical exercise and better physical quality among the peasants, as well as vigorous expansion of mass sports can we achieve the substantial development of the mass sports in rural areas in Qinhuangdao City. Findings of this paper will theoretically support the further improvement for the cause of the mass sports development in rural areas of Qinhuangdao City.


Cloud technologies, clusters and grids have actively supported large-scale scientific computing over the years. Whereas these technologies provide unlimited computing resources, combining them with the existing infrastructures to effectively support demanding scientific applications is more and more laborious. In this paper, we design a service architecture and propose an algorithm to optimize job distribution on a cluster and a cloud using HTCaaS. HTCaaS is a pilot job-based multilevel scheduling system for large-scale scientific computing in Korea. In addition, we present a newly added cloud module on HTCaaS which is based on OpenStack. We implement and validate the algorithm in HTCaaS. A preliminary experiment is also conducted to find an optimal distribution ratio for CPU-intensive jobs and I/O-intensive jobs in our cloud and cluster environments. We compare our method to a baseline approach which distributes tasks in proportions of the number of cores each resource has in order to validate the proposed job dispatch optimization method. Experimental results show that the proposed method can improve throughput and match tasks to appropriate resources using adaptive job distribution ratio in cloud and cluster environments.


Among the heterogeneous thoughts of TANG Xianzu,Tao most deserved recognition.The intrinsic spiritual highness of the metaphysical Tao endowed TANG with inimitable temperament of "thinker" and further influenced his choices of styles.TANG's ideals of classical prose and values of traditional Qu(lyric verses) style both reflected the resurgence of traditional "synthetic literature" notion which attaches importance to morality as well as reason in the late Ming Dynasty.


We review exact formalisms for describing the dynamics of liquids in terms of static parameters. We discuss how these formalisms are prone to suffer from imposing restrictions that appear to adhere to common sense but which are overly restrictive, resulting in a flawed description of the dynamics of liquids. We detail a fail-safe way for modeling the scattering data of liquids that is free from any unwarranted restriction and that models the scattering using the fewest possible number of free parameters. We also list some common habits in analyzing data and how these habits do not do justice to the accuracy of the results obtained in scattering experiments, and how these habits may stand in the way of rejecting some models used in describing the dynamics of liquids.


In this paper an ultrasonic data acquisition system and a digital signal processing algorithm in order to improve signal to noise ratio and ensure the envelope detection are presented. The data acquisition system is based on an ADuC812 micro-converter and a pair of MA400ST/R ultrasonic transducers. The received data are transmitted to a host computer via an RS232 serial interface. The digital signal processing is performed in Matlab, and, makes extensive use of the well known moving average filter (MAF) algorithm. MAF are extensively used as low-pass filters due to their good smoothing performance and ease of implementation in software and hardware as well. In this paper we will demonstrate that using the same MAF algorithm, one can address all the filtering tasks (low-pass, high-pass, notch), implied by the process of envelope detection of ultrasonic echoes.


In this paper, AISI 441 stainless steel was investigated as a casting steel using the investment casting process (ICP). The microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-cast and normalizing treatment samples were analyzed. The results show that the tensile strength of as-cast AISI 441 prepared by ICP is 458 MPa, and the elongation is 22.7%. Normalizing treatment can improve the mechanical performance of AISI 441 prepared by ICP, but strength and elongation have a slightly decreasing trend with increasing normalizing temperature and time. The suitable normalizing treatment condition is 850 °C for 2 h. It was found that normalizing temperature and time have little effect on grain size and carbonitride. There was an increasing trend in the mean equivalent length (MEL) of the Laves phase as normalizing temperature and time increases. The effect of normalizing treatment on strength increment was mainly related to the change of the Laves phase size.


Annual and interannual variation of Indian Ocean Warm Pool (IOWP) was studied using satellite and in situ ocean temperature data. IOWP surface area undergoes a strong annual cycle attaining a maximum of 24 x 10km during April and minimum of 10 x 10km in August. Unlike surface area, warm pool was deeper (90m) during August than in April. Higher vertical extent was found both at eastern equatorial Indian Ocean and south-eastern Arabian Sea. Frequency distribution of temperatures at one degree interval (28-29, 29-30, 30-31) exhibited independent seasonal variations. The interannual variation of IOWP was found to be associated with ENSO events.


With the advent of optical methods for stimulation and functional recording of neuronal activity in the brain, there is a growing need for fully flexible, ultracompact photonic devices for light delivery and light collection in brain tissue. In this paper, we will discuss our recent advances in designing a flexible optoelectronic neural implant platform that integrates passive and active optical components with electrical recording functionality. We leverage the exquisite optical and electrical insulation properties Parylene C, a biocompatible and flexible polymer to realize a fully functional optoelectrical neural interface.


The book explores the history of interaction between Crete and the Cycladic islands from the late Middle to Late Bronze II periods when Minoan influence was at its peak. Based on a thorough investigation of pottery assemblages from key sites, the book advocates a rethink of established acculturation scenarios (such as "Minoanisation"). Openness or closure towards outside influences was not predetermined by cultural, geographical or ecological variables but was socially constructed and, in some cases, might even be considered a conscious social strategy. As such, the book contrasts static and deterministic models of insularity and contact with complex, flexible and culturally determined perspectives which acknowledge the ability of island communities to consciously fashion their worlds and make choices about the nature and degree of interaction with their neighbours. While explored in relation to Greek islands, such a novel approach is of relevance to island research worldwide.


W irhin rhe educarional, philosophical, scienrific, and socioJogicallirerarure, much discussion-somerimes conflicring and ofren esoreric-occurs abour rhe essence of knowledge and rhe narure of scholarship. One recurrenr meme rhar emerges is a disjuncrion berween rhe academic world and rhe world of pracrice. Evidence of rhis disjuncrion also occurs in casual discourse rhar invokes sharp disrincrions wirh rhe use of such jargon as the academy and the real world. The disjuncrion suggesrs a rwo-sided arrogance. Sr. Exupery (194311971) portrayed one side of this arrogance in rhe following fictional exchange: A little prince travelled through space to land on a planer whose sole inhabitanr was an older man. Conversation began with the man's offer thar he was a geographer and soon progressed ro rhis clarification: "A geographer is a scholar who knows rhe locarion of all rhe seas, rivers, towns, mounrains, and deserrs" (p. (2). The prince, silently musing rhar he had finally mer someone wirh a real profession, plied me geographer wirh questions about the planer. The man had no answers. Dismayed, the little prince exclaimed, "Bur you are a geographer!" To which me man replied, "Exacrly... but I am nor an explorer.... Ir is nor rhe geographer who goes our to counr rhe towns, rhe rivers, the mounrains, the seas, me oceans, the deserts. The geographer is much too imporrant to go loafing abour. He does nor leave his desk" (pp. 63-(4). This characrer inrimared rhar rhe scholar's work among his books is importanr and rhar rrue Suzanne 1V1. Peloquin, Beatriz C. Abreu


In the microwave-assisted alcoholysis of dialkyl phenylphosphonates performed in the presence of suitable ionic liquids, such as [bmim][BF4] or [bmim][PF6], affording the phosphonate with mixed alkoxy groups and the fully transesterified product, the fission of the phosphonate function to the ester-acid or diacid moiety was inevitable. Moreover, in the presence of [emim][HSO4], the reaction could be performed to afford the phosphonic esteracid with a selectivity of 66% and the diacid with a selectivity of 97%. The ester-acids provided by the new protocol may be valuable intermediates.


With the establishment of the Croatian Competition Agency in 1997 in light of Croatia's preparation for accession to the European Union and the ongoing negotiation process, the relevant EU Competition legislation had to be translated into Croatian. Since the subject matter concerned is a rather fledgling field in Croatia, linguists and lawyers encounter difficulties in comprehending competition terminology and are plagued by terminological inconsistency in the existing translations and legal documents. This contribution attempts to identify relevant competition terminology " antitrust" , " cartel" , " market" " distortion" , " restraints on competition" , " abuse of a dominant position" , " concentration" etc.) and to propose adequate equivalents in Croatian which are most frequently used, as shown by the example of the Decisions of the Croatian Competition Agency published in the Official Gazette. Finally, the ultimate aim is to avoid further terminological inconsistencies in the field of competition and to enable both lawyers and undertakings to easier understand the relevant laws and regulations, especially those who will have to deal with this important issue in the near future. To promote user reliability a bilingual display of English, German and Slovene terms with Croatian equivalents is provided.


approved: Global increases in ultraviolet-B radiation (UVBR:290320 nm) resulting from decreases in stratospheric ozone concentration have the potential to alter marine primary production and affect global climate and marine trophic dynamics. Effects of UVBR on phytoplankton carbon fixation were determined from open ocean exposure studies conducted off the coast of Washington state. Photoinhibition of carbon fixation was a linear function of cumulative UVBR dose weighted by an exponential action spectrum. Comparison of the dose-response for tJVBR inhibition of carbon uptake with results of earlier research indicates that a common, short-term photoinhibition response to UVBR may occur. Short-term photoinhibition was also measured for nitrogen uptake by natural plankton assemblages from the North Pacific. Ammonium uptake was inhibited by UVBR Redacted for privacy exposure to a greater extent than nitrate uptake. The action spectrum for ammonium uptake inhibition had a lower slope and greater relative contribution from wavelengths >320 nm to total biologically effective dose than the action spectrum for total UVR (290-347 nm) inhibition of carbon fixation. Inhibition of ammonium uptake was a linear function of biologically effective UVR dose. Comparison between dose-responses and action spectra for arnmonium and carbon uptake suggest deeper water-column penetration of UVR effects on arnmonium uptake than carbon on uptake. Influence of nutritional status on the photoinhibitory effects of UVBR on phytoplankton growth rates and biomass were investigated using monocultures of the marine diatom PhaeodactyJLurn tricornuturn. Specific growth rates and biomass were inhibited from 2% to 16% by UVBR during nutrient-replete growth. However, no effect of UVBR was detectable when inhibition of growth rate and biomass by nutrient limitation exceeded the potential for inhibition by TJVBR. Thus, a competitive interaction appears to occur between macro--nutrient stress and UVBR stress, such that growth rate and biomass will be determined by the most limiting environmental factor. Results suggest that phytoplankton in nutrient-rich areas of the ocean may be most susceptible to UVBR inhibition of growth and biomass, while these parameters may not be appropriate for measuring tJSJBR stress in regions of nutrient limitation. Effects of Ultraviolet-B Radiation on Marine Phytoplankton


A new dataflow concept, Multiple Input Node, is introduced to overcome the performance and efficiency degradation problems that exist in the current dataflow computation models. Multiple Input Node is a new computation node which has 4 inputs, hence it can accept up to 4 token packets at a time. The unique architecture of the Multiple Input Node reduces the number of token packets in the system and therefore increases performance. Also introduced is a newly designed dataflow processor architecture, Multiple Input Node Dataflow Processor, which utilizes the Multiple Input Node concept. The processor also has RISC based design, 4 stage pipeline architecture, peak performance of 120 MIPS, and a direct matching scheme. The architecture has been realized as a single chip ASIC by using European Silicon Structures 0.7 micron CMOS standard cell process.


This study used double-bounded dichotomous-choice to estimate and analyze the factors affecting households' willingness to pay (WTP) for water supply in the dryland areas of West Bengal as well as improvement in the existing water bodies. This study notes that although the households living in the four districts of drylands of West Bengal are very poor financially, majority of them have willingness to accept the higher bid in the double-bounded bidding process. It shows the importance as well as necessity of good water system, as a whole, to them, which could solve manifold problems. Pilot survey as well as final survey were conducted in the three districts of dryland area of West Bengal on 450 households and bids were set in such a manner which could be bearable for the people of these areas. Over 65% were willing to participate in the improvement of the water supply system in the area. Those who were "protest bidders", showed socio-economic reasons for their decisions. We have followed the procedure suggested by NOAA (1993) panel for applying the CVM with full randomness being taken care of in the different stages of survey. What we have found is that apart from the amount of bid, several socio-economic variables play a part in people's decision on selection of a bid.


TH E initial report in this series (Finnegan, 1961) emphasized the role of the endoderm in the postgastrula differentiation of the hypomeric mesoderm in Ambystoma punctatum. The effect of the endoderm appeared to be modified when the mass of mesoderm involved was increased and, under the in vitro experimental conditions employed, the endoderm did not influence the splanchnic layer of the hypomere into new types of histogenesis (induction). Thus it was concluded that the endoderm aided the histogenesis of the splanchnic mesoderm in its vicinity in a synergistic manner rather than as an inductive tissue. Further evidence of the mechanism of this assistance by the endoderm of the postgastrula development of the mesoderm has been obtained from similar in vitro studies with tissues from Taricha torosa neurulae. This report is concerned with results which substantiate the previously derived conclusions and, further, indicate at least one manner in which the endoderm effects its synergistic role. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES T. torosa eggs were shipped air express from St. Mary's, California, and maintained in this laboratory in pond water at 7° C. I should like to note with gratitude my appreciation to Brother Lawrence Cory, F.S.C., St. Mary's College, for supplying eggs to this laboratory during the past several years. Explants were prepared as described in the earlier report on A. punctatum (Finnegan, 1961) and were cultured in modified Holtfreter or Niu-Twitty medium at 18° C. Briefly, the explants were prepared by excising a limited amount (approximately 0-5x0-5 mm.) of hypomeric mesoderm from the ventro-lateral flank of postgastrula stages (stages 13-21; Twitty & Bodenstein stages—see Rugh, 1948) along with the overlying ectoderm. These explants quickly formed an ectodermal ball with the hypomere internal and constituted the hypomere only or (M) series. A second group of explants was prepared in a similar manner and a small mass of endoderm cells, taken from the lateral pharyngeal wall, was


The efficacy of the supported antimony, bismuth catalysts and unsupported antimony salt for catalyzing the benzylation reaction using benzyl chloride has been studied using microwave irradiation. The benzylation of aromatic compounds with benzyl chloride proceeded to afford diphenylmethane and its derivatives in high yields. The zirconia alone in the absence of antimony and bismuth oxides was little active. Comparing activities of zirconia, Sb/Bi supported zirconia and SbCl3 as catalyst shows that supported zirconia catalysts gave higher conversion than their corresponding unsupported catalysts. XRD and IR results showed that the hydrous zirconia sample exhibited poor crystallinity with a mixture of monoclinic and tetragonal phases. On the other hand, the Sb, Bi promoted samples exhibit prominent lines due to tetragonal phase. Higher activity of supported zirconia catalyst is attributed to presence of greater amount of tetragonal phase of ZrO2, redox potential and higher surface acidity.


The major of electronic commerce,as a relatively brand-new one emerges in many universities of China.In recent years,students of electronic commerce major continuously enter enterprises,playing a vital part in the development of the electronic com merce.However,with the soaring development of the electronic commerce in various forms,students majoring in electronic com merce are also confronted with adjusting themselves to the development of the electronic commerce of society.Under such circum stance,it is necessary for us to study employment situation of the electronic commerce majors temporarily.Thus,some targeted and feasible suggestions on the development of electronic commerce can be proposed.


The force on a test charge moving through a strongly magnetized plasma is calculated using linear response theory. Strong magnetization is found to generate a component of the force perpendicular to the velocity of the particle in the plane formed by the velocity and magnetic field vectors. This transverse force is generated by an asymmetry with respect to the velocity vector in the induced electrostatic wake potential that is associated with the action of the Lorentz force on the background plasma. The direction depends on the speed of the test charge. If it is faster than a critical speed characteristic of the sound speed, it acts to reduce the component of velocity parallel to the magnetic field and to increase the gyroradius. In contrast, if the speed is below this critical speed, it acts to increase the velocity parallel to the magnetic field and to decrease the gyroradius. Because the transverse force is perpendicular to the velocity, it does not directly influence the total energy of the test charge. Nevertheless, it significantly alters the trajectory on a timescale associated with the Coulomb collision time.


Local discontinuities in image intensity fall into three categories: points, lines, and edges. Discontinuous in image amplitude are important primitive characteristics of an image that carry information about object borders. Detection methods of image discontinuities are principal approaches to image segmentation and identification of objects in a scene. This leads to locating intersection boundaries that represent a 3D point in the scene correspond to an object point. In this paper some of edge detect filters have been evaluated based on detecting image intersection points and then show the ones that correspond to polygonal object planes for a variety of types of subject. The proposed algorithm starts up with obtaining image corresponding object intersection points after been detected. Epipolar rectification then applied on the pair of images using the detected corresponding object intersection points. This technique is illustrated with a pair of uncalibrated images of several scenes, utilizing the epipolar constraint.


Key Points Question What is the effect of a culturally contextualized smartphone-based lifestyle intervention on weight change and metabolic outcomes in Asian adults who have overweight or obesity and type 2 diabetes compared with usual care? Findings In this randomized clinical trial of 204 adults with type 2 diabetes, the use of a smartphone app tracking personal health data and using integrated behavioral modification strategies led to significantly greater reductions in weight and hemoglobin A1c, along with a significantly greater proportion of patients with a reduction in diabetes medication dosages compared with usual care at 6 months. Meaning These findings suggest that a mobile health lifestyle intervention has the potential to improve weight and glycemic outcomes among individuals who have overweight or obesity in an Asian population with type 2 diabetes.


Project report: The linguistic characterization of aphasic speech Susan Edwards, Michael Garman & Raymond Knott To cite this article: Susan Edwards, Michael Garman & Raymond Knott (1992) Project report: The linguistic characterization of aphasic speech, Clinical Linguistics & Phonetics, 6:1-2, 161-164, DOI: 10.3109/02699209208985526 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.3109/02699209208985526


With an increased data rate of high-speed PCBs, an increase in crosstalk degrades the signal integrity of the highspeed system. In most PCB designs, via-to-via coupling has the largest impact on crosstalk. Until now, multiple PCB design methods for crosstalk mitigation are proposed under the IC pin field area, such as increasing the distance between signal pairs, adding more ground vias in between the signal vias and placing signal pairs orthogonal to each other. However, such methods sacrifice the signal to ground (S:G) ratio and require a change in the IC package ball map. In this paper, two different via designs are proposed to reduce crosstalk without sacrificing the S:G ratio, while maintaining the package ball maps. In the first proposed design, crosstalk is mitigated through tilted drilling, where the vias are drilled with 45 degrees angle on the PCB. Differential via pairs located in different rows achieves orthogonality for crosstalk cancellation when viewed from the horizontal cross-section. In the second proposed design, additional intermediate vias are designed to achieve orthogonality between differential via pairs without changing the IC package ball map or the drilling direction. Using a 3D full-wave simulation tool, the two prosed designs are simulated. Simulation results demonstrate that both designs decrease in crosstalk with negligible change in insertion loss and return loss compared to the conventional via design up to 30 GHz range. The proposed methods can be directly applied to lower the crosstalk in the existing high-speed PCBs with minor adjustments in the PCB design while maintaining the same IC packages.


BACKGROUND: Haematology patients are at a high risk of developing invasive candidiasis (IC). Fluconazole has been the mainstay of prophylaxis and treatment with a newer class of therapeutic options, the echinocandins, having seen a considerable improvement in treatment success. However, these agents are associated with substantial acquisition costs when compared to fluconazole.

OBJECTIVE: This study analysed the direct treatment costs of invasive candidiasis in haematology patients, comparing the costs between three groups depending on the treatment, namely, the fluconazole only group, the echinocandin only group or the group that was treated with both fluconazole and an echinocandin. To determine which variables contributed to the overall costs and whether there were differences between the groups.

METHODS: This was a retrospective, single-centre economic analysis at a private hospital of patients with IC in the haematology ward in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. The direct medical costs related to managing IC were analysed. Adult patients (≥18 years old) diagnosed with a haematology disorder and a positive blood culture for Candida who were prescribed fluconazole and/or an echinocandin as treatment were included in the study. Patients treated with echinocandins, fluconazole or both classes of antifungals were analysed separately and compared.

RESULTS: No statistically significant difference for duration of antifungal treatment or length of hospital stay between the three groups existed. Mean overall direct treatment costs per patient were: ZAR130 326 (95% CI: -4 932 – 265 584) for patients treated with fluconazole, ZAR241 165 (95% CI: 159 175 – 323 155) for patients receiving an echinocandin and ZAR270 802 (95% CI: 68 277 - 473 327) for patients treated with the combination

CONCLUSION: The results of this cost analysis found that treatment with fluconazole only is considerably less expensive, almost half of the mean daily treatment cost, than an echinocandin only and treatment using both agents, is less expensive than an echinocandin only as first-line therapy.


In this paper presents a methodology to derive the Regression power loss model for Utility to assess secondary power distribution loss. According to the typical daily load patterns of the customers and the power delivered, the session wise loading of Secondary distribution system can be solved. A three-phase load flow program is applied to calculate the power flow. So, that the session wise distribution loading will be the same as that obtained by test case. The sensitivity analysis of loss with respect to season loading, power factor, conductor length is performed to derive the Regression loss model of power distributor. A power distributor of a utility feeder is selected for computer simulation to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. By applying the Regression power loss model derived, the session wise loss of distributor system is obtained in accordance to the actual session wise loading by Consumers. It is Concluded this method provide an effective tool to measure the performance efficiency of Secondary distributor system in an effective manner.


The requirements placed on the thermal protection of buildings are becoming stricter worldwide, which causes an increased demand after thermal insulation materials. One of the ways of achieving sustainable development in this area is the use of secondary and renewable raw materials. This paper describes the results of research aimed at developing and studying the behaviour of thermal insulation materials made with recycled textile fibers.


Epitaxial layers of mercury telluride were deposited onto cadmium telluride substrates at 85 °C using a glow discharge to enhance the reaction between dimethylmercury and dimethyltelluride. Hall‐effect measurements showed the material to be n type with room‐temperature and 77 K carrier concentrations of 5.0×1017 and 1.0×1017 cm−3, respectively: room‐temperature Hall mobility was 22 000 cm2/V s and 77 K mobility was 52 000 cm2/V s.


The present investigation describes the preparation and characterization of novel biodegradable nanoparticles based on complexation of poly-gamma-glutamic acid (γ-PGA) with bivalent lead ions. The prepared nanosystems were stable in aqueous media at low pH, neutral and mild alkaline conditions. The solubility and size of these nanoparticles in the dried and swollen states will be described and discussed. The correlation of size of particles, pH of the solutions, concentration and the ratio of compound polyelectrolytes have been studied. It was found, that the size of individual particles was in the range of 40-100 nm measured by TEM. The low and high pH values in mixtures with high concentrations of γ-PGA and Pb ions favored the growth of large complexes. The γ-PGA nanoparticles, which are from a biodegradable biomaterial with high flocculating and heavy metal binding activity, may be useful for various water treatment applications in aqueous media.


Background of the Study In today's situation when the access to obstetric care is growing day by day there has been a concern over the rising caesarean rates over the world. Caesarean section is the surgical intervention in case of serious delivery complications. This surgical procedure has been saving lives for a long period of time. The concern for the caesarean rates is due to its rapid increase over the period. The WHO published guidelines regarding caesarean rates in 1985 which was revised in 1994. The guidelines states that the proportion of caesarean births should range between five and fifteen per cent. It is mentioned in the guidelines that no additional benefits accrues to the perinates or the mothers when the rate exceeds the level. If we take this as our guideline the scenario of the caesarean rate over the world is quite alarming. Both the developed and the developing countries are not showing a satisfactory mark for the rates. The level of caesarean section (CS) is well above the WHO (1985) mentioned fifteen per cent mark for many of the countries, and it is increasing over the time. In U.S. the rate was 22.7 per cent in 1990, which increased to 27.5 per cent in 2003. These levels and trends of CS rates are even higher in case of Latin America; it ranged from 16.8 per cent to as high as 40 per cent in the countries of this region. It has been established that there are over 850,000 unnecessary CS performed in the region each year. Higher rates were observed in private hospitals than in the public ones (Belizan et.al. 1999). The estimate for the CS rates in East Asia also shows that it is well above the 15 per cent mark (Stanton, 2006). India is also not excluded from this trend. Though the estimates of CS rates in India is 7.1 per cent in the year 1998 and there is 16.7 per cent change in the rates annually in India (Stanton, 2006), which is one of the highest among the countries. Though the constraint of data has masked the actual rates, but still the pace of change is very high. A five-year audit from a large teaching hospital in Kolkata showed a caesarean section rate of 49.9 per cent (Pahari, et.al. 1997) and another study in Madras showed an alarming caesarean section rate of 50 per cent (Sreevidya, 2003). When controlled for demographic variables, the odds for caesarean section were about 1.7 times more likely to occur in private health institutions in Kerala (Padmadass. et al, 2000)


For the fluvial sediments older than 200 ka, reliable dating method is yet to be established. ESR is a potential way. In this work, the Matuyama/Brunhes boundary (about 780 ka) samples were collected from the Gaoliying drill, Beijing and the Donggutuo site of the Nihewan basin, Heibei province. Quartz Ti-center ESR signals of the samples were analyzed. The results suggest that the ESR ages of the Matuyama/Brunhes boundary samples are consistent with the ages of paleo-magnetic investigation in deviation of 10%. Meanwhile, measurements of samples from the Gaoliying at different depths were performed. The results suggest that the ESR ages become older with the buried depth. All these indicate the reliability of quartz Ti-center in ESR dating of fluvial sediment, and we can gain the age of fluvial sediment at least younger than 780 ka using quartz Ti-center ESR signal.


Consistent high production of cane at least cost using efficient, sustainable farming methods is the goal of the Lay family, Mackay winners of the CANEGROWERS Sugarcane Grower of the Year Award.


Water quality standard is defined by the level of environment absorptive capacity of pollutants. Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) is a program to maintain the water quality in the impaired river segments. Using the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The study objective is to assess the possibilities of water quality trading, within the North Bosque Watershed, in term of trading ratios. The model simulation result was not very satisfying, where the calibration of the PO4 has a very high error. For the soluble phosphorus trading, the model cannot be used as the only tool in defining the trading ratio.Keywords: Water Quality, Total Maximum Daily Load (Tmdl), Trading Ratio IntroductionThe North Bosque Watershed (NBW) consists of segment 1226, the North Bosque River, and segment 1255, the Upper North Bosque River. The segments are enlisted in the Texas Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 303(d) List as being impaired, which identifies the insufficient achievement of water quality standard. It implies that water quality standard is defined by the level of environment absorptive capacity of pollutants. One of the concerning pollutant parameters is nutrient as it is being contributed enormously by a Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) discharges as Point Source (PS) and dairies/croplands areas run off as Non Point Source (NPS).The nutrients, phosphorous and nitrogen, of PS can be managed on-site at each plant by controlling the pollutant's level allowed to be discharged also known as Permit Compliance System (PCS). Meanwhile managing the impact of NPS where the pollutant distributed within the watershed is somehow difficult. The amount of nutrient in the streams, which affects the water quality, however is both from PS and NPS. The state of Texas, under the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board (TSSWCB), maintains the water quality in the impaired river segments by implementing the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Program.


The article proposes institutional tools for solving the problem of forming a competitive and well-functioning sector of applied research and development. The proposed approaches are based on using the methodology of integrated assessment of scientific and technological projects, the so-called. TPRL methodologies as the basis for designing interfaces between stages of fullcycle projects that can ensure the seamless integration of full-cycle projects between various development institutions. To increase the value of the results of scientific and technological projects it was proposed to use a network of technology brokers. The use of professional competences of techno-brokers is confirmed by the positive experience of the Program for the Development and Commercialization of Projects of the Federal Targeted Program "Research and Development in Priority Areas of the Scientific and Technological Complex of Russia for 2014–2020" (hereinafter the Federal Target Program) and the practice of similar domestic and foreign networks. The results and conclusions obtained in the article can be applied in the planning and coordination bodies of various development institutions to increase the effectiveness of their work in terms of creating working mechanisms for the implementation of the implementation of full-cycle projects.


A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes receiving a request to page a mobile device operating in an idle state; determining a priority order for a geographic area identifier (GAI) list for the mobile device based on a metric; pruning the GAI list in order to identify one or more base stations; and sending a paging message to the one or more base stations. In more particular implementations, the GAI list can be maintained based on signaling at particular times associated with the network device. In addition, the paging message can include the GAI list corresponding to a plurality of cells.


In this paper we shall discuss the possibilities, challenges and hardships related to upbringing, from the viewpoint of the philosophy of education. Teachers face these challenges and hardships every day. The teacher´s calling is of utmost importance for various reasons, among which their role in upbringing could be considered central, since it is through this role precisely that teachers can have a huge and direct influence in the formation of the children's personalities, and their transition to adulthood in general. This fact was recognized by many philosophers from the Antiquity to today, who are in the focus of this paper, and who've dealt with interpreting various influences and practices in upbringing and education. Therefore, in this paper we want to highlight and, at least succinctly, analyze some of the key philosophical positions important for the formation of the wholesome, independent and mature person, or, in other words, we want to point to the goals that teachers strive to fulfill every day, while attempting to help the children to become independent and mature adults. To this end, we will give an overview of the positions advocated by Plato, J. J. Rousseau and J. Dewey – the three pioneers of the philosophy of education.


Pd nanoparticles have been prepared within the apoferritin cavity. X-Ray powder diffraction, transmission electronic microscopy and magnetization measurements have been used for characterizing the nanoparticles. The nanoparticles exhibit permanent magnetism at room temperature.


The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) will be the next generation ground-based observatory for gamma-ray astronomy at very-high energies. CTA will consist of two large arrays with 118 Cherenkov telescopes in total, deployed in the Paranal (Chile) and Roque de Los Muchachos (Canary Islands, Spain) Observatories. The Array Control and Data Acquisition (ACADA) system provides the means to execute observations and to handle the acquisition of scientific data in CTA. The Resource Manager & Central Control (RM&CC) sub-system is a core element of the ACADA system. It implements the execution of observation requests received from the scheduler sub-system and provides infrastructure services concerning the administration of various resources to all ACADA sub-systems. The RM&CC is also responsible of the dynamic allocation and management of concurrent operations of up to nine telescope sub-arrays, which are logical groupings of individual CTA telescopes performing coordinated scientific operations. This contribution presents a summary of the main RM&CC design features, and of the future plans for prototyping.


In the early 1970's. we developed the idea of conjugate finite element ap- proximations as a means to calculate "consistent" approximations of various functions. particularly stress fields, in problems of solid mechanics or fluxes. in general (1-4). The original idea was a simple one. based on the rather primi- tive notion that operations on functions defined on finite-dimensional. finite- element spaces make the most sense when restricted to those spaces. When an operation (such as differentiation) on a function II produces a function \' that does not belong to the given finite-dimensional space Sh' then the "consistent'· approximation of v is simply its projection Ill· back into Sh' Remarkably. a simple L 2-projection of stresses computed using conventional finite element methods produces stress fields that are generally far more accurate than those computed directly from calculated displacements (4) or II (pages 83- 34)). For this reason. L 2-projection of stresses is now in use in many finite ele- ment analyses as a practical device for obtaining improved stress fields. We should mention that there exist several methods for obtaining approxima- tions of gradients of accuracy 0 (112) other than the projection ideas covered here; e.g .. one can use superconvergence results and fit splines through stress points at which gradients are superaccurate (5-7) or one can simply use finite difference quotients based on computed displacements IIh (8/. However. our nu- merical experiments (discussed in Section V) indicate that the projection tech- niques yield results superior to both the superconvergence and the difference methods. More importantly. the projection methods seem to work for nonuni- form and even unstructured meshes. while other methods. at least in theory. rely heavily on such properties. We should mention also that the proposed procedure has features theoreti- cally similar to "the method of averaging" by Bramble and Schatz (9). How- ever. practical implementations of the two approaches are quite different: the projection is performed by solving a system of equations (possibly iteratively to


Bacterial infection is a major factor in causing acne. The causes of acne are many (multifactorial), including genetic, endocrine, dietary factors, the activity of the sebaceous glands themselves, psychological factors, mucin, infection by Propionibacterium acne, cosmetics, and other chemicals. Pare extract can be formulated as a gell pimple, which can inhibit the growth of propionibacterium acne. The samples in this study were gell preparations of the ethanol extract of bitter melon with a concentration of 5%, 7.5%, 10%. Based on the results obtained, the addition of the ethanol extract concentration of bitter melon fruit depends on the extract produced. The higher the concentration of gell preparations, the better it is to inhibit bacterial growth. The  results showing that pare fruit extract with a concetration of 5%, 7,5%, 10%, and as gell verile 0,025% get a variety of results. And a good resistance zone on the three concentrations that are most close to verile effectiveness is 10% concentration. In conclusion, bitter melon extract can be formulated as an acne medication that can inhibit the growth of the Propionibacterium acnes bacteria.


Plant secondary metabolites are unique sources for pharmaceuticals and food additives. Orange jessamine ( Murraya paniculata) contains secondary metabolite that is beneficial to human health including lowering blood cholesterol levels, anti-obesity, and has the antioxidant capacity. Leaves of orange jessamine have several chemical constituents including L-cadinene, methyl-anthranilate, bisabolene, β-caryophyllene, geraniol, Carene, 5-guaiazulene, osthole, paniculatin, tannins, eugenol, citronelled, coumurrayin and coumarin derivatives. This study aimed to determine the correlation between leaf concentrations of N, P and K with leaf bioactive compounds following chicken manure application to the plants. The experiment was conducted at IPB Experimental Station at Cikarawang, Bogor (6 o 30' - 6 o 45' S, 106 o 30'-106 o 45' E) from March to November 2014 (250 m above sea level). The study used a randomized block design (RBD) with rates of chicken manure as a treatment, i.e. 0, 2.5, 5 and 7.5 kg per plant. Chicken manure was applied at 30 months after planting (MAP). Leaves were harvested by pruning the plants to a height of 75 cm above the soil surface. The results showed that the optimum rates of chicken manure to produce maximum fresh and dry leaf weight were 3.1 kg and 6.5 kg per plant, respectively. This rate was sufficient for leaf production at the first harvest (34 MAP) but was insufficient for the second harvest (38 MAP). K concentration of the leaves from different positions within the plant and leaf age positively correlated with leaf dry weight (P <0.01), but negatively correlated with total flavonoid content (P <0.01). Leaf P concentration was negatively correlated with dry weight of the 5 th young leaves, or mature leaves from all positions. Leaf K concentration was categorized very high (3.59-4.10%), whereas leaf P concentration was high (0.28-0.29%) to very high (0.33-0.35%). The 5 th mature leaves determined plant K requirements. Keywords: antioxidant, bioactive compounds, leaf position, organic, NPK leaf concentrations


The utility model discloses a self-disassembling device of tower crane, which is characterized in that a self-disassembling arm support device is arranged on an arm support of a tower crane, and a self-disassembling balancing-weight device is arranged on a balancing arm of the tower crane. The self-disassembling arm support device is characterized in that a mast type hoisting frame is arranged under the arm support, the lower ends of two masts are hinged on a variable-amplitude trolley, the upper ends of the two masts are connected through a steel wire, the front end of the front mast is provided with a hanging hook, the rear end of the rear mast is provided with hand chain hoist which is connected through the steel wire, the self-disassembling balancing-weight device is a door beam structure, supporting rods on both sides of the device are spanned on both sides of a balancing-weight, a sliding wheel capable of horizontally moving is arranged on a cross beam, and a plate hook is connected on the sliding wheel. The device enables the tower crane to realize the self-disassembling function, during establishing a tower, the inconvenience brought to the disassembly of the tower because of the limit of construction environment does not need to be considered, thereby the device provides convenience to users. Simultaneously, the cost of hiring a truck type crane and the mounting cost are saved, and the device has better economic benefits.


In this paper two kinds of two-boson realizations of generally deformed algebras with three generators are obtained by generalizing the Jordan-Schwinger realizations of SU(2) and SU(1,1). For each kind, a unitary realization and a non-unitary realization, together with the properties of their acting spaces, are discussed. Similarity transformations that relate the non-unitary realizations to the unitary ones are given by solving unitarization equations.


Based on the simulated data and different operational risk scenarios,the systems robustness and participants importance of Chinas large value payment system are studied.The results show that large state-owned banks are the most important resource of potential operational risk and the greatest threat to the robustness of system.The policy banks are the most frangible notes and amplifier of liquidity risk.In contrast,city commercial banks and rural credit cooperatives are the stabilizers of liquidity risk.


cirrhosis only one showed intense staining. In HBV and HCV, 5/26 were positive and 0/9 in normal [p < 0.001]. In rat tissues, TLR7 was found in all HCC tumour cells only while the background either normal, dysplastic or cirrhotic was negative. Study 2. Using confocal microscopy, TLR7 was found in the cytoplasm and the nucleus of both HepG2 and Huh7 and with stimulation of TLR7 agonist the cellular proliferation signi fi cantly increased compared to control p < 0.05. Conclusion The data show that TLR7 is highly expressed in human HCC ' s, animal model of HCC and in cell lines. Importantly, the background cirrhotic liver does not express TLR7. Their stimulation is associated with marked increase in proliferation. These data suggest that TLR7 may be a future target of therapy in HCC.


To realize the multi-focus image fusion task, an end-to-end deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) model that produces the final fused image directly from the source images is presented in this paper. In order to promote the fusion precision, the innovative multi-focus fusion DCNN introduces a multi-scale feature extraction (MFE) unit to collect more complementary features from different spatial scales and fuse them to excavate more spatial information. Moreover, a visual attention unit is designed to help the network locate the focused region more accurately and pick more useful features for perfectly splicing the details in the fusion process. Experimental results illustrate that the proposed method is superior to several existing multi-focus image fusion methods in both of the subjective visual effects and objective quality metrics.


On the basis of the empirical ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) analysis, we propose a new AOT (Area out of Triangle) method for evaluating a change-point detection model. In this AOT method, we borrow the conceptions of ROC analysis and take the area out of a triangle formed by TPR (True Positive Rate) and FPR (False Positive rate), as a measurement of the search space during change-point detection on multiple time-series samples. Based on synthetic time-series test groups, the proposed AOT is applied to evaluate the different KS, T and SSA change-point detection models. In terms of AOT and other computation time, hit rate and accuracy measurements, the simulated studies indicate that our AOT can efficiently evaluate the search space for different change-point detection models on the left, middle and right boundaries in test sample groups respectively. Especially, the results suggest that the KS needs much smaller values of search space, computation time, and has much better search capability and search efficiency than T and SSA.


in language. Abstract: Sound adaptation is a phenomenon that languages cannot escape in borrowing. This is because phonemic inventories differ significantly. This paper explores how Ekegusii native speakers map foreign segments from English so that they conform to the inventory constraints of Ekegusii. In this paper, couched in Optimality Theory (OT), it is demonstrated that English vowels are mapped to Ekegusii front and back vowels respectively constrained by shared features while consonant adaptation is guided by shared features as well. This is to ensure that segments that are unmarked cross linguistically are adapted over the marked ones. OT's markedness constraints largely dominate the faithfulness constraints because modifications must occur when English loanwords are different from their Ekegusii counterparts in the mapping process.


INTRODUCTION:
Postoperative pain management is important and in majority of post surgical cases pain is not treated adequately. This study compared the preemptive analgesic efficacy of pregabalin vs gabapentin for post operative pain management in patients undergoing lower limb surgery under spinal anesthesia.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
In a randomized single blind study, 90 patients were divided into three groups. Group P received tab pregabalin 300 mg, Group G received tab gabapentin 900 mg and Group C received placebo tablet orally 1 hour prior to surgery. All patients underwent surgery under spinal anesthesia using 0.5% Bupivacaine and 25mcg of Fentanyl. Assessment of postoperative pain was made with visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, and 24 hours post operatively. Assessment of sedation using Ramsay Sedation score was done at at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, and 24 hours post operatively. Injection tramadol 100 mg was given as rescue analgesic intramuscularly when VAS score was >4 in all the groups.Time to first rescue analgesic and total dose of rescue analgesics received in 24 hrs were noted in all groups. The occurrences of side effects were noted in all groups.
RESULTS:
The dose of tramadol as rescue analgesia consumption was less in pregabalin (170 mg) and gabapentin (176 mg) groups compared to control (286mg) and was statistically significant (P < 0.001). VAS scores were lower in pregabalin and gabapentin groups compared to control in the 24 hrs post surgery and was statistically significant (P < 0.001). Time to first rescue analgesia was significantly longer for pregabalin (502.3 min) followed by gabapentin (382.6 min) and control (137.8 min) groups.
CONCLUSION:
Pregabalin 300 mg single dose given 1 hour prior to surgery is superior to 900 mg gabapentin and placebo in attenuating post operative pain in patients undergoing lower limb surgery. Both drugs are better than placebo.


Shewanella Putrafaciens is a bacterium which can use as a terminal electron acceptor iron. Consequently it has been investigated for use in microbial fuel cells (MFC) in which electrons are diverted to an electrode surface. Electron transfer is accomplished in three possible modes: direct electron transfer (DET) via contact of the cell wall terminal cytochrome c to the electrode surface, DET via contact of a pile containing cyctochrome c to the electrode surface, and via mediated electron transfer via extruded electron carriers.


We demonstrate a 26 GHz SiGe bipolar complementary metal oxide semiconductor (BiCMOS) transceiver chipset for short-range spread-spectrum (SS) radar system. The integrated frequency triplers lower the local oscillation frequency down to 8.8 GHz, and eliminate the carrier leak in the transmitting signal which enables high sensitivity. The on-chip balun connected to the mixer demodulating by the pseudo noise (PN) code in the receiver increases the dynamic range of the receiving signal. Low-loss transmission lines on Si substrate are fabricated by post-passivation interconnection process using thick benzocyclobutene (BCB). We have confirmed the transmitting signal having spread-spectrum with suppressing the carrier leak, the improvement of the dynamic range of the receiver, and the reduction of the transmission loss on Si substrate. We have demonstrated the operation of the 26 GHz ultra wide band (UWB) SS radar, corresponding to detecting a human located at 7 m away from the system.