When printing is performed by a stencil printing machine, a designation display 25 of a message is displayed for prompting input of a message, thus enabling message information to be inputted thereto. Then, contents specified on the designation display 25 of a message are set as the message information, and message-added print data is transmitted to the stencil printing machine. Thus, in the stencil printing machine, the contents of the messa0ge are submitted to a user operating the stencil printing machine, separately from the print data.


Cp2TiCl2-catalyzed hydrocarboxylation of alkynes with CO2 (atmospheric pressure) has been reported. A range of alkynes were transformed to the corresponding α,β-unsaturated carboxylic acids in high yields with high regioselectivity. The reaction proceeded with hydrotitanation, transmetalation, and subsequently carboxylation with CO2.


Good indoor air quality can be ensured most economically with an apartment based supply and exhaust air ventilation system with heat recovery. This paper describes an in-situ comparison study of four different buildings and HVAC systems. The main tasks were to study the energy consumption, indoor environment and operation of the mechanical systems. The air quality was good in all buildings with mechanical supply and exhaust air ventilation systems. Most complaints of inadequate ventilation as well as the highest CO2 concentration and relative humidity were measured in the building with a centralized exhaust air ventilation system. The measured district heating energy consumption of three of the buildings was 47 - 49 kWh/m³, while the consumption of the building with apartment based mechanical supply and exhaust air ventilation system with heat recovery was only 36 kWh/m³ (30 % lower). The electricity consumption of the fans was twice as high in centralized ventilation units as in apartment based units.


The changes in the partial molar volume (PMV) associated with the conformational transition of an alanine‐rich peptide AK16 from the α‐helix structure to various random coil structures are calculated by the three‐dimensional interaction site model (3D‐RISM) theory coupled with the Kirkwood–Buff theory. The volume change is analyzed by decomposing it into contributions from geometry and hydration: the changes in the van der Waals, void, thermal, and interaction volume. The total change in the PMV is positive. This is primarily due to the growth of void space within the peptide, which is canceled in part by the volume reduction resulting from the increase in the electrostatic interaction between the peptide and water molecules. The changes in the void and thermal volume of the coil structures are widely distributed and tend to compensate each other. Additionally, the relations between the hydration volume components and the surface properties are investigated. We categorize coil structures into extended coils with the PMV smaller than helix and general coils with the PMV larger than helix. The pressure therefore can both stabilize and destabilize the coil structures. The latter seems to be a more proper model of random coil structures of the peptide. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biopolymers 79: 97–105, 2005


We are privileged to be living in an era in which surgery is undergoing a profound change. Technology is a major part of this advance. The old `surgical interface', the eye and hand of the surgeon, is being replaced by a technologically advanced interface that will enhance the surgeon's capabilities while preserving the benefits of the minimally invasive approach. In this presentation we will review the technologies that are contributing to this progress.


C3 glomerulopathy (C3G) is a recently defined pathological entity characterized by C3 accumulation with absent or scant immunoglobulin deposition, leading to variable glomerular inflammation. The clinical presentation of patients with C3G is highly variable, as they may present with symptoms ranging from microscopic or mild proteinuria to full-blown nephrotic syndrome, with or without renal impairment. However, there is no consensus recommendation for specific treatment in children with C3G. Recently, new therapies have been suggested to target com plement pathways, owing to an improvement in the understanding of the pathogenesis of C3G. C3G complement blockade with eculizumab, a monoclonal antibody targeted against complement C5, inhibits activation of the alternative complement pathway. We could not use eculizumab owing to its high price; thus, we administered oral prednisolone and mycophenolate mofetil (MMF). MMF was replaced with cyclosporine because proteinuria persisted, with a consistently low serum C3 level; we tapered off the prednisolone because of a Cushingoid appearance and amenorrhea. Thereafter, proteinuria improved, and the serum C3 level returned to normal. Thus, we report the effectiveness of cyclosporine in a patient with C3G and an inadequate response to prednisolone and MMF, who was detected via school urinary screening.


Accurate calculations of the thermodynamic properties of a system near its critical point are now possible using finite-lattice approximations to renormalization groups. In order to investigate some features of such approximations, we introduce a linear-renormalization-group transformation appropriate to a system of continuous spins like the Gaussian model of Berlin and Kac. We solve the renormalization-group equations for the Gaussian model exactly, and then study in detail a finite-lattice approximation to the renormalization group for the three-dimensional case. The renormalization-group transformation contains a parameter $b$. The exact transformation has fixed points only for $b={2}^{\ensuremath{-}\frac{5}{2}}$. The approximate transformation has fixed points for a range of values of $b$ around ${2}^{\ensuremath{-}\frac{5}{2}}$. Eigenvalues of the transformation, which determine critical exponents, depend on the value of $b$ used in the calculation. We study the problem of identifying the correct value of $b$.


Dependency networks are a probabilistic graphical model that claim several advantages from other models like Bayesian networks and Markov networks, for instance. One of these advantages in general dependency networks, which are the object of study in this work, is the ease of learning from data. Nonetheless this easiness is also the cause of its main drawback: inconsistency. A dependency network cannot encode the probability distribution underlay in the data but an approximation. This approximation can be enough good for some applications but not in other cases. In this work we make a study of this inconsistency and propose a method to reduce it. From the conclusions we have taken from this analysis we have developed an algorithm that has to be run after the standard learning algorithm yields its solution. Our method is an heuristic approach so we cannot assure that the resulting model is fully consistent, however we have carried out some experiments which make us to think that it produces high quality models and therefore is advisable its use.


We thank Drs Habib and Schwann for their careful and insightful review of our article demonstrating the long-term survival advantage of bilateral (BIMA) over single internal mammary artery in diabetics undergoing surgical revascularization.1 As the commentators note, there may well be a difference between insulin-dependent and non–insulin-dependent diabetics in clinical outcome. Indeed, recent results of the Synergy between PCI with Taxus and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) trial show that percutaneous coronary intervention patients with insulin-dependent diabetes suffered a cardiac death rate of 12.5% compared with 4.5% with coronary artery bypass surgery, whereas the differences for patients requiring only oral hypogycemic agents were more modest, 11.5% versus 8.4%.2 It …


Over recent years, UK manufacturing industry has experienced turbulence in its business performance. Lower cost products, and responsive and flexible processes, are now essential in order for a company to capture new markets and to become economically resilient. Business resiliency is a term used frequently to describe a company's ability to adapt and cope with disturbance. This has led to the generation of many frameworks and models aimed at guiding companies towards improved business performance. However, these frameworks are primarily strategic in nature and do not necessarily focus on creating resilience at an operational level in manufacturing companies. The authors employ a mixed research approach initially undertaking a literature review and then a screening survey in to 25 manufacturing companies in order to identify the key business resiliency techniques employed. Following this, a focus group goes on to detail a new manufacturing resiliency model called the fit operational model. The model's effectiveness is then assessed and adjusted as a result of being implemented in a subject company.


E-commerce is becoming a more and more important trading process, that had a rapidly growth in the past years and will continue to grow with up to 20.1% in 2014 according to eMarketer's forecasts. With the continuous evolution of e-commerce a number of challenges arise, forcing the companies to offer better and better services and create new strategies in order to attract more customers. This paper describes the actual state of the e-commerce; the marketing segmentation strategies and the design of new services using specialized techniques. Using proposed segments and a proposed segmentation model, the best freguesias in Lisbon, suitable for e-commerce service, will be indentified. This will be done by analyzing their social-demographic characteristics, using sales data about offline and online stores and also by analyzing the market from different points of view. In order to drive business results like sales, share-of-wallet increase and new customer acquisition, an action plan is proposed with that include different value propositions implemented for the defined segments, showing their estimated impact. As a new value proposition, a new service is created and design that will improve the existing service by offering a different, more economical alternative and will provide to the customers an easier access to the online grocery. E-Lisbon: an e-grocery service marketing project for Lisbon area


AbstractAdsorption isotherms of aqueous bromhexine hydrochloride (BHCI) were determined for activated charcoal, kaolin, elcema, avicel PH 101 and 102. The affinity of BHCI adsorption on charcoal was the highest followed by kaolin, avicel, elcema in a decreasing order. The pH alteration affected the adsorption on charcoal slightly. Adsorption by microcrystalline cellulose. and kaolin increased moderately with pH increase. The presence of sodium chloride enhanced the adsorption on all adsorbents used. The larger the particle size the lower the adsorption. Adsorption from mediums containing ethanol and glycerine was lower than the corresponding aqueous solution. The extent of adsorption by charcoal and cellulose showed little dependence on temperature within the range 20-46. The standard thermodynamic functions, enthalpy, entropy and free energy were obtained. Adsorption on avicel proved to be favoured by both enthalpy and entropy, while enthalpy is the major driving force for adsorption on charcoal. Surface...


The concept of multiple risk factors interacting to cause arterial thrombotic disease is well established. Conversely, venous thrombotic events are often described as discrete events, even though many of the known risk factors for venous thrombosis are lifelong. In most cases, it remains enigmatic why any particular thrombosis occurs. Unanswered questions include why there is often a 30- or 40-year lag before the first thrombosis in many patients with documented congenital hypercoagulable states. Why do first-degree relatives of affected patients who share the defective gene generally have only a 50% lifetime risk of developing thrombosis?

In part, the answers to these questions are that several factors, congenital and acquired, must operate in concert to defeat the redundancy of antithrombotic mechanisms. An article in this issue of Circulation 1 demonstrates an interaction of two such risk factors: activated protein C resistance and moderate hyperhomocyst(e)inemia. Alone, each factor carries a modest risk of thrombosis. Together, they exponentially increase the probability of thrombosis. In addition, unlike the previously described risk factors, homocyst(e)inemia is potentially treatable.

Both of these mechanisms that contribute to the development of venous thrombosis have been described recently. The first is factor V Leiden, the cause of most cases of resistance to activated protein C.2 This point mutation in the factor V molecule greatly decreases the rate of inactivation of factor Va by activated protein C.3 The factor V Leiden point mutation does not alter the plasma concentration or coagulant activity of factor V but only stabilizes it against proteolytic inactivation. Factor Va and factor Xa together form the "prothrombinase complex" that generates thrombin from prothrombin. The downregulation of this complex by activated protein C and protein S appears to be a very important step in the …


A proposed Biological Monitoring and Abatement Program (BMAP) for the Oak Ridge K-25 Site was prepared in December 1992 as required by the renewed National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit that was issued on October 1, 1992. The proposed BMAP consists of four tasks that reflect different but complementary approaches to evaluating the effects of K-25 Site effluents on the ecological integrity of Mitchell Branch, Poplar Creek, and the Poplar Creek embayment of the Clinch River. These tasks include (1) ambient toxicity monitoring, (2) bioaccumulation monitoring, (3) assessment of fish health, and (4) instream monitoring of biological communities. This overall BMAP plan combines established protocols with current biological monitoring techniques to assess environmental compliance and quantify ecological recovery. The BMAP will also determine whether the effluent limits established for the K-25 Site protect the designated use of the receiving streams (Mitchell Branch, Poplar Creek, and Clinch River) for growth and propagation of fish and other aquatic life. Results obtained from this biological monitoring program will also be used to document the ecological effects (and effectiveness) of remedial actions.


This dissertation describes an interaction design project which investigates whether the symbiosis of physical and digital environments might be used to create a stronger sense of 'place' for the occupants of the physical space. Sensing technology, implicit interaction, ambient interfaces, game strategy and a network connection were combined in an attempt to increase participants' awareness of their physical actions and location. The principles and theory underpinning this project are discussed, after which a list of criteria for an interactive system designed for public spaces is drawn up. The design of SuperFight I is described and evaluated in relation to this theoretical background. Finally suggestions are made for future areas of research that might be undertaken in order to develop the system further.


Sensitive High Resolution Ion MicroProbe (SHRIMP) U–Pb zircon dating of pegmatites from Mount Kirkby, northern Prince Charles Mountains, east Antarctica indicates felsic intrusive activity at 991 ± 22 Ma and 910 ± 18 Ma. Pegmatite emplacement occurred during prolonged high-grade early Neoproterozoic tectonism. These ages correlate well with previously published U–Pb zircon ages obtained from felsic intrusive bodies elsewhere within the northern Prince Charles Mountains. Early Palaeozoic activity at Mount Kirkby is restricted to the emplacement of minor planar pegmatites at 517 ± 12 Ma, which provide a maximum age for local development of discrete extensional mylonites. No conclusive evidence of tectonic or metamorphic events at c. 800 Ma and c. 500 Ma, which have been recently postulated for the region, can be identified from the presently available U–Pb zircon data.


Ecole We present a hybrid strategy that combines the fluid and the kinetic descriptions for the simulation of Hall thrusters. The objective of the model is to selfconsistently capture, in an efficient manner, the important kinetic effects that are responsible for the anomalous transport of electrons across the mag-netic field and the plasmawall interaction. The fluid model simulates the evolution of the macroscopic quantities. A novel numerical scheme will be presented in this work. The fluid description is computationally more efficient than the kinetic model. How-ever, it fails to capture the anomalous transport. In PIC simulations, the distribution function of the electrons is observed to deviate from the Maxwellian distribution, which appears to have an important impact on the development of the instability. In the hybrid model, a MonteCarlo simulation is carried out in order to estimate the distribution functions of the species. The numerical algorithm can be applied to different low-temperature plasmas under low-pressure conditions applications. Recherche ANR-16-CHIN-0003-01, Fondation Mathmatique Jacques Hadamard (FMJH), and Safran Aircraft Engines within the project POSEIDON.


This paper studies the presidential system of government-the US model being its prototype-and its extension in Latin America. It breaks down the criticism that this system has received from the perspective of the parliamentary system, stressing the methodological myths incurred by this academic approach to Latin American presi-dentialisms. It systematizes the types of presidential systems, mainly the cases of Chile and Argentina, and the importance of considering presidential systems in their political and institutional contexts. It finishes with a reference to the semi-presidentialism, which considera a reasonable alternative for Latin America.


Introduction Regular physical activity is an important aspect of self-management among older people with type 2 diabetes but many remain inactive. Interventions to improve physical activity levels have been studied but few studies have evaluated the effects of personalized feedback (PF) or peer support (PS); and there was no study on older people of Asian heritage. Hence, this trial evaluated whether PF only or combined with PS improves physical activity among older Malays with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) compared to usual care only. Materials and methods A three-arm randomized controlled trial was conducted in a primary healthcare clinic in Malaysia. Sixty-nine sedentary Malays aged 60 years and older with T2DM who received usual diabetes care were randomized to PF or PS interventions or as controls for 12 weeks with follow-ups at weeks 24 and 36. Intervention groups performed unsupervised walking activity and received written feedback on physical activity. The PS group also received group and telephone contacts from trained peer mentors. The primary outcome was pedometer steps. Secondary outcomes were self-reported physical activity, cardiovascular risk factors, cardiorespiratory fitness, balance, quality of life, and psychosocial wellbeing. Results Fifty-two (75.4%) completed the 36-week study. The PS group showed greater daily pedometer readings than the PF and controls (p = 0.001). The PS group also had greater improvement in weekly duration (p < 0.001) and frequency (p < 0.001) of moderate intensity physical activity, scores on the Physical Activity Scale for Elderly (p = 0.003), 6-min walk test (p < 0.001), and social support from friends (p = 0.032) than PF and control groups. Conclusion The findings suggest that PF combined with PS in older Malays with T2DM improved their physical activity levels, cardiorespiratory fitness, and support from friends. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN71447000.


In this paper, a class of n-person stochastic linear-quadratic differential games under multiple probabilistic modeling is studied, with each player acquiring a noisy measurement of the initial state. Conditions for the existence and uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium is obtained, and a method is provided for an iterative distributed computation of the solution. The distributed algorithm involves learning in the policy space, and it does not require that each player knows the others' perceptions of the probabilistic model underlying the decision process. For the finite horizon problem, such an iteration converges whenever the length of the time horizon is sufficiently small, and the limit in this case is an affine policy for all players if the underlying distributions are jointly Gaussian. When the horizon is infinite and a discount factor is used in the cost functionals, the iteration converges under conditions depending on the magnitude of the discount factor, the limiting policies again being affine in...


The paper provides an analytical and numerical analysis of the transition to space-time chaos in the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation with complex, in the general case, parameters. Equation describes, in particular, the wave amplitude of a surface plasmon polariton propagating over the contact surface of a metal with a dielectric. It is proved that considered equation has an infinite number of different stable wave solutions running along the spatial axis with arbitrary velocities, as well as an infinite number of different modes of space-time chaos in full accordance with the universal Feigenbaum-Sharkovsky-Magnitskii bifurcation theory. In this case, the bifurcation parameter is the value of the speed of propagation of traveling waves along the spatial axis, which is clearly not included in the original equation.


Although aqueous Zn batteries have become a more sustainable alternative to lithium‐ion batteries owing to their intrinsic security, their practical applications are limited by dendrite formation and hydrogen reactions. The first application of a rare earth metal type addition to Zn batteries, cerium chloride (CeCl3), as an effective, low‐cost, and green electrolyte additive that facilitates the formation of a dynamic electrostatic shielding layer around the Zn protuberance to induce uniform Zn deposition is presented. After introducing CeCl3 additives, the electrochemical characterizations, in situ optical microscopy observation, in situ differential electrochemical mass spectrometry, along with density functional theory calculations, and finite element method simulations reveal resisted Zn dendritic growth and enhanced electrolyte stability. As a result, the Zn–Zn cells using the CeCl3 additive exhibit a long cycling stability of 2600 h at 2 mA cm−2, an impressive cumulative areal capacity of 3.6 Ah cm−2 at 40 mA cm−2, and a high Coulombic efficiency of ≈99.7%. The fact that the Zn–LiFePO4 cells with proposed electrolyte retain capacity significantly better than the additive‐free case is even more exciting.


China's national audit duties cover wide areas but with limited power in the planned-economy system. To promote the socialist market-economy and the rational distribution of power, it is essential to perfect these duties, take its most basic duties as public finance and public accounts check, and reduce the detailed audit for state-owned enterprises, and organize the audit of economic responsibilities.


This paper elaborates the multisensor information principle about DempsterShafer theory of evidence. It′s an useful method to deal with uncertain problems. But its application is limited by the shortcomings of the combination rules. And an improved combination method is put forward according to shortage of the formula through in depth analysis. Thus we can′t only make up conflicted evidence like this with different online weights, but also carry out adaptive weighting association according to the amount of information that an evidence includes. Thus improving the combination criteria of DS theory of evidence as well as increasing its fusion capability, and some examples have been done to demonstrate that the new method is efficient.


This paper addresses issues of dynamic modeling and end-effector trajectory control for two serially connected robots: a flexible macroarm and a rigid microarm, which is carried by the macroarm. First, a dynamic model is presented using Hamilton's principle and the finite element method. Based on this dynamic model, a new end-effector trajectory control method is proposed. Based on this method, the control system design is divided into two stages. The first stage is concerned with the design of an ideal manifold on which the desired dynamic performance of the system is quaranteed. In the second stage, the end-effector trajectory control scheme which governs the motion of the system converging to the ideal manifold is derived. Stability of the system is demonstrated using the Lyapunov stability theory. Simulations are carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed control method.


A system for detecting magnetic fields in the femtotesla range at low frequencies is developed, including the antenna, transformer, and amplifier. Each component is described with relevant tradeoffs which allow a large variety of receivers to be easily designed for any magnetic field sensing in the very low frequency range. A system using a 1-¿-1-mH impedance antenna is developed further as an example that has been used extensively in measurements all over the world in the frequency range of 50 Hz-30 kHz. It has a gain of 0.58 V/nT and a sensitivity of below 1 fT/Hz1/2 above 250 Hz.


The variance versus average signal has been measured for a pixel in an electronically shuttered and back-illuminated CCD imaging array. The measurements demonstrate that, over a certain operating range, the electronic shutter modifies the input Poisson distributed photoelectrons during the collection process such that the charge signal accumulated in the CCD well has a sub-Poisson distribution (variance less than the mean). A simple one-dimensional model has been developed that explains the experimental results.


Like most GPs I'm radio dependent. Along with commercial travellers and HGV drivers, we are occupationally required to spend a good deal of our time alone in cars, .where the company of a radio can be a considerable blessing. When "Woman's Hour" coincided with the time of the day when most GPs did their home visits, one would hear it cited more frequently in postgraduate meetings than the BMJ. And while I feel the arbitrary declensions of Theolonius Monk's piano ideally complemented the jarring moods of evening visiting, a good Verdian chorus is better than black coffee to get the neurones transmitting for calls in the small hours. As attentive readers will have noted, I am without a car radio once more, having made another little contribution to the crime statistics. This is a particular nuisance because of the current battle between the revamped Radio 3 and London's new commercial classical music station, Classic FM. My first problem with Radio 3 is that it's so hard to receive in Hackney. Local pirate stations hover either side of it on the dial so that crashing reggae baselines and adverts for local travel agents simultaneously hove into one's string quartets and early music in a way that produces almost instantaneous bitemporal headaches. Still, when I could find it I very much enjoyed Radio 3-As-It-Was, especially its much criticised didacticism. I found, for example, the Saturday morning "Building a Library" feature, which meticulously and critically compares various versions of a single piece, a highly democratic form of musical education. And, quite apart from the marvellous live transmissions from the Proms, Glyndeboume, the ENO, and the Met, and the large volume of commissioned work, the subspecialist features like "Opera News," "Jazz Record Requests," and our namesake "Soundings" wore their undoubted knowledge lightly. Indeed, I don't mind being talked down to by someone like Michael Oliver or Edward Greenfield, whose erudition is beyond question. I certainly preferred it to the revamped service, which seems to have the Water Music, the Brandenbergs, the William Tell Overture, and the Sugar Plum Fairy on with an alarming frequency. As for Classic FM with its mispronunciations, lack of basic recording details, amputated excerpts, and witless chirpiness ("Here's some Bartok to cheer you up towards midday")-well, it's not my idea of easy listening. The moral goes wider than music. Excellence is now routinely denounced by the free market Right as elitist and unsupportably expensive. The same argument is at present being deployed against the London teaching hospitals. Radio 3 may have sometimes served music up like those gloomily knowledgeable French waiters who know it's going to be good for you, although France Musique, the French classics channel, has a much more naturally passionate and poetic way of enthusing about great music without degrading it to the "good bits." But I'm for republican excellence against market led levelling down, and if that makes me a Reithian, too bad.-DAVID WCIDGERY, general practitionier, Lonldoni


With the ever‐rapid miniaturization of portable, wearable electronics and Internet of Things, the volumetric performance is becoming a much more pertinent figure‐of‐merit than the conventionally used gravimetric parameters to evaluate the charge‐storage capacity of electrochemical capacitors (ECs). Thus, it is essential to design the ECs that can store as much energy as possible within a limited space. As the most critical component in ECs, "porous and yet dense" electrodes with large ion‐accessible surface area and optimal packing density are crucial to realize desired high volumetric performance, which have demonstrated to be rather challenging. In this review, the principles and fundamentals of ECs are first observed, focusing on the key understandings of the different charge storage mechanisms in porous electrodes. The recent and latest advances in high‐volumetric‐performance ECs, developed by the rational design and fabrication of "porous and yet dense" electrodes are then examined. Particular emphasis of discussions then concentrates on the key factors impacting the volumetric performance of porous carbon‐based electrodes. Finally, the currently faced challenges, further perspectives and opportunities on those purposely engineered porous electrodes for high‐volumetric‐performance EC are presented, aiming at providing a set of guidelines for further design of the next‐generation energy storage devices.


tered intravenously 2 days after photocoagulation. Group 3 received SI 2 days before the laser was applied. In group 4, SI was injected immediately after photocoagulation. The results show that CNV developed in 42 of 93 burns (45%) of the laser group and in 46 of 75 burns (61%) when SI was administered 2 days after laser (p = 0.036). No CNV developed in any of the other groups. The authors conclude that the angiogenic effect of the RPE is essential during the first hours after onset of the laser-induced CNV stimulation. When the RPE was damaged before or at the time of photocoagulation, no CNV was induced. The authors conclude that RPE integrity plays a major role in CNV formation.


This communication presents a novel and simple circularly polarized (CP) antenna constructed by an elliptical cavity and a dipole exciter for 60 GHz wireless personal area network (WPAN) applications. The simulated 3-dB axial ratio (AR) bandwidth is 27.1%, from 51 to 67 GHz, in which the standing-wave ratio (SWR) is kept below 2. Meanwhile, the broadside gain is varied from 5 to 10 dBi.


Computer conferencing systems link groups of users who "meet"; in the virtual space of a computer and interact around a common purpose or topic. These electronically constituted and mediated groups can mirror, cross‐cut, or hive off from existing organizational structures. This article reports a study of organizational structuring processes that accompany the introduction of a computer conferencing system in six industrial organizations. The relationships among technological capabilities and constraints, existing organization structures, managerial intent, and the unanticipated consequences of implementation for structural change are discussed. Employing the same software system in each case, organizational outcomes are radically different. Earlier analysts have focused on a contingency model of the organization‐to‐technology relationship. Computer conferencing systems, however, confound the distinction between technical and organizational systems; they exist in an overlapping border domain between their ...


A lightweight fuel pump and metering (LFPM) component is being developed under U.S. Air Force contract for application to advanced gas turbine engine control. The component offers payoffs of 50% weight reduction, increased high temperature capability to 400°F, and likely improvement in ballistic tolerance. Composite materials, lightweight aluminum alloys, and innovative design techniques are used to achieve the high payoffs. This paper summarizes the component development to date on preliminary design, model testing, and detailed design. ~ h r i n ~ model testing of the preliminary design pump, the critical composite pump subcomponents were tested to over 25,000 rpm and 1300 psi. The detailed design pump incorporates improvements based on model testing experience to meet the program goals of 30,000 rpm and 1400+ psi. The detailed design pump and metering component is now in fabrication, with rig testing (for performance and durability) and analysis to follow. The component is targeted for demonstration on Allison's series of advanced military engines in the 1990s, running through 2003.


We set out to fully examine the frequency domain relationship between arterial pressure and cerebral blood flow. Oscillatory lower body negative pressure (OLBNP) was used to create consistent blood pressure oscillations of varying frequency and amplitude to rigorously test for a frequency‐ and/or amplitude‐dependent relationship between arterial pressure and cerebral flow. We also examined the predictions from OLBNP data for the cerebral flow response to the stepwise drop in pressure subsequent to deflation of ischaemic thigh cuffs. We measured spectral powers, cross‐spectral coherence, and transfer function gains and phases in arterial pressure and cerebral flow during three amplitudes (0, 20, and 40 mmHg) and three frequencies (0.10, 0.05, and 0.03 Hz) of OLBNP in nine healthy young volunteers. Pressure fluctuations were directly related to OLBNP amplitude and inversely to OLBNP frequency. Although cerebral flow oscillations were increased, they did not demonstrate the same frequency dependence seen in pressure oscillations. The overall pattern of the pressure–flow relation was of decreasing coherence and gain and increasing phase with decreasing frequency, characteristic of a high‐pass filter. Coherence between pressure and flow was increased at all frequencies by OLBNP, but was still significantly lower at frequencies below 0.07 Hz despite the augmented pressure input. In addition, predictions of thigh cuff data from spectral estimates were extremely inconsistent and highly variable, suggesting that cerebral autoregulation is a frequency‐dependent mechanism that may not be fully characterized by linear methods.


A mandatory register to record outcomes in all women treated with vaginal mesh is essential to properly monitor the adverse effects of these implants, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has said.

The college was responding to government plans announced last month1 for an audit of problems caused by vaginal mesh. The audit, which aims to better understand complications related to mesh implants used for incontinence and prolapse, is expected to be completed by April.

Tim Hillard, RCOG clinical lead for patient safety, said that, while he supported the audit, he would like to see more done. …


Abstract In this paper, properties of sputter– and sol–gel deposited PZT thin films are reviewed and compared. It is shown that film properties are influenced by type and parameter of fabrication technology. By means of determining both stress and space charge distribution in the PZT films, it can be seen that an oxygen vacancy leads to a strong self–polarization which is stable under sensor operation conditions and makes these films very advantageous for pyroelectric IR sensors.


The enzyme PARP is ubiquitous among eukaryotes (except for budding yeast) and is known to be important for repairing damaged DNA. In his Perspective, [Pirrotta][1] unveils a new job for this versatile polymerase. PARP turns out to be important for the formation of puffs in the giant chromosomes of Drosophila ([Tulin and Spradling][2]). These puffs (first observed decades ago under the microscope) are areas of intense transcriptional activity at the sites of target genes produced in response to, for example, a heat shock stimulus or the molting hormone ecdysone.

 [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/299/5606/528
 [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/299/5606/560


We have performed electrical transport experiments on individual carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in situ in a transmission electron microscope using the liquid-metal contact method (LMC method), which consists of immersing a CNT placed on the apex of a metallic tip into a drop of liquid mercury (Hg). In the literature, this method has been mostly employed without visualization (ex situ) to show the ballistic- and quantum-conductance properties of different kinds of CNTs. We show that on the one hand the in situ LMC method is well suited to create low-resistance contacts with the CNTs but on the other hand the ballistic and quantum conductance measured by the ex situ LMC method is likely to give false positives for three reasons: (a) the CNTs are likely to be removed from the tip surface through contact with the Hg, (b) occurring Hg-tip surface nanocontacts are likely to be mistaken for quantum-conductor CNTs, and (c) occurring Hg nanomenisci are likely to be mistaken for ballistic-conductor CNTs. These findings have strong consequences for the interpretation of previously reported works.


Two-dimensional stochastic cellular automata with nearest-neighbour couplings are investigated. Depending on the rules, low-level noise phases are classified into ferro, glassy, roll, glassy-roll, and antiferro, glassy-antiferro, antiferro-roll, glassy-antiferro-roll, 'coexistent phase of ferro and antiferro', 'labyrinth' and 'turbulence'. Also, the oscillating phases with period 2 for the above phases are observed in other rules. Transformations from ferro to antiferro and from fixed point to periodic patterns are shown. The nature of phase transitions due to a change of noise is investigated.


In the LTE (Long Term Evolution) System, packet scheduling is considered the most important step of RRM (Radio Resource Management) to have better resource utilization. In this context, we proposed a new Uplink scheduling scheme for LTE networks and compared its performances with other well known algorithms such as the RME (Recursive Maximum Expansion), the RR (Round Robin) and the BCQI (Best-CQI) Uplink scheduler's algorithms. The RR scheduler is characterized by a high fairness, but low data rates at cell level. On the other hand, the RME scheduler is characterized by its low complexity, but poor fairness. Also, the BCQI scheme is characterized by high data rates, but poor fairness. The main goal of our proposed scheme was to use the Tabu method for to schedule and optimize the allocation of a PRBs (Physical Resource Blocks) efficiently between different users. Simulation results show that the newly proposed scheduling algorithm allows a fair distribution of available LTE resources while keeping an high system's throughput.


Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) is a manufacturing method with the advantage that it can produce objects of complex geometry. Additionally, it opens great opportunities to synthesize new materials from elemental powder using an in situ alloying approach. Potential of the in situ PBF alloying approach is nevertheless not well understood due to lack of experimental knowledge and information on the influence of process parameters on the microstructure, homogeneity and properties of the final materials. This investigation is focused on Ti15Mo alloy that was chosen as a promising β-type alloy for biomedical applications due to low Young's modulus, close to the mechanical properties of bones. Geometrical characteristics of single tracks were investigated at a wide range of laser powers and scanning speeds. Threshold of enthalpy ratio to transition from conduction to keyhole mode was found. To study the distributions of molybdenum in Ti matrix, X-ray nanoCT scans and SEM EDS were performed. Effects of hatch distance and scanning strategy on the layer surface morphology were investigated. Microstructure and mechanical properties of as-built specimens were analyzed. Illustrated effects of each process parameter on the synthesized material is paramount to successful manufacturing of advanced implants with mechanical properties close to bones. Introduction Titanium alloys are used extensively for biomedical applications due to its outstanding biological response. Ti6Al4V alloy is leading material for bone replacement since it is a light weight and biocompatible material, but the mismatch of the elastic modulus between Ti6Al4V implant and bone tissue is one of the major causes of stress shielding, bone resorption and implant loosening (Doh et al., 2011; Lee et al., 2013). The search for a more suitable alternative alloy for manufacturing direct load bearing structural implants has focused on β-type titanium alloys due to the fact that bone tissues respond better in β-type alloys than in (α+β)-type Ti alloys (Niinomi et al., 1999; Nasab et al., 2010; Disegi et al., 2016). The mechanical properties of Ti15Mo are suitable for structural biomedical applications (ASTM F2066-13). Novel β-type alloys with low modulus were also manufactured by Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF). Vrancken et al. (2014) studied LPBF in situ alloying Ti6Al4V and 10%Mo powders. Mo particles were 5–10 μm is size, after sintering residual Mo particles (0.8 volume percent of material) did not seem to affect the mechanical properties. It was found that this LPBF alloy combines high strength (UTS of 919 MPa) with excellent ductility (elongation at 75 Solid Freeform Fabrication 2017: Proceedings of the 28th Annual International Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium – An Additive Manufacturing Conference Reviewed Paper


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Since few years the authors has focused on the measurement of SE of different materials using "alternative" measurement methods. In a paper recently published they compared two methods of performing Shielding Effectiveness measurements: an apertured TEM cell, used as emitter ("source") in a GTEM, and the same apertured TEM cell used as a receiver in a large Reverberation Chamber (RC). The maximum frequency of that analysis was 1 GHz. In this paper these two methods are compared with a third method the authors implemented a couple of years ago (the "Nested Reverberation Chambers" method), and the results critically evaluated. The criteria adopted to make the comparison are briefly explained and the results achieved are presented. The results of the analysis show that the two methods based on the TEM cell provide results well comparable, while the data taken from the Nested Reverberation Chamber configuration shows a large deviation, probably because the field inside the nested RC is rather non-homogenous.


An analysis of the evolution of Natural Language front ends in the last three decades shows that the growth in portability brought, as a side effect, the narrowing of the provided coverage of contextually based linguistic phenomena, such as anaphora and ellipsis.This paper presents the design and state of development of a computational mechanism which provides pronominal Anaphora Resolution within the environment of a highly portable Natural Language front end to databases, SQUIRREL' Simple cases of Ellipsis are also treated by the proposed model.An Overview of SQUIRREL is presented, followed by a description of the Discourse Module and the results achieved so far. The prototype is implemented in C-Prolog.


The study of injection molding of bulk molding composite(BMC) for automobile lamp reflector is presented.BMC injection machine,accessory equipments,mold,materials and processing conditions are discussed.


Background: Dysfunction of glia contributes to the deterioration of the central nervous system in a wide array of neurological disorders, thus global replacement strategies of glia are very attractive. Human glial restricted precursors (hGRPs) transplanted intraventricularly into neonatal mice extensively migrated and rescued lifespan in half of studied mice, while mouse GRPs (mGRPs) presented no therapeutic benefit. We hypothesized that the intrinsic developmental program (IDP) might be one of the main drivers of cell behaviour after grafting, with long migration distance and late myelination for hGRPs, compared to limited migration and early myelination for mGRPs. We studied in the same experimental setting canine GRPs (cGRP) to determine whether their migration, myelination and subsequent therapeutic potential falls between hGRPs and mGRPs. Additional motivation for selection of cGRPs was a potential for use in veterinary medicine due to growing population of dogs as companion animals. Methods: cGRPs were extracted from the brain of dog foetuses. The cells transplanted (4x105 cells) into anterior or posterior aspect of the lateral ventricle (LV) of neonatal, immunodeficient, dysmyelinated mice (shiverer, MBPshi/shi, rag2-/-). Outcome measures included early cell biodistribution, animal survival and myelination assessed with MRI, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. Results: Grafting of cGRP into posterior LV significantly extended animal survival, while no benefit was observed after anterior LV transplantation. In contrast, myelination of the corpus callosum was more prominent in anteriorly transplanted animals. Conclusions: The extended survival of animals after transplantation of cGRPs could be explained by the vicinity of transplant near the brain stem.


Larvae of Pseudaletia unipuncta (Haworth) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) in the laboratory consumed an average of 267.7 cm2 of rice foliage over an average 24.3-day developmental period. Of the total amount consumed, 96% was eaten during the last 10 to 12 days (5th and 6th instars). Feeding damage in the field was generally found on the distal portion of rice leaves. More larvae were found in fields with a dense rice plant stand than in areas with a thinner plant stand. Defoliation of rice plants was highly correlated with larval density. The greatest number of larvae observed in the field was 0.37 larvae per plant.


In this paper, we study the exponential stability of linear discrete time‐delay systems with slowly varying coefficients and nonlinear perturbations. We establish the robustness of the exponential stability in Hilbert spaces, in the sense that the exponential stability for a given linear equation persists under sufficiently small perturbations. As an application of the main results, we discuss the exponential stability of a general nonlinear system. The main novelty of this work is that we always consider the exponential behavior of solutions with respect to an specific ball. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Disorder among surface spins largely dominates the magnetic response of ultrafine magnetic particle systems. In this work, we examine time-dependent magnetization in high-quality, monodisperse hollow maghemite nanoparticles with a 14.8 $\pm$ 0.5 nm outer diameter and enhanced surface-to-volume ratio. The nanoparticle ensemble exhibits spin-glass-like signatures in dc magnetic aging and memory protocols and ac magnetic susceptibility. The dynamics of the system slows near 50 K, and becomes frozen on experimental time scales below 20 K. Remanence curves indicate the development of magnetic irreversibility concurrent with the freezing of the spin dynamics. A strong exchange-bias effect and its training behavior point to highly frustrated surface spins that rearrange much more slowly than interior spins with bulk coordination. Monte Carlo simulations of a hollow particle reproducing the experimental morphology corroborated strongly disordered surface layers with complex energy landscapes that underlie both glass-like dynamics and magnetic irreversibility. Calculated hysteresis loops reveal that magnetic behavior is not identical at the inner and outer surfaces, with spins at the outer surface layer of the 15 nm hollow particles exhibiting a higher degree of frustration. Our study sheds light on the origin of spin-glass-like phenomena and the role of surface spins in magnetic hollow nanostructures.


BERLIN—The German government has poured huge sums into reconstructing research along western lines: re-equipping and reorganizing the best of what was there, opening new institutes, and closing many more. The results have been encouraging, but reforms are now threatened by budget shortages.


Abstract A novel formaldehyde-free system based on carboxymethyl cellulose was investigated as an adhesive for the production of composites from agricultural waste products such as bagasse. The system was characterized by spectroscopy, thermal analysis, and antimicrobial action. The mechanical and physical properties of the bagasse composites produced were determined. Factors such as water content during board formation, pretreatment of bagasse by water steam, amount of adhesive used, and pressure and temperature of pressing stage were studied to arrive at the optimum conditions for improving composite properties. The results obtained show that the novel formaldehyde-free adhesive system has higher antimicrobial action and was found to degrade rapidly with a relatively high amount of residual char in comparison with commercial adhesives. Bagasse composites made with the new adhesive show improvement in mechanical properties, as well as fire retardancy, compared with commercial-adhesive—bagasse composites. Nonisothermal analysis was used to study thermal stability, fire retardancy, and to determine activation energies of degradation.


materials, which makes it also economically feasible. So far, this technology was used for production of enzymes, organic acids, mushrooms, flavour and aroma compounds, pigments, polysaccharides, hormones, human food and animal feed. Different type of bioreactors have been developed and successfully used for solid-state fermentation of broad range of substrates and in production of value-added products. Solid-state fermentation will be demonstrated as part of anaerobic degradation on lab-, pilotand


Biological photonic systems composed of anhydrous guanine crystals evolved separately in several taxonomic groups. Here, two such systems found in fish and spiders, both of which make use of anhydrous guanine crystal plates to produce structural colors, are examined. Measurements of the photonic‐crystal structures using cryo‐SEM show that the crystal plates in both fish skin and spider integument are ∼20‐nm thick. The reflective unit in the fish comprises stacks of single plates alternating with ∼230‐nm‐thick cytoplasm layers. In the spiders the plates are formed as doublet crystals, cemented by 30‐nm layers of amorphous guanine, and are stacked with ∼200 nm of cytoplasm between crystal doublets. They achieve light reflective properties through the control of crystal morphology and stack dimensions, reaching similar efficiencies of light reflectivity in both fish skin and spider integument. The structure of guanine plates in spiders are compared with the more common situation in which guanine occurs in the form of relatively unorganized prismatic crystals, yielding a matt white coloration.


military innovations: peacetime, wartime, and technological. First, he argues that peacetime innovation is a function of military communities' vision of the future of war and of their criteria for promoting senior officers. Successful innovation depends on insightful imagination, as well as creation of promotion paths that will allow junior officers to advance their careers while pursuing the innovation. This, in turn, requires the support of senior officers. Civilian intervention in the promotion process would be seen as illegitimate and would factionalize the officer corps (pp. 20-21). Second, innovation in wartime is far more difficult than in peacetime, because time is short, the lessons of combat are often not obvious, and disruption of ongoing operations is risky. Successful wartime innovation, when it occurs, usually requires new measures of strategic effectiveness. Innovators must rethink the connection between operational missions and strategic goals, since success may require not improved execution of existing missions but, rather, their abandonment in favor of new missions and capabilities (p. 110). This process is carried out primarily inside the military. Finally, for military-technological innovation, Rosen rejects both the institutionalist and "technology-push" explanations in favor of a modified "demand-pull" approach. Technologies are developed based on intelligence estimates of requirements to counter the enemy's current, and expected future, capability, both in terms of technology and doctrine. Successful innovation depends on managing the inherent uncertainty in intelligence. At the research-and-development level, civilian scientist can contribute; but military management is preferred, because officers better understand the combat applications of technology (p. 227). (As a sidelight, Rosen claims that U.S. military research-and-development has been much more cost-effective than most observers realize [p. 46]; this is a question worth further investigation.) Rosen makes significant contributions, especially in pointing out the importance of promotion paths and strategic evaluation, but does not overturn the institutionalist argument. Internal innovators do often generate new doctrines (and sometimes new technologies), and judicious use of promotion and other internal bureaucratic levers can build constituencies within the service; but actual implementation in creation of new force types or war plans is often blocked by entrenched interests that the innovation threatens. Before World War I, numerous military reformers in all the major European armies pointed out the need to adjust tactics to a battlefield on which the defense had been strengthened by machine guns and barbed wire; but they could not prevail against institutional interests that required offensive doctrines. Rosen's three peacetime cases illustrate this. The 1930s renovation of U.S. Marine Corps amphibious doctrine, which fitted perfectly with the corps's essence as the spearhead of overseas land operations and enhanced its resource and autonomy claims, was carried though, in part, by promoting amphibious-minded junior officers and without civilian assistance. Also in the interwar years, Rear Admiral William Moffett's strategy of coopting senior nonaviators to support promotion of junior aviators made all the difference between the advance of American aircraft carrier doctrine and the stagnation of the British Fleet Air Arm at the same time. However, Rosen is wrong to play down the importance of the Pearl Harbor attack. While an effective combat doctrine was developed before the war, it did not replace the Navy's battleship-centered war plan until Pearl Harbor eliminated the battleships. Finally, in the 1950s, airmobility doctrine began to make progress within the army when pilots were no longer looked down on as glorified taxi drivers and were, instead, considered eligible for promotion to combat commands. However, sizable airmobile combat units were not formed until Defense Secretary Robert McNamara demanded their creation in 1962. Rosen minimizes the importance of this intervention by suggesting that McNamara may have been primed by aviation advocates within the army, but the crucial point is that they could not prevail without outside assistance. In one sense, Rosen's promotion path argument is worth more weight than he gives it. One of the most important motivations for military resistance to innovations is that they create requirements for new professional skills and devalue the skills of officers trained in the old doctrine, damaging their prospects for promotion. So how do we win the next war? Rosen suggests that in an environment in which we cannot predict the likely scenarios that we may face or the missions that will be required and where limited budgets will not permit large-scale acquisition of new weapons or creation of new force types, we must rely instead on flexibility and innovation. In particular, he recommends relying on analysis and simulation of as many different contingencies as possible and researching a variety of technologies, rather than investing heavily in production of any one. This policy advice is eminently sensible (and rapidly becoming conventional wisdom), although it is not really dependent on the rest of the book. More interesting would have been recommendations directly tied to the author's theoretical arguments. If successful peacetime innovation requires new promotion paths, can we design ways to institutionalize opportunities for younger officers to make their careers pursuing innovation doctrines or technologies? If wartime innovation depends on improved measures of strategic effectiveness, can we improve the odds that focused and timely analysis will be conducted, disseminated, and acted upon in future conflicts? Attention to these questions might help us design useful reforms.


Many construction companies have a construction service department but it is normally never the largest part of the company. Rather, the building services department has been seen as a fender to keep employees engaged when the economy's been bad, with the result that no large investments have been put towards the service department. The logistics of the construction services business is different from the traditional construction logistics. The projects are often short-lived with very limited storage space at the project site. It can also mean that many similar projects will start simultaneously, which means that staff may need to be at several project sites per day. In general there are no logistical theories that are customized particularly for the construction services and many of the most common - lean, six sigma, kaizen, SCM - are difficult to apply. Multiple logistic theories strive to minimize inventory operations and non-value adding activities. Due to limited storage space the service project sites often implies this is difficult to achieve. Timed deliveries are part of being able to reduce inventories, but when projects are small and several projects running at the same time, this requires a lot of careful planning of deliveries which is hard to implement. Establishing different comunication tools is a major part of the work to improve the logistics. To have an open line of communication between clients, suppliers and construction companies is a prerequisite for an effective work flow. In many cases this is made complicated both by lack of resources and routines but also beacuse the client can have their own suppliers where the communication path is closed. If routines remain unchanged and feedback from previous work defaults it could damage the company's development. (Less)


While the authority of municipalities to partake in land use decisions is a wellestablished concept, a question often arises concerning local legislative authority to adopt environmental laws. This article discusses some of the arguments advocating local environmental authority by highlighting the correlation between land use law and environmental law. Also discussed in this article, is the authority granted to local governments by the state legislature and court decisions to mitigate adverse environmental impacts.


EUMETSAT is commencing specification of the ground segment for Europe's third generation of geostationary meteorological satellite s (MTG). Rather than a completely new development for MTG, there is emphasis on the potential re -use or evolution of existing operational facilities. Anticipated benefits include reduced deployment costs and risks , as well as the operational benefits of using proven tools that are familiar to the operations team. This paper reports on a study of the reusability of EUMETSAT assets for the MTG ground segment . This had the main objectives of : defining a concept for a EUMETSAT ground segment for the MTG program and beyond; and assessing the potential for re -use of existing systems and infrastructure within such a concept.


The use of convolvers as programmable matched filters for spread-spectrum comnunication provides the ability to change the coding waveform from bit-to-bit, thus offering improved security and protection against r epeat jamming. In many applications, maximum signal bandwidth is desired because increased bandwidth provides for improved tolerance to effects of multipath and fading, increased c overtness, and larger p otential processing gains when maximum bit lengths a re limited, e.g. by Doppler shifts. In order to better meet these needs, the bandwidth of acoustoelectric convolvers has been extended by a factor of two over previously demonstrated convolver bandwidths. A gap-coupled convolver for decoding differential phase-shi ft-keyed (DPSK) signals having a 200-MHz bandwidth and a time-bandwidth product of 2400 has been developed and evaluated. range of 46 dB and a conversion efficiency (F-factor) of -77 dBm have been obtained. formance details are presented and compared with theoretical Predictions. A device dynamic Design and per


Functional principal component analysis (FPCA) based on Karhunen-Lo`eve (K-L) expansion allows to describe the stochastic evolution of the main characteristics associated to multiple systems and devices. Identifying the probability distribution of the principal component scores is fundamental to characterize the whole process. The aim of this work is to consider a family of statistical distributions that could be accurately adjusted to a previous transformation. Then, a new class of distributions, the linear-phase-type, is introduced to model the principal components . This class is studied in detail in order to prove, through the K-L expansion, that certain linear transformations of the process at each time point are phase-type distributed. This way, the one-dimensional distributions of the process are in the same linear-phase-type class. Finally, an application to model the reset process associated with resistive memories is developed and explained.


Objective To analyze caring ability and its associated factors among baccalaureate nursing students , so as to put forward suggestions for improving students' caring ability. Methods A cross-sectional study was used to investigate baccalaureate nursing students' caring ability and its associated factors in 4 nursing departments of medical universities in Sichuan province. Results The grade of overall status quo of students' caring ability was 189.72±19.57 , and the mean item scores of different subscales showed that patience was highest and courage was lowest.Two variables could explain the differences in baccalaureate nursing students' caring ability: relationship with mother and clinical practice. Conclusion Our study suggests that students' caring ability could be improved by practicing caring and increasing their exposure to clinical practice. Our findings also suggest that school ,society and family are all involved in the cultivation of caring ability.


The origin of the frequently observed long and short term current drifts after a change in the extractor voltage for the ZrO/W(100) Schottky cathode has been investigated. It has been found that a reversible, field dependent change in the equilibrium work function and shape of the cathode end form occurs at the typical operating temperature of 1800 K. The shape change results in three distinct geometric end form shapes. Although these end forms have been observed previously [L. W. Swanson and G. A. Schwind, in Handbook of Charged Particle Optics, 2nd ed., edited by J. Orloff (CRC, New York, 2008), Chap. 1, p. 1; S. Fujita, T. R. Wells, W. Ushio, H. Sato, and M. M. El-Gomati, J. Microsc. 235, 215 (2010); M. S. Bronsgeest and P. Kruit, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B 27, 2524 (2009)], the purpose of this study is to elucidate the operating conditions under which these changes occur and the associated changes in emission properties. Emitters in the radii range 200–900 nm were investigated over the typical current de...


The perception that seeds had differences in their water content when disconnected from the mother plant, and consequently, variations in the period of maintenance of viability goes back to the beginning of agriculture, when people around the world started having to produce food as a result of population growth, ceasing to be exclusively extractive. Recalcitrant seeds do not tolerate desiccation and temperatures close to zero degrees, due to the lack of antioxidative mechanisms and maintenance of cellular compartments. Thus, this study aims to review the main concepts and techniques of drying and storage, usually used in so-called recalcitrant seeds.


A compact 32-way spatial power combiner working at 60GHz band is presented on the basis of ring-cavity power splitting/combining technology. The splitting/combining function of the ring-cavity power combiner is investigated. The simulation results show that the input/output return loss of the designed power combiner is below -15dB in the broadband of 54-70GHz, and the insertion loss is less than 1.8dB.


In this study we present direct evidence of axonal projections from both the medial and lateral nuclei of the trapezoid body to the medial superior olive. Projections were traced by intracellularly labeling cells and axons in a tissue slice preparation of two rodent species, Mus musculus and Meriones unguiculatus and two bat species, Eptesicus fuscus and Pteronotus parnellii.


From the filing of an application to evict to the final execution of an eviction order is a long and complicated process. This raises questions about how the actors involved experience and act duri ...


The room-temperature cluster glass state has been realized in zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4-δ) thin films using the pulsed-laser-deposition (PLD) method. When the deposition rate was slow about 7 Å/min, the thin film showed antiferromagnetism similar to the bulk zinc ferrite whose Néel temperature was about 20 K. However, by increasing the deposition rate, the magnetization-temperature curve behaved the same as that of cluster glass, and hysteresis between zero-field-cooled and field-cooled magnetization processes was also observed. At higher than 30 Å/min, the cluster glass transition temperature (TG) reached approximately room temperature. There are two possibilities for the origin of high-TG cluster glass: 1) spin frustration resulting from the competition of antiferromagnetic interaction between A-B and B-B site iron ions, and 2) random oxygen deficiency. These two factors induced the high-temperature cluster-glass state in zinc ferrite thin films.


The present study was aim to investigate the effects of tetramethylpyrazine(TMP) on lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-induced tissue factor(TF) expression and procoagulant activity in rat monocytes,which might provide some clues in the therapy of thrombotic disease.Freshly isolated peripheral blood monocytes were cultured in media containing LPS and/or TMP.TF procoagulant activity was measured by chromogenic substrate assay,and TF mRNA expression was determined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR).It was found that TF procoagulant activity of rat monocytes was significantly increased under LPS stimulation(100 ng/mL,5 h),and that TMP remarkedly inhibited the TF procoagulant activity in the concentration range from 0.01 μmol/L to 100 μmol/L,whose IC50 was estimated to be 0.29 μmol/L.Furthermore,TMP(10 μmol/L)also inhibited the expression of LPS-induced expression of TF mRNA in rat monocytes.Hence TMP significantly inhibits both LPS-induced TF procoagulant activity and TF mRNA expression in monocytes.


The structural changes of Cu complex species in the sol-gel process of modified Cu ethoxide with acetic acid have been studied by determination of ESR. IR and visible spectra. It is demonstrated that dissolution of Cu ethoxide in methoxyethanol is ascribed to formation of Cu binuclear species, the hydrolysis process is involved in structural change of the Cu binuclear species, and the formation of gel is due to polycondensation of hydrolyzed species through olation. Hence.the resulting gels are rather stable in ambient atmosphere.


Increases in agricultural productivity are necessary to meet anticipated demands, and these increases must occur in an environmentally sustainable fashion. However, it has become measurably harder to generate ideas and new approaches that result in real gains. The maize Genomes to Fields (G2F) Initiative seeks to bring together researchers across diverse disciplines to create situations that generate new ideas for research, development, and education. Contact from those interested to learn more about G2F is invited, and inquiries on how to initiate and support research and training at scale are welcome. C.J. Lawrence-Dill, Dep. of Genetics, Development and Cell Biology and Dep. of Agronomy, Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA 50011; P.S. Schnable, Dep. of Agronomy, Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA 50011; N.M. Springer, Dep. of Plant and Microbial Biology, Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, 55108. Received 1 Feb. 2019. Accepted 1 Apr. 2019. *Corresponding author (firstname.lastname@example.com). Assigned to Associate Editor Manjit Kang. Abbreviations: FACT, Food and Agriculture Cyberinformatics and Tools; G2F, Genomes to Fields; IMPACTS, Integrated Training PrograM in Plant And CompuTational Sciences; NIFA, National Institute of Food and Agriculture; NRT, National Science Foundation Research Traineeship. Published in Crop Sci. 59:1406–1410 (2019). doi: 10.2135/cropsci2019.02.0071 © 2019 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Published June 27, 2019


BACKGROUND: a patient's self-assessment of his/hers vocal problem and the analysis of the results of a treatment are means used to verify the effectiveness of an intervention and to develop directive procedures for clinical health practice. Psychometric instruments are the most common tools used to perform this task. Validation of self-assessment instruments may be carried out in several ways; however there should be clear and structured criteria involved in this process. AIM: to present the validation process of three voice self-assessment instruments for the Brazilian Portuguese language: Voice-Related Quality of Life - V-RQOL, Voice Handicap Index - VHI and, Voice Activity and Participation Profile - VAPP. These instruments received respectively the following names: Qualidade de Vida em Voz - QVV, Indice de Desvantagem Vocal - IDV and Perfil de Participacao e Atividades Vocais - PPAV, emphasizing their specificities and the necessary adaptations for their use in Brazil. METHOD: The three questionnaires were validated following the guidelines suggested by the Scientific Advisory Committee of Medical Outcomes Trust - SAC. RESULTS: the psychometric measures of validity, reliability, reproducibility and sensitiveness were statistically demonstrated for each instrument. CONCLUSIONS: the Brazilian versions of the V-RQOL, VHI and VAPP demonstrated to be valid, reliable and sensitive instruments that specifically assess patients who present voice problems. These instruments can be used in the assessment of the life quality related to voice, as well as for the analysis of treatment outcomes.


e16311 Background: Patients with mutations in BRCA 1/2 genes are at increased risk for pancreatic ductal cell adenocarcinoma (PDAC) in addition to breast and ovarian cancer. In 2019, the NCCN updated its guidelines recommending gene testing for all patients with PDAC to include associated genes: ATM, BRCA1, BRCA2, CDKN2A, MSH2, MLH1, MSH6, EPCAM, PALB2, STK11, TP53. This retrospective, observational study reports on adherence to genetic screening recommendations among patients with newly diagnosed PDAC who received oncologic care in rural Northeast Georgia (NEGA). Methods: Chart abstraction was performed utilizing the EPIC database from hospital electronic medical records of patients who were diagnosed with PDAC between 1/1/20-12/31/21 and received oncologic care in rural NE GA. This abstraction was completed to include information on gene testing recommendations, testing completion, and time from diagnosis to testing. The deidentified dataset was then analyzed using appropriate descriptive and associative statistical testing. Results: Of the cohort of 109 patients diagnosed with PDAC over these two years, only 32 (29.4%) received recommendations and completed genetic screening. Among this segment of patients, 16 (14.7%) were screened within 10 days of diagnosis, 8 (7.3%) within 11-30 days, and 6 (5.5%) were screened over 30 days after being diagnosed with PDAC. Among the 77 (70.6%) patients who did not receive screening, 45 of them (41.3%) did not receive any discussion regarding screening despite planning for other standard of care treatment. The remaining 32 patients (29.4% of the no screening cohort) did not receive screening due to desire to pursue palliative care/hospice/or due to terminal illness that prevented further workup. Of the 45 patients who did not receive screening despite PDAC treatment intent, majority (43; 95.5%) did not receive recommendations regarding the importance of genetic screening. Gene testing of the 32 patients who had screening completed showed that 4 (12.5%) had a pathogenic mutation (3 with CFTR; 1 ATM) and 16 (50%) had variants of unknown significance (VUS). Conclusions: This study highlights a gap in adherence to guideline-directed genetic testing in PDAC patients. Notable findings include increased likelihood to complete the test when recommendations and discussions of genetic screening occurred early in the course after initial diagnosis of PDAC. Moreover, 12.5% of those screened were found to have pathogenic mutation and half were found to have at least one VUS suggesting that genetic screening may potentially identify causative mutations. The findings also highlight the consideration for gene testing recommendation for the large proportion of patients who are terminally ill at diagnosis, as genetic screening would potentially benefit the family members and inform that they receive genetic screening as well.


Hydrocolloids from seaweeds have interesting functional properties, such as thickening or gelling ability. Structural characteristics of polysaccharides extracted from Quebec seaweeds have not yet been established. Thus, the determination of the relationship between their structure and rheological behaviour is limited. Alginate and fucoidan were extracted using selective solvents from three species: Saccharina longicruris, Ascophyllum nodosum and Fucus vesiculosus. Structural analysis (total sugars, uronic acids, sulfates and molecular weight) and rheological characterisation were performed at different polysaccharide concentrations with and without the addition of NaCl. The results showed important variation between species. Fucoidan and alginate exhibited Newtonian behaviour. Fucoidan extracted from F. vesiculosus had the highest viscosity level, which might be explained by the degree of branching of the molecules. For alginate, the one extracted from S. longicruris showed a higher apparent viscosity. This result can partially be explained by the block proportion of alginate. The gelation profile of alginate was also determined for each species. The final storage modulus, G′, was variable for each species. Differences between species were observed for both polysaccharides as a result of structural variation. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry


Directed ion transport in liquid electrolyte solutions underlies numerous phenomena in nature and industry including neuronal signaling, photosynthesis and respiration, electrodialysis for desalination, and recovery of critical materials. Here, we report the first demonstration of an ion pump that drives ions in aqueous electrolytes against a force using a capacitive ratchet mechanism. Our ratchet-based ion pumps utilize the non-linear capacitive nature of electric double layers for symmetry breaking which drives a net time-averaged ion flux in response to a time varying input signal. Since the devices are driven by a non-linear charging and discharging of double layers, they do not require redox reactions for continual operation. Ratchet-based ion pumps were fabricated by depositing thin gold layers on the two surfaces of anodized alumina wafers, forming nanoporous capacitor-like structures. Pumping occurs when a wafer is placed between two compartments of aqueous electrolyte and the electric potential across it is modulated. In response to various input signals, persistent ionic voltages and sustained currents were observed, consistent with net unidirectional ion transport, even though conduction through the membrane was non-rectifying. The generated ionic power was used in conjunction with an additional shunt pathway to demonstrate electrolyte demixing.


Inculturation has been my way of life through my thirty years of ministry in the society and in the Church. So you could not have asked me to speak on a more interesting topic than this. Whether it is as founder-director of the National Biblical, Catechetical and Liturgical Centre of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) and Secretary of three Episcopal Commissions for Liturgy, Catechetics and Bible for sixteen long years soon after the Second Vatican Council, or as Professor of the Chair and Chairman of the Department of Christianity in the University of Mysore or as spiritual guide and Acharya-Guru of the Anjali Ashram in Mysore, or as one who promotes church renewal and social change by conducting seminars and consultation all over India in most dioceses, for many religious congregations and lay groups, inculturation has been an essential and inseparable concern of mine. It has been a major dimension of my apostolate, a constitutive element of the all-India renewal movement in the Church and an all-pervasive reality in our ashram way of life and in the academic teaching and research at the university level.


Objective To investigate the relationship between the expression of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase(PI-3K)in skeletal muscles and insulin resistance in women with gestational diabetes mellitus(GDM). Methods The expression of PI-3K regulative subunit P85?mRNA and protein in skeletal muscle were determined by RT-PCR and Western blot in pregnant women with GDM(GDM group,n=030),normal pregnant women(normal group,n=30)and nonpregnant healthy women (control group,n=20).Fasting plasma glucose(FPG)and fasting insulin(FINS)were measured by oxidized assay and immunoradioassay.Insulin resistant index(HOMA-IR)was calculated. Results The levels of FPG,FINS,and HOMA-IR in GDM group [(5.61±0.78)mmol/L,(15.12±5.31)mU/L,and 1.21±0.52]were significantly higher than those of normal group[(4.43±0.46)mmol/L,(10.56±3.07)mU/L and 0.80±0.31;P<0.01].The expression of P85a mRNA (1.08±0.23)and protein(0.81±0.32)in GDM group were significantly higher than those in normal group(0.88±0.29 and 0.55±0.27,P<0.01)and control group(0.63±0.26 and 0.28±0.20,P<0.01).Expression of P85?mRNA and protein was positively correlated with HOMA-IR(r=0.625 and 0.759,P<0.01)in GDM group,but not in the control group. Conclusions Upregulated P85?mRNA and high expression of P85a protein in skeletal muscle may be one of the molecular mechanisms leading to insulin resisitance in GDM women.

Key words:
Diabetes,gestational; 1-Phosphatidylinosit01 3-kinase; Insulin resistance; Muscle,skeletal


Alcohol abuse suppresses multiple arms of the immune response, leading to an increased risk of infections. The course and resolution of both bacterial and viral infections is severely impaired in alcoholabusing patients, resulting in greater patient morbidity and mortality. Multiple mechanisms have been identified underlying the immunosuppressive effects of alcohol. These mechanisms involve structural host defense mechanisms in the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract as well as all of the principal components of the innate and adaptive immune systems, which are compromised both through alcohol's direct effects and through alcoholrelated dysregulation of other components. Analyses of alcohol's diverse effects on various components of the immune system provide insight into the factors that lead to a greater risk of infection in the alcoholabusing population. Some of these mechanisms are directly related to the pathology found in people with infections such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, hepatitis, and pneumonia who continue to use and abuse alcohol. KEY WORDS: Alcohol abuse; alcohol and other drug effects and consequences; immune system; immune response; immunosuppressive effect; infection; bacterial infection; viral infection; communicable disease; host defense mechanisms B oth acute and chronic alcohol abuse can induce significant defects in the body's defense against microorganisms (i.e., pathogens) by interfering with multiple aspects of the immune response. The resulting increased risk and severity of infections in chronic alcoholics has been recog nized as early as 1785, by Benjamin Rush, the first Surgeon General of the United States. The impact of alcohol abuse on risk and severity of infection has been demonstrated par ticularly well for infections of the respiratory tract, especially bacterial pneumonia and tuberculosis (Zhang et al. 2008). Alcohol consumption also is associated with a higher preva lence of hepatitis C infection (Prakash et al. 2002) and increases the risk of infection with the human immunodefi ciency virus (HIV), particularly in binge drinkers (Baliunas et al. 2009). In addition to increasing the risk of infections, alcohol abuse has been reported to contribute to the morbidity and mortality resulting from these infections in alcohol abusing patients. This is particularly relevant in chronic infections, such as HIV and hepatitis C. After providing a brief overview of the human immune system and its various components, this article summarizes alcohol's diverse effects on these components. The body constantly is exposed to pathogens that penetrate either our external surface (i.e., the skin), through wounds or burns, or the internal surfaces (i.e., epithelia) lining the respiratory …


We are of the opinion that there is also identity between erroneous thinking and existence. Our opinion is based on the following facts.


The nuclear structure of {sup 97}Tc was studied using the {sup 96}Mo({sup 3}He,{ital pn}{gamma}) reaction, which has populated most states in the nucleus below 2 MeV excitation energy. The proton exit channel was isolated from competing reaction channels by operating {gamma}-ray detectors in coincidence with a large-solid-angle proton detector. The experiments included {gamma}-ray excitation functions, {gamma}-ray angular distributions, and {gamma}-{gamma} coincidences. The results were interpreted using a particle-rotor model. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}


Three field trials and a glasshouse experiment were carried out in northern New South Wales to determine the effects of reduced mechanical incorporation and the presence of crop residues on the efficacy of liquid and granular formulations of triallate [S-(2,3,3-trichioroallyl) diisopropylthiocarbamate] for control of wild oats (Avena fatua and A. sterilis ssp. ludoviciana) in wheat. In field experiments, fallow management practices with surface crop residues ranging from nil to complete retention from the previous wheat crop, did not affect the performance of tri-allate (incorporated by sowing) in terms of control of wild oats and wheat grain yield response. Application of a granular formulation resulted in lower than expected wheat grain yields in 2 of the field experiments and phytotoxicity to the crop was suspected as the reason. Although soil incorporation improved the performance of tri-allate at the recommended rate of 0.8 kg/ha, satisfactory control of wild oats and profitable increases in wheat grain yield were obtained with tri-allate at 1.2 kg/ha when incorporated by sowing into seedbeds containing up to 2 t/ha of crop residue. We conclude that tri-allate as the liquid formulation at 1.2 kg/ha gives economic control of wild oats in no-tillage and stubble-mulched seedbeds when incorporated by sowing provided that the weed-free wheat grain yield potential is not less than 1.5 t/ha. Results from the glasshouse experiment, farmer experience and published literature support the practice of incorporating tri-allate into dry soil with subsequent activation by sowing rain. The potential use of the granular formulation is limited by the greater risk of crop damage compared with the liquid formulation.


Aspiration of foreign bodies into the bronchial tree occurs more commonly in children than in adults. Adult victims frequently have an underlying condition associated with an impairment of airway protection; such as a neurologic disorder, trauma with loss of consciousness, or drug or alcohol abuse. The common forms of aspirated foreign bodies in adults are bone or dental fragments and medical prostheses, such as tracheostomy tube segments. We report a patient with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with acute respiratory failure, who aspirated a broken tooth into the right lower lobe bronchus during intubation. On the seventh day of admission, while he was on a mechanical ventilator, the patient developed inspiratory high-pressure alarm associated with a difficult insertion of the suction tube beyond the tip of an endotracheal tube used for sputum suction. The aspirated tooth was found incarcerated in the tip of the withdrawn endotracheal tube. This problem were resolved after replacement by a new endotracheal tube. We review the literature and discuss the risk factors, clinical symptoms, radiographic findings, and the management of an aspiration of a foreign body into the bronchial tree, specially for patients on mechanical ventilation.


ABSTRACT
This study examines the reason(s) public media stations are losing their viewers and listeners to private stations. The study adopted the use of survey method. 100 respondents were selected and the only instrument used to collect data for this study was questionnaire constructed and validated by researchers. Percentage method and t-test were used to analyse it. The study showed that people prefer private broadcasting stations' news and programmes because their news presentation is fair, objective and nonjudgmental. Digital revolution also affects production of public broadcasting programmes and news since government no longer funds them like in the past. It was also discovered that many broadcasting stations do not conduct periodic research on their audience in order to know the kind of programmes and news they want. The results suggest that public broadcasting stations should be privatised such a way that they are owned by shareholders with a limit to the number of shares to be owned by individuals. This is to prevent influence on the media.


The smart meter (SM) privacy problem is addressed together with the cost of energy for the user. It is assumed that a storage device, e.g., an electrical battery, is available to the user, which can be utilized both to achieve privacy and to reduce the energy cost by modifying the energy consumption profile. Privacy is measured via the mean squared-error between the SM readings, which are reported to the utility provider (UP), and a target load; while time-of-use pricing is considered for energy cost calculation. The optimal trade-off between the achievable privacy and the energy cost is characterized by taking into account the limited capacity of the battery as well as the capability to sell energy to the UP. Extensive numerical simulations are presented to evaluate the performance of the proposed strategy for different system settings.


A method of nuclear magnetic resonance angiographic imaging capable of reducing an imaging operation time. The method includes the steps of: applying a plurality of pre-saturation excitation pulses sequentially to a pre-saturation section located over the flowing stream within an imaging region of the patient formed along the flowing stream, so as to pre-saturate the flowing stream located at the pre-saturation section at a time of application of each of the pre-saturation excitation pulses; dispersing and deleting transverse components of spins due to the pre-saturation excitation pulses applied at the applying step; exciting the imaging region by applying a single imaging excitation pulse and by using appropriate gradient magnetic fields, such that nuclear magnetic resonance signals are produced from the imaging region; and collecting the nuclear magnetic resonance signals from the imaging region by using appropriate gradient magnetic fields, and obtaining a nuclear magnetic resonance image showing a plurality of pre-saturated patterns corresponding to a plurality of the pre-saturation excitation pulses by processing the nuclear magnetic resonance signals.


Folding sheet materials into cylindrical structures using an origami-based approach allows the sheet materials to be densely packed within a confined space that can be deployed when needed. Kresling pattern, which is a cylindrical origami pattern consisting of identical triangular panels with cyclic symmetry, functions under the spontaneous buckling of a thin cylindrical shell under torsional loading. The incorporation of smart materials, such as electroactive polymers, in origami structures can allow them to actively fold using electrical stimuli. In this study, finite element analysis (FEA) is performed in a single cell of Kresling pattern as well as the continuous Kresling pattern-based origami structure. Furthermore, different placements of dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) implemented within the origami structure are studied to identify the performance. The objective of this study is to validate the effectiveness of DEAs as a method to actively fold the origami structure, to deform and return to its initial state, and to investigate the geometric parameters on the folding structure incorporated with DEAs. Equivalent mechanical pressure and stress are used as loads in the FEA to simulate the electric actuation performed by the DEAs. By thorough FEA investigation, the impact of geometric parameters, material properties, and placement of DEAs on the origami structure for optimal performance is studied to avoid trial and error iterations for experimental studies.


Engineering education today is often organised in discipline-specific modules. Although it is essential to build up basic knowledge, cross-disciplinary knowledge is fundamental for solving complex problems. Transdisciplinary approaches can provide the necessary hard and soft skills, improve self-determination in education and broaden personal competence profiles. The experience gained is conveyed using the example of project-based modules on the topics of a) AI applications to minimise racial biasing in medical technology and b) construction of microfluidic systems to avoid animal testing. These were developed over several semesters by interdisciplinary student groups involving industry and research partners. The concept was initially carried out online in an interdisciplinary project module focusing on individual learning objectives, composed of the disciplines "Mechanical Engineering", "Computational Engineering Science", "Physical Engineering Sciences" as well as "Biomedical Engineering" and is being expanded in a hybrid-transdisciplinary manner through gradual additions including systems engineering, philosophy and sustainability in technology, ergonomics and human-machine systems. Through active participation in researching and solving real challenges, collaboration of transdisciplinary teams over several group generations and setting individual learning goals, profound knowledge and new methodological competences can be acquired beyond engineering disciplines. The integration of non-technical methods and approaches allows students to recognise complex problems and identify the necessary competences in order to realise a successful project. To further expand this approach, a new module concept for interdisciplinary cooperation in production engineering was developed. It takes up the aspects of individual, project-based learning and brings together all the competences of the institute in transdisciplinary exchange.


[1] We studied the relationship between assessments of water mass formation estimated by thermodynamic and kinematic methods by applying both methods to the Subtropical Mode Water (STMW) and Central Mode Water (CMW) formation regions of the North Pacific. We used long-term outputs of a high-resolution general circulation model under climatological normal year forcings to calculate the water mass transformation rate and its density derivative (the net formation rate) and to examine the roles of mixing, shortwave penetration, and mesoscale eddies. Diagnosis of the thermodynamic relationship indicated that the transformation rate associated with surface density flux largely explained the net transformation rate. The difference of these rates, the total mixing effect, was relatively small compared with previous estimates. Explicit and implicit mixing largely explained the total mixing effect. Diagnosis of the kinematic relationship indicated that the annual subduction rate could be calculated from the net transformation rate and the open boundary volume flux over the analysis region. Comparison of both methods implied that the source of subducted STMW was determined mainly by the transformation associated with surface density flux, but this conclusion was not true for CMW. The modeled effects of internal mixing and volume flux from the north (Oyashio Current) also became important in the formation of CMW. Omission of shortwave penetration led to an error in the air-sea transformation and formation rates in the STMW and CMW regions. We also found the important roles of mesoscale eddies in the transformation and formation of mode waters.


The topic of this graduate essay is 'Legal Protection of Trade Secrets: Case Study of Latvia, Present Issues and Perspectives'. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how trade secrets are protected at the international and regional level&semic to analyze how international requirements are implemented in Latvia as well as to propose feasible improvements in a model of legal protection and regulation of trade secrets in Latvia, which take into account the international requirements. For many years, there was no need for effective protection of trade secrets in Latvia due to the fact that it was part of the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many changes happened in Latvia such as regaining of independence and joining the European Union. These changes had great impact on people's lives in general as well as in the legal area. The question of legal protection of trade secrets became essential. Unfortunately, the system of legal protection of trade secrets, which exists in Latvia, does not fully correspond to international requirements and it is necessary to make amendments in Latvian legal acts. The essay consists of the introduction, three main parts and final part. The introduction gives the motivation for the choice of the thesis topic and shows the meaning and relevance of the problem to current jurisprudence. The introduction further articulates the research objective. Part 1 of this work is sub-divided into two sections. Section 1 introduces the concept of a trade secret and describes its essential features at the international and the regional level. Section 2 discusses the interrelation of trade secrets and know-how. Part 2 gives an overview and shows the necessity of trade secret protection, discusses connection between trade secret protection and such fundamental human rights as right to work and right to freedom of information, Part 2 also describes the legal rights of a holder of trade secret and specifies trade secret protection methods: security, management and contractual measures before the infringement of trade secret, and civil remedies and criminal penalties after the infringement. Part 3 of the thesis deals with issues connected with the legal meaning of a trade secret as given in legal acts that are valid in Latvia. Part 3 also describes the legal protection methods of trade secrets that can be utilized in case of trade secret infringement and analyzes how international requirements for protection of trade secrets are implemented in Latvian legislation. The final part of the work summarizes the conclusions reached in the course of the thesis, and proposes feasible improvements in a model of legal protection and regulation of trade secrets in Latvia, which take into account the international requirements.


A 30-year old pregnant woman presented at 30 weeks gestation with inability to open the mouth, eat or swallow and abdominal pain of two weeks duration having sustained abrasive injuries and laceration to the face 10 days earlier. Provocative spasms and risus sardonicus were found on examination. She was managed with intravenous infusions, metronidazole and diazepam. She resumed oral feeds two weeks later and was discharged home after 4 weeks of admission. She later had vaginal delivery at term with both mother and fetus being in good condition.