Underweight, have an impact on low cognitive, productivity, and intellectual abilities in children. Thisstudy aimed to analyze ecologically the factors related to underweight among children under two years inIndonesia.The study conducted using secondary data from the Indonesia Ministry of Health official report.Apart from the prevalence of underweight in children under two years, four other variables analyzed asindependent variables were the percentage of population passing Junior High School, poor population,exclusive breastfeeding, and prevalence of low birth weight.Data were analyzed using cross-tabulation.The results showed there was no relationship between the prevalence of underweight in children under twoyears with the percentage of population passing Junior High School and the percentage of poor population.Meanwhile, there is a positive relationship between the prevalence of low birth weight with the prevalenceof underweight in children under two years. The higher the prevalence of low birth weight, the higher theprevalence of underweight in children under two years. Moreover, the study found the higher the percentageof exclusive breastfeeding, the lower the prevalence of underweight in children under two years in a region.The study concluded that ecologically two variables have an ecological relationship with the prevalence ofunderweight in children under two years, namely the prevalence of low birth weight and the percentage ofexclusive breastfeeding.


Hitherto two families of multielement detectors have been used for infrared applications scanning systems (first generation) and staring systems (second generation). Third generation systems are being developed nowadays. In the common understanding third generation JR systems provide enhanced capabilities like larger number of pixels higher frame rates better thermal resolution as well as multicolour functionality and other on-chip functions. In the class of third generation infrared photon detectors two main competitors HgCdTe photodiodes and AlGaAs/GaAs quantum well infrared photoconductors (QWIPs) are considered. However in the long wavelength infrared (LWIR) region the HgCdTe material fail to give the requirements of large format two-dimensional (2D) arrays due to metallurgical problems of the epitaxial layers such as uniformity and number of defected elements. A superlattice based InAs/GaInSb system grown on GaSb substrate seems to be an attractive to HgCdTe with good spatial uniformity and an ability to span cutoff wavelength from 3 to 25 tm. The recently published results have indicated that high performance middle wavelength infrared (MWIR) InAs/GaInSb superlatice focal plane arrays can be fabricated. Based on these very promising results it is obvious now that the antimonide superlattice technology is competing with HgCdTe dual colour technology with the potential advantage of standard III-V technology to be more competitive in costs and as a consequence series production pricing.


The first three of 150 standards outlining the quality of care that patients can expect to receive from the NHS were published last week.


LEO small satellites for Earth Observation (EO) are becoming more and more popular for their lower weight and price. One of the most expensive spacecraft sub-system is the EPS and in particular the battery unit.1 It is worth noting that there are not two identical spacecraft batteries, because the suppliers work closely with satellite manufacturers to customize the energy storage devices in order to meet the requirements set by the customer as function of the mission. Therefore, decreasing of battery unit costs and development times is a very interesting challenge. SAB battery modularity permits to satisfy a large amount of energy demands for a lot of LEO satellites configurations, depending on the number of integrated modules. Thus, modularity translates in an increase of versatility and in a decrease of development times and costs. Furthermore, SAB battery is equipped with Li-Ion cells designed for automotive applications, having a lower cost with respect to Li-Ion cells specifically designed for spacecrafts. In order to make them suitable for space applications an easy delta-qualification can be performed through which space environment resistance and compliance to mission requirements will be demonstrate. Such qualification foreseen simple model philosophy and test campaign which will be described and explained into this paper.


The three new speeches set for Advanced Module B have strengthened the focus on national identity and the literary tradition as issues of significance. Paul Keating's 'Redfern Speech', Doris Lessing's 'On not winning the Nobel Prize' and Geraldine Brooks 'A Home in Fiction' are rich, poignant and provocative orations that demand personal, critical engagement with political and cultural issues that are ripe for robust discussion in the classroom. Students now have a greater opportunity in this Module to compare, contrast and synthesise ideas about reconciliation, the relevance of literature, Australian national identity and our place in the world. The key for teachers is to steer their students toward an informed personal understanding of the speeches through critical analysis guided by the broader framework of the Module B unit description.


ESC Heart Failure, the new daughter journal of the European Journal of Heart Failure, was launched in September 2014 and is published by Wiley on behalf of the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). The journal is set up to cover a broad range of articles with the topic of heart failure (HF) in its broadest sense. These articles include original research articles, review articles, editorial comments, case reports, letters to the Editor, and meeting highlights. In addition, the journal aims to cover not only clinical research, but indeed all aspects of HF including basic research reports from subcellular and cellular structures, to animal research, to research on biomarkers, pathophysiology, diagnostic and imaging procedures, to clinical intervention trials. The aim of this Viewpoint is to provide a short overview of what the ESC Heart Failure is publishing and to show a few highlights that have been published in it recently.


This study juxtaposes two alternative approaches to understanding the results obtained in Tarot reading: the paranormal and the non-paranormal. People consult advisors using different means of divination and claim that the insights they are supplied with are accurate. The assumption behind this experiment was that if this is true, the participant should give higher ratings to a real reading in terms of overall relevance compared with a control reading. In this study, the real reading is one for which the participants choose their own cards compared with the control reading, which consists of randomly chosen cards. Non-paranormal explanations of the apparent success of divination systems such as Tarot emphasise such factors as the Barnum effect, i.e., the tendency to interpret general statements as applying specifically and accurately to one's own unique circumstances (e.g., Meehl, 1956). Paranormal explanations would suggest that any card drawn in response to an issue is a direct reflection of an inner state. In other words, we unconsciously choose cards in response to the present issue and these cards are a mirror of our deeper understandings (e.g., Angeles, 1987). Research testing the validity of divination has focused mainly on astrology with very little research regarding the validity of Tarot cards. Blackmore (1983), however, did test the validity of Tarot cards with respect to personality interpretations. Only the first out of three experiments yielded significant results and even then doubts were raised regarding possible flaws in the design. This experiment also investigated the possibility that believers in the paranormal might be able to accurately distinguish between real and control readings more effectively than non-believers, with believers giving the real reading a higher rating. A non-paranormal explanation might predict that believers would give higher ratings than non-believers to both real and control readings on the assumption that believers may be susceptible to the Barnum effect and that this greater susceptibility was a factor in leading them to become believers in the first place. Although some previous studies have found evidence to support this position (e.g., Glick, Gottesman, & Jolton, 1989), others have failed (e.g., French, Fowler, McCarthy, & Peers, 1998; Tobacyk, Milford, Springer, & Tobacyk, 1988).


Studies were conducted in 8 weeks old Swiss Albino mice for evaluation of antimutagenicity of citral extracted from Cymbopogon citratus using cyclophosphamide (CP) as mutagen. Five groups were maintained with six animals in each group to serve as replicate. Micronucleus (MN) assay was performed in polychromatic erythrocytes (PCE) and normochromatic erythrocytes (NCE) from bone marrow and peripheral blood samples at 24, 48 and 72 hours. MN assay suggested that MN (%) in PCE or NCE of both bone marrow and peripheral blood samples increased due to CP treatment. Citral administered at 40 or 80 mg/kg b.w. of the animal with CP brought down the MN (%) to significantly low levels suggesting that citral can be used as an antimutagenic agent. Citral dosage at 80 was better than 40 mg/kg b.w. of the animal registering 0.93 and 6.21% or 0.93 and 1.30% MN in PCE after 48 or 72 hours sampling in bone marrow samples respectively. When citral was administered continuously all the 7 days along with CP at 50 mg/kg b. w. the MN (%) was on par with control groups confirming the antimutagenicity of citral in mammalian cells.


The Plant Risk Status Information Management System (PRISIMS) is a PC program that presents information about a nuclear power plant's design, its operation, its technical specifications, and the results of the plant's probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) in a logically and easily accessible format. PRISIMS provides its user with unique information for integrating safety concerns into day-to-day operational decisions and/or long-range management planning.


The proper way to measure differences in trade protection across countries and economic sectors has been a vexing problem for economists studying international trade. Based on research by Anderson and Neary (2005) and Kee et al. (KNO) (2009), this article proposes the use of Trade Restriction Indices (TRIs) when studying US trade policy. TRIs can potentially solve several problems related to measuring the restrictiveness of trade policy. To this end, this article creates a data set of TRIs for US imports by sector at several different levels of aggregation using the Harmonized Tariff Schedule (HS), the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and the Standard International Trade Classification industry coding systems.


Shounen is one of the most popular genres of anime. Although Shounen is usually targeted at younger boys, it is often consumed by audiences of all ages, such as Naruto and its sequel, Naruto Shippuden. In this study, I will focus on identifying the masculinity within the male ninjas in the series and analyzing the motivations behind the exercise of masculinity to find the ideal masculinity. I will combine the masculinity theory with the Japanese's manhood, to analyze the ideal masculinity in the text. Through my analysis, I find that the male ninjas of these anime series show different kinds of masculinity, which divides them into two roles, protagonist and antagonist. The protagonists are the ones who thrive to fight for others while the antagonists fight only to benefit themselves. As a result, the protagonists are able to possess the ideal masculinity as they can exercise their masculinity positively.Keywords: anime, masculinity, male ninjas, protagonist, antagonist.


1University Medical CentreMaribor, Clinic for Internal Medicine, Department for Diabetes andMetabolic Diseases, Maribor, Slovenia 2General Hospital Izola, Department of Internal Medicine, Izola, Slovenia 3General Hospital Slovenj Gradec, Department of Internal Medicine, Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia 4General Hospital Murska Sobota, Department of Internal Medicine, Murska Sobota, Slovenia 5Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Histology and Embryology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia


The Canadian Coalition to Reform HIV Criminalization (CCRHC) is proposing to develop a Community Consensus Statement calling for various actions by federal, provincial and territorial governments to address the overly broad use of the criminal law in cases of alleged HIV non-disclosure. Such a statement, widely endorsed by organizations across the country involved in the response to HIV, would be an important part of building a common advocacy agenda aimed at limiting unjust prosecutions against people living with HIV. There are several issues to be addressed in any such statement. One important question is whether to advocate for amendments to the federal Criminal Code to narrow the scope of HIV criminalization (and if so, what those amendments might be).


The creation myths recorded in the Buddhist canon (Skt. Tripiṭaka; Pal. Tipiṭaka) reveal to us the various genesis scenarios adopted by early Buddhists concerning the formation of the world and the emergence of human beings in this world. The contents of these stories can be divided into three basic narrative elements: (1) the calamities and the formation of the world; (2) the devolution of sentient beings and the establishment of a worldly ruling order; and (3) the origin of the caste system and the royal pedigree of the Śākya clan. There are differences in the various accounts and in the details of the narratives as they appear in the Āgamas. Through a comparison of the narrative structure and content of various texts, this article will extrapolate on the narrative context that informed these myths. This article will argue, among other things, that when these myths were composed, they were directed at followers (Pal. bhikkhus) from Brahminical backgrounds. Segments of the genesis story were, moreover, incorporated into the Vinaya texts as narrative aids to help communicate certain lessons. The purpose of this article is to explore the topic of cosmology in texts such as the Shiji jing 世紀經 in the Dīrgha-āgama and the "Qiri pin" 七日品 in the Ekottara-āgama, both of which were later additions to these larger Āgamas. The Poluopo tang jing 婆羅婆堂經 in the Madhyama-āgama and the Aggañña-sutta in the Dīgha-nikāya both contain similar formulaic sentences and descriptions which show that they may come from the same source. The Poluopo tang jing might, however, be an older text. Finally, the different contents found in texts such as the Xiaoyuan jing 小缘經 that contains details on the five castes indicate that it may have come from a different source.


A study has been made of the relationship between the content of coumarin and its related compounds in the leaves of Anthoxanthum species. In the two species A. puelii and A. amarum, which headed without low-temperature or short-day induction, successive mature leaves on the main shoot were studied: they showed a general increase in the content of coumarin and related compounds up to the flag leaf which had a maximum value.

In A. odoratum, which was non-heading when grown under the same experimental conditions, the distribution of coumarin and related compounds was examined during the life of individual leaves from emergence to senescence. Each leaf showed a similar basic pattern: a peak value for coumarin occurred at maturity, which coincided with an initial peak value for related compounds. With senescence the coumarin value in each leaf fell, but the related compounds, after an initial fall, now increased in concentration and attained a maximum at senescence.


This paper presents an approach of SIW-based filter development using artificial dielectric material (ADM). The filter uses a substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technique which is constructed by two rows of conductor vias which connect the SIW surface and the groundplane. Whilst the ADM is composed of conductor wires in row which is inserted into the dielectric substrate. Different to the structure of SIW, conductor wires for the ADM are unconnected either to the SIW surface or the groundplane, so that the conductor wires are only embedded in the dielectric substrate. The material used for the dielectric substrate is an FR4 Epoxy with the relative permittivity of 4.4. The total dimension of the SIW-based filter is 66 mm × 40 mm with the total thickness of 3.2 mm. The measured results show that the ADM can lower the operating frequency of SIW-based filter from the frequencies of 2.29 GHz and 2.83 GHz to be 1.96 GHz and 2.89 GHz, respectively.


Abstract  Temporal–spatial variations in Late Cenozoic volcanic activity in the Chugoku area, southwest Japan, have been examined based on 108 newly obtained K–Ar ages. Lava samples were collected from eight Quaternary volcanic provinces (Daisen, Hiruzen, Yokota, Daikonjima, Sambe, Ooe–Takayama, Abu and Oki) and a Tertiary volcanic cluster (Kibi Province) to cover almost all geological units in the province. Including published age data, a total of 442 Cenozoic radiometric ages are now available. Across‐arc volcanic activity in an area approximately 500 km long and 150 km wide can be examined over 26 million years. The period corresponds to syn‐ and post‐back‐arc basin opening stages of the island arc. Volcanic activity began in the central part of the rear‐arc ca 26 Ma. This was followed by arc‐wide expansion at 20 Ma by eruption at two rear‐arc centers located at the eastern and western ends. Expansion to the fore‐arc occurred between 20 and 12 Ma. This Tertiary volcanic arc was maintained until 4 Ma with predominant alkali basalt centers. The foremost‐arc zone activity ceased at 4 Ma, followed by quiescence over the whole arc between 4 and 3 Ma. Volcanic activity resumed at 3 Ma, covering the entire rear‐arc area, and continued until the present to form a Quaternary volcanic arc. Adakitic dacite first occurred at 1.7 Ma in the middle of the arc, and spread out in the center part of the Quaternary volcanic arc. Alkali basalt activities ceased in the area where adakite volcanism occurred. Fore‐arc expansion of the volcanic arc could be related to the upwelling and expansion of the asthenosphere, which caused opening of the Japan Sea. Narrowing of the volcanic zone could have been caused by progressive Philippine Sea Plate subduction. Deeper penetration could have caused melting of the slab and resulted in adakites. Volcanic history in the Late Cenozoic was probably controlled by the history of evolution of the upper mantle structure, coinciding with back‐arc basin opening and subsequent reinitiation of subduction.


Geometrical optics is at present out of favour as a subject for university teaching. In this paper a suggested course in geometrical optics is given, embracing the elementary non-aberration part of the subject and based upon the Newtonian formula xx' = - ff' and the idea of geometrical collineation; together with a presentation of the more advanced theory, based upon the characteristic function of Hamilton or upon a modification of this function. Suggestions are also made for bridging the present-day gulf between theory and industry.


The effect of digestion with Streptomyces hyaluronidase upon certain histochemical reactions of hyaluronic acid-containing tissues has been studied in a series of human, mammalian and avian specimens. These histochemical reactions are those for the demonstration of neutral and sulfated and nonsulfated acid mucosaccharides such as periodic acid-Schiff, Alcian Blue (pH 1.0), azure A (pH 1.5), high iron diamine, aldehyde fuchsin, Alcian Blue (pH 2.5), Alcian Blue (pH 2.5)-periodic acid Schiff, azure A (pH 4.5), low iron diamine and colloidal iron. In addition, the effect of digestion with testicular hyaluronidase upon the same reactions of the same tissues was observed for comparison. Digestion with Streptomyces hyaluronidase diminishes the staining reactions due to hyaluronic acid but fails to affect those for neutral and sulfated acid mucosaccharides. These results indicate that digestion with Streptomyces hyaluronidase is a method of choice for the identification of hyaluronic acid in mucosaccharide histochemistry.


With the rapid development of economic of littoral,in civil projects the people have to encountered many saturated soft clay foundation.This paper have studied consolidation properties based on saturated soft clay test,and draw some conclusion,which is significant for design and engineering practice of marine ooze foundation.


Ketamine was widely used in obstetric anesthesia soon after its invention. It was gradually less considered, if not forgotten, by medical community with the appearance of new general anaesthetics and more effective neuraxial analgesia. Research in the last 2 decades has reanimated ketamine as a potent analgesic and possible antidepressant. In this review, we will briefly summarize obstetric relevant pharmacology of ketamine; present the previous clinical experiences with ketamine in parturient; and discuss some controversies on its clinical application in obstetric anesthesia and possible future research.


Abstract  Takata Yasuma, hailed as the father of sociology in Japan and recipient of the prestigious Cultural Meritorious Award in 1964, was also admired by western sociologists for his originality. In this article I discuss The Folk in 1941 with his discussions on ethnic problems around the year 1940 in connection with his inner life and thoughts.

First, I point out Takata makes much of the subjective aspect of the folk, or folk-consciousness, and distinguishes it by this ethnic ego from similar but enforced groups such as nation-state. Then I analyze his folk theory in connection with class, the modern state, nationalism, capitalism and imperialism, and conclude that Takata conflates nationalism quite easily and directly with imperialism without defining narrow-minded nationalism clearly though he rejects Lenin's view of imperialism as the consequence of the development of capitalism.

Secondly I consider the interrelationship of the folk with the slowly but enlarging world society, and make clear that Takata appreciates the socialization of interest (Vergesellschaftung) in the progress of society, though in his heart he has pursued Gemeinschaft 9s the child of a village in spirit. Finally, I emphasize that folk theory thoroughly reflects his inner life and thoughts: the perfect leveler, a free-spoken person, a village child in spirit, and a scholar of originality


The development, characterisation and testing of a novel all-optical, multi-modal preclinical biomedical imaging system is presented. The system aims to provide a new way of accurately visualising the spatial distribution and activity of molecular structures and processes in small animals by combining 3D bioluminescence tomography (BLT; reconstruction-based 3D imaging of internal bioluminescent reporter distributions), diffuse optical tomography (DOT; reconstruction-based imaging of optical parameter distributions) and optical surface capture techniques. The key principle of the imaging system is to use surface capture results to enhance the accuracy of DOT image reconstruction, and to use the results of both surface capture and DOT to enhance the accuracy of BLT. Presented experiments show that the developed system can reconstruct luminescent source distributions and optical parameters accurately and that small animal imaging is feasible with the system.


Excerpt Familial benign hypercalcemia, first described in 1972 by Foley and colleagues (1), is an autosomaldominant condition characterized by asymptomatic hypercalcemiawithout hypercalciuria. Its ...


The water filtering device uses membranes to produce clear water.Waterflow matches the pump rate can make the pump work effectively.Establishing math model of water flow matching,using PID increment controlling algorithm and doing the model simulation experiment by MATLAB.The result shows the correction of the math model,and PID increment controller has fast response and small overshoot,the model achieves good control effects.


Labour organisations meet enormous challenges in this modern era. Their employees therefore have to learn constantly to update their knowledge and skills so as to catch up with the fast pace of this changing society. Training and learning in workplaces have been considered as good means to stimulate the improvement of competency of employees. Yet, whether training and learning is successsful, whether workplace itself provides a learning environment for learners depends, to a large extent on interactions and collaborations among people in workplaces. The culture of communicative education is one of the four cultures of education (Leirman, 1994). In the learning network theory (Van der Krogt, 1995), when actors (e.g. learner, trainers, managers, etc.) co-operate well in determining learning structures and learning processes, the learning network can run well. In the Human Resource Development (HRD), the importance of the collaboration between HRD professionals and employees should not be underestimated (Mulder, 1992). In the new paradigm of workplace learning (Marsick, 1987), informal daily interactions among learners are advocated. In the teamwork, workplace communications and co-operations are particularly crucial in determining the success of learning and the quality of production (Lar Son & La Fasto, 1989, 1990). An open communication system is paramount in vorming, training and opleiding (Baert, De Witte, Sterck, 2000). The communication, interaction, cooperation and collaboration mentioned above all refer to workplace partnership. However, if this kind of workplace partnership is put into the Chinese context, how do people interpret it and what are cultural assumptions behind it? How do those cultural assumptions influence workplace learning? This research is to try to answer these questions. This task is a part of my PhD research, I intend to relate universal or western theories and practices of workplace learning to my home countryChina and appeal people to be aware of the impact of cultural-related aspects on workplace learning.


The reaction of biphenylene with Pb(OAc)4 gave 2-substituted biphenylenes and 2,3-biphenylenedione. The reaction of 2-methylbiphenylene and 2,3-dimethylbiphenylene with Mn(OAc)3 yielded products in which the methyl substituent had been oxidized. The reaction of 2-methoxybiphenylene with Pb(OAc)4 gave 2-acetoxy-3-methoxybiphenylene and r-2,c-3-diacetoxy-2-methoxy-2,3-dihydrobiphenylene, which is the first example of a 2,3-dihydrobiphenylene. The reactions of 2-carboxy-, 2-methoxycarbonyl- and 2,7-dibromobiphenylene with Mn(OAc)3 and (in part) with Pb(OAc)4 yielded nuclear acetoxymethylated products. The conversion of r-2,c-3-diacetoxy-2-methoxy-2,3-dihydrobiphenylene into 5,10-diacetoxy-7(8H)-benzocyclooctenone was observed.


A audio, video, and digital signal compensating conductive circuit consisting of one or more main electric conductor(s) and one or more non-terminated compensating conductor(s) to enhance transmission performance of an electrical signal. One embodiment is an electric cable comprising a one or more of said compensating conductive circuits. Another embodiment is a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) that has a plurality of said electric wires embedded in the CB. Said compensating conductive circuit has at least one main electric conductor, having purpose of carrying electric current between the signal source and the load, and at least one non-terminated compensating electric conductor, one end of said non-terminated compensating electric conductor is connected to said main electric conductor, while the other end of said non-terminated compensating electric conductor is unconnected.


Aedes aegypti, the principal vector of dengue virus has caused alarming health worldwide. There are available commercial mosquito insecticides, but the vectors develop resistance to these and cause harm and pose negative effects on living organisms and the environment. This study was conducted to evaluate the larvicidal activity of Gmelina arborea fruit extract as a biological control agent against 4th instar A. aegypti mosquito larvae. This study applies the control group and variation of treatment using the different concentration of G. arborea fruit extract (25, 50, 75, and 100 mg/L respectively) exposed to 15 batches of 10 4th instars A. aegypti larvae. The data obtained were analyzed using the mean percentage, One Way-ANOVA at 0.05 level of significance and probit analysis. Based on the results, the 100 mg/L concentration of fruit extract obtained the 100% mortality while the control group has no observed mortality of A. aegypti larvae after 24 hours of treatment. Moreover, there is a significant difference (F=33.88, p<0.05) between the control and the experimental group with varying concentration of G. arborea fruit extract. The lethal concentration (LC50 and LC90) values of G. arborea fruit extract were 56.23 mg/L and 74.13 mg/L which means it is toxic to the mosquito larvae sample. The results showed great potential for the production of organic insecticides from the G. arborea fruit extract to control the A. aegypti, a vector of the dengue virus.


The analysis to the forced and damping system of the spring pendulum was done.The judgment to the solutions properties,i e ,the varieties of movement status in the system,of the nonlinear equation was made by using both the numerical calculation and theoretical analysis method.The results indicate that the movement status in the spring pendulum system shows variety of bifurcate and chaotic phenomena as the parameters in the system varying in a suitable range.


In the standard model of the strong, weak, and electromagnetic forces, the interactions are quantitatively described by gauge field theories. Quantum chromodynamics is a nonAbelian gauge theory, and the proof of its renormalizability @1# and discovery of ultraviolet asymptotic freedom @2# have been milestones in its acceptance as the theory of the strong interaction. For large momenta the coupling becomes small, and perturbation theory seems an appropriate calculational tool. However, for small momenta the coupling grows large and adequate methods have to be used to study nonperturbative phenomena such as confinement, dynamical chiral symmetry breaking, and bound state formation. One such method is the study of the Dyson-Schwinger equations ~DSE !@ 3#, and their phenomenological applications to hadronic physics is a subject of growing interest @4#. Dynamical chiral symmetry breaking can be studied by means of the quark propagator DSE, also called the gap equation. The quark equation is part of an infinite tower of integral equations relating all the Green's functions of the quantum field theory, and a truncation is necessary to be able to solve it. The often used Abelian approximation introduces an effective running coupling in the kernels of the quark equation, based on features of QED. A number of studies of the gap equation were performed in this approximation with effective strong couplings that are infrared enhanced @5‐7#, infrared vanishing @8,9#, infrared vanishing with large enhancements in the intermediate region @10#, and infrared finite @11,12#. These studies all find that dynamical chiral symmetry breaking can be triggered, provided some parameter in the model exceeds a critical value, and a large integration strength is needed in the self-energy kernels to achieve large enough ''constituent'' quark masses, needed for hadron phenomenology @9#. The Ansatz of a strong infrared enhancement in the kernels of the quark DSE is therefore a major ingredient in phenomenological studies, and the search for the source of such an enhancement, coming from the gluon propagator, quark-gluon vertex, or their combination is an important field of investigation. The kernel of the gap equation not only reflects the strong interaction between quarks and gluons, but also embodies the complicated structure of the QCD vacuum, which in the continuum contains self-interacting gluon fields as well as ghost fields. Understanding the infrared behavior of the gluon and ghost propagators and of the running coupling is therefore of great importance for the study of dynamical mass generation @13#. Early studies of the Dyson-Schwinger equation for the gluon propagator in the Landau gauge seemed to indicate that the gluon propagator could be highly singular in the infrared @14 ‐17#, possibly providing the above-mentioned infrared enhancement in the kernels of the gap equation. However, these gluon propagator studies neglected any contribution of the ghost fields, and required the ad hoc cancellations of certain leading terms in the equations. It is therefore far from certain that these solutions reflect the correct QCD infrared behavior. More recently, studies of the coupled set of Dyson


Significance and Impact of the Study: V. parahaemolyticus is the most prevalent food 11 poisoning bacterium associated with seafood consumption. The number of infections is 12 increasing wordwide and are being reported in areas with no previous incidence. The 13 present study provides the fist instance of the occurence of V. parahaemolyticus strains 14 with virulence traits in the Black Sea, contributing to gain a better understanding about 15 potential risk associated with this pathogen in the region. Abstract Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a marine bacterium that is considered as one of the major 19 causes of bacterial food-borne outbreaks at a global scale. A total of 114 samples 20 including mussel ( n =42), seawater ( n =22) and fish ( n =50) samples were collected and 21 subjected to investigation. V. parahaemolyticus was detected in 45 (39%) of 114 samples with a occurrence in mussel, seawater and fish samples of 76%, 40.9% and 8%, 23 respectively. A total of 96 isolates were positive for the species-specific genes toxR and 24 tlh and confirmed as V. parahaemolyticus . Presence of the virulence marker gene tdh 25 was not identified in any of the strains investigated; however four of strains were 26 positive for the trh gene. Serological analysis of eight randomly selected trh -negative 27 isolates identified three different serotypes: O4:K untypeable (KUT), O2:KUT, 28 O3:KUT. Conversely, all four trh- positive strains belonged to a single serotype (O1:K1) 29 and share an undistinghisable genetic profile by PFGE analysis, suggesting the 30 existence of a dominant clone for the trh- positive strains in the region.


This study examines the influence of suppliers capability toward
company�s trust and the influence of company�s trust on the operational
performance of suppliers. The study conduct two capabilities as
independent variable: operational flexibility capabilities and collaboration
capabilities. Supplier's operational performance is measured through 3
criteria: quality, delivery and cost.
This study uses survey method on small and micro enterprises
(SME�s) in handicraft manufacturing industries as respondent. The
research methodology used Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using
Partial Least Square (PLS) software with a sample of 106 SME�s in Bantul
regency, Yogyakarta.
The results show that a significant influence between capabilities
flexibility and collaboration capabilities on company�s trust. Trust also
significantly influence on the operational performance of supplier.


Non ‑melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) comprises squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), basal cell carcinoma (BCC), and severalrare skin tumors (i.e., Extramammary Paget's disease), being the most common malignancy-affecting people worldwide. Itrepresents the majority of skin cancers and a significant percentage of all malignancies. Despite increasing public awarenessand scientific interest, the incidence of NMSC is constantly increasing. Even though most NMSC`s are associated with lessaggressive behavior, they can still be invasive locally and cause extensive damage to neighboring structures, inducingsignificant morbidity. In addition, different types and subtypes of NMSC tend to have frequent recurrences and may have significantmetastatic potential. As a direct consequence, NMSC has become an important issue for healthcare systems with a significantsocio ‑economic impact.


Since the new president of the United States Trump wield power people began to doubt the political situation, which thus led to the novel 1984 jump to the top in the list of the best seller. Public concern is that whether George Orwell's allegorical purpose will be realized. Definitely 1984 is known as an anti-totalitarian novel describing the ethical disorder, the revolting principles, the absurd disciplines and ideological deformation of the "Big Ocean" country under the domination of "Big Brother". People living there are forced to fall into ethical dilemma. They have changed their rational thoughts into irrational ones. Besides, they give up their identity of blood relatives and principles of making friends and empower irrationality to control humanity. This article intends to analyze the trauma made by the totalitarian government from the aspects of ethical consciousness.


Heterogeneous processing systems have long been used for the design of avionics architectures. Until recently, this architecture took the form of federated or "black box" systems. Advanced architectures characterized by terms such as integrated open systems, and modular avionics, are now being adopted by the DoD. Consistent with new hardware designs, are burgeoning software technologies. These include megaprogramming, and programming in the large, and object-oriented development, and a host of design methodologies. This paper attempts to reconcile these often divergent technologies given the real-time rigors of Digital Signal Processing (DSP) applications and the mandate to use the Ada programming language. Beginning with an overview of the state of DSP and software methodologies, Ada program building blocks are then presented with the unique intent of defining reusable software components for any platform of heterogeneous distributed embedded processors.<<ETX>>


The success of self configuration in autonomic distributed systems depends on the availability of the management components and their interconnections. This paper describes a fault tree model to evaluate the availability of a tiered autonomic system that considers the failures of management components. The model predictions will guide the selection and placement of the management components to meet the service-level availability requirements at substantially lower cost and time.


The development of sustainable, ecofriendly, and cost-effective methods for the synthesis of nanomaterials is an important aspect of nanotechnology these days. The present study was aimed at synthesizing cobalt oxide (Co3O4) nanoparticles by using plant extracts of Aerva javanica, bacterial isolates from rhizospheric soil of Potentilla atrosanguinea, Swertia petiolata, Senecio chrysanthemoides, and from fungus Fusarium oxysporum. X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques were used in the characterization of the synthesized nanoparticles. The bacterial strain, Bacillus subtilis, isolated from rhizosphere of Potentilla atrosanguinea (N1C1), Fusarium oxysporum, methanolic and aqueous extracts of Aerva javanica reduced the cobalt salts to cobalt oxide nanoparticles. The nanoparticles, synthesized from bacterial isolate N1C1 (Bacillus subtilis) and from Fusarium oxysporum had average particle size of 31.2 nm and 33.4 nm, respectively, whereas, the particle size of Aerva javanica was higher (39.2 nm) and all the nanoparticles were poly shaped. The nanoparticles synthesized from methanolic extract of Aerva javanica, bacterial strain (N1C1) and fungi Fusarium oxysporum showed better performance against Bacillus subtilis and P. aeruginosa, the bactericidal activity was higher against Gram-positive bacterial strains. Methanolic extracts of leaf and flower have shown a wide range of phytochemicals and higher antibacterial activity, and among all strains, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis susceptibility was greater to extracts.


Solid tumors require an efficient decision-making mechanism to progress through a gradient of hypoxia. Here, we show that an oxygen-sensory p53 tetramer-octamer switch makes cell decision for survival or death in variable hypoxia. Trapping homo-oligomers from biosynthesis cycle, we found a metastable p53 tetramer in cells. Under the operation of switch, tetramer segregates the p53 character of a tumor suppressor and promoter. The p53 switch generates a pattern of its on-off state in time that is specific to the strength of hypoxia. A bidirectional tetramer-octamer conversion in on state decides the restoration of basal state by forward and programs apoptosis upon the reverse shift via p53-MDM2 loop. However, reversible dimertetramer transitions in off state trigger chaperoning of HIF-1 complex by tetramer in forward and oncogenic gain-of-function by prion-like dimers in reverse direction. Temporal on-off patterns calibrate stabilized p53 pool by defining the abundance of dimer, tetramer and octamer that ultimately decides diverse cellular outcomes in hypoxia. Through multi-chromophore FRET, we further show that chaperoning of HIF-1 may modulate angiogenesis through a possible flip-flop of the p53T-HIF-1 complex upon DNA. Our results demonstrate how p53 can sense oxygen and act upon its homo-oligomerization states to control cell fate in hypoxic tumors.


Siegbahn's potential model as extended by Ellison et al. is used with density matrix elements calculated by the NDDO/2 procedure, to correlate the K-shell binding energy shifts of C, N and O atoms in a few molecules containing only the first-row atoms. The correlation is not superior to that obtained with the CNDO/2 method when only the monopole term is retained in calculating the Madelung potential energy. However, the results are in excellent agreement with experiment when the two-parameters model including the dipole and quadrupole terms is used.


Three-dimensional carbon fiber reinforced mullite composites (3D-B Cf/mullite) are fabricated via Al2O3 Sol-gel and polysiloxane infiltration-pyrolysis technology. The results show that nanometer γ-Al2O3 powders can be prepared through sol-gel using AlCl3·6H2O and (CH2)6N4 as starting materials. Mullite can be synthesized by co-pyrolysis reaction between polysiloxane and sol-gel derived γ-Al2O3 at 1400℃ under N2. The density, flexural strength, and fracture toughness of 3D-B Cf/mullite composites are 1.784g/cm~3, 282.5MPa and 17.7MPa·m~(1/2), respectively. It is the large quantities of pores in composites that result in low density and flexural strength of 3D-B Cf/mullite composites.


A cheap and efficient fibrous hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile (HPAN) sorbent was obtained by alkaline hydrolysis of Romanian polyacrylonitrile fibres. Scanning electronic microscopy and infrared spectroscopy were used to characterize the hydrolyzed product and to confirm its functionalization. The adsorptive potential of the proposed sorbent for reactive dye Brilliant Red HE-3B removal from aqueous solutions of pH=2 was examined by the batch technique as a function of dye concentration, temperature solution and contact time. The Freundlich, Langmuir and Dubinin-Radushkevich adsorption models were applied to describe equilibrium sorption data and to determine the corresponding isotherm constants. The thermodynamic parameters ΔG, ΔH and ΔS were also determined; the values obtained show that sorption of reactive dye on HPAN fibres is a spontaneous, endothermic and entropy-driven process. The kinetics of sorption of the reactive dye were analyzed using pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order kinetic models. The kinetic data fitted well to pseudo-second order kinetics, indicating the chemisorption of reactive dye onto the fibrous sorbent. The sorption mechanism of the dye onto hydrolyzed fibres was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy. The dye-loaded HPAN sorbent can be regenerated by treatment with 0.1M NaOH and the regenerated sorbent may be reused in several adsorption-desorption cycles. The results of this study provided evidence that the HPAN fibres are effective for removing reactive dye Brilliant Red HE-3B from aqueous effluents.


. The aim of this study was to investigate whether self-control acts as a mediator in the connection between self-esteem and smartphone addiction in a sizable group of adults (N = 1118; age range = 18 to 63 years) residing in various regions of Azerbaijan. The findings revealed a positive association between participants' self-esteem and their self-control, while their level of smartphone addiction exhibited a negative association with self-esteem and self-control. The results obtained from structural equation modeling indicated that self-control fully mediated the relationship between self-esteem and smartphone addiction. Thus, there was a statistically significant indirect impact of self-esteem on smartphone addiction through self-control.


The present work deals with a two-fluid model for blood through defomzable tubes of small diameter. This two-fluid model consists of a core (suspension of red cells) and peripheral red cell free plasma layer. The core has been considered as ostwaldian fluid and the plasma layer as a newtonian fluid. Using an implicit difference method to resolve the equations governing such flows, we determine the axial velocity profiles. This study, considered as a step in modelling of flow in blood vessels, may also contribute to other important fields such as water desalination or gel filtration.


It is a growing phenomenon that journalists in China are blogging. Some journalists blog within the media outlet's website, while some blogs in the public sites. This paper mainly discusses the limitation of blogs by analyzing the difference between newspaper blogs and writings on public blog platforms. We argue that the content of public blogs is markedly different from those published on newspaper blogs. This is because newspaper blogs are less individualistic and journalistic blogging on newspaper platforms is more strongly influenced by the organization to which they belong.


Spending time in the intensive care unit (ICU) can be a traumatizing experience for children, and a new scale may prove to be a valid measure of this effect, according to a study published in the Journal of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine .


In this study, we use a game-theory-based framework to model power in a supply chain with random and price-dependent demand and examine how power structure and demand models (expected demand and demand shock) affect supply chain members' performance. We demonstrate that whether a firm benefits from its power depends on the expected demand model but not on demand shock model. A firm benefits from its power only for linear but not for constant elasticity expected demand. The impact of power structure on supply chain efficiency depends on the models of both expected demand and demand shock. With additive shock, supply chain efficiency is highest (lowest) when neither firm dominates for linear (constant elasticity) expected demand. With multiplicative shock, the supply chain efficiency is highest with a power retailer (manufacturer) for linear (constant elasticity) expected demand. The manufacturer always benefits from a reduction in demand uncertainty. However, the retailer loses (benefits) from demand uncertainty reduction for linear (constant elasticity) expected demand. With a power retailer, the retail price is always on the higher end for linear expected demand, and the customer service level is the lowest for constant elasticity expected demand. Consequently, consumers do not necessarily benefit from a power retailer.


Techniques for statistical analysis of the Lyman-alpha forest in high-redshift quasars are developed, and applied to the low-resolution (25 A) spectra of 29 of the 33 quasars in the Schneider-Schmidt-Gunn sample. We extrapolate each quasar's continuum shortward of Lyman-alpha emission, then consider each spectral bin of each quasar to be an (approximately) independent measurement of the absorption due to the Lyman-alpha clouds. With several thousand such measurements thus available, we can obtain good determinations of some interesting properties of clouds in the redshift range 2.5-4.3 without actually resolving any single cloud. We find that the mean absorption increases with z approximately as a power law (1 + z) exp (gamma + 1) with gamma = 2.46 +/- 0.37. The mean ratio of Lyman-alpha to Lyman-beta absorption in the clouds is 0.476 +/- 0.054. We also detect, and obtain ratios, for Lyma-gamma, delta, and possibly epsilon.


To provide an elastomeric product with sustainable antimicrobial properties. An above-mentioned problems, a hydrophilic film-forming polymer, comprises a hydrophobic component and a non-volatile water-soluble antimicrobial agent, a surface coating which is essentially free of starch and powder, and a elastomeric products made to resolve the product. .BACKGROUND


We report on an effective dry method to reduce graphene oxide (GO) in films of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF) by UV irradiation in the presence of nitrogen gas.


Lean production and lean manufacturing refer to the use of systematic methods to reduce costs by eliminating wastes and non value-added activities, while delivering what the customer wants, on time. Lean manufacturing was originally developed by the Toyota Motor Co. in Japan based on concepts pioneered by Henry Ford, and is now being applied beyond mass production, into service-oriented businesses, agencies and offices. Even without explicitly targeting environmental outcomes, lean efforts can yield substantial environmental benefits. However, because environmental wastes and pollution are not the primary focal points, these gains may not be maximised in the normal scheme of lean. The two strategies can be integrated and offered simultaneously. The approaches have similarities, in that they strive to eliminate non value-added components, assess baseline conditions and operations, capture the details of process inputs and outputs, and strategize to design and incorporate changes that will reduce environmental or productivity inefficiencies. As soon as your operations implement Lean you will become more capable of enabling increased capacity by freeing up underutilised office and plant space. Your people will be capable of reducing wasteful outsourcing, increasing production flexibility to add product lines and additional services, or economically and faultlessly delivering more of what you already provide, without acquiring new facilities or higher overheads. Moving ahead, Green Implementation will make you able to respond to changing customer demand with high variety, high quality, low cost, and much improved throughput without destroying the environment. Green practices will also help you simplify business and earn greater value to your on-going business transformation.


The temperature-dependent composition of suspension during citric acid mediated crystallization of tungsten trioxide (WO3) from sodium tungstate was studied by in situ Raman spectroscopy. Additionally, microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis experiments combined with ex situ analysis by X-ray diffraction and SEM were performed to analyze the effect of pH on the eventually, isothermally, obtained crystal phase and morphology. The Raman results suggest that WO3·2H2O precipitates from the tungstate solution upon acidification to pH 0.5 at room temperature. This is first transformed to WO3·H2O initiating at T = 70 °C. At temperatures above 170 °C, the crystallization of phase-pure monoclinic WO3 with well-defined plate-like morphology was observed at pH 0.5. Using the microwave-assisted hydrothermal synthesis procedure shows that increasing the pH to values of 1.5 or 2 results in significant or dominant formation of hexagonal WO3, respectively. Comparing the activity of selected samples in photocatalytic oxidation of propane using visible light, demonstrates the presence of hydrate phases or hexagonal WO3 is detrimental to performance.


This paper would attempt at explaining the digital literacy levels among ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries, how their awareness in this aspect emerged, and their causes. In their entrance into the 4.0 revolution, ASEAN countries experienced an increase in digital literacy levels, especially since. Countries with a high level of digital literacy maintained their policies and programs whereas countries with a low level of digital literacy expected to improve by implementing better programs and putting forward digital literacy aspects as their main policy. Digital literacy level among ASEAN countries is not different from one another. Nevertheless, the level of digital literacy can be ranked by mean rank from 1 to 8 that sequence is Singapore (24.6), Thailand (24.0), Indonesia (20,5), Vietnam (20.4), Myanmar (19, 90), Philippines (19.80), Malaysia (19.20) and Cambodia (15.6). The calculation of the Kruskal Wallis Test shows a significant number, that is 0.957. In conclusion, our H1 was rejected, which we interpreted as no difference from digital literacy levels among ASEAN countries. These were caused by information literacy, technology literacy, and media literacy of ASEAN countries which were almost at the same level. ASEAN countries had the capacity to produce digital content, to adopt new technology, to manage media information and to adopt technology in certain situations.


The revised Educational Context Perception Questionnaire (ECPQ II) (du Merac, 2016 and 2017) is used to assess five dimensions of the students' classroom perception: Mutual appreciation, Discrimination, Didactics, Cohesion and Participation. Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological theory served as a guide for the definition of the research process and the identification of dimensions to explore. The aim of the present study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the ECPQ II intended for first-grade secondary schooling. The 26-item version of the ECPQ II was administered to a sample of 2029 students, enrolled in lower secondary schools (grades 6-8) in Rome. An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was applied and the factor model structure was tested for model fit using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The five-factor model showed a good fit to the data and had good reliability. The current research confirmed the factor structure of the measure and showed that the ECPQ II, adapted to assess the first-grade secondary schooling, has supportive psychometric properties of validity and reliability.


In a previous publication (Chance and Yaxley, 1950), it has been reported that a rise in brain glycogen occurred during convulsions in mice. The brain glycogen rose only when the precipitating stimulus was of sufficient strength to produce a convulsion. In this sense the glycogen increment was found to be specifically associated with convulsions. The amount of the increment was not only related to the intensity of extrinsic stimuli in normal mice at convulsive levels and above, but also was directly related to the severity of the convulsions. Moreover, this increment varied in the various different major subdivisions of the brain after a standard stimulus. It was therefore concluded that the glycogen increment in any part of the central nervous system could be taken as an indication of the amount of " nervous activity " arising from a particular region during convulsions. Seizures in man and animals show a variety of forms apart from a major change from a clonic to a tonic state with increasing severity. Similar differences exist between the patterns of convulsive movement produced by maximal doses of different central nervous stimulants and of other drugs producing convulsions. It was therefore thought worth investigating whether the patterns of glycogen increment would differ accordingly and be a reliable guide to the patterns of central nervous activity underlying the differences between the seizures. Thus the glycogen increment patterns produced by convulsive doses of a variety of substances, which are already well known for their action on the central nervous system at subconvulsive dose levels, have been plotted. METHOD Male mice of a single strain weighing 20-25 g. were used throughout. Individual animals were given the dose required to produce convulsions in 50 per cent of animals (CD50) in 10 ml./kg. body weight, by intravenous injection; they were killed at various and, whenever possible, comparable intervals oftime after the injection, during the convulsion and sometimes up to ninety minutes after the convulsions. This procedure produced clonic convulsions in all those animals which convulsed. In this way the rate of rise of glycogen, which always reached its peak at the end of the convulsion, was assessed in different parts of the brain as the convulsion proceeded. Drugs were dissolved in aqueous solution. The CD50 values, which had been previously determined on this strain of mice, were as follows: dl-amphetamine sulphate, 40 mg./kg.; sodium diphenyl-hydantoin, 60 mg./kg.; caffeine (alkaloid), 35 mg./kg.; nikethamide (B.P.), 50 mg./kg.; dibenamine hydrochloride, 50 mg. kg.; strychnine hydrochloride, 6.0 mg./kg.; picrotoxin (B.P.), 2.5 mg./kg.; insulin, 80 units/kg.; leptazol, 50 mg./kg.


Abstract The benefits of employing the virtual simulation tools tend to be amplified when applied at the initial stages of the project. In order to predict the loads acting on a component, a load generation methodology is used. The suspension loads generated depend on a series of suspension and body characteristics. These characteristics are refined to suit ride, handling and fuel consumption targets. The focus of the present study is to evaluate the effects of these variations on the rear suspension durability using load generation DOE and Fatigue analyses. Through this understanding, an initial virtual prototype can be idealized.


A new type of gas proportional counter employing a capillary plate has been developed. The capillary plate consists of a bundle of fine glass capillaries with electrodes on both the inlet and the outlet. The capillaries are 100 micrometer in diameter and 800 micrometer in length and gas multiplication occurs in each capillary. The operational conditions of the electric fields in the drift region were investigated by applying the drift potential. The better electric fields were around 0.28 volts/cm(DOT)Torr for argon+10%methane at the pressure of 760 Torr. The energy resolution was 21% for 5.9 keV x rays at the gas gain of 3,000. The gas gain, the energy resolution and the detection efficiency were uniform at the radial positions in diameter of 16 mm for the capillary plate of 20 mm in diameter. The non-uniformity was within 2% of the average for the gas gain. We can expect imaging detectors with the capability of fine position resolution as an application.


The biological reduction of Fe (III) is common in underground environments. This process not only affects the biogeochemical cycle of iron but also influences the migration and transformation of pollutants. Humic substances are considered effective strategies for improving the migration and transformation of toxic substances and enhancing the bioavailability of Fe (III). In this study, the electron shuttle anthraquinone-2-sulfonate (AQS) significantly promoted the bio-reduction of Fe (III). On this basis, different concentrations of aniline were added. The research results indicate that at an aniline concentration of 3 μM, the production of Fe (II) in the reaction system was 2.51 times higher compared to the microbial reaction group alone. Furthermore, the degradation of aniline was most effective in this group. The increased consumption of sodium lactate suggests that aniline, under the mediation of AQS, promoted the metabolism of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 cells and facilitated the involvement of more electrons in the reduction process. After the reaction, the solid mineral Fe (II)-O content increased to 41.32%. This study provides insights into the reduction mechanism of Fe (III) in the complex environment of microorganisms, iron minerals, electron shuttles, and pollutants. It aims to offer a theoretical basis for the biodegradation of aromatic hydrocarbon pollutants.


In normal human heart the main pacemaker is the sinus node, located in the right atrium; the electrical activation propagates from the sinus node through the atria and then to the ventricles in such a way that each atrial contraction corresponds to a ventricular one. The only conducting pathway between the atria and the ventricles is the atrioventricular node. Atrial fibrillation is an arrhythmia characterized by rapid irregular contraction of the atrial myocardium; electrical stimulations are filtered by the atrioventricular node, which propagates some of them to the ventricles, while others are blocked. The ventricular contractions are represented by the R peaks of the ECG. The time interval between two consecutive R peaks is called RR interval; the RR intervals sequence extracted from the 24 hours Holter recording defines a time series of about 100,000 elements. In long term RR series of fibrillating subjects many qualitatively different kind of regimes may be observed in the same subject. For example, in Figure 1 two different regimes are evident in the second recording. The first regime (roughly the first 15000 beats) is similar to an RR sequence of a normal subject, while the second is typical of chronic fibrillation, as is the regime in the first


Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal involves significant information about heart state and is one of the common tools for cardiologist in diagnosis of heart failures. Using adaptive filters for filtering this signal, which inherently has nonstationary features, is used as one of the known methods. In this paper, the wavelet transform and also a neural network (NN) based on adaptive filters are used for removal of undesirable noise from the ECG signal. In this context, in training stage, network weights related to each wavelet sub band is obtained by using the steepest descent algorithm, and filter coefficients for removal of noise from ECG signal are calculated. Results obtained from employing this algorithm on the MIT-BIH database and simulated ECG signal are indicative of improved performance of noise removal in comparison with other methods.


Past research indicates that music preference is correlated with the need for cognition (NFC). Specifically, heavy metal fans have been found to score lower on NFC than fans of other genres. In this study, a large sample of music fans completed measures of NFC well as the Short Dark Triad scale, which measures Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy. Contrary to previous findings, fans of heavy metal scored significantly higher on NFC than fans of other genres. Consistent with previous research, fans of "problem music" (i.e., heavy metal and rap) scored higher on the Dark Triad. As the original work on NFC and music preference was conducted over 30 years ago, we speculate that a change in the style of heavy metal may correlate with a change in the need for cognition.


The role of glucose in L-leucine-induced secretion of glucagon and insulin was investigated in the isolated, perfused rat pancreas. In the absence of glucose (or with 2.8 DIM D-glucose) in the perfusion medium, 1) the observed augmentation of the acute phase release of glucagon diminished gradually upon repetitive perfusions of L-leucine; a late phase release was not observed with leucine concentrations up to 10 mM; 2) L-leucine evoked acute phase release of insulin at concentrations of 5 and 10 mM, but not 2 HIM; and 3) the release of insulin which had been observed shortly after the termination of the perfusion of L-leucine ("off-response") in the presence of 5.6 Mm D-glucose failed to occur. In the presence of 16.7 mM D-glucose, 1) acute phase glucagon release was blunted, but there was a marked late phase release with 10 mM L-leucine; 2) L-leucine evoked insulin release even at the low concentration of 2 mM; and 3) the insulin off-response occurred. With 10 mM D-mannoheptulose plus 5.6 mM D-glucose, a...


Background COVID-19 is a deadly multisystemic disease, and bowel ischemia, the most consequential gastrointestinal manifestation, remains poorly described. Our goal is to describe our institution's surgical experience with management of bowel ischemia due to COVID-19 infection over a one-year period. Methods All patients admitted to our institution between March 2020 and March 2021 for treatment of COVID-19 infection and who underwent exploratory laparotomy with intra-operative confirmation of bowel ischemia were included. Data from the medical records were analyzed. Results Twenty patients were included. Eighty percent had a new or increasing vasopressor requirement, 70% had abdominal distension, and 50% had increased gastric residuals. Intra-operatively, ischemia affected the large bowel in 80% of cases, the small bowel in 60%, and both in 40%. Sixty five percent had an initial damage control laparotomy. Most of the resected bowel specimens had a characteristic appearance at the time of surgery, with a yellow discoloration, small areas of antimesenteric necrosis, and very sharp borders. Histologically, the bowel specimens frequently have fibrin thrombi in the small submucosal and mucosal blood vessels in areas of mucosal necrosis. Overall mortality in this cohort was 33%. Forty percent of patients had a thromboembolic complication overall with 88% of these developing a thromboembolic phenomenon despite being on prophylactic pre-operative anticoagulation. Conclusion Bowel ischemia is a potentially lethal complication of COVID-19 infection with typical gross and histologic characteristics. Suspicious clinical features that should trigger surgical evaluation include a new or increasing vasopressor requirement, abdominal distension, and intolerance of gastric feeds.


Microfinance is a type of banking service that is offered to the low-income or unemployed population who otherwise have no means for accessing financial services. Microfinance through self-help groups (SHGs) has been widely recognized as a key strategy for addressing poverty and empowerment of rural women. Microfinance and SHG which are considered as two sides of the same coin function with the main aim to empower women. The purpose of the current review is to synthesize findings from previously published literature and put forward how microfinance offered by SHGs has been extensively recognized as a strategic tool for empowering women. It seeks to examine the influence of microfinance on rural and marginalized women with respect to poverty alleviation, financial sustainability, entrepreneurial ability, and health. The review findings show that there is a definite improvement in the financial well-being and overall empowerment among the rural women as a result of participating in microfinance through SHG group.


Aims: Purpose of this study is to compare corneal reflex value measurements performed by the Plusoptix S08 photo-screener between anisometropic non–strabismic amblyopic children and non-amblyopic children. Study Design: This is a randomized and controlled prospective study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Ophthalmology, Medical Faculty of Istanbul Medipol University between September 2012 and December 2012. Methodology: Corneal reflex values of 39 amblyopic non-strabismic children and 28 normal children were compared after complete ophthalmoscopic examination by the same examiner. Only patients with anisometropic amblyopia without strabismus were included in the study group and only non-amblyopic children were included in the control group. Results: There was no statistical significance between the study and the control group in means of age (p=0.100) and sex distribution (p=0.818). Corneal reflex values of the amblyopic eyes was 3.8±3.2 degrees and corneal reflex values of normal eyes was 2.4±4.1 degrees. There was no statistical significance between study and control group in means of corneal reflex values (p=0.127). Research Article Demirci et al.; OR, Article no. OR.2013.006 Conclusion: Although Plusoptix has proved to be a reliable screener in terms of measurement of refraction, we did not know whether the corneal reflex value was also a reliable screening value, because there is no research about this value in the literature. According to the current literature this is the first research examining the corneal light reflex reliability of a Plusoptix S08 photo-screener and, in light of our results, the corneal reflex value of Plusoptix S08 is not a reliable tool for the screening of amblyogenic risk factors in non-strabismic children.


In this paper the criteria of out-of-step separation equipment in the current domestic and oversea engineering fields are summarized Based on the analysis of the current designing methods of the out-of-step separations, it is found that the majority of current separation criteria are essentially active power zero-crossing based method. The active power flow in the tie-line between interconnected coherent generators is also likely to be zero-crossing. Hence, it is suggested that all of separation equipment should have the ability of locating the interface (center) of out-of-step correctly. Upgrading the current out-of-step separation equipment into an integrated separation control system using fiber optic communication is one of the major technological trends when seeking a solution for out-of-step control. However, the common features of the interface of out-of step for coordinating the separation equipments based on optical fiber communication system should be found firstly. The key issue of the predictive fast separation scheme is whether it can predict system stability correctly and be applied in the practical field effectively and reliably Finally in the paper, the out-of-step separation of multi-frequency oscillation in a large-scale power system is discussed


ABSTRACT We live in an era of rapid urbanization as many cities are experiencing an unprecedented rate of population growth and congestion. Public transport is playing an increasingly important role in urban mobility with a need to move people and goods efficiently around the city. With such pressures on existing public transportation systems, this paper investigates the opportunities to use social media to more effectively engage with citizens and customers using such services. This research forms a case study of the use of passively collected forms of big data in cities – focusing on Sydney, Australia. Firstly, it examines social media data (Tweets) related to public transport performance. Secondly, it joins this to longitudinal big data – delay information continuously broadcast by the network over a year, thus forming hundreds of millions of data artifacts. Topics, tones, and sentiment are modeled using machine learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques. These resulting data, and models, are compared to opinions derived from a citizen survey among users. The validity of such data and models versus the intentions of users, in the context of systems that monitor and improve transport performance, are discussed. As such, key recommendations for developing Smart Cities were formed in an applied research context based on these data and techniques.


Time analog-to-digital converters (TADs) based on the power-supply voltage dependence of CMOS gate propagation delay time can be constructed solely of CMOS digital circuits and are characterized by output of the time integral of input voltage, with no dead time. This paper describes digital quadrature detection (DQD) by TAD (TAD-DQD). With TAD-DQD, the in-phase and quadrature components of the input signal, including amplitude and phase information, can be obtained simply by adding and subtracting AD-converted TAD output using a sampling frequency that is four times the carrier frequency of the target signal. As an example of the application of TAD-DQD, the standard-time and frequency-signal receiver circuits of a radio-controlled clock/watch are shown, and the experimental results demonstrate that the time code can in fact be received.


Narrowband cyclostationary interference severely limits the performance of power line communications (PLC) on low-voltage in the [3-500] kHz frequency band. For the IEEE 1901.2 narrowband PLC standard system parameters, this interference is not sparse in the time or the frequency domains making recently-proposed sparse interference mitigation techniques ineffective. In this paper, we investigate other properties of the interference; namely, its cyclostationarity and high spatial correlation across the three output phases to design effective and practical interference mitigation algorithms. The cyclostationarity is exploited to accurately estimate the interference's power spectral density in each of its three temporal regions and use it to enhance the Viterbi and/or Reed-Solomon decoder performance. The high spatial correlation is exploited to mitigate interference effects through cancellation or erasure decoding. Simulation results show considerable performance gains for both techniques.