Maximizing organizational performance and goal-achievement through competency-based education, this chapter focuses on the organizational development of competency-based learning, with respect to how organizations in South Africa should design and deliver programming. This chapter provides readers with a practical and experimental approach that is based on the author's education and extensive experiences. These experiences are drawn from a journey of different levels of delivering competency-based learning to education and industry in South Africa. The author provides a perspective of interpretation for the utilization of a behavioral approach to competencies development in organizational environments. The author proposes learning occurs because of a behavioral approach to understanding competencies as a concept.


. Phase space reflection operators lie at the core of the Wigner-Weyl representation of density operators and observables. The role of the corresponding classical reflections is known in the construction of semiclassical approximations to Wigner functions of pure eigenstates and their coarse-grained superpositions, which are not restricted to classically integrable systems. Here their active role is investigated in the simplest classical approximation involving microcanonical Wigner functions. It is shown to produce a transition between a pair of energy shells with a probability density given by an integral of the inverse modulus of a Poisson bracket over the intersection of a shell with the reflection of its pair. The singularity of the pair of Wigner functions at their dominant caustics is nicely integrable over their intersection, except for a single degree of freedom. Even though this case is not directly relevant for future investigations of chaotic systems, it is shown here how the improved approximation of the spectral Wigner functions in terms of Airy functions resolves the singularity.


To support decision-making for security-risk mitigation and the appropriate selection of security countermeasures, we propose a system dynamics model of the security aspects of an enterprise system. We developed such an executable model, incorporating the concept of archetypes. We present here one archetype for computer security, namely symptomatic fixes (or shifting the burden). Using simulation, we show one instance of how this archetype can be used for recognizing and diagnosing typical situations, as well as for fixing problems. The global effects of changes and behavioral trends are examined, and other instances of symptomatic fixes in security are described as well


Abstract : Preliminary efforts for developing a methodology to predict the response of thick composite materials to axisymmetric shock loading are presented. Consideration is given to material layups that result in transversely isotropic behavior in the plane of the fibers. The response of thick graphite/ epoxy composite plates subjected to underwater explosive loadings is solved numerically using a transient finite-element code. Both spherical and plane shock waves are considered. Results are compared to analytical results, where possible, along with computed results using steel as the plate material. A continuum damage model appropriate for thick composite materials subjected to high rate loading is developed to consider the response of the composite materials in the nonlinear range. The model considers two different damage parameters, one to represent delamination type cracks and the other to represent matrix cracking. The model is applied initially for different types of homogeneous deformation and then applied to the response of the composite plate subjected to the underwater explosive loading.


In order to safeguard migrant workers' legitimate rights and interests, the technical skills training on migrant workers should be enforced to meet the need of adjustment of economic structure and the improvement of production techniques; some powerful measures must also be adopted to get ride of the phenomenon of defaulting migrant workers' wages; and some intermediary organizations as job centers are required to be regulated to enforce the supervision over the employment market.


Volume I. Fundamentals and X-ray Crystallography. A systematic development of fundamentals of phase-retrieval method is presented. It provides the theoretical foundation and gives the conditions that iterative algorithms with oversampling will give a unique or probably unique solution. Methods in X-ray crystallography, with and without using in-between Fourier coefficients, are presented. These are applied to structure determination of crystals, nonperiodic objects, fibres and planar periodic membranes.
Volume II. Applications: Optics and Miscellaneous. It presents imaging of object irradiated with quasi-monochromatic coherent, incoherent, or partially coherent waves. The direct and inverse problems are dealt with. Unique decomposition of
quasi-monochromatic partially coherent waves into coherent and incoherent components is presented. Imaging with partially coherent wave can then be dealt with in terms of the coherent and incoherent components. The direct and inverse problems of imaging of object emitting polychromatic coherent, incoherent or partially coherent waves are presented. For imaging of object emitting polychromatic partially coherent wave, coherent and incoherent components may be employed. Because of the small size of the nuclei, phase-retrieval method is meaningful. An article is presented for determining nuclear structure and force by means of phase retrieval in scattering.


This study aims to quantify the effect of different soil fauna on forest litter decomposition processes under natural conditions in the Maolan karst area of southwest China. Leaf litters of two typical evergreen species (CG, Cyclobalanopsis glauca and KS, Kmeria septentrionalis) were selected to conduct a field decomposition experiment using the mesh bags with three different apertures (5, 2, and 0.03 mm). Mass remaining and nutrient variation in the litterbags were determined for one year at 3‐month intervals. The results showed that litter decomposition rate in different mesh sizes litterbags were in the order of 5 mm >2 mm >0.03 mm. Soil macrofauna had a significant effect on litter decomposition in the two types of litter and the mixture of the two. The most considerable mesofauna effect was found in the KS litter, which is 36.5% ascribed by the lowest C/N ratio (high quality). Soil mesofauna had a more significant effect on N, which was time‐dependent. Moreover, the fauna richness and abundance were affected by the decomposition time but not limited by the litter quality. This study illustrated that soil macrofauna has a significant influence on litter decomposition. The effect of mesofauna on litter mass loss and nitrogen release are determined by litter quality in the subtropical karst forest ecosystems.


Studies conducted in the town of Bern show that the waiting time of public transport vehicles can be considerably reduced if: (1) traffic signal installations are designed with the help of an extended network optimization program of the Transyt type, e.g. taking particular account of public transport vehicles; (2) private transport is limited so as not to hinder public transport in the network. A comparison was made of the average speed of private and public transport vehicles during evening peak hour. Results showed that by applying traffic plan a (traffic signal phases giving priority to public transport vehicles) it was possible to improve the average speed of buses by 1.5 km/h, while private cars were slowed down by approximately 1.5 km/h. In order to interpret these results correctly, it is necessary to take into account the fact that public transport in the zone Mattenhof/Villette studied represents only 15% of all car-km/h units but that it carries over 2/3 of the total number of persons carried per km/h. /TRRL/


16 The aim of this study was to investigate the variab ility of the water exchanges in the 17 Curonian Lagoon based on the hydraulic regime and t he a mospheric forcings. A finite 18 element hydrodynamic model has been applied to the Curonian Lagoon to simulate the 19 circulation patterns for ten years. With the help o f a transport-diffusion model the salinity 20 distribution and the renewal times of the Curonian L goon have been investigated when 21 forced by river runoff, wind and Baltic Sea level f luctuations. The hydrodynamic model 22 has been validated using in situ salinity measureme nts. 23 Model results show that the variability depends mai nly on seasonal changes in 24


Variability in propargite (Omite) toxicity in spider mites ( Tetranychus spp.) from California almonds was determined using a residual-bioassay procedure. T. pacificus McGregor collected from the Bakersfield area in September 1983 had an LC50 of 484 ppm (95% CL, 315–678) propargite. Spider mites from this culture which were selected twice using propargite-treated leaves (10,000 ppm) had an LC50 of 11,466 ppm (95% CL, 9,159-15,284) propargite (cotton seedlings) and an LC50 of 14,861 ppm (95% CL, 12,720-18,651) (almond foliage). In a topical bioassay, an average of 32.5% (SD 13.9%) of the selected T. pacificus were killed by 1,621 ppm propargite, the highest registered tank-mix rate for California almonds. T. pacificus collected in a June 1984 survey of California almond growing regions were found primarily in the southern part of the Central Valley. These T. pacificus were more tolerant of propargite (when tested using the residual bioassay) than T. unticae Koch collected in the survey. Substantial differences in propargite susceptibility were found between cultures of both species. These results suggest that propargite resistance may pose a problem in almonds, especially with T. pacificus .


This textbook titled ''Health Promoting Bioactivities of Phytochemicals: Research findings'' is written to provide useful information on phytochemicals for further research and qualitative healthcare. It is also well structured to meet the academic needs of undergraduate, postgraduate and teachers of natural and applied sciences. It has seven chapters including my research reports on phytochemicals and herbal medicine. The book also contains phytochemicals of health benefits reported by other researchers. Interested readers will find this book useful.


As an important application research topic of the intelligent aviation multi-station, collaborative detecting must overcome the problem of scouting measurement with status of "fragmentation", and the NP-hardness problem of matching association between target and measurement in the process of scouting to data-link, which has complicated technical architecture of network construction. In this paper, taking advantage of cooperation mechanism on signal level in the aviation multi-station sympathetic network, a method of obtaining target time difference of arrival (TDOA) measurement using multi-station collaborative detecting based on time-frequency association is proposed. The method can not only achieve matching between target and its measurement, but also obtain TDOA measurement by further evolutionary transaction through refreshing sequential pulse time of arrival (TOA) measurement matrix for matching and correlating. Simulation results show that the accuracy of TDOA measurement has significant superiority over TOA, and detection probability of false TDOA measurement introduced by noise and fake measurement can be reduced effectively.


The study reported in this paper has asked the fundamental question regarding the comparative efficacy of games versus cases in the teaching of business policy. As the management game produced learning outcomes that were equal to cases in fact mastery and superior in principle mastery and overall results, this study concludes that games alone are superior to cases alone in the teaching of certain business policy principles. It has been demonstrated here that the management game is a worthwhile learning environment capable of teaching many of the policy and decision-making elements of a business policy course. If the results of this study are generalizable, the instructor of business policy loses no teaching effects by replacing the case approach with the game approach. One should be cautioned, however, that the instructor can-not introduce a game to the class and expect magic to happen. But given structure and supportive guidance from the instructor, a management game brings realism, relevancy and excitem...


This work presents the design and control of PV-battery system feeding power to the AC network with diesel generator (DG) set backup at unity power factor (UPF) and the loads connected at the point of common coupling (PCC). The system improves the power factor of the AC network and the DG set to unity. Furthermore, it reduces the distortion in the currents and voltages of the AC network and DG set as par the IEEE std. 519, if any nonlinear load exists at the PCC. Moreover, it mitigates the intermittency of the PV array generation and the load demand at the PCC during the daytime operation by supplying constant power to the AC network. Hence, the variation in the PCC voltages are reduced. The PV -battery system energizes the load by operating as a standalone system if the AC grid'supply is interrupted. Furthermore, it operates as an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) if the generation of PV array reduces to zero. If the battery bank also discharges, then the DG set is connected at the PCC to energize the load. Hence, the load remains energized in all conditions. Here, the DG set operates at an optimal fuel economy zone to minimize diesel consumption and operational cost. However, it is disconnected as soon as the grid supply recovers or the battery bank charges. Therefore, diesel consumption reduces to the lowest. An extensive simulation study is performed to exhibit the performance and the seamless operation of the presented system when its working mode is sudden changes.


THE ARTICLE DESCRIBES SEVERAL MODERN APPROACHES TO A DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND ORGANIZATION OF WEB-BASED LEARNING AND TRAINING SYSTEMS OF A NEW GENERATION. TWO PROTOTYPES OF SUCH SYSTEMS OF A NEW GENERATION. TWO PROTOTYPES OF SUCH SYSTEMS ARE DESCRIBED, PARTICULARY, EVA (VIRTUAL SPACES OF LEARNING) AND INTERLABS. THOSE PROTOTYPES ARE BUILT ON THE ADVANCES INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES SUCH AS JAVA SERVLETS AND STREAMING MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGIES, RESPECTIVELY. PERSONAL ASSISTANT AGENTS AND MUNTIAGENT INFRASTRUCTURE AS AGGLUTINATIVE TOOLS OF INTEGRATION OF THOSE TWO VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS ARE DESCRIBED IN DETAILS


As we cannot integrate every function so it is not possible to solve every differential equation. Even the differential equation of first order and first degree cannot be solved in every case. They can be solved, however, if they belong to standard forms. During the past halfcentury, the growth in power and availability of digital computers has led to an increasing use of realistic mathematical models in science and engineering, and numerical analysis of increasing sophistication has been needed to solve these more detailed mathematical models of the world. The formal academic area of numerical analysis varies from quite theoretical mathematical studies to computer science issues.


Introduction. It has been shown that feeding, bethanechol chloride, and cholecystokin-in-pancreozymin administration were associated with augmentation of pancreatic protein synthesis in rats and pigeons (1, 2). Increases in protein synthesis following bethanechol chloride and cholecystokinin-pancreozymin administration were of 1-4 hr duration, were not completely blocked by actinomycin-D pretreatment, and were not associated with parallel increases in incorporation of [ 3 H] uridine into nuclear-RNA (3-5). These characteristics suggested that "short-term" increases in pancreatic protein synthesis might be mediated at the translational level of control. On the other hand, augmentation of protein synthesis following refeeding was associated with increases in both [14C]-l-phenylalanine incorporation into protein and [ 3 H] uridine incorporation into nuclear-RNA (3, 6). These characteristics suggested that "long-term" increases might be mediated by changes occurring at both translational and transcriptional levels of control. Protein synthesis at the translational level is influenced by amounts and activities of a number of constituents, such as amino acids, activating enzymes, t-RNA, initiating and terminating factors, monosomes, and polysomes. These cytoplasmic constituents concerned with protein synthesis at the translational level may be separated by use of high speed centrifugation into soluble and particulate fractions. The soluble or supernatant fraction contains factors such as amino acids, activating enzymes, t-RNA, etc.; the particulate or ribosomal fraction contains monosomes, polysomes, and constituents precipitated therewith. The experiments presented here were designed to determine if increases in pancreatic protein synthesis following feeding or bethanechol chloride administration resulted from changes in factors isolated in the supernatant or particulate fraction of cytoplasm. It is anticipated that these simple experiments employing cell fractionation by high speed centrifugation and ordered in vitro incubation of cell sap and particulate fractions will provide preliminary information which will enable additional investigations directed at identification and isolation of selected constituents, i.e., changes in t-RNA, changes in activating enzymes or changes in ratios of monosomes–polysomes.


Research aims to determine Employee Relations activity in improving employee performance at PT. XL Axiata Tbk. This research method is descriptive qualitative. Subject of research is part Employee Relations PT. XL Axiata Tbk. This study uses the paradigm of kontruktivisme. The theory used in this research is the relationship management theory by Jhon Ledingham. The results of this study explain that (1) Employee Relations activity is an integral part of the employees of PT. XL Axiata Tbk. (2) The benefits of both parties is the success of employee and company relationships, with a Employee Relatios activies provide benefits for employees and employers. (3) Employee Relations activity are closely related to employee, as employees are an important element in activities that have been prepared by Employee Relations managers. (4) Companies desperately need Employee Relations activity so that employees can improve performance far from achievement previously


Watsonella crosbyi Grabau, 1900, a senior synonym of Heraultipegma varensalense (Cobbold, 1935) and H. yannense He and Yang, 1982, is the oldest known rostroconch. The species ranges through most of the Early Cambrian and has been recovered from temperate siliciclastic (Avalon Platform) and tropical carbonate (south China, Mongolia?, southern France) environments. Watsonella crosbyi occurs through approximately 880 meters of the sub-trilobitic Lower Cambrian of southeastern Newfoundland. Its lowest occurrence corresponds to the first appearance of relatively diverse small shelly faunas of the pre-Tommotian Watsonella crosbyi Zone (new). The general form of Watsonella crosbyi conchs (laterally compressed, prosogyrate, elongate posterior, subdued comarginal growth lines, very thin shell with anterior and posterior gapes) is similar to that in a number of larger burrowing pelecypods, but this does not rule out other benthic habits. However, recovery of locally common in situ conchs (plane of commissure vertical, long axis subhorizontal) in the lower and upper parts of its stratigraphic range in southeastern Newfoundland corroborates an infaunal life habit for the species. The animal is a prominent element in faunas from offshore, cohesive, siliciclastic mudstones but also occurs in calcareous nodule-rich mudstones, shell hash limestones, and, infrequently, in peritidal algalaminate limestones. A phylogenetic sequence from laterally compressed monoplacophorans to early ribeiroid rostroconchs and leading to the oldest pelecypods was completed by the middle Early Cambrian and involved infaunal mollusks.


It is well known that a slight deviation of experimental conditions during preparation and during conductivity measurements of films, such as conditions of drying, temperature, moisture, etc., may affect the fundamental property of both conducting polymers and their composites, namely their conductivity, resulting in approximate conductivity values and variations in conductivity. In this paper the problem of variations of the conductivity of poly(aniline) - poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (PANI-EVA) composites was investigated. Three average conductivities (σ̅1, σ̅2, σ̅t) were determined and various average deviations (Δ̅σ1, Δ̅σ2, Δ̅σ1,2, Δ̅σt, G) were also estimated. Changes during the storage of PANI-EVA composites were studied by using both the average conductivities and the average deviations from conductivity. As a result of structural changes in the composites the electrical conductivity of the films increased, i.e. the conductive pathways became more exact, after four months storage of the composites. It was clearly shown that the existence of variations in conductivity is a characteristic feature of PANI- EVA composites studied and describes their evolution. The new method can be helpful and applicable to the structural characterization of other conductive polymer composites as well.


Figure 26 shows the calculated distribution of the axial forces in the pile at the end of the third loading process, together with those at the working load in step 4 of the first loading process and in step 9 of the second loading process, and those at the maximum load (step 13) and full unloading step of the second loading process. The figure indicates that when unloading to zero from the maximum load, the residual axial force is again caused along the embedment pile length with a maximum value of 1000 kN at the pile tip which is much greater than 400 kN in the first full unloading step (step 8 in Figure 25). At the working load, the axial forces decrease with depth in the first and second loading processes, however, the axial force in the third loading process increases with depth to 25 m (neutral plane) and then decreases with increasing depth. It is clearly seen from comparison of the axial forces in the pile at the working load in three loading processes that the mobilised shear resistances decrease while the mobilised tip resistances increase with increase in the number of the loading processes. Such aspect should be considered when evaluating the pile capacity after the SLT, because the safety margin of the pile tip resistance decreases with increasing number of loading processes in which magnitude of the maximum applied force increases in each process. This aspect will be discussed again in later part for the TSP1, which was reused as a working pile in this site.


Epoxy resins are frequently used in electrical insulation, paints, inks & PVC products. DGEBA resin (diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A) is one most important allergen in epoxy resin and is known to cause allergic and airborne contact dermatitis. A professional worker whose work pertained to installation of new electrical meters presented with eczematous dermatitis over neck and forearm. Patch test showed positive reaction to epoxy resins. Allergic Contact Dermatitis (ACD) to epoxy resins is usually directly related to the occupation of the individual in most cases. Dissemination of relevant information about potential sensitization to materials containing epoxy resins and pre exposure screening patch tests of workers in occupations where exposure to epoxy resins is anticipation of potential contact dermatitis is highly recommended.


Introduction: Professional quality of life (ProQOL) is the measure that everyone feels in relation to their work. Both the positive and negative aspects of doing a job, influence the ProQOL. The majority of people spend more time at work than they do anywhere else, doing anything else. Aims and Objectives: The aim of this research is to study the relationship between ProQOL and general health in the postgraduates of a tertiary care hospital. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study, which is conducted at Mamata General Hospital in Khammam, Telangana during a 6-month period (2017). The tools used are the ProQOL questionnaire and general health questionnaire. Results: Statistical analysis needs to be done, and the results will be analyzed and presented later. Conclusion: The current study is carried out to support the findings between the ProQOL and general health among postgraduates at a tertiary care hospital.


LBL-14021 DECISION-MAKING AND RADIOLOGICAL PROTECTION AT THREE MILE ISLAND: RESPONSE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION AND WELFARE^ » LBL--14021 DE82 008595 Jacob I. Fabrikant, H.D., Ph.D. Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Donner Laboratory University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, C 94720 A Presented as an Invited Paper, Scientific Session, Third International Symposium cf Radiation Protection-Advances in Theory and Practice, Inverness, Scotland, June 6-11, 1982. 'Supported by the Office of Health and Environmental Research of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract No. W-7405-ENG-48. Professor of Radiology, University of California School of Medicine, San Francisco, California Hailing address: Donner Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720. tsmwm of ras DOCUMENT IS n u n i United StitH Cawnirafii a


In an effort to infuse problem-solving activities requiring higher-order thinking into inner-city classrooms, we investigated the use of microcomputers with a graphing application program to teach principles of the design and interpretation of graphs to a population of students with little or no prior knowledge of graphs or data analysis. This is an exploratory, naturalistic research study of students' thoughts and behavior in this context. It differs from most earlier work in the field of computer-assisted graphing in three major ways: first, we focus broadly on a wide variety of types of graphs, used in several different subject matter contexts; second, we conduct research into problem solving processes in an unmodified whole-classroom environment; third, we supplement participant observations on student cognition with extensive behavioral sequence data gathered automatically and unobtrusively by the computer. We detail our attempts to develop, adapt, and apply quantitative methods of analysis of behavioral sequences which are potentially applicable to such data gathered for a large number of students.


Daily weather data are required by many physically based hydrological and crop models to study the potential impacts of climate change,which are often generated by stochastic daily weather generators.CLIGEN is such kind of weather generator that can generate ten daily weather variables to meet this need,and is used to provide climate input data to the WEPP(Water Erosion Prediction Project) model for predicting runoff,soil erosion and crop yield,however,its applicability in China needs to be assessed.T test and F test were used to evaluate the ability of CLIGEN to reproduce the average and variance of the measured data.Skewness,kurtosis,cumulative distribution and rank sum test were employed to check the distribution of the generated weather data.The raw and standard data were used to test the day to day and seasonal correlation.The objectives of this study were to evaluate the ability of CLIGEN to generate non-precipitation parameters including daily maximum,minimum and dew point temperatures,solar radiation and wind velocity based on the measured daily weather data during 1957~2001 of Changwu County on the Loess Plateau.Result showed that CLIGEN reproduced daily maximum,minimum and dewpoint temperature well due to the little differences of average and variance between the measured and the generated data;however,the relative error of generated solar radiation and wind was 3.9% and 118% respectively,and the generated variance was far different from the measured.The skewness and kurtosis of the generated data was no more than the generated,which implied that CLIGEN can not generate climate extreme events well.Rank sum test and cumulative distribution analysis showed that CLIGEN didn't preserve the distribution of the measured data well.The correlation analysis showed that CLIGEN reproduced the seasonality of climate variation well,which is important for agricultural simulation,but it didn't preserve the proper day-to-day serial and cross correlation between daily temperatures and solar radiation,which led to the simulated temperature not change in a gradual and continuous manner.Though there are some weaknesses,CLIGEN would still have great application prospect after calibration with proportional methods according to the site-specific conditions.


Based on concept of sustainable development, through establishing the input/output index system of evaluation of logistic industry efficiency, by using DEA model, this paper makes evaluation study on logistic industry efficiency under low-carbon environment in 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in 2004—2012. The study result shows: the development of Chinese logistic industry efficiency under low-carbon environment was keeping a stable level in the mass, while it has larger regional differences; the development of logistic industry in middle of China was in the IRS(increasing returns to scale) stage; and the development of logistic industry in east China has higher influence on environment than that in middle and west of China.


Nested within the typical scope of wastewater infrastructure management lies the hurdle of data transfer. We increasingly rely on the various crews of our authority to collect specific system data, and deliver it to administrative personnel. Due to escalating regulatory requirements, our authority has begun a venture to create a seamless transition between field data acquisition and end user format. Utilizing ArcPad and ArcPad Studio 6.0, we are creating custom forms, which allow field personnel to record their findings in great detail. This information is then updated daily into our ArcGIS database for immediate use by internal decision-makers. Introduction Over the past several years wastewater treatment facilities have come under increased scrutiny in Western Pennsylvania. Tighter regulations, increased inflow and infiltration (I/I) abatement, and the need to understand system capacity and hydraulics have all led to a greater demand for more accurate and efficient field data. The major cause for the heightened study comes from the limiting factor of system capacity routinely stretched during every rainfall, mainly due to I/I and illegal drainage connections. The Authorities of these facilities bear the responsibility to provide this system understanding in order to meet both the state regulations and the federal mandates. The McCandless Township Sanitary Authority (MTSA), located in Western Pennsylvania, is one of these authorities who have come to grips with their responsibilities. Working closely with their consulting engineer, Buchart-Horn, Inc. (BH), MTSA has worked to develop and employ several innovative and cutting edge GIS tools that enable them to more accurately inspect and define their system characteristics. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the development of one of those creative solutions for handheld field data collection. This project is a cost and time efficient solution for testing illegal drain connections entering the Authority's system. The paper showcases the progress of one Authority's innovations in complying with strict regulations and their incorporation of GIS technologies to achieve this goal. Background The McCandless Township Sanitary Authority was incorporated on December 30, 1955 for the purpose of providing sewage service for the Town of McCandless. In the early 1970's Franklin Park Borough, Bradford Woods Borough, Pine Township, Marshall Township and minor portions of Ross and Hampton Townships agreed to have properties in the Pine Creek watershed, within the aforementioned municipalities, served by the Authority. Currently the Authority services approximately 15,000 accounts consisting of approximately 52,000 customers. Our customers include residential, commercial, schools, colleges and hospitals. The Authority owns and operates a comprehensive sanitary sewer divided into five collection systems with four treatment plants, sixteen pumping stations and 350 miles of 8" to 42" gravity sewer. A Sanitary Authority Defined in Respect to Technological Innovation The operations of many sanitary authorities encompass the following functions and obligations: o Conveyance: The infrastructure of an authority is where most of the problems and conflict with regulatory agencies arise. The extreme recent push has been to eliminate inflow and infiltration from systems through a variety of methods. The solutions in this paper deal with 2 methods of elimination in an automated fashion, I/I elimination from manholes and I/I elimination from illegally connected building rain leaders. o Treatment: Most sanitary operations have at least one sewage treatment plant to handle the areas it serves. Treatment plants tend to be controlled environments that are equipped to deal with changing biological influent. As the conditions within the plant change with the weather, adjustments can be made within the plant to accommodate the chemical/biological demands. One thing the plants can't control is excessive contribution. o Administration: To maintain both the physical operations, a solid proactive management team must lead the way. The ideal team must be positioned to deal with regulatory changes on the horizon. The team must embrace the latest technologies available to efficiently manage increasing demands with a thinning financial support base. o Financial Responsibility: The administration of any authority must ensure all capital expenditures are justifiable. Funds spent must not only provide for present solvency, but should also allow for efficiency of future operations, anticipated sustainability, and regulatory compliance. One of the best ways to accomplish this is through the implementation of sound technological advancements. o Regulatory Compliance: Required regulatory compliance of an authority drives all the above functions. The steering hand of regulatory agencies will define the future of the wastewater industry. Acknowledging this fact allows authorities to proactively plan for future operations in an efficient manor that includes sound financial investments, stable growth with increased service area acquisition, and compliance with the letter and the spirit of the law. All of this and much more can be accomplished through the implementation of a multifaceted GIS program. GIS System MTSA currently has two ArcGIS 8.x workstations. The GIS system houses all necessary spatial information for the entire service area. Information includes manholes, sewer lines, houses, property parcel lines, streets, hydrology, boundaries of service areas, and contours. An active push is in progress to populate the GIS database with property parcel lot and block numbers. These IDs are the common unifying language for Allegheny County. In anticipation of a future watershed approach the lot and block numbers will be the common language to all communities, and prove most beneficial to linking an effective GIS program. The Authority also has a licensed stand alone differential correction GPS base-station, allowing for precise plotting of all structure points within our service area. The development department employs a pack worn GPS unit and captures the manhole point structures as new housing developments are constructed. The combination of an in-house basestation with GPS capabilities provides a powerful and cost effective tool for continually updating the Authority's GIS system. Some current GIS uses include; daily maintenance direction maps, generated every morning for the various work crews, maps with specifically queried attributes used for field inspections, one-call system acknowledgments, system upgrades, line replacements, flow studies, hydrologic studies, capacity evaluation, CCTV scheduling, cleaning operations, dye testing, and manhole inspections. Dye Testing Defined A large amount of water is contributed to a sanitary sewer system through downspouts and area drains connected to the Authority's collection system. During initial sewer installation in the late 50's, a common practice to eliminate rain run-off was to tie in house gutters with the sanitary sewer. The sanitary sewer system would inevitably overflow during a significant rain event, dumping large quantities of untreated sewage into the areas streams and rivers. Direct elimination of precipitation run-off contribution to a sanitary system can be achieved through an aggressive dye-testing program. Through this program the Authority employs two crews equipped with dye test spraying outfit and two 500 gallon water tanks. The water carried in these tanks will dye test approximately five houses. Arrangements have been made with a local fire company to refill the tanks during the day, as needed. MTSA has installed a water meter at the refill facility to aid in monetary reimbursement. The trucks were purchased through the Federal Surplus Program, and fitted in-house with flatbed bodies. All in-house work was completed during the winter months to defer employee layoff and provided a cost efficient means of conducting necessary field inspections. MTSA has performed in excess of 3,600 dye tests since starting in 1998. Most of the compiled data over the past five years has been entered manually into the GIS system and scanned in JPEG format into a standalone database. Gaining access to these records is both time consuming and highly unreliable. Purpose In March 2003, BH was retained by MTSA to create an automated field data management system. The system would associate some of the Authority's field operations directly with tasks performed in their offices. There are a number of cases where the Authority could be more efficient and save time and money by eliminating the transfer of paper work and the redundant entering of information. The historical trail of dye test information and manhole inspection forms has been plagued with data entry inaccuracies and increased data management. The entire process was contingent upon personnel efficiency and individual interpretation of inspection data. MTSA was interested in employing the use of handheld computers in the field to collect inspection data and then deploy that information into their existing GIS. BH's role was to develop an effective means of capturing the interested field information, minimize error in data duplication, and automate the transfer of data across the GIS system. Accomplishing these tasks would enable the Authority to efficiently store, query, and report their field investigations with confidence. Key Project Goals o Design a Dye Test Data Management System incorporating a handheld CE device to link data acquisition in the field to the automated entry of information into a master database for use in letter notification and report generation. o Select Hardware and Software compatible with the current Data Management System that would utilize current GIS and database software. o Develop a database that will function as the master database for dye testing data, eliminating stand-alo


To reduce the number of unnecessary openings of suture packs and suture wastage to reduce environmental, social, and financial costs in general surgical procedures.

 A prospective audit was conducted at a District General Hospital by collecting data on the number of suture packs opened and unused for general surgical procedures for 2 weeks in November 2022. The intervention was done by raising awareness using posters and sustainability education. The data was collected again for 2 weeks and analysed using GraphPad Prism.

 For laparoscopic surgery, there was a reduction in redundant suture packs opened (P=0.86) and subsequently unused (P=0.86) but the result was insignificant. In contrast, for open surgery, the reduction in the suture pack opened (P=0.028) and subsequently unused (P=0.034) was significant. The financial savings were extrapolated to be £2799 yearly. The yearly environmental savings including transport and waste incineration totalled approximately 367kg CO2e. The survey used for social impact showed improved staff sustainability awareness and the development of new sustainable practices.

 The health sector is pivotal to mitigate climate change due to its responsibility for 4-5% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The building of a global regime for the mitigation of climate change is vital but the small scales of positive action like reducing suture wastage need to also be encouraged. The emergence of a polycentric system to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will become the inspiration for the national ambition of delivering a net zero NHS.


The three member Expedition 40 crew was conducting more science work Wednesday to improve life on Earth and in space.


We examine the contractual implications of lender trust in bank loan contracts. We measure a lender's trust using the average trust attitudes in the ancestral country of origin of its CEO. We find that banks with trusting CEOs charge lower loan rates. Furthermore, trusting lenders sanction borrowers more severely following breaches of trust. The results are identified within the same lender-borrower relationships and are robust to controlling for borrower trustworthiness. Overall, our results are consistent with CEOs setting the tone at the top and point to the role of trust as an informal contracting mechanism that mitigates information asymmetry problems.


The 2008 financial crisis was not an accident; it was the effect of an industry out of control, with no regulation. The main cause of this crisis is attributed to the big changes in regulation and to the lax regulatory authorities. These causes are de first instance causes or root causes. With all this, the financial system was allowed to submit risky mortgages (sub-prime), it could commercialize complex and unstable derivatives like CDO and CDS, the credit rating agencies were free and unregulated in their credit evaluations and financials firm's top executives bonuses were unregulated and linked to an excessive risk exposure. All these events created the biggest economic bubble of history and when it busted a crisis was created, the worst crisis since the Great Depression. This crisis was reflected by certain critic events in some financial firms like the Bear Stearns bailout, the Lehman Brothers collapse and bankruptcy, the AIG intervention and other events that obligated de federal government to design de TARP program, a capital injection to the financial system that cost $700 billon to tax payers.


Long-term conventional cultivation of vegetables in greenhouse causes problems which seriously threaten sustainability of vegetable production by using facilities.Based on the survey data from 324 vegetable farmers in Liaoning Province,this paper discusses farmers' recognition of adverse effects from conventional cultivation and the sustainable production behavior.Factors that affect farmers' adoption behavior of sustainable production are identified by using Heckman probit selection model.The results show that most farmers have the recognition of adverse effects caused by long-term planting in greenhouse and sustainable production practices,but they focus on short-term effects in the adoption of specific measures and the adoption level of sustainable production is still low.The education level of householder,the acreage of planting in the greenhouse,communicating with the villagers,the channels of obtaining technology information,joining the cooperatives,the guidance of agricultural officers and participating in training play a significant role in promoting the farmers'recognition of adverse effects caused by long-term planting in greenhouse.Among factors influencing farmers' adopting sustainable production practice,the education level of householder,the total household income,the guidance of agricultural officers and participating in training have a significant positive impact,but householder's age and the distance from the market present a negative role.Therefore,government should give more publicity,training and technical instructions to farmers,give full play to the cooperatives' role,improve farmers' income to promote the sustainable production of facilities vegetables.


With the rapid development of computer science and technology, software-intensive systems have been widely adopted and become much more complex than ever before. For example, the lines of code in the avionics of the fighter plane F-35 are as high as 500 million as estimated. With the increasing complexity of these complex software-intensive systems, some new features emerge, bringing new challenges to the assurance of software dependability, namely: Logical complexity: With the increasing lines of code and the trend of modularization, interactions between modules increase, making it difficult to control and predict the behavior brought by these interactions. Research indicates that more and more failures occur because of exceptional interactions within a system. Boundary erosion: The interaction between software and peripheral hardware in complex software-intensive systems becomes so frequent and complicated that the boundary of software has been eroded by peripheral environments. Investigation shows that failures caused by abnormal interaction behavior between software and peripheral hardware have taken a significant portion of total system failures. Longevity: Complex missions require these systems to operate during a long life cycle, during which the system has to fight against internal faults, external attacks and evolve to adapt to the environment but remains quasi-stable, which requires more attention on runtime characteristics of the system that may cause failure, such as exceptional runtime data stream.


The sophisticated arrangement of confinement in columns using closely spaced stirrups not only interrupts the continuity and creates a plane of weakness between core and concrete cover, but also adds to the problem of congestion. This is the reason why most of the time it may not be possible to confine the structure sufficiently by providing laterals alone, and supplementary confinement such as ferrocement composites may be necessary. The success of the ferrocement technology is attributed to the ready availability of its component materials, low level of technology needed for construction and low cost. In the past decades, ferrocement has emerged as a very good rehabilitating/restrengthening material because of its superior mechanical properties, high in-plane strength and mouldability. In the present paper a review of the research on ferrocement confinement of plain and reinforced concrete with applications to column retrofitting is presented.


Although conventional cryptographic security mechanisms are essential to the overall problem of security, the openness of wireless medium poses both threats and opportunities for secure transmission. Information theoretic security attracts researchers for its robust nature and multiple input multiple output (MIMO) channel in the presence of multiple eavesdropper offers an unveiled research area. In this paper, information theoretic security is analyzed in the form of ergodic capacity in a wireless sensor network (WSN) scenario. Analytical calculations are performed for different channel state information (CSI) and number of antennas. Simulation results show that MIMO configurations with both CSI for main channel and eavesdropper channel are known at the transmitter shows better performance where secrecy capacity is the measure of performance.


Abstract. Lack of system research done by domestic and foreign scientists in the field of optimal cargostraffic distribution problem in Air Cargo Terminal, proves necessity of investigation and optimization of thisprocess. Mathematical models and algorithms of optimal problem solving for air cargos distribution inwarehouses on the basis of established functional dependence between freight flow stowage in warehousesand transport vehicle loading (unloading) processes are presented in the article.Keywords:algorithms, dimensions of air cargo terminal, effectiveness of loading-unloading processes,freight flow, models.


A device (1) for the distribution of products, preferably cleaning products comprising an active ingredient, more preferably cleaning products comprising a surfactant, the device (1) comprising at least one tank (10) vented to contain least one liquid product and a means for dispensing the product from the reservoir (10), the reservoir (10) at least one recess (16) and the dispensing means (11) comprising at least one corresponding projection (17), said reservoir (10) fixed in a sealed and releasable to the dispensing means (11) so so that fluid communication between said reservoir (10) and said means (11) is established, only when said protrusion (s) (17) and recess (s) (16) are fitted into each other, and wherein said (s) recess (s) (16) of said reservoir (10) having a shape that is complementary of that (s) protrusion (s) (17) of said dispensing means (11), characterized porquedicho projection (17) is a movable protrusion which is mounted with a spring means, and is connected to a push button which is accessible from the outside of the dispensing means (11).


To the Editor:

A 49-year-old woman visited our department due to painful bilateral trigger thumbs, which were characteristically locked in flexion (Fig. 1A). Both thumbs showed passively correctable locking and the patient did not perform an extension of both thumbs because it was very painful. There were no palpable nodules in either thumb. The patient had no history of previous trauma or familial history. Laboratory tests were normal, including blood sugar, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, renal function, thyroid function, and rheumatoid factor. Radiographs of the hands were also normal. Three years ago, the patient underwent a total abdominal hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy due to endometrial adenocarcinoma. One year later, treatment with pelvic radiotherapy and anastrozole (Arimidex®, AstraZeneca, Seoul, Korea) was started due to iliac lymph nodes metastases. Since then, the patient experienced tolerable arthralgias, myalgia, and mild triggering during the treatment with anastrozole. After 2 years of treatment with anastrozole, the patient developed severe triggering and locking in both thumbs. Conservative management with local steroid injections was not effective and further aggravated the triggering.

Fig. 1

(A) A 49-year-old woman visited our department due to painful bilateral trigger thumbs which were characteristically locked in flexion. The flexor pollicis longus tendon was caught at the A1 pulley. (B) The A1 pulley was thickened. (C) A1 pulley was partial ...

We performed surgical intervention on both thumbs. During surgery, we found thickening of the A1 pulley of both thumbs, and the flexor pollicis longus tendon was caught at the A1 pulley. A1 pulleys of both thumbs were released and partial excised (Fig. 1B and C). Thereafter, the patient was able to actively move both thumbs, and complete relief of both locking thumbs was confirmed. The symptoms completely disappeared at one month after the surgery (Fig. 1D).

Hyperestrogenism is an important risk factor for the development and progression of endometrial cancer.1 Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) block the aromatase enzyme, which converts peripheral testosterone and androgens to estrogens, subsequently lowering estrogen-modulated stimulation.1 Hence, AIs are useful in the management of endometrial cancer. However, musculoskeletal complaints, particularly arthralgia and myalgia, in patients treated with AIs have been reported. It has been suggested that AIs reduce the antinociceptive effects of estrogen by complete estrogen depletion, and therefore, decrease the pain-threshold, resulting in arthralgia.2 Also, it has been reported that AIs are associated with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and trigger finger. CTS has been reported to be associated with all AIs, anastrozole, exemestane, and letrozole.2,3,4 Arthralgia, trigger finger, and CTS were frequently reported for patients treated with letrozole or exemestane, and most patients showed a severely reduced mobility of the hand or wrist.2 Patients receiving anastrozole showed a higher incidence of joint symptoms, arthralgia, arthritis, and CTS, as well as of tendinopathy.3,4 However, severe trigger finger has not been reported yet for cases treated with anastrozole.

The exact mechanism for AI-induced trigger digit is unclear. Morales, et al.2 showed a thickening of the flexor tendon sheath in all patients treated with letrozole and exemestane. Martens, et al.4 reported thickening of the abductor pollicis longus tendon in patients receiving anastrozole. These reports provide a feasible reason for the trigger thumbs in patients treated with AI, as thickening of the tendon sheaths of the A1 pulley may lead to severe triggering of the flexor tendon, as was observed in our case.

Conservative treatments, such as splinting, NSAIDs and steroid injection, may be less effective to treat AI-induced CTS or trigger finger, compared with idiopathic CTS or trigger finger.2,5 Among AIs, anastrozole and letrozole reversibly bind to aromatase enzyme, while exemestane irreversibly binds thereto. However, the triggering of our patient was not improved after treatment with anastrozole. At first, our patient received local corticosteroid injections in both thumbs; however, the symptoms aggravated in both thumbs and resulted in locking. Thus, surgery was performed. While corticosteroid injections may be effective in treating conventional trigger digits, our findings suggest that AI-associated trigger digit requires surgical treatment.

Unilateral trigger digit is an entity commonly seen by hand surgeons. Even if only one finger is involved in the triggering phenomenon, hand function can be seriously compromised when the digit is locked in flexion. In our patient, there were no predisposing factors present, such as thyroid disease, diabetes, renal disease, or rheumatoid arthritis. Our patient showed locking trigger thumbs in both hands in association with the AI anastrozole (Arimidex®). To the best of our knowledge, no previous reports have suggested an association between anastrozole and bilateral trigger thumbs in the treatment of endometrial cancer. Nevertheless, clinicians should be aware of possible medication side effects as a potential etiology of trigger thumbs.


Bilateral testicular torsion is a rare condition. We report a case of a male newborn with bilateral enlarged and firm testes. Color-Doppler revealed no evidence of vascular flow in both testes. Although intraoperative findings were in favor of bilateral infarcted and gangrenous testes, the patient underwent bilateral orchiopexy after conferring with his parents. At sixmonth follow-up, both testicles were atrophic. Management of bilateral neonatal testicular torsion is controversial and includes conservative management, orchiopexy, and orchiectomy. The possibility of salvaging testis in neonatal testicular torsion is very low in each treatment modality.


Emissions from the major sources of fine carbonaceous
aerosol in the Los Angeles basin atmosphere have been
analyzed to determine the amounts of the ^(12)C and ^(14)C
isotopes present. From these measurements, an inventory
of the fossil carbon and contemporary carbon particle
emissions to the Los Angeles atmosphere has been created.
In the winter, more than half of the fine primary
carbonaceous aerosol emissions are from sources containing
contemporary carbon, including fireplaces, charbroilers,
paved road dust, cigarette smoke, and brake lining dust,
while in the summer at least one-third of the carbonaceous
particle emissions are contemporary. Using a mathematical
model for atmospheric transport, predictions are made
of the atmospheric fine particulate fossil carbon and
contemporary carbon concentrations expected due to
primary source emissions. Model predictions are in
reasonable agreement with the measured radiocarbon
content of the fine ambient aerosol samples. It is
concluded that the high fraction of contemporary carbon
measured historically in Los Angeles is not due to local
emission sources of biogenic material; rather, it is due to
a combination of local anthropogenic pollution sources
and background marine aerosol advected into the city.


In this paper, we will give a description of the functor from the category of crossed n-cubes to that of simplicial commutative algebras and study a commutative algebra version of Loday's theorem on n-types of simplicial groups.


This research aims at investigating types of code switching used by lecturers and what are the reasons among English lecturers in English Department of Universitas Pamulang. Out of 70 lecturers of the population, 33 lecturers were chosen as the samples based on the random sampling. The data in this study were obtained through questionnaires (open-ended questionnaire). This study revealed that tag switching is a type of code switching which is mostly used by the English lecturers. Then Intra sentential is the second type which is used by the lecturers and the last is inter sentential. Lecturers identified a number of reasons of using code switching in classrooms: teaching new students, making students to understand the material conveyed, avoid the miss understanding toward the material, no appropriate word, creating effective communication and other problems


We investigated eight cases of the knee contracture, which were treated by Judet's method or its modification. They were classified into following three groups.group A: Femoral shaft fractures which were treated by Judet's method.group B: Fibrous contracture of the knee joint after infection, in which arthroplasty was combined with Judet's method.group C: Old knee joint fracture, in which detachment of adhesion of the knee joint and Judet's after-treatment were carried out.Results:All cases of the group A and the cases of patellar fracture belonging to the group C were good, but the cases of ankylosis of tibiofemoral joint were not so good.


OBJECTIVE To study the patterns of the resistance to erythromycin mediated by ermB and mefE in Streptococcus pneumoniae isolates in children.METHODS Totally 1012 sputums obtained from upper and lower respiratory tract of children were collected.Clindamycin disks were used to detect macrolide resistance mediated by ermB and mefE in S.pneumoniae isolates from children.RESULTS 252 nonduplicate clinical isolates of S.pneumoniae obtained.the ermB gene(63.6%) was predominant among isolates from children,while mefE was 36.4%.CONCLUSIONS Isolates containing ermB gene are highly resistant to clindamycin.The resistance mediated by ermB is higher than that by mefE.


The concept of `Self' has been the focus of much recent work in theoretical psychology. Difficulties have been at least partly due to the polysemous character of the concept itself. In this paper an attempt is made to clear the ground for more sharply focused psychological studies of personhood by distinguishing Self-1, roughly the philosophers' concept of personal identity, from Self-2, the Self that Goffman referred to in his studies of Self-presentation. The argument turns on the assumption that both concepts of Self are indispensable both for understanding person-hood and for living as persons. Problems and misunderstandings stem from the use of inappropriate grammatical models for understanding person talk. Setting up more adequate models allows one to propose a social constructionist account of both presented Selves and of the sense of subjective singularity.


This research estimates the efficiency of domestic wastewater treatment in the removal of organic pollutants and nitrogen compounds with a two-stage treatment sequence (an activated sludge reactor in the first stage, and a trickling filter in the second stage), and with the application of floating carriers in the activated sludge reactor. The materials "Polyvom", "Polystyrene" and "Bioballs" were adopted as floating carriers with previously determined filling ratios in the reactor volume of 10%, 20% and 20%, respectively. After the first stage of the study, it was found that the most effective treatment was achieved using the "Polyvom" material. Therefore, only this floating carrier was considered in the second and third stages of the study. Within the stages of the research, lab-scale benches operated under different operation modes of the treatment sequence. At the end of the study, it was possible to achieve the following levels of purification: BOD5 (2.1 mg/L), NH4 (0.4 mg/L), NO2 (1.0 mg/L), and NO3 (25 mg/L). The mean values of the concentrations of BOD, NH4, and NO3 met the requirements, but the concentration of NO2 exceeded the requirements (1.0 mg/L vs. 0.08 mg/L). These results were achieved under a hydraulic retention time in the activated sludge reactor of 8 h, and the MLSS for the free-floating and immobilized activated sludge was 0.2 and 0.9 g/L, respectively.


Due to the end effect and the slot effect,there is a thrust ripple problem when the permanent magnet linear synchronous motor is moving.Based on the finite element analysis and Fourier series nonlinear regress analysis,this paper setups a detent force function of the mover position.And the detent force is compensated by injecting the instantaneous current using the field oriented control(FOC) method.The result show that after the compensated current is injected,the thrust and the velocity keep steady at the given value.


Objective of the article. The objective of our study is to assess the potential of media partnership in the Ukrainian media sector, the extent to which those practices can assist individual newsrooms in addressing their strategic objectives and development plans, as well as what benefits, including social impact, the partnerships may bring.

Research methodology. The presented results are part of a larger-scale study of media partnership practices. Interviews of 116 media representatives and 12 in-depth semi-structured interviews with members of the profession whose media already had experience of co-projects, made it possible identify the areas where most of cooperation takes place. The study also enables better understanding of what newsrooms expect from the collaboration, what motivates them to collaborate, and what risks prevail when they decide on future partnership.

Results of the study showed that the key motivations for media cooperation is their desire to expand the audience coverage. At the same time, risks associated with competition and lack of understanding of parity cooperation mechanisms, are still constraining factors for these practices.

Novelty. The study contributes to rethinking approaches to journalistic cooperation of digital media.

Practical value lies in the need to update both professional and scientific discourses on the effective implementation of media partnership practices. Understanding the issues faced by newsrooms when organizing collaborations can give new impetus for wider application of these practices.

Key words: media, models of of media collaboration, media partnership, network collaboration, collaborative models in journalism.


This document contains four updates to the Protection State
Coordination (PSC) logic defined in RFC6378, "MPLS Transport Profile
(MPLS-TP) Linear Protection" . Two of the updates correct existing
behavior. The third clears up a behavior which was not explained in
the RFC, and the fourth adds rules around handling capabilities
mismatches.


US subprime mortgage crisis spreads around the whole world through many routes of financial contagion,so considering the characteristics of the US subprime mortgage crisis,we choose macro and market data from 32 economies in 21 quarters before and after this crisis to analyze the index of market linkages(i.e.,Copula contagious index) by spatial panel data model.The result finds that the main contagious tunnel of US subprime mortgage crisis is financial tunnel,and international trade tunnel is less important.Besides,risk of liquidity and credit worsen the financial contagion,while competitive currency devaluation is not significant in the crisis.In addition,our analysis shows that the contagion among regional economies is much more significant than that through geography relations.


OBJECTIVE To investigate the pharmacokinetics of fluoxetine and its active metabolite norfluoxetine in healthy Han Chinese volunteers.METHODS A single oral dose of 20 mg fluoxetine hydrochloride dispersible tablets were given to 24 male healthy volunteers.The concentrations of fluoxetine and norfluoxetine in plasma were measured using a validated liquid chromatography with the tandem mass spectrometer detection(LC-MS/MS) method.The pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated with DAS ver2.0 program.RESULTS The concentration-time curves of fluoxetine and norfluoxetine were fitted to a one-compartment open model.Except for one poor metabolizer,the main pharmacokinetic parameters were as follows: t1/2were(30.8±7.6) and(130.9±42.0)h;tmax were(5.5±2.1) and(58.5±31.7)h;Cmaxwere(11.8±3.5) and(14.2±5.0)ng·mL-1;AUC0-twere(487.4±190.2) and(3370.9±1175.8)ng·h·mL-1;AUC0-∞were(506.5±208.8) and(3537.8±1424.1)ng·h·mL-1,respectively.CONCLUSION Fluoxetine hydrochloride dispersible tablet is absorbed rapidly and eliminated slowly.Norfluoxetine is eliminated much more slowly than its parent drug.One poor metabolizer is found in these healthy volunteers.


Oncologists today now have a much greater understanding of the mutational landscape underlying some tumors. However, in many respects it is still a daunting task—one that may require more effective interpretation tools.


SINCE Reginald Fitz,1 in 1886, recognized and described the syndrome of acute appendicitis, many entities have been considered in its differential diagnosis. On exploration of a patient with the pr...


An improved PSO algorithm is proposed and applied to the optimal operation of cascade reservoirs.To increase the searching efficiency,the improved PSO introduces a crossover operator and a mutation operator,both similar to those of generic algorithm.The crossover operator makes the particles arithmetically crossover their positions in solution space and the mutation operator changes one velocity component of the particles into zero,both in a random manner at a certain probability.To accelerate convergence,the initial particle swarm is generated by a stochastic method under certain conditions,and a penalty function is used to implement the boundary conditions and inequality constraints.A study case of cascade reservoirs shows faster convergence and satisfactory optimal operation results of the improved PSO in comparison with the traditional dynamic programming algorithm or the traditional PSO.


The invention relates to an actuated-stroke actuator having at least one additional pyrotechnic charge in order to adapt the anti-return resistance according to a desired development. According to the invention, at least one additional pyrotechnic charge (21a-21c) is placed in a recess communicating with the expansion chamber (24) of the actuator (11).


Three experiments were tested with monoculture and polyculture of Macrobrachium rosenbergii post-larvae and fingerlinsg of Pterophyllum scalare and Carassius auratus in Aquaculture Laboratory (UFPE) from June 1st, 1998 to January 19th, 1999. Macrobrachium rosenbergii density was the same in experiments, twenty post-larvae per aquarium (volume = 50 liters, area = 0.125 m2), while angelfish and goldfish densities were different in each experiment. In experiment I the angelfish densities were: two, four, six and eight angelfish with twenty prawns and one goldfish in treatments A, B, C and D, respectively. In experiment II densities of goldfish were: one, two, three and four goldfish with twenty prawns and eight angelfish in treatments A, B, C and D, respectively. Six treatments were done in experiment III: A- twenty prawn, B- one goldfish, C- eight angelfish, D- twenty prawns and one goldfish, E- twenty prawns and eight angelfish and F- one goldfish and eight angelfish. The experimental design was entirely randomized with four replications for each treatment in all experiments. The fingerlings and post-larvae prawns were weighed and measured every fifteen days and at the end of the experiments their final survival was recorded. The experiment I and II did not show significant difference between treatments, but final survival and length showed significant difference between treatments with angelfish, but not between treatments with goldfish. The results showed the possibility of polyculture of ornamental fish goldfish and angelfish with the prawn M. rosenbergii, in densities of twenty post-larvae of M. rosenbergii, eight P. scalare and one C. auratus


Swinburne and Divine Temporality. In the tradition of philosophy and theology God's eternityhas been interpreted in two ways. According to the first view, God's eternity means that He is outsideof time or timeless. As for the rival view, God is not a timeless being but he has an existence whichpersists through an infinite time. In this paper, I examine Swinburne's views, who is a prominentdefender of the second thesis, on God and time. He argues that a timeless God can not interact witha temporal world and creatures. Time has no beginning or end, and God must be in every period oftime. But it seems that there are some problems arising from his interpretation of Divine eternity.Firstly, if time has no beginnig and God is temporal, it is very difficult to say that God is the Creatorof time. Secondly, God, as a temporal being, can not know everything in the world but only knowswhat is happening "now". Lastly, and more importantly, in his thesis, there is no essential differencebetween God's nature and of the temporal creatures with respect to being limited by time


This study is an empirical investigation into the impact of leverage deviations from the target on growth of companies listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE). It is posited that leverage variance impedes the growth of firms. The role of leverage deviations from the target on firms' growth is analyzed by applying dynamic panel methodology of firms' level annual accounting data. The results indicate that size of the firm, profitability, collateral values of assets, non-debt tax shield, firm-specific interest rate and spontaneous finance are significant determinants of the target leverage. It is found that firms, seldom have actual leverage equal to the target leverage, and more often the actual leverage deviate from the target level. This deviation, adversely affects the growth of firms. The empirical results indicate that upward deviation and downward deviation affect the company's growth, differently. It is concluded that over-levered firms' growth is more sensitive to leverage variance as compared to the under-levered firms.


Objective To investigate CXCR4 expresstion of bone mesenchymal stroma cells,and the effects of SDF-1/CXCR4 in promoting migration of bone mesenchymal stroma cell and to analyze the mechanism of migration of bone mesenchymal stroma cells, which aims to find more effective ways of improving migration ability.Methods Bone mesenchymal stroma cells of rats were cultured in vitro.Receptor of CXCR4 was detected by immunohistochemistry.Migration of marrow stroma cells were investigated by empirical method of transwell.Results The receptor of CXCR4 on bone mesenchymal stroma cells was less than 5%,and SDF-1 could promote migration of bone mesenchymal stroma cells.Conclusions Although there is a little the receptor of CXCR4 on bone mesenchymal stroma cells,which plays an important role in promoting migration of bone mesenchymal stroma cells.


A program of sanitary education directed to the parents of the students of the Elementary School "El Rosal" in Pinto community was conducted. The results obtained from the application of a diagnostic survey showed that 96,5 % of the parents had no knowledge of the "zoonosis" concept and 100% did not know the meaning of the concept at all. On the other hand 21% of the requested parents before the intervention recognized a prevention measure, and 10,5% of them recognized some kind of the transmission forms of zootonic diseases. After the intervention, the number of parents who recognized the word *zoonosis" increased to 45,61%, and up to 19,29% knew the correct meaning of the word. Proper veterinary control and education programs must have priority in the medical centers and sanitary system of the Region. This intervention was successful in improving the knowledge about dogs and cats- transmitting diseases, mechanisms of transmissions and their prevention and about the use of vaccines.


The article defines the spiritual harm in both broad and narrow sense and examines its scope and compensationfrom two angles: civil rights and interest damages.


Discussion of social processes, to be fruitful, must rest on some hypothesis as to the nature and purpose of society. It is here assumed that society is a life-form in course of evolution, that its processes are to be measured like those of other lifeforms, as they affect the three main issues of existence-being, reproduction, improvement. In so far as social processes are genetic they interest us as students and critics; in so far as they are telic they form the most practical and important subjects of study. The family has its origin in the genetic process of reproduction; but is modified continually by telic forces. In its present form it is an institution of confused values, based on vital necessity, but heavily encumbered with rudiments of earlier stages of development, some beneficent, some useless, some utterly mischievous; and showing also the thriving growth of new and admirable features. We must consider it first on its biological basis, as a sexrelated group for the purpose of rearing young; and the effect of conditions upon it should be measured primarily by this purpose. Next we find in the existing family clear traces of that early long-dominant social unit, the woman-centered group of the matriarchate. Our universal and deep-seated reverence for the mother-governed home, with its peace, comfort, order, and goodwill, has survived many thousand years of patriarchal government, and refuses to be changed even by innumerable instances of discomfort, discord, waste, and unhappiness. Stuperimposed upon this first social group comes the establishment of the patriarchate, the family with the male head, based upon the assumption by the male of sole efficiency as trans-


Abstract Octanol‐water partitioning coefficients (KOW) were determined for 61 organophosphorus and carbamate insecticides and related compounds at 20°C. In some instances, variations in reported KOW values (including present data) were as great as 180‐fold. Despite considerable care in determining KOW values, there remained a number of compounds whose KOW ‐solubility data points fell some distance off the log KOW /log S regression line, examples being fenamiphos and azinphos‐methyl. Such deviations may be ascribed to several factors including incorrect estimates of the Heats of Fusion values used in the melting point corrections, and the apparent erratic behaviour of the activity coefficients in water‐saturated octanol with respect to the activity coefficients in octanol‐saturated water. The regression for log KOW vs log S (corrected for melting points) for 58 compounds was:


Diamond is fairly recognized as a material of 21 century due to unchallenged combination of physical parameters, chemical and radiation resistance, biological inertness and so on. Unprecedented development of CVD – technology has increased essentially an interest to the material, especially in view of promising potentials of diamond application in microelectronics, optoelectronics, sensors, optics and laser physics . The problems of optical diagnostics and physical interpretation of thermal and electronic parameters of CVD-diamond as being a parameters of significance from point of view of practical application are solved in this project. Two teams of scientists from the Institute of Applied Research (Vilnius) and Institute of Physics, Academy of Sciences (Minsk) are involved in the project. New effective methods of measurement and special scientific equipment based on up-todate lasers and detectors of optical signals have been developed. The measuring techniques are of contactless nature, provide high temporal resolution and are currently realized in system OPTOPICOTEST (Minsk) and module HOLO-3 (Vilnius) . The current project is a consequence and further evaluation of early implemented joint investigations in the same field via two-sided scientific and technical cooperation in 20022005, as well as through the grant CBP.EAP.EV 982483 (2007 г.) in the framework of NATO program of scientific and technical cooperation. Investigations currently conducted are aimed to clarify physical factors that affect the free charge carrier (FCC) dynamics as well as the processes of heat transfer in CVD (polycrystals) and HPHT (synthetic monocrystals) diamonds of different structure and impurities content.. Two-photon absorption in diamond at 351 nm is proposed for FCC excitation. It enabled to carry out the volumetric excitation of samples and to measure the recombination time and diffusion coefficient within wide intervals of FCC density (10 310 cm) and sample temperature (80-800К).


Preface Acknowledgments 1. Introduction Part I. Useful Concepts: 2. Opportunity cost 3. Marginalism 4. Economic incentives Part II. Government and Markets, Efficiency and Equity: 5. Government and the economy 6. Economists and equity 7. Externalities and the government agenda 8. Benefit - cost analysis Part III. The Limits of Economics: 9. The economist's consumer and individual well-being 10. A second look at externalities 11. Representatives, deliberation, and political leadership 12. Conclusion Notes name index Subject index.


A heat exchanger for a motor vehicle is provided, including top and bottom headers and a core extending therebetween. The top header includes a distributor plate extending along the longitudinal axis thereof to separate the top header into first and second chambers. The distributor plate includes at least one opening to permit effective distribution of the liquid between the respective chambers. One type of effective distribution causes the liquid to be generally equally distributed among each of the plurality of flow tubes.


The utility model provides an automatic spraying and maintaining system for a prestress concrete box girder, and solves the problem that the conventional box girder subjected to manual watering and maintenance cannot meet the requirement on scaled production. The automatic spraying and maintaining system comprises a maintained prestress concrete box girder (1), a main water pipeline (4) and branch water pipelines (3), wherein the branch water pipelines (3) with spraying heads (2) are arranged on two sides of the maintained prestress concrete box girder (1); the other end of the main water pipeline (4) is communicated with a water outlet of a pressure storage water tank (6) through a spraying electromagnetic valve (5); a water inlet of the pressure storage water tank (6) is communicated with a water outlet of a pressure water pump (9); a water inlet of the pressure water pump (9) is communicated with an impounding reservoir (11) through a water outlet pipe (10); a water pump working control relay (8) is arranged on the pressure water pump (9); and a pressure sensor (7) is arranged on the pressure storage water tank (6) and electrically connected with the water pump working control relay (8). According to the automatic spraying and maintaining system, full-automatic control is realized.


Social media is taking up increasingly more space in the government's media toolbox. In Romania, both local and central public organizations are getting savvier in communicating through these channels, intuitively thought of as the playground of teens and startups. By analyzing the social media pages of some of the more active (on social media) Romanian public institutions, and by interviewing the people in charge with the their online communication, we tried to find the amount importance these new forms of communication are given by the public sector - usually seen as more cumbersome and slower to adapt to changing media landscapes. One other goal was to find out how formalized the role of 'online media communicator' is in the Romanian public administration.


PurposeGood abandonment behavior refers to users obtaining direct answers via search engine results pages (SERPs) without clicking any search result, which occurs commonly in mobile search. This study aims to better understand users' good abandonment behavior and perception, and then construct a good abandonment prediction model for mobile search with improved performance.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, an in situ user mobile search experiment (N = 43) and a crowdsourcing survey (N = 1,379) were conducted. Good abandonment behavior was analyzed from a quantitative perspective, exploring users' search behavior characteristics from four aspects: session and query, SERPs, gestures and eye-tracking data.FindingsUsers show less engagement with SERPs in good abandonment, spending less time and using fewer gestures, and they pay more visual attention to answer-like results. It was also found that good abandonment behavior is often related to users' perceived difficulty of the searching tasks and trustworthiness in the search engine. A good abandonment prediction model in mobile search was constructed with a high accuracy (97.14%).Originality/valueThis study is the first to explore eye-tracking characteristics of users' good abandonment behavior in mobile search, and to explore users' perception of their good abandonment behavior. Visual attention features are introduced into good abandonment prediction in mobile search for the first time and proved to be important predictors in the proposed model.


In response to requests from accounting firms and companies that hire graduates of the Culverhouse School of Accountancy (CSA) at the University of Alabama (UA), the CSA was awarded a permanent increase in funding to enhance its Accounting Information Systems (AIS) course offerings. As a result of this, two new faculty were hired to teach AIS courses and a Collaborative Learning Lab (CLL) was constructed in the College of Commerce and Business Administration (CBA) computer center. Prior to this change, the AIS curriculum consisted of one undergraduate course and one graduate course in AIS. Two new courses were added to the curriculum, one each at the graduate and undergraduate levels. This past year I was responsible for the senior level AIS course, Accounting 489 (AC 489). Since there was no pre-specified list of topics to be covered in this course, I decided to use the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) top-ten technology issues list as a basis for the content of the course. This paper briefly describes the AIS curriculum at UA and then discusses challenges faced when defining AC 489, the structure of AC 489, and an evaluation of the course based on my experiences this past year.


Objective:To evaluate the prevalence of hypertension by different criteria in a young adult population assisted by a Family Health Program unit in Rio de Janeiro – LapARC cohort study.Design and method:This is a cross-sectional population-based study enrolling young adults aged 20–50 years, previous


Culture appearances is not only an important embodiment and actual content but also a main push power of Chinese Marxism;The integrated culture elements in the process of Chinese Marxism constitute the cultural motive mechanism of Chinese Marxism,whose spiritual essence is to stir up the creation vitality of Chinese traditional culture,and to push the big prospering and big development of socialism culture.


Abstract The ability to substitute expensive and scarce noble metals with cheap and readily accessible nanomaterials represents an important endeavor toward water electrolysis to produce hydrogen, an alternative green fuel....


The 3-(2-halo-1-propenyl)-2,2-dimethylcyclopropanecarboxylates were synthesized. They have four diastereoisomers: E/Z and cis/trans configurations with respect to the 2-halo-l-propenyl side chain and to the cyclopropane ring, respectively. The 3-(2-Chloro-l-propenyl)-2,2-dimethyl-cyclopropane carboxylates were prepared via ethyl 3,3-dimethyl-4,6,6-trichloroheptanoate (2) as a key intermediate and the 2-bromo-l-propenyl derivatives were obtained by the Wittig reaction. The stereochemistry of each of the four diastereoisomers was examined by 1H NMR spectroscopy.


PURPOSE
To provide the wound care practitioner with an updated overview of the epidemiology, clinical presentation, treatment, and prevention of skin cancer.

TARGET AUDIENCE
This continuing education activity is intended for physicians and nurses with an interest in skin and wound care.

OBJECTIVES
After participating in this educational activity, the participant should be better able to: 1. Describe the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and clinical presentation of skin cancer. 2. Discuss the diagnosis, management, and prevention of skin cancer.


A study of psychosocial factors associated with narcotics overdose was carried out through interviews of 50 addicts who were participants in the Narcotics Treatment Administrations' (NTA) Program at the D.C. General Hospital in Washington, D.C.


Internet and cellular technologies are merging to decreases and transport costs and enable IP ―based applications to be a huge number. Real-time voice services will continue to be dominant in future cellular system and to reduce system costs it is desirable to base all services, including voice on IP. Voice services in cellular systems should be able to use damaged speech data. This can be done by using the proposed FAHCP (Full Adaptive Header Compression Protocol) which provides more checksumming flexibility that deliver the partially damaged speech data to the application. Protocol overhead for IP―based voice services can be reduced by compressing headers, e.g. with the Compressed Real-Time Protocol (CRTP) but it is not robust in the face of errors of cellular link.. FAHCP is suitable for cellular systems, delivers more packets to the user with a suitable compression ratio. The scheme presented in this paper, overcomes the faults associated with previous header compression techniques based on the confidelity between compressor and decompressor and which is validated by our experimental measurement.


GIS is getting more attention in the application of electric power system. This article mainly focuses on the electric GIS system based on the practical need in the electric system. This electric GIS system is composed of three subsidiary systems, among which PDA may transfer data collected by the inspectors to GIS general management and control system through GPRS, design the Geodatabase and system functional modules which accessed by multiple users simultaneously with C/S model, to achieve the automation in the information sharing and collaborative work.


Calligraphy is a part of Islamic art related to writing. Because it is known as Islamic art, it is important to regenerate calligraphy to the Islamic generation. Calligraphy is usually subject that must be studied by students in Islamic education. However, the calligraphy learning system in each Islamic educational institution must be different. The purpose of this research is to find out the calligraphy learning system at Ar-Raudlatul Hasanah Islamic Boarding School in Medan, North Sumatra. This research is qualitative research with a field research approach and literature study. The data collection and analysis used interview techniques, where the researcher conducted interviews related to the discussion to several sources. The results showed that calligraphy learning at Ar-Raudlatul Hasanah Islamic Boarding School uses a system with the Ustadz or Ustadzah wrote examples of letters or sentences on the whiteboard, explained how to write and the rules. After that, the students practiced it directly in khat book provided by the pesantren.


The year 2003 was witness to a friendly collision between the fields of cancer and reproduction when a little known G protein-coupled receptor (GPR54) was pushed into the limelight. GPR54 was first cloned from rat brain in 1999 (1), but was an orphan receptor until 2001, when several groups discovered a high affinity ligand (2–4). This ligand, metastin, is derived from the proteolytic processing of a parent protein called kisspeptin-1 (metastin 1–54 kisspeptin-1 68–121). Metastin's name was so coined because of its role as a metastasis suppressor (5, 6). However, until 2003, there were few direct clues that the metastin/GPR54 pathway played a pivotal role in the reproductive cascade. Meanwhile, on a backdrop of several decades of neurobiological research into the mechanisms of the onset of puberty, investigators in the 1990s began using genetic approaches to find novel neuromodulators of GnRH secretion using patients with idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism, a condition characterized by an absence of sexual development and low gonadotropin and sex steroid levels. Although these investigations uncovered genes whose protein products are involved in GnRH neuronal migration (KAL1, FGFR1) (7–9), gonadotrope sensitivity to GnRH (GNRHR, NROB1) (10, 11), and integrative signaling regarding peripheral energy stores (LEP, LEPR) (12–14), searches continued to find genes more directly involved in the triggering or inhibition of GnRH secretion. In 2003, two groups independently discovered loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding the G protein-coupled receptor GPR54 in patients with idiopathic hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (15, 16). Targeted deletion of Gpr54 in mice was also found to give rise to a phenocopy syndrome of delayed sexual development and hypogonadotropism (16). Suddenly, this receptor, and its ligand metastin, were pulled from their previous niches in cancer biology and thrust directly into longstanding questions within reproductive biology. With the human genetic discoveries surrounding GPR54 creating unique opportunities for both basic investigators and animal physiologists, studies were published with lightening speed that further raised the possibility for compelling roles for metastin and GPR54 in reproduction. Expression levels of KISS1 mRNA were found to rise significantly across the pubertal transition in female and agonadal male monkeys (17). In vivo, the administration of metastin raises LH in adult male mice (18), adult male rats (19–22), immature female rats (23), juvenile agonadal male monkeys (17), and mature, ovariectomized, estradiol-treated sheep (24). The effects of metastin on LH secretion can be observed with every method of administration including intracerebroventricular, iv, ip, and sc. Moreover, metastin appears to play an important role in normal pubertal development. Chronic central administration of metastin to sexually immature female rats induces early vaginal opening (23). In rat models of leptin insufficiency, metastin can also induce LH secretion (23). Although the secretion of GnRH from the GnRH neuron has classically been considered the initiating event in the reproductive cascade, several lines of evidence suggest that metastin acts at a higher rung of the reproductive ladder, with its effects on LH secretion mediated through stimulation of GnRH release. In both rodents and monkeys, the effects of metastin on LH can be abrogated by a GnRH antagonist, demonstrating that metastin is acting through GnRH and its receptor to stimulate LH release (17, 18). Metastin induces c-fos immunoreactivity in GnRH neurons in rat hypothalamus (22) and stimulates the release of GnRH from hypothalamic explants (21). In this issue of JCEM, we find by Dhillo et al. (25) the next important milestone in understanding the role of metastin in human reproductive physiology—metastin administration to normal healthy male volunteers. Because multiple representations of the same fragment are used in the literature, it is important to clarify that the authors use the term kisspeptin-54 to signify full-length metastin or metastin 1–54, which is equivalent to amino acids 68–121 of the parent compound, kisspeptin (kisspeptin 68–121). Similarly, the term kisspeptin-10 is used to signify the C-terminal fragment of metastin (metastin 45–54, which is equivalent to kisspeptin 112–121). Rather than using a single bolus approach, Dhillo et al. used 90-min infusions of full-length metastin in a dose-finding study (doses ranging from 0.125 to 40 pmol/kg min). Because the dose of 4 pmol/kg min (which yielded immunoreactive metastin levels of 300 pmol/liter) resulted in nearmaximal LH release, the authors then used that dose as a starting point for a second set of infusions designed to map the time course of the kisspeptin response. Dose-dependent increases in mean LH were observed using infusion rates ranging from 0.25 to 12 pg/kg min. FSH also rose and testosterone trended in the same direction. At an infusion of 4 pmol/kg min, mean LH, FSH, and testosterone levels were significantly increased at the 90-min time point compared with saline infusion (LH, 10.8 U/liter during peptide administration compared with 4.2 U/liter during saline; FSH, 3.9 vs. 3.2 U/liter; testosterone, 24.9 vs. 21.7 nmol/liter). These results echo the findings seen in rodents in which metastin administration has a more potent effect on LH than FSH release (21, 26). Inhibin B levels did not change, not a surprising finding given the short duration of the infusion. Overall, the work of Dhillo et al. (25) demonstrates JCEM is published monthly by The Endocrine Society (http://www. endo-society.org), the foremost professional society serving the endocrine community. 0021-972X/05/$15.00/0 The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 90(12):6738–6740 Printed in U.S.A. Copyright © 2005 by The Endocrine Society doi: 10.1210/jc.2005-2246


Electrostatic discharge(ESD) phenomenon is a serious reliability concern. It causes approximately most of all field failures of IC. To quality the ESD immunity of IC product, there are some test methods and standards developed. ESD events have been classified into 3 models, which are HBM, MM and CDM. All the test methods are designed to evaluate the ESD immunity of IC products. This study provides an overview among ESD test methods on ICs and an efficient ESD stress method. We have estimated on all pin combination about the positive and negative ESD stress. We make out the weakest stress mode. This mode called a worst-case mode. We proposed that positive supply voltage pin and I/O pin combination is efficient because it is a worst-case mode.


Abstract Styrene-butadiene-styrene (SBS) modified asphalt used in road engineering is a complicated mixture of various compositions. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the influence of different raw materials and their content on the moisture stability of SBS copolymer modified asphalt mixture. A total of 18 different combinations of base asphalt, SBS, furfural extract oil (FEO), and stabilizer were considered to prepare different SBS modified asphalt samples, and the contact angle test was carried out to determine the work of adhesion and the work of debonding of SBS modified asphalt with aggregate. Moreover, a multi-factor Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) was conducted to investigate the statistical effects of the material composition factors. The results show that the bond strength between SBS modified asphalt and aggregate is significantly affected by the source of base asphalt, but it is insensitive to the change of SBS type under dry and wet conditions. Besides, the moisture damage resistance of SBS modified asphalt improves firstly and then reduces with the rising storage of SBS, FEO, and stabilizer. Furthermore, linear regression analysis suggests that the work of adhesion under dry condition has excellent correlation with the work of debonding under wet condition.


INTRODUCTION A dvances in digital technology are allowing for convenient recording and dissemination of operative videos to a wider audience. Originally, many videos were focused on basic sciences and preclinical education, but the number of people recording clinical encounters as a tool for training, research, assessment, and revalidation is increasing. Surgical videos provide clear images taken from the operator's point of view, allowing vital intraoperative findings to be clearly illustrated and comprehensively explained. The ease at which these videos are being recorded has allowed many scientists and clinicians to share their work with colleagues, but has also given anyone with internet the opportunity to access surgical and procedural videos. As the use of these recordings grow within the health care system, it is vital to address the ethical concerns to ensure patient safety. This article discusses the ethical issues that intraoperative recording pose and provide recommendations to surgeons who already use these recording devices.


The paper represents physical and chemical indicators and indicators of the safety of canned meat for child nutrition. It is noted that food products for children must contain a strict amount of components that must meet safety requirements.