Objective: Department of Emergency Medicine was founded for the first time in the world in 1970 at Cincinnati University and in Turkey in 1993 at Do- kuz Eylul and Firat Universities. The emergency medicine specialists increased in number rapidly in Turkey by starting-up the training programs in the train- ing and research hospitals of the Health Ministry for the first time in 2006; and participation of the doctors' complete training program for the first time in 2011. We wanted the determine the preferability of the emergency medicine residency program and its completion rate. Material and Methods: The vacancies, preferability rate and completion rate of the residency programs of emergency medicine, family medicine, internal medicine, cardiology and neurosurgery were investigated with this study. The data was derived from the web sites of the Student Selection and Placement Center and the assignment lot lists of the Health Ministry. Results: From 2007 to 2012, 2586 of 2767 emergency medicine vacancies were set. The minimum base -point was 53.03 and the maximum was 55.46 in the examination for specialty training in medicine (TUS). The preferability of emergency medicine was lower than internal medicine and cardiology but similar to neurosurgery and family medicine. The completion of the residency in emergency medicine was 66.1%. Conclusion: In spite of the increase in the number of emergency medicine specialists with the participation of the training and research hospitals, the completion rate of the residency programs were lower than other depart- ments. The completion rates could be increased by improving the job condi- tions of the emergency physicians. (JAEM 2013; 12: 180-4)


Wild weather sweeping in from the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico is bringing flooding rains, high winds, and dangerous storm surges to Hawaii and Texas.


For a plane electromagnetic wave at nose-on incidence on a semi-infinite perfectly conducting cone expressions for the surface field components are obtained. These have been programmed for numerical computation and data are presented for the magnitudes and phases as functions of the distance from the tip for three different cone angles. Comparison with results derived from the physical optics approximation and from a simple wedge approximation shows that the differences between the exact and physical optics values are not attributable to a tip-excited wave.


ABSTRACT As the demands of environment protection increases, the pulp mold container is developed to substitute for EPS (expanded polystyrene) as a shock absorbin g packaging material. The water-absorbing ratio and mechanical properties such as tensile strength and co mpressive strength of pulp mold are important fac-tors to evaluate its shock absorbing characteristics. Influences of mixing ratios of ONP (old newspaper) and OCC (old corrugated container) on physical properti es of pulp mold were inve stigated at various con-ditions of temperature and relative humidity. The optimum mixing ratio of ONP and OCC was also searched based on physical properties. The results showed that when relative humidity was increased from 60% to 90%, the water absorption ratio of pulp mold increased significantly, tensile strength de-creased 20~30%, and compressive strength decreased 10~20%. In addition, the optimum mixing ratio of ONP and OCC was found to be 50%:50%. Keywords : pulp mold, packaging, cushion, mixing ratio, tensile strength


Objective: To analyze the formulae data of WANG Shou-chuan's prescriptions on anorexia based on complex network method. Methods: 208 pieces of herb formulae prescriptions were selected to build the database and then the association rules and complex method were used to analyze the data. Results: Core herbal medicines of WANG Shou-chuan' prescriptions on anorexia were Massa Medicata Fermentata, Crataegi Fructus, Atractylodis Rhizoma, Galli Gigerii Endothelium Corneum, Hordei Fructus Germinatus, Setariae Fructus Germinatus, Atractyloids Macrocephalae Rhizoma, Poria, Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium, Eupatorii Herba, Raphani Semen and the treatment principles were activating the spleen. Conclusion: Complex network is an effective method to analyze the compatibility of herbal medicines and senior doctors' clinical experiences.


In this review of a manufactur e r 's experience during the last 50 years, the durability and stability of vibrating wire (acoustic) monitoring instruments are discussed and statistics on survival rates are presented. The causes of instrument failure are analyzed; the factors that affect and the mecnanisms of zero drift are discussed. The relationship between instrument failure and cable laying, manufacturing process, and cable connections is discussed. Analysis shows differenc;:es in zero drift between plain strain gauges and complex sensors. Mention is made of the influence of wire behavior and sensor structure. There is discussion of factors that affect wire and sensor structure aging. Special tests on aging are described. Various tests on long-term observation of a wire or a sensor are summarized. Examples are given of instruments still faithfully operating several dozen years after installation. Those examples involve dams in operation. Although reliability factors considered are limited to survival and time stability, some consideration is given to quality of sensor response and to other aspects, such as resonance, that affect reliability. on the basis of an analysis of data from two types of sensors, it is concluded that vibrating wire instruments offer an extremely high degree of stability, accuracy, and durability. The views of a manufacturer, whose only merit has been that of being a pioneer in the application of the vibrating wire instrument to civil engineering projects, are presented. The time span covered is thought to justify this review, which presents facts that may help the reader make up his own mind about the long-term reliability of vibrating wire instruments. This is not an exhaustive review, but simply a set of facts and figures that cover a long period of time in this relatively new industry. The review begins with a short historical summary of the manufacturer's practical background including a definition of what is meant by long-term reliability, which serves as a basis for comparing the examples cited. It was between 1928 and 1931 that Andre Coyne in France, independent of other attempts in Germany, conceived a method of measuring the strains in solids by measuring the change in the frequency of a vibrating piano wire stretched on a frame attached to, and deforming with, the monitored structure. This arrangement, among other advantages, lent itself to remote reading of the output signal. By 1932 the first 36 vibrating wire strain gauges had been installed in Bromme Dam in France; this dam was retired from service about 1950. Then Mareges Dam, the world's highest and first double curvature arch dam, was equipped in 1934 with 78 vibrating wire strain gauges, from which readings were taken until 1953


Objective To develop an RP-HPLC method for the determination of diazepam(DZ),clonazepam(CZ),estazolam(EZ),alprazolam(AZ) and triazolam(TZ) in human plasma and provide a scientific basis for clinical use of these compounds.Methods Kromasil C18 was used as the reversed column;column temperature was 40 ℃.The mobile phase was methanol-water=62∶38(v/v).The flow rate was 1.0 mL·min-1,ultraviolet was 234 nm,and 20 μL sample was injected for analysis after the plasma protein was precipitated by 10% perchloric acid.Results The linear relation of diazepam(DZ),clonazepam(CZ),estazolam(EZ),triazolam(TZ) and alprazolam(AZ) was at 0.100~5.00,0.100~5.00,0.096~4.800,0.100~5.025 and 0.094~4.700 μg·mL-1,respectively.The last detection limit of DZ,CZ,EZ,AZ and TZ was 25.0,25.0,32.0,31.3 and 25.0 ng·mL-1,respectively.Conclusion This paper provides a rapid,accurate and simply method for the assay of DZ,CZ,EZ,AZ and TZ in human plasma.


The housing supply and demand,the balancing level and the government actions are three main facters which affect the housing welfare of the floating labor force. Based on the analysis of housing supply and demand of Beijing's floating labor force,It is concluded that: the floating population solves the housing problem mainly by leasing;The supply and demand market is roughly balanced;the living standard is very simple;the principle factors for the housing selection are rent and the traffic condition . The information channels for housing demand and supply are very few;the housing supply by the government should be more and the housing rental market for the floating population should be further standardized,housing information management system should be set up.


Sodium‐ion batteries as a prospective alternative to lithium‐ion batteries are facing the challenge of developing high‐performance, low‐cost and sustainable anode materials. Hard carbons are appropriate to store sodium ions, but major energy and environmental concerns during their fabrication process (i.e., high‐temperature carbonization) have not been properly assessed. Furthermore, the rational design of high‐performing hard carbon anodes is usually limited by the conventional direct carbonization of organic precursors. Here, the hydrothermal carbonization process is employed as a versatile pre‐treatment method of renewable precursors, followed by high‐temperature carbonization, for producing advanced hard carbon anodes. The critical role of hydrothermal pre‐treatment in regulating the structure for an optimized performance of hard carbon anodes is elucidated, while revealing the sodium‐ion storage mechanism using electrochemical kinetic calculations, advanced characterization and multi‐scale modeling. Furthermore, the environmental impacts of hydrothermal pre‐treatment and subsequent carbonization are evaluated using life cycle assessment compared to direct carbonization. By comparing hard carbon anodes with and without the hydrothermal pre‐treatment, it is verified that the additional hydrothermal process is responsible for enhanced electrochemical performance, increased carbon yields and reduced carbon emissions. The work provides a systematic understanding of functions and energy consumptions of hydrothermal systems to achieve next‐generation sustainable sodium‐ion batteries.


Seasonal heat storage, which is used to balance the supply of and demand for heat, e.g. in district heating networks, is necessary for the large-scale utilization of solar heat. The aim of this the ...


Lexical,grammatical and pragmatic errors due to L1 interference are found to be caused by the triangular model in thinking using L1 as a medium in comprehensio n.Itis feasible and effective to build up a direct link between target language items and concepts byusing the schema theory from the cognitive psychology.


ABSTRACT Objectives: To compare nitric oxide (NO) serum levels in women with and without preeclampsia. Methods: 106 women were classified into preeclampsia group (n = 40) and normotensive group (n = 66). NO content was measured in the serum. Clinical and laboratorial data were recorded for comparison. Results: Preeclampsia presented a significant increase in nitrate and NOx levels compared to the control group. Uric acid, gestational age, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and creatinine showed correlation with nitrates and NOx. Conclusion: Increase of NO was observed in preeclampsia women. Failure in the mechanism of action, dependent on cyclic GMP, may justify this finding.


Abstract Background Plasma leptin is regulated by several factors, including growth hormone (GH), which influences the pathophysiology of obesity. Objective To demonstrate the short-term effect of GH on plasma leptin levels in 3 conditions in vivo with the different amount of body fat mass. Methods Adult male Wistar rats were fed with standard chow or hypercaloric diet (HC). The HC rats were demonstrated as HC-feeding obese (HC-O) and HC-feeding resistant (HC-R) rats. Then, they were treated with GH or saline for 3 days. Basal plasma leptin levels were measured at 24 and 32 h. For meal-induced condition, all rats were fed for 2 hand plasma leptin was measured. Further 16-h fasting period, plasma leptin, insulin, and insulin sensitivity indexes were determined. Results The short-term GH treatment decreased basal plasma leptin at 32 h after the first GH injection in HC-O rats. However, GH treatment had no effect on meal-induced plasma leptin in all rats. Furthermore, GH treatment attenuated fasting effect on plasma leptin in control and HC-R rats. The insulin resistance (IR) induced by the short-term GH treatment was demonstrated by higher fasting plasma insulin and the increased homeostasis model of IR in HC-R rats. Conclusions The study demonstrates the important role of greater fat mass in HC-O rats, which results in decreased basal plasma leptin after short-term GH treatment. For meal-induced condition, GH had no effect on plasma leptin in all rats. Interestingly, GH could attenuate fasting effect on plasma leptin in rats that have lower fat mass.


The serum‐ and glucocorticoid‐inducible kinase 1 (SGK1) is expressed in megakaryocytes and circulating platelets. In megakaryocytes, SGK1 activates transcription factor nuclear factor kappa‐B (NF‐κB), which in turn stimulates expression of Orai1, a Ca2+ channel protein accomplishing store‐operated Ca2+ enrty (SOCE). SGK1 enhances SOCE and several Ca2+‐sensitive platelet functions, including degranulation, integrin αIIbβ3 activation, phosphatidylserine exposure, aggregation and thrombus formation. As shown in other cell types, stimulators of SGK1 expression include ischaemia, oxidative stress, hyperglycaemia, advanced glycation end products (AGEs) and a variety of hormones such as glucocorticoids, mineralocorticoids, transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ), interleukin 6 (IL‐6), platelet‐derived growth factor (PDGF), thrombin and endothelin. Thus, SGK1‐sensitive Ca2+ signalling may contribute to altered platelet function in several clinical conditions including inflammation, metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus and chronic renal failure. Nevertheless, further studies are needed defining the contribution of altered SGK1 expression and activity to physiology and pathophysiology of platelets.


Abstract : In order to correlate data obtained in tests on Von Karman radomes with theoretical analyses of thermal stresses in ogive radomes, the temperature and flow conditions around the nose of a blunt radome were investigated, and the results are reported. The blunt nose causes a detached shock wave to form with a transonic flow region developed between the wave front and the nose. Approximate solutions for the velocity components in the highly nonlinear behavior are obtained, and detachment distances compared with published experimental data. Subsonic and supersonic compressible flows are studied, and the incompressible case is shown for comparison. Two numerical examples are given to illustrate the evaluation of initially unknown exponents and the computation of constants in the velocity equations.


The present study was focused to evaluate the phytochemical screening and biochemical estimation of ethanolic and aqueous extracts of edible nuts of Arachis hypogea, Anacardium occidentale, Prunus dulcis and Juglans regia. The phytochemical screening showed the presence of carbohydrate, protein, phenol and tannin, flavonoid, glycoside, steroid, alkaloid in all the studied nuts. The quantification of A. hypogeae, A. occidentale, P. dulcis and J. regia were performed to determine the total amount of carbohydrate, protein and phenol. The highest amount of Carbohydrate was present in A. occidentale (244.7 ± 6.3 mg GLC/g), The Protein content was highly present in J. regia (455.14 ± 3.7 mg BSA/g) and the highest amount of Phenol was present in P. dulcis (355.78 ± 7.2 mg GAE/g).


The study was aimed at determining the prevalence and predictive factors associated with alcohol and other psychoactive substance use among medical students of the University of Ilorin. A self administered interview schedule consisting of WHO Students Drug Use Survey Questionnaire, and the General Health Questionnaire-12 were administered to a weighted proportionate sample of the respondents. The most currently used substances were mild stimulants (19.4%), alcohol (12.5%), hypnosedatives (3.4%), tobacco (1.7%), cannabis (1.7%), opioids (0.9%) and organic solvents (0.4%). Parents' alcohol use, respondents perceived harm of alcohol use, level of religiosity, peers' influence were found to have significant association with current alcohol use. There was no significant association between respondent's perceived harm of substance use and current use of tobacco, hypnosedatives, mild stimulants and cannabis. Eighty five percent of respondents had a GHQ score of 0-2 (negative) while 14.7% had a score of 3-12 (positive). There was no significant association between psychiatric morbidity on one hand and current or lifetime substance use on the other. We concluded that while the prevalence of current use of some psychoactive substances has reduced over the past 6 years, others have increased. It was suggested that planners of medical education should continue to lay emphasis on the risks of psychoactive substance use as part of the medical school curriculum. Other governmental and non-governmental bodies should also continue to plan and implement campaigns against substance use, not only among medical students, but the society in general.


Abstract. Analyzing measures of customers' satisfaction is an immense dilemma because customer is becoming more demanding regarding service quality in banking sector of Pakistan. It is important to understand the impact of service quality on customer satisfaction. Nowadays, the only demand of the customers is to get the good value for their money. Due to increasing market competitiveness no one can deny the significance of service quality. Therefore, it is challenging for the bankers to meet the customer expectation. By reviewing the study, banking sector can have direction to understand the major factors of service quality that influence customers' satisfaction. It also provides understanding that building long term and a strong customer relation is critical for the banking industry. This study provides insight of service quality impact on customer satisfaction in banking sector of Pakistan. This study is based on the core dimensions of service quality i.e. tangibility, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and reliability. To highlight the significance of service quality, customer satisfaction this study based on Karachi market,  four hundred branch banking customers district wise were chosen from the branches of four leading banks (HBL, SCBPL, MBL and NBP)  to represent four main sectors (Private, International, Islamic and Public) as respondents. A questionnaire instrument based modified SERVPERF scale was used to collect the data. The results of the study suggest customer satisfaction based on service quality dimensions such as tangibility, empathy and assurance having positive and significant relationship. But reliability and responsiveness was not useful estimator for customer satisfaction whereas assurance, responsiveness, tangibility and empathy depict significant impact and positive relationship with customer loyalty. However reliability once again not found as useful estimator of customer loyalty. Keywords. Customer satisfaction, Service quality, Perceived quality, Performance, Customer expectation. JEL. L84, L15, L25.


Previous research on polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) has overwhelmingly been conducted within a medical or psychiatric framework, and has failed to explore women's own experience of the syndrome. Interviews were conducted with 30 women with PCOS recruited through a national self-help organisation. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed pervasive reports of feeling †̃freakishâ€TM, †̃abnormalâ€TM, and not †̃properâ€TM women. These feelings were related to three symptoms commonly experienced by women with PCOS: †̃excessâ€TM hair growth; irregular, absent or disrupted periods; and infertility. Smooth hairless bodies and faces, regular menstruation and the capacity to bear children were associated with femininity, and as a result of their symptoms women expressed feeling †̃differentâ€TM from other women and less †̃feminineâ€TM. The results are discussed within a feminist framework and suggest that polycystic ovarian syndrome is a deeply stigmatising condition, †̃a theft of Purchase Export Previous article Next article Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution.


In order to know the strengthening mechanism of composite foundation with cast-in-situ concrete thin-wall pipe pile,static load tests were conducted in Yan-Tong Expressway.It was shown that the piles were of good quality and high bearing capacity.A 3D model was established for the composite foundation with cast-in-situ concrete thin-wall pipe piles.It was shown by the results of finite element analysis that the present model was reasonable.Based on the model,the effect of cushion stiffness,pile spacing,pile length and soil modulus on the bearing capacity was analyzed.It was indicated that cushion could well adjust pile-soil stress to make piles and soil work together.While the requirements for the bearing capacity of piles and soil could be well developed with large pile spacing,the bearing capacity and deformation should be met.The increasement of pile length could well exert bearing capacity of piles.The large soil modulus was beneficial to the development of shaft friction.


[17,18-3H2]Prostaglandin F2α was injected intravenously into female rabbits and the structures of six urinary metabolites were determined. The compounds were 5α, 7α,11-trihydroxytetranorprost-9-en-1,16-dioic acid, 5α, 7α,11-trihydroxytetranorprosta-1,11-dioic acid, 5α,7α-dihydroxy-11-oxotetranorprosta-1,16-dioic acid, 5α,7α,11-trihydroxytetranorprost-9-enoic acid, 5α,7α,11-trihydroxytetranorprostanoic acid and 5α,7α-dihydroxy-11-oxotetranorprostanoic acid. Two of these have not been found previously in any species.


In relation to financial markets sustainable growth is usually understood in a simplified and one-dimensional way as a share of financial market in the flow of investment resources from investors to projects that form part of broadly understood corporate social responsibility (CSR). Sustainable growth is usually described as an interconnection of three elements: economy, society, and environment. In such an approach the point of gravity clearly shifts towards the environmental dimension (natural resources) and the impact of economic growth upon the environment. However, if we assume that sustainable development per se goes beyond environmental and social aspects, we need to consider whether we could interpret the idea of ?sustainable growth of the financial market? in relation to how economic system operates. In the paper the approach in the context of changes that take place in international financial markets and their impact upon stability of relations in international economy is proposed. The interest focuses especially on one of these elements, i.e., changes in the volume and structure of international capital flows. Hence, the goal of the paper is to analyse selected international aspects of capital flows against the background of challenges to sustainable growth of the global economy.


Cancers develop as the result of uncontrolled proliferation, growth and metastasis of aberrantly differentiated cells. CycG2 is an unconventional cyclin homolog linked to inhibition of cellular proliferation and promotion of cell differentiation. Expression of the CycG2 gene, CCNG2, is repressed in variety of human cancers. Reduced CCNG2 transcript levels are found in more aggressive, poor-prognosis breast cancer (BC) subtypes, compared to normally differentiated breast tissues, and are elevated in tumor cells responding to cancer therapies. This thesis addresses the question of CycG2's contribution to the cell cycle inhibitory responses of tumor cells to chemotherapeutics and growth inhibitory drugs; namely, DNA damaging topoisomerase II poisons, estrogen signaling inhibitors, mTOR signaling inhibitors and drugs that induce endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS).
Evaluation of previous findings suggested that CycG2 could be a DNA damage response (DDR) protein that participates in DNA damage checkpoint regulation. This thesis further defines the involvement of CycG2 in the DDR signaling pathway. Ectopic expression of CycG2 promotes phosphorylation of the DDR checkpoint kinase Chk2 on an activational target site. Furthermore, induction of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) through treatment with the chemotherapeutic doxorubicin (Dox) induces CycG2 expression that correlates with the induced cell cycle arrest and the activation of DDR proteins. Transient and stable shRNA mediated knockdown (KD) of CycG2 attenuates the G2/M checkpoint arrest response of multiple cell lines caused by the Dox-induced DNA damage. Furthermore, KD of CycG2 blunts the DDR-triggered reduction in Cdc25B levels, inhibitory-phosphorylation of Cdc2 and accumulation of CycB1, which are important processes for a potent G2/M checkpoint arrest. Thus, CycG2 may participate in the enforcement and maintenance of G2/M checkpoints by limiting the Cdc25B-mediated promotion of CycB1/Cdc2 activity.
The role CycG2 plays in the anti-proliferative responses of BC cells to estrogen (E2)-signaling deprivation was analyzed in a second study. CycG2 expression is elevated in E2-deprived cells, but reduced in E2-stimulated cells. CycG2 KD diminishes the cell cycle arrest response following inhibition of E2 signaling. In addition, these clones showed elevated levels of the growth promoting cyclin, CycD1,and elevated activation of the growth factor signaling cascade, mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK), pathway. These results indicate that loss of CycG2 expression may promote the development of BC tumor cell resistance to E2 antagonizing therapeutics by stimulating the activation of the MAPK pathway. Importantly, results presented here show that CycG2 can associate with the cyclin dependent kinase (CDK) 10, which was recently implicated as an upstream repressor of MAPK signaling. Thus suggesting that the resistance of BC cells to the inhibition of E2 signaling that is acquired following CycG2 KD could result from loss of CycG2-mediated stimulation of CDK10 activity.
CycG2 expression is upregulated following inhibition of the growth promoting kinase mTOR and the induction of ERS. KD of CycG2 expression in multiple cell lines induces CycD1 expression and attenuates cell cycle arrest responses to treatments with rapamycin, metformin and thapsigargin. These results suggest that CycG2 expression restricts proliferation of cells responding to mTOR inhibition (rapamycin and metformin) and ERS-induction (thapsigargin). The data further indicate that rapamycin-induced CycG2 expression is not dependent on FOXO TF expression. In contrast, the potent upregulation of CycG2 expression triggered by thapsigargin is likely the consequence of the FOXO TF activity at the CCNG2 promoter.


Objective To describe patient characteristics and post-operative outcomes, including early and late mortality, defined by death within 30 days and after 30 days post-surgery, respectively, as well as 20-year survival after isolated reoperative tricuspid surgery. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 169 patients who underwent isolated reoperative tricuspid valve surgery at our institution (between 1997 and 2000) and describe post-surgical outcomes including intraoperative, early and late mortality. All patients included completed 21 years of follow-up. Results The majority of our patients were females 147 (87%) with the mean age of 45.9 ± 12.9 years. The mean body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) was 27.4 ± 6.0. Previous cardiac surgeries included tricuspid valve surgeries in 169 (100%) patients, with bioprosthetic valves, mechanical valves, annual rings and tricuspid repair surgeries utilized in 37 (21.9%), 21 (12.4%), 38 (22.4%) and 73 (43.2%) patients, respectively. The indication for previous tricuspid surgery was rheumatic heart disease in 154 (91.5%) patients. The most common cause of reoperative valvular surgery was tricuspid regurgitation (TR) in 139 (82.2%), with 66% of patients having severe TR. Other reasons for reoperative surgery included tricuspid stenosis 22 (13%) and dehiscence 8 (4.7%). For the redo surgery, 125 (74%) patients underwent Tricuspid Valve Replacement (TVR), 90 (53%) of whom received bioprosthetic valves while 35 (21%) received mechanical valves. Forty-four patients (26%) underwent Tricuspid Valve Repair. Mortality within 30 days of surgery was 11.3% (20 patients) and 11.4% after 30 days, with 20 years survival being about 80%. Conclusions Based on our experience, reoperation for failed isolated tricuspid valve replacement or repair was associated with reasonable mortality and good survival rate over long period of time.


Abstract We can identify the diurnal oscillation of the atmospheric boundary layer as an important source of mesoscale internal gravity waves in the lower atmosphere. The oscillation period of these waves is a function of latitude. A definitive two-day period may be found in the equatorial regions with scales on the order of a few hundred kilometers. In particular, for a situation in which the mean stratification at any time of the day is unstable, the wavelength could he on the order of 100 km. This result suggests that some cloud clusters may be originated by this process.


BACKGROUND: Biopolymer materials have unique advantages in cartilage tissue engineering, which have become an increasing concern in cartilage repair. OBJECTIVE: To summarize the application of biopolymer materials in cartilage tissue engineering in recent years. METHODS: The first author retrieved PubMed, ScienceDirect and Medline databases for relevant articles published from January 2000 to June 2017. The key words were "cartilage defect, biopolymer" in English. Initially, 305 articles were retrieved, and finally 72 articles were included in result analysis. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Commonly used polymer compounds are classified into natural materials (including natural polymer proteins, polysaccharides and polynucleotides) and synthetic materials (including polylactic acid, polyethylene glycol, polyvinyl alcohol). The multilayer scaffold technology is one of the application innovations of biopolymer materials. This scaffold is consistent with the natural cartilage in the structure, on which newborn cartilage tissues develop similar biomechanical properties, mechanical strength and shear resistance to normal cartilage. Biopolymer scaffolds and hydrogels can load stem cells and cytokines and exert a synergistic repair of cartilage defects, which have achieved desired repair results. Despite limitations in clinical practice, biopolymer materials will surely become a hot issue in cartilage repair.


It is widely contended that the quality of institution and infrastructure is a significant determinant of foreign direct investment (FDI). With the exception of few studies on corruption, however, empirical research on the link between infrastructure and FDI remain limited, particularly in the context of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).This study aims to examine the linkage between infrastructure (mobile subscribers), corruption and FDI among selected five countries from ECOWAS namely Nigeria, Ghana,
Togo, Senegal and Cote dlvoire with the use of panel techniques for the period of 1990-2015. The
methodology carried out to achieve this objective involves the panel unit root, panel co-integration and fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS).The result indicates that there is long run relationship among the series.Corruption and infrastructure are negatively significant on FDI at the long run in the selected ECOWAS countries. The empirical evidence indicates that feeble level of institution (corruption) and infrastructure
(mobile subscribers) impedes foreign direct investment inflows in the selected ECOWAS countries.My results confirm that FDI enhancement, role of institution and infrastructure exist not only in the transition nation but also in ECOWAS-5 countries.


Discovery of Intrinsic Clustering in Spatial Data.- Statistical Approach to the Identification of Separation Surface for Spatial Data.- Algorithmic Approach to the Identification of Classification Rules or Separation Surface for Spatial Data.- Discovery of Spatial Relationships in Spatial Data.- Discovery of Structures and Processes in Temporal Data.- Summary and Outlooks.


This paper proposes a CAD/CAM/CNC architecture to automate saw blade stone cutting machines (disc stone cutting machines). The architecture is designed to give the controller the capacity of decision making as well as control of the machine tool, with the objective of being able to react to changes in the machining conditions, which is common in this kind technology. Adopting a similar paradigm as the new approaches for CNC manufacturing, especially the new ISO standard for CNC programming (STEP-NC), the proposed system is based on the definition of product features to be communicated to the controller. The controller has the objective of machining the features, and it is able to replan, on the fly, the work to get them, despite changing conditions in the stone or in the disc.


In this paper we investigate an alternative approach to the design of low-bit rate (LBR) quantisation. This approach incorporates phonetic information into the structure of Line Spectral Frequency (LSF) codebooks. In prior work vector quantisation (VQ) has been used to quantise stochastic processes. Speech signals can, however, be described in terms of phonetic segments and linguistic rules. A trained LSF codebook, like the phonetic inventory of a language, is a static description of spectral behaviour of speech. As clear relationships exist between phonetic segments and LSFs the structure of an LSF codebook can be analysed in terms of the phonetic segments. The investigation leads to the conclusion that phonetic information can be usefully employed in codebook training in terms of perceptual performance and bit-rate reductions.


Phenology of a species allows us to understand and predict flowering and fructification times useful in the management of deciduous tropical trees. This study was performed in three plantations (P1, P2 and P3) of Cordia dodecandra with different kind of management (P1, pruning, irrigation, weeding; P2, weeding; P3, without management), established in 2002 at Xmatkuil , Yucatan . The evaluation covered the period of September (2011)-August (2012). The phenology was determinated once a month using Fournier method. Production was assessed by harvesting and counting all fruit of all trees from each orchard and fruit quality was weighed and measured the length and width of a sample (n = 20) and obtained the moisture content of the same putting them in a dryer at 60°C. Results showed that P1 presented 100% leaves in September 2011, and during the period November 2011- August 2012. The percentage of leaves decreased to 25% only in the month of October 2011. P2 y P3 lost all their leaves during the period December-March. Regarding flowering, P1 presented flowers in percentage of 25% most of the year except for the months of June and July when the presence of any floral structure was recorded. The peak was observed in March. The other two plantations, P2 and P3, bloomed during the dry season (December to May). P2 presented a peak in February and P3 in March. Fructification in P1 showed in the months of October, November and January but the maximum production was in May, P2 in the months of January to June, showing a peak in March and P3 from February to May with a maximum in the month of May. The highest production and fruit quality was recorded in P1.


Objective – This study empirically examines the incidence of CEO dismissal in Malaysian Public Listed Companies (PLCs). Methodology/Technique – Logistic regression is used in this study to estimate the relationship between firm performance, corporate governance and CEO. Findings – Using 44 CEO turnover firms in 2010 among financial and non- financial institution, this study find that the firm performance, board multiple directorship, family ownership and institutional investors influence CEO dismissal. Specifically, firms that have lower performance, have a high proportion of board member multiple directorships and controlled by institutional investors are more likely to dismiss their CEOs. These results imply that poor performance together with board multiple directorship and controlled by large institutional investors are amongst major factor that contribute to CEO dismissal. In contrast, we find CEO dismissal is less likely occurred at firms that controlled by the
family.This result may due to large control by family and in some cases the CEOs are among family members. Novelty – This paper study on the type of CEO turnover which segregate the type of turnover into forced and voluntary turnover. This research idea has limited finding globally as previous research on CEO turnover do not separate between forced and voluntary turnover Type of Paper: Empirical


An effective and fast method for assay of micro-amounts of glucose was set up. A new technique for preparation of enzyme columns based on enzyme immobilization by sol-gel was investigated. Glucose oxidase(GOD) and horseradish peroxidase(HRP) mixed with SiO 2 nanoparticles and polyvinyl butyral(PVB) medium were immobilized on the surface of capillary tube, respectively. The experimental results show that nanoparticles can significantly enhance the catalytic activity of immobilized enzyme. Based on GOD column and HRP column, a liquid droplet sensor was developed for the determination of glucose solution. The effect of separated columns and mixed columns on the response of glucose sensor was investigated. The sensor showed a linear response in a range of 2-400 ng/mL with a detection limit of 0.3 ng/mL under the optimum conditions. The characteristics of the sensor including effect of flow-rate, pH and temperature were discussed.


24 patients were studied. In 12-24 hours after exposure to the pest the motor activity is accelerated (emptying in 40-60 minutes). The fact that patients before the study had vomited food they had eaten was explained by the fact that in the first moments there was gastric paresis, which was later replaced by a stage of increased motor activity.


This article proposes a non-destructive method for damage detection in steel-concrete beams based on finite spectral data associated with a given set of boundary conditions. The inverse problem consists of determining two stiffness coefficients of the connection between the steel beam and the concrete beam. The inverse problem is transformed to a variational problem for a cost function which includes eigenvalue data and transversal displacements of eigenfunctions. A projected gradient method which uses the analytical expressions of the first partial derivatives of the eigenvalues and eigenfunctions is proposed for identifying the unknown coefficients. The results of an extended series of numerical simulations on real steel-concrete beams are presented and discussed.


ABSTRACT Despite the prolific literature on the metaphorical representations of time, research on subjective time has been relatively scarce and limited. Interestingly, the linguistic expression of subjective time manifests an asymmetric pattern, systematically favoring the use of Time-moving, rather than Ego-moving, metaphors (cf. "Time passes quickly" vs ?"We pass (our) time quickly"). The present paper focuses specifically on compressed time (i.e., time as passing quickly) and suggests that the experience of subjective time resonates with a construal that lacks agency on the part of the experiencer. This association explains why the conceptualization of compressed time lends itself to the Time-moving perspective but can also account for expressions that override metaphor. The analysis is based on poetic discourse on the assumption that creativity attests to the affordances of our mental representations. This line of research has implications for possible constraints on metaphorical conceptualization at large.


Part one of this summary, which covers the decade from 1976 through 1984 when I transferred to Juntendo University Urayasu Hospital with the late professor Yoshihiro Yagi, focused mainly on my research, published under the title"Cellular Immune Abnormalities in Severe Burn Injuries,"conducted in collaboration with Professor Yagi, as well as my clinical studies on direct surgical intervention (Sugiura Method) for esophageal varices conducted under the guidance of the late Professor Mitsuo Sugiura. In 1984, I transferred to Juntendo University Urayasu Hospital with Professor Yagi and launched the Department of Surgery, serving as an assistant professor. In 2004, I became the first head of the newly formed Department of Emergency Medical Care and worked to establish it as the second tertiary emergency and critical care center in the South Tokatsu Medical Care Zone. Upon obtaining approval from Chiba Prefecture for this facility to be a designated regional cancer care hospital in the prefecture, I launched the Cancer Center in Juntendo University Urayasu Hospital, serving as its first director. Furthermore, during the five years of my service as the head of the Department of Malignant Oncology (now Clinical Oncology), I established various protocols for promoting cancer treatment. On March 31, 2014, I retired from Juntendo University after 39 years of service. It has been my honor and privilege to serve Juntendo University Hospital and its patients.


Background While the biomechanical properties of trans-pedicular screws have proven to be superior in the lumbar spine, little is known concerning pullout strength of trans-pedicle screws in comparison to different distal terminal constructs like sublaminar hooks alone, trans pedicular screws with sublaminar hooks and clow hooks alone in the thoracolumbar spine surgery. In vitro biomechanical pullout testing was performed to evaluate the axial pullout strength of four different distal terminal constructs in thoracolumbar spine surgery. Methods 32 fresh-frozen lamb spines were used. The lamb spines were divided into four groups, each group is composed of eight lamb spine cadavers with a different distal fixation pattern was used to terminate the construct at L1. (Group 1) trans-pedicular screws alone, (Group 2) sublaminar hooks alone, (Group 3) trans-pedicular screws augmented with a sublaminar hooks via a domino connector and (Group 4) clow hooks alone. Results The average pullout strength of group 1 was 927N, group2 was 626N, group 3 was 988N and group 4 was 972N. Group 3 and 4 showed the most significant pullout forces when compared to group 1 and group 2. However Group 3 and group 4 didn9t show any significant statistical difference when compared to each others. Conclusion Our study thus suggests that the strongest construct that may reduce the pullout phenomina in the distal fixation constructs are the trans-pedicular screw with laminar hooks. It is strongly advised to be used in osteoporotic bones and in conditions where pullout strength is required to be enhanced. But farther prospective clinical studies are needed to clearly demonstrate the beneficial effect of a trans-pedicular screw augmented with a laminar hooks in reducing the risk of distal instrumentation pullout. Level of Evidence Level 5 Disclosure The authors declare that no conflict of interests were associated with the present study.


Deep learning models, particularly Transformers, have achieved impressive results in various domains, including time series forecasting. While existing time series literature primarily focuses on model architecture modifications and data augmentation techniques, this paper explores the training schema of deep learning models for time series; how models are trained regardless of their architecture. We perform extensive experiments to investigate the occurrence of deep double descent in several Transformer models trained on public time series data sets. We demonstrate epoch-wise deep double descent and that overfitting can be reverted using more epochs. Leveraging these findings, we achieve state-of-the-art results for long sequence time series forecasting in nearly 70% of the 72 benchmarks tested. This suggests that many models in the literature may possess untapped potential. Additionally, we introduce a taxonomy for classifying training schema modifications, covering data augmentation, model inputs, model targets, time series per model, and computational budget.


Due to the development of information technology and globalization, E-commerce started to develop rapidly in the world, affording small businesses and individuals to enter the market. COVID-19 also pushed this type of economic activity spread as the only way for business to customer (B2C). However, there are several aspects as logistics, legal regulations, social and economic situations in and outside of the country that should be improved for smooth development of this type of economic activity. The authors also considered the merits and demerits of e-commerce, the state of E-Commerce in the Republic of Uzbekistan.


Economic geography has close relationship with economics and there are three frontier approaches in contemporary economic geography which are founded on three approaches of economics: neoclassical,institutional and evolutionary economics.Based on neoclassical economics,'new economic geography' or 'geographical economics' is bringing the 'geographical turn' back into economics and has attracting many scholars' attention,both in modern mainstream economics and in geographical sciences.Meanwhile,with the perspectives of institutional economics and other social sciences,the "institutional turn" and "cultural turn" have transformed mainstream economic geography into a more interdisciplinary approach.Recently,the rise of evolutionary economics in mainstream economics is bringing a new approach named as "evolutionary economic geography" to geographical sciences.Although mainstream economics and geography have largely developed separately,those three approaches of 'new economic geographies' will bring a new stage to the innovation and development of contemporary economic geography from the "Quantitative and theoretical revolution" and the "Marxism turn" onwards.This paper introduces the fundamental principals of neoclassical,institutional and evolutionary approaches in economics and explores their effects on the directions of development of contemporary economic geography.We should think much of the great differences between neoclassical,institutional and evolutionary economic geographies,but they also have many commonalities and great complementarities to explain various formal and substantive spaces,so the competition and cooperation between them should be the important direction of developing contemporary economic geographies.


The template effects of SO42-, NO3-, NH3, and OH- on the structure and morphology of Ni(OH)2 and the effects of tartrate ions on that of Sb2O3 were investigated and discussed with the theoretical model that the growth units are the polyhedral structure of coordination ions. The structure and morphology of Ni(OH)2 and Sb2O3 can be effectively controlled by controlling their growth units, whose dimensions and linking patterns vary with the changes of physical and chemical conditions in the aqueous solution.


The meta-analysis by Toews and colleagues indicates that artificial sweeteners are safe to consume, but their uses go beyond sugar substitution and calorie reduction.12 Artificial sweeteners allow the cheaper and more efficient production of highly processed foods with long shelf lives and enable the formulation of new sweet products.

Sweeteners such as sucralose or aspartame are 200-600 times sweeter than sugar. Novel candy products and beverages often contain sugar and artificial …


Asymmetrical conflicts and power relations between extractive industries and Indigenous groups often have devastating consequences for Indigenous peoples. Many Indigenous groups are struggling to m ...


Introduction. The relevance of scientific substantiation of approaches to sustainable development management is due to the need to take into account external changes and the development of conceptual provisions for the adaptation of economic systems. Theoretical analysis. The article summarizes the main approaches to the interpretation of the "sustainable development" concept. The evolution of economic thought and the historical transformation of views towards the study of sustainable development concerning various objects are considered. The scientific approaches and studies of leading foreign and domestic scientists are presented, which constituted the theoretical and methodological basis of the sustainable development concept. The essence of the category "sustainability of development" concerning economic systems is revealed. Empirical analysis. The economic, social and environmental substantiation of the sustainable development concept is given. The external and internal factors influencing the stability of economic systems are investigated. The stability of the system is considered through the prism of such interrelated system characteristics as controllability and adaptability. Results. The relevance of the application of an integrated approach to the study of the triad "society – economy – ecology" is shown. It is substantiated that the synergy of the main provisions of economic theory, conceptual principles of sustainable development, system analysis of the countries' development determinants in the context of new global challenges and threats should underlie the strategic provision of sustainable development in the long term.


When the Port of Long Beach decided to redevelop the Long Beach Naval Shipyard into a modern container terminal, significant challenges were expected. The project involved compelling design challenges to incorporate existing physical features into a workable container terminal. A major challenge that came late in the Pier T Container Terminal Development was the reuse of the three existing concrete drydocks. Due to the significant size of these drydocks, the demolition and removal of the drydocks would have been prohibitively costly. Working closely with the design team, the Port decided to abandon the drydocks in place and use them as contained disposal sites for bay sediments deemed chemically unsuitable for ocean disposal. This approach provided major cost savings for demolition and also provided a confined disposal site for over 600,000 cubic yards of unsuitable dredge material. The solution was in alignment with the guiding principles and fundamental goals of the Port of Long Beach's Healthy Harbor Program, which was further developed into their groundbreaking Green Port Policy. This paper will discuss specific challenges to prepare the drydocks, methodology employed to bridge and cap geotechnically poor dredge material, and provide a pavement section suitable for the heavy demands of a container yard. The primary issues to be reviewed include: (1) Design and construction of concrete counterfort retaining walls to seal off the ends of each drydock and support the wharf structure to be built across them. (2) Filling the third drydock, which was nearly twice the size of the first two, with the most geotechnically poor material resulted in increased difficulty with capping and surcharging of the dredge material. (3) Design considerations employed to develop the container yard over the drydocks, including the innovative use of geosynthetics to develop a suitable pavement section over the dredge material. (4) How the design team and constructor worked together to overcome challenges encountered while working over the filled drydocks. Copyright 2010 ASCE.


In this article, we approach the scientific concern that there is in Psychology from the perspective of the French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, emphasizing the author's approach of Gestalt's psychology and psychoanalysis. According to the philosopher, Human Sciences deal with their internal contradictions and present a spontaneous development. The instability of the Human Sciences between objectivity and subjectivity leads to their constant revision of the interrelations between these two points. In fact, it is observed that these sciences, including psychology, are working towards a better circumscription of their study object. In this matter, the researcher is the actor of constant self-criticism, he is the referee of conflicts between the realistic and intellectualistic perspectives. The Gestalt psychology and psychoanalysis played a positive role in Merleau-Ponty's philosophy and represented the "psychologist's self-criticism" movement in it which, followed and radicalized, revealed these psychologies' "true inspirations" and makes it possible to elaborate new philosophical reflection instruments.


In GPS-impeded environments, due to cumulative error characteristics of inertial sensors, a GPS/IMU system is unable to maintain high navigation accuracy during extended GPS outages. In particular, vegetated and urban environments present unique challenges in applications where high absolute and/or relative navigation accuracy is required. To remedy this deficiency, a method that integrates 3D laser ranging to deployable spherical targets with an inertial system to enable centimeter-level navigation accuracy of a mobile unit under heavy canopy is discussed here. This paper is focused on the requirements for geometry and spatial distribution of the spherical targets and their impact on the achievable navigation accuracy. The sensitivity analysis is performed based on simulations as well as the actual field test data.


Physical sensors have a key role in implementation of real-time vector control for an induction motor (IM) drive. This paper presents a novel boundary layer fuzzy controller (NBLFC) based on the boundary layer approach for speed control of an indirect field-oriented control (IFOC) of an induction motor (IM) drive using physical sensors. The boundary layer approach leads to a trade-off between control performances and chattering elimination. For the NBLFC, a fuzzy system is used to adjust the boundary layer thickness to improve the tracking performance and eliminate the chattering problem under small uncertainties. Also, to eliminate the chattering under the possibility of large uncertainties, the integral filter is proposed inside the variable boundary layer. In addition, the stability of the system is analyzed through the Lyapunov stability theorem. The proposed NBLFC based IM drive is implemented in real-time using digital signal processor (DSP) board TI TMS320F28335. The experimental and simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed NBLFC based IM drive at different operating conditions.


ODNN (Optical diffractive neural network) uses light wave as a computing medium to perform the inference and prediction function of neural network, which has the advantages of high speed, low power consumption, and parallel processing. In this paper, an ODNN with only three layers of phase modulation is designed, and a method to improve the recognition performance of ODNN based on the first-order spectral distribution of targets is proposed. Using this method, the parameters of a three-layer ODNN are effectively optimized and the optimal pixel size, diffraction distance, and method for image preprocessing are obtained. The three-layer ODNN designed in this paper has a recognition accuracy rate of 95.3% for MNIST (handwritten digit set), compared with the 91.73% accuracy achieved by the five-layer ODNN in the reference. In addition, the system volume is greatly reduced and the system structure is simplified. Combined with the advantages of high speed and low power consumption, it has huge application potential in fields such as edge computing in the future.


From 392 men examined at a venereal disease clinic, 238 cases of gonorrhea (60.7%) were identified by culturing gonococci, using traditional loop and swab techniques of gathering urethral specimens and a new procedure employing the sediment from a patient's voided urine as a specimen source. In the patients proved to be infected as shown by the more difficult loop and swab cultural techniques, only 5.9% of the urine sediment cultures were negative. Of the cases positive by culture, 18.4% were clinically asymptomatic, a fifth of these being contacts of patients with known gonorrhea. The urine sediment culture method is a valuable new tool in screening for gonorrhea.


In case of emergencies over large areas satellite remote sensing data can become a crucial source of information for disaster management and response allowing the recognition and assessment of damages to populated areas and traffic infrastructure, the identification of focus areas, and an efficient coordination of rescue actions.


Combating the corrosion effect on the steel structure of car body from sea water of local areas in Nigeria is the thrust of this research. Low carbon steel corrosion inhibition in seawater environment was investigated with sodium carbonate (Na2CO3). Steel samples were immersed in 400 dm seawater from Ureje community area in Ado Ekiti Nigeria with 0.01M and 0.1M Na2CO3 as the inhibitor. The electrochemical method of corrosion measurement was adopted for the study. The electrochemical behaviour was investigated with PGSTAT 101 Metrohm Potentiostat using Saturated Ag/AgCl Electrode as the counter electrode. The polarization curves were fixed at ±1.5 mV. Potentiodynamic polarization parameters obtained gave inhibition efficiency of Na2CO3 on the low carbon steel as 40.4% and 98.6% at 0.01M and 0.1M respectively. Thus, sodium carbonate formed an active corrosion inhibitor for low carbon steel in Ureje seawater environment. It could be introduced into the seawater in the stated concentration for a cleansing of steel structure in the car body.


Objective To optimize the pharmaceutical preparation process based on artificial neural network(ANN) and particle swarm optimization(PSO)algorithm.Methods Taking the pH dependent-time lag Herba Euphorbiae Humifusae pellets for colon-specific delivery as a research model,with weight increment of film coating and the proportion of plasticizer and film-forming material as the independent variables,and with overall desirability(OD) of in-vitro releasing property of the preparation as dependent variables,we optimized the process parameters with PSO algorithm by using back-propagation(BP)ANN modeling.Results The pellets prepared according to the optimized preparation process parameters had significant effect on colon-specific release in vitro.Conclusion The combination of BP ANN modeling with PSO provides an effective way of multi-dimensional optimization of complicated nonlinear systems involving pharmaceutical technology.


Carboxysomes are self-assembled bacterial microcompartments that facilitate carbon assimilation by co-localizing the enzymes of CO2 fixation within a protein shell. These microcompartments can be highly heterogeneous in their composition and filling, so measuring the mass and loading of an individual carboxysome would allow for better characterization of its assembly and function. To enable detailed and extended characterizations of single nanoparticles in solution, we recently demonstrated an improved Interferometric Scattering Anti-Brownian ELectrokinetic (ISABEL) trap, which tracks the position of a single nanoparticle via its scattering of a near-infrared beam and applies feedback to counteract its Brownian motion. Importantly, the scattering signal can be related to the mass of nanoscale proteinaceous objects, whose refractive indices are well-characterized. We calibrate single-particle scattering cross-section measurements in the ISABEL trap and determine individual carboxysome masses in the 50-400 MDa range by analyzing their scattering cross-sections with a core-shell model. We further investigate carboxysome loading by combining mass measurements with simultaneous fluorescence reporting from labeled internal components. This method may be extended to other biological objects, such as viruses or extracellular vesicles, and can be combined with orthogonal fluorescence reporters to achieve precise physical and chemical characterization of individual nanoscale biological objects. TOC Graphic


The last decades have seen an explosive increase in the development of nanoparticles and in their use in consumer, industrial and medical applications. Their fast diffusion has also raised widespread concern about the potential toxic effects on living organisms, including humans: at the nanoscale, they can interact with subcellular components such as membranes, proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, thus inducing unpredicted functional perturbations in cells and tissues. The nervous tissue is a particular sensitive target, because its cellular components (mainly neurons and glial cells) are tightly regulated and metabolically exigent biological entities. While the literature on the potential toxicity of nanoparticles has grown in parallel with their utilization, the available data on neurotoxicity are less abundant. In particular, information on the neuronal molecular targets of nanoparticles is still largely incomplete. A better understanding of this issue is highly relevant for the rational and controlled design of nanoparticles, both for their general utilization and more specifically for their use in the promising field of nanoneuromedicine. In this review, we will discuss the available information on the mechanisms involved in the interaction between nanoobjects and cells of the nervous system, focusing on the known molecular actors, both at the plasma membrane and in intracellular compartments.


The paper presents the identification of hazardous locations in the event of a sudden release of hazardous chemicals. In accident situations, the risk is assessed on the basis of various methods and an action plan is determined which aims to minimize the risk. Accident situations in which PCB and Dioxin was spilled in large quantities were analyzed. The methodologies of the World Health Organization, the American EPA and the United Nations were used in the paper. The most important detected locations in the urban environment are presented on the map.


This paper presents an infrared image processing developed to analyse the calorimetric manifestation associated with a fatigue test. Heat sources accompanying the fatigue mechanisms were derived from thermal data provided by an IR camera. Our experiments underlined the precocious, heterogeneous development of the dissipation sources due to fatigue. They also pointed out a linear evolution of the dissipation intensity as a function of the loading frequency.


The stomatogenesis and morphology of the marine planktonic ciliate Philasterides armatalis collected from mollusc-culturing waters off the coast of Qingdao, China, were studied using a differential interference contrast microscope for observations in vivo and protargol impregnation. In terms of its infraciliature, this species possesses typical characteristics of the genus Philasterides: bipartite paroral membrane, the anterior part double-rowed and the posterior part in a zig-zag-formation, and three well-defined membranelles arranged in Paranophrys-pattern. This investigation confirms the dual origin of the buccal apparatus in the opisthe, one derived from the scutica and the other from the paroral membrane. Its stomatogenesis belongs to the 'Philasterides' sub-type, although it differs from its only congener P. armata, in that paroral membrane 1 gives rise to the paroral membrane and the scutica in the proter, and paroral membrane 2 forms the paroral membrane, membranelles 1 and 2 and the scutica in the opisthe. Based on stomatogenetic data, the phylogenetic positions of several genera in the suborder Philasterina are reconsidered.


The Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is a self-controlled system that is formed of various sensor nodes work together to achieve certain service. There are many research challenges of a WSN such as energy consumption, network bandwidth allocation, and data aggregation at sensor nodes. Data aggregation is an interesting concept in energy constrained wireless sensor network due to its substantial effect on the Quality of service (QoS) provisioned by the network. The goal of applying data aggregation techniques is to gather and aggregate data in such a way to reflect improvement in the energy consumed by the overall network. In this paper we model the WSNs using the Colored Petri Nets in order to capture the effect of data aggregation on the overall performance. Colored Petri Nets is a well-structured tool to study discrete event systems that involve concurrency and asynchronous behaviors such the Wireless sensor network. The model involves the use of M/M/1 queuing to represent the sensor nodes. The proposed model performance is evaluated by demonstrating the effect of data aggregation on the network delay and the consumed power.


From The Book of Songs, we can find that the Patriarchal Religion in Zhou Dynasty has clearly evolved from Xia and Shang dynasty, which is characterized by the following features: humanism at religious ideology, the tendency of etiquette and custom at religious activities, and the ethical tendency at value orientation.


Objective:To explore how to further improve the drug administration in maternal and child health care hospital at county level.Methods:Based on the internal requirement and significance of drug administration in maternal and child health care hospital at county level.We analyzed the essence of drug administration,importance of strengthening drug administration in maternal and child health care hospital at county level under circumstance of health care reform and existing difficulty in the drug administration at present time.In the end,we developed our own points of view on how to improve drug administration in maternal and child health care hospital at county level.Results:Maternal and child health care hospital at county level should adapt the new challenge under circumstance of health care reform,improve the management.Conclusion:According to the new health care reform,it is vital to enhance self performance steadily and consistently as to achieve the improvement of drug administration and service quality gradually.


F gearing up the State Government machinery to greater contribution to the country's export effort, the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade has launched a programme of undertaking export potential surveys of different states. The Export Potential Survey of Haryana, which was the seventh in the series, aimed at providing the State Government with a dynamic export marketing organisational framework for expanded exports from the State.


Research on access to healthy foods often emphasizes the spatial proximity of residents to food stores like supermarkets as a way to gauge overall accessibility. Much of the literature has focused on locating the closest facility, assuming that access to one food store is sufficient. However, given evidence that access to multiple healthy food stores can improve diets, this paper examines how closest facility measures differ from cumulative opportunity accessibility measures across space in a medium-sized U.S. city. Differences in access between automobile and transit riders, using realistic travel time costs, are also considered. Results demonstrate that the two types of accessibility measures produce different accessibility geographies and that there are disparities in access for those dependent on transit. These findings indicate that researchers should carefully consider whether access to one supermarket opportunity is enough, and pay special attention to the mode residents rely upon to access food.


The genus Annona is confined almost entirely to tropical and subtropical America and the Caribbean region (Safford 1914). Edible species include Annona muricata L. (soursop), A. squamosa L. (sugar apple), A. cherimola Mill. (cherimoya), and A. reticulata L. (custard apple). Each geographical region has its own distinctive pest fauna, composed of indigenous and introduced species (Bennett & Alam 1985, Brathwaite et al. 1986, Brunner et al. 1975, D'Araujo et al. 1968, Medina-Gaud et al. 1989, Peña et al. 1984, Posada 1989, Venturi 1966). These reports place emphasis on the broader aspects of pest species. Some recent regional reviews of the status of important pests and their control have been published in Puerto Rico, U.S.A., Colombia, Venezuela, the Caribbean Region and Chile (Medina-Gaud et al. 1989, Bustillo & Peña 1992, Peña et al. 1984, Gutierrez & Trochez 1977, Venturi 1966, Anonymous 1989). There is no contemporary published summary of Neotropical arthropods of Annona spp.. This list is offered as a contribution to an understanding of the arthropod fauna of Annona spp. in the Neotropics. In the following checklist, distributional information is given for each arthropod. The checklist was compiled from collections of arthropods by the authors in Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, and Dominican Republic, by summarizing the reports from several publications (Venturi 1966, Gutierrez & Trochez 1977, Medina-Gaud et al. 1989, Marin 1973, D'Araujo et al. 1968, Bennett & Alam 1985, Alata 1973, Anguita 1990,


As a part of its new activities for the advancement of nursing research, the Work Group of European Nurse Researchers (WENR) published a Position Paper on Nursing Research in Europe in 2002 (Annex 1). To take the Position Paper's recommendations further, WENR discussed new avenues and opportunities. Based on the analysis of the member countries' state of the art, a need was identified for strengthening European nursing research capacity and for creating a European nursing research infrastructure, especially 1networks of excellence. While the fostering of collaboration among European nurse researchers had been one of WENR's main goals for 25 years, this now required new and more systematic forms.


Geographical indications of agricultural products is an important intellectual property in rice industry.The work have done and the achieved results in the protection of geographical indications was reviewed,and the application and registration of geographical indications of rice products in these years was analyzed.Furthermore,the problems in the protection of geographical indications were proposed,as well as the corresponding recommendations and countermeasures for these problems.


The article solves the task of the two-coordinate analytical determination of the distance between the layers in the multi-layer poster (diorama) and the distance of its observation by the viewer. Analytical dependencies were developed, with the help of the Matlab software system.


A 71-year-old woman presented with extreme low back pain. Her lumbar spine radiographs revealed a pathological fracture of L4. The hematology profile was normal (hemoglobin: 12.6 g/dL). The serum electrophoresis revealed an "M"-protein of 39 g/L and the immunofixation showed an immunoglobulin (Ig) G-l paraprotein. The bone marrow trephine biopsy demonstrated a clonal plasma-cell infiltration of 35%. The diagnosis of IgG-l multiple myeloma was made. The skeletal survey using conventional radiography showed an L4 fracture but no lytic lesions in the skeleton. The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the lumbar spine and the pelvis revealed a diffuse pattern of marrow infiltration. The patient had normal creatinine (1.1 mg/dL; estimated glomerular filtration rate by Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration formula was 51 mL/min/1.73 m) and normal serum calcium (9.9 mg/dL) levels. How should we manage bone disease in this myeloma patient?


NEUROLOGICAL signs and symptoms may rarely herald the onset of infectious hepatitis. 1,2 Seizures as a presenting sign are exceedingly rare. Four cases of convulsions preceding or coincident with the onset of the icteric phase of infectious hepatitis have been documented, 3,4 and one case of status epilepticus has recently been reported. 4 None of these cases were shown to be associated with hepatitis type B surface antigen(HB s Ag)-positive viral hepatitis. A patient with viral hepatitis type B was recently admitted to this hospital after a generalized tonic-clonic seizure. Focal EEG changes remitted during the convalescent stage of his illness, and the patient has remained free of clinical or EEG evidence of seizures during a four-year period of observation. Report of a Case A 21-year-old, right-handed male construction worker was admitted to the Massachusetts General Hospital after a tonic-clonic convulsion lasting approximately two minutes unassociated with tongue-biting or incontinence.


What is the best way to limit media concentration under the condition of meeting both the vertical regulatory model in telecommunications and the regulatory tradition of media diversity? This article brings to light the regulatory approach based on the measurement of multi-media market concentration, in which the media market can be defined in terms of the layer of media content, transversing traditionally different media sectors including TV media and print media.Since the late 1990s, in the United States, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany. New regulatory models have been developed with their own methods of measuring multi-media market concentration. Those new models differed from each other in terms of media-relevant market definition, measurement tool, etc. Among these, only the German model based on the measurement of TV audience share turned out to be successful in safeguarding media diversity.Based on a review of foreign cases, this paper discusses necessary conditions for a regulatory model based on the measurement of multi-media market concentration to meet its goal under the vertical structure of the telecommunications regulatory framework. Finally, this paper gives a commentary on the Media Influence Summation Index, which was developed in 2012 by the Media Diversity Committee in Korea. Further discussion is offered regarding the possibility of employing the MISI as a regulatory tool in future. (written in Korean)


The flowfield of hypersonic low temperature(HYLTE)nozzle in continuous wave DF/HF chemical lasers was visualized by laser induced iodine fluorescence(LIIF) and simulated by the CFD software FLUENT. The results from the two methods were compared and basically accord with each other. In the condition given in the article, the oxidant flow was drilled by the fuel. It was compressed first and expanded later.The two streams mixed enough at the plane 10m away from the exit plane. The experimental results show that the direction of the fuel stream changed slightly while the simulative result indicated that the fuel stream flowed almost along the x axis.


Programming in Prolog is hard for programmers that are used to procedural coding. In this manual the method of drawing search trees is introduced with the aim to get a better understanding of how Prolog works. After giving a first example of a Prolog database, query and search tree, the art of drawing search trees is systematically introduced giving guidelines for queries with variables, conjunction, disjunction, and negation. Further examples are provided by giving the complete search trees that are shown in Learn Prolog Now!


A number of grouse species collide frequently with power y~Vlines, overhead cables, and fences. Because grouse fly fast these collisions are often immediately fatal, but likely a considerable number of birds either succumb later to injuries or become incapacitated and more vulnerable to predation. A multiyear radio-tracking study of the lesser prairie-chicken (Tympanuchuspallidicinctus) in Oklahoma found that collisions, primarily with stock fences, were the leading cause of mortality (WoUe et al. 2007). Several other species of grouse, including the greater sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) in North America and black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) and western capercaillie {Tetrao urogallus) in Europe, also suffer high mortality rates because offence collisions (e.g., Catt et al. 1994). In an effort to reduce this unnatural mortality, we explored various ways of marking fences to improve their visibility. Ideal marking material would be easily affixed, inexpensive, durable, and safe for livestock, and would add little or no weight or wind resistance to fences.


In this paper the possibility of using the human heart sounds as a human print is investigated. To evaluate the performance and the uniqueness of the proposed approach, tests using a high resolution auscultation digital stethoscope are done for nearly 80 heart sound samples. The verification approach consists of a robust feature extraction with a specified configuration in conjunction with Gaussian mixture modeling. The similarity of two samples is estimated by measuring the difference between their negative log-likelihood similarities of the features. The experimental results obtained show that the overall accuracy offered by the employed Gaussian mixture modeling reach up to 85%. The identification approach consists of a robust feature extraction with a specified configuration in conjunction with LBG-VQ. The experimental results obtained show that the overall accuracy offered by the employed LBG-VQ reach up to 88.7%. DOI: 10.4018/ijsbbt.2012100106 International Journal of Systems Biology and Biomedical Technologies, 1(4), 74-87, October-December 2012 75 Copyright © 2012, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Knowledge-based and possession-based authentication mechanisms imply that users need to carry or remember the authenticator in order to be granted access to a system, building, or service. For comparing these traditional authenticators with authentication through biometrics, it is often argued that keys could be lost, stolen or easily duplicated and passwords could be forgotten. A serious problem is that the link between the legitimate individual and the authenticator is weak, and the authentication system has no means to distinguish between a designated owner of the authenticator and an impostor or a guesser. On the other hand, the general view is that biometric traits have an advantage in that they cannot be stolen, easily guessed or forgotten (El-Bendary et al., 2010; Phua et al., 2006; Preez & Von Solms, 2005; Wahid et al., in press). Biometrics are commonly categorized as either physiological or behavioral trait. Physiological traits (sometimes called passive traits) refer to fixed or stable human characteristics, such as fingerprints, shape and geometry of face, hands, fingers or ears, the pattern of veins, irises, teeth, the heart sound as well as samples of DNA. Physiological traits are generally existent on every individual and are distinctive and permanent, unless accidents, illnesses, genetic defects, or aging have altered or destroyed them. Behavioral traits (active traits) measure human characteristics represented by skills or functions performed by an individual. These include gait, voice, key-stroke and signature dynamics (Beritelli & Serrano, 2007; Cheng et al., 2011; El-Bendary et al., 2010; Wahid et al., in press). Biometric recognition can be defined as automated methods for accurately recognizing individuals based on distinguishing physiological and/or behavioral traits. The technology of biometrics, in many different forms, is currently being used very widely for identification and authentication of individuals. In a non-automated way and on a smaller scale, parts of the human body and aspects of human behavior have been used for decades as a means of interpersonal recognition and authentication. For example, face recognition has been used for a long time in (non-automated) security and access applications. Safety, quality and technical compatibility of biometric technologies can be promoted through standards and standardization activities. Standards are essential for the deployment of biometric technologies on large-scale national and international applications (Wahid et al., in press). The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 shows the related works. Section 3 Method and material introduces some perliminaries of the two propesed methods used for identification and verification processes. Experimental results are discussed in Section 4; Section 5 discusses heart signal human identification approach and verification approach in detail. While Section 6 concludes and presents future work.


The era of Society 5.0 is a condition of society that is required to solve various challenges and social problems by utilizing various innovations that were born in the era of the Industrial Revolution 4.0 such as the Internet on Things, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and robots to improve the quality of human life. The new things in Era Society 5.0 should not change law enforcement based on decision-making, the freedom of legal institutions in deciding cases, the professionalism of the apparatus, and public transparency. The rapidity of this era in entering the country during the Covid-19 pandemic, triggering cybercrimes that use new tools such as virus spread, and cracking. One of the crimes that the state is vulnerable to is Cyber Espionage. This crime is an act of espionage that takes advantage of advances in technology and information. As a state of law, Indonesia is required to have policies that regulate Cyber Espionage actions while still paying attention to aspects of international law so that law enforcement in Indonesia can run smoothly. To find out the readiness of Indonesian law in facing the threat of Cyber Espionage, we write this article with a normative juridical research with three approaches, conceptual approach, statutory approach, and comparative approach. The results of our research show that the national legal instruments in Indonesia are still limited to the Electronic Information and Transaction Law (ITE), Government Regulations regarding its implementation, Presidential Regulations on National Defense (Perpreshanneg), and the absence of policies that specifically regulate cyber crimes.


This week's special Christmas issue of Nursing Standard will cover the period up to Saturday, January 2. The next issue of Nursing Standard will appear on Wednesday, January 6.


Vertical-axis wind turbines (VAWTs) have received a renewed interest in the wind energy research community, mainly for off-shore applications. One advantage is that installing a pair of counterrotating VAWTs on the same floating platform would result in thrust reduction and potential cancellation of the mooring yaw moment. In addition, such configurations could benefit from increased power output and reduced wake losses. In this article, we report on wind tunnel experiments to study the mechanical power output of a reference VAWT scale model, tested individually and in a closely-spaced pair of VAWTs. The power output of the individual VAWT configuration is compared with a pair of VAWTs spaced 1.3 diameters apart for two counterrotating directions. A net power increase in the power coefficient for the paired configuration of up to 17.0% compared with two individual rotors has been observed.


Electric propulsion and integrated hybrid power systems can improve the energy efficiency and fuel consumption of different kinds of vessels. If the vessel power system is based on DC grid distribution, some benefits such as higher generator efficiency and lower volume and cost can be achieved. However, some challenges remain in terms of protection devices for this kind of DC grid-based power system. The absence of natural zero crossing in the DC current together with the fast and programmable breaking times required make it challenging. There are several papers related to DC breaker topologies and their role in DC grids; however, it is not easy to find comprehensive information about the design process of the DC breaker itself. In this paper, the basis for the design of a DC solid-state circuit breaker (SSCB) for low voltage vessel DC grids is presented. The proposed SSCB full-scale prototype detects and opens the fault in less than 3 µs. This paper includes theoretical analyses, design guidelines, modeling and simulation, and experimental results.


© Northern Territory of Australia (NT Geological Survey) 2019. With the exception of logos and where otherwise noted, all material in this publication is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode). 1 Energy Systems Branch, Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia 2 Email: firstname.lastname@example.com Introduction


A study on the effect of Tithoniadiversifolia extracts and Trichodermaasperellum on growth, yield, and quality of strawberry fruit (Fragaria× ananassavarDuch) wasconducted in Horticulture, Research and Teaching field, Egerton University. The field experiment was laid out in a Randomized Complete Block design (RCBD), with 3 replications. The treatments consisted of 3 levels of Tithoniadiversifolia (0,250ml, 500ml, and 750 ml) andTrichodermaasperellum at three levels 0ml, 40ml and 80ml. Data were subjected to Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and significant treatment means separated using Turkey's Honestly Significant Difference Test at P ≤ 0.05. Application of Tithoniadiversifolia and Trichodermaasperellumincreased plant height, number of leaves per plant, number of flowers per plant, number of fruits per plant, increased fruit length and diameter, and total yield per plant compared to the control.


This article proposed a color image background difference based on the HSI(Hue-Saturation-Intensity) model,this algorithm fully considered the relations between H,S and I.According to H and S component was independent with I component mutually,it built a new background brightness information by utilizing H and S component.According to the luminance information,the study used the dynamic threshold value to withdraw the precise prospect object.This algorithm has high speed and effectiveness,and it also has the strong robustness to the noise and the change of light.


Matrix-binding peptide conjugation to immune checkpoint blockade antibodies enhances antitumor efficacy and reduces adverse events. Keeping immunotherapy closer to home Immune checkpoint inhibitors are gaining increasing prominence in the field of cancer because of their remarkable success record in many difficult-to-treat tumor types. Unfortunately, activation of the immune system against tumors does not occur in isolation, and these drugs are also associated with a host of immune side effects, which limit their usefulness. To decrease systemic toxicity, Ishihara et al. conjugated immune checkpoint antibodies to a matrix-binding peptide and showed that peritumoral injection of these conjugated antibodies results in their retention in tumor tissue, effective antitumor response, and systemic antitumor immunity with fewer adverse effects. Immune checkpoint blockade exhibits considerable antitumor activity, but previous studies have reported instances of severe treatment-related adverse events. We sought to explore local immune checkpoint blockade, with an antibody (Ab) form that would be retained intra- or peritumorally, limiting systemic exposure. To accomplish this, we conjugated the checkpoint blockade Abs to an extracellular matrix (ECM)–super-affinity peptide derived from placenta growth factor–2 (PlGF-2123–144). We show enhanced tissue retention and lower Ab concentrations in blood plasma after PlGF-2123–144 conjugation, reducing systemic side effects such as the risk of autoimmune diabetes. Peritumoral injections of PlGF-2123–144–anti-CTLA4 (cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen 4) and PlGF-2123–144–anti–PD-L1 (programmed death ligand 1) Abs delayed tumor growth and prolonged survival compared to the unmodified Abs in genetically engineered murine tumor models of melanoma and breast cancer. The PlGF-2123–144–Abs increased tumor-infiltrating activated CD8+ and CD4+ T cells, resulting in a delay of distant tumor growth as well. This simple and translatable approach of engineered ECM-binding Abs may present a viable and safer approach in checkpoint blockade.


An acoustic tracking/telemetry/data‐logging system is being developed for real‐time monitoring of underwater movements and behaviors of free‐ranging whales from a vessel. This system consists of an acoustic transponder ''tag'' attached to the animal. Upon interrogation from a ''surface'' station, the transponder produces a high‐frequency (38‐kHz) signal. An array (either short or ultrashort base line) of transducers at the surface station receive and compute the underwater location of the tag. Locations are computed based on the return time and time or phase delay of the received signal. Multiple tags can be monitored simultaneously and relative underwater positions can be integrated with data from a GPS on the tracking vessel (resulting in a latitude, longitude, and depth). A microprocessor on the tag controls basic functions and can be programmed to record and store up to seven channels of data from attached sensors (e.g., water temperature, velocity, etc). Data are stored internally on the tag's RAM memory or can be telemetered acoustically to the surface station. Preliminary field testing in the open ocean resulted in an effective range of over 1 km. This system is being developed for determining movements and eventually acoustic behaviors of individual blue and fin whales. [Work supported by ONR.]


Breastfeeding Perceptions, Rates of Initiation, and Duration Among Urban and Rural Women by Shaunta Rutherford MPH, Armstrong Atlantic State University, 2009 BS, Georgia Southern University, 2006 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Health Walden University August 2018


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by a progressive deterioration of cognitive and behavioral functions as a result of the atrophy of specific regions of the brain. It is estimated that by 2050 there will be 131.5 million people affected. Thus, there is an urgent need to find biological markers for its early detection and monitoring. In this work, it is present an analysis of textural radiomics features extracted from a gray matter probability volume, in a set of individual subcortical regions, from a number of different atlases, to identify subject with AD in a MRI. Also, significant subcortical regions for AD detection have been identified using a ReliefF relevance test. Experimental results using the ADNI1 database have proven the potential of some of the tested radiomic features as possible biomarkers for AD/CN differentiation.


A gas turbine machine comprises at least one blade cluster (10), in which several blades (12) are arranged on a common inner ring (14) and/or outer ring (16). The blade cluster (10) has at least one hollow space (18), inside which several damping elements (20, 22, 24) are provided that can be independently moved relative to the walls of the hollow space (18) and relative to one another.


Tobacco is the only legal consumer product that kills at least 1 out of 2 of its regular users when used as intended by the manufacturer.[1][1] There are approximately 1.1 billion smokers world-wide, and it is predicted that the use of tobacco could kill 1 billion people during the 21st century.


Two spectral responsivity scales have been established at the National Physical Laboratory, UK. High quantum efficiency silicon photodiodes have been used to establish a continuous spectral responsivity scale for the spectral region 400 nm to 920 nm. The scale can be disseminated by the NPL with an uncertainty of ±0,1%. Pyroelectric detectors fitted with a reflecting hemispherical cavity have been used to establish a spectral responsivity scale for the spectral region 1 μm to 20 μm. This scale has an uncertainty of less than ±1,6%.


The global spread of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) since the mid-1990s is a major public health concern. The epidemiology of CA-MRSA differs from that of health-care-associated MRSA (HCA-MRSA), and this is reflected at the genetic level. Resistance to beta-lactams is encoded in the mecA gene, which is carried, along with resistance determinants for other antibiotics, on the staphylococcal chromosomal cassette (SCC). CA-MRSA typically carries a type IV SCC, which is smaller and encodes resistance to fewer antibiotics than the SCC of HCA-MRSA clones. This may help to explain the ecologic success of CA-MRSA in the community setting and may facilitate horizontal transfer of type IV SCC into other methicillin-sensitive strains.


spoke to herself and to all of us in the audience as people with power to question changes in the academy that have left the next generation of men and (more so) women scholars in a situation where they will more likely work as adjunct than as full-time professors, rendering them inheritors of a "leaky pipeline" in desperate need of repair. In both her 1998 presidential address and in her 2004 talk, Judith called us to revolution as she has many times before.2 We must listen to a prophetic voice like Judith Plaskow's and we must respond by saying yes, there is something wrong, and yes, there is something I can do about it. She demands and deserves no less.


This chapter discusses the classical and advanced digital control techniques, including predictive control and examines the operating principle of these control techniques with an intuitive example of generator or grid current control. When closed, a switch allows the passage of any amount of current without any on‐state voltage drop. The power diode belongs to the family of uncontrolled semiconductor devices because its switching on and off instances depend on natural commutation and power circuits. This device has been widely used in industrial applications from the 1950s and is still widely used. More powerful digital control platforms are expected to be developed in the near future, thus resulting in lower costs and higher computational capacity than existing control platforms. Hysteresis current control does not require the system parameters, converter model, or prior knowledge of the user, thus making it one of the simplest and robust current control techniques. The relative magnitudes of these error signals are then used by a lookup table to generate the switching signals to the converter. To implement these methods on digital platforms, a high‐sampling frequency is needed to force the variables within the hysteresis band limits.


Twenty eight infants and children (3-63 months) with Kawasaki disease received intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) in a multicentric study: Veinoglobulin (Merieux, France) in 24 cases or Sandoglobulln (Sandoz, Switzerland) in 4 cases. The total amount administered was In the range 1-2.5g/Kg and varied from 1 to 5 daily infusions. In 16 cases the patients received 0.4 mg/Kg/day during 5 consecutive days. All of them were given orally acetylsalicylic acid 30 mg/Kg/day during a 2 month period. A dramatic improvement in the patients' general condition was observed, with resolution of fever within 48 hours. Hyperfibrinemia and hyperleucocytosis returned to normal in one week and incresed platelets within 2-3 weeks. An important feature was that follow-up echocardiograms over more than one year have demonstrated no coronary artery abnormalities. Five out of 6 children studied immunologlcally during the acute phase presented with a deficiency of circulating CD8 T cells with an increased CD4/CD8 ratio. High doses of IVIG were followed with an increase of serum IgM, CD8 T cells and a normalisation of CD4/CD8 ratio. High dosage IVIG represents the treatment of choice of Kawasaki syndrome; this activity focuses the deficiency of the immunoregulatory function in Kawasaki syndrome.


The 400-bps speech was unintelligible in helicopter noise. A detailed study has shown that both voicing errors and spectral distortion are the key to the loss of intelligibility. The voicing accuracy is restored by first generating robust features whose distributions are not strongly dependent upon noise levels. These features are then appropriately combined using linear programming. A better spectrum is generated by using the approach of adaptive vector quantization. This means the codebook is updated based upon noise level and subsequently searched to determine the best clean codeword for synthesis. Both approaches show promise for improved speech intelligibility in noise for a low-rate coder.<<ETX>>


A collimated electron sheet is generated by using an intense circularly polarized (CP) Laguerre–Gaussian (LG) laser to irradiate the plasma in three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. It is found that the CP LGpl(p=0, l=1, σz=1) laser provides a more stable vortex force to ensure the concentrated transport of electrons as compared to a linearly polarized LG laser. Herein, the effects of the laser intensity, target density, and preplasma on collimated sheet formation are discussed in detail. Such collimated electron sheets may be potentially used in various applications such as the generation of vortex radiation sources and electron microscopy.


Two point targets detection algorithms based on morphological operation were introduced and compared to choice the right image processing method for air-to-air missile seeker.First,the basic morphological operations were introduced,Second,the principles of the two algorithms were showed.Third,the results of simulation were given in detail to show the effectiveness of each method.Finally,the computational complexity was analyzed,The results reveal that simple method can get a good performance.