New Public Management (NPM)-inspired higher education (HE) governance has become increasingly topical in recent years. However, while existing research provides an overall understanding of relevant changes, it does not offer a complete analysis of complex governance and falls prey to deterministic and relatively narrow ideological impositions. Scholars are overwhelmingly oriented toward governance models or modes and the ideas of efficiency, effectiveness, and competition in NPM. They either promote these aspects as an approach to organizing HE governance or criticize them in addition to evaluating or comparing their outcomes. Therefore, based on a literature review and drawing on Foucauldian ideas of political rationality, this paper proposes a shift from the ideology-based problem-solving paradigm to a renewed approach. By calling for an increased focus on bottom–up initiatives that stem from below while studying NPM-inspired HE governance, this paper recommends conducting a discourse analysis of technical policy papers together with empirical-analytical studies to identify interpretive political rationalities and histories. Overall, the approach proposed in this paper would limit the deterministic mode of policy analysis and lead to more refined ways of understanding HE governance in certain fields, clarifying problematic situations, and effectively estimating future directions.


The need for high accuracy in the measurement of sea surface temperature (SST) from space was recognized in the early stages of planning the World Climate Research Program. Improvements on the normally used methodologies to obtain accurate and automatic maps of SST in the Canary-Azores-Gibraltar area have been developed. Procedures applied to the images from the AVHRR sensor aboard NOAA 14 consists on: (i) a radiance-based nonlinearity correction method; (ii) an automatic procedure for the geometric correction, achieving accuracies to the order of the pixel; (iii) a qualitative and quantitative test between in situ SST measurements and nearly-coincident satellite observations, including an improved algorithm for the cloud detection. Coefficients to obtain the SST from the AVHRR data are estimated by regression analysis using co-located in situ and satellite measurements (matchups). Error analysis and validation test, using the AVHRR Pathfinder Oceans Matchup Database, has shown that SST can be retrieved to within 0.45/spl deg/C RMSD.


Like most members, I always look forward to the Association's Annual Course on International Law Librarianship. The program offers countless learning opportunities, including scholarly lectures, visits to libraries and information centers, and meetings with publishers and vendors. Last but not least, it offers the chance to meet new colleagues as well as to renew friendships and contacts with law librarians from around the world. I anticipated the 2002 Course with particular excitement, because this would be the first time that I would attend one in my own country. Indeed, it would be the first time IALL met in the United States for over a decade. Having experienced the hospitality of law librarians in many different countries over the years, I knew it would be especially meaningful to be able to welcome colleagues from abroad to the United States.


This paper discusses a new degree offered at The University of Queensland, aimed at preparing graduates for further integration of space related activities into the Engineering workplace. The degree is based on the current Mechanical Engineering degree offered at the University, and contains extra material relevant to pursuing Engineering practice in space. The structure of the degree is such that a mixture of stand-alone space subjects are offered, along with space related 'add ons' whereby a traditional mechanical subject is interpreted in a space related context. The basic premise which lead to the new degree is that if a substantial space engineering industry is to develop in Australia, then it must do so from the existing industrial base, and engineers with the appropriate background will be required. Since mechanical engineering is an important discipline for space based projects, it is sensible, and educationally efficient, to use it as a structure for a space engineering degree. The paper details the structure of the course, discusses the methodology behind its formulation and what we see as its role in Australia's future.


Traumatic asymmetric bilateral hip dislocations, with one hip dislocated posteriorly and the contralateral hip dislocated anteriorly, are a rare injury pattern. It represents approximately 0.01% to 0.02% of all hip dislocations. The most common mechanism of injury is motor vehicle accident. Herein, we report a case of traumatic asymmetric bilateral hip dislocation caused by high energy accident. The patient suffers from a hit to his lumbosacral area by a falling tree weight approximately 200 kg from behind. Pelvic X-ray revealed anterior-inferior dislocation of right hip, posterior fracture dislocation of left hip, and right tibia-fibula fracture. He received emergent close reduction followed by open reduction and internal fixation of left hip posterior acetabulum wall fracture and right tibia-fibula fracture. Union of fracture noted 4 months after surgery and the patient ambulates well with no walking aid. No definite osteonecrosis or arthrosis was found during the 2-year follow-up.


As the variations of shrunk processes increasing at rapid rate, the performances of analog/mixed-signal chips remarkably fluctuate. It is necessary to take the yield as a design objective in design optimization. This paper presents a novel method to generate yield-embedded Pareto-front to simultaneously optimize both the yield and performances. Unlike the traditional approaches which generate the yield-aware Pareto-front to optimize performances for the fixed yield, this work embeds the yield as an objective of the optimization and evolutionarily optimizes both yield and performances by the so-called yield-embedded NSGA. The experiments demonstrate the gradual evolutions and global searching for the better performances and higher yields under PVT variations. The generation accelerated by parallel computations gains 4.8x speedup with 80% efficiency.


Cognitive impairment after stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA) has a high prevalence. The authors aimed to explore the risk factors for declined cognitive function with Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)‐Beijing in patients with stroke/TIA at acute phase. Total 2283 patients with acute stroke/TIA without a history of dementia were assessed at 2 weeks of onset. Patients were assessed by MoCA‐Beijing on day 14 and at 3 months follow‐ups. Cognitive impairment was defined as MoCA‐Beijing ≤22. Patients' cognitive status was considered as declined if there were a reduction of ≥2 points in MoCA‐Beijing score and patients were considered to have improved if there were an increase of ≥2 points. The score of MoCA‐Beijing was considered to be stable if there were an increase or decrease of 1 point. Most patients were in 60 s (60.96 ± 10.75 years old) with a median (interquartile range) National Institute of Health Stroke Scale score of 3.00 (4.00) and greater than primary school level of education, and 1657 participants (72.58%) were male. Cognitive evaluation was conducted in 2283 of 2625 patients (82.70%) with MoCA‐Beijing at baseline. Total 292 (12.79%) patients have a cognitive decline at 3 months, 786 (34.42%) patients were stable and 1205 (52.78%) patients were improved. In the logistic regression, a history of hypertension was associated with cognitive deterioration from baseline to 3‐month. Patients with a history of hypertension have a higher risk for cognitive deterioration from baseline to 3‐month after stroke/TIA.


Summary. Despite the improvement in the quality of implants, the number of complications in traumatology and orthopedics, which lead to infection, remains high. It is proved that untimely prescription of adequate antibiotic therapy for implant-associated infections can cause progression of the septic process until the development of shock and multiorgan failure and on practics leads to the development of resistance microorganisms to antibacterial drugs. An important point is to study the pathological microbial communities (bacterial film) in traumatology and orthopedics. All "classic" tests and markers of the infectious processhave low specificity and are not reliable enough for accurate diagnosis. These features are forced to development of additional microbiological diagnostics: the study of the destruction of the biofilm, which is removed from the implant surface with the help of ultrasound. The purpose of our study was to determine the effectiveness of the microbiological tests with sonication in patients with infectious process after osteosynthesis of long bones. Materials and Methods. Microbiological studies of the pathologically altered tissue biopsies directly at the implant and implant sonicates from the implant for osteosynthesis from 31 patients with chronic osteomyelitis or surgical site infection were performed. Results. As a result, the significant sonication efficiency was discovered: a 25.8% increase in positive results, 6.5% of E. aerogenes and E. faecalis cultures in association with S. aureus were isolated. Conclusions. Further improvement of the method and its application in specialized departments can give a positive diagnostic effect, which will subsequently improve the results of patient treatment.


The angular field of view (FOV) of a Brillouin amplifier is shown to be dependent upon the spectral bandwidth of the interacting beams. Theory and experiment reveal that for single longitudinal mode pulses of 8.5 nsec duration interacting in CS2 the FOV is equal to +/- 18 degree(s) in a counterpropagating geometry. Proper design of the amplifier is required however, in order to take advantage of the full FOV afforded by the Brillouin interaction.


Multiple databases that serve the needs of various application systems are considered. One of the significant problems in managing these databases is to maintain the related data items consistent to the required degree. This problem is frequently referred to as 'redundant data management'. Since the term 'redundancy' tends to imply that the data is unwanted or superfluous, the authors use the more general term 'management of interdependent data'. Some preliminary ideas in this area are discussed. The problem of managing interdependent data is characterized, and some important types of interdatabase dependency are identified. The types of consistency requirements which can exist among the interdependent data are defined.<<ETX>>


Analysis on load-transfer mechanism of joints are so important that it can provide technical reference for joints design in cement concrete pavement of airport. A 3D finite element analysis model of mechanical responses to multiple-gear aircraft loadings is established for rigid airport pavement using ABAQUS software with considering the "subgrade-pavement-aircraft loading" interaction system.In the model, the slab joint loading-transfer character of concrete pavement is simulated by the spring elements to study the joints'function by the aircraft load of airplane rL-76.Then two ABAQUS models of consisting of joints, without joints and EverFE2.0 model are established and their differences with among them are discussed comparatively in detail. All the results show that the 3D FEM models can simulate the joint action mechanism well and the calculation results are consistent with the actual condition of airport pavement structure.


To communicate, to ground hypotheses and models, to analyse data, neuroscientists 1 often refer to divisions of the brain. Here we consider atlases used to parcellate the 2 brain when studying brain function. We discuss the meaning and the validity of 3 these parcellations, from a conceptual point of view as well as by running various 4 analytical tasks on popular functional brain parcellations. 5 Breaking up the human brain in territories is a longstanding tradition, dating back to Brodmann areas 6 [5]. While these subdivisions of the brain originated from a desire to reveal homogeneous neural 7 populations, they have become a major communication tool in human neurosciences. As such, a 8 brain parcellation shapes how we think about units of the brain. When studying brain function, eg 9 the neural implementations of mental processes, the macroscopic brain structures that we investigate 10 implicitly shape our decompositions of mental function and the models we fit to data. Even the 11 seemingly-simple study of brain responses to stimuli is tied to a choice of functional units. For 12 instance, in the ventral visual stream, the Fusiform Face Area (FFA) is generally associated to face 13 recognition [15], yet it is also strongly associated with visual-expertise in object recognition [10], and 14 neurons supporting face recognition overlap in a distributed way with place recognition [14]. Beyond 15 stimuli response, brain-wide models call for macroscopic units, for instance to study small-word 16 properties of brain functional connectivity [1], to build coupled-oscillator dynamical models of neural 17 activity, [8], or fitting spiking-neuron network models to brain-activity data [17]. 18 Brain imaging has brought many different divisions of the brain into areas, available as brain atlases 19 or parcellations. However, their extraction from brain-imaging data all entail different modeling 20 choices. Even for atlases based on anatomical structures, there is weak concordance across different 21 atlases used [4]. As functional subdivisions are not always simply visible in the microstructure or 22 the brain anatomy, the problem is even more pronounced for the choice of functional units. Yet, the 23 choice of functional parcellation impacts models of brain functions that are learned from these [26]. 24 Here, we discuss principles to guide these choices. We first consider the meaning and construct 25 validity of functional brain units. We then conduct an empirical study using analytic questions that 26 probe different aspects of functional parcels, on 6 popular brain-imaging functional parcellations. 27 1 How to think about functional brain parcellations? 28 What are functional units? A neurocognitive model entails brain units associated with specific 29 functions. For instance, a model of spatial navigation could position long-term spatial-memory 30 representations in the hippocampus and short-term visuospatial representation in the intra-parietal 31 sulcus. Both structures are fairly big, and encompass many millions of neurons. Should they be 32 subdivided? What should be their specific boundaries? The problem is particularly pronounced 33 in the cortex which is a continuous sheet of neurons. Models of vision provide a paradigmatic 34 example of successful cognitive decomposition of a functional system. We understand vision well35 enough to break it down in elementary constituents that can be mapped precisely to neural supports 36 [13]. Studying local descriptors of the visual field, edge detection, color, or orientation, leads to 37 Submitted to the NeuroAI workshop at NeurIPS 2019, Vancouver, Canada. retinotopic maps that reveal neural populations with local gradients and yet large-scale organizations 38 in functional modules: from low-level functional units V1, V2... all the way to mid and high-level 39 representations as in IT or the FFA. From a cognitive modeling perspective, these visual areas can be 40 seen as implementing an elementary operation, analogous to layers of an artificial neural network [9]. 41 In an ideal world, a functional brain parcellation would capture such units. 42 Can a large-scale division of the brain true, or merely useful? There is very active research on 43 full-brain functional parcellations, used for instance to model functional connectivity. Multimodal 44 imaging data has been used to seek a division of the brain in units with homogeneous neurobiological 45 properties [11]. One goal is to reflect intrinsic brain structure with parcels that characterize better 46 brain locations than stereotactic coordinates. Yet, representing brain function on a few hundred 47 parcels is a vast simplification compared to the 100 billions neurons in the human brain, or the 48 100 thousands voxels in an fMRI volume. Even prototypical functional areas well known for sharp 49 intrinsic functional properties, such as V1, have finer topological functional organization, as with 50 retonotopic maps or ocular-dominance columns. Sharp boundaries are not present in other, higher51 level, paradigmatic functional areas, such as the FFA, characterized by functional properties –face 52 recognition– that partly overlap with neighboring areas [14]. The picture of functionally-uniform 53 units is a convenient simplification with no intrinsic truth. And yet, it is very useful. A functional 54 parcellation is a crucial component to build a rich picture of the neural basis of mental function: At 55 the level of a study, it provides a necessary data reduction to fit full-brain models to the data. At the 56 level of the field, the brain structures that it delineates define common objects of study. 57 Better MR-based functional parcellations Some brain parcellations are however more useful 58 than others. Nodes adapted to the functional signal give better models of functional connectivity 59 [22, 7]. Given the weak concordance between anatomical atlases [4], grounding a functional analysis 60 on anatomical labels brings little benefit. Rather, the functional subdivisions can be learned from 61 large-scale fMRI data [20]. 62 2 An empirical investigation of some functional atlases for MR imaging 63 Measuring the analytic utility of an atlas To serve as a common object in the field, a good 64 functional brain parcellation should be well suited for a variety of analytic tasks that model brain 65 activity and its relationship to behavior. 66 a. Mapping brain responses Standard analysis in fMRI strives to detect difference in brain re67 sponses. Performing it on parcels mitigates multiple comparisons and inter-subject spatial vari68 ability [23]. Good parcels lead to detecting brain structure that match at the voxel level with 69 well-powered analysis on the original volumetric data. 70 b. Decoding brain function Assign a functional label to a brain structure calls for decoding: pre71 dicting mental processes from observed brain activity [19]. Good functional units would have 72 clear-cut functional labels and thus help decoding performance. 73 c. Fidelity to the original signal Summarizing brain activity on large parcels necessarily leads to 74 signal loss. A good parcellation should minimize this distortion for a given number of regions. 75 d. Functional-connectivity biomarkers Brain parcellations are often used to define the nodes of 76 functional-connectivity models. An independent validation of such a model is whether it can be 77 well associated with variations of behavioral or clinical traits across subjects [7]. 78 Popular functional atlases We investigate 6 popular atlases derived from fMRI, detailed in Table 1. 79 The atlases differ in their number of regions, whether these regions are defined with continuous or 80 binary maps, and which method was used to extract them. 81 Experimental procedures 82 a. Consistency in detection of neural responses We run an fMRI standard analysis at the parcel 83 level and compare the overlap of detected brain territories to detections at the voxel level. We 84 calibrate the noise level with the consistency of single subjects with regards to group-level results. 85 b. Decoding brain function We compare the performance of an SVM decoders trained on the data 86 extracted on various parcellations and at the voxel level. 87


The aim of this thesis was to establish and demonstrate significant capacity and performances of extended finite element method (XFEM) to calculate stress intensity factors (SIFs) histories versus crack length for problems involving multiple, interacting cracks resulting from multiple site damage (MSD). The thesis includes two deferent types of a typical aero structural configuration were analyzed: the first was unstiffened flat panel made of aluminum Al 2024-T3, containing 11 holes, each of which is a site for crack growth. Analyzed model makes a unique 3D configuration with 22 cracks, propagating at the same time; the applied stresses were equal to 50,100 and 200 MPa. The computations were carried out in Morfeo/Crack for Abaqus software which relies on the implementation of XFEM. The accuracy of these computations was verified through FRANC2D/L software and superposition based approximate method. The conducted analysis showed that XFEM is efficient tool for the simulation of crack propagation even in the case of 3D configurations with MSD, and that the obtained solutions can be used for the prediction of SIFs in analyzed MSD configuration with acceptable accuracy. The second type of aero structural configuration which analyzed in this research using XFEM as following:The first model was unstiffened curved panel with 3 rivet holes containing 6 cracks propagating at the same time; the applied average pressure was (0.054 MPa). The second model was unstiffened curved panel with 5 rivet holes containing 10 cracks propagating at the same time; the applied pressure was (0.054 MPa). The third model was unstiffened curved panel with 7 rivet holes containing 14 cracks propagating at the same time; the applied average pressure was (0.054 MPa). The forth model was unstiffened curved panel with 11 rivet holes containing 22 cracks propagating at the same time; the applied average pressure was (0.054 MPa). STRESS INTENSITY FACTORS EVALUTION AT TIPS OF MULTIPLE SITE CRACKS IN 2024-T3 ALUMINUM PANELS v All curved panels simulations study includes the relationship between crack length and its corresponding SIFs values for every crack propagation step, Also, the study includes the effect of change fuselage diameters from 1.6m, 2.4 m, 3.2 m to 4 m on every crack of the whole models and its SIF values. Also, the computations were carried out in Morfeo/Crack for Abaqus software which relies on the implementation of XFEM. The conducted analysis showed that XFEM is efficient tool for the simulation of crack propagation even in the case of 3D configurations with MSD, and that the obtained solutions can be used for the prediction of SIFs in analyzed MSD configuration with acceptable accuracy. Additionally, the research includes study and comparisons of SIF values for two flat and curved panels which had the same dimensions and number of the cracks (22 cracks); and study the effect of truss by adding frames on the curved model with 22 cracks, the results showed a high decreasing in SIF values. Finally, the research includes some SIFs calculations using standard model. The calculations are done using the empirical equations and NASGROW software. The comparisons showed excellent and accurate results using both methods.


Two-point correlation function of galaxy distribution shows that the structure in the present Universe is scale-free up to a certain scale (at least several tens Mpc), which suggests that a fractal structure may exist. If small primordial density fluctuations have a fractal structure, the present fractal-like nonlinear structure below the horizon scale could be naturally explained. We analyze the time evolution of fractal density perturbations in Einstein-de Sitter universe, and study how the perturbation evolves and what kind of nonlinear structure will come out. We assume a one-dimensional collisionless sheet model with initial Cantor-type fractal perturbations. The nonlinear structure seems to approach some attractor with a unique fractal dimension, which is independent of the fractal dimensions of initial perturbations. A discrete self-similarity in the phase space is also found when the universal nonlinear fractal structure is reached. Subject headings: cosmology: theory — large-scale structure — fractal — 1-dimensional sheet model


The X-ray emission from focused plasmas was observed with an image converter camera in the streak and framing modes. Use of a very high gain image intensifier enabled weak hard X-ray emission (above 25 keV) to be recorded. The use of an admixture of higher atomic number into the deuterium was avoided, and the role of the vapor from the anode surface could be discerned. The recorded bremsstrahlung emission seemed to be from a metallic plasma of copper released from the anode surface by bombardment from an intense electron beam. The intensity of emission was determined by the density of copper and the density and energy of the electron beam. The main emission recorded occurred several 100 nsec after the focus was over, which implies that the electric fields driving the beam existed for this duration. It is suggested that the fields were created by annihilation of magnetic flux for a time much longer than the focus duration.


Drawing on Zygmunt Bauman's distinction between two different types of intellectuals, it is arguable that in today's world we need more 'interpreters' than 'legislators', i.e. scholars with high levels of expertise in clearly defined fields rather than ideologues quick to voice opinions on any issue discussed in the public sphere. But this shift, clearly visible in France, has many consequences. What is important today is less the intellectual as an individual endowed with his subjectivity than the knowledge itself which he carries. For as with any technician, it does not really matter who the person is delivering the expertise: any available scholar will serve the purpose. This means, for example, that historians and other scholars who agree to serve as experts in legal proceedings open themselves to the risk of being instrumentalised by a judicial system which they do not control.


Representations of the Abelian-projected SU(2)and SU(3)-gluodynamics in terms of the magnetic monopole currents are derived. Besides the quadratic part, the obtained effective actions contain interactions of these currents with the world-sheets of electric strings in 4D or electric vortex lines in 3D. Next, we illustrate that 3D compact QED is a small gauge boson mass limit of 3D Abelian Higgs model with external monopoles and give a physical interpretation to the confining string theory as the integral over the monopole densities. Finally, we derive the bilocal field strength correlator in the weak-field limit of 3D compact QED, which turns out to be in line with the one predicted by the Stochastic Vacuum Model. ∗Telephone: 0049-30-2093 7974; Fax: 0049-30-2093 7631; E-mail address: email@example.com †On leave of absence from the Institute of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP), B.Cheremushkinskaya 25, 117 218 Moscow, Russia. ‡E-mail address: firstname.lastname@example.com


Background. Emulsion coatings on the surface of sausages counteract weight loss during storage. Therefore they could be applied instead of synthetic foils, which are used for vacuum packaging. The aim of this study was the assessment of the properties of two emulsion coatings (with different carrageenan content) applied on the surface of two Polish sausages with various water content (kabanosy and frankfurterki). Material and methods. Sausages were coated with emulsions containing gelatine, kappacarrageenan, beeswax, lard, glycerol and water. Coated and uncoated sausages were stored for 7, 14 or 21 days at the temperature of 4-6°C. After each storage period weight losses and hardness of peeled sausages, as well as colour values (L*, a*, b*) and water activity of removed coatings were determined. Results. Coated sausages incurred smaller weight loss and after similar storage periods they were characterized by lower hardness in comparison with uncoated sausages. Reducing the carrageenan content decreased the consumption of emulsion for coating. However, it did not have any impact on the barrier properties of coating. Water activity of coatings decreased during storage. Their colour values also changed. Conclusions. Irrespective of water content in the sausages, emulsion coatings effectively inhibited their weight loss during storage. The coating with lower content of carrageenan could be recommended. Instability of coatings colour during storage implies the need of adding a colorant to the composition of emulsion.


Introduction..Part 1: What is the third sector?..1. Defining the Sector..2. Diversity..3. Distinctive characteristics of third sector organisations..Part 2: Where is the third sector?..4. Community services..5. Health..6. Education and related activities..7. Other human services..8. Religion..9. Arts and culture..10. Sport and recreation..11. Interest organisations..12. Economic cooperation..13. Philanthropic intermediaries..Part 3: Why is the third sector where it is?..14. The third sector in Australian history..15. The dynamics of third sector growth and decline..Part 4: How third sector organisations work..16. Governing and managing third sector organisations..17. Financing third sector organisations..18. Staffing third sector organisations..Part 5: Relations with other sectors..19. Drawing support from households..20. Relations with b


In this study, gamma irradiation treatment has been applied for preparation of the magnetic nanoparticles from iron(III) chloride (FeCl3). Structure of the resulting black powders were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results revealed that the products prepared by gamma irradiation were mainly magnetite (Fe3O4) instead of maghemite (Fe2O3). The basic characteristics of the magnetite nanoparticles such as their particle size and magnetic properties were investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The nanoparticles showed superparamagnetism with the saturated magnetization of about 48.6 emu/g. Influences of radiation conditions on radiation preparation of magnetite nanoparticles and their properties were also discussed. Reaction yield increased, while average diameter of the obtained nanoparticles reduced from 46 to 17 nm depended on the absorbed dose


Child protective services are services designed to help children who have been or are at risk of becoming victims of abuse or neglect. The Ohio Department of Job and Family Services supervises the state's child protective services programs, which are administered locally by 88 county public children services agencies (PCSAs). Of those, 64 are located within county departments of job and family services, and the other 24 operate independently. County agencies investigate all allegations of abuse, neglect and dependency and offer services for abused and/or neglected children and their birth, foster and/or adoptive families.


Ongoing fieldwork has revealed that further new species of Eriope remain to be published. After a brief introduction, a new species from the Chapada Diamantina is described and illustrated.


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a negative electrode material for a lithium ion battery, which is large in charge/discharge capacity, less in the resistance in charge/discharge, and superior in charge/discharge cycle characteristic and rapid charge/discharge characteristic.SOLUTION: A negative electrode material for a lithium ion battery comprises: a mixture of particles (A) including an element capable of occluding and releasing lithium, and carbon particles (B). In the negative electrode material, the particles (A) are 500 nm or less in 90%-particle diameter in a volume-based cumulative particle-size distribution; the carbon particles (B) include graphite particles; and the peak intensity ratio I(110)/I(004) of the carbon particle (B) is 0.2 or larger. A method for manufacturing a negative electrode material for a lithium ion battery comprises a step of mixing particles (A) including an element capable of occluding and releasing lithium, and carbon particles (B) so as to bury the particles (A) in the carbon particles (B) while loosening the agglomeration of the particles (A) by application of a mechanical energy thereto.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6


To solve the common difficulty in precisely evaluating the state of ground network caused by the difficulty in accurately measuring the ground resistance of urban substation ground grid in recent years,the resistance-reducing transformation for ground grid of 110 kV Fuhao Substation under Zhongshan Power Supply Bureau of Guangdong Power Grid Corporation is taken for example,the shunt coefficient of 10 kV cable sheath to measuring current is centered around,and the evaluation means of indirectly reflecting the ground-grid resistance-reducing effect via the changes in shunt coefficient of 10 kV cable sheath before and after the resistance-reducing transformation is discussed.A referential method for measuring and evaluating the ground network state of urban substation is proposed to solve the limitation in urban ground grid assessment due to merely adopting ground resistance measuring means.


T HE EXPRESSION, "the theology of work," is of rather recent vintage. According to the noted Dominican theologian, M. D. Chenu, it appeared for the first time at the beginning of the 1950's.1 Chenu suggests that the subject of human work was not a matter of concern for theologians until this time primarily because an awareness of the theological significance of work had not developed prior to the tremendous advance in industrial technology achieved during the last century of man's existence. These advances compelled theologians to recognize that work confronts man, "physically and spiritually, with a new reality, the conditions and structure of which profoundly affect not only his standard of living but also his whole way of life." 2 Later we shall see precisely why recent technological achievements have endowed human work with a " new reality " compelling theological attention; our purpose here is merely to note that a theological investigation of the reality we call " work " is still in its infancy and that the literature on the topic is primarily in the form of essays and tentative explorations.3


A two-dimensional simulation code of a discharge-pumped excimer laser was developed to study the effect of spatial discharge non-uniformity on laser output performance. The code consists of a circuit equation, a continuity equation to calculate two-dimensional electric field, a steady-state Boltzmann equation, and rate equations. The preionization distribution was found to affect the electron and the excited particle distributions and hence the laser beam profile. Even with uniform-field electrodes, the calculated electric field distribution was not uniform, being effected by the configuration of surrounding structures, and varying in time with the changing discharge plasma conditions. The electric field surrounding insulating structures were found to increase prior to gas breakdown and to decrease afterwards.


Removing clutter in radar wind profiler is still a difficult problem to solve,while removing clutter based on lifting wavelet has proved to be of many advantages,such as good effect on removing clutter,high numerical efficiency,and easy way to realize,and so on.After introduction to the general theory of lifting wavelet,the signal characteristic of radar wind profiler is analyzed.Thereafter lifting wavelet method of removing clutter is proposed.Finally results of simulation are shown with some figures and conclusion is drawn.The proposed method will be applied in its real-time signal processor of a certain boundary layer radar wind profiler which is being manufactured.


Semantic elicitation of relevant information entities from semiand unstructured documents is an important problem in many application fields. This paper describes HıLεXa system implementing a very powerful semantic approach to information extraction from semiand unstructured documents obtained combining knowledge representation formalisms, like ontology languages, and two-dimensional languages exploiting a two-dimensional spatial representation of documents. The HıLεX system constitutes a new generation technology capable of capturing and eliciting relevant information regarding a specific domain. It is founded on OntoDLP, an extension of disjunctive logic programming for ontology representation and reasoning. In the HıLεX system the semantics of the information to be extracted is represented by using OntoDLP ontologies and the extraction patterns are expressed by means of regular and two-dimensional expressions. By converting the extraction patterns to OntoDLP reasoning modules, the HıLεX system can actually extract information from HTML pages as well as from flat text documents using the same patterns. In this paper the extraction of clinical information and events, regarding patients, diseases, therapies and drugs, from electronic textual medical records is shown. Extracted information are represented in XML and can be stored in structured form using relational database or ad-hoc ontologies to enable further analysis.


We give a quick tour through many of the classical results in the field of minimal submanifolds, starting at the definition. The field of minimal submanifolds remains extremely active and has very recently seen major developments that have solved many longstanding open problems and conjectures; for more on this, see the expanded version of this survey as well as recent surveys of Meeks and Perez, Perez, and Rosenberg.


Despite thousands of sporotrichosis cases related to the zoonotic transmission of Sporothrix brasiliensis have been described, the diagnostic gold standard is still the classical culturing methods. The mycological culture results are available afterseven to 30 days of incubation. Since an early diagnosis contributes to improving thetreatment and to the spread control of this mycosis, studies evaluating faster diagnosticmethods are needed. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the species-specific PCR for thesporotrichosis diagnosis caused by S. brasiliensis, using samples collected with a noninvasive technique. Seventy-four swabs from feline (n=64), canine (n=5), and human(n=5) suspect sporotrichosis cases were included. All samples were submitted to classicalmethods for diagnosis and to S. brasiliensis-specific PCR. Using mycological culture asthe gold standard, the diagnosis of S. brasiliensis-caused infection was confirmed in 69%(51/74) of the cases. PCR was positive in 30 out of these 51 cases, showing 59%sensitivity, 100% specificity, 72% accuracy, 100% positive predictive value, and 52%negative predictive value. Consequently, more studies are needed to elucidate theinterference factors that culminated with the high rate of false-negative results and thenoptimize this molecular test for the accurate diagnosis of infections caused by S.brasiliensis.


The study was carried out between March 1st and July 1st, 2011, in order to evaluate the tillering pattern of the deferred Piata palisade grass (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Piata). Three sward heights were evaluated in the beginning of the period of deferment: lower (20 cm), medium (30 cm) and higher (40 cm). The experimental design was of completely randomized blocks with three replications. The Piata palisade grass deferred with low initial height presented lower leaf area index, lower light interception and higher leaf angle in relation to the ones deferred with medium and high heights. The advance in the period of deferment increased the leaf area index and the light interception by the sward, in a way that the highest values were recorded in the periods from 91 and 120 days. The leaf angle reduced linearly with the advance in the period of deferment. For basal and aerial tillers, the rates of appearance, mortality and survival of tillers, as well as the balance between appearance and mortality, and the tiller density stability index were not affected by the initial height of the sward. The stability index of the tiller density was lower in the period from 1 to 30 days of deferment in relation to the periods from 31 to 60, from 61 to 90 and from 91 to 120 days. The variation of the initial height of the Piata palisade grass does not influence the tiller density dynamics during the period of deferment. The reduction of the initial height of the Piata palisade grass improves the luminous environment inside the sward, but it does not stimulate the grass tillering during the period of deferment.


To the Editors: The optimal use of ribavirin in the treatment of hepatitis C with pegylated interferon, particularly by adjusting the dose to body weight and therapeutic drug monitoring of plasma concentrations, has greatly improved the response to treatment. In clinical practice, conventional combination therapy that includes ribavirin is able to significantly reduce relapse rates after treatment. A lower relapse rate is highly dependent on ribavirin concentrations during treatment. Food and Drug Administration has recently approved sofosbuvir, a first-in-class polymerase inhibitor, for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C genotypes 1, 2, 3, or 4. This treatment option allows, for the first time, treatment of infections with genotypes 2 and 3 without using interferon. The recommended regimen is a combination of sofosbuvir 400 mg and weight-based ribavirin dosing. However, closer analysis of the results of 4 phase 3 trials (Fig. 1) in 984 hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 2 and 3 mono-infected patients (FISSION, POSITRON, FUSION, and VALENCE), reveals that relapse rates remain fairly high (236/980: 24%). The results of these trials indicate very high end of treatment (ETR) response rates, close to 100% (981/ 984: 99.7% overall). However, sustained virologic response (SVR) rates were much lower (731/984: 74.3%) because of relapse occurring after the ETR. In a more detailed analysis of the results observed in patients with genotypes 2 and 3, the relapse rate was 7% (26/327) for genotype 2 and 32.2% (210/653) for genotype 3. Guidelines for the treatment of genotype 3 indicate that treatment should be continued for 24 weeks, which reduced the relapse rate to 14% (34/249) in the single-arm study evaluating this regimen (VALENCE). FISSION, POSITRON, and FUSION trials provide data from univariate and multivariate logistic regression assessing the factors associated with SVR12 in sofosbuvir plus ribavirin patients. In multivariate analysis, RBV exposure (mg$kg21$d21) is one of the factors associated with SVR, with an odds ratio of 1.258 (P = 0.002) and 1.469 (P = 0.0119) in the FISSION and FUSION trials, respectively. In these studies, among factors associated with SVR in multivariate analysis (gender, genotype 2 versus 3, the presence or absence of cirrhosis, ribavirin exposure), the only one that can be modulated is ribavirin exposure. In addition, in a study involving 60 naive genotype 1 patients treated with combination therapy sofosbuvir (400 mg) and in the first group ribavirin 1000 or 1200 mg (weightadjusted) or in the second group ribavirin 600 mg, relapse after the ETR was 29% in the first group and 45% in the second. In recent years, with dual therapy and the advent of direct-acting antiviral agents, it has been clearly demonstrated that patients with a more marked reduction of hemoglobin (Hb) during treatment are more likely to achieve higher SVR rates. Very recently, Sulkowski et al, analyzing the NEUTRINO, FISSION, FUSION, and POSITRON clinical trials, showed that SVR was associated with the extent of Hb decrease. For HCV genotype 2–infected patients, SVR rates were .92% across all levels of Hb reduction. However, for HCV genotype 3–infected patients, SVR was determined by the extent of Hb decrease: 63% for patients with a decrease $3 g/dL and 48% for those with a decrease ,3 g/dL. In fact, anemia during treatment of hepatitis C partially reflects good exposure to ribavirin. However, plasma ribavirin measurements have 2 distinct benefits for the clinician. The first benefit is prevention of overdose, thereby avoiding the risk of accentuating anemia. In practice, deterioration of anemia can be avoided by regularly monitoring the kinetic decrease of Hb during therapy. The second benefit of plasma ribavirin assays, which are probably indicated in the case of sofosbuvir therapy, is to detect patients with subtherapeutic concentrations despite good compliance with treatment, because of the marked interindividual variability of pharmacokinetics even when the dose is adjusted to body weight. In patients for whom interferon is not indicated, sofosbuvir provides the possibility of interferon-free FIGURE 1. Data on the ETR response, SVR, and relapse from phase 3 trials in HCV genotype 2 and 3 mono-infected patients.


Disclosed is water purification equipment, comprising an integrated water path module (2) and a plurality of functional components, wherein the plurality of functional components connect water paths between the components by means of the integrated water path module (2); a plurality of port interfaces (2A) are formed on the outer side surface of the integrated water path module (2); a plurality of flow passages (21) are integrally formed inside the integrated water path module (2); at least some of the plurality of flow passages (21) extend in three-dimensional directions respectively; a plurality of ports (25) are formed on the port interfaces (2A), the ports (25) serving as access ports for the plurality of functional components; and the plurality of flow passages (21) are respectively in communication with the ports (25). Further disclosed is the integrated water path module (2).


Urban litter, such as cans, packaging, and cigarettes, has significant impacts, and yet little is known about its spatio‐temporal distribution, with little available data. In contexts of data scarcity, crowdsourcing provides a low‐cost approach to collecting a large amount of geo‐referenced data. We consider 1.7 million litter observations in the Netherlands, collected by the crowdmapping project Litterati. First, we analyze the biases of this data at the province and municipality level. Second, in a local case study with high‐quality data (the city of Purmerend), we investigate the spatial distribution of urban litter and the points of interest that attract it. This study's findings can support both the crowdmapping process, steer volunteers' efforts, and policy‐making to tackle litter at the urban level. This article met the requirements for a gold–gold JIE data openness badge described at http://jie.click/badges.


Since 1972 we have been cautiously exploring the use of CO2 laser in the management of carefully selected cases of localized carcinoma of the oral cavity. At the present time our experience is based on the treatment of 57 patients with cancer of the oral cavity.


Objective To evaluate the influence of artovastatin on coronary artery atheromatous plaque.Methods 43 cases of coronary artery atheromatous plaque examined with 64 slice spiral CT and retrospectively ECG gated technology,received artovastatin tablets(20 mg/d) for six months,and the atheromatous plaque were scanned again.Results Of the 43 cases in this study,132 atheromatous plaques occurred in 119 coronary artery branches.The sizes of all plaques had different degrees of descent after the treatment.The rate of descent was 16.4% in lipoid plaques,8.1% in fibrous plaques,10.7% in 13 plaques.Conclusion Artovastatin can reverse and stabilize the Coronary artery atheromatous plaque,and reduce the occurrence of acute coronary artery affairs.64 slice spiral CT can quantitatively evaluate the changes of atheromatous plaque.It provides objective basis for the clinic treatment.


Quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) modeling is a helpful approach used to correlate the properties of pollutants with their structure descriptors. In this paper a QSPR model for direct photolysis half-lives of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) under sunlight on the water surface was developed using density functional theory (DFT) and direct photolysis half-lives of seven PAHs without reported observed values were predicted. The quantum chemical descriptors used in this study were computed at the level of B3LYP/6–311+G(d) and analyzed by partial least squares (PLS) method. The obtained QSPR model with a correlation coefficient of 0.963 was more significant than that derived from semi-empirical molecular orbital algorithm in literatures. It was found that the eigenvalues of the frontier molecular orbital (EHOMO, ELUMO, ENLUMO and ENHOMO) are important in governing the photolysis half-lives of PAHs in water surface, while the molecular weight (MW) and molecular total energy (TE) also have great effects on photolysis half-lives. The importance of ENLUMO and ENHOMO in the model complicates the photolytic mechanism of PAHs and they might become two useful descriptors in QSPR study on photolysis.


Abstract Colleges and universities are integrating information literacy components into current curricula to better prepare students for the global marketplace. Students attending Robert Morris University are required to successfully complete five communications courses, that include elements of information literacy, as well as communication intensive courses in their major. Students' inability to successfully complete an upper-level research assignment instigated collaboration between a librarian and the professor. As a result, students can more successfully identify, retrieve, and evaluate information when they receive training that involves application exercises. Introduction Despite numerous exposures and application exercises to the fundamentals of information retrieval, analysis, and synthesis, students' were unsuccessful in their attempts to complete information content designed tasks. This article discusses a unified effort initiated to abate a series of problems related to information literacy. Specifically, an assistant professor of learning resources and a public services librarian (librarian) and a professor of communications (professor) joined forces to devise effective strategies to better manage the crisis. Students' inabilities to apply information literacy skills to a specific area of investigation were identified as a crisis. The term crisis is strong, but is used in this discussion because despite the development of reference materials to assist students with their tasks, and 15-credits of on-going application exercises during freshman and sophomore years, their appeared to be a "disconnect" between content and application. We begin our discussion with background on information literacy and the five-course sequence at Robert Morris University (RMU) designed to cultivate information literacy skills. The librarian offers perspective on how library resources have been utilized (perhaps underutilized) through the instruction of these courses and preparation of faculty. The professor describes an assignment required in a capstone, skills-intensive course in media management that cultivated awareness that some students had not achieved information literacy. The collaborators share their recommendations as to how future crisis can be avoided using early and on-going collaboration between librarians and faculty. Information Literacy The term information literacy has been known to librarians prior to the publication of the American Libraries Association's (ALA) Presidential Committee on Information Literacy: Final Report in 1989. The report just made the whole thing official. In it the authors drafted a definition of and goals for information literacy that continues to impact higher education today: To be information literate, a person must be able to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use effectively the needed information. Producing such a citizenry will require that schools and colleges appreciate and integrate the concept of information literacy into their learning programs and that they play a leadership role in equipping individuals and institutions to take advantage of the opportunities inherent within the information society (American Library Association's Presidential Committee on Information Literacy, 1989). Librarians are experienced in all manners of information retrieval and were one of the first professions to notice the gap that was forming between humans and machines as information resources became increasingly available in only electronic formats. These new mediums required additional skills to first locate, evaluate, and then understand the information contained within them. Academic librarians in particular became disturbed by this disconnect. They determined that the placement of information literacy instruction within higher education made sense and began working on a common set of criteria to better accomplish this goal. …


The aim of the study was to develop an innovative processing method of magnetorheological elastomers (MRE). This method comprises optimization of the MRE structure in the context of their performance in the magnetic field. The influence of the amount of ferromagnetic particles and their arrangement in relation to the external magnetic field was investigated. As matrixes various elastomers, with different stiffness, were used. Their properties were compared with commercially available silicone rubbers. It was found that the structure of the MRE produced depends on the viscosity of the matrix before curing and the magnetic field strength applied. Two different magnetic field strengths were used: 100 and 300 mT. The amount of the carbonyl iron particles was equal to 1.5, 11.5 and 33.0 vol. %. Scanning electron and light microscopy techniques were used for the MRE microstructure observations. The influence of curing conditions on the thermal properties of the MRE was investigated. To evaluate the external magnetic field effect on the magnetorheological properties a deflection under magnetic field was measured. The experiment showed that application of the magnetic field increases stiffness of the material.


This article presents a design-for-test methodology for embedded memories. The methodology relies on a fully random fault model of post-fabrication errors, which results in a low-overhead test strategy. The methodology's effectiveness is demonstrated on an embedded system with faulty memories.


: 20 Successful management of invasive pests, such as Drosophila suzukii, relies on a fine understanding 21 of their biology. Genomic and physiological studies have suggested that the invasive success of D. 22 suzukii is strongly associated to its ability to overwinter in a reproductive diapause state. Here, we 23 coupled field surveys with comparative morphology and genetics to increase our understanding of 24 D. suzukii overwintering behavior, and provide useful indications for its management. 25 The results of a four-year long field trapping in an Italian mountain region indicate that D. suzukii is 26 continuously captured during winter months and that the number of captures is correlated with 27 temperature. In addition, during winter females were consistently trapped at higher numbers than 28 males. We also found that overwintering not only occurs in anthropic shelters but also in natural 29 environments such as woods. Comparative morphological and genetic studies indicate that D. 30 suzukii spermathecae are larger in size, more pigmented, extend more after mating, and overexpress 31 the spermathecae-related Cyp4d20 cytochrome: this suggests that females are able to collect and 32 protect for UV more sperm than closely related species, a possible adaptation to the dormant 33 reproductive state, when males are less likely to survive. We hence propose that early season 34 population size can be better forecasted by taking into account the captures of the previous winter. 35 We also recommend that control methods should be diapause-aware, therefore done in late 36 winter/early spring and close to natural environments, and not only in fruit ripening season and 37 close to orchards. 38


Introduction : Chronic diarrhea is accomp-anied with abdominal symptoms and restr-icts the activity of patient. Precise evaluation of the history of patient, physical exam-ination, laboratory and radiological evaluation, colonoscopy and biopsy may be help-ful to determine the underlying causes of chronic diarrhea. Materials & Methods : For the study, 100 patients (50 male and 50 female) with chronic diarrhea were studied. These patients had referred to Tabriz Sina hospital, Iran during 2006 to 2011. The patients were examined for the presence of fecal leuko-cytes, parasitic eggs and trophozoites. Stu-dding parameters such as colonoscopic findings and final diagnoses based on intes-tinal mucous biopsy were study. Data were analyzed by using of SPSS software and the statistical tests, frequency and chi-square. Findings: Mean age of men was 36.44 year and men age of women was 38.56 year. Colonoscopic findings were as 61% infla-mmation, 10% erosion and 29% normal. Biopsy study findings were as 59% nonsp-ecific colitis, 15% ulcerative colitis and 26% amebic colitis. Discussion & Conclusion : Chronic diarrhea may be only one symptom of underlying di-gestive diseases. Therefore, after exclusion of infective and parasitological causes, inv-asive diagnostic method is indicated. The two method are together considered useful diagnostic tool for the management of the chronic disease and prevent the undesired economical and health problems for the patients.


The authors measured the relationship between urine and plasma osmolality in 72 normal children, aged 2 to 17, and 13 children, aged 3 to 18, with diagnosed vasopressin-deficient diabetes insipidus. From paired urine-plasma osmolality measurements in the normal children, the 95% confidence region was defined during a period of free fluid intake and after oral hydration. Most of the values for urine-plasma osmolality pairs obtained from the children with diabetes insipidus fell outside of the normal range during free fluid access. The majority of the remaining patients' urine-plasma osmolality values did fall outside of the normal range, however, after three hours of fluid deprivation.


Terminal high temperature is a major environmental stress limiting wheat productivity worldwide. The field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of terminal heat stress on wheat growth and yield. The factorial experiment was designed in randomized complete block design with three replications, and comprised of eleven treatments of chemicals namely water spray @ 500 l/ha at 45 days after sowing (DAS) and during heat stress; salicylic acid @ 50 µM at 45 DAS and during heat stress; salicylic acid @ 100 µM at 45 DAS and during heat stress; calcium chloride @ 0.5% at 45 DAS and during heat stress, calcium chloride @ 1% at 45 DAS and during heat stress; unsprayed control under ambient temperature and heat stress. An increase of +11.6°C of average maximum temperature and +2.5°C of minimum temperature was observed by imposing heat stress during 108-114 DAS. The results revealed that grain yield was reduced by 35% due to heat stress. In this study, the growth parameters, yield attributes and grain yield did not vary significantly with the spray of different chemicals.


Cultural resources form part of a nation's non-renewable assets. They constitute the heart of a society's history yet throughout the ages, human activities have played havoc with archaeological sites, sacred places and moveable cultural property. In recent years, the plunder of cultural resources of African nations to meet the demands of markets outside the continent has assumed crisis proportions. In this paper, the writer examines some wide-ranging and intricate issues regarding the expropriation of cultural property in Ghana since the colonial period.


The development of convenient separation processes is a major challenge being examined by scientists and technologists due to its industrial applications. The supported liquid membrane (SLM) technology has been widely employed to separate several species like permeable gas from binary gaseous mixtures, metal ions, and organic and biological compounds. The main reason for the limited use of SLMs in the industry is their short life and less stability due to the high volatility of traditional organic solvents. Room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) are environmentally benign designer salts, exhibit negligible volatility, show good thermal stability, and have remarkable solubility, thus, acting as an alternative solvent to overcome the drawbacks of SLMs. Besides, the high viscosity of ionic liquids (ILs) offers good capillary force which prevents their flow into membrane pores even under high pressure. Moreover, their tuned properties make them amenable compounds for their immobilization into membrane pores to provide supported ionic liquid membranes (SILMs) with good mechanical strength. In literature (from 2007 to the present), a variety of SILMs have been designed, synthesized, an+d employed in the field of separation science. This review is mainly focused on the applications of SILMs in the separation of more permeable gases (CO2, O2, CO, H2, and C2H4) from binary gas mixtures as well as the separation of organic compounds (organic acids, alcohols, aromatic hydrocarbons, amines, reactants and products of transesterification reaction, nitrogen- and sulfur-containing aromatic compounds) from distinct mixtures.


A one-bit wireless transceiver is a power- and cost-efficient system architecture for terahertz (THz) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems using a few gigahertz bandwidths and more. Understanding the channel capacity has been limited because of the lack of explicit mutual information expressions when using one-bit transceivers. In this paper, we derive a lower bound of the capacity of the THz line-of-sight (LOS) MIMO channel constructed by uniform circular arrays (UCAs) at both ends. The proposed strategy harnesses a discrete Fourier transform-based analog precoder and combiner in conjunction with a novel waterfilling policy under the one-bit transceiver constraint. Using simulation, we verify that the proposed waterfilling solution provides a substantial gain in spectral efficiency compared to the uniform allocation policy.


Summary. Single‐fibre electromyography of the pubococcygeus muscle of the pelvic floor was performed in 69 asymptomatic women and 105 women with stress incontinence of urine or genitourinary prolapse or both. The results suggest that partial denervation of the pelvic floor with subsequent reinnervation is a normal accompaniment of ageing and is increased by childbirth. Women with stress incontinence of urine or genitourinary prolapse or both have a significant increase in denervation of the pelvic floor compared with asymptomatic women.


Objective to explore the feasibility and practicability of treating hemangiomas with eliminating hemorrhoid sovereign remedy. Methods selecting 122 cases hemangiomas,to inject rmedy to inetratumor1-3 times and observe tumorous, change and work out suit the remedy to the case. Results cure rate 84%,efficiency rate 95% Conclusion it has better therapeutic effect in treating hemangiomas with eliminating hemorrhoid sovereign remedy,and it is safe,simple and non scar.


The paper deals with the analysis of possible ways of spreading malware on the basis of weighted graphs, where the graph describes the relationship between different programs, and the weight shows the probability of transition malware from one software system to another. The task is to identify the most likely routes of malicious programs distribution and to find the most likely ways of their penetration into a given software product. The method of dynamic programming is proposed to solve the problem. The procedure of solving the problem has been demonstrated on a particular example. The results of calculations helped to determine the most probable route of penetration and to estimate the probability of successful attack of malicious programs on the required software product. Graph theory methods also allowed to estimate a number of other numerical characteristics related to the process of the malicious programs distribution, which include the minimum number of clock cycles of the system (after the implementation of this characteristic it becomes possible for a malicious program to penetrate the specified software product); the number of clock cycles of the system (when probability of penetration of the malware into a specific file will be greater than the specified value). Besides, the method helps identify cyclical routes of malware distribution, which characterizes repeated attempts of malware to impact on the software product, find the most likely sources of distribution, detect the files, through which penetration into given software product is possible.


Airborne Particulate Matter: Sources, Composition and Concentrations.- Metals and Organic Compounds in Airborne Particulate Matter: Analytical Methods.- Airborne Particulate Matter: Environmental Pathways, Behaviour and Fate.- Bioavailability and Toxicology of Airborne Particulate Matter.- Airborne Particulate Matter Exposures and Health Risks.- Protecting Human Health: Policy and Scientific Uncertainty.


Chapter 1 Capitalism, Socialism, and the Mixed Economy Chapter 2 Monopoly Chapter 3 The Antitrust Laws and Predatory Pricing Chapter 4 Externalities Chapter 5 Regulation of Safety and Quality Chapter 6 Environmentalism Chapter 7 Economic Inequality Chapter 8 Public Goods Chapter 9 Asymmetric Information Chapter 10 Epilogue


At the modern stage there is integration of higher education of Ukraine in European educational space. Ratified Law of Ukraine "About higher education" from 1. 07. 2014 envisages introduction of modern European innovation technologies of functioning of the system of higher education (principle of autonomy of higher educational establishments, combination of education with science, input own programs of educational, scientific, scientific and technical and innovative activity and other). In connection of the integration of higher education of Ukraine in European educational space the Law of Ukraine ratified in a new release "About higher education" from 1.07.2014. In Vinnytsia National Medical University by M. Pyrogov from "On higher education" modern innovative technologies of organization of educational process will be realized – the European credit-transfer system (ECТS) is inculcated, capture of work skills with the program "SKIF", Study-training center of practical training of doctors, elective course the "Sporting sections", created study-education program by course "the Physical and psychological rehabilitation" is worked out.


Elastic and inelastic cross sections for 180/sup 0/ electron scattering from /sup 3/He were measured at incident electron energies of 40.44, 50.58, and 60.63 MeV. Our radiatively corrected cross section measurements are in good agreement with theoretical calculations of the behavior near the two-body breakup threshold at 5.5 MeV. The measurements were also compared to cross sections calculated in the zero-range approximation and to sum rules. At q = 0.602 fm/sup -1/ the measured magnetic radius was r = 1.79 + 0.14 fm. The possibility of the existence of a state at about 10 MeV excitation is also discussed.


Sign synthesis is still an evolving technology and improving it requires the elicitation of qualitative feedback from users. Current options for acquiring qualitative feedback are limited. Face-toface tests conducted in sign language are expensive. On the other hand, remote tests do not use the preferred language of the test participants. A new tool, SignQUOTE, (Signed Qualitative Usability Online Testing Environment) is a configurable, crossplatform remote testing system based entirely on sign language. It includes an innovative method for capturing qualitative feedback in sign language via webcam. In a comparison study, participants viewed animations of American Sign Language and gave suggestions for improvement. The authors conducted a study using SignQUOTE that presented stimuli identical to those used in a previously-conducted face-to-face study. When comparing the two approaches, the authors found results that are consistent with previous comparison studies of remote and face-to-face testing. SignQUOTE comes with a TestDesigner that allows researchers to customize tests. The software is available as open source.


Using the panel data of 698 listed companies from 2001 to 2005 and the method of panel data model,the paper empirically examines the relationship between corporate performance and corporate diversifications and diversification change.The author finds that corporate diversification and diversification change do decrease corporate value and performance,but the value discount of diversification change is lower than the value discount of diversification.


A catalytic converter ozone depleter (18) for an environmental control system (10) in an aircraft, the converter (18) comprising: a core (22); an anodized surface layer (24) formed from a portion of the core (22); a layer washcoat (26) on the anodized layer (24); and ozone catalysing eliminator (28) impregnated in the washcoat layer (26).


Very fast on-line computational capability to predict mid-term dynamic system response to disturbances and identify corrective actions is an important attribute of high-speed extended term (HSET) time domain simulation (TDS). Focusing on the development of computational speed, this paper propose a parallel strategy intended for deployment on the super computer, Blue Gene/L, to simulate the power system dynamics, which can be described as a set of differential algebraic equations (DAEs). To deal with DAE stiffness problems and fully capture benefits of explicit and implicit integration methods, the partition algorithm called recursive projection method (RPM) is employed. Additionally, good load balancing for parallel computation is achieved using waveform relaxation method (WRM) to separate the stiff parts of DAE. Multi-frontal Massively Parallel sparse direct Solver (MUMPS) is utilized to solve the linear systems involved in the implicit methods. This paper reports on the design


Abstract : Since September 1980 we have maintained a program of bimonthly sampling of the velocity structure of the Gulf Stream. Each section consists of a set of velocity and temperature profiles taken along a 150 - 200 km long line centered at 36 N, 73 W from the Slope Waters to the Sargasso Sea. The field program is designed to span two complete years. There are many scientific questions that motivate this effort. These include the determination of total mass transport, and the variations in mass and heat transport particularly with regard to the annual cycle. This will include a reexamination and redefinition of the corresponding integrals. We also expect to obtain rather accurate statistics on the mean and eddy kinetic energies in natural coordinates rather than geographical coordinates. Comparing the two should be instructive. Other objectives include a study of the local dynamics (lateral/vertical structure of the vorticity field Reynolds stresses and their role). We also hope to determine what coupling, if any, there exists between the baroclinic and barotropic (deep) components of motion. This is of interest for its own sake and for any reexamination of the many hydrographic sections that have been taken in the past. While we have only conducted very preliminary analyses of the uncorrected data thus far, this paper offers several observations.


In the area of health, namely hospitals, we can agree that the intrinsic need to have multidisciplinary teams, highly specialized and indispensable resources leads us to a degree of complexity that requires, daily, the best performance, not running away from the logistics area to the rule. The centralization of resources, namely distribution warehouses, emerges as a challenge and possible solution for health institutions to respond in the best possible way to their main purpose: to put the right material in the right place at the right price in the right time space. As regards the advantages of this type of organization, there are several authors who argues that the need for human resources training, ease of coordination and the use of economies of scale are the main advantage. As far as the disadvantages are concerned, there is no special agreement on them, there are disparate factors from author to author, such as: routine, centralization, objectives or operation costs.


Communication strategies have a big role in learning target language since they can be the tool in solving communication problem. Both teacher and students need to use the strategies in communicating to keep the conversation flow smoothly. This study aimed to find out the types of communication strategies used by the English teacher during the teaching process and to explain the implementation of those strategies in the classroom. By implementing Dornyei's taxonomy, the data was classified into thirteen strategies. A qualitative research was used as the method in this study and the data was collected by doing observation, audio recording and interviewing the teacher in SMAN 3 Banda Aceh. The result showed that eight strategies were used by the English teacher included three additional strategies that appeared during teaching process. Based on the result, s ta lling and time gaining strategy was the highest number of strategies used by the teacher in the classroom. Meanwhile the least number of strategies used was repetition . In addition, the teacher only implemented compensatory strategies in the class since the eight strategies were included into it. Therefore, it could be inferred that teacher who commonly applied compensatory strategies had high proficiency in English. Thus, by conducting this study, the teacher was expected to use and choose the best strategies to overcome the communication problem in the classroom.


Urinary tract and kidney stone ailments have affected human beings since antiquity. The occurrence of these stones has been increasing in rural and urban societies. A large population of India suffers from urinary tract and kidney stones, formed due to deposition of calcium, phosphates and oxalates. Antiurolithiatic studies were done with two assays, namely nucleation assay and aggregation assay. CaOx crystals were grown in the in vitro technique. The effect of root and shoot extracts of Scoparia dulcis L. was studied on the growth and inhibition of CaOx crystals. By comparing the activities of the two extracts shoot and root, the greater antiurolithiatic activity was shown by root sample with a concentration of 500 μl.


In recent years, a number of theorists have claimed that beliefs about probability are transparent. To believe probably p is simply to have a high credence that p. In this paper, I prove a variety of triviality results for theses like the above. I show that such claims are inconsistent with the thesis that probabilistic modal sentences have propositions or sets of worlds as their meaning. Then I consider the extent to which a dynamic semantics for probabilistic modals can capture theses connecting belief, certainty, credence, and probability. I show that although a dynamic semantics for probabilistic modals does allow one to validate such theses, it can only do so at a cost. I prove that such theses can only be valid if probabilistic modals do not satisfy the axioms of the probability calculus.


The performance of fiber-optic displacement sensor, which uses artificial teeth as a target is demonstrated for various tea concentration macerated onto the target. In the experiment, a concentric type of bundled fibers and yellow He-Ne laser are used as a probe and a light source, respectively. The location of peak voltage shifts to a shorter displacement as the tea concentration increases. The sensitivity of both slopes are also reduces with the increment of tea concentration. This is attributed to the diminishing of the received light intensity because of the change of the refractive index at the teeth surface, which actually changes the angle of the reflected light beam. The stability of the sensor, a high sensitivity and the simplicity of the design and low cost of fabrication make it suitable for chemical, biomedical, pharmaceutical and process control applications. (Received Fabruary 2, 2010; accepted March 1, 2010)


A bitumen fractionation procedure was developed based on the Iatroscan device. A small quantity of bitumen is deposited on special, silica coated rods (Chromarods). Solvents of increasing polarity are used to separate the bitumen into fractions and these are detected and quantified by measuring the conductivity of a hydrogen flame as it burns off each fraction. The Iatroscan procedure is generally regarded as poorly reproducible and this was addressed in the ARRB procedure by averaging the results from five Chromarods, and including a reference bitumen in each run to compensate for changes in separation efficiency and detection efficiency. Fractionation results for bitumens in the period 1956 to 1991 are presented. Outlying results were shown to be associated with bitumen field performance problems such as colloidal instability and high temperature susceptibility.


This paper addresses the question whether rail transport should be preferred over road-based modes because of its superior environmental characteristics, presumed to exist because rail is more energy efficient than road modes and uses, or can use, less polluting forms of energy. The paper examines the considerations which determine the relative energy intensity of modes, the other cost and quality factors that determine the economic choice of mode, and the environmental consequences. The paper concludes that there is no good case for a global preference for rail investments independent of determining net economic effect, which can only be calculated on a case-by-case basis. Consequently, the World Bank should avoid railway investments which do not attract traffic and are as such uneconomic and environmentally useless, and continue to concentrate on securing the institutional reforms necessary to fully realize the potential of rail transport, including its benefit for the environment.


In this work, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is performed for the synthesis of MoS2 films on SiO2 and epi-grade sapphire with 0001 orientation substrates. Structural properties of obtained samples are examined by means of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) and optical microscopy. SEM and optical microscopy show MoS2 monocrystalline domains with lateral dimensions up to 80 m when deposited on SiO2 and up to 240 m on sapphire. The thickness of MoS2 domains is determined by AFM. By EDX the elemental composition is obtained for MoS2. In future, it is planned to create vertical heterostructures based on dichalcogenides of transition metals and graphene.In this work, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is performed for the synthesis of MoS2 films on SiO2 and epi-grade sapphire with 0001 orientation substrates. Structural properties of obtained samples are examined by means of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) and optical microscopy. SEM and optical microscopy show MoS2 monocrystalline domains with lateral dimensions up to 80 m when deposited on SiO2 and up to 240 m on sapphire. The thickness of MoS2 domains is determined by AFM. By EDX the elemental composition is obtained for MoS2. In future, it is planned to create vertical heterostructures based on dichalcogenides of transition metals and graphene.


MMDR(Machine Method for Discovering Regularities) is a method in Data Minning field which can get knowledge from data. In this paper, author designed a wide-first approximative regularity dual layer growing algorithm to implement MMDR, and introduced how to apply this algorism in stock price forecasting and building individual models in stock market simulation with the rules produced in the process that the algorithm runs.


PURPOSE
The aim of this study was to identify factors that are associated with risk of falls on rehabilitation unit and to determine an efficient and inexpensive method of identifying patients at high risk for fall.

DESIGN
Retrospective record review.

METHOD
Retrospective review of 2,254 consecutive admissions to an inpatient rehabilitation unit.

FINDINGS
Score on the Functional Independence Measure (FIM) at the time of admission and length of stay are the factors that most highly correlate with risk of fall. Use of the mobility and problem solving or transfer and problem solving scales can identify patients at high risk for fall.

CONCLUSION
Low scores on total FIM, and the mobility and problem solving items indicate increased risk of fall.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Nurses need to take appropriate measures to protect the safety of these patients.


Using a valence force field, we predict the symmetric lattice distortions around isovalent impurities in 64 semiconductor-impurity systems. For the five systems for which extended x-ray absorption fine-structure (EXAFS) data are available, the results are in excellent agreement with experiment. Our theory also explains quantitatively, without adjustable parameters, the observed bond-length variations in solid solutions ${A}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}{B}_{x}C$ of semiconductor alloys, as well as their excess enthalpies of mixing.


We consider the dynamics of lattice random walks with resetting. The walker moving randomly on a lattice of arbitrary dimensions resets at every time step to a given site with a constant probability r. We construct a discrete renewal equation and present closed-form expressions for different quantities of the resetting dynamics in terms of the underlying reset-free propagator or Green's function. We apply our formalism to the biased random walk dynamics in one-dimensional (1D) unbounded space and show how one recovers in the continuous limits results for diffusion with resetting. The resetting dynamics of biased random walker in 1D domain bounded with periodic and reflecting boundaries is also analyzed. Depending on the bias the first-passage probability in periodic domain shows multi-fold non-monotonicity as r is varied. Finally, we apply our formalism to study the transmission dynamics of two lattice walkers with resetting in 1D domain bounded by periodic and reflecting boundaries. The probability of a definite transmission between the walkers shows non-monotonic behavior as the resetting probabilities are varied.


CA125 has proven to be the most promising biomarker for ovarian cancer screening. However, results from two large randomized trials comparing screening using CA125 and transvaginal ultrasound (TVU) to usual care have shown no clinically important difference in ovarian cancer mortality. A major limitation of CA125 as an ovarian cancer screening biomarker has been low specificity, which could be due in part to its expression on variety of tissues, including the lung, pancreas, stomach, liver, endometrium, and breast. In addition, CA125 levels vary between individuals based on demographic, reproductive, and lifestyle characteristics. We hypothesize that, independent of ovarian cancer, genetic variation may influence CA125 levels and identification of genetic predictors of CA125 may be used to develop individualized cut-off points, in combination with personal characteristics, to improve the predictive value of CA125 as an ovarian cancer screening biomarker. Furthermore, studies showing that CA125 binds to natural killer cells and monocytes, dampening immune response, suggest that CA125 may contribute to ovarian cancer progression through immune dysregulation. Thus, identifying genetic variants associated with CA125 levels could add another layer of understanding of the biologic role of elevated CA125 in ovarian cancer progression. To test our hypothesis, we evaluated the association between common germline genetic variants across the genome in relation to serum levels of CA125 among 347 women without ovarian cancer recruited as population-based controls in the New England Case Control Study, a population-based study of ovarian cancer that enrolled participants between 1992 and 2008 in eastern Massachusetts and New Hampshire. We used linear regression to identify SNPs associated with CA125 using the Rare variant (RV) test. To account for multiple testing, a p-value threshold of 5x10-8 was used. We adjusted for age and three principal components to account for potential population stratification. While there were no GWAS-significant SNPs, rs12602627 on chromosome 17 was associated with a 75% increase in CA125 per additional variant allele of rs12602627 (p=6.47x10-8). Furthermore, there were two SNPs (rs12602169 and rs73990427) in close proximity that were nearly GWAS significant (p=7.12x10-8 and 8.97x10-8, respectively). rs12602627 explained 8% of the variability of CA125. Monocyte to macrophage differentiation associated (MMD) is the closest gene to rs12602627. MMD encodes a protein expressed in differentiated mature macrophages and is involved in macrophage activation, suggesting it may play an important role in immune response. This is the first GWAS study to assess SNPs directly associated with circulating levels of CA125 in women without ovarian cancer. Validation studies are currently under way. Results from these analyses may provide important insights into genetic determinants of CA125 levels, improved ovarian cancer screening, and better understanding of how CA125 contributes to ovarian cancer pathogenesis and progression. *Coauthors. Citation Format: Naoko Sasamoto, Lai Jiang, Allison F. Vitonis, Raina N. Fichorova, Paul Pharaoh, Daniel W. Cramer, Peter Kraft, Kathryn L. Terry. Genome-wide association study of cancer antigen 125. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Conference: Addressing Critical Questions in Ovarian Cancer Research and Treatment; Oct 1-4, 2017; Pittsburgh, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Clin Cancer Res 2018;24(15_Suppl):Abstract nr B19.


There are many discussions about the Bai people's Benzhu (Village Deity) worship or the religious form and social-cultural functions of the Benzhu culture. The focus of discussion falls on the orientation of Benzhu worship. This issue involves theories of religion and ethnology and is closely connected with the national sense and the implementation of ethnic policies by the central government. Further qualitative analysis of the important aspects of the issue is academically valuable.


It is hypothesized that dark matter comprises particles called quark nuggets, and that these particles have a permanent magnetic dipole moment. Assuming the hypothesis is true, calculations predict that interaction with the earth's magnetosphere should cause oscillation of a magnetized quark nugget (MQN), as well as an emission of RF radiation between 30 kHz and 30 MHz This paper describes a loop antenna designed and developed to operate between 300 kHz and 3 MHz for the purpose of testing the aforementioned hypothesis.


Simple Summary Despite the improvements in the survival rates and functional outcomes of childhood cancer survivors (CCS), most of them experience late effects with possible consequences to their occupational status. To date, a reliable estimate of the prevalence of employment among this population is still missing. This study aimed to assess, for the first time, the prevalence of employment among CCS and to examine the associations of socio-demographic and clinical factors with employment. Almost 100 cohorts worldwide have been included in this review, highlighting that two-thirds of childhood cancer survivors were employed. Different employment rates depending on socio-demographic and clinical factors were identified. The findings from this study could facilitate the design of targeted interventions aimed at promoting employment among CCS. Abstract To date, there are heterogeneous studies related to childhood cancer survivors' (CCS) employment rates. Given the importance of this topic, we aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the prevalence of employment among CCS and to examine its association with socio-demographic and clinical factors. We followed the PRISMA guidelines to search for pertinent articles in relevant electronic databases. Eighty-nine articles comprising 93 cohorts were included. The overall prevalence of employment was 66% (CI: 95% 0.63–0.69). Subgroup meta-analyses showed that lower rates were found for central nervous system tumor survivors (51%, CI: 95% 0.43–0.59), and for CCS treated with cranial-radiotherapy (53%, CI: 95% 0.42–0.64) or haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (56%, CI: 95% 0.46–0.65). The studies conducted in Asia highlighted employment rates of 47% (CI: 95%, 0.34–0.60). Univariate meta-regressions identified the following socio-demographic factors associated with higher rates of employment: a female gender (p = 0.046), a higher mean age at the time of investigation (p = 0.00), a longer time since diagnosis (p = 0.00), a higher educational level (p = 0.03), and a married status (p = 0.00). In conclusion, this systematic review and meta-analysis provides evidence that two-thirds of CCS are employed worldwide. Identifying vulnerable groups of CCS may allow for the design of multidisciplinary support strategies and interventions to promote employment in this population.


For the determination of catalase activity, a modified Appleman's (i) apparatus was used, and the amount of oxygen liberated from io cc. of hydrogen peroxid was used as a measure of the activity. This method was similar to that used by Crocker and Harrington (4). In preliminary tests, catalase determinations were made on fruit powder sifted through a IOOmesh screen, the amount used varying from 0.035 to o.3 gram. A tenminute reading was taken, and from this and from the weight of material used the catalase activity per gram was calculated. In all the experiments here reported, the activity was calculated in the same way. Table I shows the relation between the quantity of fruit powder used and the volume of oxygen liberated.


This study, co-authored by UCLA's Williams Project and the Institute for Gay and Lesbian Strategic Studies (IGLSS), estimates the impact of allowing same-sex couples to marry on California's state budget.


When a human being is unable to cope with his problems by means of lay care he must resort to professional care. This is certainly valid for the demented group of patients who can be cared for by relatives and friends for many years but who reaches a stage of their disease when the competence of the non-professional caregiver is not sufficient. The symptoms of the patient's disease are so demanding that institutional care becomes necessary. This is reflected by the fact that an increasing proportion of all available beds for geriatric patients are occupied by demented patients. In the county of Vasterbotten (Sweden) the prevalence of dementia in different kind of institutions was estimated to be 31% in 1975. This proportion had increased to 38% in 1982. [l]. An even larger increase was seen in a study from 1988. Now the proportion was 58%. The increase was most pronounced in nursing homes and homes for the aged. The care of demented patients could be summarized in a model created by Athlin and Norberg [2]. Caring must be seen as parts of a greater whole where the philosophy of care, the environment, the organization of the care and the level of education of the staff must be taken into consideration. The central core of caring of demented patients is the interaction between the caregiver and the patient. The caregiver has to perceive and interpret the patient's verbal and non-verbal cues and be willing to respond in a way that the patient can understand. Sensitivity and empathy is a prerequisite for this. For each patient she must make an inventory of the patient's actual needs, physical as well as psychological. She also has to assess the patient's cultural, social and spiritual needs. Furthermore, the caregiver continuously has to adapt her nursing interventions to the patients altered needs due to the progression of the disease. The nursing assessment should be based on information given by relatives, of the patients life circumstances as a healthy person but also be based of the patient's current needs as a demented person which can be in opposition to his previous needs. A care of low quality could be characterized by routines that do not take into consideration the patient's individual needs, and being poorly adapted to his functioning abilities. It must be a proper balance between the patient's selfcare capability and the compensation of the caregiver. Only if the nurse is continuously able to make a proper assessment and a proper evaluation of help needed to be provided, can the care be fully individualized for each patient [3]. All care provided by the caregiver must be guided by a philosophy. The philosophy must contain concepts like integrity, equality and independence. The demented patient must be seen as a human being with feelings, wishes and needs. Self-determination and influence over care provided must be seen as legal rights for the patient. This could be conflicting for the caregiver. The caregiver has to decide how competent the patient is to make decisions. The starting point ought to be that the patient in spite of his reduced intellectual capacity is always in his full right to make his own decisions. On the other hand, it seems illogical to not protect the patient when he makes decisions that obviously strive against common sense and are not in


We develop a new class of algorithms, which we call step-truncation methods, to integrate in time an initial value problem for an ODE or a PDE on a low-rank tensor manifold. The new methods are based on performing a time step with a conventional time-stepping scheme followed by a truncation operation into a tensor manifold with prescribed rank. By considering such truncation operation as a nonlinear operator in the space of tensors, we prove various consistency results and errors estimates for a wide range of step-truncation algorithms. In particular, we establish consistency between the best step-truncation method and the best tangent space projection integrator via perturbation analysis. Numerical applications are presented and discussed for a Fokker-Planck equation on a torus of dimension two and four.


Patients presenting with asymptomatic neck masses to surgical OPD can have many differentials, ranging from the simplest reactive lymph nodes to aggressive malignant masses. Bilateral neck masses in a patient can be due to infective lymph nodes, salivary gland pathology, solid - cystic lesions of the neck and malignancies. Based on the anatomical site of the lesion, clinical examination still remains the first step in characterising the lesion into solid, cystic, pulsatile, non pulsatile, response to cough impulse and so on. Imaging is always a mandatory next step for the confirmation of diagnosis and to know about the morphology of the lesion with finer details. USG, CT and MRI are indispensable tools in assessing neck masses with equivocal findings on clinical examination and particularly in asymptomatic individuals where there is lack of history and thus diagnosis becomes a challenging task. One such entity is bilateral Chemodectomas where imaging plays a pivotal role in the diagnosis. We report a case of bilateral neck masses in an asymptomatic female patient which on imaging was diagnosed as a case of bilateral carotid body tumours and referred to higher centre for further management.


Systemic vasculitis is a heterogeneous group of diseases of a not fully understood etiology. The common feature is the development of immune-mediated inflammation in the vessel walls, which can lead to the weakening of the wall and formation of aneurysms or occlusion of the lumen, resulting in tissue ischemia. Skin lesions may be present in many conditions of this group. In small and medium vessel vasculitis, the skin may be directly affected by the pathological process. On the other hand, in large vessel vasculitis dermatological symptoms develop secondarily to the involvement of larger vessels. Clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment of Takayasu arteritis (TA), classified according to the International Chapel Hill Consensus Conference from 2012 in the group of large vessel vasculitis, are discussed in this article. The aim of the paper is to draw attention to the cutaneous lesions that may raise suspicion of systemic vasculitis. In patients with TA, Raynaud's phenomenon (especially unilateral), finger necrosis, digital clubbing, erythema nodosum-like lesions or pyoderma gangrenosum-like lesions, erythema induratum, purpuric or necrotic eruptions, livedo reticularis  and superficial phlebitis may be observed.


The chromosome number, karyotype, and morphological variation of plants of the Deschampsia caespitosa complex are reported in this paper. It is shown that the chromosome number of 2n = 26 is most common in typical D. caespitosa (L.) Beauv. But, remembering the basic chromosome number in the Agrostideae, the original basic number of the genus Deschampsia is considered to be x = 7. Thus, a reduction of the chromosome number from 28 to 26 is speculated in this particular group of Deschampsia. The plant from Mt. Albert, Canada, referable to D. caespitosa ssp. littoralis (Reut.) Rchb., has a high chromosome number of 2n = 49. Considering the morphological affinity between D. caespitosa ssp. littoralis and D. alpina Roem. & Schult., as well as their geographical distribution, parallel development of the plants with such high irregular chromosome number is assumed.The karyotype of D. caespitosa s. str. was also investigated. This species has a highly specialized asymmetrical karyotype, viz., K(2n) = 26 = 4 V + 1...