Accessible summary
When sons and daughters with disabilities live with their parents all their lives, this can sometimes be difficult for the parents as well as the sons and daughters. We asked the parents what they like and dislike about having their sons and daughters living with them and what makes it easy and what makes it difficult. The parents who took part in this study told us that

• They loved their sons and daughters very much and had much fun living together;
• Sometimes they had difficulties getting help or services;
• They worry a lot about the future and what will happen when they can no longer look after their sons and daughters with disabilities;
• It is really important that families plan ahead so that everyone knows what will happen when parents get older and can no longer look after their sons and daughters with disabilities.

Summary
Research-informed policy and practice is needed for older caregivers of adult sons/daughters with disabilities. These caregivers are often under tremendous stress because of failing health, financial pressures, bereavement and worry about the future of their sons/daughters. Twenty-nine older parents/caregivers of 27 adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities were interviewed to explore their views and experiences regarding long-term care and service arrangements, health and psychological needs and 'future planning'. Findings show a severe lack of support, respite care and future planning which causes high stress levels for caregivers. Policy makers and researchers working in this field need to take into consideration the needs of older caregivers when making future plans for adults with disabilities.


Abstract : This report describes the work accomplished during ONR Grant No. N00014-92-J-1223, R&T Project Code 3226028-10. We have been successful in developing an entirely new technique for analyzing the form and spatial distribution of eddies in observed and simulated atmospheric flows. This technique, which we call multiresolution feature analysis (MFA) is applicable to other types of flow as well as atmospheric. To date, MFA has been used to determine the preferred patterns of motion for atmospheric flows observed over the high plains, and for a comparable large eddy simulation (LES). The technique was also used to obtain estimates of the support dimension of the turbulence for the same observed and LES flows. The results showed that the subgrid parameterization used in the LES did not capture all the intermittency of the observed flow. Fast wavelet transform techniques have also been implemented and applied during the course of this grant. The decay of turbulence in a stratified laboratory flow was analyzed to show that mixing and restratification tend to be governed by a few major mixing events, rather than many small ones. It also showed that the major eddies at one scale do not coexist with those at other scales. This suggests that the smaller eddies in a turbulent cascade are not embedded in the larger ones, but may be attached to them. The methods developed during the grant have been demonstrated to be workable, and have already provided some new physical insights into the nature of small scale motions. We expect to apply the analysis tools that we have developed to other flows and to modify them to provide more information about the nature of the spatial attachment of eddies at one scale to those at another. To make future applications easier, we have begun implementing and testing interpolation techniques that can be used to provide estimates of missing observations, and more regularly spaced values for the numerical results.


IBBT, the Interdisciplinary institute for BroadBand Technology, is a research institute founded by the Flemish Government, focusing on information & communication technology (ICT) in general, and applications of broadband technology in particular. The IBBT was founded as a virtual research centre with over 800 researchers, based on research teams from existing knowledge centres. Multimedia Lab (IBBT-MMLab) is a young research group within IBBT and part of the Ghent University (Faculty of Engineering). It accounts for about 25 researchers and it has a portfolio of basic research, applied research and contract-based research with industrial partners. IBBT-MMLab is very active within MPEG and W3C standardization via the submission of technical contributions , by chairing several ad-hoc groups, and through the editorship of several specifications. The main areas of expertise of IBBT-MMLab are: video coding and compression, image/video processing and analysis, multimedia content adaptation, meta-data technology and gaming technology. IBBT has gained a great amount of expertise and know-how on Semantic Web technologies and Linked Open Data in particular through its contributing role in several W3Cs Standardization groups, through participation in the Flemish research projects,MMLab is core contributor to the freeyourmetadata.org movement and the Open Source DataTank framework. Westtoer is an organization responsible for the promotion of Tourism (marketing , product and recreation development, support, consulting and knowledge gathering) in the province of West Flanders. The area covers all of the Belgian coast, Bruges and surroundings, the " Flanders Fields " region and the valley of the " Leie ". Marc Portier works as a civil servant with Westtoer. Within the organization his role is to normalize, organize, educate and inspire on the proper usage of modern digital (social, local, mobile) tools, techniques and opportunities .


Records were obtained of all suicide and open verdicts in York ( n =127) between 1990–1994 inclusive. Those with no past or current contact with psychiatric services were identified ( n =67). The extent and nature of this group9s general (i.e. non-psychiatric) hospital contact in the months prior to death was established. Thirteen per cent (9/67) of these received general hospital input in the month before death with eight out of the nine aged over 65. Five of the 67 suicides showed evidence of depression. General hospital practitioners are in a position to make a small but important contribution in reducing the suicide rate.


A new numerical model for addressing long-term coastline evolution on a local to regional scale on highly anthropized coasts is presented. The model, named IH-LANS (Long-term ANthropized coastlines Simulation tool), is validated over the period 1990-2020 and applied to obtain an ensemble of end-of-century shoreline evolutions. IH-LANS combines a hybrid (statistical-numerical) deep-water propagation module and a shoreline evolution model. Longshore and cross-shore processes are integrated together with the effects of man-made interventions. For the ease of calibration, an automated technique is implemented to assimilate observations. The model is applied to a highly anthropized 40 km stretch located along the Spanish Mediterranean coast. High space-time resolution climate data and satellite-derived shorelines are used to drive IH-LANS. Observed shoreline evolution (<10 meters of root mean square error, RMSE) is successfully represented while accounting for the effects of nourishments and the construction and removal of groynes, seawalls and breakwaters over time. Then, in order to drive the ensemble of end-of-century shoreline evolutions, wave and water level projections downscaled from different climate models for various emissions scenarios are employed to force the calibrated model. From the forecasted shoreline time-series, information from multiple time-scales is unraveled yielding valuable information for coastal planners. The efficiency and accuracy of the model make IH-LANS a powerful tool for management and climate change adaptation in coastal zones.


Mixing undeclared species in meat products is illegal under food labeling regulations. This study compared the conventional agar-gel immunodiffusion (AGID) with the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) for detecting species adulteration and assessed the species adulteration problem in raw ground pork products in Alabama retail markets. Forty-two ground pork and 87 fresh pork sausage samples collected throughout Alabama were examined by AGID and ELISA for four species: pork, beef, poultry and sheep. Using ELISA, 91 % of the ground pork samples were found to contain other meats while 71 % were found to be contaminated using AGID. Using ELISA, 54% of the sausage samples were found to contain undeclared species while none were found to be contaminated using AGID. The major adulterating species in the pork products was beef followed by poultry and sheep. Reliable analytical methods, such as ELISA, must be used as a regulatory tool to discourage the meat species adulteration problem in retail markets.


Evaluation of the effect of a clinic-based educational program on utilization of family planning services at a rural health post in Ghana had two major objectives: 1) to measure to what extent immediate change in family planning knowledge, attitudes and behavior could be brought about by the provision of family planning information; and 2) to demonstrate that by means of on-going evaluation of the educational presentation on family planning, by providing adequate feedback to the educator, and through continual revision of the educational content, increased understanding of family planning information would result at successive information sessions. The study was limited to female clinic attendees aged 15-44. The family planning presentation was followed by a question and answer period and shortly thereafter, individual interviews. The 2 major study objectives lend themselves to quantitative testing of specific programme hypotheses as follows: 1) the number of women who accept a family planning method at the clinic will be significantly greater on days when family planning information is provided than on days when it is not; and 2) as a result of the informational input, ongoing evaluation and feedback, family planning knowledge levels for selected topics will be significantly higher among health clinic attendees. Results showed that the first hypothesis was substantiated by data which revealed that there were significantly more acceptors on days when family planning information was offered. The second hypothesis, however, was not supported. In general, it would appear that family planning education provided in a health facility adjacent to a family planning clinic can have a significant impact on initial adoption of family planning mthods. Follow-up of acceptors was not carried out, and thus data on continuation of use were not available for this study.


A new survey of Bermuda's insects was initiated in 1987. Two hundred and twenty-eight species of Coleoptera (beetles), in 44 families, are found in the Bermuda Department of Agriculture and Fisheries collection, or are reported in the literature. One hundred and twenty-six are new Bermuda records. Sixty-five of the species listed may not be established on the islands; twenty-four are interceptions, and the rest are probably misidentifications or species which were once present but are no longer established. Approximately 41% of the beetles are cosmopolitan or tropicopolitan species, a further 34% occur in eastern or southeastern North America, and 20% originate from the Caribbean region. There are no known endemics.


The paper presents the analysis of work on dynamic anxiety, attention parameters and heart rate variability of autonomic nervous system with temperament characteristics emotionality and activity in relaxation training for the patients with low blood pressure. The training was based on game biofeedback.


Abstract Postlarvae and juveniles of pink shrimp were collected in the summers of 2005 and 2006 at three stations in northwestern Florida Bay, the main nursery ground of this species in South Florida. Collections were made at one- or two-hour intervals during three full moon nights and two new moon nights at depth intervals in the water column. Results of the five collections were consistent with the assumption that postlarvae use a flood-tide transport (FTT) to advance into the estuary by ascending in the water column during the dark-flood tide and resting near the bottom during the ebb tide. Evidence of a FTT were higher numbers of postlarvae per hour collected during the flood tide vs. ebb tide and the large number of postlarvae collected with highest velocity flood tide currents. ANOVA indicated significant differences in the number of postlarvae collected between tidal stages and moon phases, but not among depths. Postlarvae were more abundant during new moon than full moon. We also found different patterns of postlarval distribution between the new and full moon. During the new moon, a large peak of postlarvae occurred coincident with highest current speeds, whereas, with one exception, during the full moon postlarvae were more abundant in the second half of the flood period near the slack tide. In contrast, juveniles exhibited a behavior and migratory pattern opposite to that of postlarvae. ANOVA indicated significant differences between the number of juveniles captured between tidal stages and among depths, but not between moon phases. Juveniles were found almost exclusively near the surface on the ebb tide. Significantly larger juveniles were captured on the dark-ebb rather than on the dark-flood tide during both moon phases, suggesting that older juveniles were leaving the Bay on the ebb tide.


Grandview Heights, Paya Terubong is an old apartment building situated on a coarse-grained biotite granitic bedrock hillside. Paya Terubong is a landslide prone area where various landslides have been reported since 1998. The granitic hill has been disturbed during construction of the apartment. Due to the possibility of future landslides, an engineering geological study was conducted to assess the stability of this rock hill beneath this apartment. The scopes of study included discontinuity surveys, geomechanical characterization of the rock mass and slope stability analysis. Based on the results of discontinuity surveys, four major joints sets-were identified and labelled as J1 (195°/62°), J2 (248°/65°), J3 (304°/63°) and J4 (230°/39°). One (1) potential planar failure J2 (248°/65°) and one (1) potential wedge failure J1-J2 intersection (213°/60°) were identified based on kinematic analysis. Dry rock density was from 2.56 g/cm3 to 2.61g/cm3. The water content was from 0.14 % to 0.15% with low porosity values from 0.50% to 0.54%. The point load strength index, Is(50) was 6.63 MPa. The Slope Mass Rating (SMR) for was 64 to 79 and classified as class II with the probability of failure of 0.2.


Speaking as a skill constitutes a real hurdle to overcome by both the teacher and the learner. In other words, the teacher has to find appropriate procedures to help the learner with while the latter has to find a way to master the language. Thus, this article attempts to highlight the concept of speaking; likewise, it tries to deal with the issues relevant to the appropriate teaching of speaking to learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) such as consciousness-raising strategies and oral error correction.


The structure of liquid solder Sn0.97Cu0.03 has been studied by means of x-ray scattering method. The analysis of structure factors allowed to conclude that atomic distribution in this melt is inhomogeneous. Beside Sn-based structural unit the local groups where Cu-atoms are soluted in tin also exist. It is shown that vibrational treatment of melt significantly transforms the structure upon solidification.


The development of HPLC methods for the determination of drugs has received great attention in analytical research because of their importance in the quality control. HPLC is the unique, versatile, universal, basic instrument and well utilized by the researchers because of its ease in the operation, availability and in terms of cost. In the present work, an attempt was made to develop a simple and rapid HPLC method for the routine analysis of eleven drugs in bulk and tablet formulations. For this purpose, the analytical column, solvent selection, mobile phase composition, flow rate, and detector wavelength were studied. The developed method conditions are subjected for validation under ICH guidelines.


Time-integrated and time-resolved microphotoluminescence studies have been performed on Inx Ga1−xN quantum disks at the tips of GaN nanocolumns. The results are analyzed in the context of current theories regarding an inhomogeneous strain distribution in the disk which is theorized to generate lateral charge separation in the disks by strain induced band bending, an inhomogeneous polarization field distribution, and Fermi surface pinning. It is concluded that no lateral separation of carriers occurs in the quantum disks under investigation. Internal field screening by an increased carrier density in the QDisks at higher excitation densities is observed via a blue-shift of the emission and a dynamically changing decay time. Other possible explanations for these effects are discussed and discounted. Cathodoluminescence studies have also been carried out on the nanocolumns to provide insight into the physical origin of the luminescence.


Purpose
This study aims to examine how PhD students with diverse profiles, intentions and expectations manage to navigate their doctoral paths within the same academic context under similar institutional conditions. Drawing on Giddens' theory of structuration, this study explores how their primary reasons, motives and motivations for engaging in doctoral studies influence what they perceive as facilitating or constraining to progress, their strategies to face the challenges they encounter and their expectations regarding supervision.

Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative design, the analysis was conducted on a data subset from an instrumental case study (Stake, 2013) about PhD students' persistence and progression. The focus is placed on semi-structured interviews carried out with 36 PhD students from six faculties in humanities and social sciences fields at a large Canadian university.

Findings
The analysis reveals three distinct scenarios regarding how these PhD students navigate their doctoral paths: the quest for the self; the intellectual quest; and the professional quest. Depending on their quest type, the nature and intensity of PhD students' concerns and challenges, as well as their strategies and the support they expected, differed.

Originality/value
This study contributes to the discussion about PhD students' challenges and persistence by offering a unique portrait of how diverse students' profiles, intentions and expectations can concretely shape a doctoral experience.


The high volume and unfavorable properties of high-water-content slurries make their treatment difficult and costly. Improving the slurries through prefabricated drains combined with surcharge or vacuum preloading represents an environmental and economic means of reusing these slurries as subsoil. As conventional methods are inefficient in dealing with low-permeability slurries, flocculation is often applied. In this study, the influence of the flocculant dosage on the drainage behavior is observed, and the secondary consolidation of the slurries is examined through laboratory tests. Flocculation is found to accelerate the consolidation process, although the flocculant dosage has an optimal value when combined with the surcharge preloading method. The coefficient of secondary consolidation is more significant in slurries improved by the flocculation-enhanced surcharge (vacuum) preloading method than in the case without flocculation. The use of flocculation must be carefully controlled.


We have analyzed, for Ni(II) and Cu(II) binding, the sequence of the N-terminal tail of the histone H4, the 22-amino acid peptide Ac-SGRGKGGKGLGKGGAKRHRKVL-Am and, in addition, the 7- and 11-amino acid peptides Ac-AK(Ac)RHRK(Ac)V-Am, Ac-GK(Ac)GGAK(Ac)RHRK(Ac)V-Am where all side chains of lysines were blocked by acetylation. Potentiometric and spectroscopic studies (UV-Vis, CD, EPR, NMR) showed that histidine 18 acted as an anchoring binding site for metal ions in all the peptides investigated. The stability constants of the 3N and 4N complexes are higher than those obtained for simple peptides with glycine instead of arginine and lysine residues in the metal binding site. The coordination was not significantly affected by the acetylation of lysines. The behavior of the "tail" suggested a possible bent structure with organized side-chain orientation promoted by
Ni(II).


The purpose of research is to find out how the conditions and support from the business environment, education, training in building the performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises or MSMEs actors in the City of Bandung-West Java-Indonesia, at the time Covid 19 took place. This condition needs to be examined scientifically, given the very large contribution of this sector to Gross Domestic Product and labour absorption in the city of Bandung. The selected respondents were 45 micro, small and medium entrepreneurs in Bandung, with a questionnaire distributed online. The data obtained were tested by testing the validity, reliability, classical assumptions and data normality. To test the level of support contribution of each variable studied, qualitative and verification analysis were used, in the form of correlation coefficient analysis and determination. The results showed that qualitatively all the variables studied showed a fairly good level of condition and verification also showed that all the variables studied showed a very small contribution of support in creating the performance of MSME actors in Bandung City. Departing from the results of this research analysis, it can be concluded that the business environment, education, training in building the performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises or MSMEs actors in the City of Bandung-West Java-Indonesia, at the time Covid 19 took place, had a very small and characteristic contribution of support. significant. © 2021 Karadeniz Technical University. All rights reserved.


Mechanical and chemical treatments to accelerate the drying of cut lucerne were evaluated under laboratory conditions. Plant material was treated with a 016 M solution of potassium carbonate (K2CO3) and/or lightly pressed between a pair of smooth rollers (roll-conditioning).

Drying times to 33% moisture content (MC), expressed on a dry weight basis (dwb), were reduced by 49% by roll-conditioning, 76% by K2CO3) treatment and 77% by the combined K2CO3+ roll-conditioning treatment. The main benefit from combining the two forms of treatment was an improved uniformity of drying; when whole shoots were at 61% MC (dwb) the difference between leaf and stem moisture contents was reduced by 28% (roll-conditioning), 38% (K2CO3) and 54% (K2CO3+ roll-conditioning) relative to the untreated control.


Emotional language of human individuals has been studied for quite a while dealing with opinions and value judgments people have and share with others. In our work, we take a different stance and investigate whether large organizations, such as major industrial players, have and communicate emotions, as well. Such an anthropomorphic perspective has recently been advocated in management and organization studies which consider organizations as social actors. We studied this assumption by analyzing 1,676 annual business and sustainability reports from 90 top-performing enterprises in the United States, Great Britain and Germany. We compared the measurements of emotions in this homogeneous corporate text corpus with those from RCV1, a heterogeneous Reuters newswire corpus. From this, we gathered empirical evidence that business reports compare well with typical emotion-neutral economic news, whereas sustainability reports are much more emotionally loaded, similar to emotion-heavy sports and fashion news from Reuters. Furthermore, our data suggest that these emotions are distinctive and relatively stable over time per organization, thus constituting an emotional profile for enterprises.


Impact : Using a colour-coded scale, the positive or negative impact of the good practice on public procurement objectives is given. The procurement objectives are pre-defined (see page 4 below for more detail) Input : The input necessary to implement the good practice. It is assessed on the basis of three dimensions, namely cost, time and complexity, with complexity including factors such as stakeholder participation, need for legal, organisational or procedural changes, and requirements for specific expertise, staff, or infrastructure. Further information on the criteria for evaluating input factors is outlined in page 2 below Good practice examples : A map of the European Union displays MS where the good practice is already implemented. This list is nonexhaustive


The ITEA2 project CareWare approach efficiently perform sensor data processing and data fusion in order to visualize the holistic view of user's health status personalized, intuitively and trustworthy way and give feedback for user about individualized intensity and time of exercising control. The ranks of Hankel matrix and second order coherence matrices for describing complexity of ECG and relationship between parameters of ECG is informative method for evaluation of the physiological state and more detailed interpretation of intra concatenation and complexity itself.


This experiment selected 350 maize inbred lines to identify the resistance to the northern leaf blight.The results showed that the materials which owned the resistance to the northern leaf blight accounts for only 38.57%,and high infection accounting for 61.43%,the result indicated that Heilongjiang province was now commonly used inbred lines were less resistant to northern leaf blight,should strengthen the work of the breeding of resistance inbred lines.


Alcator C-Mod is a high-field, high density, diverted, compact tokamak. The plasma is heated ohmically and by the injection of up to 8 MW of fast wave ICRF between 40 and 80 MHz into the plasma. ICRF is currently launched via 3 antennas. Design limits of various antenna components have limited ICRF coupled power to 5 MW with all antennas running concurrently. Operating individually, 1.75 MW has been injected into the plasma by each of the 2-strap antennas and 3 MW from the 4-strap antenna. Recent design changes will lead to even higher performance. Details regarding the design Iimits, analyses, and modifications are presented.


Zalypsis (PM00104) is a novel tetrahydroisoquinoline alkaloid related to trabectedin [ecteinascidin 743 (Et743)]. Et743 and PM00104 have similar A and B rings but differ in their C rings. The present study shows that Et743 and PM00104 differ in at least two ways: in their DNA binding properties and nucleotide excision repair (NER) dependency for cellular targeting. DNase I footprinting shows that the two drugs bind DNA differentially. We also found that, in contrast to Et743, the antiproliferative activity of PM00104 does not depend on transcription-coupled NER. Accordingly, PM00104 induces γ-H2AX foci with the same efficiency in NER-deficient or NER-proficient cells. Moreover, the formation of γ-H2AX foci is replication dependent for PM00104, whereas it is both transcription and replication dependent in the case of Et743. These findings show the importance of the C ring structure of tetrahydroisoquinoline ecteinascidin derivatives for NER targeting. Finally, PM00104 exerts antiproliferative activity at nanomolar concentrations and induces γ-H2AX response in two Ewing's sarcoma cell lines, suggesting that γ-H2AX could serve as a pharmacodynamic biomarker for the clinical development of PM00104. [Mol Cancer Ther 2009;8(7):2007–14]


In this paper we investigate the eects of capital gains tax and transaction cost on asset bubbles. We construct a model of asset bubbles by incorporating purchases into the framework of Abreu and Brunnermeier (2003) so that capital gains can be evaluated. The capital gains tax helps deate the bubble, but we nd that the capital loss tax credit tends to oset this deating eect. Under a perfect tax credit, the tax has no eect on the size of the bubble at all. Therefore dealing with bubbles with capital gains tax not only requires imposing the tax, but also tightening policies on tax credits. Besides that the transaction cost and the return from the outside option help reduce the bubble, we also nd that a low transaction cost or a small outside option has a very large marginal eect on the bubble. This implies that when a central bank further lowers interest rates when they are already very low, this policy change can have a dramatic inating eect on bubbles. To show that our results can be empirically tested, we compare several historical bubbles in dierent countries. We normalize the


This work proposes an explainable artificial intelligence approach to help diagnose COVID-19 patients based on blood test and pathogen variables. Two glass-box models, logistic regression and explainable boosting machine, and two black-box models, random forest and support vector machine, were used to assess the disease diagnosis. Shapley additive explanations were used to explain predictions for the black-box models, while glass-box models feature importance brought insights into the most relevant features. All global explanations show the eosinophils and leukocytes, white blood cells are among the essential features to help diagnose the COVID-19. Moreover, the best model obtained an AUC of 0.87.


Novel dibenzylpiperidinium salts with nonnucleophilic anions (DBPi-SbF6, DBPi-PF6) have been prepared as latent cationic initiators. Utility of these salts in the photo and thermal-induced cationic polymerizations of epoxide and vinyl ether monomer systems has been studied. The new initiator, DBPi-SbF6 showed good solubility, high reactivity, and high thermal latency for polymerizations of epoxide and vinyl ether monomers with only 1 wt % of concentration. Cationic polymerization of vinyl ether monomer was significantly faster than epoxide monomer by the synthesized initiators. This article describes the synthesis, characterization, and activity of novel initiators. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009


As a kind of mature algorithm, genetic algorithm has been widely used in the field of Artificial intelligence and has played an important role in promoting the development of artificial intelligence technology. This paper analyzes the principle and characteristics of genetic algorithm and introduces an improved algorithm combining with simulated annealing algorithm and genetic algorithm. As an example of solving the TSP problem, this paper analyzes the advantages of the improved algorithm. We will discuss the development direction and prospect of genetic algorithm in the field of artificial intelligence.


Vicarious calibration of future space-based spectral imagers will require ground-based measurements of much higher accuracy and precision than current field instruments support. A promising new technology is the use of a multi-mode fiber as the source of dispersion, replacing a grating. It has recently been demonstrated that the wavelength dependent speckle pattern present at the output of a multimode fiber may be exploited to recover the spectrum of the illuminating source, potentially enabling very compact and stable instruments. In this paper, we review our development of a performance model to assess the prospects for developing a field spectral radiometer based on this concept.


The main methods of software architecture description are formal description and visual description,in which architecture description language ADL is typical of the former and UML is typical of the latter. Now the combination ofthem is a hotspot in,and conversion between the two is a most important method. So,the paper researches the conversion between UML and XYZ/ADL,an ADL based on temporal logic,defines the conversion.


This paper describes and proposes an efficient and effective framework for the design and development of a speaker-independent continuous automatic Arabic speech recognition system based on a phonetically rich and balanced speech corpus. The speech corpus contains a total of 415 sentences recorded by 40 (20 male and 20 female) Arabic native speakers from 11 different Arab countries representing the three major regions (Levant, Gulf, and Africa) in the Arab world. The proposed Arabic speech recognition system is based on the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) Sphinx tools, and the Cambridge HTK tools were also used at some testing stages. The speech engine uses 3-emitting state Hidden Markov Models (HMM) for tri-phone based acoustic models. Based on experimental analysis of about 7 hours of training speech data, the acoustic model is best using continuous observation's probability model of 16 Gaussian mixture distributions and the state distributions were tied to 500 senones. The language model contains both bi-grams and tri-grams. For similar speakers with different sentences, the system obtained a word recognition accuracy of 92.67% and 93.88% and a Word Error Rate (WER) of 11.27% and 10.07% with and without diacritical marks, respectively. For different speakers with similar sentences, the system obtained a word recognition accuracy of 95.92% and 96.29%, and a WER of 5.78%, and 5.45% with and without diacritical marks, respectively. Whereas different speakers and different sentences, the system obtained a word recognition accuracy of 89.08% and 90.23%, and a WER of 15.59% and 14.44% with and without diacritical marks, respectively.


SV101, the SV40‐transformed subline of the mouse fibroblast line 3T3, is both serum‐ and density transformed, since it grows in both 1% and 10% calf serum, and grows beyond confluence in 10% calf serum. Negative selection at low cell density in 1% calf serum or in 10% agamma‐depleted serum permits direct recovery of serum‐revertant sublines of SV101. These sublines are unable to grow in 1% calf serum.


The enormous cost of even relatively simple focal-plane instruments for 8 ± 2 meter telescopes is, inevitably, acting as a driver to produce very general-purpose spectrographs for each of them. Somewhat unexpectedly, the result seems to have been a convergence on very similar, cross-dispersed, R = lambda/Delta-lambda ~105 Echelles for nearly every such telescope in use, under construction, development, or consideration. Such spectrographs are well matched to studies of small numbers of relatively bright point sources (stars or QSOs) directed at understanding either the sources themselves or intervening gas responsible for absorption lines. They are much less well suited to studies of extended objects (nebulae, galaxies) and to studies of populations of stars or galaxies, including those in clusters, and to studies of very faint objects, where accurate sky subtraction is vital. Adaption of the existing and contemplated instruments to long-slit, multi-slit, and multi-object use apparently carries high prices in lost photons, increased noise, and increased exposure time.


Counts of Pseudomonas aeruginosa had a high positive correlation with counts of coliforms, fecal streptococci, presumptive pathogenic yeasts, and heterotrophic bacteria in surface waters of Rio de Janeiro. Pseudomonas aeruginosa counts were notably higher in fresh than in marine waters, and it was isolated from about 50% of marine and 100% of nonchlorinated freshwater samples that passed the fecal coliform based Brazilian bathing standards. The most probable number method for enumeration of P. aeruginosa contained this microbe in 90% of the positive tubes from freshwater samples, but it had reduced selectivity in marine waters with 37.5% false negative and 35% false positive results. Microbial indicators of fecal pollution were not effective for noting the presence of P. aeruginosa in freshwaters. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons Inc.


immigrant Syrians led by another Thomas, Thomas of Cana, leading to a continuous link between the Church in India and the highly organised Church of Persia. Schisms have rent the community for centuries now, but there is still a distinct, identifiable group called the Syrian Christians in Kerala. They hold a large share of trade and land, are highly prosperous and influential, and they are careful to distinguish themselves from the later conversions of low-caste Hindus by Portuguese and English missionaries.


The invention relates to a device for reducing a magnetic unidirectional flux fraction in the core of a transformer, comprising: - a measurement device (7) that provides a sensor signal (6) corresponding to the magnetic unidirectional flux fraction, - a compensation winding (K) that is magnetically coupled to the core (4) of the transformer, - a switching unit (T) arranged electrically in a current path (3) in series with the compensation winding (K) in order to feed a current into the compensation winding (K), wherein the action of said current is directed opposite to the unidirectional flux fraction. The arrangement is characterized in that the switching unit (T) can be controlled by means of a regulating variable (9) provided by a control device (2), wherein the switching unit (T) can be switched into a conductive state during a predefined time interval (16) and in accordance with the regulating variable (9), the switch-on time (14) being mains-synchronous. A device for limiting the current in the current path (3) is provided and the sensor signal (6) is fed to the control device (2).


Hybrid structures were synthesized from monodisperse spherical silica particles, which are spherical microcavities, and emitting carbon nanodots on their surface. Carbon nanodots are attached to the surface of the particles by controlled coagulation in three solvents: ammonia, hydrochloric acid and glycerol. Intense narrow lines associated with the emission of nanodots in the whispering gallery modes of a spherical microcavity were observed in the photoluminescence spectra of hybrid structures over the entire radiation wavelength range of carbon nanodots from UV to near IR. All observed lines were identified by comparison with the spectral positions of the whispering gallery modes calculated by the method of spherical wave transfer matrices.


The author studies Zheng Binglin′s Collection and Collation of the Dunhuang Geographical Documents and Wang Zhongluo′s Hermeneutics of the Remanent volume of Chorography of Dunhuang Grottoes.By collation and explanation of the two documents,the author concludes with nineteen items about the geography of Dunhuang.


A user terminal device capable of attaching and detaching a pen is provided. The device includes a detector configured to detect a user manipulation regarding a screen, and a controller configured to change a layout of the screen to correspond to a pen use mode in response to the pen being removed from the user terminal device, perform a control operation corresponding to the detected user manipulation in response to the user manipulation using the pen being detected, and restore the layout of the screen to its original state in response to the pen being remounted on the user terminal apparatus.


INTRODUCTION India's reputation has swung from that of a land of great opportunity to that of a country with an uncertain future. At the beginning of the 21st century, the image of the country as the largest democracy and the emerging global power is at its peak. Today there are very few developing countries that are as well placed as India to take advantage of the phenomenal developments that have occurred in technology, international trade, capital movement and the deployment of skilled manpower (Jalan, 2005). In addition to this, it is the only country in the world that has so much of diversity in its culture. Being a relationship oriented economy and having a collectivist approach, there is a major focus on emotional dependence and interpretation of emotions as an intellectual exercise rather than an emotive response (Singh, 2003). Business organizations in India today face a new set of human resource challenges in the form of managing one's emotions, handling conflicts, developing teamwork, influencing leadership, managing motivation, interpersonal sensitivity, skills at negotiation and personal or internal qualities like empathy, initiative, adaptability, confidence and optimism. These features have become more crucial than academic competence, technical expertise and professional education and have reduced their importance. As a result of these challenges there is a shift from traditional intelligence or cognitive intelligence measured by Intelligence Quotient (IQ) to Emotional Intelligence measured by Emotional Quotient (EQ). "Emotional intelligence" has become a major topic of interest in scientific circles as well as in the lay public since the publication of a bestseller by the same name in 1995 (Goleman). Despite this heightened level of interest in this new idea over the past decade, scholars have been studying this construct for the greater part of the twentieth century; and the historical roots of this wider area can actually be traced back to the nineteenth century. Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology (Spielberger, 2004) recently suggested that there are currently three major conceptual models: (a) the Salovey-Mayer model (Mayer and Salovey, 1997) which defines this construct as the ability to perceive, understand, manage and use emotions to facilitate thinking, measured by an ability-based measure (Mayer, Salovey and Caruso, 2002); (b) the Goleman model (1998) which views this construct as a wide array of competencies and skills that drive managerial performance, measured by multi-rater assessment (Boyatzis, Goleman and HayGroup, 2001); and (c) the Bar-On model (1997, 2000) which describes a cross-section of interrelated emotional and social competencies, skills and facilitators that impact intelligent behavior, measured by self-report within a potentially expandable multi-model approach including interview and multi-rater assessment (Bar-On and Handley, 2003a, 2003b). Over the last few years there has been significant and sustained growth in interest in the area of Emotional Intelligence (EI). Emotional Intelligence plays a significant role in contributing to a positive organizational climate for services which creates an internal environment in which empathy, open communication and customer consciousness proliferates among employees and as a consequence employee commitment increases which further leads to a successful accomplishment of organizational goals with increased productivity and profits (Bardzil and Slaski, 2003). Increased level of E.I. helps to diminish the likelihood of negative behavior patterns that may inhibit a positive climate of service, such as, stress, low morale, and poor mental health (Slaski and Cartwright, 2002). It is likely that positive reinforcement of an emotionally intelligent environment will enable development of a service-oriented climate, which is more conducive to both employee and customer satisfaction. A positive and significant relationship between emotional intelligence and organizational leadership among the executives of a software company in India was identifies by Singh (2007) which also suggested that EI of professionals contribute high variance to the total variance of leadership effectiveness. …


The characteristics of the integration of equity and creditor' s rights in the Preferred Stock Contract Make The Interest Conflict Between The Preferred Stock shareholders and common ones more complicated. In these conflict, how to define the right boundary of the preferred stock contract in a rational way is particularly important. In order to define the above issue, this paper studies the right boundary of preferred stock contract from the perspective of fiduciary duty. Based on the angle of fiduciary duty, some actions like establishing the judicial review standard of fiduciary duty, paying attention to the important role of procedural justice, and pursuing procedural justice at the same time, as well as taking substantive justice as the standard to determine the right boundary of preferred stock can effectively define the right boundary of preferred stock contract.


Objective To summarize the experience of removement of foreign bodies of trachea in children with high frequency ventilation with bronchoscope and anesthesia machine.Method:15 children with foreign bodies of trachea were selected in the study.The bronchoscope was placed in the trachea with high frequency ventilation.The anesthesia was maintained by ketamin or propofol together with muscle relaxant.SPO_2 was monitored during operation.The anesthetic was stopped at the end of operation.Detubation was performed after consciousness recovery.Result:The foreign bodies were successfully removed in 14 cases,but failed in one child.Holding breath and cough occurred in no case.The children recovered consciousness in 30 minutes after operation.Eye movement,swallow reflex and spontaneous breath were all normal,with the SPO_2 above 93% without oxygen inhalation.There were no laryngic spasm,edema and anoxia occurred in all cases after detubation.Conclusion:After fast inducement and positive ventilation with mask,high frequency ventilation with anesthesia machine and bronchoscope were used during the operation of removement of the foreign bodies in the trachea of children.A good view-field achieved for the bronchoscope to be inserted into the trachea and there are not holding breath,cough occurred.The children wake fast,with few complications occurred.However,monitoring is needed,especially for SPO_2 while and after operation.


The self adhesive consists of cross-linked asphalt, SBS rubber and tackifier, as well as SIS rubber, maleic anhydride, aluminum trichloride, thiram, magnesium chloride and calcium silicate. The self adhesive is cpddd with chemically modified cross-linked asphalt as main material at 150-170 deg.c, and has less pollution and low power consumption. It may be adhered to plasma modified polymer material and wet concrete. The present invention also discloses one kind of self adhering waterproof polymer coil made with the self adhesive and its production process, and the self adhering waterproof polymer coil has high adhesion strength between the adhesive and the main material layer.


Background and Purpose: The Falls Behavioral Scale (FaB) is considered a valid and reliable tool for measuring fall risk factors related to behavior among older people. It was originally developed and validated in Australia by Clemson et al. The purpose of this study was to perform a transcultural adaptation and validation of the FaB to European Spanish. Methods: The transcultural adaptation of the questionnaire followed the methodology structured and validated by Beaton et al. The prefinal version in European Spanish was tested in a pilot study utilizing 15 participants. A total of 167 participants older than 60 years and capable of walking independently, with or without gait assistive devices, were recruited for the study. Internal consistency and reliability were analyzed using Cronbach α and the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) with a 95% confidence interval. Convergent validity was assessed using Spearman's coefficient, and correlations were evaluated with the European Spanish versions of the EuroQoL-5D (EQ-5D) and the Activities-Specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC-16). Results: Good internal consistency was obtained (α = .714) as was test-retest reliability of the overall questionnaire (ICC = 0.97). For each item, good test-retest reliability was achieved, obtaining values for ICC ranging between 0.63 and 0.91 (P < 0.001). Floor and ceiling effects in the European Spanish FaB were not found. Moderate convergent validity was shown, demonstrated by statistically significant associations between the European Spanish version of the FaB and both the ABC-16 (rS = −0.512, P < .001) and the health status subjective value of the EuroQoL-5D scale, also in its European Spanish version (rS = −300, P < .001). Minimum detectable change (MDC) was calculated to provide confidence that any changes are not the result of a random variation or a measuring error (6.49 points; 9.28% MDC). Conclusion: The European Spanish FaB was shown to be a valid and reliable tool for use with Spanish-speaking seniors.


Dear Editor, We read with great interest the article by Zha et al.1 concerning "Evaluation of choroidal thickness in amblyopia using optical coherence tomography." We congratulate the authors for their nice paper, in fact amblyopia might be associated with vascular changes.2 In the last few years many papers have discussed the role of choroid in eye diseases3 and choroidal thickness (CT) has been proven to be very useful to identify changes in this uveal tract. However, we would like to make some comments. Many articles have proved the relationship between axial length (AL) and CT,3 so we really appreciated the authors made such evaluation in amblyopic eyes (AE), fellow eyes (FE), and control eyes (CE). In fact, it is well known that myopic eyes are associated with CT thinner, whereas hyperopic eyes are associated with thicker CT.4 Unfortunately, In Table 1 the authors highlighted statistically significant differences in AL in their group of patients (AE < FE < CE), therefore we think that the CT results (AE > FE > CE) are not comparable. We believe in the standardization of the CT evaluation in order to obtain reliable data,5 so we would like to recommend the authors to pay more attention in case of future articles on this topic.


Enzymes catalyzing ammonium (NH4 + )/nitrate (NO3 – ) into nitrous oxide (N2 O)/molecular nitrogen (N2 ), play critical roles in water quality management. The objective of this paper was to investigate the role of extra-cellular enzymes in cycling of nitrogen (N) in aquatic systems. It appears that N in estuaries, salt marshes, etc., does not stay long enough to be available for uptake, thus, creating N limited conditions. This study showed that indigenous extra-cellular nitrate reductase along with others involved in N transformations in the waters/sediments of estuarine systems can cause complete removal of NH4 + and NO3 – from the waters and available NH4 + and NO3 – from the sediments. These results indicate that due to high extra-cellular nitrate reductase and other enzymes associated with N transformations in sediments/waters, substantial amounts of NH4 + and NO3 – can be quickly lost from the systems as N2 O and/or nitric oxide (NO), in turn, creating N limited conditions in estuarine systems. Such high activities of indigenous nitrate reductase and others are useful in removing readily bioavailable N from the systems, thereby avoidance of eutrophic conditions. However, they might contribute in increasing the N2 O, a potent greenhouse gas with global warming potential (GWP) of 296, in the atmosphere.


SUMMARY 4-Valine-oxytocin and 1-deamino-4-valine-oxytocin, analogues of the posterior pituitary hormone containing a valine residue in place of the glutamine residue in position 4, have been synthesized by the p-nitrophenyl ester method of peptide synthesis and tested for pharmacological activity. The 4-valine-oxytocin possesses 140 units per mg of oxytocic activity and 240 units per mg of avian vasodepressor activity. The 1-deamino-4-valine-oxytocin, in which the free amino group on the half-cystine residue in position 1 of C-valine-oxytocin is replaced by hydrogen, is a highly potent compound, possessing approximately 350 units of oxytocic activity and 800 units of avian vasodepressor activity per mg. As the posterior


Plasma catecholamines were obtained and systolic time intervals recorded in five normal subjects and five patients with coronary disease in the supine position at 8 AM, 12 PM, 4 PM, 8 PM, 10 PM, 12 AM, 2 AM, 4 AM, and 8 AM. Systolic time intervals were later obtained in ten additional patients with coronary disease every 30 minutes from 12 AM through 4 AM and from 8 AM through 12 PM. A significant diurnal variation in plasma norepinephrine was found in two of ten subjects and a significant diurnal variation in plasma epinephrine in a third subject No correlation was found between plasma catecholamine levels and systolic time intervals. The external isovolumic contraction time (EICT) was significantly prolonged in 9 of IS patients (60 percent) with coronary disease during 12 AM through 4 AM. These findings suggest a decrease in left ventricular contractility occurring in many patients with coronary disease during 12 AM through 4 AM.


In this paper, we present a new filtering power divider structure that has a reflectionless response at the two output ports and excellent isolation performance between the two output ports. Hence, the presented filtering power divider can be employed in, for example, combining two signals in two paths without producing signals reflected back to both paths. For obtaining the aforementioned new features of the presented filtering power divider, we have developed a new isolation network made with a resonator, two resistors, and two inverters. We provide analytic design equations so that time-consuming optimization or parametric study is not required in designing filtering power dividers. For verifying the new divider structure and the design equations, we have designed, fabricated, and measured a second-order microstrip reflectionless filtering power divider.


Sorption behavior of heavy metal ions by various kerateine gels, whose thiol groups were substituted with different groups, were investigated. For this purpose, the thiol groups of kerateine gels were modified by (i) functional residues with chelate-forming or ion-binding nature, (ii) residues with large group moments, and (iii) non-specific alkyl groups. In acid media, the sorption behavior of Hg2+ by these kerateine gels depended strongly on the substituent introduced, although introduction of any substituent could cause no appreciable increase in the uptake. The results were discussed in relation to the chemical structure of kerateine gels. On the other hand, prominent increases in the Hg2+ uptake were observed for all types of kerateine gels independent of their substituent, when the pH of medium goes from neutral to alkaline. The sorption isotherms of Hg2+ observed at pH 9.0 for S-alkyl kerateine gels were almost the same as that for the thiol-type gel. A series of experiments on Hg2+ desorption from the gel showed that the sorption characteristics of S-substituted kerateine gels were more advantageous than that of the thiol-type gel from the standpoint of recovering Hg2+ once sorbed by the kerateine gel. In addition, it was found that the sorption behavior of some metal ions, i. e., Cd2+, Pb2+, and Cu2+, varied to some extent with the substituents introduced, although all types of kerateine gels exhibited predominantly higher uptakes for Hg2+ than those for these metal ions.


This paper proposes three leading indicators of economic conditions estimated using current stock returns. The assumption underlying our approach is that current asset prices reflect all the available information about future states of economy. Each of the proposed indicators is related to the tail of the cross†sectional distribution of stock returns. The results show that the leading indicators have strong correlation with future economic conditions and usually make better out†of†sample predictions than two traditional competitors (random walk and the average of previous observations). Furthermore, quantile regressions reveal that the leading indicators have strong connections with low future economic activity.


Development of type 2 diabetes mellitus is affected by environmental factors (lifestyle) as well as by genes. With the sequencing of the human genome,


In this paper Adaptive Neuro Inference System algorithm, implemented on microcontrollers, was utilized to obtain the solution of IK problem of PUMA 560 robot arm. The problem of accurate and precise displacement is an acute problem faced by designers and operatorsNeuro-Fuzzy systems have been developed to make a sensible merge of linguistic information processing capability of Fuzzy Inference Systems (FIS) and learning capability of neural networks to evolve systems, which have strong modeling capability as well as relatively easy interpretability from the user point of view It differentiates itself from normal fuzzy systems by the adaptive parameters, i.e., both the premise and consequent parameters are adjustable. One of the main goals of a control system is to make the system more stable by reducing the steady state error as fast as possible. There are many types of control systems that can be used such as PID, PD+I, FUZZY PD+I and Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System ANFIS. The use of ANFIS proved to be very efficient in handling the accuracy precision problem. Results obtained in this paper showed that error could be decreased to as low as 0.21% using this system. Stability in performance which is another dominant factor was acceptable to a great extent without any serious overshooting or unacceptable delay.


Steady signals of a power system sampled asynchronously will generate frequency spectrum leakage and fence effect. Meanwhile, in the case of the existence of interharmonics that are close to harmonics as well as other interharmonics, the actual frequency components cannot be accurately identified and measured on account of the limited frequency resolution. In order to solve the immeasurability of multiple adjacent interharmonics under asynchronous sampling condition due to spectrum interference, a multiple interharmonics spectrum separation and parameter measurement method is proposed. First, an interharmonic simplification model is established, and then, each main frequency component can be separated with the known spectral information using the spectrum separation algorithm. The performance of the proposed method is validated on the synthetic signal. The simulation results show that the proposed method can not only accurately identify the frequency components, but also obtain the parameters with high precision.


Background: Indiscriminate waste disposal by many healthcare facilities pose serious health hazard to the inhabitants in general and people living around health care facilities in particular. Human scavengers collecting second hand objects for reselling could be a channel for speading disease causing organisms. In addition, burning of wastes in small size incinerator at a low temperature releases many toxic gases causing health effects for people living around the facilities. The objective of the study was to assess risk perception of people living around health facilities about healthcare wastes. Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted on 438 people in the eastern part of Ethiopia, from August to November 2013. Samples were taken by proportionate allocation to the size of people living within one km radius of 25 health facilities. Questionnaire was administered by a face-to-face interview. Risk perception was classified using a three-point Likert scale from low to high risk. Data were analyzed using STATA software. Bivariate and multi-variable analyses were carried out to determine correlates of risk perception. Result: The magnitude of risk perception for sharp, infectious/pathological wastes and expired drugs was 87%, 93.6%, and 73.1%, respectively. Individuals from urban areas have about 3 times higher odds of increased perceived risk than from rural areas (AOR = 3.02, 95% CI: 1.08-4.32, P = 0.006). On the other hand, people living around the hospitals have 2.5 times higher odds of increased perceived risk than those people living near to health centers (AOR = 2.45, 95% CI : 0.19 - 3.04, P = 0.000). Conclusion and recommendation: People involved in this study have high perceived risk for hazardous (infectious and sharp) wastes which might be due to indiscriminate discharges of wastes by the nearby health facilities. It is therefore advisable to dispose wastes in a proper manner in order to minimize public concern.


The invention discloses a blade-free fan device and relates to a fan device. The fan device comprises a nozzle and a member for generating high-pressure airflow through the nozzle, and is characterized in that: the nozzle comprises a container and an exhaust port which is formed on an outer wall at the periphery of the container; the high-pressure airflow is injected through the exhaust port; air outside the fan device is sucked by the airflow injected from the exhaust port; and at least one part of the member is positioned inside the container. The fan device has the characteristics of compact structure, wide application range, large air outlet quantity, low noise and the like.


Hypodermin A(HA) expressed by Pichia Pastoris was used to accomplish the immunoassay on rabbits and yaks to find out the immunization effect of the protein. The rabbits were vaccined with the 30 KD recombinant HA and the 50 KD protein appeared 3 days after inducement.The level of antibody reached the highest titer on the 3rd week,and came down slowly afterwards.The immunization effect of the 50 KD protein is better than that of the 30 KD one,and there is significant difference(P0.01).The protective effect of the 50 KD protein as a vaccine on naive yaks is quiet good.The infection rate of groups vaccined separately on July and September is 83.3% and 36.3%(55.5% as control);and the average infection intensity of these 2 groups is 6.5 and(4.2)(13.0 as control),the difference is not obvious(P0.05).The level of antibody reached the highest titer on the 3rd month post vaccination,and decreased slowly afterwards.The immune effect of group vaccined on September is better than that of the group vaccined on July,the difference of the antibody level of 3 groups is very obvious((P0.01).) This study facilitates further investigation on HA as a vaccine and the use of Pichia Pastoris in parasite domain.


Micro column rapid breakthrough (MCRB) method for conducting dynamic carbon adsorption test was presented. The results of comparative breakthrough experiments showed that MCRB could be employed to simulate the breakthrough state of large activated carbon adsorbers, to estimate the cost of carbon treatment, and to select the best activated carbon. MCRB required 5% of time and sample volume that would be necessary using conventional test methods while avoiding most of the common operating difficulties/problems. The carbon particle size and the empty bed contact time (EBCT) affected MCRB performance. Using 120~180 mesh activated carbon, the pressure of MCRB test was less than 3.03×105Pa. MCRB results for treatment of 2,4-DCP and MTBE simulated wastewater were reasonable.


BACKGROUND: Vitamin D and VDRs FokI has been reported to be strongly associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) through controlling inflammation of endothelial cells in diabetic foot cases. AIM: This study aimed to detect Vitamin D receptor FokI polymorphisms and to determine the Vitamin D levels among diabetic foot patients in sunlight-rich areas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross sectional study was conducted among diabetic foot patients who were treated as T2DM, from November 2016 to June 2018 in Padang city, Indonesia. There are an inclusion and exclusion criteria listed below. A questionnaire for symptoms-based screening, ankle brachial index (ABI) examination, fasting glucose, and HbA1c were measured. Electroimmunoassay (ECLIA) was used to determine Vitamin D levels as sufficiency, insufficiency, and deficiency. Polymerase chain reaction assay was addressed for VDR FokI genetic polymorphisms. Data were analyzed to evaluate the differences of explanatory variables (age, gender, duration of T2DM, fasting blood sugar, body mass index [BMI], HbA1c, and Vitamin D levels) across different genotypes of VDR FokI for three groups based on the absent T allele (ff: wild type homozygous, Ff: mutant heterozygous, and FF: mutant homozygous). RESULTS: Among 36 eligible subjects, 52.8% were females, 61.1% were <50 years old, 63.9% had normal BMI, and 86.1% had normal ABI. Vitamin D deficiency, insufficiency, and sufficiency were shown in 19.4%, 33.3%, and 47.2% of the subjects, respectively. The majority of VDR FokI gene polymorphisms were mutant heterozygous Ff (44.4%), wild type homozygous ff (13.9%), and mutant homozygous FF (41.7%). Results of one-way ANOVA showed that there were no differences of BMI, ABI, fasting blood glucose, Vitamin D levels, and Hb1AC status with the VDR FokI gene polymorphisms. Based on Vitamin D levels, most of the Vitamin D deficiency subjects had 31.2% VDR FokI Ff allele, 13.3% had FF allele, and none of them had ff allele. CONCLUSION: This study concluded that most of the individuals with diabetic foot in a sunlight-rich area tended to have mutant VDR FokI polymorphisms and Vitamin D insufficiency. Edited by: Mirko Spiroski Citation: Raflis R, Yuwono HS, Yanwirasti Y, Decroli E. Vitamin D Receptor Gene Polymorphism FokI and 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D Levels among Indonesian Diabetic Foot Patients. Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2020 Oct 02; 8(A):846-851. https://doi.org/10.3889/oamjms.2020.4009


Purpose - This is a case study aimed at finding a solution for improving the pallet loading efficiency in the process of delivering products through a...


In this paper we discuss a new approach to create the acoustic atmospheric radar (sodar) which is based on noise sounding waveform. Such sounding waveform fits all formal requirements to UWB signals and has remarkable characteristics including extremely high range and speed resolution. It is important to remember that all these good properties exist only in the case when we have independent samples. The noise signal forms the independent samples because of its nature.


244 Background: Biliary tract cancers (BTC) exhibit a diverse and high frequency of actionable mutations detectable using next generation sequencing (NGS). The Breast Cancer Linkage Consortium reported that BRCA2 mutation carriers are at increased risk for BTC with estimated relative risk of 4.97, (95% CI = 1. 50-16.52). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics of germline/somatic BRCA1/2mutations in CCA patients. Methods: Multi-center retrospective analysis of patients with germline/somatic BRCA1/2- associated CCA diagnosed between January 2000 and December 2013. Cases were identified from clinical databases at participating institutions. Data including demographics, clinical history, surgical procedures and systemic chemotherapy or radiation were extracted from patient records. Results: Overall, we identified 18 cases including 5 carriers of germline BRCA1/2 mutations (4 BRCA2; 1 BRCA1) and 13 harboring somatic mutations (7 BRCA1; 6 BRCA2) using a NGS panel testing tumor fo...


Objective:To explore the correlation between the age of menarche and indexes of human form,function,and quality,provide theoretical basis for adopting interventional measures and health education.Methods:Fifteen indexes of growth and development among the Han girls in 30 provinces/cities of China in 2005 were collected from literatures,simple correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were conducted between all the indexes of growth and development and the age of menarche of Han girls.Results:The results of simple correlation analysis showed that five factors were correlated with the age of menarche,and two factors(body weight and the power of gripping) entered into multiple linear regression analysis.Conclusion:Partial indexes of growth and development of Han girls are correlated with adolescent development closely.


Objective:  To compare colony forming unit (CFU) of oral bacterial from buccal mucosa and lingual buccal tongue among patients with a dental implant and normal oral hygiene individuals without a dental implant.  Material and Methods: Twenty-six individuals with a dental implant and twenty-six individuals without dental implants were included in this study. The samples were sent to the laboratory to culture with Brain Heart Infusion Broth (BHI), prepared serial dilution and then spread to the blood agar. CFU was counted when a single layer of bacteria is formed on the blood agar at any dilution level . An independent-T test was used to compare the means different of CFU oral bacterial between control and test groups from buccal mucosa and lingual buccal mucosa, respectively.  Results: Buccal mucosa control group (186.19 ± 5.61) and test group (186.65 ± 6.24) (p>0.05). The result from the lingual buccal tongue control group (198.38 ± 6.12) and test group (197.96 ± 6.50) (p>0.05). There was no significant difference between the control group and test group CFU bacterial load .  Conclusion:  The presence of implants in the oral cavity do not interfere or worsen the oral condition; nevertheless, the effect of implants surrounding oral flora is similar to natural teeth.


This reflective essay engages with questions of accountability as it is discursively and performatively produced in the everyday practices of university teaching. Drawing on cultural and poststructuralist theory, the article considers the subjective implications of what has been referred to in recent policy studies as 'policy enactments', and explores the ways that teaching and learning subjects are complicit in accountability discourses that shape policy and practice in contemporary academe. The article draws on media and policy documents, end-of-semester student surveys, and the author's reflective analysis of her own teaching practice, to consider how the impersonal discourses of accountability might be contested by the storylines through which we give an account of ourselves as teaching academics.


Diet in pregnancy is crucial for maternal and child health and pregnancy has been described as a good time for initiating behaviour change.
Evidence from developed countries, however, suggests that dietary intake in pregnant women is inadequate despite food (theoretically) being abundant. There is currently little knowledge on dietary intakes of pregnant women in Germany. A need for furthering theoretical knowledge in the field of nutrition research has also been identified.
This dissertation thus aimed to assess the determinants of diet in pregnancy in developed contexts and their interaction with each other. Based on an initial scoping of the theoretical and empirical literature, a conceptual framework was developed. Pregnancy-related, socio-demographic, individual behavioural and biological responses and environmental determinants were identified as key drivers of diet in pregnancy. Framework 'fit' was improved based on findings from a systematic review and application to cross-sectional data from the BaBi birth cohort study.
The initial framework could not be refined into a definitive explanatory model as the evidence on the role of pregnancy-related and environmental factors is inconclusive at this stage and the interaction of the different determinants could not be fully disentangled.
Nevertheless, this dissertation showed that the determinants of diet in pregnancy are very complex and in stark contrast to the notion of pregnancy as a time of 'heightened awareness' where behaviour change can easily be implemented. Both a social and behavioural gradient of diet in pregnancy were identified, i.e. women who are less affluent or exhibit health risk behaviours are less likely to exhibit adequate diets in pregnancy. Younger women were also identified as an at-risk group.
Recommendations were made to realise adequate diet in pregnancy for all women. Among these were the improvement of dietary guidelines and communication thereof in Germany and the development of policies to act on the complex determinants of diet. As the field of research advances, clearer and more detailed policy recommendations can be drawn.


In the field of knowledge representation and reasoning, different paradigms have co-existed for many years. Two central such paradigms are conditional logics and formal argumentation. Despite recent intensified efforts, the gap between these two approaches has not been fully bridged yet. In this paper, we contribute to the bridging of this gap by showing how plausible conditionals can be interpreted in argumentative reasoning enviroments. In more detail, we provide interpretations of conditional knowledge bases in abstract dialectical frameworks, one of the most general approaches to computational models of argumentation. We motivate the design choices made in our translation, show that different semantics give rise to several forms of adequacy, and show several desirable properties of our translation.


A better understanding of the carbon biomass from forests is needed to improve both models and mitiga - tion efforts related to the global C cycle and greenhouse gas mitigation. Despite the importance of Hyrcanian forests for biodiversity conservation, no study with biomass destruction has been done to predict biomass and carbon pools from this forest. Mixed-specific regression equations with 45 sample trees using different input variables such as di - ameter, height and wood density were developed to estimate the aboveground biomass of beech-hornbeam stands. All the sample trees were harvested and the diameter at breast height (DBH) spanned from 31 to 104 cm so as to represent the diameter distribution reported in the beech-hornbeam stand management. Using only diameter as an input vari - able, the stands regression model estimates the aboveground biomass of the stand with an average deviation of 19% (R 2 = 0.92; SEE = 0.22). Adding height as the second explanatory variable slightly improved the estimation with an average deviation of 18% ( R 2 adj = 0.95; SEE = 0.17). Adding only height or wood density did not improve significantly the estimations. Using the three variables together improved the precision of bole biomass prediction of stands with an average deviation of 10.3% (R 2 adj = 0.965; SEE = 0.167). 68% of the observed variation in the aboveground biomass of beech-hornbeam stands was explained only by diameter.


Real‐world data on health‐related outcomes in persons with haemophilia A (PwHA) can provide useful information for improving patient care. The global, non‐interventional study (NIS; NCT02476942) prospectively collected high‐quality data in PwHA, including those without factor VIII (FVIII) inhibitors treated according to local routine clinical practice.


"Eighteenth-Century Writing from Wales: Bards and Britons" examines Welsh writing in English in the context of recent critical debates concerning the rise of cultural nationalism and the 'invention' of Great Britain as a nation in the eighteenth century. This study investigates the ways in which Anglophone literature from and about Wales imagines the nation and its culture in a range of genres including poetry, fiction, letters, and religious writing. The particular aim of this book is to gauge the extent to which Welsh writers approve, contest and/or shape emergent models of Britishness in the period. This is the first study to discuss Welsh literature in English in the context of current thinking about the literary negotiation of Britain in the eighteenth century. The range of texts to be discussed and the historical chronology of this project are unique and represent an exciting addition to current scholarship on pre-1800 Welsh literary culture.


Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) is one of the most common hormonal diseases affecting reproductive-aged women. In actuality, PCOS includes a spectrum of disorders rather than a single, discrete disease.


The notions of left(right) vague ideal and normal left(right) vague ideals of Γ-semirings with membership and non-membership functions taking values in unit interval of real numbers are introduced which generalize the existing notions left(right) fuzzy ideal and normal left(right) fuzzy ideal of Γ-semiring and studied various properties. Further we proved, a non-constant maximal element in set of all normal left (right) vague idea of a Γ-smearing takes only two values [0,0] and [1,1]. Mathematics Subject Classification: 08A72, 20N25, 03E72.


Under the new situation of developing higher education,strengthening the personality cultivation of freshmen is as important as implementing the specilaty requirements.This paper explains the composition of healthy personality,and puts forward that political instructors are the main force of this cultivation,and campus culture is an immaterial factor.Also,this paper expounds the basic requirements of personality cultivation according to practice.


Purpose – Progress in retrofitting the UK's commercial properties continues to be slow and fragmented. New research from the UK and USA suggests that radical changes are needed to drive large-scale retrofitting, and that new and innovative models of financing can create new opportunities. The purpose of this paper is to offer insights into the terminology of retrofit and the changes in UK policy and practice that are needed to scale up activity in the sector. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews and synthesises key published research into commercial property retrofitting in the UK and USA and also draws on policy and practice from the EU and Australia. Findings – The paper provides a definition of "retrofit", and compares and contrasts this with "refurbishment" and "renovation" in an international context. The paper summarises key findings from recent research and suggests that there are a number of policy and practice measures which need to be implemented in the UK for commercial retrofitting ...


The NW Natuna basin is a frontier hydrocarbon exploration area adjacent to several well established hydrocarbon provinces. It is located to the north of the main West Natuna Basin in the Natuna Sea, offshore Indonesia. In this paper we present a review of


[eng] Though Europe is indeed going through an activity slowdown, it could stand as the most dynamic area during the next two years. It will probably benefit from the opening of eastern Europe whereas the United States, still entangled in their twin deficits, are reaching the end of business cycle and Japan is facing financial disorders. Germany will act as locomotive for Europe. Both the fiscal reform and the reunification will push its internal demand up. It will therefore export less and import more. But on the other hand, its restrictive mone tary policy will impose itself upon other countries. There, as capacity utilisation rates are still high, exports will somewhat evict internal demand. Consequently, productions will slow down while current accounts will improve. Production and imports will become less dynamic in Asian developing countries, as they will be hampered by the american slowdown. But OPEC countries will increase their imports. All in all, world trade will decelerate but along geographical pattern that will benefit Europe in general and France in particular. France is still pursuing goals of balanced current account and a reduced budget deficit. Economic policy being moderately restrictive, household's consumption will decelerate. Faced with gradually weaker final demand and renewal of financial difficulties, firms will not increase their capital expenditures as fast as in 1989. The rate of growth of production will diminish in 1990 and pick up in 1991. As the labour market is relatively flexible, job creation will rapidly adapt to the fluctuations of production. Thus productivity will increase, but so will unemployment. [fre] L'Europe, quoique traversant effectivement une phase de ralentissement conjoncturel, pourrait etre au cours des deux prochaines annees le pole de dynamisme de l'economie mondiale. Elle se trouve en effet face a des Etats-Unis arrives en fin de cycle et embourbes dans leurs deficits et face a un Japon penalise par des dereglements financiers. Elle est par ailleurs potentiellement dynamisee par ouverture a l'Est. La RFA jouera un role de locomotive en Europe. Sa demande interieure sera soutenue par la reforme fiscale et par la reuni fication. Elle exportera moins et importera plus. Toutefois sa politique monetaire restrictive influencera celle des autres pays europeens. Pour ceux-ci, dans un contexte de capacites productives encore saturees, les exportations y evinceront les demandes interieures. Il y aura donc en 1990 un ralentissement de l'activite en meme temps qu'une amelioration des soldes courants. Le moindre dynamisme des pays asiatiques, lie notamment au ralentissement nord-americain, sera en partie compense par le redressement de la demande de l'OPEP. Le commerce mondial decelerera, mais selon une structure geographique moins desavantageuse a l'Europe en general et a la France en particulier. La France continuera a se fixer des objectifs de quasi-equilibre de sa balance courante et de reduction de son deficit budgetaire. Avec une politique moderement restrictive, cela implique une dece- leration de la demande des menages. Face a un ralentissement des debouches globaux et a l'apparition de difficultes de financement, l'investissement productif enregistrera lui aussi un ralentissement de son taux de progression. La croissance de la production flechira en 1990 et se redressera legerement en 1991. Le delai d'ajustement des effectifs a la production etant court en raison de la precarisation du marche du travail, cela permettra a la productivite de se redresser mais le taux de chomage elevera.


The effect of some kinds of binders on the anti oxidation property of the coating on carbon/carbon composite for airplane brake was investigated, and the functional mechanism of the binders was analyzed. The results show that different binders have great effects on the property. Binders with the coat of silicon sol or phosphate series have good anti oxidation property, both own the best anti oxidation effect in some temperature range. The best anti oxidation effect at 900 ℃ for 4 hours is the sample with silicon sol as binder whose weight lost is only 1%(mass fraction), while that with phosphate as binder is 0.37%(mass fraction) at 700 ℃ for 4 hours. During the oxidation test, the two kinds of the coatings maintain the integrity, which shows that the two kinds of coating own good anti thermal shock property.


The success of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children rests with communities, and not with law enforcement agencies. This was the message given by Suzette Farmer, a community worker and SAPS employee based at the SAPS Museum in Muizenberg. The annual campaign runs from 25 November to 10 December and one of its aims is to encourage people to break their silence when they know somebody is being abused. Ms Farmer was speaking at the launch of the campaign by the SAPS Museum on 18 November 2016 in the Capricorn Primary School hall, Capricorn, in Muizenberg.


Abstract In this article, using the representation that the Kalman filter recursions in state-space models can be expressed as a matrix-weighted average of prior and sample estimates, we supplement the usual filtering algorithm by an extreme bounds analysis. Specifically, as the covariance matrix of the state error is varied in the class of symmetric and positive-definite matrices, the filtering estimates are shown to be in an ellipsoid.


Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine how four large organisations have approached the implementation of new eBusiness mechanisms: namely online order processing, eProcurement, reverse auctions, and a private exchange. The objectives are to establish whether supply chain integration is an identified goal for the firms involved and to evaluate the extent of integration achieved through these projects.Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach is used, with four separate cases being examined, leading to cross‐case analysis and conclusions. The primary form of data collection was interviews with managers participating in the implementations. In order to measure the degree of supply chain integration pertaining in the examples, two frameworks from the literature are used.Findings – In three of the cases it is established that there is very little, or nil integration at supply chain level and only in one case is there evidence of a supply chain perspective contributing to the project. Thre...


In this book, which arose from an MSRI research workshop cosponspored by the Clay Mathematical Institute, leading experts give an overview of several areas of dynamical systems that have recently experienced substantial progress. In symplectic geometry, a fast-growing field having its roots in classical mechanics, Cieliebak, Hofer, Latschev and Schlenk give a definitive survey of quantitative techniques and symplectic capacities, which have become a central research tool. Fisher's survey on local rigidity of group actions is a broad and up-to-date account of a flourishing subject built on the fact that for actions of noncyclic groups, topological conjugacy commonly implies smooth conjugacy. Other articles by Eigen, Feres, Kochergin, Krieger, Navarro, Pinto, Prasad, Rand and Robinson cover subjects in hyperbolic, parabolic and symbolic dynamics as well as ergodic theory. Among the specific areas of interest are random walks and billiards, diffeomorphisms and flows on surfaces, amenability and tilings. The articles are complemented by a fifty-page commented problem list, compiled by the editor with the help of numerous specialists. Several sections of this list focus on problems beyond the areas covered in the surveys, and all are sure to inspire and guide further research.


The Aquidauana Formation is characterized by sandstones of variable granulation, mudstones and diamectites abundant in clay, typical colors like brick red (vermelho tijolo) of glacial, fluvial and lacustrine origin. It's chronostratigraphic equivalent to the Itarara group from the Neo Carboniferous age, that under the exploratory view, such units represent important intervals in the basin, occurring together with them minerals as well as energy resources as petroleum, underground water and coal – what requires a great paleogeography and stratigraphy knowledge for its exploration. By gathering information from the columnar sections of the area, it was possible to characterize the sedimentary facies, the stacking pattern as well as the association. It was also made an attempt of stratigraphic correlation, which showed great difficulties since glacial environments present a great lateral discontinuity of the facies besides the complex relationship process of formation. As a result, it was obtained 8 sedimentary facies, the lateral and vertical relations and genesis process. It is proposed that the sedimentary environment in the study area is the fluvio glacial, characterized by alluvial systems formed by defrosted water which transport the sediments that are deposited in plains in front of the glacier (distal outwash). Petrographic thin section analysis showed that the transportation process was ineffective. The grains present punctual to lobular contacts, characterizing good porosity and permeability to the rock, varying these qualities according to more or less existence of matrix. The presence of Iron Oxide deposited between the recrystallization border and feldspathic mineral indicates that this rock has possibly presented a primary rubefaction, intensified by alkaline fluid percolation.


PURPOSE Mild traumatic brain injuries, also called concussions, affect 1.2 million people a year in the United States and constitute 80% of all traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). About 30% of patients who suffer concussions continue to experience symptoms weeks or months after the injury, and are diagnosed with postconcussion syndrome. For reasons that are not known, women are signifi cantly more likely than men to be diagnosed with postconcussion syndrome. However, no studies have examined whether women have poorer outcomes than men from postconcussion syndrome after treatment and/or in the long term. This study focused on the treatment of men and women presenting with similar symptoms of postconcussion syndrome, in order to investigate whether different outcomes might be the result of different treatments.


Basing on the analysis of the complicated natural conditions of Jintang Dapukou Container Terminals project,according to relevant experiment results,and through calculation of forces on vessels,this paper carried out a thorough study on the five axial directions from 151° to 136°,and drew the conclusion that the wharf location should be near the 18 m bathymetric line,and the wharf axial line be at the azimuth of 150°30′.


DC-DC converter with a high-side power transistor and a low-side power transistor connected between supply terminals in series. An inductor is connected between a connection node of the power transistors and an output terminal to which a load is connected, is connected. A comparator compares the output voltage at the output terminal with a reference voltage. A Induktivitatsstromdetektor detected when the inductor current approaches zero. A timer for a minimum connection time is designed such that it determines a minimum on the high-side power transistor that is optimized for a given value of inductance. A back gate current detector detects the current flow in the backgate diode of the low-side power transistor. A priority timer is designed such that it determines in response to the back gate current detecting a priority switch. A control logic provides control signals for gate driver for the power transistors provided to an output of the comparator and in response to the respective longer time the minimum on and priority switch in response. The minimum on the high-side power transistor is adjusted in response to the inductance of the connected inductance. Accordingly, the minimum on for larger inductance is automatically extended, whereby the conversion efficiency is improved at low load current.


The experimental plot is placed in fruit-growing orchard of 'Agroparc Management' Ltd., during the 2020 year. The object of the research was the trees of the apricot varieties of 'Wonder Cot', 'Spring Blush', 'Magic Cot', 'Lilly Cot', 'Pinkcot', 'Perle Cot', 'Orange Red', 'Sweet Cot', 'Big Red', 'Kyoto', 'Faralia' and 'Farbaly', grafted on the 'Mirobalan 29C' rootstock. Planting distance was 5.0 x 3.0 m. The planting of apricot trees was carried out in spring of 2015. During the researches was studied the period of beginning of flowering and the ripening of fruit harvesting phases, the period between these two phases on different varieties of apricots, morphological parameters of fruits and kernels, shape index and redistribution of fruits in various quality of classes. It has been established that the biological particularities of the variety influence on the period of beginning of the flowering and the ripening of the apricot fruits, the period between these two phases, the morphological parameters, the shape index and the redistribution of the fruits in different quality classes.


ABSTRACT Detailed petrographic analysis has been undertaken on Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous Murihiku rocks from Southland and South Auckland locations. They comprise lithic (primarily volcanic) and feldspathic (plagioclase-rich) sandstones that generally contain little detrital quartz, and classify as feldsarenites, lithic-feldsarenites, feldspathic litharenites and litharenites. The oldest (Early Jurassic) sandstones are the most quartz-rich. Sandstones become more lithic up-section, with very high volcanic contents occurring within the younger samples (Late Jurassic to earliest Cretaceous). The higher quartz content in the oldest strata is likely to reflect contributions from plutonic or metamorphosed rocks into the forearc during the Early Jurassic, a contribution that decreased with time. However, some quartz enrichment in Early Jurassic sandstones may also have occurred by preferential sorting of quartz grains during transport into the depositional environment. Generally, Murihiku sandstones have poor reservoir properties based on the petrographic and petrophysical results but they may constitute a viable fractured reservoir target.


With the advent of a new generation of high energy, high duty cycle electron accelerators, a whole range of new nuclear and subnuclear phenomena can be investigated, in particular through coincidence experiments.This contribution focuses on one and two nucleon emission studies below pion threshold.After a brief review of recent experimental and theoretical work, the study of single nucleon densities through high energy (e,e'N) experiments is discussed.New insights in short-range multihadron phenomena are likely to be obtained through (e,e'p), (e,e'd) and (e,e'2N) reactions.Coincidence experiments, some of them involving polarization measurement, are described to study the free and bound nucleon electromagnetic responses.


[Objective] To obtain the percent of the freshmen infected by HBV and producing antibody, to suggest the undergraduates to care HBV and to inject HBV vaccines in time. In addition the situation of the disease infected by HBV is a society problem. The undergraduates are a social group whose members come from different areas and families. So they are repre- sentative of the whole society. Thus the status of the whole society can be reflected by that of the freshmen. [Methods] Statistic analysis was applied to the results of HBV test from the freshmen in recent five years. [Results] The results showed that the positive antibody ratio of freshmen increased obviously from 2004. The number of students who infected by HBV appeared a de- creasing tendency. [Conclusion] Preventing HBV infection should receive support from the government, efforts from all people and concerns from the whole society.


In this paper, a flying-capacitor linear amplifier (FCLA) for wireless power transfer systems is proposed. The proposed circuit has an n-series FCLA with only N-ch MOSFETs and an unfolder. The flying capacitor (FC) voltages are balanced by selecting the operation state of each MOSFET with phase-shifted carriers. FCLA outputs a continuous voltage that does not contain the harmonics that cause current harmonics. Due to this, the radiation noise from the transmission coils is reduced. The operation of the WPT system with the proposed 16-series FCLA is demonstrated in a simulation. The proposed FCLA output the sinusoidal voltage to the resonance circuit. In addition, the harmonics of the primary coil current are analyzed. From this result, the FCLA significantly reduces the current harmonics than the conventional two-level inverter. Then, The FC voltage balance is verified using the prototype with a 2-series FCLA. From the experimental results with a small-scale prototype, the proposed circuit outputs full-wave rectified sinusoidal output voltage with balanced FC. Furthermore, the harmonics of the unfolder output voltage are analyzed. From the analyzed result, the third-order harmonics are reduced by 19.8dB due to FCLA with MOSFET in the active-state in comparison with the theoretical value of harmonics of square wave voltage.


This paper measures the effects of information on residential demand for electricity, using data from a Japanese experiment. In the experiment, households had a continuous-display, electricity use monitoring device installed at their residence. The monitor was designed so that each consumer could easily look at graphs and tables associated with the consumer s own usage of electricity at any time during the experiment. The panel data were used to estimate a random effects model of electricity and count data models of monitor usage. The results indicate that monitor usage contributed to energy conservation.


Purpose of study Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer and the second most common cause of death from cancer in the United States. A mastectomy is a standard treatment option for breast cancer and a growing percentage of women undergoing mastectomy elect to have a breast reconstruction. Reconstructive surgery provides psychological and functional benefits for women. As with any surgery, breast reconstruction has a risk of morbidities including seroma, hematoma, infection, and flap necrosis. In this study we aim to review the morbidities specific to our plastic surgery practice at Loma Linda University Medical Centre (LLUMC). Methods used A retrospective analysis of our plastic surgery-specific morbidity and mortality electronic database was conducted from March 2013 to January 2017. Morbidities after breast reconstructive cases for patients with a history of breast cancer were catalogued. Patients were placed in three categories: those with minor complications, those whose infection was managed non-operatively, and those who had to return to the operating room. Summary of results Figure 1 displays the percentage of patients who fell into each category of morbidity. There was a total of 878 patients with a history of a breast cancer who underwent breast reconstruction from March 2013 to January 2017. Conclusions With the increasing popularity of breast reconstruction, a discussion of its morbidities has become more relevant. A previous analysis of overall surgical complications among all procedures within our practice found that the incidence of any complication was 1.89%. Our findings display a 5-fold relative rate of morbidities for breast reconstruction. This large incidence of morbidity calls for additional attention to risk prevention. Abstract 71 Figure 1. Morbidity rates of patients who underwent breast reconstruction at Loma Linda university medical centre from March 2013 to January 2017