In this paper, a novel algorithm to synthesize large-scale virtual terrain from a set of images is presented based on digital image processing technologies and radial weighted blending method. The algorithm first creates standardized terrain-blocks from the images, and then smoothes the blocks by employing fast Fourier transform (FFT) and butter worth low-pass filter. A radial-weighted defined on each block, which is used to synthesize four local neighboring blocks to a single blended area, is subsequently constructed for each block. As a result, a complete and smooth large-scale terrain can be obtained by blending operator with the radial-weights. The algorithm also provides user a tool of controlling terrain by adjusting several parameters. Experiments show that our algorithm can generate terrains with various scales and styles, fast and effectively.


Gregory of Tours (538-594) was a historian of his time and place. His primary concerns were shaped by his theological, ecclesiastical, and political commitments: western orthodoxy, the Roman Catholic Church, and Merovingian Gaul. It thus is surprising that in his famous Ten Books of Histories he takes a more than passing interest in the eastern Roman Emperor and empire. This article explores Gregory's passages on imperial Rome and argues that they were intended to highlight the virtues and vices of particular Merovingian kings in comparison with particular Roman emperors. Also, Gregory meant to subtly point to the dangers of Merovingian and imperial entanglements. About the Author Robert Winn earned his Ph.D. in the Early Christian Studies program at the Catholic University of America, and his degree focused on two examination areas: late antique history and Greek and Latin patristics. His research interests include religious and intellectual history in Late Antiqiuity and the early Middle Ages. Prior to joining Northwestern's faculty, he was a visiting professor at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Dr. Winn is the author of Eusebius of Emesa: Church and Theology in the Mid-Fourth Century, which was published by The Catholic University of America Press in 2011. His published articles have appeared in the Journal of Early Christian Studies and Vigiliae Christianae., and he has presented papers at the International Conference on Patristic Studies at Oxford University. His most recent conference papers, both read at the International Congress on Medieval Studies (2011 and 2012), were entitled "Lessons from Lesser Kings: Books IV and V of Bede's Historia Ecclesiastica" and "On Avarice: Eusebius of Emesa and John Chrysostom." Winn currently has two long term research projects: (1) a study of Bede as an exegete and historian in the context of early medieval historiography and (2) a book intended for an undergraduate audience that surveys the political and religious history of the late Roman Empire and early Middle Ages. It is tentatively titled Empire and Church from Constantine to Charlemagne. This article is available in Northwestern Review: https://nwcommons.nwciowa.edu/northwesternreview/vol2/iss1/4 Northwestern Review, Vol. 2, Issue 1 "Gregory of Tours" by Dr. Robert Winn 1 Copyright Robert Winn. Readers of this item may copy it without the copyright owner's permission as long as the author and publisher (NWCommons) are acknowledged in the copy and the copy is used for educational, not-forprofit purposes. Gregory of Tours, the Eastern Emperor, and Merovingian Gaul by Robert Winn, Ph.D. Gregory of Tours (538-594) indicated throughout his Ten Books of Histories that his primary concern was the activities and wars, often civil wars, of the sixth-century Merovingian kings. At several points in his text, however, Gregory superseded this parochial perspective and reminded his audience of the eastern Roman Emperor and empire. Modern scholarship has confirmed that Gaul was not isolated from the world of the eastern Mediterranean during the sixth century, and historians interested in the connections between Constantinople and late antique Gaul often turn to Gregory's writings as a contemporary witness on the nature of this relationship. In fact, Gregory glances east enough times in his narrative that it seems to be more 1 Text: Gregorii Episcopi Turonensis Libri Historiarum X, ed. Bruno Krusch and Wilhelmus Levison, Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum I.1 (Hanover, 1951). Cited hereafter as follows: Hist. book/preface number. chapter number (Krush page number) in the notes and as Histories in the narrative. All English translations are my own or follow Lewis Thorpe's translation [Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, trans. Lewis Thorpe (Penguin, 1974)], and where I quote from Thorpe's translation I cite it as follows: Thorpe, page number. Gregory's primary interest in Merovingian affairs: Hist. Praefatio I (3), Praefatio II (36), and Praefatio V (193). 2 The following list is representative and not exhaustive. Averil Cameron, "The Early Religious Policies of Justin II," in Orthodox Churches and the West, Studies on Church History 13 (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1976), 51-67 [Gregory on the imperial gift of the relic of the cross to Radegund]. Eugen Ewig, Die Merowinger und das Imperium (Düsseldorf: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1983). Walter Goffart, "Byzantine Policy and the West under Tiberius and Maurice: The Pretenders Hermenegild and Gundovald," Traditio 13 (1957), 73-118; Ingrid Heidrich, "Syrische Kirchengemeinden im Frankenreich des 6. Jahrhunderts," Aus Archiven und Bibliotheken: Festschrift für Raymund Kottje zum 65. Geburtstag, ed. Hubert Mordek (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1992), 20-32; Isabel Moreira, "Provisatrix optima: St. Radegund of Poitiers' Relic petitions to the East," Journal of Medieval History 19 (1993), Northwestern Review, Vol. 2, Issue 1 "Gregory of Tours" by Dr. Robert Winn 2 Copyright Robert Winn. Readers of this item may copy it without the copyright owner's permission as long as the author and publisher (NWCommons) are acknowledged in the copy and the copy is used for educational, not-forprofit purposes. than a passing interest to him even if he most often directs his audience's attention to the region of the world he knew best in northern Gaul. Gregory was not writing for an audience of contemporary scholars who might appreciate the eastern material in his history, and, given that he was not simply intending to provide information on the east, it is often, at first reading, puzzling to determine how his vignettes about the eastern empire relate to the various narrative threads Gregory unraveled about the Merovingian kings. In fact, the seemingly episodic nature of these passages on the eastern emperor is apiece with the character of the book as a whole: it often appears to be little more than a random and untamed series of anecdotes. It may be that this simply represents Gregory's understanding of history: a narrative comprising both regal history and miracle tales. Giselle de Nie and Walter Goffart, however, have shown persuasively that there 285-305. 3 In his preface to Book II of the Histories, Gregory claims that, by weaving together an account of the wars of kings and the miracles of saints, he is following the precedent of the late antique historians Eusebius of Caesarea, Jerome, and Sulpicius Severus. J. M. Wallace-Hadrill gave priority to this statement as an explanation for how Gregory proceeded in his history [Wallace-Hadrill, "Gregory of Tours and Bede: Their Views on the Personal Qualities of Kings," Frühmittelalterliche Studien 2 (1968), 32]. Initial from a 7 century manuscript of Gregory of Tours History of the Franks. Image from Wikimedia Commons. Northwestern Review, Vol. 2, Issue 1 "Gregory of Tours" by Dr. Robert Winn 3 Copyright Robert Winn. Readers of this item may copy it without the copyright owner's permission as long as the author and publisher (NWCommons) are acknowledged in the copy and the copy is used for educational, not-forprofit purposes. is more at work in Gregory's Histories than a binary composition of wars and miracles. An inner logic and organizational structure shapes the Histories, and their arguments only follow from Gregory's own authorial comments in the later books of the Histories reminding his readers what they read in earlier books and thus inviting them to make narrative connections. There is, in other words, purpose and design to the Histories. Gregory purposefully selected and arranged the material in his composition, and, expecting much from his readers in this respect, he anticipated that his audience would keep up with the various narrative threads and presumably appreciate how they together constituted his primary narrative about the activities and wars of the Merovingian kings. Assuming, therefore, that Gregory has incorporated material about the eastern emperor purposefully and that this material has some relevance to his primary narrative, the question the present article will explore is how these passages function in the Histories. Two useful angles from which one can address these questions are the instances when Gregory paired an emperor 4 Giselle de Nie, View from a Many-Windowed Tower: Studies of Imagination in the Works of Gregory of Tours (Amsterdam, 1987), 69. Her concern is primarily the inner-logic governing the passages on prodigies in Gregory's narrative, but her theory has wide application in Gregory's Histories. Walter Goffart has argued that one of the organizing principles of Gregory's history is irony, and it is therefore just as important to observe how Gregory arranges his text as it is to note what the text says [Goffart, Narrators of Barbarian History (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988), 174-83]. On Gregory's authorial comments to his readers, see, for example, the outset of book seven where he comments that he will resume various stories he had started in the previous book [Hist. VII.1 (323)]. Thus, he refers the reader to a previous passage when he mentions Rigunth at Hist. VII.9 (331). For a similar example, see his account of Hermenegild in Book VI where he mentions that he had already discussed him once before and would now resume his story [Hist. VI.43 (314)]. Northwestern Review, Vol. 2, Issue 1 "Gregory of Tours" by Dr. Robert Winn 4 Copyright Robert Winn. Readers of this item may copy it without the copyright owner's permission as long as the author and publisher (NWCommons) are acknowledged in the copy and the copy is used for educational, not-forprofit purposes. with a Merovingian king and episodes Gregory discussed that represent imperial involvement in the Merovingian kingdoms. Reading Gregory's Histories along these lines suggests that he included eastern Roman material in his history for two reasons. Pairing a Merovingian king with an emperor provided him wit


OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to identify the clinical significance of the deoxyribonucleic acid damage response marker, phosphorylated H2A histone variant X, on the bridge to recovery in low-weight pediatric patients with dilated cardiomyopathy post-Berlin Heart EXCOR implantation.

METHODS
Consecutive pediatric patients with dilated cardiomyopathy who underwent EXCOR implantation for dilated cardiomyopathy at our hospital between 2013 and 2021 were reviewed. Patients were classified into two groups according to the degree of deoxyribonucleic acid damage in left ventricular cardiomyocytes-low deoxyribonucleic acid damage group and high deoxyribonucleic acid damage group-using the median value as the threshold. We examined and compared the preoperative factors and histological findings associated with cardiac functional recovery following explantation in the two groups.

RESULTS
Competing outcome analysis of 18 patients (median body weight, 6.1 kg) showed that the incidence of EXCOR explantation was 40% at 1 year after implantation. Serial echocardiography revealed significant left ventricular functional recovery in the low deoxyribonucleic acid damage group 3 months after implantation. The univariable Cox proportional-hazards model revealed that the percentage phosphorylated H2A histone variant X positive cardiomyocyte was the significant factor associated with cardiac recovery and EXCOR explantation (hazard ratio, 0.16; 95% confidence interval, 0.027-0.51; P = 0.0096).

CONCLUSIONS
The degree of deoxyribonucleic acid damage response at EXCOR implantation may aid in predicting the bridge to recovery with EXCOR among low-weight pediatric patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.


Knowing that dirofilariosis is an emerging zoonosis, little known and studied in Romania, the aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of Dirofilaria spp. infection in dogs, in the western part of Romania. Since there is no epidemiological study on Dirofilaria spp. infection in dogs in Romania by molecular techniques, we consider opportune to examine the positive samples by this technique.
 Between February 2008 and August 2009 a number of 188 blood samples, from dogs in Timis and Hunedoara Counties, were collected. From the total amount of samples 96 were from Timis County and 92 were collected from Deva dog shelter, Hunedoara County. Blood samples were examination by different methods: Fresh blood smear, modified Knott's method, Diro-test Speed® Diro/Heartworm (Bio Veto Test, France), ELISA technique (D. immitis antigen) (EVL Netherlands). The positive blood samples with microfilariae were examined by PCR technique used for specific detection of D. immitis and D. repens described by (Casiraghi et al., 2006), at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine "Szent Istvan", at Parasitology and Zoology Department, from Budapest, Hungary. All 8 dogs tested were positive for Dirofilaria repens infection


In this paper, Cesare Marchetti presents a review of the development of world energy markets over the last two centuries. This is then used as a springboard for projections of the likely future penetration of natural gas. Marchetti's hypothesis is that society can be viewed as an ensemble of component structures engaged in Darwinian competition; his analysis leads to interesting and perhaps surprising conclusions on long-term energy price stability, the future role of natural gas, and the vexed question of whether or not there really is a global energy shortfall.


Aim: Smoking; along with psychological factors and habits, it causes addiction in people. The level of smoking addiction is determined in clinical practices with the Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND). CO level measurement in expiratory air is frequently used today as a biomarker in the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up stages of addiction. In this study, it was aimed to evaluate the relationship between CO levels and FTND of smokers. Materials and Methods: The questionnaire was applied to smokers and healthy volunteers coming to the Selçuk University Faculty of Medicine Family Practice Clinic. 68 smoker patients and 60 non- smoker volunteers were included. Patients' sociodemographic characteristics, age of starting smoking, CO levels in expiratory air, respiratory function test (RFT) results and FTND scores were recorded. The relationship between FTND scores and CO levels in expiratory air was investigated. Demographic data were analyzed using descriptive statistical methods by using SPSS (Stastistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows) 22.0 version. Results: The mean age of the individuals included in the scope of the study was 53.0±6.9 and 39.1% of them were women, 60.9% of them were men. There was a statistically significant difference was found between the participants' gender, age, occupational characteristics and marital status and smoking status. There was a positive correlation between the CO results and FTND scores (p≤0.001). There was a negative correlation between the CO results and FEV1/FVC scores (p≤0.001). Conclusions: Among the scales that measure nicotine addiction level, FTND is the most used one in smoking cessation clinics today. In our study, there was a positive correlation between CO levels and FTND scores, which was found statistically significant. Measuring CO during patient follow-up is both an objective criterion for evaluating smoking cessation and enhances patient compliance. Therefore, CO levels can also be used as a guiding factor in determining the severity of cigarette addiction.


Globally convergent homotopy methods for solving nonlinear resistive circuits exploit eventual passivity of the components and are therefore not suited for active circuits. This paper describes a possible extension of the octahedral algorithm to make it applicable to a broad class of active circuits. It is also shown how the algorithm can be used to find multiple solutions.


Is logic, feasibly, a product of natural selection? In this paper we treat this question as dependent upon the prior question of where logic is founded. After excluding other possibilities, we conclude that logic resides in our language, in the shape of inferential rules governing the logical vocabulary of the language. This means that knowledge of (the laws of) logic is inseparable from the possession of the logical constants they govern. In this sense, logic may be seen as a product of natural selection: the emergence of logic requires the development of creatures who can wield structured languages of a specific complexity, and who are capable of putting the languages to use within specific discursive practices. Mathematics Subject Classification (2010). 03A05.


Event location in power systems is quite essential information for system operators to enhance control-room situational awareness capability. Therefore, it is of great importance to develop an event location estimation algorithm for transmission systems with high accuracy. With the development of wide-area measurement system (WAMS) such as FNET/GridEye, and the synchrophasor measurement devices (SMDs) such as frequency disturbance recorders (FDRs), the synchronous measurement data including frequency, voltage amplitude and phase angle can be collected and used for event location estimation. First, the phase angle and rate of change of frequency (RoCoF) trajectories are respectively used for determining two sets of wave arrival time associated with each FDR. Then, a convolutional neural network (CNN) is utilized to determine the wave arrival order to select the more suitable set of wave arrival times for a given case and to perform corresponding modifications. Next, the oscillation intensity associated with each FDR is determined based on phase angle trajectories in the center of inertia (COI) coordinate system. Finally, the multiple criteria for event location estimation are represented. Case studies and comparisons between the proposed and previous algorithms using actual and confirmed cases in U.S. power systems are performed to demonstrate the effectiveness and improvement of the proposed algorithm in practical applications.


An electronic device is provided. The electronic device includes a memory configured to store at least one application, a communication module configured to establish a connection between the electronic device and an external electronic device, and a processor configured to drive the at least one application, divide data executable by the at least one application into a first file and a second file, store the first file in the memory, and transmit the second file to the external electronic device through the communication module for storing the second file in the external electronic device.


Background: Obesity has become a major global problem leading to diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome.

Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the association between body fat percentage (BF%) and cardiac workload by rate pressure product (RPP) in healthy young adults.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 young healthy medical students of the age group of aged between 17 and 22 years in a medical college. BF% along with body water, bone mass, body mass index (BMI), visceral fat, basal metabolic rate (BMR), and muscle mass was measured using a commercially available digital weight scale incorporating a bioelectric impedance analysis new double electrode technology. RPP was assessed by systolic blood pressure (SBP) and heart rate (HR). Statistical analysis was done using unpaired t-test for comparison of variables such as body water, bone mass, BMI, visceral fat, BMR, muscle mass, SBP, diastolic blood pressure, HR, and RPP. Correlation between RPP and BF% was done by Karl Pearson's correlation. P = 0.05 or less was considered as statistically significant.

Results: There was positive statistically significant relationship between BF% and RPP. There was increase in BF, visceral fat, and RPP in males when compared to females.

Conclusion: There exists a positive association between BF% and RPP. RPP acts as early predictor of cardiovascular disease risk. Hence, early prevention can be undertaken to prevent the disease burden at young age.


The effects of different dosage PMSG(40、50、60、70、80、90 IU),different FSH methods (constant method and decreasing method) and repeated superovulation on superovulation were compared to obtain the most effective method for superovulation in rabbits.The results showed: (1) The number of ovlation points on ovary and recovery oocytes in 80 IU PMSG group was significantly higher than that in other dosage groups(40、50、60、70 and 90 IU,P0.05).(2) There was no significant difference on ovulation points on ovary and recovery oocytes among three methods [PMSG(80 IU),FSH constant method and decreasing method](P 0.05).(3) There was no significant difference on ovulation points on ovary and recovery oocytes between left ovary and right ovary(P 0.05) when rabbit had been treated with different hormone.(4) There was no significant difference on ovulation points on ovary and recovery oocytes between once-surgery and twice-surgery(P 0.05).The dosage of 80 IU PMSG is better than the other dosages on rabbits' superovulation and it can replace FSH in practice.Two surgeries do not affect the superovulation effect.


Large scale manufacturing of nano and micro-optics, both free-space and planar waveguide optics, has many technical challenges. Supporting technologies required for manufacturing of different types of optical devices and modules in nano and micro scales are being developed. As fabrication technology to support nano and micro optics improves, challenges associated with metrology of optical feature in nano and micro scales become more apparent. In this paper some examples of research projects at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in these areas are presented.


The invention discloses a device and a method for a physical simulation test of the stability of a deep tunnel surrounding rock and relates to a rock-soil mechanic technology. A structure of the device is that a pressure plate is covered on a sample in a deep tunnel rock body model instrument, and a vertical pressure system is arranged on the pressure plate and used for loading so as to simulate and exert gravity stress. A miniature shield machine drills into the sample from a drilling surface, and the miniature shield machine, a stepless speed changing box and a motor are sequentially connected to achieve drilling. Eight optical fibers and six strain gauges are distributed in the sample, the optical fibers are connected with a distributed optical fiber monitoring system, and the distributed optical fiber monitoring system and the strain gauges are respectively connected with a data acquiring system so as to achieve detection and recording. By means of the device and the method for the physical simulation test of the stability of the deep tunnel surrounding rock, a development and change law of stress strain when a deep tunnel rock body is excavated in tunnel construction can reappear accurately, and a novel solving path for researching the stability of the grotto surrounding rock and forming mechanism of rock burst in the tunnel construction.


The characteristics of water and water quality of the mainstream in a watershed can be directly affected by the ecological characteristics of the terrestrial ecosystem and indirectly affected by the species composition and structural change of the forests that interact. The most important causes of the structural changes are both silvicultural treatments and harvesting activities which can be considered as the main forestry activities. While water quality in a watershed is indirectly affected by forestry activities, especially harvesting activities, aquatic habitat can be also significantly affected. Due to the multifaceted interactions between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, this issue has not yet been clearly elucidated. Long-term studies on this subject at global scale have become widespread in recent years, which may guide the environmental and natural scientists to understand how the quality and characteristics of the prosperous water resources change with environmental influences. When the forestry activities are evaluated on the watershed basis, the flow regime of the mainstream changes while both the water temperature and the algal population increases, especially after the harvesting and thinning activities in riparian zones. In addition, there is an increase in the amount of sediment and organic matter transported to the main stream due to the decrease in forest vegetation in the watershed. That situation decreases water quality and negatively affects invertebrates, fish and other aquatic organisms. In this study, the impact of forestry activities on the quality of water resources and the indirect impact on the aquatic ecosystem was evaluated based on the relevant studies.


Ann Wortinger and Kara Burns 272 pages, paperback, £37.99. Wiley-Blackwell. 2015 ISBN 978 1 118 50927 2

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THIS is a well written and easy-to-understand book covering essential nutritional information for patients commonly seen in small animal practice. It mainly covers dog and cats although chapters on the feeding management of birds, small mammals and horses are new to this edition.

The text starts with the basics of nutrition, which I found useful. This section includes a breakdown of nutritional components, with chapters on proteins, fats, carbohydrates, etc, alongside information on …

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The University of Applied Sciences Wadenswil offers three courses in Life Sciences and one course in Facility Management. The course in Food Technology is a three-year course. The very applied curriculum culminates in the diploma of Food Engineer FH. Three different specializations can be chosen in the final year: food technology, beverage technology or nutrition. In the field of applied research and development the department works together with industry and with other Universities in Switzerland and in other countries.


The objectives of this work were to determine the genetic correlation and define the strategies for obtain maize cultivars for traditional production system....


Wefocus on the biology, role in human disease (primarily east of the Rocky Mountains), and identification of hard ticks. The 5 species most commonly received in our parasitology laboratory for identification are described, 3 of which have been widely documented as vectors of disease (Ixodes scapularis, Dermacentor variabilis, and Amblyomma americanum). Ixodes cookei and Ixodes marxi, which readily feed on humans in the Northeast, are discussed to differentiate them from Ixodes scapularis.


This paper explores the influence of the piled foundation on the building response to excavation-induced deformations. The influence of the type of foundation, the position of positive and negative skin friction zones, and the flexibility of the piles is evaluated with respect to both horizontal and vertical soil deformations. Case histories from the Netherlands are included from Amsterdam (North South Line) and Rotterdam (a building adjacent to the Willemspoortunnel). Most of the buildings are founded on timber piles ranging in length from 12-17 m. Conclusions are drawn about the interaction between the piled building and the soil deformation. © 2012 Taylor & Francis Group.


This paper deals with topic of Smart Mirror. Our lifestyle has evolved in such a way that optimizing time is the most important thing. Based on the user studies and prototype implementation, we present the development of an innovating appliance that incorporates interactive services of information, offered through a user interface on the surface of a mirror. Our work is based on the idea that we all looks at the mirror when we go out, so why wouldn't the mirror become smart. With the advancing technologies, Smart Mirrors will take the place of regular mirrors in the future days, providing both mirror and computer aided information services to its users. With Raspberry Pi Zero microcontroller cards onboard, the systems can connect to the internet, take data from the internet and can show this information on the places located on the mirror. In the scope of the study, the developed intelligent mirror system includes the weather information, time and location information, current event information, user information taken from web services using Raspberry Pi 3 microcontroller card. The mirror will also have human detection module and shall light up when the user comes in front of the mirror.


The rheology of soap thickened greases has been investigated in a cone and plate rheometer and a model that includes base oil viscosity and temperature has been suggested and fitted to the results. ...


This article proposes a technological tool oriented to perform the automated tracking of the employees in work environments; it is sought by implementing RFID and Zigbee technology to obtain information in real time associated with the processes developed in the production lines. This so the observant users or system administrators have a robust information support that facilitates the pertinent traceability, to make decisions attempting to improve and optimize the internal processes of any productive sector. The technologies used in the proposed monitoring stations allow great scalability and are oriented to be linked and adapted to the specific needs of different processes and work environments.


Abstract To date management of fatigue in professional drivers has largely focused on strategies that limit the amount of time spent on the job. These approaches have, however, not taken into account the well-documented effect of time of day. Consequently, the likely impact of the pattern and timing of work and rest has received little attention. The results revealed that the group of drivers who did the shortest trips and worked the shortest weekly hours were the lowest reporters of fatigue, although longer hours were not always associated with the highest reporting of fatigue. In contrast, the shortest working hours were associated with earliest onset of fatigue. For all drivers, the influence of circadian rhythms was evident in the occurrence of fatigue, with better management of the problem evident among drivers who were able to arrange the timing of rest to more closely coincide with periods of fatigue. Thus, time of day appeared to be a more important influence in determining effective rest than did...


SUMMARY Twenty‐four consecutive human cadaveric kidneys were preserved by a combination of both extracellular fluid flush and by continuous pulsatile perfusion. Continuous pulsatile perfusion permits routine 24‐36‐hr preservation and provides an assessment of the functional capacity of the renal vasculature. Extracellular fluid flush has the advantage of its simplicity and suitability to short and long distance transportation. Second continuous pulsatile perfusion can be utilized to extend the preservation period up to 69 hr. Advantages of both methods of preservation complement each other and should be exploited in organ sharing.


AbstractThe "Harris Matrix" system of stratigraphic analysis was developed by Edward C. Harris and first used in England for the Winchester excavations in 1974. Since 1981 the Wadi Tumilat Project has adopted and adapted the method for use in Egypt at the site of Tell el-Maskhuta in the eastern Nile Delta. In the course of preparing stratigraphic information from this site for final publication several modifications or extensions to the system have been developed. These extensions were mainly designed for the purpose of graphic display, providing the viewer with additional visual information by the use of symbols and a modified spatial arrangement of the matrix. The arrangement of the matrix allows each stratigraphic unit to be located in its occupation phase in a horizontal band of space across the diagram. The sequence diagrams can assist colleagues on the project in their discussion and analysis of excavated materials, and can also function as visual aids for public presentations and in final publicati...


OBJECTIVE
To examine the effectiveness of fibrin sealants as supportive treatment to improve hemostasis and decrease the incidence of bile leakage and intra-abdominal collections.

DESIGN
Prospective, controlled, quasiexperimental study.

SETTING
Tertiary referral center, University Hospital Reina Sofía.

PATIENTS
A total of 115 patients (58 in the control group and 57 in the collagen sponge group) scheduled for conventional hepatectomies.

INTERVENTIONS
Patients were distributed into groups for major and minor hepatectomies with or without application of a carrier-bound collagen sponge on the raw surface of the liver.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
The main outcome measures were postoperative mortality, incidence and severity of postoperative surgical complications, and length of hospital stay. The secondary outcome measures were postoperative drainage output volume, transfusion requirements, and changes in biochemical parameters (hemoglobin, bilirubin, alanine aminotransferase, and platelet levels).

RESULTS
The fibrin sealant after major liver resection was effective for decreasing drainage volume (mean [SD] volume, 1124.7 [842.8] mL in the control group and 691.2 [499.5] mL in the collagen sponge group; P = .007) with a higher volume of output by drain each postoperative day in the control patients (P = .003); postoperative blood transfusion requirements (18.9% vs 7.0%, respectively; P = .04); moderate to severe postoperative complications (21% vs 8%, respectively; P = .03); and mean (SD) hospital stay (12.6 [6.7] vs 9.6 [5.1] days, respectively; P = .03).

CONCLUSION
The use of a new carrier-bound collagen sponge after major liver resection may be recommended because of its clinical and cost-savings effectiveness.


In this paper, the Modified Multiple Signal Classification (MMUSIC) algorithm for the DOA estimation in smart antenna has been presented. The operation principles of this algorithm are described in detail and can make the DOA estimation better. Finally, some simulating results to verify the theoretical analyses are presented. The preformances of MMUSIC algorithm are better than that MUSIC algorithm not only in the estimation of DOA but also in the satisfactory results have been obtained on the Simulation of a beamforming.


Abstract This paper focuses on the analysis of determinants of public education spending in OECD countries. It starts out by reviewing and replicating the model presented by Castles (1989, 1998), finding that only a few of his explanatory variables remain significant in a pooled time-series framework. I present an alternative model that contains socio-economic, political, and institutional variables: the level of economic development, the magnitude of demographic demand, the constitutional veto structure, the level of public social expenditures, the degree of tax-revenue decentralization as well as government participation of conservative parties.


Animal-pollinated flowers may orient resources for competing activities, such as nectar production for attracting flower visitors but then saving nectar (through inhibiting nectar production or by final resorption) for the subsequent maturation of fruits and seeds. Nectar production is continuous in Nicotiana longiflora and N. alata after flower opening, but early nectar removal reduces total secreted nectar. Resource trade-off between nectar investment and seed production were experimentally assessed in manually pollinated flowers experiencing different numbers of repeated nectar removals, while controlling for maternal effects. We expected that flowers with less nectar secretion produce larger seed sets. The results showed that for both species the earlier the nectar removal during flower anthesis, the lower the total nectar secreted and the higher the mass of seeds produced. This general pattern was clearer for N. longiflora. The link between decreased nectar production and the subsequent increase in the seed set implies that resources are limited. Consequently, nectar savings during the pollination process through early nectar removal by pollinators can be interpreted as a trade-off between resources secreted by flowers for pollinator attraction and those utilized during fruit and seed maturation.


Multicolor CCD photometry is presented for a sample of 15 spiral and irregular members of the Local, Sculptor, and M81 groups with M B ≤ -16.0 and relevant as potential calibrators of the luminosity-line width relations. The sample contains those galaxies for which a ground-based study of Cepheid variables could provide accurate distances and hence an absolute calibration for the relations. Unfortunately, only six of the systems presently have reliable independent distance estimates, but this number is sufficient to provide a reasonable calibration


Consideration of surface stress effects on the elastic field of nanocontact problem has extensive applications in several modern problems of solid mechanics. In this paper, the effects of surface stress on the contact problem at nanometers are studied in the frame of surface elasticity theory. Fourier integral transform method is adopted to derive the fundamental solution of the nanocontact problem under shear load. As two special cases, the deformations induced by a uniformly distributed shear load and a concentrated shear force are discussed in detail, respectively. The results indicate some interesting characteristics in nanocontact mechanics, which are distinctly different from those in macrocontact problem. At nanoscale, both the contact stresses and the displacements on the deformed surface transit continuously across the uniform distributed shear load boundary as a result of surface stress. In addition, the indent depth and the contact stress depend strongly on the surface stress for nanoindentation.


ISSN 1025-6415. Допов. Нац. акад. наук Укр. 2020. No 10: 9—14 Ц и т у в а н н я: Sukhorebska D.D. Necessary condition for the existence of a simple closed geodesic on a regular tetrahedron in the spherical space. Допов. Нац. акад. наук Укр. 2020. No 10. С. 9—14. https://doi. org/10.15407/dopovidi2020.10.009 In 1905 H. Poincaré conjectured that, on a smooth convex surface in three-dimensional Euclidean space, there exists a simple (without points of self-intersection) closed geodesic. In 1929, L. Lyusternik and L. Shnirelman proved that at least three simple closed geodesics exist on a compact simply-connected two-dimensional Riemannian manifold [1, 2]. It is natural to con sider properties of geodesic lines in spaces of negative and positive curvatures. From H. Huber's works [3, 4] it is known that, on a complete hyperbolic surface (two-dimensional Riemannian manifold of constant curvature -1) of finite area, the number of all closed geodesics of length not greater than L is of order e/L as L tends to infinity. I. Rivin and M. Mirzakhani proved that, on a hyperbolic surface of genus g with n points at infinity (cusps), the number of simple closed geodesics of length bounded above by L is asymptotic to the constant times L, when L goes to infinity [5, 6]. From the results of V. Toponogov [7], it follows that, on a complete simple-connected regular two-dimensional Riemannian manifold of Gaussian curvature k > 0, a simple closed geodesic has the length not greater than 2 / k π . V. Vaigant and O. Matukevich https://doi.org/10.15407/dopovidi2020.10.009 UDC 514.774.8


Clinical and biochemical findings are described in a 34-year-old female with atypical polymyositis. Uncommon clinical features in this patient included distally accented decreased muscle strength and myalgias, atypical electromyographic findings, a remarkable discrepancy between clinical findings and laboratory parameters of myolysis, unexplained episodes of somnolism, presence of increased serum lactate levels, and a unilateral mamma aplasia. For this combination of signs a polymyositis or an inclusion body myositis, but also a metabolic or heredodegenerative myopathy was considered. Finally, the idiopathic polymyositis was confirmed histologically and a marked improvement in the clinical and biochemical signs occurred after commencement of high-dose methylprednisolone.


ABSTRACT Background: The transapical (TA) route for mitral valve-in-valve (MVIV) and mitral valve-in-ring (MVIR) techniques has been predominantly used. Currently, there is an increasing trend towards the transseptal (TS) route. The purpose of the study was to assess the outcomes of TA and TS access for percutaneous MVIV and MVIR techniques in terms of procedural success, 30-day mortality, major bleeding events and valve embolization. Methods: A comprehensive literature search of EMBASE, PubMed, and the Cochrane CENTRAL was completed. We identified and pooled all studies reporting either the TS or TA approach for MVIV or MVIR with at least five patients using weighted proportional analysis. For analysis we used studies reporting the outcomes of percutaneous MVIV or MVIR based on the TS/TA approach. Results: From the initial 1,993 abstracts, 15 studies reporting on 236 patients were analyzed to find the pooled estimate of the endpoints. In the TA arm, 11 studies were included, and in the TS arm, 8 studies were included. Of these, 5 studies reported data for both the TA and TS arms. There was no difference between the groups in terms of technical success, 30-day all-cause mortality, major bleeding events, and valve embolization. Conclusion: Although the TA approach has been used in most of the published studies, the TS approach appears to be equally effective at 30 days. Long-term studies are needed to establish the relative efficacy of one approach over the other.


Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) is self-configuring network of mobile node connected by wireless links and considered as network without infrastructure. Routing protocol plays a crucial role for effective communication between mobile nodes and operates on the basic assumption that nodes are fully cooperative. Because of open structure and limited battery-based energy some nodes (i.e. selfish or malicious) may not cooperate correctly. After becoming part of active path, theses nodes start refusing to forward or drop data packets thereby degrades the performance of network. Traditionally, MANETs have been utilized for strategic network related applications to enhance battlefield interchanges and survivability. The dynamic idea of military operations implies it is impractical to depend on access to a fixed preplaced communication on the battlefield. Ad hoc networks display the conventional issues of wireless communication, for example, bandwidth optimization, power control, and transmission quality enhancement. Mobility, multi-hop nature, and the absence of fixed infrastructure, make various complexities and design constraints to mobile ad hoc networks. In this paper, a new reputation-based approach is proposed that deals with such routing misbehaviour and consists of detection and isolation of misbehaving nodes and packet dropping attacks. The main goal is to resolve and eliminate the attacks using Promiscuous Mode. Proposed approach can be integrated on top of any source routing protocol and based on sending acknowledgement packets and counting the number of data packets of active path.


The image of the middle-aged alcoholic suffering the physiological and social consequences of alcoholic liver disease (aLD) is being replaced by a growing statistic of a much younger generation. examples of this trend include the death of a 24-year-old female with advanced liver cirrhosis, a 19-year-old female with end-stage liver disease, a 25 year old diagnosed with advanced alcoholic cirrhosis and the death of a 21 year old from acute alcohol poisoning to name but a few (Jeffreys 2007). This depressing snapshot of the youth culture in Britain today could easily represent the long-term neglect of children, a legacy of many years of lax drinking laws, sale of cheap alcohol, the less than rigorous punitive action on its sale to those aged under 18 and poor government guidelines on alcohol. many campaigners have argued that limited legal restrictions and a lack of tough penalties for aLcohoLic Liver Disease in young peopLe


This paper presents a method for determining the reliability index of a subsystem in the materiel demonstration phase-AHP Failure Rate Method. It fully considers the various factors which influence a subsystem reliability index and solves a difficult problem that puzzles the demonstration personnel.


Objective To investigate the value of vitreoretinal surgery for treating severe ocular trauma. Methods The data of 61 patients (62 eyes) with severe ocular trauma treated with closed vitreoretinal surgery in the period from January 2001 to June 2004 were gathered for retrospective study. Results The intraocular foreign bodies in 25 cases were completely removed. 12 cases with total retinal detachment gained good reposition of 83.3 % in the first operation . The intraocular pressure in 5 cases with secondary glaucoma were controlled normally. 7 in 9 cases with traumatic endophthalmitis were under control. Visual acuities improvement in 52 cases were better than that compared with before surgery. Only ten cases remained no satisfactory correction. Conclusion Visual acuity can be improved after timely vitreoretinal surgery in most severe ocular trauma patients .


A hard greyish white coloured growth was detected in the lower region of the abdomen near the sternum in a 23-year-old male lion (Panthera leo) and was examined histopathologically and immunohistochemically. After routine processing, tissues were subjected to hematoxylin and eosin stain and to the marker, VEGF. The mass was composed of numerous pleomorphic chondrocytes within the basophilic matrix. The mean AgNOR value obtained was 4.49. The expression of VEGF in the cytoplasm of the neoplastic cells was noticed. Based on the histopathological features and the strong cytoplasmic reactivity of VEGF, the present case was diagnosed as extra skeletal chondrosarcoma.


The effects of seven alkaloids from Sophora alopecuroids, a leguminous plant, on metabolic esterases of the larvae of the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella (L.) were studied. The results indicate that cytisine and aloperine could inhibit carboxylesterase activity through non-competitive inhibition. Sophoramine, sophoradine, matrine, oxymatrine and cytisine could inhibit the activity of acid phosphoresterase, and cytisine could also weakly inhibit the activity of alkaline phosphoresterase. In addition, three alkaloids, cytisine, sophramine and sophocarpine could inhibit the activity of glutathione-s-transferase in diamondback moth larvae.


The role of anharmonic effects in the vibrational spectroscopy of small biological molecules and their 1 ∶ 1 complexes with water is discussed. The strengths and limitations of the vibrational self-consistent field (VSCF) method and its extensions as a computational tool for this purpose are examined. Anharmonic coupling between different vibrational modes is found to be very important for these systems, even for fundamental transitions, and incorporation of these effects seems essential for quantitative interpretation of experimental data. Both analytical, empirical force fields, and potential surfaces computed from electronic structure methods are used in VSCF calculations of several benchmark systems and compared with experimental spectroscopic data. Glycine in several conformers, the glycine–water complex, and N-methylacetamide are among the systems discussed. The main conclusions are: (1) Electronic structure methods such as MP2/DZP and density functional B97, give very good agreement with experimental data. Thus, MP2 and B97 clearly provide an accurate description of the anharmonic interactions. VSCF calculations, including all modes, with MP2, B97 and other successful methods are presently feasible for molecules with up to 15-20 atoms. (2) The electronic structure methods seem to give spectroscopic predictions in much better accord with experiment than standard empirical force fields such as AMBER or OPLS. The anharmonic couplings provided by these methods differ greatly, in the cases tested to date, from the ab initio ones. The implications of these results for future modeling of small biomolecules are discussed. Comments are provided on future directions in this subject, including extensions to large biomolecules.


In this paper, a novel wavelet method is proposed for noise analysis of nonlinear circuits. Compared with the existing algorithms capable of accessing circuit performance in the present of noise, the proposed method presents several merits. First, it fully accounts for nonlinearities. Second, it can handle signals with continuous frequency spectra. Third, by taking advantage of the properties of the wavelet bases, such as local compactness and multi-resolution, it holds high simulation speed and high accuracy. Furthermore, an adaptive scheme exists to automatically select the wavelet basis functions for a desired accuracy. All these merits make the novel wavelet method outperforms its previous techniques.


The present study deals with teaching practices in prison education in Slovakia. Attention is paid to secondary school teachers who, at the same time, teach adult prisoners. The aim of the qualitative research conducted was to find out in what ways, in the view of the teachers approached, prison education and school education differ and how they react to the differences. Another objective was to find out whether the teachers feel competent enough to teach prisoners. It was found out that the absence of teacher training for prison education and the power of the prison regime strongly affect teaching practice. The teachers adjusted the syllabus, the pace and demands placed on the learners to the limited conditions of the prison regime. The authors believe that the present study sheds more light on teaching practices in prison education and helps recognize such areas where specific teacher training is needed.


Cerebral blood flow was measured with the 133Xenon clearance method in anesthetized cats under controlled ventilation. An acute pressure increase in the carotid system increases the cerebrovascular permeability to Evans blue, indicating damage to the blood-brain barrier. In these conditions the reactivity of cerebral blood vessels toward changes in the acid-base balance is altered: the CO2 reactivity is less pronounced, while the effect of increasing the plasma [HCO−3] is more pronounced than in normal cats. Autoregulatory capacity toward moderate alterations in arterial blood pressure or in intracranial pressure is well maintained in these conditions.


This paper focuses on the problem of robust H ∞ control for a class of singular systems with parameters uncertainty.Based on linear matrix inequality(LMI),the robust stability analyses for uncertain singular systems with an H ∞ norm bound are given when the control imput is zero.Some design methods of robust H ∞ state feedback controller are presented,in which the singular closed-loop system is regular,impulse-free and stable with an H ∞ norm bound for all admissible uncertain parameters under some conditions.An illustrative example is given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the design method proposed in this paper.


in the current study the influence of single compounds and concurrent exposure to popular insecticides: organophosphate (oP) - chlorpyrifos (CPF) and synthetic pyrethroid (Pyr) - α-cypermethrin (Cm) on some oxidative stress parameters and cholinesterase (Che) activity in rats was investigated. animals re - ceived by gavage 10 mg of single compounds or 5 mg of each per kg bw daily in rapeseed oil for 14 and 28 days. Concentrations of total thiols and TBarS, activity of catalase and cholinesterase were measured in tissues. Total thiol concentrations declined in plasma in all experimental groups after 14 and 28 days, while in liver a decrease was noted after only 14 days in animals receiving CPF and after 28 days in rats treated with Cm alone with a mixture of pesticides. Lipid peroxidation presented as TBarS concentra - tion was elevated mostly after 2 weeks of exposure in brain and liver but not in plasma in all experimental groups. Catalase activity increased in erythrocytes in all groups treated with insecticides, while in liver Cm administered alone reduced the activity of the enzyme. Cholinesterase was markedly depressed to a different degree in plasma and brain of animals receiving CPF alone or in combination, while Cm did not significantly elevate brain ChE. The results of this study seem to indicate that Cm and CPF apart from known modes of action demon - strate their toxicity also through free radical mediated mechanisms. it is also evident that Cm administered with CPF does not affect the cholinesterase inhibition generated by the latter.


LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.
嶺南向來被視爲化外之地,學術風氣不盛。十九世紀初期,阮元於廣州設置學海堂,帶來江南考據學文化的同時,亦促進了廣東文化認同意識的形成。
向來論及嶺南詞多著重晚清世變與常州詞學之關聯,而少見道咸詞壇討論。本文由陳澧現存的序跋題記與詞學交遊爲考察基點,試圖廓清道咸時期嶺南詞壇之概況。首先,由於此時期的嶺南詞人先世多源出江南,加之以阮元提倡江南學術的緣故,因而嶺南繼受江南傳統頗深。陳澧等文人論詞多以浙西爲宗的審美觀即源於此。其次,學海堂文人意圖通過文史考證追溯嶺南歷史至南漢,以表出嶺南文化的悠久性與特異性的意識,同樣展現於越臺詞社的集結與《粤東詞鈔》的成書。陳澧的詞學活動和交遊亦受益於此。陳澧兼具江南與嶺南兩種文化身分,通過考察其交遊活動,不僅有助於我們理解道咸時期嶺南詞壇的審美趨向,亦能看到嶺南詞人繼受江南文化的同時,試圖建構嶺南文化主體性之過程。
Lingnan has long been seen as an uncivilized region throughout Chinese history. In the early 19th century, Ruan Yuan (1764-1849) established the Xuehai tang in Guangzhou. He introduced the theory of evidential research from the Jiangnan region, and thereby consummated the formation of the Cantonese literati's cultural identity.
Previous research of Lingnan ci-poetry has laid more emphasis on its transitions in the late Qing dynasty than the Daoguang, Xianfeng, and Tongzhi reign-periods. This article focuses on the ci-poetry of Chen Li (1810-1882) and its peripherals to observe his social network and the development of Lingnan ci-poetry. First, it takes the perspective of cultural reception to observe that most of the Lingnan literati's ancestors were immigrants from Jiangnan in the early to middle stages of the Qing dynasty; therefore, they succeeded not only the academic tradition of Jiangnan but also the cultural identity and literary aesthetics. This explains why Chen Li and his fellow literati took the aesthetics of the School of Western Zhejiang as an evaluation standard for ci-poetry. Second, in addition to tracing the history of Lingnan to the Southern Han Kingdom (917-971) by examination of relevant historical evidence, the Xuehai tang scholars organized poetry clubs and compiled Lingnan ci-poetry anthologies to represent the uniqueness of Lingnan culture.
The study of Chen Li, an immigrant from Jiangnan and a leader of the Xuehai tang, and his social network not only enables us to understand Lingnan ci-poetry in the mid and late Qing dynasty, but benefits us by learning a different facet of the development of the ci-poetry of the region.


Concentration of intense economic processes and high level of consumption in urban areas increase total waste generation and more space is required for waste disposal. Ministry of Finance (BAU: 2009) has estimated by 2041 it would be 1400 sq. km which will be equal to the total area of Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad city. Present solid waste management practices are shadowed by institutional lacuna, lack of proper funding, lack of management and operational systems, public apathy, lack of municipal will lead day by day increasing practice of dump to dump yard.
The most pressing problem faced by any urban centre in India today is Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSW). Rapid urbanization and changing lifestyles have led to the generation of huge amounts of garbage and waste in the urban areas. Over the past few years, the handling this MSWM has become a major organizational, financial and environmental challenge. (Ramachandra T. V. & Bachmanda, S. 2007). During the last century urban population of India increased ten folds from 27 million to 270 million. India produces 48.0 MT of MSW annually at present. Central Pollution Control Board, India (2009) said that by the year 2021, the urban population is expected to represent 41% of the overall population and subsequently MSW is expected to increase to 300 MT per year, by the year 2047 (490 g to 945 g per capita). A number of technologies are being proposed for management and disposal of garbage but so far no technology has been shortlisted as the one which would be viable not only from the environment angle but also in terms of the cost involved for unanimously in Indian context. (Davidson, 2000) .
Waste dumping is the only favorable method to urban local body without any further action. Day by day increasing trend practice of dump to dump yard won't sustain the function. So there is a requirement of taking integrated policy and technology to use less land as land is precious.
A number of technologies are being proposed for reduction of waste quantity through process and disposal of solid waste in general for different city or towns, but so far no technology has been shortlisted as the one which would be viable not only from the environment angle but also in terms of the cost involved for unanimously in urban local body in India.
A holistic approach is being therefore, derived through State-Space Model to manage waste by combining and applying a range of suitable techniques, technologies and management programs to achieve less requirement of land near urban areas by accounting area specific number of variables over period of time.


The increasing volume and complexity of medical education have become more apparent recently. An innovative unified curriculum is needed to reinforce the traditional curriculum. Aichi Medical University has decided to employ an integrated curriculum in 2005. We previously introduced a preliminary integrated curriculum starting in 2002 as a collaborative project between the Departments of Anatomy and Otolaryngology. Using the caloric test, a 180-minute unified lesson was employed for second year medical students. As a result, 90% of the students expressed interest in the integrated curriculum compared to 20% of the students expressing interest in didactic lectures . Although an integrated curriculum seemed to be useful , many problems remain to be resolved, such as how to allocate otolaryngology to the proper basic science divi sions. We believe that it is crucial to keep pursuing and refining the unified curriculum in order to achieve an ideal medical education.


Sarcomatoid/metaplastic carcinomas of the breast are rare breast malignancies that show a myriad of cytohistologic patterns in aspirates. These poorly differentiated invasive carcinomas contain both ductal and mesenchymal elements with transitional forms displaying either spindle, squamous, chondroid, or osseous differentiation. We describe such a neoplasm in a 68‐yr‐old woman, the diagnosis of which was missed at the initial fine‐needle aspiration (FNA) due to cystic change. Extensive cystic change in a sarcomatoid carcinoma is unusual and is reported for the first time in the English literature. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2004;31:10–13. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Abstract An experimental and a theorietical study of transient radiation properties of strongly radiating turbulent diffusion flames is described. Simultaneous transient measurements of temperatures and volume fractions of soot obtained using a three wavelength emission-absorption probe are reported. Soot volume fractions inferred from absorption measurements are significantly higher than those inferred from emission data suggesting the presence oflarge quantities of relatively cold soot within the flames. The results show effects of progressive radiative cooling with distance from the injector exit. Reasonably good predictions of monochromatic intensities were obtained using a new bivariate stochastic analysis.


The prediction of stock prices is an important task in economics, investment and financial decision-making. It has for several decades, spurred the interest of many researchers to design stock price predictive models. In this paper, the symbiotic organisms search algorithm, a new metaheuristic algorithm is employed as an efficient method for training feedforward neural networks (FFNN). The training process is used to build a better stock price predictive model. The Straits Times Index, Nikkei 225, NASDAQ Composite, S&P 500, and Dow Jones Industrial Average indices were utilized as time series data sets for training and testing proposed predic-tive model. Three evaluation methods namely, Root Mean Squared Error, Mean Absolute Percentage Error and Mean Absolution Deviation are used to compare the results of the implemented model. The computational results obtained revealed that the hybrid Symbiotic Organisms Search Algorithm exhibited outstanding predictive performance when compared to the hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization, Genetic Algorithm, and ARIMA based models. The new model is a promising predictive technique for solving high dimensional nonlinear time series data that are difficult to capture by traditional models.


Discoloration of birch wood during kiln drying is a considerable problem for theindustry, since any deviation from the preferred bright whitish colour reduces theusability and value of the sawn tim ...


Abstract Chelate polymers of the resin poly[3,5-(l-carboxy-2-hydroxy phenylene)ethyiene] with such bivalent ions as copper, nickel, cobalt, zinc, manganese, and trivalent iron have been synthesized. They have been analyzed, and some of their properties have been determined. On the basis of these, a polymeric structure is assigned to the polychelates.


SUMMARYThe genome of Proasellus meridianus (2 n= 10) contains two kinds of constitutive heterochromatin: one, polymorphic and stainable with Chromomycin A3 located on certain telomeres, and the other centromeric and stainable with Hoechst 33258, visible only at pachytene. The NORs stainable with silver nitrate are terminal and located on at least three pairs of chromosomes. In diakinesis and first meiotic metaphase, usually the silver technique differentially stains the centromeric area of only one of the two sister chromatids of each homologue. This indicates a direct relationship between silver staining and kinetochore function. Surface spread of testicular tissue displays five synaptonemal complexes which are homogeneous throughout their length.


Subtle phenotypic differences between familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD) pedigrees can be identified which may reflect the genetic and allelic heterogeneity of the disease. Positron emission tomography (PET) of APP mutation and chromosome 14‐linked FAD pedigree members reveals biparietal bitemporal hypometabolism. Scanning of asymptomatic at‐risk individuals reveals a similar, but quantitatively less severe, pattern of hypometabolism.


"Ode to King Zhou/ Labor of the Subjects" is one of the very important farming poems in "The Book of Songs".There are 5 point of views about the main ideas of this poem,namely,"Leuds helped the King worship and the King told them to be fair with their public affairs afterwards";"farming supervision officials";"King's symbolic farming";"official checking on farming and harvesting" and "praying for good harvest".After looking into the meanings of the words in "Labor of the Subjects" and the calendar used in the poem,we could conclude that this poem was dedicated to king's symbolic farming in praying for a good wheat harvest and warning the farm officials.


The present case study highlights  Kimura's Disease in an Asian Male. Kimura disease (KD) is a rare chronic inflammatory disorder of unknown etiology. It usually presents as subcutaneous mass in the head and neck region and is frequently associated with regional lymphadenopathy or salivary gland involvement. A study done at Dept of Internal Medicine ,American Institute Of Medical sciences, GBH general hospital, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India. A case report of a 13 year old male, admitted to GBH general Hospital on 1st January, 2023 with chief complains of swelling (painless) Left side of the  face below eye since 4 months and swelling under Rt. lobe of the ear since 3 months.On radiological examination, Kimura's disease mimics other chronic and malignant diseases such as tuberculosis or lymphoma. This is an important study since it is a rare case and further research should be done in this area for further management and prompt diagnosis of such rare causes of upper body lymphadenopathy(frequently confused with malignancy),unless histopathology is clearly demonstrated.


Drought is usually defined as a significant, temporary reduction in water availability below the expected amount for a specified period and for a defined climatic zone. Drought episodes may be described by means of different characteristics, namely drought duration and intensity, considered as the two dimensions of this agro‐climatic phenomenon. Among the several methods proposed for describing drought, the run method appears as suitable to provide an objective characterisation of drought events. A simple drought index, obtained from only two input variables (rainfall and reference evapotranspiration), able to describe different dimensions of drought phenomena (duration, intensity and severity), and to recognise "normal" conditions, both in statistical and ecological terms, is meaningful. Our interest is therefore to develop such a drought index, able to produce information on a detailed geographic and time scale.


In multi-messenger astronomy, rapid investigation of interesting transients is imperative. As an observatory with a 4 π steradian fi eld of view, and ∼ 99% uptime, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a unique facility to follow up transients, as well as to provide valuable insights for other observatories and inform their observational decisions. Since 2016, IceCube has been using low-latency data to rapidly respond to interesting astrophysical events reported by the multi-messenger observational community. Here, we describe the pipeline used to perform these followup analyses, and provide a summary of the 58 analyses performed as of July 2020. We fi nd no signi fi cant signal in the fi rst 58 analyses performed. The pipeline has helped inform various electromagnetic observation strategies, and has constrained neutrino emission from potential hadronic cosmic accelerators.


Background: Brucella is a zoonotic disease and is endemic in our country. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical data, diagnosis and treatment methods of patients with brucellosis.Material and Methods: Age, gender, clinical symptoms, clinical findings, routine laboratory tests, Standard Tube Agglutination test (STA), Coombs test and the treatment methods were evaluated in fifty patients with brucellosis who were diagnosed with brucellosis in our hospital between May 2011 and November.Results: The demographic characteristics of the patients; mean age was 38.2 years (16±78), sixty-two percent of patients were male and thirty-eight percent were female. The most frequent symptoms were arthralgia (72%), myalgia (54%), fatigue (42%), sweating (42%) and anorexia (28%). Most of the applications of the patients were made for general surgery (36%), internal medicine (14%), orthopedics (10%), infectious diseases (8%), neurochirurgie (10%), physiotherapy (10%), urology (6%), and pediatrics (6%) clinics. Fifty patients showed a positive Rose Bengal test and STA test results were 1/160 or more in forty-eight patients. Tube agglutination test with coombs was positive in two patients. According to the treatment protocols, it was determined that eighty-five percent of the patients


The present invention provides a kind of reflow ovens monitoring system, including the first sensing device, the second sensing device, the 3rd sensing device and controller, and what the first sensing device was arranged on reflow ovens enters Ban Kou positions;Second sensing device is arranged on the slide fastener rotating shaft position of reflow ovens;3rd sensing device is arranged on the plate outlet position of reflow ovens;Controller connects the first sensing device, the second sensing device and the 3rd sensing device respectively, for gathering the first sensing device, the second sensing device and the signal of the 3rd sensing device, and judge the working condition of reflow ovens with calculating the comparative result of stove revolution value according to the actual comparative result spent the stove time and calculated the stove time of the pcb board, or according to the actual revolution value of the slide fastener rotating shaft.Further relate to the control method of reflow ovens monitoring system.The reflow ovens monitoring system of the present invention, simple and convenient, the pcb board speed of service in accurate measurement reflow ovens is installed;Its control method accurately and reliably judges the pcb board position of each piece of inflow reflow ovens.


With the development of the mobile Internet, Big data and other new information technology, the application of information technology in education is more and more extensive. The quality of teachers' information literacy directly affects the effect of the implementation of education information. In this paper, the 69 primary and secondary schools in Foshan City, Guangdong Province, China, were investigated by means of questionnaire survey, discussion with teachers. Large amounts of data on the subject of teachers' information literacy are collected. Based on the reliability analysis and validity analysis of the questionnaire data, the data were analyzed by visual analysis. This paper mainly analyzes and studies the teacher's information awareness and attitude, knowledge and skills, application and innovation, information technology teaching practice and so on. The results show that the overall level of information literacy of teachers in Foshan city is higher, and is in the leading position in the country. The main problems are lack of evaluation mechanism of the performance. And the educational information technology research capability is not strong enough. It is suggested that in the future development the educational information technology training and educational technology research should be strengthened to greatly improve the teachers' information literacy and to meet the requirements of the development of the times.


Electrical breakdown voltage studies on Nb2O5 films in aqueous solutions of weak organic acid as a function of concentration, temperature, and applied field are carried out under galvanostatic conditions. Electronic conduction measurement through the Nb2O5 film as a function of temperature and applied field are also determined so as to examine the validity of Ikonopisov theory of electrical breakdown quantitatively.


Maize has high yield potential due to its C4 metabolism and physiological characteristics; however, the excessive occurrence of weeds in maize field limits the full expression of the yield potential of this crop. Weeds constitute one of the major economically important problems for maize growers and if not uncontrolled, it can reduce its yield up to 86 per cent. The magnitude of losses largely depends upon the composition of weed flora, period of crop-weed competition and its intensity. In order to realize the yield potential of maize, weed management becomes indispensable. Describing the various aspects of the topic, especially the influence of using pre-emergent use of herbicides on associated weeds revealed that the use of atrazine and pendimetheline are highly important component of today's weed management systems for maize with higher weed control efficiency, lowest weed density and dry weight. Atrazin @ 1.2 kg active ingredient per ha and pendimmethline @ 1.0 a.i. kg per ha are important in reducing weed emergence in early growth stages of maize. Review Article Galley Proof Iqbal et al.; JEAI, 42(8): 13-23, 2020; Article no.JEAI.60643 14


Catch-and-release (C&R) angling has increased in popularity through its mandatory and voluntary use in fisheries conservation and management. However, research has shown that fish can experience considerable stress during a C&R event. The physiological response of fishes is typically assessed by measuring the concentrations of blood-plasma cortisol, blood glucose and blood lactate. Members of the family Sparidae are extensively targeted in many warm-temperate coastal fisheries, and the bronze bream Pachymetopon grande is one of the most commonly captured sparids in the South African marine shore-based fishery. The aim of this study was to map the time-course of the physiological-stress response (PSR) after a simulated C&R event to determine the optimal blood-sampling time for assessing the physiological impact of C&R angling in the field. A general additive mixed model identified a significant effect of time on plasma cortisol (p = 0.005), blood glucose (p < 0.001) and blood lactate (p = 0.037), with plasma cortisol peaking at approximately 65 minutes and blood glucose at 86 minutes post-stress. In contrast, blood lactate continued to rise with no clear peak during the 125-minute sampling period. These results suggest that blood sampling should take place between 50 and 75 minutes after a C&R event. Despite a clear response, the PSR of P. grande will likely be greater in a true C&R event as this study made use of a simulated fight and used best handling practices. In addition, the prolonged physiological impacts of C&R may have negative consequences for the survival of this species in the high-energy, predator-rich coastal marine environment.


Author(s): Frate, Carol A; Mueller, Shannon C; Temple, Steve R; Davis, R Michael | Abstract: Sclerotinia rot (white mold) is a fungal disease of garbanzos and other crops in California. While much remains unknown about Sclerotinia rot, this publication will help you identify it and manage its severity and spread.


In this paper an efficient secure cloud computing framework has been developed. This framework consists of data grouping based on fuzzy c-means (FCM). It has been used for the individual and associative rankings of uploaded text data on the cloud. For the decision selection ranking of the data simple additive weighting (SAW) method have been used. For data security RC6, RSA and AES algorithms have been used collectively and individually based on the condition. RC6, AES and RSA algorithms have been used as a combination for the complex key security. Based on the decision performance ranking top higher rank which supports are >=50% adopted all the three security algorithms, only one key is applied for the remaining data. The maximum number of keys applied is 5 but there are total three key variants mainly applicable. So we have considered three keys. It has been clear from our results that the keys spreading are automatically increased on the basis of number of files. So in case of high risk the keys are increased automatically and applied.


Research suggests that there are specific nonverbal behaviours, which could be perceived as vulnerable, that make the individual more susceptible to physical or sexual attack. In particular, gait, body language, and facial expressions are major components in the perception of an individual's vulnerability to victimization. Findings pertaining to gait indicate that individuals who walk with shorter strides, lateral weight shifts, constrained arm swings, and walk at a slower pace are perceived as more vulnerable to attack by potential perpetrators. The literature on body language has identified individuals who use more hand and foot gestures, rather than arm and leg movements while conversing as more susceptible to an assault. Research on facial expressions has found that individuals with neutral, sad, fearful or shameful facial emotions are perceived as more vulnerable and weak. Furthermore, social predators are more inclined to use specific behavioural criteria when selecting potential victims. Individuals scoring high on the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale: Version III and the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised have increased accuracy at identifying potentially vulnerable victims based on the victim's appearance and behaviour. This review highlights the relationship between non-verbal behaviours and the perception of vulnerability, implicating the role of awareness as a preventative measure against victimization. Abstract Behavioural Cues for the Perception of Victim Vulnerability


Method for simultaneously inverting full-wavefield seismic data for multiple classes of physical property parameters (e.g., velocity and anisotropy) by computing the gradient, i.e. search direction, of an objective function for each class of parameters, then applying (preferably exhaustive) first-pass independent line searches to each parameter class to obtain the corresponding step size along the search direction for each parameter class; then without yet updating the model, using the step sizes to define a relative scaling between gradients of all parameter classes. Next, each scaled search direction is recombined to form a new search direction, and a new second-pass line search is performed along the new search direction, and all parameters are simultaneously updated with the resulting step size. Alternatively to the preceding alternating two-pass embodiment, the model may be updated after each first-pass line search, and no second-pass line search is performed.


Background: Endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) with cytological analysis is widely used for tissue acquisition of intra-abdominal mass; however, it can be challenging when differentiating types of malignancy is needed due to limited tissue quantity. Cellblock preparation offers histologic assessment, but the data on its usefulness are scarce. Objectives: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of combined cytology and cellblock obtained from EUS-FNA. Methods: Patients with intra-abdominal mass undergoing EUS-FNA were identified. Both cytology and cellblock specimens were reviewed by a gastrointestinal cytopathologist. Results: A total of 166 patients were recruited. Of these, 75% had malignancy and 25% had inflammatory/reactive lesions. The mean size of lesions was 2.5 cm. Specimen adequacy was 79% for cytology and 78% for cellblock. Cytology had sensitivity of 68.5% (95% confidence interval [CI], 58.9–77.1), specificity of 95.7% (95% CI, 78.1–99.9), positive predictive value (PPV) of 98.7% (95% CI, 92.7–00), and negative predictive value (NPV) of 39.3% (95% CI, 26.4–53.4) with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) 0.821 (95% CI, 0.744–0.882). Cellblock had sensitivity of 65.4% (95% CI, 55.2–74.5), specificity of 96% (95% CI, 79.6–99.9), PPV of 98.5% (95% CI, 92–100), NPV of 40.7% (95% CI, 26.4–53.4) with AUROC 0.807 (95% CI, 0.727–0.872). The diagnostic performance of combined cytology and cellblock was superior to either one alone (P < 0.05) as demonstrated by an improvement of sensitivity to 74.6% (95% CI, 65.4–82.4) while maintaining specificity of 96% with AUROC 0.853 (95% CI, 0.782–0.908). Conclusions: The combination of cytology and cellblock increases the diagnostic accuracy of EUS-FNA. This approach shows a promise in practice where on-site pathology is not available.


Review of the complex systems that make up commercial vessels can be a difficult and complex task. In performing this function, the regulations provide guidance and performance requirements through the use of Coast Guard-established regulations and standards developed by various organizations that are incorporated by reference into the CFR. However, the regulations are not all-inclusive, especially when new technology and novel systems are desired for used in certificated vessels. At that point, the regulations allow for the Coast Guard to consider these systems and ideas by using standards and requirements that are more appropriate than the current regulations and that provide an equivalent level of safety and acceptable minimum performance standards.


An e cient algorithm for the approximate solution of the maximum cardinality stable set problem is presented. The algorithm is based on a variant of tabu search which we call the life span method. Numerical experiments on random and benchmark instances show that our algorithm dominates all the algorithms given in the literature both in accuracy of solutions and in speed. We also investigate how to tune up our implementation and to optimize the parameters via extensive numerical experiments.


Few respiratory physiotherapists now undertake pre-operative patient assessments, and not all post-operative patients will need physiotherapy. The objective of this project was to devise a safe screening tool (SPPOST) that could be applied post-operatively, which would prioritise surgical patients most likely to benefit from physiotherapy contact. The SPPOST was applied to 404 post-operative patients, screening out nearly half with no measurable detriment, thereby facilitating the targeting of higher risk patients.


The trasformation of "the Three Olds" refers to that of the old towns, old factory buildings and old village residences. Taking "Lingnan Tiandi" in Foshan City as an example, this article discusses the evolution, mechanism and restriction of utilizing the conception of urban renewal for famous historical and cultural city. Especially more attention is paid to analysis of the utilazation, function and restricting factors of the conception in the core area transformation of historical and cultural city. The relevant conclusion of this article is based on the case study of the Ancestor Temple-Donghuali historical and cultural blocks(Lingnan Tiandi) in Foshan. It is indicated that the concept of the trsndformation of "the three olds" has been applied to the latest renewal of the old district of Foshan, which reflected the desire, imagination and cognitive disposition of the local government, and some limitation in application of the concept existed. It is considered that the mode and imagination of "the Three Olds" transformation might be a means for local government and developers to develop the city and industry, and might also be the technology for them to seek their own concerns and raise their comprehensive competitiveness. Essentially the attraction of the concept to them is the associated resources and the language for their use, interpretation and replacement, while less attention was paid to the practicability of the concept for the renewal of the historical and cultural city.


One of the central aspects of economic globalization is increasing free trade. Since Adam Smith [1776] and David Ricardo [1817] armed advocates of free trade with the theorem of comparative advantage, they have been "winning every battle in the textbooks" [Pen 1967, 104]. Today, opponents of protectionist policies and proponents of globalized free trade are claiming victory [IMF 1997; Irwin 1996; Krueger 1997]. However, public anxiety about globalization and free trade is rising [Rodrik 1997]. In an increasing number of grassroot movements and Non-Governmental Organizations [NGOs], proposals for new forms of protectionism against the social and ecological consequences of free trade and increased capital mobility are being discussed. This paper discusses some contemporary debates about free trade and protectionism. After a very brief look at the genesis of the classical theory and major criticisms raised at the time, especially from a national [List 1841] or class conflict [Marx 1848] perspective, I take up today's criticism of the free trade paradigm. It will be argued that the case for free trade is not at all as strong in today's globalizing world as its proponents claim. In the last section, I discuss the rationale and conditions for certain types of protectionist policies in today's globalized world. The possibilities for such policies to be implemented are closely linked to the answers of new and already existing social movements to the current globalization of competition and neo-liberalism.


ABSTRACT Purpose: In mainland China, speech therapy is an emerging profession, and it estimated around 13 million people stutter. Currently, best practice for treating stuttering in young children is considered to be implementation of the Lidcombe Program. The Lidcombe Program is a behaviourally based treatment approach which involves parents delivering feedback to their child's stuttered and stutter-free speech in structured and unstructured conversations, in a natural environment. Currently, there is no published research documenting implementation of the Lidcombe Program in mainland China. Given the cultural differences that exist between Australia (where the treatment was developed) and China, an investigation into the feasibility of the treatment into this cross-cultural context is warranted. Methods: This study investigates implementation of the Lidcombe Program to two Mandarin-speaking children using a descriptive single case study design. The primary outcome, percent syllables stuttered (%SS), was measured within – and beyond-clinic at two assessment points, and analysed for statistically significant change. Results: Both participants in the study achieved a significant reduction in stuttering rates, suggesting the Lidcombe Program may be a viable option to treat some children in a Mandarin-speaking population in China. Additionally, the treating therapists provided feedback on cultural considerations when implanting the program to this population. Conclusion: There is a need for research into effective and evidence-based stuttering treatments for Mandarin-speaking children in mainland China. This study is a preliminary investigation into the effectiveness of the Lidcombe Program in this context.


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Imagine the challenges in achieving the goals of the medical home when a child or adolescent does not have a physical place to call home or a family to help support coordination of care. Youths in the child welfare system, or at-risk for entering it, can fall into this


Lipid encapsulation of chemotherapeutic agents facilitates local delivery of highly concentrated antineoplastics to tumors while ensuring an adequate duration of drug exposure and reducing systemic toxicity. Using novel technology, we have encapsulated nanoparticulate (100 nM) arsenic trioxide (ATO) at high density in "nanobins," biocompatible lipids and polymers that undergo a change in permeability when exposed to intracellular conditions, releasing drug cargo into the acidic tumor microenvironment (J. Am. Chem. Soc.2006, 128: 13348-9). At low concentrations, ATO is an effective agent in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia, causing differentiation and turnover of PML. At higher but potentially toxic concentrations, ATO induces programmed cell death through the generation of reactive oxygen species and its effects on other proapoptotic signaling pathways. A preliminary dose-range finding study was completed comparing the toxicity profiles of free ATO and nanobin formulations of arsenic based on loading procedures using either cobalt (Co) or nickel (Ni). Female Balb/c mice were injected intraperitoneally with either a single dose of free or nanobin formulations of ATO at 20, 40, 60, 100 or 200 μmol/kg of elemental As. Mice were assessed daily for the first 5 days after injection and then every second day thereafter for a total study duration of 14 days and monitored for body weight and clinical signs. The maximum tolerated doses for both the Co- and Ni-ATO formulations were approximately 100 – 200 μmol/kg as a single intraperitoneal injection. Efficacy experiments for the Ni-ATO-nanobins were conducted in a murine (RAG2-M) xenograft model in which the mantle cell lymphoma cell line Z138C was injected subcutaneously. On day 21, when the average tumor volume was 50–100 mg, weekly injections of saline, empty nanobins, or the Ni-ATO nanobins at 60 μmol/kg were begun. Cohorts of mice received either two or three weekly injections. Mice bearing tumors of 1000 mm3 or greater were sacrificed. Results were normalized to the tumor size at the time that treatment was initiated (day 21) and are represented as fold-increase in tumor measured with calipers three times weekly. The results of the three weekly injections are illustrated below. Following two injections, the curves began to separate showing a significant inhibition of tumor growth that persists for two weeks beyond the last injection (p


A new cartographic production system is being developed at the Federal Office of Topography in Switzerland (swisstopo). This new system consists of a cartographic database and interactive editing system (called Genius-DB) and a generalization system (called SysDab, built by a non-ESRI third party). Genius-DB is being built by ESRI Switzerland based on ESRI ArcGIS 9.2/9.3, a commercial off the shelf GIS software platform. Genius-DB is one of the first applications to make use of the cartographic representations technology that is new since ArcGIS 9.2. This paper is based on Eicher et al., 2007 and presents some background on this project, explains the driving forces behind upgrading the current system, and describes some selected theory important to the overall architecture of the system [1]. The bulk of the paper explores some major technical themes in the project: the development of GIS data and representation models, designing overall workflows and data flows, and the optimization of the cartographic editing user experience.


Introduction: Porosity is a fundamental physical property of meteorites that can be used to infer a number of factors in the history of meteorites and their parent bodies. We have been measuring the porosity of meteorites for a number of years by imaging thin sections using backscatter scanning electron mi-croscopy and measuring porosity by counting pixels with a computer measurement [1]. Meteorites are not necessarily homogeneous from one thin section to another [2], and even in hand samples one sometimes sees significant inhomogeneity in poros-ity among different samples of the same fall [3]. Since a thin section is usually represented by only a few dozen images, any variations in porosity could cause significant variations in the point-counting results depending on where the images were taken across the surface of the thin section. By evaluating the porosity in different thin sections from the same meteorite, we should be able to determine how uniform the porosity is across the sample. This, in turn, can further speak to the nature of the processes that produced the porosity in the first place. We have chosen a sample to begin evaluating this question that is represented by four thin sections cut from the same hand sample. Buck Mountain Wash is a genomict breccia (H3-5) that contains three chondritic lithologies: a main lithology which is primarily type 5, and two shock blackened lithologies [4]. Two of the thin sections are cut in the main lithology and are facing, parallel samples (BMW-7A and BMW-7B). The other two thin sections represent parts of a longitudinal slice that samples the other two lithologies and the contacts between the three litholo-gies (BMW-3 and BMW-4). Only the three thin sections with the main lithology present were evaluated for this study. Results: Approximately 50 images were acquired on each thin section. The average porosity is the same within the error for the three samples of the main lithology: BMW-4 (2.7 + 0.5%), BMW-7A (3.0 + 0.4%) and BMW-7B (2.9 + 0.4%). The three samples also have a similar range in values amongst the images: The porosity is on the low end of the range exhibited by the typical ordinary chondrite, but the sample is a find and has extensive weathering of the opaque phases. Similar to the findings in Knyahinya [2], where the thin section was completely imaged and found to have a slight variation (~1%) between one end of the sample …


Abstract Based on field work in St Petersburg and supplemented by a range of other sources and material, the article examines the vibrant and visible market for commercial fortune-telling and magic in postsoviet Russia and its relationship with the Moscow Patriarchate. It opens with an estimate of the relative strength of belief in the occult and in Orthodoxy, noting that though large numbers claim to be Orthodox, many do not commit to a Christian life or even to the basic tenets of the Orthodox faith. Others mix Orthodox and heterodox religious attitudes eclectically. Belief in magic and fortune-telling is strongest among members of these two large groups, which indicates a magico-religious mindset that perceives their personal troubles as externally caused. Examining the placatory attitude of magic specialists to the Russian Orthodox Church, I argue that, given the overlap with services offered by the Church (rituals to cure alcoholism and addiction, for example), magic specialists are in direct competition with the Patriarchate. Combating their influence has been hampered by a series of factors. Teaching Orthodox believers to distinguish between magic and religion is made more difficult by the Patriarchate's own promotion of wonder-working sites and shrines. Furthermore, its campaign against occultism has until recently paid scant attention to everyday magic and fortune-telling, concentrating instead on external evil in the form of cults and sects. Where it did turn its attention in this direction, it tended to brand magic and fortune-telling as demonic, a characterisation likely to be effective only with those who believe in the devil. Recently, there are indications of a change of tack, but it is unclear how successful the new campaign will be.


This paper introduces a method to include focusing of ground movers within a framework of fast factorized SAR backprojection which enables long coherent integration times. Also, sensitivity and resolvability of ground mover motions are improved with longer integration time. Branching off velocity and acceleration channels in a controlled manner in fast factorized backprojection, the processing burden is minimized.


Angular distributions for the transitions to the 1/sup +/ ground state and 3/sup +/ first excited state of /sup 6/Li for the /sup 7/Li(p,d) reaction have been obtained at 200 and 400 MeV. It has been shown that the ratio for the excitation of the 3/sup +/ states relative to the 1/sup +/ state can be accounted for at bombarding energies ranging from 16 to 800 MeV by the addition of a small amount of 1f/sub 7/2/ in the wave function for the transition to the 3/sup +/ state.


To keep pace with advances in factory automation, systems for generating torque such as for numerically controlled machinery and industrial robots are required to detect a torque and produce a corresponding detecting signal to control the generating system.Remarkable progress has been made recently in the ac servo system owing to its being a maintenance-free system. Controllability comparable to a dc motor is needed even in an induction motor.This paper presents a built-in type amorphous torque sensor for an induction motor, using rectangular amorphous ribbons with field-induced magnetic anisotropy and noncontact magnetic heads.


The development of lay-led chronic disease self-management programmes (CDSMPs) is considered to be an effective approach to help people self-manage chronic diseases. Current studies have, in their majority, been conducted with White participants, and it remains unclear whether CDSMPs lead to similar results for other ethnic groups, particularly high risk groups such as South Asians.

This mixed methods research was constructed in two phases. Phase 1 consists of an evaluation of the Chronic Disease Educator (CDE) programme (a lay-led CDSMP). CDEs felt their role often changed during sessions, between a facilitator and educator, and were able to make content culturally applicable. Participants appreciated the group format of the programme. South Asian participants welcomed members of their community delivering the programme in community languages and were much more likely to report gaining new knowledge from attending the programme in comparison to other ethnic groups.

Phase 2 consists of exploring current health beliefs with regards to chronic disease and selfmanagement within the Sikh community. Individuals from the Sikh community accessed a range of systems of support which included traditional health services, alternative remedies, the family and the community, all of which affected lifestyle, disease, symptom and emotional management.


We study the roughness of stylolite surfaces (i.e. natural pressure-dissolution surfaces in sedimentary rocks) from profiler measurements at laboratory scales. The roughness is shown to be nicely described by a self-affine scaling invariance. At large scales, the roughness exponent is $\zeta_1 \approx 0.5$ and very different from that at small scales where $\zeta_2 \approx 1.1$. A cross-over length scale at around $\lambda_c =1$mm is well characterized and interpreted as a possible fossil stress measurement if related to the Asaro-Tiller-Grinfeld stress-induced instability. Measurements are consistent with a Langevin equation that describes the growth of stylolite surfaces in a quenched disordered material with long range elastic correlations.


Qian Zhong shu's The Fortress is a comic satirical novel. Its comic art is sparkling in the title, which is vivid and philosophical, the carefully selected characters to be satirized, humorous comic style owing to the witty language. Metaphoric device, common feeling and the flexible employment of allusions contribute to the comic color. The comic art mainly originates from such ancient comic works as Unofficial History of the Literati and benefits also from Lu Xun's satirical art.