I. INTRODUCTION On June 23, 2004,1 the United States withdrew its request to the Security Council for the renewal of Resolution 1487.2 This resolution itself renewed Resolution 1422,3 adopted on July 12, 2002. Under the latter Resolution, the Security Council had granted immunity from prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to U.N. troops contributed by nonparty states under the Statute for twelve months.4 However, on August 1, 2003, the Security Council adopted Resolution 1497.5 Unlike Resolutions 1422 and 1487, this new resolution conferred on states that are not party to the Rome Statute the exclusive jurisdiction over crimes committed by their troops serving under a multinational force or U.N. stabilization force in Liberia,6 except where such jurisdiction has been explicitly waived.7 Resolution 1497 was the culmination of the tension that has characterized the relationship between the Security Council and the ICC since the Rome Statute came into force in July 2002. On the one hand, controversy has surrounded the question as to the extent to which the Security Council should be allowed (or permitted) to influence the ICC in the latter's discharge of its functions under the Statute.8 On the other hand, several nonparties to the Rome Statute, especially the United States,9 have continuously expressed deep concerns10 about certain provisions of the Statute, which ostensibly empower the Court to exercise jurisdiction over their nationals despite their nonparticipation in the Treaty. Certainly, the tenets of Resolution 1497 raise fundamental legal issues concerning the competence of the Security Council not just to defer ICC jurisdiction, which it is empowered to do under Article 16, but to terminate it. This is particularly so because the Resolution contains neither a time bar nor a renewal clause, therefore implying that it remains current, notwithstanding the expiration of Resolution 1487 in June 2004. However, before considering this matter any further, it is desirable to say a few words about the implication, if any, of the United States' refusal to renew Resolution 1487 (not 1497) for the remit of this article. As to be expected, the goodwill gesture from the United States in June 2004 has rekindled the hope, particularly among the human rights community, that the ICC will be able to function more effectively and has been hailed as a victory for international justice." However, for reasons that will be explained shortly, this hope appears to be premature, exaggerated, and seemingly placed out of context. It is widely believed that the United States was impelled to cease seeking periodic immunity from the Court's jurisdiction by the international outcry against the treatment meted out by its forces to Iraqi prisoners in the Abu Ghraib prison.12 Nonetheless, the United States maintained that it would continue to seek individual immunity for its troops by concluding bilateral agreements with state parties to the ICC under Article 98 of the Rome Statute.13 While it remains uncertain how far the United States will carry this threat, especially after international tempers have cooled down with regard to the conduct of its troops in Iraq, the implications of such bilateral treaties for the ICC-which many states have already concluded with the United States-are enormous. Unfortunately, this menace appears to have been drowned by the euphoria of June 23, 2004. Furthermore, there is both a substantive and a practical distinction to be made between a mere "deferral" resolution such as 1487, which the United States refused to renew, and a "terminating" resolution, like 1497, when considering the competence of the Security Council to act against the ICC. To begin with, both Resolutions 1422 and 1487 dealt with the deferral of the ICC jurisdiction under Article 16 of the Rome Statute. Neither of these resolutions permanently excluded the ICC from prosecuting U.N. troops contributed by states not party to the Statute. …


There exist lots of algorithms of rational interpolation~().Enlighened by the superposed algorithm of two element polynomial interpolation~([6]),we present a simple method of finding low degree rational interpolation functions.Being ape to be tested,sufficient conditions of the existence of rational interpolation are put forward in the same time.Aside by excellent flexibility,the presented method is ape to be operated and feasible in practice.


The popularization of the network technology makes the library's traditional manual cataloging work be facing huge challenge,and as a new cataloging mode,the computer cataloging begins to play an increasingly important role.This paper mainly discusses the present situation of university library's cataloging work in the network era,probes into the existing problems and development trends of university library's cataloging work,and puts forward some corresponding measures.


Mergers of galaxy clusters are promising probes of dark matter (DM) physics. For example, an offset between the DM component and the galaxy distribution can constrain DM self-interactions. We investigate the role of the intracluster medium (ICM) and its influence on DM–galaxy offsets in self-interacting dark matter models. To this end, we employ Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics  + N-body simulations to study idealized setups of equal- and unequal-mass mergers with head-on collisions. Our simulations show that the ICM hardly affects the offsets arising shortly after the first pericentre passage compared to DM-only simulations. But later on, e.g. at the first apocentre, the offsets can be amplified by the presence of the ICM. Furthermore, we find that cross-sections small enough not to be excluded by measurements of the core sizes of relaxed galaxy clusters have a chance to produce observable offsets. We found that different DM models affect the DM distribution and also the galaxy and ICM distribution, including its temperature. Potentially, the position of the shock fronts, combined with the brightest cluster galaxies, provides further clues to the properties of DM. Overall our results demonstrate that mergers of galaxy clusters at stages about the first apocentre passage could be more interesting in terms of DM physics than those shortly after the first pericentre passage. This may motivate further studies of mergers at later evolutionary stages.


Two infants, one premature and one full-term, died from meningitis due to Flav. meningosepticum type F. Careful bacteriological studies are required to prevent possible confusion with other Gram-negative bacilli which may cause meningitis in this age group.


In his theory of criticism, D. N. Walton presupposes that an oppo- nent either criticallyquestions an argument, without supplementing this ques- tioning with any reasoning of her own, or that she puts forward a critical ques- tion and supplements it with a counterargument, that is, with reasoning in defense of an opposite position of her own. In this paper, I show that there is a kind of in-between critical option for the opponent that needs to be taken into account in any classification of types of criticism, and that should not be overlooked in a system of dialogue norms, nor in a procedure for develop- ing a strategically expedient critique. In this third option, an opponent ques- tions and overtly doubts a statement of the proponent and supplements her doubts with acounterconsideration thatexplains andmotivates her position of critical doubt, yet without supporting any opposite thesis, thereby assisting, as it were, the proponent in his attempt to develop a responsive argumenta- tion, tailor-made to convince this particular opponent. First, I elaborate on the notion of an explanatory counterconsideration. Second, I discuss Walton's distinction between premises that can be challenged by mere questioning ("or- dinary premises" and "assumptions") and premises that must be challenged by incurring the obligation to offer counter-argumentation (somewhat confusingly labeled "exceptions"). I contend that the latter type of premises, that I would label "normality premises," can be attacked without incurring a genuine burden of proof. Instead, it can be attacked by means of incurring a burden of criti- cism (Van Laar and Krabbe, 2013) that amounts to the obligation to offer an explanatory counterconsideration, rather than a convincingex concessis argu- ment. Of course, providing the opponent with the right to discharge her burden of criticism with explanatory counterconsiderations brings a clear strategic ad- vantage to her. It is much less demanding to motivate one's doubts regarding proposition P, than to convince the proponent of not-P. If we want to encourage opponents to act critically, and proponents to develop responsive arguments, the importance of the notions of an explanatory counterconsideration and of a mo- tivated doubt should be emphasized in the theory of criticism.


The success of a ground penetrating radar (GPR) signal modeling scheme largely depends on its accuracy and computational efficiency. Most of the modeling schemes suffer from inaccuracy because of unrealistic assumptions of complex GPR environment. In this respect full wave model (FWM) of GPR signal is a promising approach for accurate characterization of multi-layered media. However, large computation time of FWM compared to other simplified models makes the approach inefficient for real time application. In this work an FWM scheme is developed based on electric field equivalent magnetic current density at antenna phase center. The compact analytical expression of Green's function representing response due to layered media is derived. Then a plane wave model (PWM) is proposed by introducing a spreading factor based on simplified expression of the FWM. The model inversion is successfuly carried out by a gradient based algorithm. A stepped frequency continuous wave GPR in off-ground monostatic configuration is implemented in laboratory environment to verify performances of the models. Experimental analysis proves that the proposed PWM is as accurate as FWM, and its computation efficiency is enormous to detect layered media parameters.


We calculated the electronic structure of double quantum-dot molecule with a generalized LCAO approach and the finite element method.Compared with real molecule,the quantum dot molecule can be in the form of covalent bonding or ionic bonding between the two same (or different) quantum dots under different conditions.The condition is related to the distance between the two quantum dots and the energy of each quantum dot.The effects of the potential and radius of the quantum dots on the electronic structure have also been studied with the finite element method.


In real life,women's shopping desire is usually strong than man's.Therefore,the commercial advertisement pays more attention to women.This article takes female as the object to discuss the commercial advertisement language characteristic from language expression、rhetoric method etc.It may help you to understand、appreciate and write advertisement.


This article reports the synthesis of a nonadeoxyribonuoleotide, d-GATCCTAGA,which corresponds to the nucleotide sequence 1-9 of the lower chain of the Leu-enke-phalin gene. The improved phosphotriester method is used here. As the first step,three blocks d-_(Dmt)A_?~(Bs)G_(?OH)~(ib),d-_(Dmt)C_?~(An)C_?~(An)T_(?OH), and d-_(Dmt)G_?~(ib)A_?~(Bs)T_(?OH) are synthesized.They are then successively coupled with d-A_(OBs)~(Bs) or the products of the previous reactions,and d-_(Dmt)G_?~(ib)A_?~(Bs)T_?C_?~(An)C_?~(An)T_?A_?~(Bs)G_?~(ib)A_(OBs)~(Bs) is obtained. In all coupling reactions mesitylenesulfonyl nitroimidazole is used as the condensing agent. Apart from the nonamer, theproducts of coupling reactions are purified by silica gel short column chromatography,and the yields of all condensation reactions are over 75%. The proteched nonameris treated with concentrated aqueous ammonia and 80% acetic acid to remove allprotecting groups; through column chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex A-25d-GATCCTAGA is obtained with a yield of 31.7%. The 5'-terminus ~(82)P labeledproduct is verified by sequence analysis.


LEGO is a construction toy familiar to many students. Creating software, regardless of scale, is often similar to building with tangible objects, such as houses or bridges--an analogy that is often used in the classroom. In this workshop, we will show how to use LEGO as an engaging medium to introduce students to concepts of iterative development, software interfaces, team velocity, and distributed software projects. LEGO-based analogies and case studies enacted as hands-on exercises for student teams help develop a better understanding of the underlying concepts, while keeping students deeply engaged in the course material. This workshop is intended for faculty teaching undergraduate and graduate courses focusing on software development, software engineering, and related concepts. This workshop will also benefit other educators looking for ways to supplement their courses with engaging and playful hands-on activities aimed to strengthen the teamwork, oral communication, problem solving, and design skills of students. We will practice several hands-on LEGO-based activities during the workshop. Specific topics of these activities will include change management and object-oriented interfaces, as well as activities specific to the phases of software development. Workshop participants will learn about other LEGO-based activities that focus on a broad range of topics including requirements engineering, architectural design, and software dependability. A laptop is not required for this workshop. This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation Awards 1611905, 1709244 and a 2015 ACM SIGCSE Special Project grant. For more information visit http://www.cs.ccsu.edu/~stan/sigcse2020/


Settlement notices have been part of the conveyancing landscape in Queensland since the introduction of electronic title in 1994. The purpose of a settlement notice is to protect the priority of the buyer's or mortgagee's equitable interest in land the subject of a contract of sale. From 1 January 2018 settlement notices will be replaced with Priority Notices as part of the national harmonisation of titling processes and the introduction of electronic conveyancing. Is a Priority Notice simply a replacement settlement notice? this article considers the similarities and differences between the two types of notice.


Six Xifeng popular clones were introduced in Tongren County,Qinghai Province the test showed the differences of the seedling height among six clones were significant,but the difference of rhizome among six clones were not significant.Xifeng 21,6 and 77 were selected because their seedling height were more 20% than control.Logistic equation were used to model growth increment of three clones,correlation of modeling were significant and correlation coefficients were higher than 0.95.Based on the results,it was cinduded that the three clones selected were suitable to the local environment and had biggest grow potentiality.Since the rapid growth stage started earlier and continued time was longer,the height growth increment in rapid growth stage accounted for 57.74%,the three clones were similar.The increment in rapid growth stage determined the total growth increment,the field management should be strengthen in this key stage for improving the quality of seedlings.


Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) has emerged as a modern epidemic and is at raising trend globally and will continue to be in future. Also, Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) is one amongst the major causes of mortality and morbidity globally. The mortality in diabetics is nearly twice as that of non-diabetic. Thus, this study was carried to compare the outcome of thrombolytic therapy in acute coronary syndrome in diabetic versus non-diabetic patients.
Objective: To compare the outcome of thrombolytic therapy in acute coronary syndrome in diabetic versus non-diabetic patients.
Material and Method: Prospective observational study was undertaken in Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital, Bareilly including 50 patients presented with ACS admitted in the medical wards from 1st Jan 2018 to 31st Dec 2018. Detailed clinical examination and routine investigations were done. These patients were treated with streptokinase as a thrombolytic agent. ECG was taken on admission and the one after 60 minutes of thrombolysis. The study groups were divided in two i.e. diabetic and non-diabetics. Data was collected, computated and analyzed statistically.
Results: 50 cases were enrolled in the study, out of which 31 were male and 19 were female. Two study groups were made one of diabetic and other of non-diabetic for comparison each of 25 cases. Resolution of ST-segment in non-diabetic patients was found in 17 patients out of 25 and in diabetics it was found in patients 11 out of 25. Post fibrinolytic therapy complication were more prevalent in diabetics as compared to those in non-diabetics. Mortality was 12% with diabetics as compared to 4% mortality in non-diabetics.
Conclusion: A considerable number of diabetics failed achieve complete reperfusion after thrombolytic therapy, despite the established fact that fibrinolytic therapy benefits in acute myocardial infarction. The mortality and morbidity was more in diabetic when compared with non diabetic after thrombolytic therapy in ACS in our study. Complications after fibrinolytic therapy were more prevalent in diabetics. Thus, one must be aware about this fact and special attention must be given for the better management and care of diabetic myocardial infarction patients.


A reliable inference of the differential rotation rate of the solar photosphere is essential for models of the solar interior. The work presented here is based on a novel iterative phase correlation technique, which relies on the measurement of the local shift, at the central meridian, between two images separated by a given time interval. Consequently, it does not require any specific reference features, such as sunspots or supergranules, nor extended observations spanning several months. The reliability of the method is demonstrated by applying it to high spatial and temporal resolution continuum images of the solar photosphere, at 6173 Å, acquired by the Solar Dynamics Observatory Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager over one complete Carrington rotation. The data selected covers the time period of 2020 January 1 to February 2. The method was applied to one day, and to the full time interval. The differential rotation rate derived using this feature-independent technique yields values that fall in the middle of the range of those published to date. Most importantly, the method is suited for the production of detailed rotation maps of the solar photosphere. It also enables the visual and quantitative identification of the north–south asymmetry in the solar differential rotation rate, when present.


The relational teaching approach suggests that instructors should develop positive relationships with students, with benefits including greater job satisfaction. One way to build positive relationships with students involves exhibiting immediacy behaviors. The author examined relationships among professors' attitudes toward students, immediacy behaviors, job satisfaction, and student outcomes. Although liking students was not related to job satisfaction, students were capable of intuiting their professor's attitude toward them, even when immediacy behaviors offered inconsistent information.


Cloud computing provides a reliable and cost- effective setting for deploying large-scale web applications. However, choosing and configuring an appropriate cloud Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), e.g., the appropriate database and computing instances and acceptable service rates, is a daunting task. The task is also challenging when trying to optimize the IaaS for conflicting objectives such as performance and cost. Furthermore, due to lack of understanding of the pricing model and the cloud IaaS, a cloud consumer may pay more than necessary or may not fully utilize the purchased resources. For this reason, we propose an algorithm that suggests the most cost-effective configuration meeting the QoS requirements and budget constraint. In contrast to existing cost optimization proposals, our proposed algorithm maps the minimum requirements of the to- be-deployed web application to deployment costs according to the price model set by cloud providers. The algorithm also considers QoS requirements for different resource types in the cloud, namely, database servers, computing servers, storage, and service rate. The proposed algorithm is evaluated by a series of experiments on a web application with seven different workload scenarios. The experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in achieving a solution with the minimum deployment cost for each scenario while satisfying all customer's requirements.


e12041 Background: Many of commonly used chemotherapeutics in lung cancer treatment are metabolized by glutathione-S transferases (GST). Placental isoform of GST (GSTP1) is the most abundant isoform in the lung. Polymorphisms within the GSTP1 may result in alterations in enzyme activity and change sensitivity to platinum based chemotherapy. We investigated whether the polymorphism within the exon 5 and exon 6 of GSTP1 gene may change response to therapy, time to tumor progression (TTP) and overall survival in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) patients. Methods: Ninety four histologically confirmed patients with SCLC were enrolled in this study during 1995-2006. GSTP1 Ile105Val polymorphism in exon 5 and GSTP1 Ala114Val polymorphism in exon 6 were determined by using PCR-RFLP techniques. Associations between the GSTP1 polymorphisms and treatment response were evaluated using the chi-square tests. Associations between the GSTP1 polymorphisms and TTP and overall survival were compared using Kaplan-Meier survival...


Photograph of Southeast view of the Austin Dam on the Colorado River after breaking during a flood. The dam was built in 1890 in an attempt to bring industry to the city, but failed after upriver storms sent a flood cracking the dam and killing eight people when the powerhouse flooded.


A method of distinguishing watershed borderline, of ascertaining water flow direction on a slope, and of calculating watershed parameters with digital elevation model is introduced and discussed. Verifying with practically surveyed watershed data shows that the method is available and precision, and helpful for developing distributed hydrologic physic model.


The Legitimacy of Area-Based Restrictions to Maintain Public Order: Giving Content to the Proportionality Principle from a European Legal Perspective


Purpose
This study aims to explore the impact of spatial configuration on behavioral patterns of visitors in the ground floor of health-care spaces.

Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the Space Syntax analysis was used to combine visibility graph analysis and axial line analysis with empirical observation of visitors' activities. Two types of observation methods on visitors were conducted to discover the behavioral patterns of individuals, respectively, named "gate counts" and "people following."

Findings
The outcomes of this research revealed that the spatial arrangements of pathways, public areas, vertical circulations, entrance space, lobby, emergency department, reception desk and pharmacy have a significant influence on the way that visitors perceive the health-care environment.

Research limitations/implications
The current research is limited to two aspects of effective wayfinding (configuration of health care and geometry). Future work can investigate the other potential factors coupled with the current factor as an integrated research for enhancing wayfinding and sustaining accessibility. Another limitation is that the observation results for this study had been conducted before the COVID-19 pandemic and future studies can compare these results with the current COVID-19 situation within health care environments.

Originality/value
A large amount of research has focused on the needs of populations in developed countries. This topic has not been investigated thoroughly by professionals in developing countries such as Iran. Accordingly, this study benefits environmental psychologists and architects by revealing the effective characteristics of legible spaces in health-care environments.


Symptoms of autonomic dysfunction occur frequently in Parkinson disease (PD). In this Dutch study, researchers sought to determine the extent of autonomic symptoms in 420 patients (mean age, 61) with PD. Mean duration of PD was 10.5 years; the PD was …


Fresnel zone plates with minimum zone widths below 70 nm have been fabricated for the joint high resolution x-ray microscopy effort with Stony Brook University at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The x-ray scanning microscope requires zone plates as objective lenses with the central zones blocked by thick absorber material (apodized) and also the outermost zone surrounded by a wide ring of thick absorber. This is achieved by a double development/double plating technique.1 A 120-nm thick Si3N4 membrane substrate with 30 nm of gold evaporated as a plating base and coated with ≃200 nm of PMMA resist is exposed in a high resolution vector scan electron beam lithography system at a dose of 230 μC/cm2 for the zones and 500 μC/cm2 for the thick absorber areas at a beam voltage of 25 kV. After partial development the thick absorber areas can be electroplated with 0.4–0.8 μm of gold. After final development and oxygen-plasma descumming the zones can be plated with 140 nm of gold. Monitoring the development status of the fine features of the zone plates (200 nm to <70 nm) is an important issue during the fabrication procedure. Although the optical microscope cannot resolve these features, using polarized light and crossed analyzers, a distinct change of the reflected intensity can be observed when the developed lines approach the substrate. This can be explained in terms of form birefringence caused by the submicron discontinuities on the surface, which rotates the vector of polarization and therefore increases the light intensity passing the analyzer. For the performance of the zone plates (resolution, efficiency), correct spacing, circularity, and width of the zones is of importance. Absorber thickness, zone width, and local pattern integrity was determined by scanning electron microscopy. Double exposure of scanning electron micrographs with translation or rotation of the plates between exposures, resulted in moire patterns, which allow estimates of the zone placement accuracy and circularity. The plates showed ellipticities ranging from ≃1 % to values not measurable with this method (better than 0.3%). Their performance is reported in an accompanying paper.2


ABSTRACT The daughter appears in Hortense Spillers's literary criticism as an oblique subject of a doubled law of genealogy: first, the Oedipal 'law of the Father' which intervenes on the mother–child relation and structures genealogical descent; and second, the law of a specific form of slave law, partus sequitur ventrem, which negates the paternity of both the white master and the black slave in establishing that a mother's slave status would be passed down to her child. How can we witness the operations of both the law of the Father, which confers symbolic legitimacy in exchange for observing the incest taboo; and the law of slavery, which implicitly sanctions incest precisely because it casts slave offspring outside the pale of human sexuality, and thus, symbolic legitimacy, in the first instance? This article offers the 'poetics of mu' – a form of writing cut by the structural diglossic haunt of slavery on language, sexuality and history – as a deeper way to think from the locus of a unique form of structural anonymity which radically unravels the laws of genealogy.


Purpose of review This review examines both trimodality therapy (TMT) in the definitive management of bladder cancer as well as the use of adjuvant radiotherapy for bladder cancer with a specific focus on publications from the last 2 years. Recent findings TMT is an effective management strategy for muscle invasive bladder cancer with outcomes similar to radical cystectomy. Effectiveness of this strategy exists in variant histologies and can be personalized with use of biomarkers. There is a role for adjuvant radiotherapy in locally advanced bladder cancer, especially in the age of improved imaging and modern radiotherapy techniques. Summary This review should provide the reader data necessary to support use of TMT and adjuvant radiation therapy in their clinic.


AIM: To observe the effect of diammonii glycyrrhizinatis (DG) on collagen synthesis induced by angioplasty in rabbits. METHODS: The right common carotid artery of male rabbits were injured with 3.5F balloon catheter. Four weeks after operation, arterial tissure collagen content, serum procollagen type I(PCI), procollagen type Ⅲ(PCⅢ) concentration, neointimal thickness and the rate of stenosis were measured.RESULTS: Arterial tissue collagen content, serum PCI, PCⅢ concentration, neointimal thickness and the rate of stenosis of low and high dose DG group is lower than those of injured group.CONCLUSION: DG could inhibit collagen synthesis and neointimal proliferation of rabbits carotid artery induced by angioplasty. It suggests that DG might have clinical potential prespective in prevention and therapy of restenosis.


Tc and 79 Se, two long-lived radionuclides, are supposed to be highly mobile in soils, because of their anionic forms. Their behaviours in the soil are often considered only from a physico-chemical point of view, although the microorganisms can affect either directly or indirectly their speciation. This study demonstrates the role of the microbial compartment in the retention of Se and Tc in soil by comparing experiments with soils constrained to different microbiological status (sterile / raw / amended). Kd coefficients for Se and Tc were determined in batch experiments, whereas transport of Se and Tc was investigated through column leaching experiments. Kd for Se was enhanced for the raw soil without amendment compared to the value obtained for the sterilised soil. The retention of Se was higher again in the amended soil. Besides, a biofilm, which can directly retain Se, was obtained at the entrance of the amended soil column. This effect was less obvious for Tc in batch experiments, but was revealed by leaching experiments where a high quantity of Tc was retained in the amended soil columns. These results give strong evidence that microorganisms are responsible for a greater retention of Se and Tc in soil.


Abstract This paper is based on a research survey study conducted in South Africa that investigated the contribution senior citizens can make in the alleviation of poverty and unemployment in Africa. In several societies senior citizens are branded as people who have exhausted their economic and social worth of wealth of expertise, knowledge and skills and for that matter see them as having no substantial role to play and make further contributions towards the social and economic development of societies. Families consider them as burden that requires attention and unflinching services from younger members of society. Senior citizens are associated with illnesses, home care, demanding attention from care givers and behave like they have never lived fulfilling lives. This research survey randomly selected 3600 senior citizens from the nine provinces of South Africa. Questionnaire was administered and interview conducted to be able to collect valid data to answer the research question. The long term goal of this study is to provide guidance for more creative policies, including strategies to alleviate poverty and unemployment through the creative employment of senior citizens skills and expertise. The conclusion that could be drawn was that senior citizens can make further contribute towards the alleviation of poverty and unemployment in Africa. Introduction The majority of Africans families consider senior citizens as burden that requires attention and unflinching services from younger members of society. Senior citizens are associated with illnesses, home care and demanding attention from care givers. Many families would rather want to see them sent to Old Age Home. What have been forgotten is the fact that majority of senior citizens have themselves been professionals of some sort and have contributed towards the social and economic development during their time of service. After in-depth literature survey, 3600 senior citizens from the nine provinces of South Africa were randomly selected for the administration of questionnaire and the conduct of interview for primary data (400 from each of the nine provinces) to augment the data gathered from the literature. The main objective of the study was to identify the goodness in senior citizens towards poverty alleviation and elimination of unemployment and make such information substantive to governments, organisations and individuals so that the huge potential of senior citizens expertise in knowledge, experiences and skills could still be utilised. Statement of the Problem Can senior citizens make further contribution towards the alleviation of poverty and unemployment in Africa? Relevant Literature Survey and Analysis Several literature about senior citizens consulted concentrated on the negative aspects of old age - abuse, neglect and ill-treatment by their children and the state representatives (Ministerial Commission, Republic of South Africa: 2001). Reports from committees from the nine provinces revealed abysmal neglect, abuse and ill-treatment of Older Persons (ibid. 2001:1-14). The situation in South Africa is not different from other African countries and the rest of the world where the majority of senior citizens reside in the rural areas. The United Nations General Assembly, in December 1991, adopted the United Nations' Principles for Older Persons and proclaimed the Principles for Older Persons in 1999 (UN Principles for Older Persons: 1999). Since the inception of these principles, governments all over the world have been encouraged to incorporate the five principles in the document, namely: independence, participation, care, self-fulfilment and dignity - into national programmes to be able to accord senior citizens the respect and dignity they deserve from society. The following details were provided in the documents. As regards independence, the UN Principles for Older Persons stipulates that older persons should: * Have access to adequate food, water, shelter, clothing and health care through the provision of income, family and community self-help. …


In this paper the multivariate fractional trading ansatz of money management from Ralph Vince (Portfolio Management Formulas: Mathematical Trading Methods for the Futures, Options, and Stock Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1990) is discussed. In particular, we prove existence and uniqueness of an optimal f of the respective optimization problem under reasonable assumptions on the trade return matrix. This result generalizes a similar result for the univariate fractional trading ansatz. Furthermore, our result guarantees that the multivariate optimal f solutions can always be found numerically by steepest ascent methods.


The absorption spectrum of antiferromagnetic CsMnF3 is studied in detail in the C-group band region of the Mn2 ion shifted from the inversion center. The temperature was varied in the range 1.2-60° K, and the external magnetic field from 0 to 25 kOe. Identification of the spectrum is made within the framework of group-theory analysis. It is shown that CsMnF3 is an unusual crystal amoung antiferromagnetic substances. For the Mn2 ion in it, pure exciton transitions are allowed in the electric dipole approximation. The main properties of pure exciton and exciton-magnon absorption bands are obtained in accord with the Loudon scheme. l2 J "Hot" and "cold" magnon satellites and also two-magnon satellites of pure exciton absorption bands have been observed in the absorption spectrum and investigated. The maximum magnon frequency at the boundary of the Brillouin zone is determined, t. 2 = 38 cm-1• The distortion of this quantity as a result of excitonmagnon interaction is discussed for processes induced by excitation of one or two magnons together with the exciton.


Face recognition is an active research area in the artificial intelligence.Two-dimensional independent component analysis is an efficient method of face features descriptions and recognition,but it must depend on a lot of representative raining samples.The method will become invalidation and the scatter matrix will become a zero matrix when any class or person has only one training pattern available.This paper proposed a face recognition algorithm using sampled two-dimensional independent component analysis based on this problem.The method obtained multiple training samples from a single face image by multi channel sampling before two-dimensional independent component analysis transformation.Experimental results on the ORL face database and YALE face database show that the proposed method is feasible and has higher recognition performance compared with GREY,PCA,ICA,2DICA,projection combined PCA,FLDA,sampled FLDA and other algorithms where only one sample image per person is available for training.


Si fertilizer was never used in rice cultivation by farmers in Indonesia. To evaluate the effect of Si application on blast disease, plant morphologies, and stomata formation on rice plant, a field experiment was conducted in West Java, Indonesia. Two treatments, Si+ (with 1000 kg ha -1 of silica gel) and Si- (without Si application) were set in a randomized complete block design. The results showed that Si application in soil with high available Si 426 mg SiO 2 kg -1 significantly reduce leaf (p < 0.01) and neck (p < 0.05) blast disease infection and increased stomata density (p < 0.01). Si- had severer leaf blast infection than Si+ which could reach up to score 4 and 5. Si deposited on the tissue surface acts as a physical barrier by thickening the Si layer in cuticle which could decrease the number of blast lessions on leaf blades by limiting hypa penetration and invasion. Recently there was no report to prove whether Si deposition improves or changes the stomata density. The results confirmed that Si application have the potential of improving rice growth and yield through the increase of resistance to blast infection and increment in stomata density although they did not result in the yield increment in the present study.


The present issue is the fruit of cooperation in political science and associated social science disciplines. This cooperation has transcended state, national, regional, continental, political, economic, military, ideological, cultural, linguistic, and other boundaries and barriers that divide mankind. A concerted effort to make this issue as widely representative as possible gave rise to inevitable problems with space constraints. Most papers in this issue contained extensive footnotes and references. Had all this material been included, it would have been necessary to eliminate several papers I was anxious to see in print. Unwilling to sacrifice these, I arranged to delete all references and most citations for this issue. For a very modest cost, integral versions of the paper may be obtained from Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society Box 46


An extensive scholarly literature, written in the past century holds that in ancient Greek and Roman thought history is understood as circular and repetitive - a consequence of their anti-temporal metaphysics - in contrast with Judaeo-Christian thought, which sees history as linear and unique - a consequence of their messianic and hence radically temporal theology. Gerald Press presents a more general view - that the Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian cultures were fundamentally alien and opposed cultural forces and that, therefore, Christianity's victory over paganism included the replacement or supersession of one intellectual world by another - and then shows that, contrary to this view, there was substantial continuity between "pagan" and Christian ideas of history in antiquity, rather than a striking opposition between cyclic and linear patterns. He finds that the foundation of the Christian view of history as goal-directed lies in the rhetorical rather than the theological motives of early Christian writers.


The diversity of culturable yeast strains in Xinjiang province of China was investigated.Isolation and purification analysis were performed in order to expand our knowledge on diversity of yeasts.Yeasts were detected on YPD medium respectively.Identity and genetic diversity of strains isolated was determined by spatial 26S rDNA gene D1/D2 sequences and rep-PCR fingerprint.6 genera were isolated,which were Candida,Meyerozyma,Rhodotorula,Hanseniaspora,Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia.There were 10 species totally,including 6 suspected species.


Under the engineering background of the First Mine of Yili in Xinjiang,the physical model test was designed and the method of failure mechanism of the surrounding rock of inclined shaft in thick gravel stratum with abundant water was investigated in detail.The test simulation of the failure process of the scale model surrounding rock under external applied load and seepage condition was carried out successfully.Combined with the model test results of the failure process of the surrounding rock under seepage,the surrounding rock stresses,displacement and pore water pressure were analyzed.The results show that the destruction of surrounding rock from the dome begins to collapse,and gradually move upwards in the excavation process of inclined shaft in water-rich gravel layer.The stress of wall rock declines in the shaft excavation process.The vertical and horizontal stress of the vault and the two sides are reduced in rock failure process,but the horizontal stress of the bottom and the bottom corner increases.The displacement value of vault wall rock is bigger than that of well sides,among them that of soleplate is least.The displacement value of wall rock is evidently affected by seepage,when the pore water pressure reaches the maximum value,the vault damage occurs.The seepage is the main factor of wall rock failure.


The present invention discloses a power factor correction circuit and a control method. Wherein the power factor correction circuit comprising: a correction unit comprising an inductor and a switch module; current detecting means for detecting the inductor current of the inductor flow; loop voltage control unit for acquiring the correction means calculates an output voltage and an output voltage corresponding to the the regulated voltage; current loop control means for controlling the switch module turned on or off, comprising: a resistor, a first terminal connected to the current detecting means; integration reset circuit, and voltage control means connected to the ring; and a comparator, the first a second end connected to the input terminal of the resistor, a second output terminal of the reset input terminal of the integrating circuit, the output terminal is connected to the switch module. Great by the present invention solves the prior art power factor correction circuit of the main circuit area occupied problems, thereby achieving the main circuit is reduced in circuit area, the effect of reducing the costs involved.


Track shift is defined as the permanent lateral distortion of a track segment due to high vehicle induced lateral loads. Excessive track shift can lead to unsafe conditions leading to ride quality deterioration or vehicle derailment. Current track shift standards used in Europe and the USA minimum high speed safety standard are outlined. It is considered necessary to review these standards on the allowable net axle lateral to static vertical load limits in the light of new technical developments and requirements. A Track Residual Deflection Analysis model (TREDA) was developed which considers single or multiple axle loads, net axle lateral loads at single or multiple axles, and net axle lateral loads varying sinusoidally. Successful validation tests for the model were conducted at the US DOT Transportation Technology Center. The safety criteria for track shift mitigation are based on the requirement that lateral loads generated by high-speed vehicles operating under maximum speed, cant deficiency, thermal load, and initial line defect conditions should not produce any permanent lateral track displacements. The results of the model were compared with those of the Prud'homme formula, which was found to be conservative. New safety limits are recommended.


an important component of stratification-societies typically arrange themselves into a hierarchy of socially defined age-grades or strata, with obligations and prerogatives assigned to members as they move from one stratum to the next. Persons of different age categories are differently viewed and treated in all societies. Age tends to qualify and disqualify people for desired roles and privileged positions. It would not have been out of place if the author had devoted a subsection of the book to this important aspect of social stratification. Sharma makes certain points in the book which are in the nature of con-


This essay deals with Swedish unemployment politics during the period 1918-1932, and can be seen as a contribution to earlier research of how the policies, established by the State Unemployment Com ...


The Indian rural market with its vast size and demand base offers great opportunities to marketers. Two-thirds of country's consumers live in rural areas and almost half of the national income is generated here. The rural population dominates the Indian market with over 720 million consumers (70% of the total population) spread across 0.63 million villages in the country18. Typically Indian rural retail stores are in the form of haats and melas. Undeniably, the urban market (metropolitan cities, tier II, III cities) offers great opportunities to organized retailers but they are anticipated to saturate in the near future. Hence, most big retail companies are envisaging entering the untapped rural market. The present paper aims to analyze this growing potential of rural market and what it holds for big retailers.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the 401(k) auto-enrollment rate influences the size of elected contribution rates in defined contribution plans for new, young enrollees.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors survey 324 undergraduate students at a mid-sized Midwestern university, and compare the elected contribution rates for two groups who were randomly given two default rates: 3 and 15 percent.

Findings

The results indicate widespread evidence of the anchoring and adjusting heuristic in regards to the provided auto-enrollment rate, as the 3 percent default rate group selects a contribution rate of approximately 2 percent less than the group that was provided with the 15 percent default rate. The results also provide support to the benefits of financial education: those who were taking or had already taken a college-level finance course provide higher contribution rates by about 1.7 percent overall. Additionally, individuals with the lowest critical thinking skills elect approximately 2 percent less in annual contributions overall than those who demonstrate higher critical thinking skills.

Originality/value

Interestingly, all groups seem to be susceptible to the anchoring and adjustment heuristic, as the default rate plays a significant role in the elected contribution rate, regardless of an individual's financial sophistication or critical thinking skill level. The authors hope that these findings prompt benefit plan administrators and policy-makers to reconsider default rates in their retirement plans that would allow for maximum savings and participation rates. The findings also speak in favor of developing programs that would assist enrollees with financial education and critical thinking skills that would yield better retirement savings decisions when asked to make their employee benefit selections.


Nearly 70 million tons of fly ash are generated annually in the US, more than 60% of which is disposed of as 'unusable' in landfills because its carbon content is too high or because it is contaminated from processing measures to limit stack emissions. This paper discusses an economic use for much of this 'unusable' fly ash as a raw material in cement manufacturing. Demonstrations have produced cements that met applicable standards, and exhibited engineering properties comparable or superior to that of those normally used to produce cement. Cement plants conducting the demonstrations realized several material, operational, fuel, and environmental benefits. The operations were smooth, stable and glitch-free. The fuel consumption declined, and the rate of cement production increased. 2 figs., 2 tabs.


Abstract: The fundamental optimization principle for non-equilibrium thermodynamics isgiven. The second entropy is introduced as the quantity that is maximised to determine theoptimum state of a non-equilibrium system. In contrast, the principles of maximum or mini-mum dissipation, which have previously been proposed by Onsager, Prigogine, and others asthe variational principle for such systems, are shown to be incapable of fulfilling that role.ˆKeywords: entropy, second law, non-equilibrium1. IntroductionThe second entropy is a a new type of entropy that has been introduced by the author for non-equilibrium systems. The concept has emerged from a theory for non-equilibrium thermodynamicsand statistical mechanics that has been developed over the last few years. For reviews see Refs [1, 2].Amongst other things, the theory has lead for the first time to the generalization of the Boltzmann dis-tribution to non-equilibrium systems, and to the development of a Monte Carlo computer algorithm forsuch time-dependent systems [3]. In this paper the theory is briefly reviewed. New results are pre-sented for the distinction between 'non-equilibrium' and 'not in equilibrium' systems, (Sec. 2), for thevariational principle for non-equilibrium systems, (Sec. 3), and for the physical interpretation of the fluc-tuation formulation of the second law, (Sec. 4). The discussion in Sec. 3 of several other non-equilibriumvariational principles that have previously been advocated, including the Principles of Minimum and ofMaximum Dissipation, is particularly detailed.


BitTorrent, a popular Peer-to-Peer (P2P) protocol, has recently engendered considerable controversy. Many P2P applications implement a variant of the protocol due to its cost-effective scalability. However, for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) the protocol is notorious for its high network cost. To reduce these costs, ISPs have deployed network devices to detect and throttle BitTorrent traffic. In response, application developers have begun encrypting the protocol's traffic to avoid ISP-detection. These actions perpetuate a "cat and mouse" game between ISPs and developers. Recent proposals to reduce BitTorrent's network cost involve either changing the protocol or deploying ISP-managed services. These proposals require broad adoption by developers to significantly benefit ISPs. In this paper, we propose a solution that is universally applicable to all BitTorrent clients and provides savings for ISPs out of the box. We have developed a high performance network device, called the Advanced Network Tracker (ANT), which reduces BitTorrent network cost without changing the protocol. Moreover, ANT requires no explicit communication between client applications and ISPs. It inspects packets on the wire to identify BitTorrent traffic to discover local peers sharing similar files. To reduce network costs, ANT localizes traffic to an ISP's network by informing local peers about each other. In this work, we implement a working prototype of ANT using Network Processors (NP) for high throughput packet processing. In addition, we evaluate our implementation on the Open Network Lab's [ONL] NP-based programmable routers. Our evaluation shows ANT has a considerable impact on cross-ISP traffic. And equally important, it has a negligible impact on client performance.


The paper is an attempt to determine the impact of soil type and its selected technical parameters on the heat exchange with soil. The test results were based on the all-year-round experimental measurements of soil temperature and indoor and outdoor air in a greenhouse located in southern Poland. The field tests results were used to validate the calculation model using the WUFIplus software. The validation showed a high degree of conformity between the experiments and calculations. Five variants were used in the calculations, differentiated by technical parameters of the soil underneath the greenhouse. The results showed a significant impact of the soil type on the greenhouse energy management.


the United States, Joseph Kett describes the intellectual atmosphere available to young apprentices who worked in the small, decentralized print shops of antebellum America. Because printers also were the solicitors and editors of what they published, their workshops served as lively incubators for literacy and political discourse. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, this learning space was disrupted when the invention of the steam press reorganized the economy of the print industry. Steam presses were so expensive that they required capital outlays beyond the means of many printers. As a result, print jobs were outsourced, the processes of editing and printing were split, and, in tight competition, print apprentices became low-paid mechanics with no more access to the multi-skilled environment of the craft-


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the support program, given to cancer patients in order to promote their own efforts to quit smoking and to study if they kept their changed cigarette consu ...


The present invention relates to an outer ring gear driven rotary pump. Specifically, a rotary gear pump including inner and outer rings. The inner ring can be rotated about an axis, wherein the inner ring having an outer diameter of a contact surface. The outer ring having an inner diameter of a contact surface, the contact surface defining an inner diameter of the central opening. The central opening receiving the inner ring, an outer diameter portion of the contact surface of the inner ring portion of the inner diameter of the contact surface engage. It includes a motor comprising a rotor and a stator surrounding the rotor. The rotor surrounds the outer ring and applying a driving force on the outer ring, the inner ring such that rotation of the outer surround. The inner diameter of the contact surface of the outer ring and the outer diameter of the inner ring contact surface generating a plurality of chambers. Between the inner ring and the outer ring of the rotation of chamber expand and contract to discharge fluid from the rotary gear pump.


SIXTY-FIVE HEALTHY MEN AND women of age 65–80 years participated in a resistance-training program without any clinical, electrical, or biological signs of myocardial ischemia. It would appear that traditional weight training is well tolerated in the elderly from a cardiovascular standpoint. Bermon, S., et al. Cardiovascular tolerance of healthy elderly subjects to weightlifting exercises. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 33(11): 1845–1848. 2000. Submitted by Dan Wathen Youngstown State University


The introduction of wireless networks in the factory floor offers many advantages. Besides a new flexibility for automation, also features like the localisation of wireless devices ease the use of this technology. However, for the application on the factory floor real-time guarantees have to be given, which can be ensured by schemes like TDMA, which is based on implicit or explicit clock synchronization. This is typically supported by a high accurate timestamping of incoming packets for the reduction of jitter effects introduced by the protocol layers. This paper introduces an open platform, which supports research on receiver and timestamper design. The receiver is implemented in a flexible fashion, in order to support simultaneous multi-channel monitoring as well as easy reconfiguration for technologies other than IEEE 802.11b/g for efficient deployment in automation systems.


This paper presented the force analysis of single coil actuator for Active Magnetic Bearing (AMB) system. Actuator is the most important segment of AMB system. In the bearing system rotor should be levitate before rotation. For the levitation required force is generated by actuator. For the specific structure attractive force is different. These force analysis is done in this manuscript. Depending upon the force appropriate structure can be used for design a perfect AMB system. Here force analysis is performed in ANSYS Maxwell software and characteristics graphs are presented in 2D and three dimensional plots are constructed using MATLAB for the better observation.


In previous works, we constructed a continuous-flow apparatus designed for vapor−liquid equilibrium (VLE) data measurements at high temperatures up to 400 °C and used it to measure VLE data for the tetralin + quinoline and benzene + ethylbenzene systems. In this work, the apparatus was further modified and used for VLE measurements for the ethylbenzene + quinoline system along several isotherms (498.15, 523.15, 553.15, 583.15, 613.15, 638.15, 653.15) K. The data were successfully tested for thermodynamic consistency by using the area test.


An interesting incident, quickly forgotten, occurred in this country last year as part of the response to the second military coup in Fiji. A policy of imposing sanctions was urged upon the government in trade union circles, ostensibly in response to a request for help which had been made by trade union leaders in Fiji. Although formally supported by the ACTU, it was immediately opposed by the government and the idea was soon dropped.


The article retraces the important stages of jucicial reforms in Bulgaria while emphasising the political stakes and conflicts that have characterised their progression. We explain the strategies and means which are used by the political powers to subjugate the judicial apparatus dispite strong constitutional guarantees in favour of judicial independence. Secondly, we demonstrate the principal explanations for the ability of the Bulgarian magistracy to resist change.


The incidence of systemic embolization with mechanical valves is 1% per year [1]. Most cases present as cerebrovascular events. As the incidence of mechanical valve surgery has increased in recent years, systemic thromboembolism has become an important problem. Although coronary embolism due to mechanical valve thrombosis is encountered rarely, it is an important and serious complication. We report here a case of embolic myocardial infarction caused by a thrombus of a mechanical mitral valve.


The administration of methimazole is known to induce cell death in rat olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs). We investigated whether this injury occurs via apoptosis or through necrosis and whether it involves the extrinsic or intrinsic pathway. Rats were intraperitoneally injected with vehicle (control) or 300 mg/kg methimazole. The experimental animals were also administered vehicle or a caspase‐3 or caspase‐9 inhibitor 30 min earlier. The administration of methimazole induced cell death predominantly in the mature ORNs and partially reduced olfactory sensitivity in the rats; the injured cells were TUNEL‐positive and showed a nuclear staining pattern. This insult induced cytochrome c release from the mitochondria and a significant increase in the immunoreactivity of activated caspase‐3 and caspase‐9 as well as that of cleaved poly‐ADP‐ribose‐polymerase; in addition, it caused a significant increase in the fluorogenic activity of caspase‐3 and caspase‐9. However, it did not affect the immunoreactivity of activated caspase‐8 or the fluorogenic activity of caspase‐8. Pretreatment with a caspase‐3 or caspase‐9 inhibitor nearly completely prevented the morphologic, biochemical, and functional changes induced by methimazole. These findings suggest strongly that methimazole‐induced cell death in rat ORNs is predominantly apoptosis; moreover, the majority of this apoptotic cell death is triggered through mitochondrial cytochrome c‐mediated caspase‐3 activation pathway, and both caspase‐3 and caspase‐9 inhibitors can prevent methimazole‐induced cell death in the ORNs. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Substitution of halogen by nucleophile in positions 2 and 4 of the thiazole ring is reported. In some cases the reactivity of 4-halogenothiazoles is greater than that of the isomer. For both isomers addition–elimination mechanisms operate and the k4 : k2 ratios are very sensitive to the experimental conditions. Changes in nucleophile, the counterion of the nucleophile, and solvent are discussed. Evidence of differing steric hindrance in the nucleophiles (for the two positions considered) is presented.


Abstract Uropathogenic Escherichia coli (UPEC) is the most prevalent pathogen causing urinary tract infections (UTIs). UPECs have various virulence factors such as adhesins, biofilm forming and toxin producing etc., to survive in urinary tract. Under certain circumstances probiotics are preferred for prevention and treatment of UTIs. In this study, we aimed to investigate the in-vitro effects of four different Lactobacillus spp. cell-free supernatants on growth and biofilm formation inhibition in clinically isolated UPEC strains. Growths of 50 UPEC strains were determined in 96-well microplate and measured in a spectrophotometer after four hours incubation at 37°C. Biofilm formation was detected by crystal violet staining method on three UPEC strains. Statistical analysis of growth and biofilm formation experiments were performed by Kruskal-Wallis and one-way ANOVA Tukey's multiple-comparison tests, respectively. All tested cell-free supernatans of lactobacilli inhibited growths (p<0. 0001) and biofilm formation (p<0.05) of UPECs. All results were found to be statistically significant. As a conclusion, our findings supported previous studies which reported the high efficiency of these four Lactobacillus spp. in the prevention of UTIs.


This article was downloaded by: [Kamenova, Kalina]On: 5 October 2010Access details: Access Details: [subscription number 927598913]Publisher Taylor & FrancisInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK


INTRODUCTION
Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyposis (CRSwNP) is often treated with endoscopic sinus surgery (ESS), however, patients may require revision surgery due to recurrence. To date, no studies have compared outcomes for combined surgery and biologic therapy for CRSwNP compared to biologic therapy alone.

METHODS
Retrospective case-control study of CRSwNP patients who underwent ESS while on dupilumab or mepolizumab (ESS-biologic cohort), compared to CRSwNP patients on biologic therapy (biologic-only controls). Cohorts were matched according to indication, aspirin exacerbated respiratory disease (AERD), sinonasal outcome test-22 (SNOT-22), and total polyp scores.

RESULTS
16 patients underwent ESS while on biologic therapy (13 dupilumab and 3 mepolizumab). 16 patients were biologic-only controls. There were no significant differences between indication, baseline SNOT-22 scores, polyp scores, and AERD status between cohorts. Patients underwent surgery a median of 33 days after starting biologic therapy. After 12 months of follow up, the total polyp score for the ESS-biologic cohort decreased from 4.73 to 0.09, compared to biologic-only controls 5.22 to 3.38 (95% CI of Difference: -5.37 to -1.38, Cohen's d: 2.40, p = 0.005). In the ESS-dupilumab sub-analysis, the ESS-dupilumab cohort had a significant reduction in polyp burden 4.85 to 0.00 compared to controls 4.88 to 3.50 (95% CI of Difference: -5.68 to -1.32, Cohen's d: -1.69, p = 0.009).

CONCLUSION
In CRSwNP patients, combined ESS and biologic therapy results in a significant and sustained decrease in polyp burden compared to biologic therapy alone. Larger studies are warranted to further examine the impact of combined therapy. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


The effects of the dosages of water-based epoxy emulsion,defoamer,dispersant,and iron–titanium powder,and mass ratio of water-based epoxy emulsion to curing agent on corrosion protection property of water-based epoxy coating were studied by orthogonal test.The optimal formulation was determined as follows:waterborne epoxy emulsion 39wt%,defoamer 2.8wt‰,dispersant 4 wt %,iron– titanium powder 15wt%,and mass ratio of water-based epoxy emulsion to curing agent 2.08.The water-based epoxy emulsion coating film prepared under the optimal conditions features a 1-grade adhesion,impact strength of 50 kg·cm,and flexibility of 1 mm,and shows no abnormality after immersion in alkaline solution for 8 d or in salt solution for 22 d,having the best comprehensive performance and basically reaching the relevant national standards.


Population dynamics and demography of the Sitka mouse, Peromyscus keeni sitkensis, were studied by mark-recapture live-trapping over a 4-year period in four floodplain and upland forest habitats: old-growth Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis) floodplain; red alder (Alnus rubra) floodplain; beaver-pond floodplain; and nearby old-growth Sitka spruce-western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) upland forest. We did not find the expected source-sink population dynamics resulting from flood disturbance or between-habitat variation in food resources. We found significant between-year differences (P < 0.05) in population densities, age and sex ratios, survival rates, growth rates, and movements. Within-year differences in all demographic variables were consistently greater between replicate trapping grids within habitat types than between habitat types, and there was no year-to-year consistency in any demographic difference between replicates or habitat types. We conclude that floodplain forests, per se, do not provide unique habitat for Sitka mice in either a strongly positive or negative sense compared with upland old-growth forests.


Relative reservoir stability (RRS) is defined as that the variation of reservoir parameter is a function of given space (or time) range,taking a certain scale of reservoir characterization as a basis.Relative reservoir stability,such as lateral continuity,is a common attribute of almost all sedimentary reservoirs.It can provide a new method to quantitative reservoir simulation by incorporating well logging,seismic,and geological data.The resolution of reservoir model is improved by both maintaining high resolution information of vertical well data and that of lateral well data of seismic data.RRS is used as a constraint of reservoir lateral variation in simulation,and can be integrated with stochastic seismic inversion method for interwell parameter simulation.Application examples provided in the paper indicate that RRS can improve forecasting precision significantly.


The article presents the results of studies of the process of cavitation treatment of wastewater with imitation of toluene presence. On the basis of spectrophotometric analysis of aqueous solutions of toluene treated with ultrasonic magnetostrictive emitter, a decrease in the intensity of the peaks of the UV toluene spectrum, at least 7 times, and the diffuse nature of the main toluene absorption bands were found. The equality of initial velocity of the process of cavitation treatment of wastewater with imitation of toluene presence in the different regimes – the stationary regime and the regime of initiation of decomposition and oxidation reactions, as well as the insignificant influence of the duration of cavitation treatment on the degree of treatment of the imitation due to the effect of cavitation phenomena, were found. In order to reduce the energy intensity of the process of treatment in 2 times it is proposed to implement it in the mode of initiation.


crease with increasing the maximum stress intensity factor Kmax but the residual stress σr usually decreased with increasing Kmax. The residual stress on the fatigue-fractured surface is said to be decomposed into four parts: that is (1) tensile residual stress due to monotonic deformation, (2) the release of stress due to fractured surface roughness, (3) compressive stress due to crack closure, and (4) compressive stress due to reversible plastic deformation. The present results were discussed in relation to the latter three causes. From the measurement of the roughness of fractured surface, it was shown that the main reason why σr decreased with increasing Kmax was the effect of roughness. Under the constant Kmax condition, the larger the R value was, the larger the σr was. This may be related to the reversible plastic deformation and/or to crack closure. Other factors which influence the relative position of σr-Kmax curve, such as yield stress, frac-


Objective To amplify strain RH of Toxoplasma gondii surface antigen SAG3,analyze the features by bioinformatics and predict the vaccination potential of the protein encoded by SAG3 gene.Method Genomic DNA of strain RH of T.gondii was extracted,and a pair of specific primers were designed and used to amplify the SAG3 by PCR.Using bioinformatics analysis software,the physicochemical characteristic,structure and function of SAG3 protein was predicted.Results The target gene was amplified with the length of 1 174 bp.Analysis showed that it was the SAG3 gene of T.gondii of RH strain.The predicted SAG3 protein molecular mass is 41 785.2,which can form two functional domains,with a signal peptide located before 38~39 amino acids.The antigen peptides are predicted to locate at or around the position 10,50,80,95,160,180,220,250,300,330 and 360 of the protein.Conclusion SAG3 gene of T.gondii of RH strain was amplified by PCR.SAG3 may be a potential vaccine candidate of T.gondii.


This research aims to examine the effect of financial distress and corporate governance on tax avoidance. Tax avoidance is measured using cash effective tax rate (CETR), while financial distress is measured using Altman Z-Score, and corporate governance is proxied by independent commissioners, board of directors, and audit committee. Quantitative methods used in this research by using secondary data sources. Researchers took the data on the company from 2018 to 2020 and using the analysis unit manufacturing companies consumer goods sector listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. The method of determining the sample in this research used purposive sampling. Analysis of the data used as hypothesis testing is multiple regression analysis. The results of this research indicate that financial distress, independent commissioners, and board of directors have a negative effect on tax avoidance. Meanwhile, audit committee have a positive effect on tax avoidance.


Tibetan medicine,one of the world's four major traditional medicine,is a magnificent miracle of Chinese traditional medicine,which has developed a complete set of system essential theory in the history of thousands of years. five- element theory, three- energy theory,chills and fever theory are the core of the theory. In order to make more people understand exquisite Tibetan medicine,now it makes an exposition from the origin,content and relationships of the three theories.


Summary Overweight and obesity in children and adolescents are public health problems in developed and developing countries. Its presence at such an early age is a risk factor for obesity and coronary risk in adulthood, hence the importance of prevention, detection and treatment on time. In order to diagnose overweight and obesity, anthropometric indicators linked to adiposity are needed. The body mass index (BMI) has proven useful for the evaluation of obesity in adults and more recently it has been recommended for the assessment of children and adolescents. Different groups of experts and international agencies including the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in the USA and the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) from the World Health Organization have proposed BMI reference standards for international use. In this review article, the standards of reference are presented and discussed. There seems to be consensus that the different international criteria currently available are useful and can be used interchangeably in the assessment of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence; however, data must be interpreted with caution and the possible advantages and limitations of each criterion must be considered.


Every subject of the state, Immanual Kant reasoned in a discussion of "civil equality" in 1793, "must be able to attain the social rank [Stufe eines Standes] … to which his talent, his effort, and his luck can carry him" without hindrance by any "hereditary prerogative." A year later Kant's former disciple Johann Gottlieb Fichte likewise imagined a society in which "the choice of a Stand" would be "a choice through freedom" to which no "particular action" or "general institution" could pose a legitimate barrier. The two philosophers offered variations on the radical social principle of "careers open to talent," extending the promise of upward mobility to talented children of the underprivileged. Proclaimed by the French National Assembly in August 1789, the principle also had a German lineage and, in the first decade of the next century, was to figure prominently in the official program for national revival in Prussia.


"Building is more than architecture is". Walter Segal, architect A major part of architecture design is learning how specific architectural designs balance the internal and external constraints. The article explores the meaning of architectural prototyping, as a means of realizing prototypes to experiment with new architectural proposals in real size under real conditions with respect to a system under development. An architectural prototype is primarily used to explore and experiment with alternative material, systems and technology and design styles in order to balance different architectural qualities [1]. The article argues that architectural prototyping provides key insights that may otherwise be difficult to obtain before a design is built [2]. Architects always need to 'being there'. The involvement in the realization of prototypes that reflects essential architectural qualities and realities furthermore lead to a new proposal, which cannot be replaced by something else. There is no question about the importance of the involvement of experimental work into the educational stage. Experimental learning is necessary to transfer the theory into the practice and to get involved in the process, the difficulties, the details on site, to get responsible and prepared for all the stage of design and simulation before. The students involved in the design and construction process understood the construction' opportunities, possibilities, and also its limitations and developed a feeling for the design idea and how it could be transferred in the building sector. The educational use of architectural prototypes is illustrated and discussed by three realized experimental prototypes [3]. These real "design built" projects are a prelude to a whole series of fullscale experiments that have already been constructed in an international educational as well as research project between 2012 and 2015. They are an example for a creative academic cooperation between a European and African institution too. 1. Concept Test Realization: 1:∞ 1:10 1:1 1.1 Design process the Built House Design courses in architecture are often criticized for its overemphasis on formal expressions and its pursuit of the spectacular. Since decades, the original intention of "building" within formal higher education for Architectural education is lost in the education of architects. It shifts towards a theoretical and design oriented teaching system slowly changing the architectural student to become the "designer" widening the gap from what he should also learn being the "builder". This could be caused by the lack of different tools, where these tools give an output of limited vector based images which have no attribute to real building parameters and real situations of a building. Simulation and evaluation of various building components or even complete houses through realization of prototypes constitutes a significant and longstanding domain within architectural research. Simulation can be carried out virtually in a modeling laboratory, in a scaled environment or in a real environment physically [4]. Considering the importance of experimental building, research-based teaching and the transfer of research results to industry, all activities of this project are designed to develop, test and realize a fullscale prototype building. This – as a methodology includes the use of computational tools to increase the productivity of the designer [5]; [6] and to ease the communication and the exchange of information between the involved parties within the design process. The project is designed as a step by step program administered over three years. The courses are held in parallel in each of the three partner institutions. Each course and year integrates three overlapping and intertwined conceptual phases: (1 :∞) concept phase Culture, theory, design and evaluation (1:1o) Simulation and evaluation phase Building modelling and Rapid-prototype model-making (1:1) realization phase Testing, practice a "one-to-one" prototype Fig. 1: Project phases and output transformation over the three years The project related courses held each year basically maintain the same structure, whereby the thematic focus each year lies on a different aspect of the finalized building. Although the basic coursestructure will be repeated each year, the project evolves as a series of progressive and partially overlapping phases and steps that build upon each other, driving a long-term institutional learning process (Figure 1). 2. 1:10 phase: concepts and simulation Fig. 2: Concept phase discussing the culture, neighborhood design and social standards in Africa During the conceptual phase the participants' task consists in creating a physical model by applying contemporary design and planning technology. They work on a "Building Information Model" parallel to their design progress (see Figure 2) and their field work for tests and implementation of the construction. Applying BIM is a kind of multi-dimensional model and Information integration technology [7], [8], [9], [10]. The digital representation of the design were evaluated for structural behaviour with connected tools. All the quantities and work description and ordering lists were generated out of the model: imagine this situation; the students went out to local basic building markets for buying materials with their generated lists out of the BIM description. Based on their work with the digital model the participants get an idea about the later realization, i.e. to explore the spatial and environmental issues for assembling designed parts into the whole building, the students will produce an l: l0 physical model by rapid prototyping (Figure 3). Through this process, students get a deeper and wider understanding of the impact and potential of their previously conceived design [12], [13]. SECU 3D CAD model SECU lasercutting prototype 1:10 SECU 3D printing rapid


Seventy-two lodges of Neotoma albigula were examined near Sabino Canyon in southern Arizona. Triatoma rubida uhleri was found to overwinter in those lodges, primarily in the 5th instar. Triatoma protracta protracta was found overwintering in various stages, including the adult. The 5th-instar T. r. ulheri represents a facultative diapause stage; most bugs collected in that instar and placed in an incubator will not molt to adult until May, the normal time for adult molting. Triatoma r. ulheri bugs entering the 5th instar in summer do not diapause but molt directly to adult. Males of T. r. ulheri molt earlier in the season than females, accounting for a predominance of males at a black light from 31 May to 6 July.


This paper presents a comparative geometric analysis of the conditional bias (CB)-informed Kalman filter (KF) with the Kalman filter (KF) in the Euclidean space. The CB-informed KFs considered include the CB-penalized KF (CBPKF) and its ensemble extension, the CB-penalized Ensemble KF (CBEnKF). The geometric illustration for the CBPKF is given for the bi-state model, composed of an observable state and an unobservable state. The CBPKF co-minimizes the error variance and the variance of the Type-II error. As such, CBPKF-updated state error vectors are larger than the KF-updated, the latter of which is based on minimizing the error variance only. Different error vectors in the Euclidean space imply different eigenvectors and covariance ellipses in the state space. To characterize the differences in geometric attributes between the two filters, numerical experiments were carried out using the Lorenz 63 model. The results show that the CBEnKF yields more accurate confidence regions for encompassing the truth, smaller errors in the ensemble mean, and larger norms for Kalman gain and error covariance matrices than the EnKF, particularly when assimilating highly uncertain observations.


A completely randomized design (CRD) was used with a total of 160 day-old commercial broiler chicks which were randomly assigned to four treatment groups with five replicates into 20 pens and brooded. Feed and water were provided ad libitum. From day old chick to 21 day, the broiler chicks were fed Diet 1 (5% fish meal and 25% soybean meal, 1: 5), Diet 2 (3% fish meal and 30% soybean meal, 1: 10) was served as control diet, Diet 3 (2% fish meal and 30% soybean meal, 1: 15) and Diet 4 (1.5% fish meal and 30% soybean meal, 1: 20). From day 22 onwards, the broiler chicks were fed finisher diet, Diet 1 (5% fish meal and 25% soybean meal, 1: 5), Diet 2 (2.6% fish meal and 26% soybean meal, 1: 10, serve as control diet, Diet 3 (1.8% fish meal and 27% soybean meal, 1: 15) and Diet 4 (1.3% fish meal and 26% soybean meal, 1: 20). Weekly performances and mortality are measured. By feeding FS5 diet (5% fish meal and 25% soybean meal), the heavier body weight, increased feed consumption and feed conversion ratio of broiler chicks was observed when compared to that of other treatment groups. Conclusively, it is obvious that the ratio of dietary fish meal to soybean meal 1: 5 (FS5) improved body weight but the lower feed efficiency of this diet should be considered in economical point of view.


1. Jemec GB, Kimball AB. Hidradenitis suppurativa: epidemiology and scope of the problem. J. Am. Acad. Dermatol. 2015; 73: S4– 7. 2. Tzellos T, Zouboulis CC, Gulliver W et al. Cardiovascular disease risk factors in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa: a systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies. Br. J. Dermatol. 2015; 173: 1142–55. 3. Kiss LS, Szamosi T, Molnar T et al. Early clinical remission and normalisation of CRP are the strongest predictors of efficacy, mucosal healing and dose escalation during the first year of adalimumab therapy in Crohn's disease. Aliment. Pharmacol. Ther. 2011; 34: 911–22. 4. Poulin Y, Crowley JJ, Langley RG et al. Efficacy of adalimumab across subgroups of patients with moderate-to-severe chronic plaque psoriasis of the hands and/or feet: post hoc analysis of REACH. J. Eur. Acad. Dermatol. Venereol. 2014; 28: 882–90. 5. Singh S, Young P, Armstrong AW. An update on psoriasis and metabolic syndrome: a meta-analysis of observational studies. PLoS One 2017; 12: e0181039. 6. Kalb RE, Fiorentino DF, Lebwohl MG et al. Risk of serious infection with biologic and systemic treatment of psoriasis: results from the Psoriasis Longitudinal Assessment and Registry (PSOLAR). JAMA Dermatol. 2015; 151: 961–9. 7. Verdolini R, Clayton N, Smith A et al. Metformin for the treatment of hidradenitis suppurativa: a little help along the way. J. Eur. Acad. Dermatol. Venereol. 2013; 27: 1101–8. 8. Thomas CL, Gordon KD, Mortimer PS. Rapid resolution of hidradenitis suppurativa after bariatric surgical intervention. Clin. Exp. Dermatol. 2014; 39: 315–7. 9. Gulliver W, Zouboulis CC, Prens E et al. Evidence-based approach to the treatment of hidradenitis suppurativa/acne inversa, based on the European guidelines for hidradenitis suppurativa. Rev. Endocr. Metab. Disord. 2016; 17: 343–51. 10. Vekic DA, Cains GD. Hidradenitis suppurativa — management, comorbidities and monitoring. Aust. Fam. Physician 2017; 46: 584–8. doi: 10.1111/ajd.12753


Objective To study the observations on gender difference in the parental history of type 2 diabetes mellitus and assess the parental history role on age at diagnosis. Methods We explored the family histories and ages at diagnosis of 286 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with positive family history.The data were drawn from the outpatient records and admission records in Peking Union Medical College Hospital.we divided patients into groups based on their gender and family history patterns.Results Mothers were implicated in more cases than fathers in patients with a single affected parent in both groups,but only maternal excess in female group was significant(61 mothers VS.29 fathers in female patients).The(average) age at diagnosis of patients with affected single or both parents was significantly younger than with other patterns family history(40.84± 10.19 VS.48.43±10.43,P0.05),but no difference was found in average ages at diagnosis between patients with paternal history or maternal history.Conclusions Our results offer support for an excess maternal role in type 2 diabetes mellitus transmission.Parental history seems to result in earlier age at diagnosis of type 2 diabetes mellitus in their offsprings.


I agree with Hewson et al ( Psychiatric Bulletin , February 2006, 30 , [71-74][1]) that management training should be an integral part of training for all higher trainees. However, I disagree with their conclusion that generic management training courses only focus on general aspects of management


The paper presents a methodology used for development of teams in Information Units, elaborated from a joint work of librarians and psychologists at the Biblioteca de Ciencias Sociais C (Law Course) of Rede Sirius- Rede de Bibliotecas UERJ. This methodology is based on the concepts of employeeship, knowledge management and Action Research model. Its implementation contemplates techniques and interpersonal team abilities. The results were evidenced by team integration and improvement of tasks developed in the Information Units, as well as an involvement of the professionals for accomplishing the proposed goals.


Overseas students is a special group and it is of great significance to do there ideological education well.To do this,the first is to make familiar and acquaint with these overseas students through various and effective manners;Second,to establish the personal files of students so that the information are true and complete,the education are timely and relevant;Finally,to guide and educate in the course and teaching arrangements so that the ideological education is carried out in all aspects.


The utility model belongs to power industry electric transmission and transformation tools, and particularly relates to a switch cubicle baffle plate opening device and a special bus short circuit ground wire moving contact comprising a trolley (7), a base (4), a slideway (2), a base locating pin (6) and a ground wire (16), wherein two sides of the base (4) on the trolley (7) are provided with spring bolts (5); two sides of the front surface of the base (4) are provided with handles (11), the upper part and the lower part in the middle thereof are provided with plug fixing baffle plates (12); a crank plug (10) is arranged between the upper and lower plug fixing baffle plates (12) and connected with a lead screw (10-1); the lead screw (10-1) is meshed with a nut (10-2); a baffle plate base (3) is arranged above the base (4) and controlled by the lead screw (10-1) to move forwards and backwards, thus being convenient for the operating personnel to conduct nuclear phase tests, preventing the operating personnel from accidentally touching the exposed upper and lower fixed contacts, and ensuing the personal safety of the operating personnel.


The nonlinear dynamical equations of inclined support spring system were obtained under the excitation of rectangular pulse.The ratio between acceleration response peak value of the system and pulse excitation amplitude was used for reflecting the response index of the system,and the pulse excitation duration was taken as variable for establishing shock spectra of the system.The regular pattern of influence on impact spectra by amplitude of pulse excitation and system damping was discussed.It is shown that the effects of the amplitude of pulse excitation,the angle of the inclined support spring and the damping of the system are particularly noticeable,the damping can obviously decrease the acceleration response peak value of the system.The conclusion of research can provide academic foundation for the design of shock absorber with inclined support spring.


The spin Hall effect in molybdenum wires has been experimentally investigated by means of spin absorption method using lateral spin valve structure. The spin Hall conductivity of Mo wire is negative and decreases with increasing the resistivity. These tendencies are surprisingly consistent with the recent theoretical calculation based on the intrinsic spin Hall effect.


Trichoderma spp. are the most successful bio-fungicides used in today's agriculture with more than 60 % of the registered bio-fungicides world-wide being Trichoderma based. Induction of plant defense and mycoparasitism (killing of one fungus by another) are considered to be the most important mechanisms of Trichoderma mediated biological control. Several strategies have been applied to identify the main genes and compounds involved in this complex, three-way cross-talk between the fungal antagonist, the plant, and microbial pathogens. Understanding these mechanisms at the molecular level would help in developing strains with superior biocontrol properties. In this article, we review our current understanding of the genetics of interactions of Trichoderma with plants and plant pathogens.


. Among the 14 Pacific island countries (PICs), six have independent currencies, of which five, namely Fiji, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu, have fixed exchange rate regimes, while the sixth, namely Papua New Guinea, has a flexible exchange rate regime. The other eight are dollarized economies, having adopted one of the currencies of Australia, New Zealand and the United States. This paper investigates whether the purchasing parity power theory holds with regard to five countries under fixed exchange rate regimes. Our findings show that long-run PPP hypothesis holds for all five PICs. * Professor T.K. Jayaraman teaches at Fiji National University, Nasinu Campus, Fiji Island since 2012. Previously he was teaching at the University of the South Pacific and was on the staff of Asian Development Bank, Manila. ** Professor Dr. Chee-Keong Choong is the Dean and Professor at the Faculty of Business and Finance, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), Malaysia. He is currently holding the Tan Sri Dato' Sri Dr Teh Hong Piow Professorial Chair in Banking and Finance at the Faculty of Business and Finance.


This study examines the extent of corporate social responsibility practices amongst listed Jordanian companies at Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). corporate social responsibility had been measured in this study using a corporate social responsibility disclosure index and which encompasses four groups. 53 Jordanian companies examined during the period 2016-2018. The finding reveals that Jordanian companies adopt corporate social responsibility on different types of information including employee information, environment information, society information and customer information, although this corporate social responsibility disclosure might be considered low as the means of disclosure were (52.2%). More specifically, the mean disclosure for employee information, environment information, society information and customer information were (50%), (40.9%),(39.1%) and (95.5%), respectively. In addition, the results show that the highest corporate social responsibility disclosure was for the customer information and the lowest was for the society information.


Publication of the Bioelectromagnetics Supplement 6 (2003) does make more transparent the IEEE review and analysis of radiofrequency (RF) radiation scientific papers, in anticipation of SC4 proposed revisions to the standards for exposure of human beings. Nevertheless, the Editor should have asked for some independent review on the basic nature of the SC4 scientific review process in light of concurrent efforts at the international level to conduct similar assessment of the RF science, and to develop prudent public health guidance. Such discussion should have included an independent person or group qualified to discuss different, legitimate perspectives about how safety standards and prudent public health policy can be made without allowing an implicit standard of scientific certainty to govern absolutely the setting of public exposure standards. Couple this with the fact that the entire issue has been financially covered by a single interest group (The United States Air Force), the Bioelectromagnetics Journal gives the appearance of endorsing a position of a single interest group, while not offering or providing companion information about wide differences in approach on RF standard-setting in such a controversial issue. The SC4 Subcommittee of IEEE has developed a new and highly limited definition onRF effects, adverse effects, and hazard that is prejudicial to the interest of the public, and counter to the WHO Constitution principle on health. The SC4 Working Group has defined adverse as: 'An adverse effect is a biological effect characterized by a harmful change in health. For example, such changes can include organic disease, impaired mental function, behavioral dysfunction, reduced longevity, and defective or deficient reproduction. Adverse effects do not include: biological effects without a detrimental health effect, changes in subjective feelings of well-being that are a result of anxiety about RF effects or impacts of RF infrastructure that are not related to RF emissions, or indirect effects caused by electromagnetic interference with electronic devices. An adverse effects exposure level is the condition or set of conditions under which an electric, magnetic or electromagnetic field has an adverse effect.'' Further, they quote Michaelson and Lin [1987] to extend the working definitions of effect and hazard: ''If an effect is of such an intense nature that it compromises the individual's ability to function properly or overcomes the recovery capability of the individual, then the 'effect' may be considered a hazard. In any discussion of the potential for 'biological effects,' from exposure to electromagnetic energies


Counterfactual conditionals are used extensively in causal reasoning. This observation has motivated a philosophical tradition that aims to provide a counterfactual analysis of causation. However, such analyses have come under pressure from a proliferation of counterexamples and from evidence that suggests that the truth-conditions of counterfactuals are themselves causal. I offer an alternative account of the role of counterfactuals in causal thought that is consistent with these data: counterfactuals are used in a common method of causal reasoning related to John Stuart Mill's method of difference. The method uses background beliefs about causal relationships, history, and the natural laws to establish a new causal claim. Counterfactuals serve as a convenient tool for stating certain intermediate conclusions in this reasoning procedure, and that is part of what makes counterfactuals useful. This account yields a functional explanation of why our language contains a construction with the truth-conditions of counterfactuals. 1. Causation and counterfactuals: the order of explanation Counterfactual thought is an important element of our cognitive lives. In making practical decision, we are often led to ask what would happen if we were to carry out a certain action, and we frequently support causal claims by showing that the putative effect depends counterfactually on the supposed cause. It therefore does not come as a surprise that scholars in many disciplines—from philosophy to cognitive and social psychology to computer science to linguistics—have shown a keen interest in understanding counterfactuals.1 One point of contention is whether causal notions should figure in a semantic account of counterfactuals. A number of philosophers, motivated by examples like those described in section 2 below, have favored such causal theories of counterfactuals. However, this approach stands opposed to a prominent philosophical tradition, going back at least to David Hume and most prominently defended by David Lewis,2 that aims to give a reductive analysis of causation in counterfactual terms. The two views advocate for opposite directions of analysis and are consequently mutually exclusive—combining them would lead to circularity. 1 See Roese et al. (2014) and Hoerl et al. (2011) for contributions by psychologists, Pearl (2009: ch. 7) for discussion by a computer scientist and philosopher, and the references in the rest of this paper for further literature on counterfactuals. 2 Hume (1995: 87), Lewis (1986a, 2004a).


Most traffic accidents have been caused by inappropriate driver's mental state. Therefore, driver monitoring is one of the most important challenges to preventing traffic accidents. Some studies for evaluating the driver's mental state while driving have been reported; however a driver's mental state should be estimated in real-time in the future. Described in this paper, are a method of a driver's mental workload level estimation in real time using physiological indexes, and the utility of a mental workload indicator for the authors' driving simulator.