The link between fiscal decentralisation and state-level economic growth has often been overlooked, particularly in Malaysia, with its highly centralised federal fiscal system. Thus, using data from all 13 Malaysian states from 2006 to 2018, this study evaluated the degree of fiscal decentralisation and examined its effects on state economic growth. This study employed a new proxy for fiscal decentralisation (FD), a composite variable FD comprising two components: fiscal autonomy (FA) and fiscal importance (FI). The model was examined using the fixed effects technique with robust standard error panel analysis. The empirical results demonstrated that FI and FD were significant and positively impacted economic growth across states. The results also showed the significant and negative impact of budget balances resulting from persistent fiscal deficits on state economic growth, signalling states' heavy reliance on intergovernmental grants and borrowings (soft budget constraints). Thus, fiscal decentralisation has enabled the state governments to alleviate the soft budget constraint problem and reduce the negative impact of deficits on local economic growth. Overall, the results supported prior findings that fiscal decentralisation had a significant positive effect on state economic growth.


ABSTRACT The use of film as a tool in anthropological fieldwork is a challenge to traditional ways of thinking about scientific research. Nevertheless, documentary filming of the informants in their own context has proved to be an interesting supplement in the exploration of what the anthropological research field actually covers. Furthermore, film work confronts the researchers with aesthetic aspects of mediation that have not been epistemically well attended to within social science. This article highlights pivotal problems in the professional no-man's-land where visual culture studies take place, as exemplified by the film Cool and Crazy.


This research specifically studied the morphosyntactic property: verb formation process in Angguruk Dialect of Yali Language (thereafter called ADYL). ADYL is one out of 274 local languages in Papua and West-Papua Province. The speaker population of ADYL consists of 15000 persons. The method employed in this research was descriptive qualitative method. The technique of analyzing data used was syntactic basic operating technique called 'morphological merger' as logical demand of distributed morphology theory. From the result of analysis, a number of morphosyntactic properties were found supporting the creation of morphosyntactic verb. They were: (1) mood and its sub-classification; (2) aspect and its sub-classification; (3) tense and its sub-classification; (4) the compatibility of subject to its sub-classification (subject agreement); (5) intensifier and its sub-classification; (6) object possessor markerandits sub-classification; (7) accusative object marker and its sub-classification, (8) causative verb marker; (9) reciprocal diathesis marker and its sub-classification, and (10) diathesis marker. All of those morphosyntactic properties have implication to the creation of morphosyntactic verb in ADYL.


Public and Private Schools must always develop to improve the quality of education with professional service to school residents. Information Technology will produce a well-computerized system to support human resources with performance in management tasks. The Student Parent Book information system is the most important thing in education in order to fulfill the need for information for students so that the process of making reports and recording administrative data at SMA Negeri 1 Kelekar can be even better. With the existing system, it will provide menu features that exist in the unit category component or an information and will be obtained as a guide for students, SMA Negeri 1 Kelekar currently uses, manages and stores student data in the Parent Book. Not yet computerized in data processing. Students, there will be a risk that it will be difficult to find information on student data identity and the creation of a student data report that has been recorded in the student main book. The information system at SMA Negeri 1 Kelekar which will build a new system will be very useful, this information system will be designed as a web-based system that is more easily accessible, in order to provide benefits for the school, especially the School Administration Staff so that they can use the information system in accordance with future needs. All the menu features available in this system are to facilitate the process of recording and reporting the student master book, so that it can be accelerated in searching for student data at SMA Negeri 1 Kelekar in using the existing student master book process that is available to run well and smoothly.Keywords : System, Master Book, Web Based, PHP and MySQL


In clinical practice,the new management model,in which the core is"setting personnel management,setting directional training,setting ability classification",is implemented to improve the relationship between managers and administrators,speed up the process of specialist nurse training,enhance nurse professional development,deepen quality of care and promote nursing care.


Background/Objectives: This study aims to lay the foundation for effective management/control of hazardous factors according to operational characteristics for drone business mission models that require safety management due to high operational demand. Methods: In this study, the severity of hazards was fixed for each mission model of drone business, which is highly likely to be operated in reality, and the probability of accidents was derived by inversely calculating the frequency of hazards and the minimum failure time of major parts of the mission model. Hazard's severity was identified by applying the FAA Severity Report to focus on human damage, and the frequency of Hazard's incidence was calculated by Monte Carlo simulation based on characteristic population density for each mission model. Findings: First, the mission models of the drone business used in the analysis all use EASA Class C2 or C3 drones, so the severity of hazard by mission model was identified as C-major or higher. Second, at a population density of 1.1 people/m 2 or higher, two or more drones should not be operated at the same time. Improvements/Applications: For minimum safety in drone operation, pilot training and piloting maturity are more important than device integrity, proving that new regulations are necessary for pilots in densely populated areas to have a pilot's license and more than a few hours' experience.


As the first step in the development of an adaptable expert system for submarine command and control, a review of past theoretical and experimental work in the areas of decision-making and decision aids is required. To accomplish this end, a bibliography of such work has been compiled and annotated. The bibliography comprises those works that have made a contribution to researchers' understanding of the human or computer decision making processes.


The exponential method of multipliers is used for solving multilevel optimization problems within the framework of analytical target cascading (ATC). The original constrained optimization problem is decomposed into a hierarchical system where the connecting elements are coupled via consistency constraints. In each element, the consistency constraints are combined with the objective function to formulate an augmented Lagrangian with an exponential penalty function (EPF). The EPF formulation is combined with single- and double-loop coordination strategies. The advantage of EPF over other approaches is in its efficiency and accuracy with less dependence on the choice of weight factors used for consistency constraints. The proposed approach is applied to three example problems with results compared with those found from four other ATC approaches reported in the literature. In terms of accuracy and computational efficiency, the EPF based solutions are found to have similar or superior performance.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a structured model for evaluating and selecting the best third party reverse logistics provider (3PRLP) under fuzzy environment for the battery industry.Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, the multi‐criteria decision‐making tools such as analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) are adopted to solve the problem of selection of 3PRLP.Findings – In a real‐time situation, collecting the returned products from the customer end to the manufacturer end becomes more tedious, time consuming work and also it makes the information flow in the supply chain management more complex. A separate logistics system has to be developed in order to inspect and maintain the collected returned products in the down stream management. This current scenario encourages the top‐level management to seek for an alternative for collecting the returned products instead of making their supply chain structure to be complex. This gives rise to th...


Aims : To compare the expression of p53 and bcl‐2 in gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GISTs) with anatomical site, National Institutes of Health (NIH) risk category (grade), pathological features, and clinical outcome.


The duodenum is abundantly supplied with arterial blood. Its veins empty into the portal vein, any obstruction of which, either from the lungs, liver or heart, produces passive congestion of this organ. Its nervous connection with the brain is by branches from the par vagum and with the spinal cord by branches from it, with the sympathetic system by branches from the solar plexus, and with the thoracic plexus by the splanchnic nerve. It has within its structure the plexus of Meisner and Auerbach. It is studded with the glands of Lieberkuhn and Brunner, and with solitary glands as well as lymphatics. It is the physiologic receptacle of the chyme which is often perverted by functional disease of the stomach or over-repletion, either of which may be highly irritating to the duodenum. It also receives the secretion from the liver and pancreas and performs, possibly, as important a function in


With the euro crisis behind us, it is hard to picture the currency union without a rescue mechanism. Almost eight years have passed since the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) was created in September 2012. All states that once benefitted from its financial support have successfully exited their programs. A new round of institutional reform is now in the offing, with the ESM possibly getting 'beefed up' to a European Monetary Fund. But the currency union's set-up has not always had assistance instruments like these at its disposal. At the start of 2010, when the crisis threatened the survival of the euro and the Union as a whole, its toolbox was empty. Or almost empty.


The purpose of this study was to develop differentiated approaches to the use of immunomodulators in the treatment of chronic tonsillitis on the basis of clinical and immunological examination of patients. The study involved 69 patients with compensated form of chronic tonsillitis. Polyoxidonium 6 mg per day for 10 days in sublingual solution form was studied. According to our results in patients treated with polyoxidonium, more complete, fast positive dynamics of clinical and immunological parameters and more stable therapeutic effect within 6 months of observation was achieved. The data obtained allow us to recommend the useof polyoxidonium in complex treatment of patients with chronic tonsillitis.


Around farm yards where feed is stacked and good cover is available, quail sometimes tend to occupy a small annual range, such as is typical of the bobwhite in its more eastern localities. There is concentration of populations during severe winter weather around farm yards in some areas, where food and cover are available. Sufficient evidence is available to show a distinct seasonal shift from summer to winter range with bobwhite quail populations in northwestern Oklahoma. It appears that these movements are intensified during winters of severe weather, indicating that the movement is forced, and represents a seasonal adaptation to the varied types of quail range. Obviously this movement factor is important in management, and calls for closer examination of conclusions as to the distances traveled by hatchery released birds in this same general area.


The management of glomus tympanicum tumors is not a new subject. A review of the contemporary management concept is, however, needed for two reasons: 1. the recent literature has suggested radiation therapy as a treatment option in this surgical disease, and 2. patients who are referred to us for management of these tumors continue to exhibit errors in diagnosis and surgical approaches that are unnecessarily radical.


Abstract The objectives of this study were to determine the distribution and abundance of endangered Oregon chub Oregonichthys crameri, a small floodplain minnow endemic to the Willamette Valley of western Oregon; to describe the fish communities in current and historic chub habitats; and to establish new populations through introductions. Various sampling gears were used, including seines, minnow traps, dip nets, and a gill net. Oregon chub distribution was found to be restricted in comparison with their historical range, whereas nonnative fishes were widespread in the off-channel habitats preferred by Oregon chub. Oregon chub were absent, or low in abundance, when nonnative fishes were present, and several populations declined or were extirpated when their habitats were invaded by nonnative fishes. Isolated habitats with low connectivity supported larger populations of Oregon chub and were less likely to contain nonnative fish species than were habitats with high connectivity. In habitats that supported...


The preparation of make-up water for boilers in Shangdu Power Generation Co Ltd by using total membrane water treatment technology,i.e.disc type filter+ultrafiltration+two-stage reverse osmosis+electrodeionization(EDI) has been presented,the problems encounted in operation of EDI facility and countermeasures adopted being emphatically given.Results of practical operation show that the total membrane water treatment technology is reliable in operation,being simple and convenient in management,the quality of effluent water can satisfy requirements of water used for boilers.In addition,by using the total membrane water treatment technology,the acid and alkali used in regeneration system for traditional mixed bed resin,as well as the discharge of waste water have been thoroughly eliminated.


Over the years, Phytomedicine has been gaining attention worldwide. It has been used in dentistry as anti-inflammatory, antibiotic, analgesic, sedative and also as endodontic irrigant. The herbal alternatives for endodontic usage might prove to be advantageous. This review focuses on various natural drugs and products as well as their therapeutic applications when used as phytomedicine in endodontics.


Standard setting, or determining a passing score on certification tests, is one of the problems facing institutions responsible for licensure and certification of medical trainees. Present day practice offers the choice of making this decision using either normative or absolute standard approaches. In the normative approach, the passing score is set at a specified distance from the mean of the scores in standard deviation units. For example, the passing score could be set at one standard deviation below the mean. Assuming a normal distribution of scores, approximately 15% of the examinee population is expected to fail in this situation, regardless of the difficulty of the examination or the competency of the examinees. This can be contrasted with the absolute standard approach where the passing score is fixed at a certain percentage. For example, in many of the individually prescribed instruction programs, the passing score is set at 85%. More recently, some changes have been witnessed in the setting of absolute standards. Arbitrary standards such as 70% or 85% have been replaced by standards which are derived from the decisions reached by a panel of judges on expected or required examinee performance in relation to the actual examination content. These decisions are based on inspection of individual test items. In the traditional approach of setting an absolute standard, that is, fixing it at a certain percentage, as well as the modified approach based on judges' decisions regarding test items, the judged difficulty of the examination has a direct influence on the number of examinees who pass. Therefore, depending upon the difficulty of the examination and the stringency of the standard, hypothetically all examinees could pass or fail. Both normative and absolute standard approaches have been criticized for their arbitrariness (Glass, 1978; Schumacher, 1978; Schoon, Gullion and Ferrara, 1979). A variety of standard setting procedures have been described and reviewed (Millman, 1973; Meskauskas, 1976; Jaeger, 1976; Glass, 1978; Glass & Smith, 1978; Hambleton, 1978; Hambleton, Powell & Eignor, 1979; Shepard, 1980). Studies investigating the comparability of the procedures are few; Andrew and Hecht (1976) and Schoon et al. (1979) compared the Nedelsky (1954) and Ebel (1979) approaches, while Brennan and Lockwood (1979) investigated the variability in passing scores produced by the Nedelsky and Angoff (1971) procedures. The present study serves several purposes. First, it introduces a modification to the Ebel procedure for setting a passing score. Second, it investigates whether the Nedelsky, the modified Ebel procedures, and the currently used normative approach, generate similar passing scores on a national certifying examination in the speciality of General Surgery. Third, the effects of different passing scores on the overall pass rate are reported, and last, the reliability of the mean ratings given to the items and the variability of the judges' passing scores for each absolute standard approach are investigated.


D espite the use of antibiotics in conjunction with an aseptic technique and laminar flow operating theaters, prosthetic joint infection among all prosthesis recipients still has an incidence of 2--10%. Septic arthritis in a prosthetic joint is more commonly caused by coagulase-negative staphylococci, group B streptococci and gram-negative organisms. Streptococcus pneumoniae is an uncommon cause of prosthetic septic arthritis. Informed consent was obtained from the patient for this publication.


The influence of concentration of nitrogen dissolved in the steel and the small additions of nitride-forming elements on the hardenability of boron-treated manganese-vanadium steel 40GF-VI was studied. It is shown that an increase of nitrogen concentration from 0.004 % to 0.015 % increases the hardenability of steel. It has been found that a small amount of titanium (about 0.02 %) in steel with a low content of nitrogen (0.004 %) is enough to bind the latter to nitrides, which allows to save most of the boron in the active state (in the solid solution). The residual amount of titanium and aluminum in the range of 0.015–0.020 % of each in steel with nitrogen content in the range of 0.010–0.015 %, which is typical for an electric arc melting steel, is insufficient to bind all nitrogen. As a result, a part of nitrogen is spent on the formation of boron nitrides, which reduces the effect of boron on hardenability of the manganese-vanadium steel micro-alloyed with boron. In conclusion, some methods of protecting boron in steel are briefly described.


This most interesting volume consists of different series of papers published from tlie Mayo Clinic at different times. The abstracted papers deal with groups of subjects. In the present volume there is a collection of twenty papers on the Alimentary Canal, nine on the Uro-genital Organs, six on the Ductless Grlands, eighteen on the Head, Trunk and Extremities, eight on Technic, and about twenty general papers. The work done at the Mayo Clinic is too well known to require any words of approbation from


The torrential rains from Hurricane Katrina, the breaking of the levees, and the subsequent flooding of New Orleans resulted in another Black Diaspora. This article focuses on Black children and families who were displaced by Hurricane Katrina but now reside in cities, towns, and suburbs outside of the Crescent City. Informed by the author's ongoing investigation in a predominantly Black suburb in the U.S. South, this article puts forth the need for the scholarly community to develop more robust conceptual frameworks that interrogate the interconnectedness of race, social class, and place in researching and understanding the Katrina Diaspora.


To improve the efficiency of the attribute reduction, we present an attribute reduction algorithm based on background knowledge and information entropy by making use of background knowledge from research fields. Under the condition of known background knowledge, the algorithm can not only greatly improve the efficiency of attribute reduction, but also avoid the defection of information entropy partial to attribute with much value. The experimental result verifies that the algorithm is effective. In the end, the algorithm produces better results when applied in the classification of the star spectra data.


BACKGROUND
A survey of insecticide resistance in over 150 Canadian populations of Colorado potato beetle was completed between 2008 and 2011. Three neonicotinoid and two anthranilic diamide insecticides were tested at a discriminating concentration (DC) with second-instar larvae in a leaf-disc bioassay.

RESULTS
The mean mortality for the imidacloprid (Admire) DC was 46-67% between 2008 and 2011 respectively. Over the 4 years, 10-46% and 26-40% of the populations were classified as resistant or showed reduced susceptibility to imidacloprid. The mean mortality for thiamethoxam (Actara) and clothianidin (Poncho/Titan) ranged from 56-76% in 2008 to 81-84% in 2010 for each insecticide respectively, indicating continuous susceptibility to clothianidin but reduced susceptibility to thiamethoxam. In 2008 and 2009, susceptibility to chlorantraniliprole (Coragen) was observed in 85% of populations. Similarly, cyantraniliprole (Cyazypyr) affected 93% of the 2009 and 74% of the 2010 populations. There was a significant (P < 0.05) and high positive correlation (R = 0.4-0.84) between the three neonicotinoids, indicating the potential for cross-resistance.

CONCLUSIONS
The trend observed in decreasing susceptibility for thiamethoxam and clothianidin will continue unless resistance management practices are followed.


In this work, we apply conditional invertible neural networks (cINN) to inversely design multilayer thin-films given an optical target in order to overcome limitations of state-of-the-art optimization approaches. Usually, state-of-the-art algorithms depend on a set of carefully chosen initial thin-film parameters or employ neural networks which must be retrained for every new application. We aim to overcome those limitations by training the cINN to learn the loss landscape of all thin-film configurations within a training dataset. We show that cINNs can generate a stochastic ensemble of proposals for thin-film configurations that are reasonably close to the desired target depending only on random variables. By refining the proposed configurations further by a local optimization, we show that the generated thin-films reach the target with significantly greater precision than comparable state-of-the-art approaches. Furthermore, we tested the generative capabilities on samples which are outside of the training data distribution and found that the cINN was able to predict thin-films for out-of-distribution targets, too. The results suggest that in order to improve the generative design of thin-films, it is instructive to use established and new machine learning methods in conjunction in order to obtain the most favorable results.


Word lists spoken in Castillian, Caribbean, and Mexican dialects were compared as stimuli for the determination of speech-reception thresholds (SRT) in 12 6- to 7-year-old Spanish-speaking, Puerto Rican children, using a balanced, crossover design. No statistically significant differences were found among dialects. All subjects had SRTs that were 2 dB lower than (p 0.85). The lower SRTs were not deemed clinically significant. The results indicate that dialect is of minor importance in SRT testing of Puerto Rican children in this age range.


. On a semialgebraic set X with an isolated singularity at 0 , we are in-terested in relating the radial index of a vector (cid:28)eld V at the singularity to the one of − V . Then we write this radial index as an intersection index.


In the crisis of the pandemic COVID-19, PM Modi has declared the complete lockdown all over the nation. People of India are staying at their homes with limited services. Almost every second minute we hear the news of increased infection of corona virus among the people all over the world. Fear of losing jobs, financial crisis, to not meet their friends for a long, fear of being infected and quarantined for 14 days, fear of losing the loved ones are always in their mind. An online survey has been conducted for the study among 400 people of different states of India with the aim to assess the psychological stress among people of India during COVID-19 lockdown. The results find out that 73% people of India falls under the moderately perceived stress which confronts significant proportion of stress. We prescribe interventions for the people who are suffering with the psychological stress to help them coping-up with their stress.


Shape optimization of fibers based on the highest bearing capacity of composite aggregate on a unit cell is studied using Inverse variational principles. They have been applied mostly in connection with finite elements. It appears now that boundary elements are much more efficient. On the other hand, it is necessary to find an appropriate function, which describes boundary density of potential energy and at the same time variational bounds or homogenization of the composite have to be carried out. If one starts with homogenization, a mathematical formulation has to prove that a solution exists and is unique. The latter problem seems not to be as simple as it first seems. Additional constraints must be introduced to ensure the uniqueness of the solution. If bounds are sought, we start with extended Hashin–Shtrikman principles. A study is carried out for different relations of fibers and matrices. Keynotes: optimization, Inverse variational principles, classical composites.


and various consistency and segregation resistance tests. The following results are obtained in this study . High slump value can be maintained for about 2hours by using high performance AE water reducing agent and silica −fume, but viscosity is geヒー ting higher with time . Segregaしion resistance is related to the appalent viscosity which is mea − sured by a vibration 』 test of matrix mortar . Kegwonts :fresh concrete , IOW water − ceワnent 厂頗 0, high Perfonnance![E water 厂educing agent , rheology , segregation


Background: Intestinal worm infestation is still a health problem in Indonesia that is often neglected. This disease is chronic in nature and is strongly influenced by factors of environmental hygiene and sanitation. Slaughterhouses are places where animals in the form of cows, goat/ sheep and pigs are slaughtered to be distributed to meat sellers or to reataurants. This study aims to determine the profil description and incidence of intestinal worm infestations in workers in three slaughterhouses in Riau Province.Methods: This study was a cross-sectional descriptive study in August – October 2020 in three slaughterhouses in Riau Province ( Pekanbaru, Duri and Dumai city). Stool examination was carried out using the Kato Katz Method at the Parasitology Laboratory Medical Faculty, Universitas Riau. Result: Do A total 37 workers who were examined found 35 men, age range 21 – 30 yo as much as 38% with latest education 46% was high school, length of work 1 – 5 years as much as 57% and as much as 41% have normal nutriotional status. Six workers found positive for intestinal worm infections (16%), there were three hookworm infections and one each to Trichuris trichiura, Oxyuris vermicularis and Hymenolepis diminuta.Conclusion : There were still intestinal worm infections among workers in the three slaughterhouses. Intestinal worm infection usually occurs in children and rarely occurs in adults and if it occurs in adults this may be due to poor hygiene and sanitation of the slaughterhouse workers.


In the basic economic production lotsize model, it is assumed that all produced items are of prefect quality. But in practice, the experience is that no production process can produce all items of perfect quality. Most of the production system produces both perfect and imperfect quality items. In some cases, imperfect quality items are reworked at a cost to repair their quality. This rework cost can be reduced by reducing the product reliability parameter. However, when the product reliability parameter decreases, the development cost of production increases at the same time. The unit production cost is a function of the product reliability parameter and the production rate. Therefore, higher development cost increases unit production cost. In the proposed model, we have assumed that the production process shifts from an in-control state to an out-of-control state at any random time. The total cost in this production system includes the production cost, the setup cost, the holding cost and the cost of reworking the imperfect items produced. Our problem is to find the optimal production rate, optimal production lotsize and optimal product reliability parameter so that the total associated profit is maximum. The analytical solution of the model is derived and the solution is illustrated with the help of numerical examples. The sensitivity of the optimal solution to changes in the values of different system parameters is also studied.


ABSTRACT The present article critically analyses the pedagogical efforts of two teachers to promote values education and intercultural reflection in their own educational practice. They teach in higher education in Norway and most of their students have majority backgrounds. Based on their teaching experiences with VaKE (Values and Knowledge education), the article discusses opportunities and challenges when working with values education in majority student groups. It concludes that discussing values is difficult but can be eye opening. It also raises the question of which dilemmas can prevent stereotyping and foster more complex intercultural thinking and shows that intercultural education requires a discussion of one's own cultural position. The article highlights the teacher's crucial role in the VaKE-process regarding the aims of intercultural values education.


A layer of Y2O3–Al2O3, used as a sintering aid, was coated onto the surface of Si3N4 particles by the precipitation of inorganic salts from a water-based solution containing Al(NO3)3, Y(NO3)3, and urea. The electrokinetic and colloidal characteristics of the Si3N4 powder were changed significantly by the coating layer. As a result, dispersion of the Y2O3–Al2O3-coated Si3N4 powder was significantly greater than that of the original powder. Furthermore, the Y2O3–Al2O3 coating layer prevented the hydrogen-gas-discharging problem that occurred during gelcasting of the original Si3N4 powder because of reaction between the uncoated powder and the basic aqueous solution in suspension. Surface coating, as well as the gelcasting process, significantly improved the microstructure, room-temperature bending strength, and Weibull modulus of the resulting ceramic bodies.


In a population‐based case‐control study of colon carcinoma and nutrition involving the francophone community in Greater Montreal, a total of 402 cases (200 males and 202 females) and 668 controls (239 males and 429 females) were interviewed.


Hastings et al. raise the same points as they did in their previous letter. We addressed these points previously but in the interests of clarity they will be addressed again. The purpose of the letters by Hastings et al. is to state that they disagree with the central conclusion of our 2005 review article [4] entitled The antiretroviral rollout and drug-resistant HIV in Africa: insights from empirical data and theoretical models. In our article we provided an extensive review of the literature of epidemiological and clinical studies of the population-level impact of antiretroviral agents. In summary those studies show that fairly high levels of transmitted drug-resistant HIV have now arisen in Europe and North America. In our review we discussed that these levels of transmitted resistance have been caused by the interaction of four major factors: (i) antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been used in the developed world for almost two decades; (ii) the drugs that were initially used were fairly ineffective in terms of viral suppression; (iii) different drugs and drug classes were sequentially introduced (i.e. monotherapy to dual therapy to triple therapy); and (iv) the usage rate of ART has been high. (excerpt)


This paper deals with multi-channel Media Access Control (MAC) protocols for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). We first give an overview of multi-channel communication in WSNs and propose the classification of existing multi-channel MAC protocols for WSNs. Then, we describe briefly three representative protocols by stating their essential behavior and emphasizing their strengths and weaknesses.


This paper aims to investigate changes of attitude of local artists and their activities concerning community vitalization; based on the fact that other local residents change their attitude and activities through communication with neighboring artists. A nationwide questionnaire survey was conducted of artists listed in two published directories 金 The questionnaire sought answers related to I) personal attributes'2) places and opportunities for communicating with other local residents, and 3) community attachment and degree of self-disclosure to neighboring residents. The m吋or findings were: J) That quit記 a few artists change their attitude and activities regarding community vitalization. 2) Artists' attitudes and activities are significantly connected with their birthplaces ラ circumstance of residence, and the places and opportunities for communication with other local residents. Further, they decide their residential places in connection with their artistic field. 3) Respondent category classification, based on Hayashi s Type III Quantification Method and Cluster analysis, clarified that the artists who positively change their attitude and activities tend to practice self-disclosure. Thus, it was also clarified that the artists, a) who were born in the same municipalities as they now reside and b) reside in a conventional urban areas and c) communicate with other local residents at events held by artists/artists associations or school activities, have positive changes of attitude and activities. The results of this paper revealed the availability of profound community vitalization合om focusing on communication between local artists and other local resid叩ts. The findings are also useful for vitalization management in connection with art/artists, which has been tried in many municipalities. Kの, words: community vitalization, local artists, local residents, communication, attitudes, activities


Gilles Deleuze once, in a letter, described reading in the following way: "It's like plugging in to an electric circuit." This powerful statement together with the "zone of indiscernibility" that r ...


This paper introduces a new thermal control device (TCD) which has not only low weight and high efficiency but also passive and active cooling capabilities. The TCD mainly consists of hollow graphene-enhanced-metallic microlattice material, phase change material (PCM) and a peristatic pump. The PCM is inside the spatial-interconnected millimeter-scale diameter tubes, which are the basic constitution of the hollow microlattice material, in addition, the peristatic pump was connected with the tubes and used to force the liquid-state PCM to circulate inside the interconnected thin tubes. Thus, the proposed TCD takes combined advantages of the ultralight and high thermal transfer properties of the hollow graphene-enhanced-metallic microlattice materials, the thermal storage capability of the PCM and forced convection of the PCM driven by the peristatic pump as the PCM is in liquid state. The manufacturing process of the active TCD was also developed and proposed, which mainly includes additive manufacturing, composite electroless plating, polymer etching, liquid PCM injecting and the peristatic pump connecting. In addition to that, a thermal test system was built and the effective thermal conductivities of the TCD in passive cooling and with active cooling modes were experimentally studied. The TCD can absorb heat and actively dissipate heat by means of forced convection. Consequently, the proposed active TCD can be used to guarantee the electronic components and spacecrafts operate in a specific temperature range.


It is an important and difficult issue of civil engineering works to effectively improve the durability of the concrete and control the cracks of large-scale reinforced concrete structures.The article describes the types of the concrete cracks and summarizes the reasons for the concrete cracks in respect of shrinkage cracks,temperature cracks and differential settlement cracks.The article also recommends some measures and methods to control the concrete cracks from the viewpoint of design,materials,construction and maintenance.For the existing concrete cracks,effective treatment measures are taken in accordance with the actual situations,so as to ensure the operation safety of the concrete structures.


This study determined whether using photographic stimuli displaying different ethnicity (African American vs. Caucasian American) influenced preference, word count, and number of content units produced by African American or Caucasian American participants. Six photograph pairs depicting common scenes were developed, differing only by model ethnicity. Participants sorted photographs by preference and described each photograph from which word count and content unit were determined. Each group showed significant preference for photographs of their own ethnicity. Caucasian Americans produced significantly more words than African Americans. Caucasian Americans also produced significantly more content units. Caucasian Americans produced more content units for African American scenes (nonsignificant). Results suggest that ethnic groups prefer photographic stimuli representing their own ethnicity. Other factors may influence the amount and content of speech produced. If African Americans typically produce less speech with less content than Caucasian American counterparts, separate normative data may be needed for each ethnic group.


Indoor radon is recognised as being the most important radiation burden for the general public. In Belgium, as in many other countries, exposure levels giving rise to yearly risks of more than 10(-2) have been found. This latter value is normally considered unacceptable for the public. Moreover, an important fraction of the population lives in houses with radon levels of more than 400 Bq.m(-3), representing a risk level of 10(-3) per year or more. A level of this order is the limit for authorised and regulated activities at work. Prevention and intervention opportunities exist for these situations. The dose reduction opportunities are limited, but higher than the total collective dose in all nuclear activities. The analysis of radiation protection approaches, communication and decision-making for radon, compared to nuclear industrial activities shows incoherence at different levels. As a first attempt to develop a rational and coherent approach, cost-benefit analysis was applied to radon. Four optimisation scenarios were developed: three about remediation and one about prevention. Referring to the ct values applied by radiation protection authorities in France, Sweden and the Netherlands, the different scenarios are found to be highly justified. They all represent well-spent money for public hearth. Furthermore, in order to select priorities for the governmental approach about radon, multi-attribute analysis was applied. Cost, detriment and perception were used as criteria. As potential government strategy the following alternatives were put forward: pay no attention at all; provide information; organise measuring and information campaigns, offer technical and financial sustenance for remediation; draw up specific regulations.


With the rise in the population of patients with End-stage Renal Disease (ESRD) in Nigeria, there is an increased demand for Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT) including kidney transplantation (KT). We present our initial surgical experience and early outcomes with KT at a Nigerian transplant center over 2 years. A 2-year retrospective review of patients who underwent KT was done. Data of both kidney donors and recipients were recorded in designed proformas. Extracted information included demographic characteristics, side of open donor nephrectomy (ODN), recipient anatomy, surgical techniques and postoperative outcomes. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. A total of 210 patients had KT during the period under review. Donors had an age range of 19 to 53 years with a mean of 30.8 3 ± 8.43 years while recipients aged between 9 and 73 years with a mean of 45.97 ± 13.71 years. There were 190 (90.5%) male and 20 (9.5%) female donors. One hundred fifty-four recipients were males (73.3%) and 56 (26.7%) were females. Left ODN was performed in 152 (72.4%) of cases and the commonest indication for right ODN was multiple left renal arteries. The allograft was placed in the right iliac fossa in 187 (89.0%) recipients with the external iliac artery preferred for anastomosis with the allograft renal artery in end-to-side fashion in 182 (86.7%) cases. The internal iliac artery was used in end-to-end fashion anastomosis in 28 (13.3%) of cases. Ureteroneocystostomy using the Modified Lich-Gregoir technique over a double-J stent was performed in all but 5 patients who had uretero-ureterostomies. Significant peri-operative hemorrhage necessitating blood transfusion was experienced in 9 donors and 26 recipients. There was a low complication rate in kidney donors. Allograft renal artery thrombosis, venous thrombosis, and arterial pseudo-aneurysms were encountered in 3, 2 and 4 recipients respectively. Kidney transplantation can be safely and routinely carried out in Nigeria. The early surgical outlook of both kidney donors and recipients was found to be excellent in this study.


Multimodal data enables powerful methodological approaches to investigate social group interaction. This paper specifically focuses on dialogic moments, i. e., episodes of human communication with high mutual understanding. We present preliminary results of a pilot study, where we apply multimodal analysis of dialogic moments in the context of storytelling, for obtaining data-driven characterizations. We collected multimodal sensor data, including skin conductance, face-to-face proximity, and vocal non-verbal features of the participants, complemented by their subjective experiences collected via self-report questionnaires. Our first preliminary findings provide novel perspectives on different profiles of dialogic moments, characterized by objective and subjective features.


Infection of canola (Brassica napus) by pycnidiospores of the blackleg fungus (Leptosphaeria maculans) and subsequent development of leaf and stem infection were influenced by temperature, wetness period and inoculum concentration. On cv. Hyola 42, as temperature decreased the latent period for leaf infection increased exponentially. The greatest number of leaf lesions developed on plants exposed to a day/night temperature of 18/15°C with a 96 h wetness period. Incidence of stem infection was greatest at 23/20°C with a 48–72 h wetness period, whereas no stem infection occurred 42 days after inoculation when plants were incubated at 8/6°C. This is the first report of the effect of temperature and wetness period on infection by pycnidiospores. The number of leaf lesions and incidence of stem cankers were greatest when plants were inoculated with 106 or 107 pycnidiospores/mL, respectively, the highest concentrations used in the experiments. The susceptible cv. Q2 developed significantly more leafand stem lesions than the less susceptible cw. Monty and Dunkeld when inoculated with 107 pycnidiospores/mL, but not at the lower concentrations. The moderately resistant cv. Dunkeld developed significantly fewer stem cankers than the other cultivars when inoculated with pycnidiospores at concentrations greater than 104/mL.


Microtechnologies and microsystems engineering use new active materials. These materials are interesting to realize microactuators and microsensors. In this category of materials, Shape Memory Alloys (SMA) are good candidates for microactuation. SMA wires, or thin plates, can be used as active material in microfingers. These microstructures are able to provide very important forces, but have low dynamic response, especially for cooling, in confined environment. The control of the SMA phase transformations, and then the mechanical power generation, is made by the temperature. The Joule effect is an easy and efficiency way to heat the SMA wires, but cooling is not so easy. The dynamic response of the actuator depends on cooling capabilities. The thermal convection and conduction are the traditional ways to cool the SMA, but have limitations for microsystems. We are looking for a reversible way of heating and cooling SMA microactuators, based on the thermoelectric effects. Using Peltier effect, a positive or a negative electrical courant is able to pump or produce heat, in the SMA actuator. A physical model based on thermal exchanges between a Nickel/Titanium (NiTi) SMA, and Bismuth/Telluride (Te3Bi2) thermoelectric material has been developed. For simulation, we use a numerical resolution of our model, with finite elements, which takes into account the Peltier effect, the Joule effect, the convection, the conduction and the phase transformation of the SMA. We have also developed the corresponding experimental system, with two thermoelectric junctions, where the SMA actuator is one of the element of each junction. In this paper, the physical model and its numerical resolution are given, the experimental system used to validate the model is described, and experimental results are shown.


This paper deals with the Keller–Segel–Navier–Stokes system nt + u ⋅∇n = Δn −∇⋅ (nS(x,n,c) ⋅∇c), ct + u ⋅∇c = Δc − c + n, ut + (u ⋅∇)u = Δu −∇P + n∇ϕ,∇⋅ u = 0, in a bounded domain Ω ⊂ ℝ3 with smooth boundary, where ϕ ∈ W2,∞(Ω) and S ∈ C2(Ω × [0,∞)2; ℝ3×3) are given functions. We shall develop a weak solution concept which requires solutions to satisfy very mild regularity hypotheses only, especially for the component n. Under the assumption that there exist S0 > 0 and α > 1 3 such that |S(x,n,c)|≤ S0 ⋅ (1 + n)−αfor all x ∈Ω, n ≥ 0 and c ≥ 0, it is finally shown that for all suitably regular initial data an associated initial-boundary value problem possesses a globally defined weak solution. In comparison to the result for the corresponding fluid-free system, it is easy to see that the restriction on α here is optimal. This result extends previous studies on global solvability for this system in the two-dimensional domain and for the associated chemotaxis-Stokes system obtained on neglecting the nonlinea...


Enteric fever is widely prevalent in the tropics. Central nervous system involvement is not rare and reported incidence varies from 5% to 35% [1]. Various well-known neuropsychiatric manifestations include confusional state, encephalopathy, meningism, convulsions and focal neurological deficits. Acute cerebellar ataxia as an isolated neurological complication of enteric fever is very rare and limited to only a few case reports [2]. Here we report a case of enteric fever who presents Acute Cerebellar Ataxia.


A new electrochemical sensor was developed for continuous monitoring of the hydrogen content in metallic materials in engineering service at ambient temperature. The sensor is a dual electrode system, in which an electrochemically deposited nickel layer was employed as the catalyst for hydrogen oxidation, and a porous metallic oxide electrode was used as the counter electrode. No reference electrode was used in the sensor. Some effects of nickel plating and applications of the sensor were investigated. It was found that the residual anodic current of the sensor after nickel plating is possibly attributable to both oxidation of the plated nickel and discharge of the absorbed/adsorbed hydrogen atoms produced while electrodepositing nickel, but discharge of hydrogen seemed to dominate. The sensor signal responded swiftly to changes in the mobile atomic hydrogen content in metals.


Summary Palaeomagnetic results from 246 sites in the East African Cenozoic volcanics are reported. Palaeomagnetic pole positions are obtained for different age ranges as follows: 0-1-8 My, 104" E, 89" N, A,, = 3" (54 sites); 1-8-7.0 My, 148" E, 87" N, A,, = 2" (102 sites); around 12 My, 187" E, 87" N, A,, = 6" (22 sites); around 17 My, 163" E, 85" N, A,5 = 2" (62 sites). Apart from the youngest these poles show a far-sided and righthanded tendency which is ascribed to a late Tertiary offset dipole field rather than to polar wander. For at least the past 7 My and possibly for the past 13 My, secular variation in East Africa has been large and in accord with model predictions for near equatorial sites. This contrasts with low secular variation observed in Iavas younger than 5 My from the Hawaiian Islands.


. The revision of the age of criminal responsibility is a major breakthrough in the Amendment to the Criminal Law of People's Republic of China (XI) (hereinafter referred to as the Amendment to Criminal Law (XI)). The first provision of the amendment reduces the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12, which has aroused great controversy in the society and the academic circle. This move is a legislative response to the phenomenon of vicious violent crimes committed by minors and a reasonable consideration of the public's passionate public opinion, but there are still some problems worth discussing in its provisions. At present, there are many theoretical studies on the age of criminal responsibility in the academic circle. Based on this, this paper systematically sorts out the social background, theoretical viewpoints and extraterritorial legislation of the age of criminal responsibility, compares and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of different theories, and refers to the legislative experience of countries with the minimum age of criminal responsibility under 14, and accordingly puts forward relevant legislative adjustment suggestions and supporting measures to improve them, expecting to promoting the continuous optimization of China's juvenile crime prevention and control system and reducing the juvenile crime rate.


culture imparted considerable firmness to civilization, thus enabling it to outlive the dissolution of the empire. In giving these examples I make no pretentious claims. I wish merely to make concrete certain problems which I feel must be considered if we are to try to understand man in a broader context. I want to emphasize that however great the role played by external circumstances in the development of nations, there always exist differences which must be ultimately founded upon the particular nature of the individuals themselves.


The impact of Agricultural wastes on ground water pollution was investigated in Lipakala Farms, Ondo Southwest, Nigeria. Physical, chemical and microbial parameters of the water samples of the only water source in the farm were analysed. This was to determine the level of pollution and the suitability of the water source for domestic and animal consumption. Results showed that minute traces of ions were present in water, lead ranges between 0.4 and 0.6mg/l, Nitrate 64 – 65mg/l; pH value of 7.8; Iron, 56.3-57.8mg/l. For the physical characteristics, while temperature ranges between 31.5 0 c and 33 0 c, samples were odourless, colourless but tasty with turbidity value of I0NTU and electrical conductivity of 690mho/cm, indicating high presence of salt deposits as a result of the location of precambium basement rock near the farm. The average bacterial count of 4cfu/ml and total coliform count of 10MPN/100N were indication of microbial contamination of the water source. Hence, it is recommended that wells should be located at upland to croplands to prevent inflow through runoff of fertilizers and chemicals from farmlands. Also, modern waste disposal methods should be adopted, phasing out open dumpsites to avoid microbial contamination of well and safeguard public health. In addition, public health enlightment and awareness campaign should be conducted in the farm to sensitize the inhabitants of the farm of the dangers inherent in haphazard waste disposal. Keywords: Agricultural wastes, Pollution, Well, Microbial contaminants


For L-C circuit, a new quantized scheme has been proposed in the context of number-phase quantization. In this scheme, the quantum number n of the electric charge q is quantized as the charge number operator and the phase difference θ across the capacity is quantized as phase operator. It is proven that the number-phase quantization scheme is very useful to study the Bohr atom as L-C circuit and its quantum effects.


Although there is a growing body of work on contemporary fiction, it can still take a considerable time for scholarly essays on new novels to appear. For this amongst other reasons, June Sturrock' s " Artists as Parents in A. S. Byatt' s The Children's Book and Iris Murdoch's The Good Apprentice is very welcome: at the moment there is only one other article on Byatt' s novel. The author sets out to prove that the old-established idea of Murdoch as a " literary mother" to Byatt can still generate fresh evidence. Daughters may be influenced by their mothers, but also challenge them: here, Byatt is shown to do both.According to Sturrock, The Children's Book is "in part a response to Murdoch's writing and more specifically to her late novel, The Good Apprentice" (108). Like Murdoch, the author suggests, Byatt foregrounds a fictional artistic family, modelled on that of Eric Gill, to allow her to debate and depict the damaging potential artists have as fathers: "The Children's Book has its own version of the establishment at Seegard" (110), and Byatt "takes the figure of the artist as father in The Good Apprentice and intensifies it" (117). In addition to this Byatt shares, Sturrock claims, Murdoch's interest in multiple centres in a narrative, and builds on the latter' s mix of fairy tale and realism: Sturrock reminds us that "Byatt like Murdoch associates art with the fairy tale" (118). The Children's Book thus engages with and builds on both the form and the moral argument of The Good Apprentice.The essay is well argued throughout, persuasive and scholarly. Noting how Olive in The Children's Book is implicitly criticised by the implied author for "lack of attention" (114), however, I was surprised that a link to Murdoch was not made, for it has been a backbone of Murdoch criticism that the author inherited Simone Weil's passion for attention, preaching that the best art can lead to a loss of self and a loving recognition of the contingent world and its persons.1 The artist characters of Byatt' s novel do not learn this. Sturrock also describes Purchase House in Byatt' s novel as "place of contingency" (121); this again is a word that is a frequent part of Murdoch's vocabulary,2 and an opportunity for making a link between Murdoch and Byatt is missed. Similarly, Sturrock quotes a character in the novel describing a situation as a "muddle" (116), but does not suggest that this is perhaps a negative version of the "muddles" and "jumbles" which form a joyous part of Murdoch's oeuvre.3There are further points to be made in response to Sturrock' s ideas, and the first relates to Byatt herself as an author. Sturrock writes: "More recently she has expressed doubts, not about Murdoch's quality but about her continuing reputation, saying that readers now wonder 'whether they overvalued her [...]'" (126nl). Byatt has retracted these comments, stating that they were never meant to be taken seriously.4 Byatt' s commitment to Murdoch's work has been evidenced recently by, for example, a Murdoch event at the Royal Society of Literature where she was a key speaker.5I thought it would be worthwhile to contact Byatt and ask for her response to the claims made in the article. Her reaction was one of surprise: she stated that she could not see any links, although she implied that it was some time since she had read The Good Apprentice and that she may have covered over something in her mind.6 Which ever way, the "retelling" Sturrock claims is certainly not a conscious one on the part of Byatt. …


The purposes of this study were to identify the procedures and criteria used for conducting teacher performance evaluation in Texas public schools, to determine the degree to which teacher performance evaluation procedures and instruments reflect the stated evaluation policies of Texas public schools, and to determine the degree to which teacher performance evaluation instruments used in Texas public schools reflect presage criteria (teacher characteristics) as opposed to process criteria (teacher behavior) as opposed to product criteria (student change or gain) as opposed to general job performance requirements (job expectations). The main findings include the following. (1) Teacher performance evaluation is required in all Texas public school districts and is often performed several times a year by more than one observer. The building principal is the key person involved in this process. (2) Although all school districts stated the supervisory function of the improvement of instruction as the major purpose of their teacher performance evaluation policy, a large number of school districts utilize teacher performance evaluation for the administration functions of serving as a basis for retention or dismissal. (3) If in reality teacher performance evaluation were construed as the improvement of instruction or teaching performance, it should be predictable that process criteria (teacher behavior) would account for the majority of items in the evaluation instruments. However, these items accounted for only about one-fourth of the total number. At the same time, items relating to general job requirements accounted for over 50 percent of the items. This exhibits a maintenance rather than teaching thrust. (4) The data gathered on current teacher performance evaluation instruments appear to be highly pertinent to maintaining the school as an organization and appear to be helpful in making personnel decisions. (5) Teacher performance evaluation instruments in Texas public schools are much more heavily weighted toward assessing teachers in their multiple roles rather than the many aspects of teaching.


Data streams from numerous Internet of Things (IoT) devices, such as medical, home and personal systems, may contain sensitive and confidential information that may need protection against attacks from external adversaries. Beyond addressing challenges in accuracy, space and time, an algorithm designer needs to be aware of perils posed by naive algorithmic implementations under an adversarial setting. Data privacy is threatened mainly due to data sharing. IoT devices may communicate with each other for enhanced services. An adversary observing data communication can infer secret information. (E.g., man-in-the-middle attack on data transferred within a compromised home system). Since many devices (e.g., personal health monitoring systems) have low hardware resources, data stream analytics may be processed on a third-party server (e.g., a cloud service). An adversary controlling the server may obtain sensitive information. Though data encryption can conceal sensitive data from an adversary observing data communication, it is challenging to protect data privacy from a more powerful adversary who may have control over the third-party server used for analytics. Adaptation of generic ORAM (Oblivious RAM) techniques to perform analytics over encrypted data could be computationally expensive, and would annihilate efforts to reduce training and prediction time. Moreover, privacy-preserving techniques may negatively affect performance (e.g., accuracy). Instead, recent developments in hardware-based trusted computing platforms, such as Intel SGX, can be leveraged for data stream mining when data containing sensitive information is involved. These platforms enable a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) where code and data are encrypted and can be decrypted within the environment by the CPU. By performing IoT stream analytics within such a trusted computing environment, data privacy and security can be assured to its users. In this talk, we will introduce methods to secure systems that perform data analysis on IoT data streams within a TEE. Recent studies have shown that a powerful adversary may still be able to infer private information from side channels such as memory access, cache access, CPU usage and other timing channels, thereby threatening data and user privacy. Since a TEE uses shared resources, sensitive information from standard algorithmic design patterns can be inferred by the adversary. The main challenge is to reduce information leak through side-channels and effectively utilize the secure computational environment for IoT data stream analytics. In this talk we will describe a set of techniques that can reduce side-channel information leak while minimizing the computational overhead when performing query processing over IoT data streams.


Identifying the role of the two main driving factors—climate change and human interventions—in influencing runoff processes is essential for sustainable water resources management. For this purpose, runoff regime change detection methods were used to divide the available hydroclimatic variables into a baseline and a disturbed period. We applied hydrological modelling and the climate elasticity of runoff method to determine the contribution of climate change and human interventions to changes in runoff. The hydrological model, SWAT, was calibrated during the baseline period and used to simulate the naturalized runoff pattern for the disturbed period. Significant changes in runoff in the study watershed were detected from 1982, suggesting that human interventions play a dominant role in influencing runoff. The combined effects of climate change and human interventions resulted in a 41.3 mm (23.9%) decrease in runoff during the disturbed period, contributing about 40% and 60% to the total runoff change, respectively. Furthermore, analysis of changes in land cover dynamics in the watershed over the past four decades supported these changes in runoff. Contrary to other decades, the discrepancy between naturalized and observed runoff was small in the 2010s, likely due to increased baseflow as a result of storage and/or release of excess water during the dry season. This study contributes to our understanding of how climate change and human interventions affect hydrological responses of watersheds, which is important for future sustainable water management and drought adaptation.


The aim of this study is to find out the study habit of higher secondary students in Tirunelveli District. 1060 Higher secondary students were taken as sample. The tool used to find out the study habit is Study Habit Inventory, by Patel (1975). The mean value of Study habit scores 142.12 (63.16%) indicates that the higher secondary students are having good study habit. There is no significant difference between male and female, rural and urban higher secondary students with respect to their Study habit. There is significant difference between day scholar and hostel staying, government and aided higher secondary school students with respect to their study habit.


It is argued that, in the absence of any loss due to structural imperfections, the quality factor of single crystals of insulating material is directly proportional to the elastic constant governing the propagated mode; then, a quartz BT-cut resonator should have a higher Q-factor than an AT-cut crystal at the same frequency and temperature. The development of a high Q, BT-type unit is described and the anomalous (f, T) characteristic of the units produced is discussed, together with other design features.


A&G • December 2017 • Vol. 58 • aandg.org 6.1 Exploratory space missions since Voyager have discovered abundant solar system bodies and landscapes that are dominated by ice, beyond the snow line, but also on the inner planets including Mars and Mercury (Mustard 2001 et al., Vasavada et al. 1999). Recent images from the New Horizons mission have shown ice on Pluto and Charon (Moore et al. 2016), and Rosetta images have identified ice regions on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (Barucci et al. 2016). This has helped to grow significantly the research field investigating the various ice regions and ice inter actions on different bodies. The aim is to better understand the formation of these bodies and their structure, climate and surface activity. The increase in evidence about multilayered ice-covered bodies led to my own research to investigate impact cratering on these surfaces (Harriss & Burchell 2017), which ignited my interest in ice bodies. This led in turn to the idea of exploring the study and characterization of these landscapes and bodies through an RAS Specialist Discussion Meeting, which was held on 9 December 2016.


To simplify a complicated problem, most previous investigations of wave-induced seabed response have been concerned with an isotropic seabed with uniform soil characteristics, even though strong evidence of anisotropic soil behavior and variable soil characteristics has been reported in soil mechanics literature. This paper proposes a finite-element model to investigate the response of a cross-anisotropic seabed with variable soil characteristics subjected to a three-dimensional short-crested wave system. Based on the present model, together with the liquefaction criterion, the wave-induced liquefaction potential can be estimated. The numerical results indicate that the influence of cross-anisotropic soil behavior and variable soil characteristics on the wave-induced seabed response (including liquefaction potential) cannot always be ignored without committing substantial errors.


The paper makes a massive investigation on Beijing International Marathon,analyzes its social and economic benefit and evaluate objectively on the organizing of the event.It emphazes the social and economic benefit of the event and puts forward three advices.


The magnetic properties of the rare earth antimonides are anisotropic below ordering temperatures. In the compounds of Ce, Nd, Dy, and Ho the crystalline field confines the spin to the [100] axis. The observed uniaxial metamagnetism is explained in terms of the Ising model. The induced magnetic moments depend strongly on the direction of the applied field. This anisotropy is less pronounced in the cases of TbSb and ErSb, in good agreement with theoretical considerations. Metastable spin structures are observed in DySb, HoSb, and CeSb.


The emergence of the right to be forgotten not only triggered a heated debate between the European Union (EU) and the United States (US), but also caused quite a stir in China's judicial and legal theory circles. While academics from the UK and the US are wary of the right to be forgotten, their Chinese counterparts are fairly optimistic that this right can be transplanted to China. It is found that remarks such as "introducing the right to be forgotten", "establishing personal information rights", and "laying down a law on personal information rights" can be frequently observed in relevant studies published in recent years. As an immature new right that has been written into laws of some countries, whether the right to be forgotten is in line with China's practicalities should be cogitated on before it is enshrined in law. Having analyzed what influences the right to be forgotten will exert on China's rule of law and economic development if it is included in China's legal system, a conclusion has been reached. First, the right to be forgotten is detrimental to Chins' s advancement of rule of law because it contradicts rights such as freedom of the press, freedom of speech and right to know. Second, it will also inhibit the development of China's burgeoning digital economy. Therefore, the right to be forgotten should not be introduced to or even established in Chinese law at this stage.


Proponents of eliminating life tenure for United States Supreme Court justices often contend that the status quo encourages justices to cling to their positions long after their productivity and overall capability have declined. In this account, the tendency of justices to overstay their welcome results from a combination of the Court's shrinking docket, availability of law clerks to assume the burden of case selection and to aid in drafting opinions, and the unwillingness to let one's political opponents fill one's seat. But do justices actually become less productive as they age? This study examines one particular manifestation of productivity that rests fully within the control of individual justices: the propensity for writing separate opinions. Using data from the Burger and Rehnquist Courts, it finds, on balance, that while older justices do experience a decline in their authorship of concurrences and dissents, this decline is small relative to other factors influencing the propensity to write, such as justices' ideological location on the Court and case-specific considerations.


The semiconductor device of the embodiment comprises: an analog-digital converter; pulse width modulation unit outputting a pulse type signal corresponding to the digital transmission signal; and a reference signal of the reference signal generating section generates a pulse is fixed. And includes: a first control unit, selects one of said transmission signal and the reference signal; a light emitting element driving section, based on the driving current of the transmission output signal or said reference signal; and a light emitting element, emit or said transmission signal based on the reference the optical signal. Further comprising: a light receiving unit, the optical signal is converted into a voltage signal; and a demodulation unit demodulates the voltage signal based on the digital signal of the transmission signal or the reference signal.


Traffic safety reviewed from the human and social side is not very well controlled. Traffic and transport are technical and organizational systems and provisions. They meet a human and social cultural need. With the technical development the human being depends on better, faster, different, more comfortable and safer traffic. So traffic is not only a problem from the technical side, but also a matter of social planning and care for human involvement and attention. Human beings in traffic are not only responsible for their own safety, but also for the safety of other people. People in traffic are asked to do contradictory tasks. To understand this, the dilemmas of human mobility, risk and responsibility must be analyzed. Modern traffic has increased contradictory developments and conflicting interests in society. In the correlation man - traffic - society the technique plays an important but no decisional role. The decision lies with the human being himself. (TRRL)


This research discusses how the implementation of scientific approach influences in building students' critical thinking skills on the subjects of Islamic Education and Character building at SMK Negeri 1 Bojonegoro. A combination method called concurrent embedded strategy is used in this research in which quantitative method is used as the primary method and qualitative method is used as the secondary method. The population in this study are 1440 students at SMK Negeri 1 Bojonegoro. Meanwhile, three classes (93 students) of Accounting major in grade XI are the subject of the research. Purposive sampling is used as sampling technique. Data are collected by using observation, interview, questionnaires, and documentation techniques. The data are analyzed by statistic product moment . The result of research showed that = 0,404, when it consulted with r value in table for N = 93, with significance level 5% = 0,202 and 1% = 0,263. So in a significance level of 5% the  value is greater than the  value, and in a significance level of 1% the  value is also greater than the value. When it consulted with the amount of "r" product moment , there is a moderate correlation of the interpretation of variables X and variable Y. In conclusion, there is a moderate correlation between the implementation of scientific approach and critical thinking skills building on the subjects of Islamic Education in SMK Negeri 1 Bojonegoro. Keywords : Implementation, Scientific Approach, Critical Thinking Skills.


Photodissociation of heme-CO complexes in bacterial membranes was measured by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Wavelength of the photodissociating light and selected cryogenic temperatures were used to distinguish multiple forms of respiratory enzymes (cytochromes).


In a preceding paper * the additional field produced by a system of conductors in an impressed electromagnetic field (EOePt, HWePt) has been represented in terms of surface integrals, which are equivalent to certain integrals of MacDonald t in the applications to be made. In a calculation which was made of the resonance wavelength of a long wire it appeared that the integral representing H could be taken as the basis of a numerical calculation of the current distribution, giving a fair check with experimental results. The usual formulas of alternating current theory correspond, however, to the representation of E, and the problem reduces to the numerical solution of an integro-differential equation. In the present paper the analysis of the problem of a straight wire in an impressed field has been developed and extended to include the theory of the loaded vertical antenna, and the inverted L antenna; the latter is briefly discussed in the special case in which the height is small ,compared to the length of the antenna. The theory is based on the method, well-kniown in the theory of integral equations, of assuming an expansion of the unknown function in a series of mutually orthogonal functions J, (s) which satisfy the boundary conditions at the open ends of the antenna. If the boundary conditions at the surface of the wire are written downi, a set of linear eq-aationis canl be constructed for the unknown Fourier coefficients of the current. It is shown that in the case of the loaded vertical antenna the functions Jn can be so chosen that the principal diagonal terms in these equations dominate the others; if the antenna wire is of small diameter, a good approximation is obtained with a small number of equations. The assumption often made in practice I that a single current component J1 gives an adequate approximation can therefore be partially justified analytically. It is shown that when this is possible, the impedance of the loaded antenna may be defined; from this impedance the fundamental period of the antenna and the radiationi resistance can be calculated.?


The purpose of the present article is to present the current trends along with the challenges faced in the field of nursing management in Cyprus. Suggestions have been also pointed out regarding the role of the nurse manager in Cyprus. There is an emergent need for effective management of the health care organizations which requires the clear establishment of the role and qualifications of nurse managers.


. A half-empiric mathematical model was elaborated to describe polymeric cover outgassing process in open space conditions. The calculation was carried out to estimate film thickness that arises as a result of gaseous products nonequilibrium condensation at a sensitive surface. Source data were: a) experimentally obtained time functions of polymeric cover mass loss at different temperatures; b) the construction element temperature regime data; c) the construction element temperature changes according to its location towards the Sun. To carry out the calculation the construction element and the sensitive surface geometry is considered to be axisymmetric. As a result, the numerical values of the average as well as maximum and minimum film thickness for the whole exploitation period of the spacecraft.


A survey was carried out to obtain some information about TQM implementation in Taiwan. Describes the main findings through the eight critical factors of TQM – role of top management and quality policy, role of quality department, training, employee relations, process management/operating procedures, quality data and reporting, product/service design, supplier quality management.


Objective: To observe the effect and the mechanism of the modified chair manipulation on shoulder pain in the shoulder joint dislocation.Methods: 46 patients in group A were used modified chair manipulation.46 patients in group B were used traditional chair method.The effect of should joint dislocation and the pain degree of manipulation period were compared in two groups.Results: One-time reset rate was 97.83% in group A and it was 82.61% in group B.The improvement of pain symptoms in the group A was superior to that in the group B.Conclusion: Modified chair manipulation is superior to the traditional chair method.Its effect is more reliable.And the pain degree in the therapy is more slight.


Black Writing, Culture, and the State in Latin America is a clear example of the scholarly possibilities that the field of Afro-Hispanic culture and literature still reserves for those intellectuals interested in thinking "with" and "from" the experiences inscribed within the narratives of the sons and daughters of the African diaspora in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking Americas. The book, edited by Jerome Branche, frames itself within a field that the author recognizes in its introduction: "although no longer new, [the field] still has a significant lacunae that require scholarly attention." (1) Moreover, such attention translates in a broad proposal of academic approaches that de-link from the habitual white-mestizo locus of enunciation of what is understood as "Latin-American," so complicit in making invisible the literary and cultural production of Afro-descendants in the region. The selection of twelve articles and a very pertinent introduction provides compelling arguments to understand better the reasons why the Afro-Hispanic narratives and experiences have been, until very recently, read as anomalies in the region. It constitutes an intervention against what Melva M. Persico identifies in her reflection about Candombe and Poetry as a "tradition of exclusion" (218). By framing the existent tensions between the symbolic production of Afro-descendants and the cultural institutions (academia) and the political establishment (the State), the book highlights the conditions that have conducted to make less visible the fundamental relevance of Afro-Hispanic thought. A noteworthy achievement of this selection of essays is the inclusion of critical works around various literary narratives and genres spanning from novel, short stories, theater, film, music, media representations, and oral tradition, so prominent in the transmission of knowledge and the epistemology of Afro-descendants. The outcome is a remarkable amount of themes covered, reaching distant geographical spaces, and historical moments, always considering the longstanding presence of Afro-descendants in the region and exemplifying another pertinent observation from Persico: "Following the intricacies of the different Afro-Latin American expression, it is possible to highlight and denounce the various strategies deployed by the two establishments, previously pointed, in appropriating from the cultural expressions of Afro-descendants in the whole continent" (213). Among the common threads that bind the essays of this volume, one can identify a strategic consideration of Afro-Hispanic cultural production, not as a category but as a vehicle for the transmission of knowledge— knowledge that has been marginalized by its lack of legitimation by the political and intellectual establishment. In consequence, the perspectives provided in the book are a striking addition to the debate around the evolution in the understanding of the transcendence and value of the black


Control arrangement for an electric drive (4), - wherein the control arrangement comprises a controller (5), set points (p *) and actual values (p) of the drive (4) in a target-control are processed by the operating of the control arrangement, - wherein the control device comprises a determination device (15) is determined from the iteratively in each case a quantity derived in the operation of the control assembly (G) and the derived value (G) to an evaluation device (16) is supplied, - wherein the evaluation device (16) the value derived during operation of the control assembly (G) each having a position value (p) of the drive (4) assigns to and after accumulating sufficiently many variables derived (G) characteristics of a systematic error contained in the actual values (p) determined, - wherein the evaluation device (16) determines correction values during operation of the control arrangement in response to the determined characteristic values and the correction values to the set values (p *), the actual values (p) or the difference of desired and actual values (p *, p) aufschaltet . - wherein the of determining means (15) determined derived value (G) of the difference of the time derivation (v) of the actual value (p) of one of the controller (5) on the basis of the actual value (p) and the nominal value (p *) determined lower-level desired value (v *) divided by a velocity (v), with which the position values (p) change, depends.


On February 10, 1937, will occur an event unique in Russian annals since the Revolution. During at least a minute's truce, every man and woman of the Russian race-whether White or Red, whether Soviet citizen in the cities and fields of Russia, or emigre "going up and down another's stairs" in Paris or Tokio will be just a Russian once more, as he or she bows in silent tribute before the memory of Alexander Sergeyevitch Pushkin, who died on that day a hundred years ago. The man who has brought about this miracle of the communion of feud-riven souls in a racial heritage—something that no figure in political or military or religious history, not even any other artist in letters or music or painting, not Turgeniev or Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky, has been able to accomplish—this man surely deserves the tribute of a moment's attention even from the foreigner.


In recent years, mobile data traffic has increased enormously with an increase of mobile and smart devices. The global mobile data traffic is set to increase manifold in the coming years. With the rise in mobile data traffic and heterogeneous mobile devices, substantial improvement has been achieved in wireless media technology in providing a varied range of multimedia services. These multimedia services are often resource-hungry and require high-speed data and low latency transmissions. High-speed networks like the fifth-generation (5G) network helps in faster data delivery resulting in less congestion at the backhaul links and higher transmission capacity. Integrating Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) capabilities into the cellular architecture provides advantages like intelligent and efficient context-aware caching and video adaptations for content delivery. The primary objective of this work is to reduce the overall backhaul congestion and access delay by increasing the cache hit rate at the MEC server. This work proposes a deep learning-based model for caching at the MEC servers based on the content popularity at different time slots of a day. Experimental results reveal that the proposed model outperforms the state-of-the-art standard caching approaches, improves the cache hit probability by almost 21%, and decreases backhaul usage and access delay by approximately 18%.


Abstract Large dislocation loops on the basal plane and rows of prismatic dislocation loops are both observed in quenched magnesium specimens. It was found that by altering the environment in the quenching furnace either type of dislocation defect could be made to predominate. A mechanism for the production of rows of punched loops by precipitated hydrogen gas in small voids is proposed. The significance of this mechanism in other quenching studies is discussed.


In internal combustion engines, the valvetrain is responsible for up to 25% of the friction losses, at rotational frequencies below 2000 rpm. Important friction losses in valvetrain come from the contact between the cam and the tappet. Despite to manufacturer specifications for the engine lubricant, the lubricant viscosity can be changed under some conditions, affecting the cam-tappet contact forces. Also, the surface conditions of cam and tappet can affect these friction forces. This work presents a bench mono-valve experimental apparatus and results for frictional force investigations, using aged engine lubricant SN5W30, with viscosity modifications. The influence of a tappet crown coated with H-DLC is investigated, comparing to standard tappets. These experiments showed that, under specific experimental conditions, the friction forces between the cam and the tappet are the lowest with H-DLC application, for all lubricant viscosity applied.


A new study involving cross-sectional samples of the U.S. population reveals no association between isotretinoin and suicidality, the study—s author says.


An atomic fluorescence spectrometer with dispersive and nondispersive systems has been designed and constructed. A flameless atomic fluorescence spectrometric method with the newly constructed spectrometer is described for the determination of mercury at the nanogram level. Mercury is reduced by tin(II) chloride and released from solution by a stream of argon into a quartz fluorescence cell. The fluorescence signal is measured by dispersive and nondispersive systems. Linear analytical working curves covering the mass range of mercury from the detection limits to approximately 10 and 1 μg have been established with dispersive and nondispersive systems, respectively. With the nondispersive system a detection limit of 0.003 ppb or 0.05 ng of mercury could readily be obtained. The present method was satisfactorily applied to the determination of mercury in wastewater samples.


The importance of recursive programming in an introductory computer science course is discussed from the viewpoint that the notions of 'process', 'program' and 'processor' are fundamental in computer programming. Several examples demonstrate how the concept of recursive programming and proving program correctness can be taught to freshman business majors before they are exposed to any programming language.


Field experiment with the growth of winter triticale (cultivar Grenado) was conducted in years 2007-2009 at the Didactic-Experimental Center in Tomaszkowo which is part of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. The study was carried out on typical medium brown soil, fertility class IVb. Weed control and yields were studied. Tending method was the first experimental factor and it covered: no tending, harrowing, and protection with Mustang 306 SE herbicide. The level of fertilization with nitrogen at 0, 40, 80, 120, and 160 kg N·ha -1 was the second factor. The three-year-long experimental period was characterized by high diversity of weather conditions. During all the research years, triticale chemically protected against weeds with herbicide gave significantly higher yields - on mean 5.73 t·ha -1 , compared with mechanical tending (5.11 t·ha -1 ) and no tending (4.81 t·ha -1 ). Nitrogen fertilization up to 120 kg N·ha -1 increased triticale yield


ABSTRACT Concrete-filled steel tube (CFST) stiff skeleton concrete arch bridges can be designed with longer spans using balanced ring-casting construction. However, this construction method induces non-planar sectional stress in the arch rings. To investigate the influence of the non-planar sectional stress on the seismic performance of arch bridges, we developed two numerical models of a typical arch bridge. The first model simulates the construction process of balanced ring-casting, while the second model ignores the construction process. The dynamic analysis results reveal that, if the construction process is ignored, the seismic risks of concrete cracking and reinforcement yielding in the arch rings will be underestimated.


This chapter provides a general discussion of the study at hand, disengagement in the context of tacit conversion. It summarises the main arguments of the book and highlight its contribution to the existing body of knowledge. Most notably, the chapter raises questions about the normative participant-recruitment approach in conversion studies, arguing that a simple reliance on the informants' identification or rejection of categories fails to encompass the tonalities of conversion in the contemporary spiritual landscape. Lastly, the chapter address the major limitations and implications of this research for current scholarship such as study of unbelief and nonreligion and conclude this book with several recommendations for future research.


Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a rare demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system, which is caused by the JC virus. Even though PML has been documented in organ transplant recipients, peripheral demyelinating neuropathy associated with PML has not been reported in solid organ transplant recipients. We present a case of PML associated with both central and peripheral nervous system involvement in a liver transplant patient. Seven weeks after orthotopic liver transplant, a 45-year-old woman developed myalgias, decreased vision, and paresthesia in the fourth and fifth fingers of both hands as well as a right foot drop. Neuroradiologic imaging of the brain showed a nonspecific low attenuation lesion in the right frontal lobe of the brain consistent with PML, which was later confirmed by a JC virus, DNA-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and characteristic autopsy findings of the brain, including in-situ hybridization (ISH) of brain tissue.


Dual-comb spectroscopy measurement of methan absorption around 1650nm is demonstrated using a dual-wavelength Erbium mode-locked fiber laser, which illustrates the capability of such single-cavity dual-comb sources to cover spectral range well beyond their initial bandwidth.


Air quality models base on mass balances described by systems of time-dependent, three- dimensional advection-diffusion-reaction equations. To date, one limitation of schemes for the numerical solution of such systems has been their inability to solve equations both quickly and with a high accuracy in multiple grid cell models. This requires the use of fast parallel computers. Multiblock grid techniques and implicit-explicit (IMEX) time integration schemes are suited to take bene(cid:2)t from the parallel architecture. A parallel version of the multiscale chemistry-transport code MUSCAT is presented which is based on these techniques. The me- teorological (cid:2)elds are generated simultaneously by the non-hydrostatic meteorological model LM. Both codes run in parallel mode on a prede(cid:2)ned number of processors and exchange infor- mations by an implemented coupler interface. The ability and performance of the model system are discussed.


Oxidative additions of alkyl and acyl halides to dicarbonylbiscyclopentadienyltitanium(II), Ti(cp)2(CO)2, yielded acyl derivatives of titanium, while the reaction with 9,10-phenanthraquinone (paq) gave Ti(cp)2(paq).


Metrological characterization of high-performance ΔΣ Analog-to-Digital Converters (ADCs) poses severe challenges to reference instrumentation and standard methods. In this paper, most important tests related to noise and effective resolution, nonlinearity, environmental uncertainty, and stability are proved and validated in the specific case of a high-performance ΔΣ ADC. In particular, tests setups are proposed and discussed and the definitions used to assess the performance are clearly stated in order to identify procedures and guidelines for high-resolution ADCs characterization. An experimental case study of the high-performance ΔΣ ADC DS-22 developed at CERN is reported and discussed by presenting effective alternative test setups. Experimental results show that common characterization methods by the IEEE standards 1241 [1] and 1057 [2] cannot be used and alternative strategies turn out to be effective.


Ustekinumab is a monoclonal antibody against the p40 subunit of IL-12 and IL23 which has been proven efficacious and safe in clinical trials, yet, real-word effectiveness studies are lacking. We aimed to determine the effectiveness and safety of ustekinumab in Crohn's disease patients in a usual care setting, as well as to identify factors that predict response to treatment.

 This was a retrospective review of patients with Crohn's disease who had received ustekinumab at McMaster University Medical Center between January 2017 and August 2019. The primary endpoints were 12-month rates of clinical response, clinical remission and endoscopic improvement (according to physician assessment). We also performed a multivariate logistic regression to determine independent predictors of treatment effectiveness. Key safety outcomes were rates of adverse events including infections.

 We included 123 patients with Crohn's disease, 58.8% of which had ileocolonic disease. Of these patients, 79.5% had prior TNF-antagonist exposure and 17.1% had previously used vedolizumab. The 12-month rate of clinical response, clinical remission, and endoscopic improvement, were 88%, 35%, and 47% respectively. On univariable analyses, longer disease duration was associated with a lower likelihood of achieving endoscopic improvement (OR 0.91 per year of disease duration, 95% CI 0.84–0.99, p = 0.03). On multivariate logistic regression, concomitant steroid use (OR 0.34, 95% CI 0.12–0.99, p = 0.049) and previous vedolizumab exposure (OR 0.13, 95% 0.02–0.77) were significantly associated with less likelihood of achieving clinical response at 12 months. Adverse events occurred in 13% of patients and infections occurred in only 1% of patients.

 Ustekinumab has been effective in our real-world experience at achieving clinical response, clinical remission and endoscopic improvement in patients with Crohn's disease. We found that concomitant steroid use and prior vedolizumab exposure were associated with a lower likelihood of clinical response. Further prospective data are needed to understand whether these are truly predictors of lack of response, or represent confounding from patients with more refractory disease.


A low noise amplifier (LNA) for UHF UWB radar receiver is implemented in this paper. Based on negative feedback technology, this LNA has a gain above 32dB. The gain flatness is below 1.1 dB. With the operating current under 50mA, the noise figure is less than 1.5dB. The LNA is integrated into the UWB receiver, which can reduce the gain flatness of receiver and avoid saturation and overload of receiver.


CASE REPORT A 55-year-old man with chronic alcohol use presented with epigastric pain radiating backward, vomiting, and 1 day of decreased colostomy output (created 1 year earlier for an infected hernia-repair mesh). He had no history of pancreatitis. Computed tomography angiography of the abdomen revealed pancreatic fat stranding, peripancreatic head fl uid collection, and a portal vein thrombus (Figure 1). Heparin drip was started. On day 4, the patient developed maroon stools in the colostomy bag, requiring transfusion of 2 units of red blood cells. A magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography found a 3.1 and a 2.6 cm necrotic fl uid collection fi lled with debris and hemorrhage at the pancreatic head (Figure 2). An emergent esophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed a blood clot protruding from the ampulla (Figure 3). Next, interventional radiology performed a same-day visceral angiography; they discovered and coiled an eroded gastroduodenal artery and pancreaticoduodenal arcades of the superior mesenteric artery (Figure 4). This resolved the patient ' s bleeding. Roughly 20% of moderately severe acute pancreatitis cases have local complications (eg, pseudocysts, necrosis, and hemosuccus pancreaticus). 1 Hemosuccus pancreaticus is a rare cause of upper gastrointestinal bleeding, estimated at 1/1,500 cases, translating to dif fi cult/delayed diagnosis and high mortality (overall estimated at 9.6%; 90% if untreated). 2 It is de fi ned as bleeding into the pancreatic duct and often related to in fl ammatory pancreatic diseases, pancreatic pseudocysts, and pancreatolithiasis. 3 Workup