Purpose
This paper is based on a study done to investigate patient safety in two of the largest hospitals in the Maldives, and part of that study was on challenges faced by nurses in using electronic health records (EHRs) to enhance patient safety. Patient safety is a vital component of an established patient safety culture (PSC).

Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted among nurses who also work as patient safety champions/link nurses from hospitals in Central Malé area, in the Maldives, by using focus group discussions. A purposive sampling technique was adopted, and five nurses from each hospital participated in the discussion.

Findings
Key findings included poor usability of EHRs; importance of training to use EHRs; and importance of information sharing.

Research limitations/implications
The implications for positive social change include establishing an EHR, which has the capacity to collaborate with the National Health Information Network while providing access to every patient in the Maldives.

Practical implications
EHR systems can help in collaboration among health-care professionals resulting in better patient outcomes which can contribute to establishing a PSC. Most of the patient documentation is done as paperwork in this clinical area; EHRs can contribute to minimizing paperwork and contributing quality time for better patient care. Establishing an EHR which has the capacity to collaborate with the national health information network while providing access to every patient in the Maldives.

Social implications
Establishing an EHR which has the capacity to collaborate with the national health information network while providing access to every patient in the Maldives.

Originality/value
Nurses are the bridge between patients and clinicians during patient care and therefore require as much information as possible to improve patient outcomes. While the EHRs in these two hospitals were electronic patient records (EPRs) developed by staff within the hospitals for their own use, the findings from such a bottom-up approach to develop and use EPRs can be relevant, to ensure patient safety targets of EHRs are met.


Received 08.12.2020; accepted 28.12.2020; published online 15.03.2021 The bioecology of the Barbary partridge, Alectoris barbara (Bonnaterre, 1792) (Aves Phasianidae) remain less known compared to other Phasianidae species because of the paucity of informations and studies about this species. In this research we studied and compared the breeding success of the Barbay partridge in two protected areas in Algeria. The first indication of the monitoring is the search of nests; this aspect shows the dynamism of population in nature. We have opted for the Mayfield method by using a software (J_test) which is a developed program for MS-DOS to esteem the daily survival of nests between two protected areas (Zeralda and Djelfa). Besides, we have adopted the CONTRAST software to esteem the daily survivals over the years for each region. During 3 years of follow-up, we have found that the size of the average egg in the two protected areas: Zeralda and Djelfa vary between 12 and 13.42 egg/nest. During 2012, we noted that the factor of predation has extremely high rates: on both rock areas between 33% and 56%, respectively for Zeralda and Djelfa during the year. The confrontation of the obtained results for the two methods confirms well that the survival in the areas is not influenced by the ecologic factors that characterizes each protected area. Our results leads us towards the hypothesis of a high biological potential allowing partridge populations, in a semi-arid climate, to be able to turn over and compensate a low survival thanks to some adjustments on the populations density. This information concerning our endemic species allows the researchers to put the first pillars of data and information bank of the Barbary partridge in Algeria.


The study compared the end-of-semester ratings of 77 seminar groups taught by student leaders with 73 seminars taught by faculty members. One rating scale favored the student-led groups and four ratings favored the faculty-led groups. Several areas of educational research were indicated.


A fluorescent sensor based on metalloporphyrin was developed for trimethylamine (TMA) evaluation. Density functional theory (DFT) has been performed to investigate the design mechanism of fluorescent sensor. Fourteen metalloporphyrin (MP) models were selected to find the influence of
 metal atoms and substituent groups on the binding performance of fluorescent sensor. The optimized geometry structures, relative energies, mulliken charges, spin densities, and four frontier molecular orbitals together with binding energies of these fluorescent sensors were investigated. AgP
 sensor has the lowest relative energies before and after exposure to TMA, which make AgP sensor better than the others to go through more than one pathway. Binding energy results revealed that the metalloporphyrin sensors with different metal atoms and substituent groups cause remarkable changes
 in TMA binding performances. Thus, theoretical investigations can be used to extend the fluorescent sensor in to TMA related analytes in different detection requirements, and perhaps other molecule.


The recently reported crystallization-induced diastereomer transformation (CIDT) of a precursor to navoximod was investigated using online HPLC via a modified EasySampler probe that enables selective solution phase sampling of heterogeneous...


2 experiments were conducted to examine the degree of concentration on performance as a determinant in the effect of acoustic stimuli upon performance. In the Exp. I, 2 groups of female college students whose concentration on performance was high or low took part in a choice reaction time task in which 2 visual signals were presented in 2 conditions. One was a quiet condition and the other was an instrumental music condition. In the Exp. II, another group of medium concentration was added to the 2 groups and radio news and cross-talk were presented to S instead of music. The results showed that concentration on performance was a very important determinant in the effect of acoustic stimuli upon performance.


This Study is purposed to comparative analysis in the case of balanced with Ethnic image fashion and the event of an unbalanced between fashion and make-up and to reconfigure on the make-up of the features on the Ethnic image Fashion in the 21st century. The result of this study is as follows. First, in the case of Japanese ethnic image make-up, to emphasize applied forms and formative characterization, they generally use circles and horizontal lines. Also the harmony between Japanese image make-up and primary colors like white and red strengthen ethnic images better. In the event of an unbalance between fashion and image make-up, fashion occurs dynamically in Africa and linearly in China. Sexy & natural image make-up also widely appear in the modern view. Second, in the case of African ethnic make-up balanced with African image fashion, the form is repeatedly dotted, widely water-colored, and mattedly textured using ash make-up colors such as white, red, gold, gray and so forth. African image make-up strongly expresses primitive natural beauty adding primal tribal painting art and mask forms. In case of an unbalance between fashion and image make-up, no distinctive ethnic image make-up appears. To emphasize natural patterns as well as splendid & decorative fashion, they try not to use primary colors, but instead focus on natural make-up and monotone colored point make-up, sexy make-up, avant-garde make-up, goth make-up, romantic make-up, glossy make-up.


7Cr13-Zn composite coating has advantages such as high strength and hardness and small shrinkage that is suitable for rapid arc spraying tooling technology.The effect of arc spray parameters on the performance index like the coating strength,porosity and wearability were studied through orthogonal test and an optimal combination was obtained.The application of the optimized 7Cr13-Zn composite coating to rapid tooling improves the performance of the moulds.


In the present work we propose an unsupervised ensemble method consisting of oblique trees that can address the task of auto-encoding, namely Oblique Forest AutoEncoders (briefly OF-AE). Our method is a natural extension of the eForest encoder introduced in [1]. More precisely, by employing oblique splits consisting in multivariate linear combination of features instead of the axis-parallel ones, we will devise an auto-encoder method through the computation of a sparse solution of a set of linear inequalities consisting of feature values constraints. The code for reproducing our results is available at https://github.com/CDAlecsa/Oblique-Forest-AutoEncoders.


This article examines three possible mechanisms for the effects of first-grade reading-group placement. The first is that ability-group effects are instructional, influencing students' learning through quantity, quality, and pace of instruction. The second is that the effects are social, influencing children's expectations of their own performance and their self-concepts. The third is that the effects are institutional, influencing the expectations and perceptions of significant others, such as parents and teachers, independent of students' actual performance. Using data from the Beginning School Study, the authors found substantial evidence of instructional effects of ability-group placements and no support for the social effects of ability grouping; the findings for institutional effects were only suggestive. Although ability grouping and curb&riculum tracking are among the .L.Lmost persistent forms of organizing instruction in elementary and secondary schools, relatively little is known about the magnitude of their effects and the ways in which those effects occur. This article contributes to the understanding of grouping effects by considering three possible mechanisms for the academic effects of placing children in first-grade reading groups. The first is that group placement influences the quantity, quality, and pace of instruction and hence of learning. The second is that ability groups constitute social settings in which individual children evaluate their performance and internalize academic norms, thus forming expectations


A member of the small heat shock protein family is found to regulate the formation of vasculature. A study by Dimberg and colleagues combines novel insights into the mechanisms of tumor angiogenesis with therapeutic opportunities for the treatment of cancer.


The boundary-integral method is used to solve for eigenvectors that are discrete representations of the characteristic modes of both single-layer and stacked thin microwave antennas. The performance of high-Q resonant devices is adequately represented near each natural frequency by a single characteristic mode. In the case of stacked structures, it is proposed that, instead of thinking in terms of the natural frequencies of the individual antennas (microstrip patches or cavity-backed slot antennas), performance (impedance and patterns) should be considered in terms of the multiple natural frequencies and corresponding characteristic modes of the coupled system.<<ETX>>


Unexplored problem is a question of a person's rights on life and death. Ignored by state the right of a person on death is a multifold problem, the solution of which is impossible. The attempt of this problem actuality and timeliness proving as in a world scale as in a modern Russian reality is revealed in this article.


The paper describes the system, the procedure and the first results of the on site measurements devoted to the spectrometric characterization of the Tintoretto's painting in the "Scuola Grande di SanRocco" in Venice. The measuring method proves to be effective to provide a solid basis for the study and the design of a new lighting system able to improve the quality of the enjoyment of the works of art.


The increasing use of geosynthetics to reinforce soils in many geotechnical engineering applications requires better evaluation of the soil–geosynthetic interface properties for use in the design and analysis of the different reinforced soil structures. The soil–geosynthetic interaction can be determined from direct shear tests or pullout tests. Until now, most research was focused on investigating the interface properties between geosynthetics and granular materials. Interest has increased in the use of marginal soils as backfill materials in mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) walls and embankments because of the cost-effectiveness of using the available cohesive soils. This strategy requires the evaluation of interaction parameters between geosynthetics and marginal soils. For this purpose, a series of laboratory and field pullout tests was carried out with different types of geosynthetic reinforcements in marginal silty clay soil of medium plasticity. Four types of geogrids and three types of geotextiles were used in this study. Laboratory and field pullout tests were compared. The coefficient of interaction (Ci) between geosynthetics and cohesive backfill, the variation of pullout design parameters (F*, α) with overburden depth, and the shear stress distribution along the reinforcement specimen also were evaluated.


Several new berylloarsenate frameworks, layer structures, and a new zeolite topology, employing the OH unit as a bridging anion, are synthesized, and their structures are determined by single crystal XRD.


Abstract : Of the three components of a national security strategy, the one that seems to be the most used, but least understood in terms of impact and efficacy is economic; specifically, the use of economic power in the service of national interests. That very often, economic coercion doesn't work or has unintended consequences shows that the use of economic power as an instrument of policy is problematic. Often, sanctions are imposed as a consequence of the lack of feasible alternatives: military action would be too massive, and diplomatic protest too meager for any intended effect. Prior to any action being taken, an "economic preparation of the battlefield" or "EPB" should be done. Much like the intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB) that defines military operations, the EPB provides the basis for determining how friendly courses of action, specifically economic warfare, will affect the enemy and how the enemy will respond. The calculus of coercion states that the cost of compliance must be less than the cost of sanctions for economic coercion to have an effect. If, on the other hand, the cost of compliance is greater than the cost of defiance, the end result will be defiance. By methodically and analytically looking at the enemy and his systems, a logical and causal path can be laid out to achieve the desired effect.


his article is intended to employ the recent decision of the House of Lords in R v Derby Magistrates' Court, ex parte B 119951 4 All ER 526' as an illustration of some of the difficulties which stem from the complexity of the law of evidence, and in particular the mixture of values which different sorts of rules embrace. Its aim is to account for some of the causes ofthose difficulties: to describe the context in which the problem has now arisen; to expound the provenance and principle of the rule of legal professional privilege as stated by the House of Lords; to criticise the reasoning employed by the House in the light of the nature of the rule of privilege, its rationale, other authority and appropriate analogy; and then to consider how far it should yield to the interest of the defence, and what considerations should apply to resolve the problems as a matter of principle.


AbstractThe treatment of dairy effluent, strongly loaded with biodegradable matter, can help protect the environment, when the purified water will be used for irrigation and the sludge produced valorized through agricultural use. The purpose of this study was to investigate the removal of organic matter (as COD) from synthetic dairy wastewater in a sequencing batch reactor which depends on three main factors: aeration time; volume load (VL), and organic loading (OL). Results show that whether the COD of the effluent to be treated varies from 220 to 7000 mg O2/l, the COD of the treated effluent is reduced when aeration time increases. For low COD levels, below 2640 mg O2/l, 20 h of aeration time appears to be an optimum value ensuring an effluent composition very much in line with the discharge standards (≈120 mg O2/l). For higher applied organic loads, up to 7000 mg O2/l, the aeration time required is longer. Thus, it takes 48 h to reduce 7000 mg O2/l to a value hardly consistent with the discharge standa...


Tramadol is a centrally acting analgesic that is not chemically related to opiates, but binds to mu-opioid receptors; it is marketed for treatment of "moderate to moderately severe pain." This randomized six-week trial, sponsored by the manufacturer, examined tramadol's …


China's newly established science and engineering universities face six serious challenges for their existence in the next two decades.In order to embrace the competition of the time,they need to change their focus from empirical and theoretical study to more economy and production oriented field,establish interdisciplinary programs,reform their curricula and teaching methodologies,actively engage in international cooperation and maintain one's own characteristics in terms of their administration and teaching system.Finally,the universities have to urgently develop their online courses.


The dynamic feedback noninteraction with stability problem for square affine systems with a nonsingular decoupling matrix is investigated. First, a characterization of the class of dynamic feedback...


A study on the effect of liming on manganese uptake by some leguminous and non-leguminous crops under different fertilizer and soil conditions in Chotanagpur (Bihar) suggested that, in general, lime addition depressed the uptake of manganese by the plants. Seed inoculation of legumes with respective Rhizobium cultures increased the manganese uptake under limed condition along with NPK fertilizers, in case of moong (Phaseolus radiatus) and soybean crops.


Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are long-term contractual agreements between the public and private sector for the provision of public infrastructures and services. Due to tighter budget constraints and to a renewed interest in greater involvement of the private sector in the provision of public services, PPPs are likely to grow in the near future. In this paper, we review the theory and practice of PPPs, highlighting their potential role as well as discussing the main factors influencing the likelihood of performance failure.


In response to the phenomena of premature manner and low speed in convergence as traditional genetic algorithm is applied in generating test papers,an improved genetic-algorithm-based generating style is proposed.Meanwhile,it also elaborates process of the improved style in generating test papers,including the confirmation of encoding method,fitness function,crossover operator and mutation operator.Group method of positive integer has been adopted in this improved algorithm in individual coding.Furthermore,the improved algorithm manages to make use of crossover probability and genetic probability in the operating process.From the proof in a series of simulation tests,the improved algorithm enhances efficiency in generating test papers to a great extent.


This article investigates the causal relationship between campaign activity during U.S. House elections and district-wide turnout rates from 1972 to 2006. Utilizing panel data and a first differences modeling approach, turnout is conceptualized dynamically as change in turnout. Changes in campaign expenditures, competition, and other political campaigns are used to account for this conceptualization of turnout. This design permits inferences to be made about the causal relationship between changes in campaign activity and expected changes in turnout. The results indicate that House spending, competition, and Senate elections are important to turnout, especially during Midterm elections. Finally, a comparison between cross-sectional and first differences models provides evidence that problems can arise when attempting to make causal inferences using cross-sectional data.


The remaining oil in the middle and high water-cut stages are the important targets to increase production for the old oil fields at home and abroad. The anisotropism and the fluid characters of the macro-geology and the micro-reservoir of petroleum reservoir are the main factors to impact on the distribution of remaining oil. The established reservoir models and modeled distribution of the reservoir after the second segment of Ken71 fault block was synthetically studied to provide support for the further development and increasing recovery of the reservoir.


This paper contextualizes the 1967 design of Regional Technical College (RTC) campuses in Ireland, with reference to the influence of oil crises on early green design and the establishment of a regulatory environment. Variation between NZEB and Passive House low energy strategies are discussed. Design Science and Action research inform solution-oriented methodologies in a pilot retrofit project on 1.5% area of an RTC building. Problem investigation notes previous schemes, stakeholder's goals, building evaluation and energy performance diagnosis. Environment interaction between context and artifact are discussed. Design validation includes simulated envelope performances, which inform design iterations. Phenomena are evaluated in terms of energy performance during a critical time window. Findings from the design process of the pilot project are presented, outlining its limitations, scalability and commercialization potential. Keywords-Component: Low energy, retrofit, precast concrete, energy performance


The Chinese and the westerners hold different aesthetic values toward human body.The Chinese prefer to cover their body while the westerners favor exposing their skin outside.The different traditional cultures of China and the West account for this.That the pure agricultural societies spanned a very long period in ancient China evolves the spirit of wen(meaning civilization).Li(meaning etiquette),the embodiment of wen,requires that sexual characteristics be covered,thus bringing about the custom of covering human body.On the contrary,the frequent occurrence of pirate robbery,colonization and war in the marine life decides that the ancient Greeks had to fight the nature to survive.Hence this produces the military spirit.Apart from that,the warm weather,military training and competing in the nude in sports all contribute to their aesthetic value toward human body.


The Sunda and Asri Basins are petroliferous in Indonesia. Despite producing billions of barrels of oil equivalent since their initial production, research on the source rock organic geochemistry of these basins remains limited, particularly concerning the sapropelic kerogen of the syn-rift Banuwati Formation. A comprehensive study of the Banuwati Formation in the Sunda and Asri Basins was conducted using kerogen and biomarker data. Various techniques, such as carbon analysis, Rock-Eval pyrolisis, vitrinite reflectance (Ro), gas chromatography (GC), and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), were employed on samples from six wells. The Banuwati Formation exhibits source rock with good to very good quantities. Biomarker analysis offers a novel interpretation, suggesting that the Banuwati shale source rock was deposited in an oxic-suboxic environment. The formation is primarily composed of Type I organic material, characterized by the presence of biomarkers such as C26 tricyclic terpane, C30 4-methylsterane, and a possible botryococcane peak, indicative of a lacustrine setting. Maturity assessments based on Ro and Tmax values show conflicting results. Tmax values imply maturity, while Ro values suggest immaturity. This discrepancy is likely due to Ro suppression, a phenomenon often observed in Type I kerogen samples.


We investigated the effect of twin Schmid factor on the tension twinning of individual grains in deformed textured Mg-3Al-1Zn samples. The samples were deformed to ~3% strain (normal-direction compression and tension, rolling-direction compression and tension, and 45 o compression). Statistical analyses on the electron backscatter diffraction results revealed tension twinning generally obeys the Schmid law for individual grains, regardless of whether the global stress state favors tension twinning or not. The strong dependence of tension twinning on Schmid factor is in contrast to the reported weak correlation of dislocations and Schmid factor in the same material system. Such observations are anticipated to advance the understanding of the Schmid factor effect on the deformation behavior of polycrystalline Mg alloys.


The paper analyzes the problems in the security of E-government and introduces digital watermarking.An algorithm is proposed for text image.Watermark is embedded into an original image by using scrambling method and flipping the pixels which meet the visual constraints.Experimental results show that the algorithm can ensure the invisibility and practicability.


Toxocara canis (T.canis) is the commonroundworm of dogs with particular concern in the human population. It isinhabit fundamentally the small intestine of their mammalian definitive hosts,and causes variable clinic pictures from asymptomatic to have typical digestiveclinical symptoms. We present a case of helminthic zoonotic agents in a puppyfrom Saudi Arabia. This puppy had been healthy with no significant precedingsymptoms or past medical history, a round body with spiky cranial and caudalparts, covered by yellow cuticula was seen passed in the vomition. Whoever,stool test revealed this parasite as Toxocara canis. Routine treatmentof mebendazole® and ivermectin® to limit the spread of this resilient group ofparasites was recommended. This case underlines that Toxocara canis shouldalso be considered in pet's shops as a possible source of human infectionparticularly for pet ownerships and/or public in Saudi Arabia.


Switched‐capacitor multi‐level inverters (SCMLIs) have become more popular in recent years due to their unique advantage of voltage boosting capability. A seven‐level triple boost SCMLI is proposed in this paper. The proposed topology consists of 10 switches, one diode, three self‐balanced capacitors, and a DC source. The voltage stress on each switch is less than or equal to twice the input DC source voltage. Further, 4 out of 10 switches are switched at the fundamental frequency. The maximum conducting switches at each level is less than or equal to 4. The capacitors are self‐balanced without using any voltage sensors or external circuits. A detailed comparison has been given with the existing seven‐level triple boost SCMLI to show the superiority of the proposed topology. The seven‐level triple boost SCMLI is simulated using MATLAB/SIMULINK tool. The proposed model is verified at low‐ and high‐frequency switching, sudden changes in output load, and different modulation index values. The results are verified experimentally with the help of a prototype model developed in the laboratory using dSPACE 1104.


The need for flatter and smoother surfaces (planarization) in microelectronic circuits increases as the number of metal levels in ultra large scale integrated (ULSI) circuits increases. At Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the authors have developed an electrochemical planarization process that fills vias and trenches with metal (without voids) and subsequently planarizes the surface. Use is made of plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of SiO{sub 2} for the dielectric layers and electroplated copper for the metalization. This report describes the advantages of this process over existing techniques, possibilities for collaboration, and previous technology transfer.


The emerging edge computing is poised to move computing and intelligence to the network's edge so as to be close to the data sources for fast responses and reduced network traffic. In edge computing, edge devices need to encompass a wide variety of applications or services, from data preprocessing, intelligence inference, to multimedia human interface. Many such applications are well suited for special-purpose hardware accelerators. With the increasing number of accelerators on the edge devices, a promising architecture for edge devices is an asymmetric heterogeneous multicore that incorporates one or more microcontrollers to offload accelerator scheduling and interrupt handling from the main CPU, as exemplified in the NVIDIA Deep Learning Accelerator (NVDLA). To develop such computing systems, virtual platforms such as QEMU are often used. Unfortunately, QEMU only supports symmetric homogeneous multicore systems. In this paper, we tackle the challenging problem of supporting asymmetric heterogeneous multicore systems on QEMU by considering two possible implementation strategies: one-process and multi-process. The challenges are discussed and our implementations are presented. The two approaches are then compared qualitatively and quantitatively.


The relationship between modernity and religiosity has been in the center of many scholarly debates. Among others, Charles Taylor presents in his works a general picture of the elements that shape the secular age. He starts with the question why people used to be faithful, while they are not easily so in our age. To answer, he explores the past five centuries in the West and coins some terms to explain what happened. Among these terms, the "conditions of belief" is a key concept to explain the current situation. This article discusses four impacts that, according to Taylor, modernity had on religion. Additionally, it tries to shed some light on certain aspects of Taylor's ideas and critically analyze them. Finally, it concludes that although Taylor's work helps us better understand our age and the modern situation of faith, it needs to be modified and completed.


In this paper we propose a novel method for collimator design in single photon emission tomography (SPECT). The challenge here is to find a practical collimator design that allows good recovery and good sensitivity. Instead of working on the collimator's shape, the problem is addressed by optimizing the point spread function (PSF) with respect to the performance of the reconstruction algorithm in terms of resolution modelling. The optimization is based on an object-dependent cost function that takes into account bother recovery coefficient (RC) and sensitivity. Therefore, for each object considered a different "optimal" PSF is expected. Once a PSF is obtained, we assess its performances by plotting the coefficient of variation (COV) versus the recovery coefficient (RC) at each iteration of a maximum likelihood maximization expectation (MLEM) algorithm. We performed our experiments on two-dimensional (2-D) geometric phantoms, in order to investigate the relationship between the optimal PSF and the object geometrical properties, as well as on a 2-D brain activity phantom. We show that the optimized PSF's lead to resolution models that improve both image resolution and signal to noise ratio.


The Romualdo Formation, Araripe Basin, crops out in the municipality of Exu, Pernambuco State, exposing coquinas. Fauna survey, taphonomic analysis of the macrobenthos, and identification of sedimentary facies of the outcrop were carried out to contribute to paleoenvironmental understanding of the Romualdo Formation. The association of molluscs (Cerithium sp., Tylostoma ranchariensis, Aguileria dissita, Brachidontes araripensis and unidentified cassiopids) and echinoids of the species Bothryopneustes araripensis suggests sedimentation in the marine environment. The taphonomic similarities made possible the grouping of coquinas into two types. Coquinas type 1 exhibit characteristics of transport and reworking of bioclast generated by storms in proximal setting. Coquinas type 2 demonstrates echinoids in situ and articulated with spines connected to shells, suggesting a fast sedimentation by distal tempestite. Regarding sedimentary facies, the concentrations of invertebrates would have been formed in the transitional offshore zone of siliclastic platform. The results presented here evidence a broader distribution of echinoids and expand the geographic limits of the shallow marine environment in the Romualdo Formation.


Islanding detection is an essential function for most grid-connected converters,especially PV grid-connected converters.The passive islanding detection methods have large none detection zone.The active islanding detection strategies are proposed to improve the detection ability.However,they introduce perturbations in the converters output,contributing to poor power quality.This paper analyzes the working principle and parameters selection rules for frequency shift and phase shift islanding detection techniques.The algorisms optimization and the multi-converter operation performance are also investigated.It provides basic islanding detection guidance for PV grid-connected converters.


Predatory pricing is one of typical forms of conducts of abuse of dominant position.The economic analysis should be used to determine predatory pricing,and the rule of determination should be lower than average variable cost of the enterprise instead of others.The determination of predatory pricing should consider these factors such as analysis of market backgrounds and trend,the barrier of market entry and its concentration ratio,the destruction of market competition order,the excluding its competitors,the damages of consumer welfare,etc.Besides above,the consideration of loss compensation of lower than average variable cost should be the key factor.


As the reinforced concrete pier columns are often destroyed by earthquake because of the lack of ex- tensibility,glass fiber,aramid fiber and round hoop are used to reinforce the pier column.The quake-proof extensibility is researched by doing static load test and analyzing the energy-intensive.A conclusion is made as below:Those ma- terials improve the performance of quake-proof to some extent,the best of the three is aramid fiber.


The properties of two alloyed metals have been known since the Bronze Age to outperform those of a single metal. How alloying and mixing metals applies to the nanoworld is now attracting considerable attention. The galvanic process, which is more than two centuries old and involves the reduction of a noble‐metal cation by a less noble metal, has not only been used in technological processes, but also in the design of nanomaterials for the synthesis of bimetallic transition‐metal nanoparticles. The background and nanoscience applications of the galvanic reactions (GRs) are reviewed here, in particular with emphasis on recent progress in bimetallic catalysis. Very recently, new reactions have been discovered with nanomaterials that contradict the galvanic principle, and these reactions, called anti‐galvanic reactions (AGRs), are now attracting much interest for their mechanistic, synthetic, catalytic, and sensor aspects. The second part of the review deals with these AGRs and compares GRs and AGRs, including the intriguing AGRs mechanism and the first applications.


This annually updated reader is a compilation of newspaper, magazine and journal articles. These illustrated articles by social scientists, educators, researchers and writers offer a perspective on important topics of the day in the study of social welfare and social work.


The invention provides a processing method for solution-leaching copper-containing minerals, comprising the following steps: (1) fully mixing the copper-containing minerals which are pulverized and ground with ammonium sulfate as the solid-phase reactant; (2) transferring the products of the solid-phase reaction to hot water, stirring, leaching and filtering; and (3) separating and purifying the filter liquor according to the component of the minerals. The method allows the solid-phase reaction between ammonium sulfate as the solid-phase reactant and copper and other metals in the minerals under the conditions of constant pressure and lower reaction temperature, and then, the copper is transferred (leached) to the solution through clear water, thereby providing convenience for further separating and purifying and finally the target products are obtained; the ammonia decomposed during the digestion reaction process of the minerals, and the ammonium sulfate solution which is the residue from the separation of the digestion leaching solution are recycled for cyclic use respectively, thereby forming the self-circulation of raw and supplemental materials and minimizing the consumption of ammonium sulfate; and compared with the original processing method, the processing method of the invention has the advantages of low environmental pollution and low energy consumption and greatly reduces the production cost.


This study aims to examine the peritext of translational national anthologies, i.e. collections of translated literary texts from one specific nation published in another. The peritext is sometimes understood as a hybrid space where source and target cultures meet (Elefante, 2012, p. 11), but it has also been argued that the repackaging of literary texts in new languages and settings tends to reinforce national stereotypes (Sapiro, 2008). Could this be the case for translational national anthologies? In an attempt to answer this question, the current paper analyzes the peritext of anthologies of Italian literature published in Sweden. A corpus of peritexts is examined in order to explore whether cultural images of Italy and Italians are on display in the anthologies. The corpus will thus be analyzed from an imagological perspective, since imagology is the study of literary representations of nations and nationalities, so-called images, that form an imaginated discourse


【In this study, Kajiyama equation and SWAT model were used to estimate the available water resources from 1967 to 2003 at the small scale watershed, located in Dongnae-Myeon, Chunchen, Gangwon. The annual average streamflow for dry years estimated using the Kajiyama equation and the SWAT model were $2,593,779m^3$ and $2,579,162m^3$ . The annual average streamflow for wet years were $7,223,804m^3$ and $7,035,253m^3$ , respectively. The annual arrange streamflow for the entire 36 year period were $14,868,601m^3$ and $14,214,292m^3$ , respectively. The coefficient of determination ( $R^2$ ) and the Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient for comparison between Kajiyama and SWAT were 0.90 and 0.79, respectively. The comparison indicates that the Kajiyama equation and the SWAT model can be used to estimate the streamflow at th study watershed with reasonable accuracy, although the estimated values were not compared with measured streamflow data, which is not available at the small scale study watershed. However, the Kajiyama equation is recommended for estimating available water resources at Dongnae-Myeon watershed because of its ease-of-use and reasonable accuracy compared with the SWAT model, requiring numerous model input and expensive GIS software in operating the model】


The sources of astrophysical jets are not accessible to direct observations due to the small scales on which the jet formation mechanism operates. Simulations suggest that jets emenating from young stellar objects originate from conically converging flows, generated when the stellar wind obliquely encounters the inward facing reverse shock. The use of high intensity lasers to reproduce astrophysical phenomena in the laboratory is an extremely promising approach for verifying and investigating such astrophysical models. Jets produced in laboratory experiments have, until now, usually been created by directly creating a conical flow that converges to produce a jet. This mechanism omits the first part of the mechanism in which the stellar outflow is focused into the conical flow. In this contribution we propose a new experimental setup, with simple initial conditions, that is able to reproduce both stages of the mechanism, including the inward facing reverse shock. By selectively heating a small region inside a target, irradiated by a highintensity laser pulse, a jet can be driven into the plasma behind the rear target surface. We present three dimensional simulations of the formation of the jet. We find jets with aspect ratios of over 15 and Mach numbers between 2.5 and 4.3. The influence of simulation parameters is investigated and the applicability of the jets to their astrophysical counterparts is discussed.


This was taken during a research fieldtrip to study the composition and impacts of smoke from tropical peatland fires in southeast Asia. These fires, often driven by land clearance or land grabbing practices, contribute to transboundary air pollution episodes in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and Brunei. Acknowledgements: This research was funded by the ESRC.


The new technique estimating the power of SPM and XPM nonlinear interference is proposed. The technique is illustrated by its application to a particular fiber-optic communication link.


A marine alga, Caulerpa racemose (seaweed), exhibits few biological
 activities, such as antinociceptive/anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and
 growth regulator. This study aimed to determine the antidiabetic activity of
 this seaweed. High-performance thin-layer chromatography of C. racemosa
 ethanolic extract was performed to identify its active constituents.
 Antidiabetic activity of C. racemosa ethanolic extract (100 and
 200 mg/kg) was evaluated using various biochemical paradigms
 against glipizide (5 mg/kg) in a streptozotocin-induced diabetes
 rat model. High-performance thin-layer chromatography revealed
 β-sitosterol as an active constituent and also indicated the
 presence of saponins and alkaloids. Treatment with C. racemosa ethanolic
 extract significantly reduced blood glucose levels in diabetic rats, and the
 degree of glucose reduction was comparable to that attained by glipizide
 treatment. The C. racemosa ethanolic extract treatment restored the
 impaired glycosylated hemoglobin level, liver glycogen level, glucose uptake by
 hemidiaphragm, and glucose transport by hepatic cells. Pretreatment with C.
 racemosa ethanolic extract also restored lipid abnormalities, elevated
 liver enzymes, elevated inflammatory markers, and depleted endogenous
 antioxidants. A superior effect was shown by C. racemosa ethanolic
 extract (200 mg/kg) over glipizide (5 mg/kg).
 Moreover, the restoration of the histoarchitecture of the pancreas by C.
 racemosa ethanolic extract (200 mg/kg) was comparable to
 that of the glipizide (5 mg/kg) treatment group. The present
 experimental findings demonstrate significant antidiabetic activity of C.
 racemosa ethanolic extract in diabetic rats using various biochemical
 paradigms. Further, C. racemosa ethanolic extract seems to be safe and
 does not affect vital organs adversely.


The success of a hospital in carrying out its role in individual health services and public health is determined by professional and quality human resources who have good performance. One of the human resources that plays an important role in achieving this role is the medical record employee who documents the actions given while in the hospital. This study is a qualitative research that aims to explore the relationship between workload and job satisfaction with employee performance. The research was conducted at Grandmed Lubuk Pakam Hospital. The sample was taken by purposive sampling, while the data was collected by conducting interviews, Focus Group Discussion (FGD), observation and document review. The validity of the data in this study was carried out through method triangulation and source triangulation. The results showed that workload and job satisfaction were related to employee performance. Most employees are included in the heavy workload category (60%) while the lowest employee performance is in the quantity aspect of work (70%). Therefore, performance improvement can be done by providing a workload that is in accordance with the abilities and abilities of employees.


This article develops a semi-supervised algorithm to address the challenging multi-source localization problem in a noisy and reverberant environment, using a spherical harmonics domain source feature of the relative harmonic coefficients. We present a comprehensive research of this source feature, including (i) an illustration confirming its sole dependence on the source position, (ii) a feature estimator in the presence of noise, (iii) a feature selector exploiting its inherent directivity over space. Source features at varied spherical harmonic modes, representing unique characterization of the soundfield, are fused by the Multi-Mode Gaussian Process modeling. Based on the unifying model, we then formulate the mapping function revealing the underlying relationship between the source feature(s) and position(s) using a Bayesian inference approach. Another issue of the overlapped components is addressed by a pre-processing technique performing overlapped frame detection, which in turn reduces this challenging problem to a single source localization. It is highlighted that this data-driven method has a strong potential to be implemented in practice because only a limited number of labeled measurements is required. We evaluate this proposed algorithm using simulated recordings between multiple speakers in diverse environments, and extensive results confirm improved performance in comparison with the state-of-art methods. Additional assessments using real-life recordings further prove the effectiveness of the method, even at unfavorable circumstances with severe source overlapping.


The present paper contains properties of the geometric vector inequality, introduced in [4] and [12]. Such properties are of interest not only in itself, but they are also useful for a systematic treatment of special structured vector optimization problems, denoted as geometric vector optimization problems. Especially, a close connection to the Fenchel vector conjugate as well as to the Legendre vector transform will be shown


In vivo T Cell Depletion with Thymoglobulin or Alemtuzumab Is Associated With Worse Outcome Following Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients Transplanted in Remission. Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) reduces relapse risk in adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) due in large part to the potent graft-versus-leukemia effect of donor lymphocytes. However, this benefit must be balanced by the increased morbidity and mortality associated with graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Serotherapy, in the form of thymoglobulin or alemtuzumab, has been used for in vivo T cell depletion as a strategy to reduce GVHD. We analyzed 144 consecutive AML patients transplanted in remission (CR1 - 111, CR≥2 - 33) from either a matched related (MRD, n=44), unrelated (MUD, n=62), or haploidentical (haplo, n=38) marrow of PBSC donor, in order to analyze the effect of serotherapy, in relation to other disease-, patient- and transplant-related risk factors, on post-transplant outcomes. Patients were transplanted at a single institution between 3/15/06 to 12/19/14. Baseline characteristics of the patient cohort included age >50 in 88 (61%), KPS Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Niccolò Machiavelli died nearly 500 years ago, but his name lives on as a byword for cunning, duplicity, and the exercise of bad faith in political affairs. So much notoriety has gathered around Machiavelli's name that the charge of being a machiavellian still remains a serious accusation in political debate. What lies behind the sinister reputation Machiavelli has acquired? Is it really deserved? What views about politics and political morality does he put forward in his major works? In order to understand Machiavelli's doctrines, we need to begin by recovering the problems he evidently saw himself confronting in The Prince, the Discourses, and his other works of political thought.


This article quantifies the maximum capacity of fixed-altitude airspace sectors and develops conflict resolution algorithms to achieve this capacity using constant-speed heading-change maneuvers. The proposed conflict resolution algorithms are decentralized and can be used for sectors with multiple intersections. We show that the acceptable output-flow-rate determines the capacity of the sector; automation procedures (for conflict resolution) can be designed to achieve this sector capacity.


We performed a systematic and comprehensive estimate of the Hubble constant $H_0$ via the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich temperature decrement and the X-ray measurements for clusters up to the redshift $z=0.541$, with particular attention to its dependence on the density parameter $\Omega_0$, and the cosmological constant $\lambda_0$. The resulting values of $H_0$ are largely consistent with that derived from the Cepheid distance for nearby galaxies. We discuss how the angular diameter distance $d_A$ vs. $z$ diagram from the accurate SZ measurements of high-$z$ clusters can distinguish the values of $\Omega_0$ and $\lambda_0$.


"Acquiring French spelling, reading and pronunciation rules in school encounters many difficulties. They result from the complexity of the system itself, the degree of complexity of its description and the lack of greater interest in systematic teaching of orthography at the level of the developed materials for teaching French, mainly school textbooks. The article shows the phonetic difficulties encountered by a Polish student while learning the rules of reading and pronouncing French words with the consonant s. It also contains a number of valuable comments and information on the transition from a graphic sign to a phonic sign in the process of teaching and learning French as a foreign language."


tax liens on unpaid water bills screened out tenants expected to cause problems or surveilled and harassed tenants. Many believed—despite a lack of experience— that the steady income provided by tenants with housing choice vouchers would be outweighed by the expense of maintaining properties to pass exacting housing authority inspections and the onerous process of evicting tenants. Other landlords operated successfully using economies of scale to professionalize their operations. Findings are most applicable to declining regions or with local policies like the water liens described. How these findings may apply to faster growing cities with strong rental markets, where few policies exist to protect renters, is less clear. Nonetheless, it is sure to be of great interest to students, scholars, and practitioners concerned with ensuring access to stable, decent housing for low-income renters through the private rental market.


The following article questions the relationship between naked and clothed theatre performers and the resulting sexualisation of the body. Contrary to the emphasis on the genital area—which arguably constitutes the sexualised body in contemporary performance (Karl Toepfer 1996)—I argue for a more comprehensive bodily engagement (with a special focus on the human skin) when it comes to the creation and perception of nakedness. Building on Aoife Monks' idea of nudity as a corporeal costume, this article looks at three examples of contemporary dance theatre—Dubois' Tragédie (2014); Platel's Out of Context: For Pina (2010); Waltz's Körper (2000)—in order to demonstrate that the performer is not necessarily required to 'take the pants off' in order to appear naked. I argue for the active involvement of the performer's skin (skin 'openly staring', 'enticing', or just 'peeping through') which not only constitutes the naked bodily manifestation but also the sexualisation (or lack of it) of the body in theatre. This body is never passive: on the contrary, while the "real" or "truthful" body is no longer accessible (if it ever was), the performers (with the help of the choreographers and designers) are capable of manipulating and multiplying their bodily reality, which allows them to play sexuality 1 -to create diverse corporeal and sexual meanings.


Appraisal the condition of the road on pavement surface is one step in the determination of maintenance management program to a road segments that need to be handled. This study pupose is to determine the road condition on the road section Dumai City  - Duri precisely at STA 173 + 000-177 + 000 and also to determine the type of precise handling program in maintenance. Based on the results of the analysis, the greatest damage type, either use Bina Marga Method and PCI Method is type of slippery aggregate damage. But for the smallest percentage of damage, there is a difference between Bina Marga Method and PCI Method. This is due to a difference in the election unit examined samples. In the Bina Marga Method the smallest damage percentage is type of popouts damage while in PCI method obtained the smallest percentage value of the damage isa type of fracture damage on plate. Results of assesment  rigid pavement road surface conditions at STA 173 + 000-177 + 000 in Dumai City Limits road - Duri by Bina Marga Methodobtained damage limitation percentage on 2.40% to the size of the surface layer of pavement surveyed road conditions were rated as " good (B) "the obtained result of determination program, namely road handling routine maintenance. While the results of the condition assessment of PCI method, PCI value obtained with a value on 65.25 road conditions as "Good " and the determination program of road maintenance is regular maintenance. It can be concluded that the results of assessment of the condition of  Dumai City Limits road - Duri City at STA 173 + 000-177 + 000 using either a Bina Marga Methods and Pavement Condition Index (PCI) Methods in determining the assessment of road conditions and determining the program road plan maintenance obtained the same results.


. A new copper(II) complex, Cu(dpb)(NO 3 ) 2 (H 2 O) (dpb=2,2'-dipyridylbenzylamine) ( 1 ) was synthesized from the reaction of Cu(NO 3 ) 2 (cid:1) 3H 2 O and dpb in ethanol solution followed by recrystallization in acetonitrile. The structure of 1 was determined by X-ray diffraction methods. The single crystal structure was characterized as follows: space group P 2 1 / c , Z =4, a =12.501(9) F , b =9.231(10) F , c =17.119(6) F , a =90 o , b =107.33(4) o , g = 90 o , V =1885.8(2) F 3 , R 1 =0.0647, R 2 =0.1866 for 3258 reflections. Compound was a typical paramagnetic copper(II) complex coordinated by 2,2'-dipyridylamine derivative ligand, which was confirmed by EPR, NMR, UV/VIS, and IR


Current research on artificial vision and pattern recognition tends to concentrate either on numerical processing (filtering, morphological, spectral) or in symbolic or subsymbolic processing (neural networks, fuzzy logic, knowledge-based systems). In this work we combine both kinds of processing in a hybrid image processing architecture. The numerical processing part implements the most usual facilities (equalization, convolution filters, morphological filters, segmentation and description) in a way adequate to transform the input image into a polygonal outline. Then recognition is performed with a rule-based system implemented in Prolog. This allows a neat high-level representation of the patterns to recognize as a set of logical relations (predicates), and also the recognition procedure is represented as a set of logical rules. To integrate the numerical and logical components of our system, we embedded a Prolog interpreter as a software component within a visual programming language. Thus, our architecture features both the speed and versatility of a visual language application, and the abstraction level and modularity of a logical description.


In this paper, a wideband accurate check method for conducted emissions current probe method (CE-CP) measurement system is presented and validated. The analytical expression of the current level spectrum of the trapezoidal pulse measured by the electromagnetic interference (EMI) receiver is provided. The analysis shows that the spectrum is not only decided by single pulse waveform parameters, including the amplitude, the rising/falling edge time and the duration time, but also controlled by the pulse repetition frequency and the resolution bandwidth (RBW) of the EMI receiver. Using a trapezoidal pulse train with its rising / falling time and duration in several nanoseconds (ns), a repetition frequency far less than the minimum measurement RBW and a repetition period not greater than the minimum measurement time, the wideband accurate checks for the CE-CP measurement system can be achieved. The experiment results show that the measured check data of the system are in good agreement with the theoretical simulation data.


ABSTRACT This article focuses on British maritime law to discuss the challenge of transferring Admiralty law to Britain's Atlantic colonies, considered through the lens pirate trials and executions. Colonial governors in North America and the West Indies tolerated piracy during the seventeenth century to obtain goods barred from the restrictions imposed by the Navigation Acts. These deals were largely ignored, but the increasing piratical insults against the Crown and pressure from foreign competitors, such as Spain, forced British officials to crack down on piracy. Unfortunately, years of tolerating pirates had allowed these criminals to become too numerous for British officials to transport captured pirates back to England for trial and executions. As a result, by 1700 they had to establish their maritime legal ruling body, the Admiralty Court, throughout the American colonies under the jurisdiction of local governors. However, complex geographical challenges in the Caribbean and religiously influenced social laws in North America forced colonial governors to alter the English system to fit their needs and create autonomous legal networks. This article argues that the establishment and maintenance of British Admiralty law in the Atlantic colonies led to the development of early American ideas of autonomy.


In the first and second chapters we have established that Reinhold's early philosophical interests were closely connected to the life he led as a monk, and then as a Freemason and an Aufklärer. Although in this early period he did not put forward a systematic philosophical theory of his own, his reviews, articles and speeches are by no means a random collection of opinions. They show a coherence that indicates that he had definite ideas about man and society and especially the role of history and religion. This means that when he became acquainted with the Kantian philosophy, his understanding of it was inevitably influenced by his previous philosophical concerns. Before presenting the evidence of the importance of that influence in the following chapters, the present chapter aims at establishing the circumstances under which Reinhold came into touch with Kant's philosophy and his initial reaction to it. In order to evaluate properly Reinhold's reception of Kant it is important to understand what his motivation for studying the Kantian philosophy was in the first place. After Reinhold's first introduction to the Kantian philosophy in the summer of 1785, 1 it took roughly a year before he publicly endorsed this novel philosophy in his 'Briefe über die Kantische Philosophie' , the publication of which started in August 1786. During this year, he studied Kant, although this left no obvious traces in his works or his correspondence of that time. Considering his activities in this period, one may even wonder where 1 By means of Schütz's review of Schultz's Erläuterungen, which explicitly considered Kant's first Critique and Prolegomena as well. The review provides an overview of the structure of the first Critique and pays special attention to Kant's Stufenleiter der Vorstellungen and the moral argument for the existence of God.


At every critical moment of Chinese agricultural reform and development, Deng Xiaoping could make his unique contribution to the alternative of the strategic thoughts of reforming and developing agriculture, starting autonomously from Chinese objective situation. This not only guaranteed the correct orientation for Chinese agriculture reform and development to constantly achieve remarkable results but also cast a beneficial insight into the construction of the new socialist countryside.


In this study, the polar structure of a rigid /spl alpha/-helical polypeptide which is well known as a cholesteric liquid crystal polymer is investigated. The polypeptide has a large dipole moment along the helical axis by adding the dipole moment of peptide groups. On analogy of the copolyester, it is expected that the polypeptic form a cholesteric mesophase with polar structure.


Among the woven,jacquard fabric belongs to a variety of higher end in technological sense.Its structural design is the key in designing the fabric, and one to one corresponding principle is always regarded as one of the most important principles,which is the foundation for creating innovative designs of jacquard fabric under with either the traditional design mode or computer aided design mode.In combination with the applied feature of digital design technology,this paper makes an in-depth analysis of one to one corresponding principle of fabric structure design,presenting several design cases with different fabric structures for explaining the applied approach of this principle.As a result,the viewpoint is suggested that any innovative design of jacquard fabric brought about by digital design technology should be based on the one to one corresponding principle.


Searches for large extra dimensions (LED) at various experiments, ranging from table‐top to ultra‐high energy cosmic ray experiments, are investigated within the confines of the ADD (Arkani‐Hamed, Dimopoulos, Dvali) and RS (Randall‐Sandrum) models. Black hole production as a probe into extra dimensions is discussed in the context of the Pierre Auger and ATLAS experiments.


During the current COVID-19 pandemic, testing kit and RNA extraction kit availability has become a major limiting factor in the ability to determine patient disease status and accurately quantify prevalence. Current testing strategies rely on individual tests of cases matching restrictive diagnostic criteria to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA, limiting testing of asymptomatic and mild cases. Testing these individuals is one effective way to understand and reduce the spread of COVID-19. Here, we develop a pooled testing strategy to identify these low-risk individuals. Drawing on the well-studied group testing literature, modeling suggests practical changes to testing protocols which can reduce test costs and stretch a limited test kit supply. When most tests are negative, pooling reduces the total number of tests up to four-fold at 2% prevalence and eight-fold at 0.5% prevalence. At current SARS-CoV-2 prevalence, randomized group testing optimized per country could double the number of tested individuals from 1.8M to 3.6M using only 672k more tests. This strategy is well-suited to supplement testing for asymptomatic and mild cases who would otherwise go untested, and enable them to adopt behavioral changes to slow the spread of COVID-19.


Eight patients with aplastic anaemia associated with dyskeratosis congenita received allogeneic marrow grafts from either HLA‐identical siblings (six patients) or HLA‐matched unrelated donors (two patients). Patients who received marrow from HLA‐identical siblings were conditioned with cyclophosphamide (140–200 mg/kg), with or without antithymocyte globulin. Patients who received unrelated donor marrow were conditioned with cyclophosphamide (120 mg/kg) and total body irradiation (1200 cGy). The six patients who survived for >2 weeks following transplant all had haematological evidence of engraftment, and all three patients who survived for at least a year following transplant recovered normal haematological function. Three patients died with respiratory failure and pulmonary fibrosis at 70 d, 8 years and 20 years post‐transplant; three patients died during the neutropenic period of invasive fungal infections; one patient died on day 44 of refractory acute graft‐versus‐host disease; and one patient remains alive 463 d following transplant. The surviving patient recently underwent surgical resection of a Dukes' stage C rectal carcinoma diagnosed 14 months post‐transplant.


Objective This study assessed the effectiveness of microwave energy treatment on the flexural resistance and microhardness of the chemically-activated acrylic resin Dencrilay Speed ® . Methods Twenty-four specimens were prepared and divided into 4 groups according to microwave-energy treatment cycle. G1 (control) did not receive any treatment. The specimens in groups G2, G3 and G4 were immersed in 200mL of distilled water and then microwaved in a 650W oven for 5, 3 and 1 minutes, respectively. Each group (n=6) was submitted to a three-point flexural strength test and to a Vickers hardness test after a 48-hour storage.


Method for producing potable water from non-potable water and equipment. Raising the temperature of the air through the air supplied to the heating device, then passing the vaporized cooling medium. There, it passes while contacting and non-potable water is heated air-liquid. Temperature of the air exiting the evaporator medium is reduced by contact with water, the water content is increased. Cooled, and the air containing water, then passed through a cooling coil, moisture in the air condenses to liquid water, it is collected and processed to be suitable as drinking water.


The time-of-arrival (TOA) estimation of pulse signals is widely used in radar, sonar and other sensor systems for geo-locating targets. This paper presents a new estimator for the TOA and width (W) of a pulse. Three auto-convolutions of a full and partial pulse determine the location of three convolution peaks. These peak locations are given by linear equations that contain as unknowns TOA and W. Solving these equations yields estimates of the pulse parameters. Simulation results show the performance of the estimator in noise and are compared with results obtained using an existing estimator


Depolarization of cutaneous nerve terminals by all contralateral muscle volleys has been demonstrated by several procedures; by intracellular recording from the cutaneous fibres; by electrotonic spread to dorsal root filaments so giving the dorsal root potentials (DRP); and by threshold changes in the fibre terminals. Groups II and III muscle afferents depolarized cutaneous fibre terminals on both sides of the spinal cord while the Ib volleys were effective only ipsi-laterally. The crossed actions of group II and III volleys were weaker than the ipsilateral actions and had a longer latency (10–20 msec) and a later summit (50–80 msec). This depolarization of the central terminals of the cutaneous fibres by afferent volleys from contralateral muscles resulted in a depression of synaptic activity of these cutaneous fibres as evidenced by the flexor reflex, the cutaneous dorsal root potential and the afferent cutaneous tract discharge in the spinal cord.


A variational principle is used to develop an approximate analytical method for the evaluation of the nondivergent normal modes of a rotating closed basin with topography. As an example, the effects of a continental shelf, a mid-ocean ridge, and a seamount on the modes of an otherwise flat basin are studied. The dependence of the frequency of the higher modes on the parameters of the problem is shown; in particular, emphasis is given to the relative importance of the width and height of the topography and the gradient of planetary vorticity β. A suitable parameter to measure the relative weight of both effects is τ = ∫∫ƒ2(∇ ln h)2 dΛ/∫∫β2, dA where h is the depth, ƒ is the Coriolis parameter, and the integration is carried over the whole basin. In the three cases studied, topographic effects are important for the fundamental mode for values of τ larger than 0.25/δ, for a square basin with a shelf or a ridge of relative width δ, and τ ∼0.5 for a circular basin with a seamount. When the topography is important, large departures from the flat bottom case are found for both the structure and the frequency of the modes. Longuet-Higgins showed that for a constant depth the modes extended over the whole basin. The frequency of the gravest mode is approximately ω = βL/2π, where the length scale L is of the order of the dimensions of the basin; higher modes have larger periods with an accumulation point at zero frequency. In the cases studied above the modes tend to be trapped over the topographic features as τ increases, and thus the length scale is reduced to something of the order of the width of the topography. But on the other hand, the effective value of β is considerably increased to the magnitude of h∇(ƒ/h) in the trapping region. The net result is an increase of the eigenfrequencies. The results are compared with those of numerical models, and approximate formulae, valid for strong topography, are developed for the shelf and ridge cases.


In Douglas Adams' iconic works, a supercomputer takes 7 1/2 million years to compute and check that the ultimate answer to life, the universe and everything is 42 [1]. A more powerful supercomputer subsequently takes 10 million years to discover the ultimate question: 'What do you get if you multiply six by nine?' [1, 2] Input errors due to a series of unexpected occurrences are later discovered in the system [2]. Quality improvement (QI) efforts in health care can be rather like this. Quality assessment tools offer a set of answers, but if the 'answers' are to be at all meaningful, it is important to first identify the questions.

Improving the quality of health-care provision is advocated as the answer to better health outcomes for all: to rectify health-care inequities; address human error; and bring the health-care safety record up to par with other industries, where human life can be placed at risk [3, 4]. Providers facing endless drivers to greater efficiency, accountability and service delivery scramble for initiatives to assure and improve health-care quality in the face of fiscal constraints.

Indicator implementation has been embraced internationally at all levels of health-care provision, on the rationale that measurement is essential to demonstrate improvement [5] and that indicators can help monitor the efficacy of improvement initiatives [6]. Consequently, a large number of indicators have been introduced to assess performance of individuals and organizations, signal service outcome expectations, …


An implementation of the moment method, entitled the multiradius bridge-current (MBC) moment method, for electromagnetic analysis of multiradius thin-wire structures (including multiwire, multiradius junctions) is presented. It is extension of the authors' uniradius bridge-current reformulation (see ibid., vol.37, p.1224-34, Oct. 1989) of Richmond's uniradius thin-wire theory (1974). The method features an exactly symmetric mutual impedance matrix ensuring reciprocity between sources, it is unconstrained with respect to both the length ratio and the radius ratio of adjoining segments (provided that the wires are electrically thin), and it permits the self-consistent inclusion of coaxial cable sections in the configurations under analysis. The method is validated through comparison with transmission-line theory for a two-wire line and a coaxial cable, and through comparison with measurements on a sleeve monopole antenna and a log-periodic dipole antenna. The MBC moment method program is shown to surpass the Numerical Electromagnetics Code (NEC) in terms of reciprocity and convergence for both an AM broadcast tower detuning stub problem and a bent two-wire transmission-line problem. >


Three recent papers: "Aggregates as biogeochemical reactors" (Wang et al., 2019a), "Soil aggregates as biogeochemical reactors: Not a way forward …" (Kravchenko et al., 2019), and "Building bottom-up aggregate based models …" (Wang et al., 2019b) presented contrasting views on the importance of aggregates for C and N turnover, with a main focus on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Wang et al. (2019a) stated that all biogeochemical reactions are ongoing in aggregates and that, after sophisticated integration of environmental factors into models at the aggregate scale, it is possible to upscale GHG fluxes up to global level and make predictions under climate change. In contrast, Kravchenko et al. (2019) argued for the absence of aggregates in soils in situ, and demonstrated that the concept of Wang et al. (2019) is misleading. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


FIELD: engines and pumps. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to rotary engines, pumps and compressors. Rotary assy comprises stator to make, in fact, oval chamber and rotor to run in said chamber on central shaft to confine, along with said stator, the two cavities at chamber opposite ends. Rotor grooves house vanes to slide in radial direction. First and second primary rollers and first and second secondary rollers are fitted at every said vane. First rollers are fitted at first side edge of the vane. Second rollers are arranged at opposite side edge. Stator sidewalls have two cam-and-roller devices to make primary and secondary curvilinear surfaces intended for adjustment of vane radial displacement and composed inside said cam-and-roller devices. Curvilinear surfaces are axially offset relative to each pother and radially - relative to axis of revolution. EFFECT: efficient adjustment of cane radial displacement, simple and cheap design of the rotor. 20 cl, 19 dwg


The invention is a method for preventing rotator system variation with flexible support and its device, aiming at solving the problems of high accuracy requirement and hard technique, by the relative movement of movable friction disc and still friction disc in dry friction damper to create frictional force, bring outer damping into the rotator system to decreased its variation in critical rotational speed, so that its stability is improved. The concrete method includes: mount movable friction disc and still friction disc onto axial, through pressure carried by force applicating and adjusting the pressure to change the damper value. After bringing into dry friction damper, the variation of rotator in critical rotational speed as well as its vibration can be prevented effectively; it has simple structure.


Our chemical experiments mainly focus on addressing three major problems in two chemical information retrieval tasks, Technology Survey (TS) task and Prior Art (PA) task. The three problems are: (1) how to deal with chemical terminology synonyms? (2) how to deal with chemical terminology abbreviation? (3) how to deal with long queries in Prior Art (PA) task? In particular, we propose a query expansion algorithm for TS task and a keyword-selection algorithm for PA task. The Mean Average Precision (MAP) for our TS task run "york09ca07" using Algorithm 1 was 0.2519 and for our PA task run "york09caPA01" using Algorithm 2 was 0.0566. The evaluation results show that both algorithms are effective for improving retrieval performance.


Objectives: Ventricular assist devices have gained popularity in the management of refractory heart failure in children listed for heart transplantation. Our primary aim was to compare the composite endpoint of all-cause pretransplant mortality and loss of transplant eligibility in children who were treated with a ventricular assist device versus a medically managed cohort. Design: This was a retrospective cohort analysis. Settings: Data were obtained from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. Patients: The at-risk population (n = 1,380) was less than 18 years old, either on a ventricular assist device (605 cases) or an equivalent-severity, intensively medically treated group (referred to as MED, 775 cases). Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: The impact of ventricular assist devices was estimated via Cox proportional hazards regression (hazard ratio), dichotomizing 1-year outcomes to "poor" (22%: 193 deaths, 114 too sick) versus all others (940 successful transplants, 41 too healthy, 90 censored), while adjusting for conventional risk factors. Among children 0–12 months old, ventricular assist device was associated with a higher risk of poor outcomes (hazard ratio, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.5–3.0; p < 0.001). By contrast, ventricular assist device was associated with improved outcomes for ages 12–18 (hazard ratio, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.1–0.7; p = 0.003). For candidates 1–5 and 6–11 years old, there were no differences in outcomes between the ventricular assist device and MED groups (hazard ratio, 0.8 and 1.0, p = 0.43 and 0.9). The interaction between ventricular assist devices and age group was strongly significant (p < 0.001). Conclusions: This is a comparative study of ventricular assist devices versus medical therapy in children. Age is a significant modulator of waitlist outcomes for children with end-stage heart failure supported by ventricular assist device, with the impact of ventricular assist devices being more beneficial in adolescents.


Excerpt In the early days of medical bacteriology, it was common practice to refer to a specific bacterium by naming it after the person who first described or isolated it. Thus, Koch's bacillus wa...


For people with significant mobility impairments who also have both lower and upper limb disability, there are few technology solutions. The aim of this article is to describe the design and development of the Personal Mobility and Manipulation Appliance, a device that provides coordinated mobility and bimanual manipulation for people with both lower and upper limb impairment. The Personal Mobility and Manipulation Appliance is integrated from several commercial products and custom technologies, including two robotic arms mounted on a mobile robotic base. It has three primary operating modes: local user, remote user, and autonomous. It also has a cooperative control mode where two or more of the primary modes can be used simultaneously. The device was evaluated in a kitchen and was able to perform several complex tasks. Future work should focus on interface improvements and evaluations by end users.


In this paper, Intermediate frequency tunable 4th order Switched Capacitor(SC) bandpass Sigma-Delta() modulator using feedback integrator using feedback integrator coefficients is proposed. The center frequency of the modulator can be easily changed than conventional structure because of a number of integrator coefficients which is decided rate of capacitors in circuit is reduced. In addition additive clocks and additive clock generating circuit are not necessary. The purposed modulator was implemented in CMOS technology. The resolution of the modulator within 200 kHz bandwidth and 80 MHz sampling frequency under fin = 15 MHz, 20 MHz, 25 MHz are over 12 bit.


Background: Background: Asciminib is the 1st BCR::ABL1 inhibitor to Specifically Target the ABL Myristoyl Pocket (STAMP). In the ASCEMBL primary analysis, asciminib had superior efficacy and better safety/tolerability vs bosutinib (BOS) in patients (pts) with chronic myeloid leukemia in chronic phase (CML-CP) after ≥2 prior tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). Major molecular response (MMR) rate at wk 24 was 25.5% on asciminib vs 13.2% on BOS; the difference in MMR rates after adjusting for baseline major cytogenetic response (MCyR) was 12.2% (95% CI, 2.19%-22.30%; 2-sided P=.029). Fewer grade ≥3 adverse events (AEs) and AEs leading to treatment discontinuation occurred on asciminib vs BOS. After a median follow-up of 2.3 years (16.5 months' additional follow-up since the primary analysis), we report updated efficacy and safety results (cutoff: October 6, 2021). Aims: Aims: The key secondary objective was to compare MMR rate at wk 96 on asciminib vs BOS. Methods: Methods: Eligible pts provided informed consent, were adults with CML-CP after ≥2 prior TKIs, with intolerance or lack of Summary/Conclusion: Summary/Conclusion: After >2 years of follow-up, asciminib continued to show clinically and statistically significant, superior efficacy and better safety/tolerability vs BOS. Responses were durable, and MMR was more than double on asciminib than BOS. The difference in MMR rates between the 2 arms increased from 12.2% at wk 24 to 21.7% at wk 96. A higher proportion of pts had BCR::ABL1 IS ≤1%, a milestone response in later lines that is associated with improved long-term survival. These results further support the use of asciminib as a new CML therapy, with the potential to transform standard of care.


C57BL/6 inbred mice were subjected to simulated sonic booms of different rise time, intensity, and number of sonic booms. The most important pathological change was found to be bleeding in the basal turn of the scala tympani of the inner ear. Even a single boom having a rise time of 0.1 msec, peak overpressure of 3.3 psf, and duration of 120 msec was found to cause bleeding in at least one inner ear of each exposed mouse. Similar results occurred for a single ''superboom'' having a 10−psf peak overpressure but a longer rise time of 5 msec. The frequency of the appearance of blood clots in the scala tympani was found to increase with the number of booms administered. This cumulative effect was observed even when the booms were administered at the rate of one every 24 h. The traces of bleeding usually disappeared within a period of eight weeks. The extent of the bleeding in the scala tympani did not increase when mice were exposed to a rapid succession of simulated sonic booms (18 000 booms in one hour). Ho...


In order to better study and implement the scientific concept of development,and effectively improve the quality of talent cultivation,taking sports colleges and universities as research object and talent cultivation as research content,this paper studies on the problem of talent cultivation ideas of higher sports colleges and universities by the methods of status study and countermeasure study,thus provides theoretical basis for talent cultivation work of each sports colleges and universities.


This article deals with motivational aspects in teaching English culture and literature to pupils aged 14-16. Teaching and learning languages in the modern world is not only giving knowledge about different linguistic aspects and practising exercises in course books, but also teaching with a more global perspective. Authentic material is all around us and the teacher's role is to make correct choices in order to raise motivation and interest in teaching and learning about new cultures. Classrooms observations and students' narratives are used to deepen the understanding of the role that motivation plays in the learning process. The results of the research confirm the positive effects of constructivist learning methods in order to raise the intrinsic motivation.


Abbreviations : PN , partial nephrectomy ; LPN , laparoscopic partial nephrectomy ; OPN , open partial nephrectomy ; RN , radical nephrectomy ; WIT , warm ischaemia time ; STE , superselective transarterial tumour embolization ; CKD , chronic kidney disease ; ARF , acute renal failure. embolization [ 5 – 8 ] . As suggested by Simone et al . in the present paper, a ' zero ischaemia ' , sutureless laparoscopic partial nephrectomy for renal tumours with low nephrometry score is possible and can overcome the ischaemic obstacle. The authors state that this is a reasonable approach for small and peripheral tumours and that the technique has a low complication rate and provides excellent functional outcomes, without impairing oncological results. The inclusion criteria were tumours whose dimensions ranged between 1.5 and 4 cm and whose intraparenchymal growth ranged between 0.4 and 1.4 cm. Their results are rather impressive in terms of operating times, intraand postoperative complications and renal function preservation, making this technique a further advance in the surgical treatment of small renal masses. In our unpublished data, a laparoscopic sutureless and clampless approach was performed in 32 cases, no intraand postoperative complications occurred, estimated blood loss was negligible and serum creatinine variation was insignifi cant. In our series the tumour dimension cut-off was 2.5 cm, regardless of its spatial development, and this approach was adopted mainly for polar lesions. We believe that in cases of larger masses or parahilar neoplasms, hilar control and renal reconstruction should be preferred, since they allow a safer surgery, notably when combined with a tumour enucleation (TE), i.e. a tumorectomy performed using the natural cleavage plane existing between the tumour pseudocapsule and the normal renal parenchyma. Indeed, in cases of larger and parahilar tumours, the TE facilitates the plane identifi cation, speeding up the extirpative step of the procedure and helping the surgeon not to damage vascular and calyceal structures [ 9 ] . In our opinion therefore, in such circumstances, zeroischaemia, sutureless laparoscopic NSS should be left in the experienced hands of these authors and alternative valid techniques, such as TE with an early unclamping technique, the superselective embolization technique described by Simone et al . [ 8 ] or superselective clamping, as recently introduced by Gill [ 10 ] , should be considered to minimize renal parechymal damage during laparoscopic or robotassisted NSS. Andrea Minervini and Giampaolo Siena , Department of Urology, University of Florence, Careggi Hospital, Florence, Italy


AbstractSimplex optimization was used during the development of a rapidly disintegrating, moisture resistant lacquer film coating. A hygroscopic aniomic exchange resin with the capability of adsorbing four to five times its weight in water was used as the model drug. The coating variables investigated included levels of magenesium stearate, talc, hydroxypropylmethylcelluslose (5 cps), polyethylene glycol 8000, Opaspray, and Eudragit E30D. Response parameters monitored included disintegration time, percent weight gain after 48 hours in a 30 deg C 75% relative humidity chamber and physical appearance. The effect of the core tablet on the performance of the coated tablet was also investigated. This study illustrates the use of the simplex design in the development of a film coating formula. It also examines the interaction between the core tablet and the film coating.


Chastity means the successful integration of sexuality w hin the person and thus the inner unity of man in his bodily and spiritual being. Sexua lity, in which man's belonging to the bodily and biological world is expressed, becomes per onal and truly human when it is integrated into the relationship of one person to a n ther, in the complete and lifelong mutual gift of a man and a woman. The virtue of chastity therefore involves the integrity of the person and the integrality of the gift. ( CCC, #2337)


A systematic prompting system was used to increase the independent written language production of three behaviorally disordered students. The sequential prompt reduction technique involved four levels of prompts: self-initiating, motivational, content related, and literal. During baseline students received prompts in random order every 20 seconds until they started writing. In intervention the prompts were used in order from least to most intrusive. Also, the students recorded the average level of prompt and number of sentences produced each session. A multiple baseline across subjects design demonstrated that the procedure was effective in increasing the number of sentences produced as well as a decrease in the average prompt level for the three youths. Ratings by independent judges were significantly higher (p < .05) for compositions produced during intervention than for those produced during baseline. A follow-up demonstrated that the intervention effects maintained over a 60-day period.


To determine the prognostic potential of a 24‐gene signature, Sig24, for identifying patients with prostate cancer who are at risk of developing metastases or of prostate cancer‐specific mortality (PCSM) after radical prostatectomy (RP).


PART 1: INTRODUCTION AND SOURCES AND INSTITUTIONS OF EMPLOYMENT LAW PART II: THE CONSTITUTION OF EMPLOYMENT AND PERSONAL WORK CONTRACTS PART III: THE CONTENT OF THE PERSONAL EMPLOYMENT CONTRACT PART IV: STATUTORY EMPLOYMENT RIGHTS PART V: EQUALITY LAW PART VI: COMMON LAW AND STATUTORY REGULATION OF DISMISSALS PART VIII: BUSINESS REORGANIZATIONS, CONSULTATION AND INSOLVENCY PART VIII: COLLECTIVE LABOUR LAW


Abstract Detecting and recognizing objects is one of the most important uses of vision systems in nature and is consequently highly evolved. This paper aims to accurately detect an object using its shape and color information from a complex background. In particular, we evaluated our algorithm to detect 19 different integrated circuits (IC) from 10 different printed circuit boards (PCB) of different colors. We have compared three different shape descriptors for four different color space models. We have evaluated shape detection algorithms in different lighting conditions (indoor, outdoor, and controlled light source) to find suitable illumination for image acquisition. We undertook statistical hypothesis testing to find the effect of color space models and shape descriptors on the accuracy, false positive and false negative rates. While measuring accuracy, we have noted that L*a*b* color space is significantly worse, and the best result is obtained in YCbCr color space using bounding box shape descriptors for 2500 Lux using LED.


Neonatal intussusception is rare entity.We report this very rare case of a term male newborn, with acute jejunojejunal intussusception without any lead point. He presented with abdominal distension and signs of intestinal obstruction and abdominal sonography showed a jejunojejunal intussusceptions which was confirmed at laparotomy. Interestingly, no lead point was found. Rather 8cm of bowel distal to intussuscepted segment was found to be gangrenous bowel. Resection with Bishop Koop anastomosis done for the baby resulted in good outcome. The case is being presented for rare presentation of a rare surgical condition in a neonate with an endeavour to establish etiology for its occurrence.

Keywords: Intussusception, Jejunojejunal, Lead point, Neonate, Gangrene.


In this work, we study some properties of infinite Bernoulli matrices. Further, we investigate relations between infinite Bernoulli matrices and some infinite matrices such as Fibonacci, Pascal and special matrices.


The core of an economy consists of those states of the economy which no group of agents (coalition) can "improve upon". A coalition can improve upon a state of the economy if, by using the means available to that group, each member can be made better off. This paper presents the notion of the core in the framework of a pure finite exchange eonomy E and provides a direct proof of the nonemptiness of the core of E without considering the cooperative game which is traditionnaly associated to E.


The nominal plant capacity is 120 000 metric tonnes per year cyclohexanone of oxime purity. In addition, the plant should be capable of switching on the production of KA oil, a cyclohexanone/cyclohexanol mixture, used as an intermediate for the manufacturing of adipic acid. The plant will be located on an integrated industrial site with moderately continental climate. Optimal energy consumption is aimed by taking appropriate heat integration measures. The amount of organic waste should be kept below 0.5% from the production rate. No discharge of wastewater to the environment is allowed, namely containing phenol and other organics, as well as no release of toxic emissions. Cyclohexanone is a colorless high boiler liquid with the normal boiling point at 156.7 ° C. Some quality specifi cations are given in the Table 5.1 . Cyclohexanone can be characterized as a volatile, combustible and toxic liquid. Health and safety precautions should be observed, as stipulated in US EPA and OSHA recommendations, as well as in the ESIS ECB European database. The storage and manipulation of both phenol and hydrogen cause hazard and safety problems. Phenol is highly corrosive, alone or in water solution. Hydrogen is particularly dangerous by the risk of fi re and explosion. For these reasons, it is highly desirable to avoid large storage capacities, long transport pipes, as well as to minimize the inventory of units handling hazardous materials. For more generality, this case study will develop a process capable of producing cyclohexanone and cyclohexanol in any desired proportion. We will voluntarily


There are two qualitative properties which have wide applications: the oscillation and the stability of solutions. It is natural to expect the solution in an explicit form but unfortunately it is not always possible. During the past several years the oscillation and the stability of solutions of difference equations have been extensively studied (see for example [1]-[7] and the references cited therein). In this paper we establish sufficient conditions for the oscillation of solutions of Volterra equation


Volumetric conductive-convective heat sources, microwave and radiofrequency energy sources, high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), laser irradiation and other non-ionizing irradiation sources can be used to generate hyperthermic tissue injury in a variety of clinical settings with therapeutic temperature gradients ranging from 40 to over 90°C. On the opposite side, cryotherapy can be used to freeze tissues with negative therapeutic temperature gradients. The development of a successful thermal therapy using any one of these devices requires a precise understanding of the desired clinical end point in terms of 1) diagnosis vs. therapy, 2) cure vs. palliative intent, 3) dysfunctional vs. malignant tissue and 4) long-term monitoring issues. The effects of a specific thermal exposure depend on the architecture of the heat source and overall thermal history. During initial treatment before heat generation or cooling becomes dominant, tissue interactions with the delivered treatment may affect the geometry of the treatment effect and body's healing response. These two parameters are also affected by tissue anatomy, blood supply and protein vs. lipid content. The thermal lesion and final clinical outcome represent the sum of direct primary and secondary short and long term delayed injury. The latter occurs primarily from host responses producing ischemia, inflammation and wound healing followed by possible regeneration and/or scar formation. Once the thermal insult has been deployed, the resulting lesions can be broadly divided into two major zones: 1) a complete tissue ablation with lethal tissue injury closer to the device and 2) a peripheral transition zone of partial injury. Hyperthermic complete ablation zones can have two sub-regions: 1) thermal fixation from direct denaturation of cellular and tissue components and 2) coagulative necrosis due to direct injury and delayed secondary host responses. With a variety of special techniques, direct cellular injury can be studied at post-therapy intervals of less than 12 hours. At 1-5 days, the acute effects of direct and secondary injury can be assessed with hematoxylin and eosin staining and other techniques. While early healing changes can be studied around 7-10 days, chronic changes are best assessed at variable intervals between 1-9 months. A thorough understanding of the interval dynamics of direct and delayed tissue responses after treatment is critical when choosing appropriate post-treatment times to assess the results. Since many preclinical studies represent "snap shots" in time, care needs to be taken when using acute experimental results to develop mathematical models to predict chronic clinical outcomes. Recent collaborative studies indicate that many pathologic effects can act as direct markers of clinical efficacy when combined with various imaging modalities. In addition, both animal and human studies are performed to establish safety and efficacy; therefore, understanding species differences and the appropriate selection of pathology techniques is critical when designing these studies. In summary, effective biomedical instrument development requires close cooperation among engineers, physiologists, internists, pathologists and radiologists from conceptualization through instrument development, validation and refinement.


A fuzzy time Petri net(FTPN) was defined to process uncertain temporal knowledge about conflict based on existed research.The net adopts fuzzy firing interval and fuzzy temporal functions to deal with issues with temporal uncertainty.It can be used to quantitatively analyze the temporal uncertainty about conflict.The application instance shows that the method can effectively resolve issues of representation and reasoning about conflict events and is suitable to complicated real-time system modeling.This method has some outstanding characteristics such as accurate analysis about conflict,simple computation,and more situations,and it is an improvement of the former algorithms of temporal knowledge reasoning.