A VAPEI'S (VibroAcoustic Payload Environment l'rediction System) Management Center is established and being maintained at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JI'L). VAI'IWS is a computer program that utilizes statistical energy analysis (SEA) theory and SEA extrapolation methods to predict the vibroacoustic environments of complex systems. The program is commonly utilized to establish random vibration and acoustic test requirements for aerospace components exposed to launch environments. It can also be used in the payload or launch vehicle design process for control or mitigation of the launch or on-orbit vibration and acoustic environments, as well as to calculate acoustically induced stresses in structures such as solar panels and reflectors. This paper briefly summarizes the VAPIWS program capabilities am-l presents results of its application to the prediction of the vibroacoustic response of spacecraft solar panels.


This paper presents a high throughput and low latency multi-version management KVS accelerator, implemented on the FPGA-CPU heterogeneous architecture, supporting PUT, GET, DELETE and GET_RANGE operations. A pipelined Hash Engine architecture is proposed to improve the accelerator throughput and avoid data consistency issue. B-Tree processing engine is set in parallel and is designed in pipeline to improve PUT and DELETE throughputs. GET throughput is improved by the pipelined architecture which can make good use of the DMA bandwidth. The proposed accelerator implemented on Xilinx Kintex UltraScale FPGA KCU105 evaluation kit achieves 2.08× frequency at the cost of 1.36× resources and it can achieve 2.08 million key-version-value PUT and DELETE operations per second (Mops), which is 3.6× and 4.3× as high as the throughput of the state-of-the-art accelerator respectively. For GET operation, the proposed accelerator can reach 5.77 Mops which is 4.8× as high as the state-of-the-art accelerator.


Informal models help to generate a shared understanding about the software to be developed as early as possible. In this paper we describe how we use informal models to react to different initial situations for project teams in our capstone course. We explain how we handle three cases ranging from projects without requirements to projects with detailed specifications. Project participants are convinced of the advantages of informal models and agree that they improve the outcome of their projects.


$\gamma$-triclinic and $\alpha$-monoclinic polymorphs of CoV$_{2}$O$_{6}$ are two of the few known transition metal ion based materials that display stepped $1/3$ magnetization plateaus at low temperatures. Neutron diffraction [M. Markkula et al. Phys. Rev. B 86, 134401 (2012)], x-ray dichroism [N. Hollmann et al. Phys. Rev. B 89, 201101(R) (2014)], and dielectric measurements [K. Singh et al. J. Mater. Chem. 22, 6436 (2012)] have shown a coupling between orbital, magnetic and structural orders in CoV$_{2}$O$_{6}$. We apply neutron inelastic scattering to investigate this coupling by measuring the spin-orbit transitions in both $\alpha$ and $\gamma$ polymorphs. We find the spin-exchange and anisotropy in monoclinic $\alpha$-CoV$_{2}$O$_{6}$ to be weak in comparison with the spin-orbit coupling $\lambda$ and estimate an upper limit of $|J/\lambda| \sim$ 0.05. However, the spin exchange is larger in the triclinic polymorph and we suggest the excitations are predominately two dimensional. The local compression of the octahedra surrounding the Co$^{2+}$ ion results in a direct coupling between higher energy orbital levels, the magnetic ground state, and elastic strain. CoV$_{2}$O$_{6}$ is therefore an example where the local distortion along with the spin-orbit coupling provides a means of intertwining structural and magnetic properties. We finish the paper by investigating the low-energy magnetic fluctuations within the ground state doublet and report a magnetic excitation that is independent of the local crystalline electric field. We characterize the temperature and momentum dependence of these excitations and discuss possible connections to the magnetization plateaus.


Thermodynamic properties of native defects and their interactions with extrinsic defects including complex formation are studied theoretically and experimentally in Sn-doped CdTe. The high temperature (500–1000 °C) in-situ galvanomagnetic measurements at defined thermodynamic conditions are used to control defect equilibrium and electrical properties of annealed samples. Defect reactions are studied during the cooling of samples down to room temperature in the regime of slow diffusion where stoichiometry and doping density are fixed but the densities of different defect configurations change. The theoretical description of defects is based on the quasichemical formalism. We show that the analysis which includes two native defects Cd interstitial CdI and Cd vacancy VCd and three Sn related defects SnCd, SnI, and (SnCdVCd) allows to describe all principal experimental features and to reach good agreement of the theory with experiment. (© 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Background: Management of oral cancer is always causing dilemma regarding reconstruction of post ablative defects. Submental island flap (SIF) had been widely experienced for restoration of oral integrity. However, presence of its pedicle in the area of neck dissection (ND) raises inquiries about its safety especially in node positive neck. Objective: Assessment of oncological safety of submental flap applied for oral defects after malignant tumor resection and its surgical outcomes as regard comparing disease free survival between node positive and node negative neck. Patients and Methods: A total sample of 56 patients who were diagnosed with oral cancers, were treated by wide local excision and block neck dissection with immediate reconstruc- tion by submental artery island flap (SMAIF) at Surgical Oncology Unit, Mansoura University, Egypt, from July 2014 to December 2020. Results: Data was collected retrospectively including 56 patients aged from 29 to 87 years (mean age 52.5 years old). The mean operative time was (5.25+1.25) hours. The mean blood loss was 460±100. The mean hospital stay was 15±7 days. Patients started oral fluid after a mean time 11.2±2.7 days ranged from. We encountered 16 complicated cases (28.6%) suffered from 24 complications included. Partial flap loss in 3 patients and total flap loss in 2 patients. Intraoral hair growth was the most common complication which occurred in 7 (12.5%) patients. After a median follow-up of 35.8 months, mortality occurred in 9 (8.9%) cases; disease-specific in 6 patients while disease recurrences was reported in 11 (19.6%) patients.Four years overall survival was 79% with mean 51.09±2.09 months (CI: 46.9-55.1) and four years disease free survival (DFS) was 74.1% with a mean 48.1±2.4 months (CI: 43.3-53.6). Conclusion: Submental island flap is an excellent option in reconstruction of oral defects after malignant tumor resection with short operative time, short hospital stay but hair growth in male patient must be warned. It is oncologically safe in node negative neck and may be in early non heavy node positive neck provided that preoperative clinical, radiological and intraoperative assessment of sub mental area was free.


In five patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) associated with ventricular septal or endocardial cushion defects, measurements of pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) were made up to seven days after surgical closure. Before operation, the ratio of mean pulmonary arterial pressure [See Equation in PDF File] to mean systemic arterial pressure [See Equation in PDF File] averaged 0.77. Catheters placed at operation were used to measure pressure in the pulmonary artery, a systemic artery, and right and left atria. Cardiac output was determined by dye dilution. Controlled mechanical ventilation maintained a normal alveolar ventilation and arterial PO2. Postoperative [See Equation in PDF File], [See Equation in PDF File], and PVR were initially elevated, averaging 42 mm Hg, 0.57, and 1,132 dyne sec cm-5, respectively. These values decreased to 29, 0.38, and 459 in three to seven days in the four survivors, but rose in the single death. With unassisted ventilation and 100% 02, or with acidosis (pH 7.21), [See Equation in PDF File] and PVR increased as much as +177% and 570%, respectively. These studies show the relative pulmonary vasoconstricting effect of systemic acidosis and of spontaneous unassisted breathing with 100% O2. In patients with markedly elevated, but reversible, hyperkinetic pulmonary vascular resistance, the beneficial effects of prolonged mechanical ventilation enabled the pulmonary circulation to return toward normal.


The paper analyses the wage differentials among different Spanish regions. Hedonic wage equations are first formulated for those regions and then the wage decomposition method is applied, which allows separation of the effects due to characteristics from those due to returns. The results show that in the Centre and South, half of the wage differential corresponds to each concept, whereas in the North and East the difference is due more to the different remuneration than to the different characteristics. The variables that exert greatest influence on the characteristic differences are seniority, possessing a university degree, the command of a second language, the sector of activity, the supervisory tasks undertaken and the occupation. With respect to the different returns, the largest differences correspond to remuneration for seniority, a second language, the sector of activity, the working hours and discrimination by gender.


Piyarat Piyapongwiwat (born 1977 in Phrae, Thailand) is a multidisciplinary artist who works with various media including video, photography, text, sound, mixed media, and installation. Her work typically reflects her experiences, including the questioning of contemporary issues such as gender, notion of margin, cultural change, and globalization. Her artistic research is informed by theories of social science, anthropology, and philosophy. Piyapongwiwat holds a BA from RMIT University, Australia, and a BFA from Ecole Supérieure des BeauxArts de Montpellier Agglomération,


Describes the history of and prevention of Chinese and Western understanding of the etiology and pathology of angina pectoris.Should be read in conjunction with the micro-level study of the epidemiological aspects of macroeconomic research,as well as cells,make full use of their respective advantages of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine,to explore new therapeutic targets,comprehensive and timely access to the latest treatment research progress,and constantly get new evidence,and to be used in clinical.


Uterovaginal prolapse is a major health concern affecting millions of women worldwide. It is a distressing condition affecting women both in the child bearing age and post menopausal period. According to statistics, about half of the women will develop utero-vaginal prolapse during their lifetime. It has been estimated that about 11% of women undergo surgery for uterovaginal prolapse. The complications include decubitus ulcer, urinary tract infection, renal failure and even carcinoma of cervix. The aim of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of Mazu (Quercus infectoria) in first and second degree uterovaginal prolapse and to assess the improvement in the quality of life of women with uterovaginal prolapse. Methodology: A randomized clinical trial was carried out at the National Institute of Unani Medicine Hospital, Bengaluru. Patients (n=60) with 1st & 2nd degree uterovaginal prolapse in the age group of 30-60 years were randomly allocated in two groups, i.e. test and control. In test group, abzan (sitz bath) of mazu and in control group, abzan of common salt (placebo) once daily was given for 8 weeks. Kegel's exercise was advised in both the groups. In each patient, mass per vaginum, urinary incontinence, low backache, lower abdominal discomfort, Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory Questionnaire and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire were assessed. Findings: Mass per vaginum was significantly reduced in the test group. The difference was statistically significant in both the group whereas clinically more significant in test group. Conclusion & Significance: Test drug mazu is effective in improving the uterovaginal prolapse as well as quality of life assessed by PFDIQ and PFIQ. It can serve as alternative treatment in the management of uterovaginal prolapse. Recommendations are further research should be certified on large sample size with prolonged duration of intervention.


Abstract.- Dairy buffaloes contribute 86.57 million tons of milk out of which India's contribution is the highest (59.21%), followed by Pakistan, China and Egypt (20.37, 2.90 and 2.30%, respectively). The South-Asian region supports 93.38% of the world buffalo population with a growth rate of 12.91% during the last decade as compared to 26.01% and 35.06%, in Pakistan and Italy, where special focus has been made on buffalo research and development. The buffalo production system of the rural and peri-urban types expose them to a variety of management, feeding and environmental stresses. Reproductive cyclicity and a normal pregnancy will only continue when there is no thermal, nutritional or productivity stress. Buffalo reproduction is characterized by delayed puberty, silent estrus, long post-partum ovarian inactivity, and, on the whole, poor fertility. In peri-urban dairy farms in Pakistan during 150 days after calving, 68.63% buffaloes were found in estrus. Postpartum ovulation interval was 59.37±4.76 days. A decline in calving interval from 42 to 36 month during the period from 1975 to 2005 has been reported in Italian buffaloes. The digestibility of crude protein is higher in buffaloes than high-yielding cows and they possess 5% higher efficiency of utilization of metabolizable energy for milk production. Purine derivatives in buffalo urine are 50% of the other species showing better nitrogen utilization due to lower glomerular filtration rate leaving more time for recycling to the rumen and metabolized by bacteria. Response of buffalo is low and inconsistent to multiple ovulation and embryo transfer (MOET) treatments, impeding the application of various biotechnologies aimed to enhance genetic progress through the maternal contribution. The viable embryo production has increased significantly from less than 1 per flushing to 2.5-3.0 in general and over 4 in isolated cases and conception rate following embryo transfer improved from about 10% to about 30-40%. Ovarian inactivity associated with poor nutrition could be an important cause of low reproductive rates in swamp buffalo cows, and that the condition could be prevented by adequate feed intakes. Seasonality of reproduction is evident from the shortest postpartum ovulation interval noted during autumn with lowest incidence of silent ovulations. It coincided with the minimum intake of crude protein and maximum intake of metabolizable energy (ME). Photoperiod has a marked influence on buffalo reproduction in certain areas of the world, however in some tropical areas nearest to the equator the light seems to have a minimal or no effect on the reproductive cues however the nutrition and heat stress measured throughout temperature-humidity-indexes play an important role in the reproductive functions of buffaloes. Body condition score (BCS) has been used as a good indicator of energy status and the animals receiving more ME above requirements during prepartum period were able to maintain a relatively good BCS despite mobilization of body reserves. Concentrates supplementation raised milk progesterone levels (MPL) in high and low yielding buffaloes. Growth and development of follicles during periods of negative energy balance lead to impaired development of the CL and a reduction in progesterone secretion. MPL showed a pattern opposite to atmospheric temperature. It may be concluded that nutrition intervenes in reproductive functions at almost all stages and it also interacts with other environmental parameters. A proper strategy is needed to keep the animal productive, healthy and fertile with minimum input costs.


Dear Editor, A 40-year-old obese man presented to the emergency room of Nayoro City Hospital with a painful erythema accompanied by high fever on his right upper back of 3 days duration. He noticed acne-like papules on his back a week before. Past and family histories were not remarkable. Physical examination revealed a marked erythematous swelling on his upper back (Fig. 1). His temperature was 39 C, blood pressure, 140 ⁄75 mmHg and heart rate was 72 b.p.m. Routine laboratory studies showed white cell count was 15 200 ⁄mm, C-reactive protein (CRP) was 12.6 mg ⁄dL and fasting blood sugar was 130 mg ⁄dL. Liver and renal function tests were within normal ranges. Chest radiography revealed niveaulike gas formation in subcutaneous tissue (Fig. 2). Under the suspected diagnosis of gas gangrene, incision and drainage was performed. A large amount of gas with a strong fecal and foul-smelling purulent fluid was discharged. Intravenous piperacillin did not alleviate his fever, and pus discharge remained with


This paper describes the main aspects of building wireless networks, as described by the eCity idea of municipal networks owned and controlled by a central authority versus the anarchic design of open communities using as a case study Patras Wireless Metropolitan Network. The paper points out the important economic aspects that lead to the rigorous development and notates the main issues when using commercial equipment, as in the hot-city project driven by Cisco and the City of Luxemburg. Some discussion is done to point out the main differences among the two case studies, in terms of offered services, network coverage and the impact to the local societies. The important criteria into characterizing each approach is a discussion on the vision, objectives, and the expected benefits to each of the involved parties. Finally, it is evaluated if such an investment is profitable and whether a wISP should deploy such an infrastructure even if the economic criteria propose otherwise. Finally, the paper concludes on how these could lead to further local business development, improving the value of the offered services.


UNLABELLED
Few studies have examined the relationship between changes in hand volume and typing. Volumetric evaluation documents the presence of an inflammatory response to activity.

METHOD
To study this relationship, researchers used a convenience sample of 31 participants who were aged 45 and older and worked full time where they typed at least one hour per day. Volumetric measurements were taken before a 15-minute typing activity, immediately after and 10 minutes after typing. Before typing, ergonomic adjustments were made to computer workstations, when necessary. Participants typed using an advanced speed test of the Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing program, which calculated adjusted words per minute.

RESULTS
The data showed no significant (F = 0.321, p > 0.05) change in hand volume resulting from the typing activity.

CONCLUSION
The amount of exercise provided in this study, a fifteen minute typing activity, did not result in changed hand volume.


The influence of physico-chemical properties of Sheonath river were investigated for one year from June 2014 to May 2015. Analysis of physico-chemical parameters like water temperature, pH, rainfall, DO, BOD, EC, Total alkalinity, Total hardness, chloride, SO4, Fe has been made during the investigation period. Results reveal all parameters are within the permissible limits. It was quite evident from the findings that the quality of river water near Sheonath temple was suitable for drinking, agriculture purposes.


A device for treating the surface of a continuously running strip, in particular a pickling device, in which a strip 1 runs in the longitudinal direction through a container which is arranged horizontally, which container is charged with treatment liquid and closed with a cover 3. In order to optimise such devices, in particular in order to improve the quality of the treatment and minimise the treatment time, the invention proposes that a special treatment channel 4 be arranged in the container 2 and be closed with an intermediate cover 6 and that treatment medium be fed into it by way of nozzle bars 9, 10.


Iodine-mediated oxidation of o-alkynylarenecarbaldehydes (I) and (III) provides an efficient access towards a variety of tricarbonyl compounds (II) and (IV), resp., in good yields.


Pulse oximeters are now a standard part of perioperative monitoring which give the operator a non-invasive indication of the patient's cardio-respiratory status. Having been successfully used in intensive care, the recovery room and during anaesthesia, they have been introduced in other areas of medicine such as general wards apparently without staff undergoing adequate training in their use. The technique of pulse oximetry does have pitfalls and limitations and it is possible that patient safety may be compromised with untrained staff. This article is therefore intended for the 'occasional' user of pulse oximetry.


Abstract AACSB adopted new and revised standards in 2020 that require business schools to demonstrate positive societal impact through internal and external activities. While many schools are already engaged in such activities, there seems to be no agreed-upon conceptualization or measurement of societal impact. This paper aims to help business schools organize, measure, and demonstrate their efforts to create positive societal impact and thus meet the updated AACSB standards. By using data from semi-structured interviews, this paper identifies different dimensions of positive societal impact and offers enablers and barriers in business school efforts to create such societal impact.


This study tackles the question to what extent the composition of protest events is determined by the stance of governments. Established contextual theories do not formulate propositions on how context affects individual protesters. The article engages in empirically testing whether the macro-context affects the internal diversity of the crowds that took to the streets on Feb. 15, 2003, the massive day of protest against the upcoming war on Iraq. Drawing on a survey of 6,753 individual demonstrators in eight countries, we find that the composition of the marches is determined by the stance of the government and the opposition in the countries at stake. Apart from government stance, also the support in public opinion and the type of mobilization (media support) matter for internal diversity.


The present invention provides no bleeding, and the gloss can be achieved, especially when using special gloss paper having excellent ink image composition. The ink composition is used in an inkjet recording method, ink composition comprising at least a colorant, water and a surfactant, the surfactant in (i) an aqueous solution containing 0.1% by weight of the surfactant and the recording wetted the contact angle after 0.3 seconds of [alpha] (degrees), (II) an aqueous solution containing 0.1% by weight of the surfactant, 20% by weight of glycerol, 10% by weight of 1,2-hexanediol and 1.0% by weight of triethanolamine and when the contact angle after contact with the recording medium is 0.3 seconds beta] (degrees), satisfies the following formula (I): β-α≥0 (I).


We present our analysis of the Type II supernova DLT16am (SN 2016ija). The object was discovered during the ongoing (DLT40) one-day cadence supernova search at in the "edge-on" nearby ( ) galaxy NGC 1532. The subsequent prompt and high-cadenced spectroscopic and photometric follow-up revealed a highly extinguished transient, with , consistent with a standard extinction law with RV = 3.1 and a bright ( ) absolute peak magnitude. A comparison of the photometric features with those of large samples of SNe II reveals a fast rise for the derived luminosity and a relatively short plateau phase, with a slope of , consistent with the photometric properties typical of those of fast-declining SNe II. Despite the large uncertainties on the distance and the extinction in the direction of DLT16am, the measured photospheric expansion velocity and the derived absolute V-band magnitude at after the explosion match the existing luminosity–velocity relation for SNe II.


Induced Polarization (IP) method is one of geophysical method. This method is develop the resistivity method with additional measurement in ability of the ground to store electrical charge. Electrode polarization process is a major factor to the IP response in medium that contain metallic minerals. The relationship between the metallic mineral content and TDIP will be quantized. The TDIP response is influenced by porosity, grainsize, clay and metallic mineral content. Measurement is performed of artificial samples that made of iron ore mixed with quartz and cement. The samples are varied in iron ore content (0%-80%), grainsize (65-300) micron and clay content (0%-25%). If Fe-total content greather, then rise exponentially in chargeability M=1.53exp(0.029Fe). When the density becomes larger, chargeability rise exponentially M=0.347exp(0.852Dens). The presence of clay will enlarge the chargeability and minimize resistivity exponentially Rho=15.06exp(0.02C). Chargeability is lower and resistivity is higher f...


MSLT and immunogenetic findings in two unrelated Italian subjects with recurrent monosymptomatic hypersomnia are reported. In both patients MSLT documented a markedly increased daytime sleep propensity during the attacks without augmented REM sleep pressure. Both patients share the same HLA haplotype (HLA‐DR1, DQ1) which has been found in Kleine‐Levin syndrome. This makes these subtypes of recurrent hypersomnia indistinguishable one from the other, under the immunogenetic profile, but permits differentiation from narcolepsy which is HLA‐DR2, DQ1 closely linked.


This paper describes a design method for an optimum bubble drive circuit composed of two meandering conductor patterns. The distribution of an average vertical component of the magnetic field produced by the patterns is calculated. The distribution is decomposed into Fourier spectra, from which a distortion factor D is obtained. A factor F which indicates the degree of deformation of the progressive magnetic field is introduced. It is clarified that F has a minimum for any field distribution when the patterns are driven with cosine- and sine-wave currents and that F, which is a simple function of D in that case, has a minimum at (gap width)/(pattern width) = 1/2 for any spacer thickness.


In this paper, we propose a stream-based semi-supervised active learning method for document classification, which is able to query (from an operator) the class labels of documents that are informative, according to an uncertainty measure. The method maintains a dynamically evolving graph topology of labelled document-representatives, which constitutes a covered fea- ture space. The method is able to automatically discover the emergence of novel classes in the stream. An incoming document is identified as a member of a novel class or an existing class, depending on whether it is outside or inside the area covered by the known classes. Experi- ments on different real datasets show that the proposed method requires a small amount of the incoming documents to be labelled, in order to learn a model which achieves better or equal accuracy than to the usual supervised methods with fully labelled training documents.


The visible, as Maurice Merleau-Ponty has taught us, always involves the invisible; what we see entails a zone of the not-seen.1 Seventies film theory too frequently thought of cinema as exemplifying the glare (or frenzy) of the visible, devoted to the lure of visual mastery. This led to a simplification of cinema's ideological role as propping up the viewer's investment in a visual image as the product of a gaze. However, such analysis too often celebrated the insight of the analyst over the complicity of the medium, rather than offering a detailed exploration of cinema's complex stylistic interaction within modern visual culture. Cinema also offers an exploration of the vulnerability and limitation of vision. As an art of the visible, film must necessarily become an art of the invisible. This essay explores the cinematic portrayal of urban space, a theme by now well established in the field of film studies. But by exploring both the style and thematics of cinematic cities within a dialectic of vision that sees vision as specific, limited, embodied and also shaped by social and historical contexts, I hope to show that the visible city shadows an invisible city, not simply as a formal device, but as an essential structure of our modern environment. The visible twines about the invisible, not only in film style, but in our experience of the modern urban environment. For that reason cinema supplies one of the richest means of portraying, exploring and – ultimately – understanding the city. In the century that stretches from the late 1840s to 1950 new technologies transformed urban spaces and redefined modern visual experience. The invention of photography, the rise of mass media (from newspapers, to film, to television), the new visual modes of mass marketing and consumer culture (from the omnipresent advertising


A chain-wire-buoy integral mooring system was developed for a semisubmersible based deep water floating production system (FPS). State-of-the-art computer analysis was incorporated in the design process. Large diameter subsurface buoys installed along the mooring line constitute a unique feature of this mooring system. The computer code has never been validated against full scale or model test data for configurations with submerged buoys in the wave zone. Model tests were conducted to provide a guideline on the adequacy of the proposed mooring design, and confirm aspects that are difficult to simulate analytically. Test results on the isolated mooring line and the mooring line connected to the FPS concluded that the design would meet stringent requirements of 100 year environmental conditions and complying with excursion, vertical and dynamic load limitations.


The PCI Express Solid State Disks (PCIe SSDs) blur the difference between block and memory access semantic devices. Since these SSDs leverage PCIe bus as storage interface, their interfaces are different from conventional memory system interconnects as well as thin storage interfaces. This leads to a new SSD architecture and storage software stack design. Unfortunately, there are not many studies focusing on the system characteristics of these emerging PCIe SSD platforms. In this paper, we quantitatively analyze the challenges faced by PCIe SSDs in getting flash memory closer to CPU and study two representative PCIe SSD architectures (from-scratch SSD and bridge-based SSD) using state-of-the-art real SSDs from two different vendors. Our experimental analysis reveals that 1) while the from-scratch SSD approach offers remarkable performance improvements, it requires enormous host-side memory and computation resources which may not be acceptable in many computing systems; 2) the performance of the from-scratch SSD significantly degrades in a multi-core system; 3) redundant flash software and controllers should be eliminated from the bridge-based SSD architecture; and 4) latency of PCIe SSDs significantly degrade with their storage-level queueing mechanism. Finally, we discuss system implications including potential PCIe SSD applications such as all-flash array.


The introduction of the microchip based gas chromatograph (microGC) promised a revolution in chromatographic analysis in the field. The principle weakness of the commercial microGC has been, first and foremost, relatively high detection limits of 1 ppm (volume) in air. Sample preconcentrators that addressed the shortcomings of the microGC have been available from Louisiana State University for several years and, more recently, from the manufacturer of the microGC as well; but they were large and required constant attention from an operator. A greatly improved front end for the microGC, and possibly other instruments has recently been developed at LSU. A further limitation of the commercial microGC, and of portable GCs in general, has been a limited capability for performing semivolatile analyses without sacrificing portability. The instrument development group at LSU has developed preliminary versions of a similarly fast GC capable of analyzing semivolatile compounds in less than 5 minutes.


Transformer cores are assembled from several packages of different widths. Furthermore, circular limbs tend to be combined with semicircular yokes. These characteristics mean that the core represents a complex 3-D system. A consequence is balancing off-plane flux (z-flux) perpendicular to the core plane. Measurements of z-induction on model cores show that mere inhomogeneity of stacking may yield significant values of flux density Bz in the normal direction. Close to overlapping regions of corners and T-joints, the order of 10 mT was observed. Losses prove to increase in a nonlinear way with increasing Bz for both alternating magnetization (AM) and rotational magnetization (RM). Effects become significant for Bz = 10 mT, with losses showing increases of order of 30%. The corresponding increases of magnetostriction are much more pronounced, reaching 100%. These increases are clearly supported by the results of Kerr effect studies of domains. They reveal distinct increases of oblique domains. For 1-D AM, they are restricted to inner lancet slopes. For 2-D RM, the latter merge to inner plate domains. For the 3-D case of additional z-flux, the formation of plates is significantly enhanced. Plates can be assumed as a main source of both rising hysteresis losses and increasing magnetostriction.


W e report a case of dysgraphic perform ance in w hich w e have docum ented the selective preservation of suffi x spelling in the context of the phonologically plausible spelling of w ord stem s (e.g. surfed spelled as sourphed, and not as sourpht). T he preservation of suffi x spelling is observed consistently in spite of the fact that the spelling for the suffi x corresponds to m ore than one phonological form. W e argue that the interpretation of such an error pattern requires that w e assum e that the stem m aterial is processed via phonology-to-orthography conversion, w hereas the suffi x m aterial is processed lexically. W e conclude that the results are incom patible w ith an exclusively w hole-w ord view of lexical representation and processing and requires, instead, that w e assum e a lexical orthographic system in w hich m orphologically com plex form s are represented in a com positional m anner.


Experience with 185 vasovasostomies performed over an 11-year period is reported. The average age of the patients was 39 and that of their wives was 33. The average interval between vasectomy and vasovasostomy was 4 years and the average number of living children at the time of vasovasostomy was 2.1. Remarriage and death of a child especially a son were the most common reasons for requesting the operation. The success rate was greater for 1) younger patients 2) those with a shorter interval between vasectomy and vasovasostomy 3) those bilaterally vasovasostomized and 4) those receiving a solid splint or no splint. End-to-end anastomosis and side-to-side anastomosis were the most successful techniques. The overall success rate was 81% with 35% of the wives becoming pregnant. Infection impaired blood supply avascular necrosis inadequate approximation of the vasal ends hematoma changes in the epididymal environment and premature ambulation were the most common causes of failure.


Modal analysis is extensively used to study dynamic behaviour of linear mechanical structures. The extension of this tool to non-linear structures is examined here, using Volterra functional series which generalises the superposition principle and permits to obtain impulse responses and transfer functions of various orders. These functions will be presented in close-form expressions which allow going from one class of functions to another one.


On the basis of TLS 1.0 protocol and RTP protocol,a secure protocol for requesting media program is proposed in our paper. The protocol can not only realize the identity authentication,key share,key update and the secure transportation of media information, but also allow the users select the suitable media ertcryption method according to the working conditions and decrypt the media data correctly in the situation of package losing and disordering in the Internet.


Solar energy being a clean, dependable and abundant energy source could solve the up-coming global energy crisis. The present thesis focused on the design and development of cheap, non-toxic and easily processible solar cells that are highly stable and commercially viable. Novel non-toxic and durable alternatives for current solar cell materials have been developed and implemented.


Tissue expression and blood level of YKL-40 protein are elevated ia patients with tumor.The protein may have a role in cancer cell proliferation,infiltration,metastasis and remodelling of tumor stroma.Elevated YKL-40 levels are highly associated with short survival and poor response to treatment for patients.Thus,YKL-40 may serve as a biomarker in diagnosis of disease,evaluation of severity and assessment of prognosis.It's more likely to be a new target for anti-tumor treatment.

Key words:
Neoplasms; YKL-40 protein


Carvedilol is both an alpha and a beta adrenoreceptor-blocking agent used in the treatment of various cardiovascular disorders such as angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmia and hypertension. Its bioavailability is relatively low due to the first pass metabolism in liver. Its biological half-life (6 hours) is very short and therefore is an ideal drug candidate for transdermal drug delivery system (TDDS). The purpose of the present investigation was to improve permeability of carvedilol from transdermal films, which is made by using hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) as polymeric matrix and propylene glycol as plasticizer. Sodium lauryl sulphate (SLS), Tween 20, Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and Polyethylene glycol (PEG 400) were used as permeation enhancers. Skin permeation of carvedilol was studied by Franz diffusion cell using excised rat abdominal skin and comparison of various permeation enhancers on permeation rates of carvedilol were determined. It was found that the permeation enhancers increased the permeation of the drug, carvedilol, and arranged in the following increasing order according to their permeation rate: Tween 20 > SLS > PEG 400 > DMSO. The effect of iontophoresis on permeation of carvedilol transdermal films were studied alone and mixed with enhancers. The data clearly showed that permeation enhancers and iontophoresis synergistically enhanced permeability of carvedilol from its films. The results suggested that the combination of permeation enhancers and iontophoresis could be useful for increasing the skin permeability of carvedilol through the matrix TDDS.


Recent advances in the studies of cryptosporidiosis antibody therapies were discussed from the perspectives of hyperimmune bovine colostrum,hyperimmune serum,egg yolk immunoglobulins and monoclonal antibody.Research progress in vaccines against cryptosporidiosis were summarized,in order to provide references for therapeutic and prophylactic measures for controlling cryptosporidiosis.


Currently, there are no tools available to show at the managerial level, the importance of
implementation of prevention programs in the building construction sector, for which
proposes a methodology with which it is intended to significantly benefit the companies of this
sector, since it provides a tool that allows evaluating the cost-benefit ratio of the
implementation of controls and prevention activities and thus have the support of the directives for their
implementation, thus contributing to the improvement of workers' health and safety conditions
through the prevention of work accidents.


The past two decades have seen fruitful efforts in shaping cellulose into functional materials using ionic liquids. This Tutorial Review aims at providing guidance from a materials science perspective to stimulate more research in this field.


Opportunists, for example, believe in winning any way possible, and often exploit others to score personal gains. Few people follow them for long. Other types prove potent change agents. In particular, Strategists believe that every aspect of their organization is open to discussion and transformation. Their action logic enables them to challenge perceptions that constrain their organizations and to overcome resistance to change. They create compelling, shared visions and lead the pragmatic initiatives needed to realize those visions. Though Strategists are rare, you can develop their defining strengths. How? Diagnose your current action logic and work to upgrade it. The payoff? You help your company execute the changes it needs to excel.


Most algorithm work in data mining focuses on designing algorithms to address a learning problem. Here we focus our attention on designing algorithms to determine the ease or difficulty of a problem instance. The area of clustering under constraints has recently received much attention in the data mining community. We can view the constraints as restricting (either directly or indirectly) the search space of a clustering algorithm to just feasible clusterings. However, to our knowledge no work explores methods to count the feasible clusterings or other measures of difficulty nor the importance of these measures. We present two approaches to efficiently characterize the difficulty of satisfying must-link (ML) and cannot-link (CL) constraints: calculating the fractional chromatic polynomial of the constraint graph using LP and approximately counting the number of feasible clusterings using MCMC samplers. We show that these measures are correlated to the classical performance measures of constrained clustering algorithms. From these insights and our algorithms we construct new methods of generating and pruning constraints and empirically demonstrate their usefulness.


For a long time it was believed that the biogenic magnetic nanoparticles (BMNs) in the ethmoid bones of fishes and birds are associated with navigation in the geomagnetic field. However, it was proven that BMNs don't affect the ability of migratory birds to orient in the Earth's magnetic field. It is relevant to check the presence of BMNs in organs of migratory and non-migratory fishes. The presence of BMNs was investigated in the samples of ethmoid bones of atlantic salmon, northern pike and silver carp by the method of magnetic force microscopy. As a result, the biological material of ethmoid bones of migratory and non-migratory fishes contain both separate BMNs and their chains, so BMNs in the ethmoid bone of fishes are not related to their ability to migrate in the geomagnetic field.


Car-to-car communication is a promising technology for solving several real-life problems on the road. There is a growing research interest in this technology as one of the practical and challenging applications for wireless communication and multi-hop networks. Although there has been a decent amount of research in this topic recently, there is a lack of real-world experimental studies to augment this work. In this paper, we present results from a real-world experiment consisting of 10 cars making loops in a 5-mile segment of a freeway. Each car has a WiFi personal device communicating and forming multi-hop networks with the rest of the devices. By collecting measurements of connectivity and locations from these devices, and analyzing these measurements, we obtain some interesting observations about this environment. For instance, most connections forming in the freeway were between 15 and 30 seconds with a median of 23 seconds. The average distance at connections and disconnections was 133 meters and 500 meters respectively. The distance and relative velocity were observed to have a significant effect on connection forming and duration. Most connections formed were between cars in the opposite directions of the freeway rather than between those going in the same direction. We believe these results are indicative and useful for wireless protocol and application designers.


Phase relations in the Na 3 PO 4 -GaPO 4 system are studied by X-ray diffraction and IR and Raman spectroscopy (isotherms at 750 and 900°C). The character of interaction between the components is determined, the phases are isolated and identified. The region of solid solutions based on the high-temperature phase of sodium phosphate Na 3 - x Ga x / 3 □ 2 x / 3 PO 4 (space group Fm3m) and an extensive region of glasses are first found. Analysis of IR and Raman spectra of the phases indicates the structural unequivalence of positions of the PO 4 tetrahedra in the solid solution and their random distribution in the glass-formation region.


The Paper introduces the centrifuge research activities undertaken by the soil mechanics group at the Tokyo Institute of Technology during the past ten years and focuses on the bearing capacity of shallow foundations in dense sand. A series of experiments was conducted to explain de Beer's scale effect and to investigate the effect of the roughness of the footing base, the anisotropy in dense sand, the embedment of footings and the effect of slopes near footings. Measurements of deformations were attempted during loading tests using an automatic tracking device developed by the group and radiographs were used to detect slip lines. Progressive failure was found to be more marked for wider footings, which is considered to be the main cause of the scale effect; the smaller bearing capacity factors occur for wider footings. It is shown that strong anisotropy in dense sand is also responsible for the scale effect. A smooth footing, made by lubricating the base with a greased membrane, yielded two symmetrical w...


ejd.2012.1818 Auteur(s) : Federico Bardazzi, Michela Magnano email@example.com, Valentina Angela Antonucci, Riccardo Balestri, Paola Sgubbi, Annalisa Patrizi Division of Dermatology, University of Bologna, via Massarenti 1, 40138, Bologna, Italy Hyperpigmented lesions, confined to a healing psoriatic plaque, have been reported in the literature and are described as lentigines, naevus spilus-like or with speckled pigmentation [1]. These lesions often appeared after the use of phototherapy, [...]


Big data storage technologies inherently entail high latency characteristics, preventing users from performing efficient ad-hoc querying and interactive visualization on large and distributed datasets. Most of the existing approaches addressing this issue thrive on de-normalization of the static data schema and creation of application specific (i.e. hard-coded) materialized views, which certainly reduce data access latency but at the expense of flexibility. In this regard, this paper proposes an approach that relies on an iterative process of data transformation intended to generate read-optimized data schemas. The transformation process is able to automatically identify optimization opportunities (e.g. materialized views, missing indexes), by analyzing the original data schema and the record of queries issued by users and client applications against the data set. An experimental evaluation of the proposed approach evidences a significant reduction in the query latency, ranging from 81.60% to 99.99%.


This thesis deals with the main heroine in Charlotte Perkins Gilman?s story The Yellow Wallpaper and the influences which led her to a psychical breakdown. It also examines the status of a white middle class woman in the late 19th-century in the United States of America. The thesis concludes that women were forced into their roles, which resulted in their psychical instability.


&NA; The effects of mechanical cardiac assistance on renal function are influenced by the type of device used, baseline hemodynamic status and renal function, and the existence of comorbid conditions. Because left ventricular assist devices and total artificial hearts often restore normal end‐organ function, renal insufficiency cannot be considered a contraindication for device insertion. However, the negative prognostic impact of renal failure before and after device insertion must be considered seriously before device support is instituted. Although renal function usually improves after device insertion, renal insufficiency may worsen or become irreversible despite normalization of hemodynamics. This may be due to preexisting renal injury or to thromboembolism, right‐sided heart failure, or the effects of nonpulsatile flow on renal perfusion.


The base of the red pelagic nodular limestones exposed near the Mihailovići Pass (Northern Montenegro) yielded condensed Toarcian fossil assemblage consisting uniquely of ammonites. The ammonites were collected from marker horizon associated with prominent hardground surface. This assemblage is composed both of species of worldwide distribution and proper Tethyan dispersal. It includes frequent Lytoceratina and common Phylloceratina and Ammonitina. The latter allowed the biostratigraphic definition of the fossiliferous horizon as mid-Bifrons Subzone of the Lower Toarcian Bifrons Zone. Thirteen ammonite taxa were studied: Phylloceras heterophyllum (Sowerby), P. prinzi Géczy, Calliphylloceras nilssoni (Hebert), Lytoceras toarcense Rulleau, Nodicoeloceras angelonii (Ramaccioni), Hildoceras lusitanicum Meister, H. bifrons (Bruguière), Cingolites aff. picenus Sassaroli & Venturi, Osperleioceras subexaratum (Bonarelli), Harpoceras mediterraneum Pinna, Phymatoceras anomalum Merla, Ph. gr. narbonense Buckman and Ph. cf. formosum Rulleau & Elmi. One specimen was defined as Harpoceras sp. n. since it did not match any species from the literature, but might be erected as a new specific name if further materials appear.


This paper shows that deepening trade integration may have non‐monotonic impacts on the direction of financial flows in a world with heterogeneous financial development. By inducing the more financially developed country (North) to specialize towards the financially constrained, high‐return sectors, trade integration reduces the return to capital in the unconstrained, low‐return sectors, which reverses the upstream financial flows, as predicted by Antras and Caballero (2009, Journal of Political Economy). However, if the cross‐country difference in financial development and the investment elasticity in North are sufficiently large, North may offshore the low‐return sectors and specialize fully in the high‐return sectors. In this case, upstream financial flows may not be dampened or reversed in the long run. My findings offer an alternative perspective of understanding the persistent current account imbalances between emerging Asia and the United States.


Wind flows and collimated jets are believed to be a feature of a range of disc accreting systems. These include active galactic nuclei, T Tauri stars, X-ray binaries and cataclysmic variables. The observed collimation implies large-scale magnetic fields and it is known that dipole-symmetry fields of sufficient strength can channel wind flows emanating from the surfaces of a disc. The disc inflow leads to the bending of the poloidal magnetic field lines, and centrifugally driven magnetic winds can be launched when the bending exceeds a critical value. Such winds can result in angular momentum transport at least as effective as turbulent viscosity, and hence they can play a major part in driving the disc inflow.

It is shown here that if the standard boundary condition of vanishing viscous stress close to the stellar surface is applied, together with the standard connection between viscosity and magnetic diffusivity, then poloidal magnetic field bending increases as the star is approached with a corresponding increase in the wind mass loss rate. A significant amount of material can be lost from the system via the enhanced wind from a narrow region close to the stellar surface. This occurs for a Keplerian angular velocity distribution and for a modified form of angular velocity, which allows for matching of the disc and stellar rotation rates through a boundary layer above the stellar surface. The enhanced mass loss is significantly affected by the behaviour of the disc angular velocity as the stellar surface is approached, and hence by the stellar rotation rate. Such a mechanism may be related to the production of jets from the inner regions of disc accreting systems.


This paper presents the IIHS rear crash analysis of the seat applied to active head restraint. Since 1995 IIHS has evaluated the static geometry of head restraints on seats to reduce neck injury risk in low speed rear impact. But Geometry evaluation is not sufficient for protection of whiplash injury. So IIHS received the dynamic test evaluations used in IIWPG and published the its first set of evaluations in fall 2004. We execute the IIHS rear impact analysis of seat using the LS-DYNA and BidRID II and suggest the improvement subject for reducing whiplash injury.


Literary scholars have long debated the thematic significance of Voltaire's Candide, a 1759 novella that relentlessly satirizes Gottfried Leibniz's philosophy of optimism. In Candide, Voltaire assails his readers with displays of violence so absurd they might inspire anything from laughter to hopelessness. The novella's crude humor is hinged upon an unexpectedly-compassionate acknowledgement of human suffering. Voltaire uses Candide's plotline to attack the human assumption that any force of good will ever offset the evil in a world pervaded by cruelty and selfishness. He provokes questions with no answers in sight. Deriving a theme from the novella only becomes more difficult after reading its conclusion, which leaves readers dissatisfied, desperate for some sort of call to action. We are urged to cultivate our garden but given no advice on what that might entail. We are convinced of Leibnizian optimism's failures but deprived of a more-pragmatic philosophy to replace it with. In this essay, I analyze the ways Voltaire uses humor, irony, and structure in Candide not only to denounce deceitful forms of optimism, but to provoke future thought on the questions he could not answer himself.


Introduction: Quantification of absolute metabolite concentration is a key requirement for the assessment of pathologic alterations and for a better understanding of biochemical processes in vivo. To facilitate signal quantification the ERETIC method [1] relies on a reference RF signal, synthesized by an electronic device, which is injected during the acquisition of spectroscopy data. Ensuring safety and maintaining sufficiently low signal coupling between the actual receive coil and the ERETIC setup presents significant engineering challenges due to inevitable cable interactions and parasitic grounding loops. Great care must also be taken when positioning coaxial cables of the ERETIC system in the MR room because the routing can strongly affect the transmitted signal [2]. If the signal is injected inductively potential loading of the injector loop is another source of error in the reference signal. Materials and Methods: The alternative solution proposed in this work is to transmit the reference signal via an optical fiber link based on nonmagnetic components including a directly modulated light-emitting diode (LED). The optical signal is guided through a plastic optical fiber (POF), converted back to an electrical signal by means of a photodiode and then inductively coupled into the receive coil. LED senders (Hamamatsu L9534) were chosen rather than semiconductor lasers because they are less sensitive to temperature changes, inexpensive, do not need special biasing circuits and do not emit potentially dangerous coherent radiation. POFs (1 mm PMMA) are easy to handle and have a large numerical aperture for efficient coupling between the LED and the fiber. A PIN photodiode (Infineon SFH250) was used to detect the modulated optical signal. A low noise amplifier (Avago MSA0886) was included in the link to decrease its noise figure and net attenuation. The signal is coupled into a 3T proton birdcage coil (127.8 MHz) via a 0.84 cm loop. The injector loop is placed behind the RF mirror of the birdcage coil to assure a stable reference signal for various coil loading conditions. The ERETIC signal is generated by the broadband tune channel of the system in the service room; the signal then travels through a fiber of 10 m in length and enters the scanner room's Faraday shield through a waveguide. This setup guarantees patient safety since the optical fiber is a perfect electrical isolator. The link was used with a 3T Philips Achieva system (Philips Healthcare, Best, NL). Results: The attenuation of the link (consisting of preamplifier, LED, POF, and detector diode) at 127.8 MHz is 14 dB, the noise figure is 24.48 dB and the 3rd order intercept point is -35 dBm. Even though the attenuation and the noise figure of the link are high, the reference signal presents a very good signal-to-noise ratio, which further improves when the signal is averaged during spectroscopic acquisitions. In-vivo feasibility of the signal injection is demonstrated in Fig. 3, showing a sample 1H brain spectrum with prominent water and reference peaks. The key requirement for use in ERETIC is the amplitude stability of the reference signal over time. It was first checked on the bench by monitoring the gain of the link over 12 hours, followed by a test in the MR system, measuring the amplitude of the reference signal with the MR spectrometer, again for 12 hours, of which the first 180 minutes are displayed in Fig. 4. The ERETIC signal remained highly stable after a warm-up phase of 30 minutes. Assuming a moderate number of signal averages (N=130) the standard deviation of the reference signal was 0.66% over 3 hours and 2.16% over 12 hours. Discussion and Conclusion: Using an optical link solves a key problem in the ERETIC method by ensuring a stable and safe reference signal. It is thus expected to facilitate high-fidelity quantitative measurements of metabolite concentrations. It also greatly simplifies the handling of the ERETIC setup by overcoming all issues related to cable routing. Since the temperature of the MR room is kept constant the LED's sensitivity to temperature changes is not an issue. Nevertheless the setup needs a warm-up phase of 30 minutes after being switched on. References [1] Barantin et al.. A New Method for Absolute Quantitation of MRS Metabolites. MRM 38, p.197 (1997) [2] Marro et al., Synthetic signal injection using inductive coupling, Journal of Magnetic Resonance 194(1), p.67 (2008)[3] Schweizer et al., Advances in the ERETIC method for the quantification of in-vivo 1H and 31P spectra, Proc. 16th ISMRM, p.193 (2008)


ABSTRACT In this article, a comprehensive review is presented regarding structure, synthesis, and properties of nanofillers such as graphene oxide, nanobifiller of graphene oxide, and their polymeric nanocomposite. The information about hybrid properties and synthesis of graphene oxide–carbon nanotube, graphene oxide–montmorillonite, and graphene oxide–nanodiamond is presented. Use of nanobifiller in polymer/graphene oxide–carbon nanotube, polymer/graphene oxide–montmorillonite, and polymer/graphene oxide–nanodiamond composites was summarized. Area of polymer and graphene oxide-based nanobifiller composites is less studied in literature. Therefore, nanobifiller technology limitations and research challenges must be focused. Polymer/graphene oxide nanobifiller composites have a wide range of unexplored potential in technological areas such as automobile, aerospace, energy, and medical industries. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


Cryopreservation of human sperm, now generally required in donor insemination programs, adversely affects the sperm in terms of standard sperm evaluation parameters and fertilizing ability. The freeze-thaw process appears to produce sublethal damage that appears only after a delay. The authors hypothesized that cryopreservation enhanced peroxidation of sperm membrane lipids, based on previous studies of sperm lipid peroxidation, which showed that the effects of peroxidative damage became evident only after a delay, depending on the peroxidation rate. The effect of cryopreservation on the phos-pholipid content, the composition of the acyl moieties of the phospholipids, and the activities of the peroxidation protective enzymes, superoxide dimutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxi-dase plus reductase, in human sperm were examined to test the hypothesis. Parallel determinations were made of the percent motility, the average path velocity of the motile cells, and the time to loss of motility under specified aerobic incubation conditions , which gives a good estimate of the lipid peroxidation rate. The phospholipid content decreases after cryopreserva-tion, with loss of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanol-amine being the more pronounced. Polyunsaturated acyl moieties were also preferentially lost. This loss pattern is observed also from lipid peroxidation. The activities of glutathione peroxidase plus reductase remained unchanged. The sperm SOD activities varied widely between samples before cryopres-ervation. In all samples there was a decline in SOD activity after freeze-thaw, but the extent of the decline was also widely van-able. The time to loss of motility declined in parallel with SOD activity, and a strong correlation (R2 > 0.9) between SOD activity and time to loss of motility was found for all samples, before and after freeze-thaw. The authors conclude that cryopresenvation does enhance lipid peroxidation in human sperm, as hypothesized , and that this enhancement is mediated at least in part by the loss of SOD activity occurring during the process. A lthough the aim of donor artificial insemination programs is to introduce viable sperm to the female reproductive tract to maximize the probability of conception, it is now recognized that the procedure also must avoid the risk of viral infection (American Fertility Society, 1990). Virtually all donor artificial insemination programs now use cryopreserved sperm to allow testing of the donor for transmissible infectious agents. This need for cryopreservation works against the aim of donor artificial insemination at the level of sperm viability. Human sperm subjected to the freezing and thawing processes required for cryopreserva-tion lose their viability …


Climate change has been recognized as a threatening environmental problem around the world. CO2 is considered to be the main component of greenhouse gas. By using solar energy (light energy) as the energy source, photocatalytic conversion is one of the most effective technologies to reveal the clean utilization of CO2. Herein, using sodium tungstate, nickel nitrate, and selenium powder as the main raw materials, the high absorption and utilization of WSe2 for light energy and the high intrinsic conductivity of NiSe2 were combined by a hydrothermal method to prepare NiSe2/WSe2 and hydrazine hydrate as the reductant. Then, high-performance NiSe2/WSe2 photocatalytic material was prepared. The characterization results of XRD, XPS, SEM, specific surface area, and UV-visible spectroscopy show that the main diffraction peak of synthesized NiSe2/WSe2 is sharp, which basically coincides with the standard card. After doping NiSe2, the morphology of WSe2 was changed from a flake shape to smaller and more trivial crystal flakes, which demonstrates richer exposed edges and more active sites; the specific surface area increased from 3.01 m2 g−1 to 8.52 m2 g−1, and the band gap becomes wider, increasing from 1.66 eV to 1.68 eV. The results of a photocatalytic experiment show that when the prepared NiSe2/WSe2 catalyst is used to conduct photocatalytic reduction of CO2, the yield of CH3OH is significantly increased. After reaction for 10 h, the maximum yield could reach 3.80 mmol g−1, which presents great photocatalytic activity.


Its objective is to identify the current positioning of horchata brands that are sold in the main sales points of the city of H.Cárdenas, Tabasco. In this sense it was necessary to identify the different positioning measurement models, using the one proposed by (Mullins, Walker, Boyd &Larreché, 2007). A mixed investigation was carried out using various multivariable methods and analysis, firstly, it was necessary to identify the horchata brands that are marketed, for this purpose a qualitative investigation was carried out that resulted in the identification of the horchata brands that are: La Mestiza , the Chontal, Flor de Tabasco, the Sureña, the Sultana and the Princess. Then, to comply with the positioning evaluation methodology, it was necessary to identify the attributes that consumers seek in horchatas, in order to obtain this result. Background: This research aims to identify the positioning of the horchata brands that are marketed in the main sales points of the city of H.Cárdenas, Tabasco. It was necessary to identify the different positioning measurement models. Likewise, a mixed investigation was carried out using various multivariable methods and analyzes. After this, the horchata brands that are marketed through qualitative research were identified, in the same way the attributes that consumers seek in horchatas were identified, through the interview method. Finally, a quantitative, transectional investigation was carried out with the intention of evaluating the attributes in the marks and, the results obtained are visualized by means of graphs of perceptual maps. Materials and Methods: A mixed investigation was carried out using various multivariable methods and analysis, firstly, it was necessary to identify the horchata brands that are marketed, for this purpose a qualitative investigation was carried out that resulted in the identification of the horchata brands that are: La Mestiza , the Chontal, Flor de Tabasco, the Sureña, the Sultana and the Princess. Then, in order to comply with the positioning evaluation methodology, it was necessary to identify the attributes that consumers seek in horchatas, in order to obtain this result a qualitative investigation was carried out with the interview method. Subsequently, a quantitative, transectional investigation was carried out with the intention of evaluating the attributes in the marks, finally, the results were plotted in perceptual maps. Results: With all the information collected during this investigation we can conclude that the attributes that consumers look for in horchata brands are performance and flavor. The best positioned brand in the Cárdenas market, Tabasco is the mestizo, it should be noted that this brand is originally from the city of Cárdenas, Tabasco Conclusion:To reach the expected results, a series of activities were carried out, it was first necessary to rely on a qualitative investigation that was based on the observation method and a data collection sheet was used as an instrument where we could observe that the marks of horchatas that were sold in the different points of sale are: the mestizo, the flower of Tabasco, the sultana, the princess, the southern and chontal we were interested in knowing what was the perception that consumers had about each product for this we conducted a survey in the points of sales where we could know the opinion of each one of them we really got to know the attributes that are sought in the product since we had the idea that most consumers look for an economic product but when analyzing all the information obtained we could realize that the Current customer seeks to satisfy their tastes and needs with products that meet their expectations and is Today it is very important to know what the demands of consumers are because we are in a time where there is a lot of competition and consumers have the freedom to try the different products and in the end decide which one to buy. Key Word: Brand, positioning, market, customer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date of Submission: 18-12-2019 Date of Acceptance: 01-01-2020 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


It describes main points of aluminum alloy doors and windows installation and proposes corresponding preventive methods to its prob-able quality problem in construction.It also points out that,construction erectors should work seriously according to operating technology and take corresponding preventive measures to make sure the quality of installation.


We investigate the performance of a multi-user OCDMA system demonstrator with full CDR using a novel OCDMA receiver. We achieve sensitivities (BER<10/sup -10/, 2/sup 20/-1 PRBS) of -19.1, -16.3, and -9.2 dBm for 1-3 users.


Dr. Palmore's (2001) Ageism Survey is a muchneeded contribution toward creating awareness about a form of prejudice and discrimination that has been largely ignored by our society. However, the survey omits measuring two components of ageism that have emerged from a series of recent findings. These studies have found that ageism can operate (a) implicitly, or without awareness, and (b) in the form of aging self-stereotypes, or older individuals' beliefs about the elderly population. To achieve Dr. Palmore's goal of establishing an "'epidemiology of ageism' as a first step toward its eradication," it seems that these two components might warrant consideration.


This thesis is concerned with exploring the nature of the Japanese transnational corporation and analysing the real effects of their transnational activities within Japan's machinery industries. The machinery industries are the most important of Japan's manufacturing sectors. The sector is also the most open of all Japanese manufacturing industry to the forces of globalisation and has seen the global emergence of Japan's so-called "national champions", such as Toyota, Hitachi and Sony.

Japan's transnationals have been pursuing global strategies to compete with their international rivals. In particular, they have been strategically developing their own transnational production networks, consisting of their core keiretsu partners and suppliers, to facilitate the use of global outsourcing. These transnational activities are changing the nature of Japan's domestic industrial structure. In this respect, there have been concerns that the global expansion of Corporate Japan has had real consequences for domestic Japanese manufacturing. In particular, there have been concerns that the growth in Japanese transnational production will lead to a "hollowing out" of Japanese manufacturing industry (Fujita and Hill 1989; Cowling and Tomlinson, 2000).

These important issues form the subject matter of this thesis. We begin by tracing the emergence of Japan's transnational corporations - within the machinery sector - and the growth in Japanese transnational production. Using a Case Study of the Japanese automobile industry, we then highlight the growth in Japanese transnational production networks, known as the new keiretsu. This new keiretsu provides Japan's transnational corporations with an inside option to "divide and rule" both their suppliers and their global labour force. We uncover direct evidence of this strategy from interviews and a questionnaire with Managing Directors and Senior Managers of Japanese auto-suppliers, based in the UK. We argue that such activities create interdependent linkages between the Japanese transnationals' affiliates around the globe. Consequently, the transnationals' strategic decisions, which determine the level of production, investment and employment at their domestic and foreign affiliates will then have a real effect upon the performance of domestic Japanese manufacturing. We provide both econometric and survey evidence to show that this is indeed the case. Finally, in the light of our conclusions we suggest possible ways forward for Japanese industrial policy.


We consider the classical Cauchy problem for a system of equations describing 3D arbitrary electrostatic oscillations of the cold plasma and introduce an iteration procedure that allows estimating the blow‐up time from below. This procedure is constructive provided one succeeds in obtaining a two‐sided estimate of an additional quantity depending on the solution. We show that this is possible in the case of one and two dimensions, as well as for solutions with zero vorticity. For the particular case of two‐dimensional initial data with radial symmetry, refined sufficient conditions for destruction and preservation of smoothness in the first period of oscillations are obtained. Moreover, we give the example of estimating the blow‐up time for the data for which results of numerics exist and discuss the roughness of our estimate.


Summary The zinc content of intestinal tissue of growing chicks depends upon the anatomical site of sampling, the dietary intake of zinc, and the extent of fasting. The zinc content of duodenum, but not ileum, increased after 24 hr fasting in both zinc-deficient and zinc-adequate chicks and rapidly decreased to prefasting levels after refeeding. Feeding diets either adequate or greater than adequate in zinc to zinc-deficient chicks resulted in a rapid increase in plasma, duodenal, and ileal zinc contents to levels found in animals maintained continuously on these diets. The zinc content of tibia rose more slowly over this same time period. Thus, duodenal zinc content accurately reflects acute increases in "available" body zinc and most likely represents zinc being excreted endogenously from the body tissues.


E‐64‐d, a membrane permeant derivative of E‐64, the thiol protease inhibitor, was found to prevent meiotic maturation of mouse oocytes in a dose dependent manner. When immature mouse oocytes were incubated with E‐64‐d for up to 14 hr, first polar body emission was blocked to 36% at 200 μg/ml and 6% at 400 μg/ml, but germinal vesicle breakdown occurred normally. Cytological analysis revealed that meiotic spindles were not formed, while chromosome condensation occurred. Thus, E‐64‐d prevents oocytes from progressing to the first meiotic metaphase. When exposed to E‐64‐d after 8 hr of incubation without E‐64‐d, one‐fourth of oocytes completed the first meiotic division but never progressed to the second metaphase. In three‐fourth of the oocytes inhibited to emit the first polar body, spindles disappeared after incubation with E‐64‐d. The results suggest that E‐64‐d promotes disassembly of meiotic spindles resulting in inhibition of meiotic maturation. We propose that thiol protease is involved in spindle formation in mouse meiotic maturation.


movies.
In this research, the writer found out that there are forty seven data of
similarities and differences of the main character on both movies based on Sen and
Hill"s women representative included beauty, size/physical, emotion, sexuality, and
relationship. Furthermore, the writer described the women representation on both
movies related to the real condition of American women in 1937 and 2012.�


Methylene blue, a nitric oxide synthase and guanylate cyclase inhibitor, is frequently administered intraoperatively, most commonly as an indicator dye and less commonly off-label for vasoplegic syndrome. Standard dosing, based on methemoglobinemia treatment studies, is 1-2 mg/kg intravenously and may be repeated after one hour as needed. Methylene blue's interference with pulse oximetry is well described. Because pulse oximeters utilize wavelengths emitted at 660 nm and 940 nm and methylene blue's peak spectral absorption is 668 nm, intravenous administration of methylene blue results in an artifactual temporary decrease in pulse oximetric saturation. In contrast, is effect on cerebral oximetry reading has not been established.


We have extended the analytical model proposed earlier to estimate the inner disk radius of accreting neutron stars in the strong-propeller (SP) phase, and the conditions for the transitions between the strong and weak propeller (WP) phases (Ertan 2017, 2018) to the WP (accretion with spin-down) and the spin-up (SU) phases, and the torque reversals during the WP/SU transitions. The model can account for some basic observed properties of these systems that are not expected in conventional models: (1) accretion on to the star at low X-ray luminosities and the transitions to the SP phase (no accretion) at critical accretion rates much lower than the rate required for the spin-up/spin-down transition, (2) ongoing accretion throughout a large range of accretion rates while the source is spinning down (WP phase), and (3) transitions between the spin-up and spin-down phases with comparable torque magnitudes, without substantial changes in the mass-flow rate. Our results indicate that the magnitudes of the torques on either side of the torque reversal have a ratio similar for different systems independently of their spin periods, magnetic dipole moments and accretion rates during the transitions. Estimated torque reversal properties in our model are in agreement with the observed torque reversals of 4U 1626--67.


Capturing the Hearts and Minds of Employees : A study on corporate social responsibility as a key driver to employee engagement & retention - A Swedish Perspective


Concepts developed in study of SiO2/Si interface applied to analysis of native oxide/GaAs interface. High-resolution X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has been combined with precise chemical-profiling technique and resolution-enhancement methods to study stoichiometry of transitional layer. Results are presented in report now available.


MNRAS 000, 1–16 (2015) Preprint 27 January 2016 Compiled using MNRAS L A TEX style file v3.0 Reionization through the lens of percolation theory Steven R. Furlanetto, 1? and S. Peng Oh 2 1 Department 2 Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA arXiv:1511.01521v2 [astro-ph.CO] 25 Jan 2016 Accepted XXX. Received YYY; in original form ZZZ ABSTRACT The reionization of intergalactic hydrogen has received intense theoretical scrutiny over the past two decades. Here, we approach the process formally as a percolation process and phase transition. Using semi-numeric simulations, we demonstrate that an infinitely-large ionized region abruptly appears at an ionized fraction of x i ≈ 0.1 and quickly grows to encompass most of the ionized gas: by x i ∼ 0.3, nearly ninety percent of the ionized material is part of this region. Throughout most of reionization, nearly all of the intergalactic medium is divided into just two regions, one ionized and one neutral, and both infinite in extent. We also show that the discrete ionized regions that exist before and near this transition point follow a near-power law distribution in volume, with equal contributions to the total filling factor per logarithmic interval in size up to a sharp cutoff in volume. These qualities are generic to percolation processes, with the detailed behavior a result of long-range correlations in the underlying density field. These insights will be crucial to understanding the distribution of ionized and neutral gas during reionization and provide precise meaning to the intuitive description of reionization as an "overlap" process. Key words: cosmology: theory – intergalactic medium – dark ages, reionization, first stars – large scale structure of Universe INTRODUCTION The reionization of neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium (IGM) at z > ∼ 6 is one of the landmark events in the early history of structure formation in our Universe (e.g., Loeb & Furlanetto 2013). In addition to marking the point at which galaxy formation affected every baryon in the Uni- verse, it also represents the last major phase transition in the history of the Universe and has profound effects on the fuel supply for future generations of galaxies. As such, reioniza- tion has been a prime focus of diverse observational efforts including studies of the cosmic microwave background (Hin- shaw et al. 2013; Planck Collaboration et al. 2015), galaxy emission line studies (e.g., Kashikawa et al. 2006; Fontana et al. 2010; Schenker et al. 2012; Treu et al. 2012), and the nascent field of low-frequency radio observations of the red- shifted 21-cm line (Bowman & Rogers 2010; Paciga et al. 2011; Parsons et al. 2014; Dillon et al. 2015; Ali et al. 2015). As it presents a crucial constraint on galaxy formation, many studies of galaxies at z > ∼ 6 also focus their interpretation on the process of reionization (e.g., Robertson et al. 2015; Bouwens et al. 2015). One of the most fundamental aspects of the reionization E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com (SRF) c 2015 The Authors process is the intermingled structure of the ionized and neu- tral material. Furlanetto et al. (2004) developed an analytic model to describe the growth of ionized bubbles from clus- tered sources during reionization. Using excursion set the- ory and a simple "photon-counting" criterion to determine whether a region is ionized, their model predicted the mass (or volume) distribution of ionized regions. The physical principles of that model have since been applied to a num- ber of "semi-numeric" algorithms to generate realizations of the ionization field from linear or quasilinear theory, includ- ing the public codes DexM (Mesinger & Furlanetto 2007) and 21cmFAST (Mesinger et al. 2011) amongst others (see Zahn et al. 2011). Meanwhile, fully numerical simulations have increased in both size and sophistication over the past decade, incorporating radiative transfer and hydrodynamics to study the reionization problem over a wide range of scales (e.g., So et al. 2014; Gnedin & Kaurov 2014; Iliev et al. 2014; Trac et al. 2015). In particular, the excursion set formalism is generally considered to provide a reasonably accurate pic- ture of the ionized bubbles throughout reionization, and its qualitative predictions have guided much of our intuition about the reionization process. To this point, the structure of ionized regions has typi- cally been quantified only crudely, through the power spec- trum of the ionization field (or the closely-related 21-cm in-


Abstract The Internet of Things (IoT) is an expression, sometimes abused by companies given the absence of an unambiguous meaning, that indicates the upcoming evolution of Internet as it has been known so far. In fact, all objects will have network capabilities which will be exploited to overcome, in certain situations, human intervention. Thanks to the direct cooperation of new class of devices, aware of their operating scenario and interconnected in subnetworks, our life style will be strongly enhanced and simplified. IoT, however, is not yet the "El Dorado" of technology, capable of revolutionizing everyday life: some aspects and open issues have to be carefully analyzed. The huge complexity of this new technology forces companies to select a specific research field: for this reason, they focus only on some features that an IoT device should have to guarantee fulfillment of requirements. In this context, this research work concerns an analysis of features, operation principle and limits of SPI and I2C communication protocols followed by the proposal of a new hybrid protocol suited for embedded systems, named FlexSPI, thought as an evolution of the classic SPI. Thanks to a robust software architecture, it is able to provide many features that can be used by smart objects to enhance their capabilities. In this way, sensors and actuators or, more in general, subsystems, can quickly exchange data and efficiently react to malfunctioning; moreover, number of devices on bus can be safely increased even while smart object is performing operations.


Pectus excavatum(PE) is a frequent major congenital malformation of the chest wall,which has considerable effects on the appearance of the chest wall,cardiorespiratory function and mental health of the patients.The victims should undergo the surgical treatment at a proper age.The common operative procedures include Ravitch's operation,sterno-turnover operation,Nuss minimally invasive repair and vaccum bell suction,etc.A proper treatment procedure should be determined based on the age and type of PE.The procedure and progress of surgical treatment of PE is reviewed in this article.


Among the literati and men of culture of Iran, it is not exaggerated to call Khayyam one of the vaguest figures. One might recognize him certainly and resolutely through his philosophical and scientific works; however, it was his Rubaiyat attributed to him which created many arguments. This paper studies Hakim Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat in English and Persian language feature and non-biographical movies; hence, biographical movies depicting factual or imaginary life of Khayyam or any serials, TV productions, documentaries, nonEnglish, nonPersian movies are not included. The aim is to expound any relationships between the film and Rubaiyat; therefore, according to the type of the applied quatrain, movie genre, plot, some categories are propounded to classify the movies in which Khayyam's quatrains are quoted such as Transiency-Death, Transiency-Carpe Diem, Heaven and Hell, and Determinism. Indeed, these categories can be applied to the theme of the movies or a single scene in which the stanza is quoted.


Objectives: to calculate inequality indices based on seven variables relating to monetary poverty in children aged between 5 and 17 years and postpartum women of interest to the public nutrition authorities in Colombia. Methods: an ecological study was carried out based on 2011 data for monetary poverty and ENSIN obtained in the 2010 survey used to calculate rates based on inequality of ranges, disparity, disproportionality, regression models, and the concept of entropy. The study focused on children aged between 5 and 17 years old and postpartum women up to 48 hours after having given birth. Results: the prevalence of monetary poverty was 41.5% (95% CI 35.7 to 47.4). 82.4% of anemia and 68.2% of B12 deficiency could be avoided if there were no poverty. Inequality was found for all the variables except excess television. The Gini index for underweight was 0.20 and for anemia 0.38. Poverty accounts for 78% of house hold food insecurity. Conclusions: inequalities in nutrition can be considered to be dynamic and match structural inequalities. It was evident that there is inequality in all variables except excess to watching television or playing video games. Public policy for poor women stresses gender inequality. The distribution of malnutrition in Colombia is not homogeneous and this shows the existence of unjust inequalities affecting the most vulnerable.


In article the nature of scientific and art creativity is investigated. Their community and distinctions are defined. Receives the characteristic of a determinant of scientific and art creativity which actively proves in the field of pedagogics of music education. Musical art is shown as pedagogical potential at the levels: gnoseological, communicative, axiological, information. Feelings, attention, representation, imagination, perception, memory, thinking as the informative and communicative processes capable to make active the pedagogical potential of musical art are investigated. In the musical and pedagogical course personal qualities and properties of the performer-musician are studied: inclinations, temperament, character, abilities, interests, motives, requirements, emotions, feelings, will. The attention to culture of communication of the musician, his behavior in the art and figurative environment, world around in general is paid. It is emphasized that the musician not just learns, develops the world of artistic images. He lives and acts in this world, forming himself, improving the activity, changing the world, transforming him according to the set valuable coordinates (reference points)


words Unilateral auditory stimulation Bilateral auditory stimulation Fig. 1. Recognition accuracy (Pr) for word type and auditory stimuli condition. 360 355 350 345 340 335 330 325 320 Concrete words 334.98 356.19


This research has the goal of providing input to economic divesifikasi models which are the most consistent in increasing economic value and decrease poverty in the district town expansion North Sumatra Province. Provide input model Sustaianble Development Goals (SDGs) are the most supportive in the increase in economic value and alleviating poverty in the county town expansion North Sumatra Province. Prove empirically the performance of the economy which interact strongly supported the decline in poverty in the county town of the expansion in North Sumatra Province. This research uses 16 sample extraction area in North Sumatra. The first model of poverty alleviation through diversified value-added business community in meeting the needs of the community's life while the second model to determine what variables as policy recommendations for alleviating poverty in the County the expansion North Sumatra Province. The first model requires primary data while the second model requires data skunder time series starting in 2000 up to 2013. data analysis using two models, namely Structural Equation Models (SEM) and Vector Autoregression (VAR). Results of the study and this analysis gives an overview and prove the real poverty mapping in areas of expansion, poverty reduction actions based on the poverty mapping, control variables are very urgent in affects poverty, and controlling poverty continuously.


OF Dieter Henrich's Hypothesis Concerning the Proof"Structure of the Second-Edition Transcendental Deduction in Immanuel Kant's 'Critique of Pure Reason'JThe aim of this thesis was to evaluate Dieter Henrich*s hypothesis "concerning" the proof-structure of the second-edition Transcendental Deduction in the Critique of Pure Reason. We say "concerning", because Henrich, besides claiming that Kant presented one proof in two steps, offered a new interpretation of the text which would require such a structure. His belief was that because he took account of Kant's observations in section 21, he could produce such an interpretation. His interpretation alone would render intelligible certain peculiarities of the text of the Transcendental Deduction. The classical interpretations, e.g., those of Paton and de Vleeschauwer, failed because, neglecting Kant's observations, they saw the Deduction as presenting two separate proofs. Furthermore, they could not explain why two separate proofs were required. These investigations were able to show that Henrich failed to take account of Paton's and de Vleeschauwer's concern for the unity of the Transcendental Deduction. But he was correct that they could not offer any useful distinction 1 Leon R. Wartzaba, M.A. thesis presented to the School of Graduate Studies, University of Ottawa, May 1973,


Cystinosis is a rare, autosomal, recessive disease characterised by raised levels of the amino acid cystine in the cells of most organs in the body which can cause organ damage. The treatment involves the oral administration of the aminothiol, cysteamine (Cystagon(TM)), but this has an offensive taste and smell, can cause vomiting and its metabolites are excreted from the body via breath (halitosis) and sweat, which can cause poor patient compliance. The main research aim was to characterise two cysteamine prodrugs for the treatment of cystinosis and evaluate the suitability of liquid fill technology using prodrugs, or alternative drug models, to determine excipient usage using solubility, stability and capsule shell compatibility data to potentially develop prototype formulations based on liquid fill technology.


Invited for the cover of this issue is the group of Tito Trindade and colleagues at the University of Aveiro. The image depicts dendritic magneto-plasmonic substrates for surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) detection. Read the full text of the article at 10.1002/chem.202202382.


Pop Goes the Avant-Garde: Experimental Theatre in Contemporary China is the first comprehensive review of the history and development of avant-garde drama and theatre in the People's Republic of China since 1976. Drawing on a range of critical perspectives in the fields of comparative literature, theatre, performance, and culture studies, the book explores key artistic movements and phenomena that have emerged in China's major cultural centers in the last several decades. It surveys the work of China's most influential dramatists, directors and performance groups, with a special focus on Beijing-based playwright, director and filmmaker Meng Jinghui—the former enfant terrible of Beijing theatre, who is now one of Asia's foremost theatre personalities. Through an extensive critique of theories of modernism and the avant-garde, the author reassesses the meanings, functions and socio-historical significance of this work in non-Western contexts by proposing a new theoretical construct—the pop avant-garde—and exploring new ways to understand and conceptualize aesthetic practices beyond Euro-American cultures and critical discourses.


Much of the current concussion literature has focused on neuropsychological testing. While the use of this type of evaluation has recently been advocated as the "cornerstone" of proper concussion management (Guskiewicz et al., 2004) it does not assess all domains that may be impacted by brain injury. One such domain that has not frequently been investigated is post-concussion recovery of dynamic motor function. Parker and colleagues (in press) introduced a method of assessing concussion and recovery that focused on gait as a dynamic functional motor task during conditions of divided and undivided attention. It was found that gait stability, marked by increased sway and sway velocity of the whole body center of mass (COM), decreased when concussed subjects were asked to walk while simultaneously performing a secondary cognitive task compared to walking without mental distraction. A recent study has further suggested that participation in contact sports may produce cognitive impairments without diagnosed concussion (Killiam et al., 2005). Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which athletes differ from non-athletes in the maintenance of gait stability following concussion.


alanine in pregnancy. J Infect Dis 1983; 148: 194-199 12. Bjorksten B, Soderstrom T, Damber MG et al: Polymorphonuclear leukocyte function during pregnancy. Scand J Immunol 1978; 8: 257-262 13. Taekuchi A, Persellin RH: The inhibitory effect of pregnancy serum on polymorphonuclear leukocyte chemotaxis. J Clin Lab Immunol 1980; 3: 121-124 14. Persellin RH, Leibfarth JK: Studies of the effects of pregnancy serum on polymorphonuclear leukocyte functions. Arthritis Rheum 1978; 21: 326-335 15. Wilson ME: Effects of bacterial endotoxins on neutrophil function. Rev Infect Dis 1985; 7: 404-418 16. Hanna TL, Selby LA: Characteristics of the human and pet populations in animal bite accidents recorded at two Air Force bases. Public Health Rep 1981; 96: 580-584


In the 62 year long reign of Queen Elizabeth II, Canada's cultural and religious landscape has changed almost completely. Norman Bonney writes that the anti-Catholic trappings of the rituals of royal succession fly in the face of the substantial Catholic majority among the Christian population and the increasingly overall secular character of Canadian society. He argues that ahead of the ascension of the next monarch, Canadians need to begin a public and political debate over the role of the Crown in the Canada of the 21st century.


Objective To evaluate the effect of clinical services on nursing students' communication skills and professional values.Methods Totally 240 undergraduate nursing students were randomly divided into an experiment group(n=120) and a control group(n=120).The students in the experiment group took part in the clinical services one day each week for five months.After 5 months,the students were measured by a clinical communication skills questionnaire and Professional Values Scale.Result There were no significant differences in the communication skills and professional values between the two groups before intervention(P0.05).After participating in the activities,the students' communication skills and professional values were significantly improved in the experimental group(P0.05) and higher than in the control group(P0.05).Conclusion The clinical services can improve nursing students' communication skills and professional values.


Background: An earthquake is a natural calamity that cannot be avoided, occurs unexpectedly, and cannot be correctly estimated at its epicenter. Earthquakes can be predicted in the range of times that allow them to occur, but not their exact moment of occurrence or strength. Counseling is carried out to prepare the community to be able to deal with earthquake disasters when they occur. Purpose: To improve community preparation in the event of an earthquake disaster. Methods: Community service activities include employing leaflet media to provide earthquake catastrophe advice. People residing in earthquake-prone areas, such as Malabero Village and Bengkulu City, were targeted for the exercise. Results: Before and after receiving earthquake disaster preparedness counseling, there is an improvement in community understanding. Conclusion: By delivering health education using leaflets as a medium for health promotion, the public's understanding of readiness in coping with seismic disasters can be increased.


Wild Blue Yonder is the soaring saga and official history of Brigham Young University football, what some people have called the Mormon Notre Dame. Coach LaVell Edwards took over a program 25 years ago that was unknown. He was convinced that the only way to win was to throw the ball and throw it he did. The Cougars have emerged as one of the best traditions in the history of college football.BYU is now one of the nation's football heavyweights playing before 60,000 fans each week, sending dozens of players to the NFL and appearing on national TV.