Objective:To examine the effects of photodynamic therapy(PDT) on pseudomonas aeruginos strain in vitro.Methods:The pseudomonas aeruginos strain is used to investigate the photodynamic efficacy of PDT,methylene blue(MB) be the photosensitizer and laser be the light source(max_(output)=300 mW).The cultured bacterium is treated with different concentrations of MB under different laser irradiation dosages.The bacteria groups were counted to measure the relative bacteria inhibitory rate introduced by PDT.In addition,the rabbit blood agar is used to detect the changes of nosogenesis to Pseudomonas aeuginosa strain.Results:With same light dose condition,the photodynamic efficacy and a reduced nosogenesis on Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain are most notable given proper concentration(131.7 mol) for methylene blue solution,while higher(1 317 mol) or lower(13.17 mol) concentration level does not present obvious results. Conclusions:PDT has significant photodynamic efficacy on Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain in vitro,its relative inhibitory rate presents close correlation with the dose of sensitizer and light irradiation.Hence discovering proper photosensitizer concentration during therapy is highly important.


Centralized biometric system 200 is provided to verify the identity of individuals through a communications network. The system includes a storage unit 210 that stores the living body information related to the personal identification information. The system comprises also a communication device (100/101/102) and a biological sample from a subscriber trying to access the services provided by any of the network communications platform, (150/152/154) of the communication device and the network communications platform a receiver 221 for receiving from any one. The services are provided depending on whether a subscriber's personal identification. The system also includes a processor 223 to control the biological sample with the biometric information for the personal authentication on the subscriber identity. Centralized, biometrics, network, remote


With the ubiquitous graph-structured data in various applications, models that can learn compact but expressive vector representations of nodes have become highly desirable. Recently, bearing the message passing paradigm, graph neural networks (GNNs) have greatly advanced the performance of node representation learning on graphs. However, a majority class of GNNs are only designed for homogeneous graphs, leading to inferior adaptivity to the more informative heterogeneous graphs with various types of nodes and edges. Also, despite the necessity of inductively producing representations for completely new nodes (e.g., in streaming scenarios), few heterogeneous GNNs can bypass the transductive learning scheme where all nodes must be known during training. Furthermore, the training efficiency of most heterogeneous GNNs has been hindered by their sophisticated designs for extracting the semantics associated with each meta path or relation. In this paper, we propose wide and deep message passing network (WIDEN) to cope with the aforementioned problems about heterogeneity, inductiveness, and efficiency that are rarely investigated together in graph representation learning. In WIDEN, we propose a novel inductive, meta path-free message passing scheme that packs up heterogeneous node features with their associated edges from both low- and high-order neighbor nodes. To further improve the training efficiency, we innovatively present an active downsampling strategy that drops unimportant neighbor nodes to facilitate faster information propagation. Experiments on three real-world heterogeneous graphs have further validated the efficacy of WIDEN on both transductive and inductive node representation learning, as well as the superior training efficiency against state-of-the-art baselines.


Throughout the history of man, traditional and herbal method of treatment of diseases has been used without considering the dose effect. Therefore, this present study is an attempt on investigating the effect of different doses of Annona squamosa methanolic leaf extract on male wistar Rats especially the delicate organs. The work involves oral administration of different doses (10, 100, 1000, 1600, 2900, 5000 mg/kg body weight) of the extract to groups of rats according to Lorkes method. The animals were monitored for 30 days at every 24 hours interval in order to find the median lethal dose (LD50) of the extract. Internal organ-body weight ratios (OBR) of animals in the test groups were determined and compared with those of the control group. LD50 was found to be greater than 5000mg/kg body weight without any significant decrease (p>0.05) in body weight. Biochemical analysis of Aspartate amino transferase (AST), Alanine amino transferase (ALT), Albumin and globulin of animals administered with extract showed no significant difference compared to the control groups (p>0.05) but concentration of Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) indicated obvious changes in the treated groups compared to the control groups (p<0.05). Histopathology of the kidney revealed some inflammation at 1000, 1600, and 5000 mg/kg body weight. The implications of using this extract within safe doses in traditional medicine is hereby discussed


Experimental results of low velocity, small steel ball impact tests on laminated architectural glass units are presented. These tests are part of an ongoing effort to develop a design method for laminated architectural glass units to resist windborne debris from sources such as roof gravel, as required in several current and proposed U.S. building codes and standards. A design concept known as "sacrificial ply" permits the exterior-facing, outer glass ply of a laminated glass unit to fracture during windborne debris impacts, but prevents fracture of the inner glass ply. This concept also depends on an inner glass ply designed to resist lateral wind pressures for the remainder of the windstorm so that the integrity of the building envelope is preserved. In these experiments, inner and outer glass ply thicknesses and polyvinyl butyral interlayer thickness were varied to determine their effects on the impact resistance of the inner glass ply of laminated architectural glass when impacted on the outer glass p...


Plant population dynamics of a human-impacted masson pine (Pinus massoniana) plantation was studied in Dinghushan Biosphere Reserve in Guangdong for 5 years from 1990. Twenty paired plots with total area of 4 000 m2 were investigated in plots of harvesting under-story, ground cover, and litter as the local peasants did for fuel annually once or twice, and in undisturbed plots as control. The results indicated that understory coverage and the shrub coverage in undisturbed plots increased annually, but those in disturbed plots remained little changed. However, the coverage of herbs was slightly increased before 1992, and then decreasedmarkedly in undisturbed plots, while that in disturbed plots was on the contrary. The coverage of main shrub and herb species was also measured. Species number of understory plants decreased annually from 41 to 30 in undisturbed plots, but that in disturbed plots remained more or less stable, only 2 species lost. The result showed that appropriate disturbance in understory of masson pine plantation could maintain species abundance, and exhibited positive effect on natural regeneration of pine tree, but negative impact on pine growth. The possible succession of open masson pine forest toward pine-broadleaved mixed forest is discussed.


With a significant prevalence of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the question of its impact on the identity of women, the specifics of such identity, as well as its dynamics remain debatable.The aim. To study the features of identity dynamics in women with PCOS and the socio-demographic factors that determine these features.Research methods. A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the SEI-test methods and the Russian language versions of the Life Line, Twenty Statements Test methods on a sample of 110 women of reproductive age (58 women with PCOS, 52 women without PCOS; two surveys during the year).Results. Had been shown that women diagnosed with PCOS show fewer signs of an identity crisis than women without such diagnosis, but their identity is more variable. Such women are less likely to characterize themselves with the help of concepts related to gender and family spheres in favor of personality traits. An analysis of the influence of socio-demographic factors showed that their identity determines a greater number of external factors than in women without PCOS. The ego-identity of such women depends on marital status and place of residence.Conclusion. The identity of women diagnosed with PCOS is more variable, but shows fewer signs of a crisis. It seems necessary to take into account the presence or absence of children when planning further research. The results obtained can be used in the consultation of women with PCOS.


We admire the bravery involved in constructing Cohen and Scott's computer model for fractionated radiotherapy, but his case for taking it seriously cannot be considered established at present. In his letter Cohen (1970) asserts that it "gives a sharper insight" into problems of fractionation sequence than the impirical iso-effect curves or dose-time adjustments. This assertion requires qualification.


Abstract The concern for the condition of the natural environment requires taking a new approach towards consumption and meeting consumer needs (Bocking 2009). Despite many initiatives related to the paradigm of sustainable development and the concept of sustainable consumption, the situation is still far from a general departure from mass consumption and consumerism. The article aims to try to synthetically organise the views of other authors on the challenges of greening consumption, both for enterprises and consumers in the context of social responsibility. Competences play an important role in this process. The greening of consumption has not yet been widely propagated in societies, including also Polish society. One of the crucial elements of greening consumption is the purchase of ecological/organic food products. To learn about the behaviour of Poles towards the issue discussed in this article, the authors conducted a study on a representative sample of Poles (N = 1,000) during Nov. 15–27, 2021, using the Computer Assisted Web Interview (CAWI) technique (which is an online surveying technique that fits into the quantitative methodology of market and opinion research) and online panels as part of the omnibus study. The survey shows that only 7.1% of the respondents have never purchased ecological/organic food products. Among buyers, 21.8% do it rarely/sporadically, 40.1% occasionally/sometimes, 20.2% often/try to choose ecological products when shopping and 10.8% do it very often or always. Among the respondents, 55.3% declared that ecological/organic products are expensive but still worth the price due to the health benefits they bring. Noticing the advantages of these products, 63.7% of respondents would like to buy more of them. In view of the results obtained, it can be said that it is necessary to disseminate the main greening consumption ideas that are apparent from this study, and this can be done through education, building consumer competences or visualising the effects of the continuation of current consumption habits. The problem of protecting the natural environment, discussed in numerous documents issued by governments and international organisations and in scientific publications, cannot remain unnoticed. Greening consumption is a challenge for companies whose production should be rational in using non-renewable natural resources, reducing or eliminating toxic waste, using recyclable packaging and introducing 'clean production' principles aimed at obtaining consumer products using more cost-effective and healthier methods. It is also a challenge for consumers, who should replace perishable goods with products with a longer life cycle, consume goods and services more sparingly and cease to accept planned obsolescence of products or unethical behaviour of enterprises towards their employees.


In this paper, the effect of the boundary conditions on the reliability and the cumulative distribution characteristics of the fatigue failure life is analyzed in a magnesium alloy AZ31. The boundary conditions are specimen thickness, stress ratio, and maximum fatigue load. The statistical data of the fatigue failure life are obtained by fatigue crack propagation tests under the detail conditions for each boundary condition. The 3-parameter Weibull distribution is used to analyze a statistical characteristics of the fatigue failure life in magnesium alloy AZ31. It is found that the statistical fatigue failure life is long in the case of a thicker specimen, a larger stress ratio, and a smaller maximum fatigue load. Under the opposite cases, the reliability on the fatigue failure life is rapidly dropped.


The current state of titanium deposits in the world and Ukraine's place in the world of titanium ore reserves are analyzed. The list of leading countries in terms of reserves of loose titanium-zirconium ores and the dynamics of production is given. There is no regularity of the ratio of countries in terms of reserves and countries in terms of production. A map of the countries to which Ukraine exports titanium raw materials and the dynamics of titanium dioxide prices over the past 5 years are presented. The list of available mining enterprises for enrichment and production of titanium products within Ukraine is given. The general characteristic of the mineral resource base of titanium of Ukraine with the map of the current state of ilmenite and complex zircon-ilmenite placers of the Ukrainian Placer Province is provided.


Vocabulary is closely linked with culture, and idiom is the most sensitive part of vocabulary to the development of a nation's culture. As a carrier of culture, English idioms embody rich traditions of western culture. Ethnonsemantically, English idioms are nation- and folk-specific; geographically, English idioms are figurative and must be studied as a whole; and viewed in the context of British and American customs, English idioms are regional and compatible.


This qualitative ethnographic study explored students' academic help seeking through a web board in a Question and Answer (Q&A) service in an educational web site for primary and secondary school students, which might be called online Gwa-Weh in South Korea. Taking the social constructive approach as a theoretical framework, which focuses on the multiple perspectives inherent in the development and usage of technology, this study explored online academic help seeking based on the experience and perspectives of stakeholders. Specifically, this study described, analyzed, and interpreted patterns of online academic help seeking, its norms and rules, and the values and capacities of the technology.
The ethnographic data was collected through interviews with stakeholders including middle school students who used the Q&A service actively, their parents, their schoolteachers, the online teachers who provided answers in the Q&A service, the company staff, and the company branches, observation of the educational web site where the online academic help seeking took place, and electronic messages on the Q&A web boards.
Regarding academic help seeking patterns, this study found the students' and the online teachers' behavior patterns in using the Q&A service and discussed the issue of students' dependency problem in the online Q&A service. In addition, students' proactive academic help seeking behavior pattern was discussed in terms of students' different interpretations of academic help seeking between online and at school.
With regard to the norms and rules for online academic help seeking, this study found that some norms and rules were agreed upon by the stakeholders, whereas other norms and rules have not yet been agreed upon, and discussed how the disagreed upon norms and rules implied the stakeholders' different interpretations of online academic help seeking.
Regarding the values and capacities of the technology for academic help seeking, this study found specific, various and down-to-earth advantages and disadvantages of the current web board used in the educational web site based on the experience of the students and of the online teachers.


This study aims to analyse the skills to understand mathematical concepts in the Probability Theory subject. As a scientific discipline, Probability Theory is one of the statistics study program subjects that require mathematical skills to learn. One of the skills needed for learning is the skill of understanding mathematical concepts. The analysis of skills in understanding mathematical concepts in the Probability Theory course shows that students still have difficulty checking the truth and writing the concepts used in each discussion of the material. This is one of the factors that make students' skills to understand mathematical concepts not good. Based on this research, it appears that students' mathematical understanding skills in the Probability Theory course are still lacking. Understanding the concept of statistics is not currently apparent in students when studying the Probability Theory. They have not been able to optimize all their mathematical abilities in learning, so they tend to give up on doing tasks when experiencing difficulties. This research is expected to be a reference and discourse for practitioners of mathematics education to improve the ability to understand the basic concepts of Probability Theory.


Mobile opportunistic social network(MOSN) is a kind of Delay tolerant network(DTN). Routing in MOSN is challenging because there is a possibility that an end- to-end path between two nodes doesn't exist. In MOSN nodes are usually devices carried by human beings. Hence, these nodes often show social characteristics. For example, nodes can be divided into communities and some nodes will be more popular than others. However, mining the social attributes of nodes is always a difficult work. The classic protocols don't do this well. In order to solve this problem, we propose a decentralized approach to learn the node embeddings. This makes it easier to mine the social attributes of the nodes. Based on the node embeddings we develop a routing protocol called RPBV(Routing Protocol Based on Vector). Simulations using real-world traces show that our scheme is able to achieve better delivery ratios and the overhead ratio while sensibly reducing the delay.


We investigate zero modes of the Dirac operator coupled to an Abelian gauge field in three dimensions. We find that the existence of a certain class of zero modes is related to a specific topological property precisely when the requirement of finite Chern-Simons action is imposed. In addition we find that we also have a solution to the three dimensional Seiberg-Witten equations. This requires automatically the inclusion of a Chern-Simons term in the action and consequent connections with a topological mass for the gauge field.


─ The problem of electromagnetic wave scattering by a lossy dielectric coated nihility elliptic cylinder is analyzed by solving the analogous problem of scattering by two lossy dielectric layers elliptic cylinder using the method of separation of variables. The incident, scattered, and transmitted fields are expressed in terms of complex Mathieu functions. Numerical results are obtained for the scattered fields of lossy and lossless dielectric coated nihility circular and elliptic cylinders to show their effect on the backscattering widths. Index Terms─ Nihility, lossy dielectric, elliptic cylinder, Mathieu functions.


ABSTRACTThis study was conducted to investigate the relationship between types of dictionary used [Monolingual, Bilingual (L1-L2), and Bilingual (L2-L1) dictionaries] and Iranian Intermediate EFL learners' pronunciation accuracy. Oxford Placement test was administered to select 80 intermediate EFL learners as the main sample. Two questionnaires were used to collect data. Questionnaire I was given to the 80 participants to collect some quantitative data about their preferred type of dictionary. Based on the participants' preferences in dictionary use they were divided into three groups including monolingual, bilingual (L1-L2), and bilingual (L2-L1) groups. The participants of the three groups then responded to the questionnaire II which reported their habits in dictionary use. They also took part in a task to check their skill in dictionary use. Subsequently, they were asked to read aloud a story in order to measure their pronunciation accuracy. Finally, some of them from each group were selected to attend an interview. According to the results of questionnaire I, the most frequently used dictionary type was Monolingual Mobile Dictionary and the least favored dictionary was Bilingual (L1-L2) Computer Dictionary. The data obtained from questionnaire II showed that consulting a dictionary for word definition, sentence example, pronunciation, and finding meaning were the most common habits of students. The results of Eta test showed a significant relationship between the type of dictionary used and pronunciation accuracy. Based on the results of the Pearson Correlation Test, it was found that there was a correlation between skill in dictionary use and pronunciation accuracy.KEY WORDS: dictionary use, habits, types of dictionary [monolingual, bilingual (L2-L1), bilingual (L1-L2)], pronunciation accuracy1. IntroductionEnglish is an international language and a good command of this language is essential to function in the world. Learning English for non-native speakers has become so important that it cannot just be confined to formal school curriculum: it is an activity which people feel they need to engage in throughout their lives. English teachers are unavailable outside the schools, so learners need to find a reliable source to refer to when they encounter a variety of problems related to English. Several studies (Ryu (2006); Cubillo (2002)) introduced dictionaries as a reliable source that provides learners with useful linguistic and cultural information, especially when teachers are unavailable and the learners are responsible for their own learning.The first thing a foreign language learner purchases is a dictionary (Baxter, 1980). Huang (2003) considered dictionaries as useful, fairly common and even necessary tools in language acquisition by EFL learners. It is as an essential source, if not the main source, of information on language for all literate persons who have questions on form, meaning, and/ or use of a word(s) in their LI or in another language (Kirkness, 2004). Pronunciation is viewed as a sub-skill of speaking. Fraser (2000a) explains that being able to speak English includes a number of sub-skills of which pronunciation is by far the most important one.1.1. Statement of the problemThe dictionary is one of the common learning tools for second and foreign language learners. Various types of dictionaries are used to help learners work on their language development. Inappropriate dictionaries and inappropriate use of dictionaries can be destructive to learners' language proficiency in EFL context. Untrained user of dictionaries may encounter some problems: unfamiliarity with the layout, inability to use phonemic script, lack of competence to locate the right meaning of a word according to the context, frustration and wasting time. There are some students who are too weak in productive skills and these are among the learners who either do not use dictionary or they use bilingual ones. …


Objective
To setup a custom-made gait simulator, and to provide an efficient tool for biomechanics research of ankle and foot.

Methods
From November 2017 to April 2018, a total of 6 fresh frozen specimens of the foot and ankle were collected. The donated specimens, free of diseases in the foot and ankle part, were from the Department of Anatomy, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University. Donors were 3 males and 3 females, aged from 48 to 69 years old, with an average age of 58.8 years old. The nine tendons in the foot were divided into 4 bundles, including anterior group comprised of tibialis anterior (TA), extensor hallucis longus (EHL) and extensor digitorum longus (EDL). Posterior group comprised of Achilles's tendon (AT). Medial group comprised of tibialis posterior (TP), flexor hallucis longus (FHL), and flexor digitorum longus (FDL). Lateral group comprised of peroneus brevis (PB) and peroneus longus (PL). A custom-made gait simulator was set up by using four independent electro motors to actuate 4 bands of tendons in the foot and another six motors to control tibia to achieve 6 degree-freedom parallel mechanism. And a hydraulic machine was used to provide axial pressure along tibia. Gait cycle of six fresh frozen cadaver feet was reproduced using this machine, and the kinematics data of ankle movement and ground reaction force (GRF) data was collected. By comparing the data above with the normal human gait data, the simulation results were analyzed to explore the clinical usage of this machine.

Results
On the sagittal plane, the ankle appeared to plantarflexion at the beginning of gait, and then turned to dorsiflexion after the max plantar flexion (about 10°) at 18% of gait cycle. At the 40% gait cycle, ankle joint was in neutral position and reached its max dorsiflexion (about 22°) at 83% gait cycle. On the coronal plane, ankle joint appeared inversion at the beginning and eversion afterwards with 10° range of change. On the horizontal plane, movement of ankle joint was small. Results showed that the first peak of vertical ground reaction force can reach to 1.1-1.3 times of bodyweight at 25% of gait cycle and the second peak appeared little lower at 70% of gait cycle. The GRF in posterior direction reached its peak at 30%, and then turned to anterior with its peak at 83% gait cycle. The GRF had small variation at the internal to external direction.All of the coefficients of multiple correlations (CMC) of GRF and ankle joint movements were close to or greater than 0.90.

Conclusion
This custom-made gait simulator has good gait simulation ability with high intra repeatability in respect of ankle rotation and ground reaction force, and can satisfy the request for ankle and foot biomechanics research.

Key words:
Ankle joint; Biomechanics; Gait


Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is one of the rare congenital anomalies with exceptional presentation till adulthood. The complications include left ventricular dysfunction, severe mitral regurgitation and myocardial infarction. We report a case of a young female with dyspnea and murmur with left to right shunt which was finally diagnosed as ALCAPA by multi-detector cardiac computed tomography (MDCT). A 45-year-old female presented with dyspnoea on exertion New York Heart Association [(NYHA) II class] and chest heaviness for seven days. Physical examination reveals 2/6 systolic diffuse murmur over the left sided chest with predominance over the pulmonary area. Electrocardiogram (ECG) reveals sinus rhythm with infrequent premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) and echocardiography reveals left to right shunt flow with inconspicuous ends. Cardiac computed tomography (CT) study reveals very interesting and unusual findings. during the first year of their life and very few survive till techniques like is characterized by in coronary circulation from thus allowing survival up to adulthood, coronary "steal" phenomenon from RCA to LCA and pulmonary "steal" phenomenon as LCA to PA [2]. In the adult type of ALCAPA, re-establishment of dual coronary system by ligation of the LCA from the pulmonary artery with coronary artery bypass grafting and reimplantation of LCA coronary button to aorta with interposition graft are the preferred methods of surgical approach [3].


Objective To study the mechanism underlying the sustained depolarization (SD) of neuromuscular junction induced by soman in isolated non-uniform stretched muscle preparation of rat diaphragm.Methods Using conventional intracellular recording with microelectrodes.Results mEPP appeared earlier and stronger during SD with decreasing of the concentration of soman.When soman applied 15 min at 0.05 μmol/L concentration,high frequency of miniature end-plate potentials(mEPPs)appeared on the plateau of SD,at the repolarization phase of SD and a certain period after SD.Low amplitude EPPs were induced by the train stimulations applied at the repolarization phase of SD.Conclusion Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors on postjunctional membrane were not completely desensitized during SD.Presynaptic effects may be involved in the mechanism underlying the sustained depolarization induced by soman.


How do recent vision-language pre-trained 001 models compare against language-specific pre- 002 trained models on common linguistic tasks? In 003 this paper, we assess this in a probing setting. 004 Our results suggest that different multimodal 005 pre-training strategies entail distinct strengths. 006 Although pre-trained language models gener- 007 ally fare better, pre-trained vision-language 008 models can obtain higher average scores in cer- 009 tain scenarios (e.g., CLIP is 2% higher than 010 BERT on SST2). We also analyze and illus- 011 trate that the different competences in different 012 model layers cause such performance differ- 013 ences. Our work then proposes fine-tuning 014 techniques to improve the abilities of vision- 015 language models on linguistic tasks. 016


Standardization, auditing, and performance measurement increasingly characterize the governance of professional organizations. In hospital services, this is expressed in a multiplication of quality as- surance programmes, which may be characterized as technologies of quality control. Organizational research shows that the impact of such technologies is profound and often problematic. Even if rooted in professional expertise, they tend to evoke resistance and evasion among professionals. Drawing on Crozier's classic analysis of bureaucratic malfunctions and recent theory of professional hybridity and co-optation, this article brings forth a new aspect of professionals' encounter with managerial forms of governance, as manifested in a case study from the Danish hospital services. Despite scepticism, professional groups with differing status and interests can reinforce a burden- some system of governance with even more standards and intensified measuring, as they seek to use the technologies of quality control to manage uncertainties and enhance their standing in relation to other groups. Hence, professionals can find themselves caught in what we call a vicious circle of quality control. This dynamic, we propose, is essentially of a professional nature; it is through their very efforts to promote their distinctive aspirations that professionals may end up fuelling excessive measurement and detailed controls, thereby making their own work more difficult. (Less)


OBJECTIVES: The Surviving Sepsis Campaign Guidelines 2021 recommends that adult patients with sepsis requiring intensive care should be admitted to the ICU within 6 hours of their emergency department (ED) visits. However, there is limited evidence on whether 6 hours is the best target time for compliance with the sepsis bundle. We aimed to investigate the association between time from ED visits to ICU admission (i.e., ED length of stay [ED-LOS]) and mortality and identify the optimal ED-LOS for patients with sepsis. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: The Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care Emergency Department and Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care IV databases. PATIENTS: Adult patients (≥ 18 yr old) who were transferred from the ED to the ICU and subsequently diagnosed with sepsis based on the Sepsis-3 criteria within 24 hours of ICU admission. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Among 1,849 patients with sepsis, we found a disproportionally higher mortality rate in patients immediately admitted to the ICU (e.g., < 2 hr). When using ED-LOS as a continuous variable, ED-LOS was not significantly associated with 28-day mortality (adjusted odds ratio [OR] per hour increase, 1.04; 95% CI, 0.96–1.13; p = 0.3) after an adjustment for potential confounders (e.g., demographics, triage vital signs, and laboratory results) in the multivariable analysis. However, when we categorized all patients into time quartiles (ED-LOS: < 3.3 hr, 3.3–4.5 hr, 4.6–6.1 hr, and > 6.1 hr), patients in the higher time quartiles (e.g., 3.3–4.5 hr) had higher 28-day mortality compared with those in the lowest time quartile (< 3.3 hr) (e.g., adjusted OR for patients in the second time quartile [3.3–4.5 hr] 1.59; 95% CI, 1.03–2.46; p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Earlier admission to the ICU (e.g., within 3.3 hr of ED visits) was associated with lower 28-day mortality in patients with sepsis. Our findings suggest patients with sepsis who require intensive care may benefit from a more immediate ICU admission than 6 hours.


Salicylic acid is a skin remedy that is used to treat various skin problems such as acne. Salicylic acid is safe to use and contains Beta Hydroxy Acid (BHA), which is an ingredient used to reduce wrinkles and acne. Although it has benefits for removing acne, salicylic acid is a dangerous chemical if used in excess of the prescribed limits. To determine the levels of salicylic acid in anti acne creams circulating in Pasar Besar Malang City, qualitatively with color test using FeCl3 and quantitatively using UV-Vis spectrophotometry to analyze levels of salicylic acid in anti-acne cream. Qualitative research using FeCl3 showed that from four samples, one sample was declared negative, while three positive samples contained salicylic acid, while testing using UV-Vis spectrophotometry found all samples containing salicylic acid. The levels of salicylic acid in all samples were within the safe limits set by BPOM with the highest level contained in skin surface products, including substances harmful to the skin, should not be more than 2%.


in on-chip communication delay and the large working sets of commercial and scientific workloads complicate the design of the on-chip last-level cache for multicore processors. The large working sets favor a shared cache design that maximizes the aggregate cache capacity and minimizes off-chip memory requests. At the same time, the growing on-chip communication delay favors core-private caches that replicate data to minimize delays on global wires. Recent hybrid proposals offer lower average latency than conventional designs. However, they either address the placement requirements of only a subset of the data accessed by the application, require complicated lookup and coherence mechanisms that increase latency, or fail to scale to high core counts. In this work, we observe that the cache access patterns of a range of server and scientific workloads can be classified into distinct categories, where each class is amenable to different data placement policies. Based on this observation, we propose Reactive NUCA (R-NUCA), a distributed shared cache design which reacts to the class of each cache access and places blocks at the appropriate location in the cache. Our design cooperates with the operating system to support intelligent placement, migration, and replication without the overhead of an explicit coherence mechanism for the on-chip last-level cache. We evaluate R-NUCA on a range of server, scientific and multi-programmed workloads and find that its performance matches the best alternative design, providing a speedup of 17% on average against the competing alternative, and up to 26% at best. 1 Introductionyears, processor manufacturers have shifted towards pro- ducing multicore processors to remain within the power and cool- ing constraints of modern chips while maintaining the expected performance advances with each new processor generation. Increasing device density enables exponentially more cores on a single die. Major manufacturers already ship 8-core chip multipro- cessors (25) with plans to scale to 100s of cores (1, 32), while spe- cialized vendors already push the envelope further (e.g., Cisco's CRS-1 with 192 Tensilica network-processing cores, Azul's Vega 3 with 54 out-of-order cores). The exponential increase in the num- ber of cores results in the commensurate increase in the on-chip cache size required to supply these cores with data. Physical and manufacturing considerations suggest tiled architectures where groups of processor cores and banks of on-chip cache will be phys- ically distributed throughout the chip area (1,43). Tiled architec- tures give rise to varying access latencies between the cores and the


Vascular tortuosity is considered one of the main hurdles that may negatively impact mechanical thrombectomy in stroke treatment, delaying catheter access to the occluded vessel. Automatic characterization of anatomical vascular features may help in the planification of endovascular interventions. We developed a fully automatic algorithm for vascular tortuosity measurement and explored the association of several anatomical features with baseline characteristics and procedural outcomes.

 An automatic software integrating segmentation, centerline extraction and vessel labelling, was used to extract features directly from computed tomography angiograms (CTA) of stroke patients undergoing transfemoral endovascular treatment.Mean vessel diameter and tortuosity index (TI) of the carotid arteries and brachiocephalic trunk were used as relevant tortuosity indicators. Patients were compared according to six different clinical conditions(gender, hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes, obesity and atrial fibrillation). Tortuosity values were also correlated with age.Patients with an anterior circulation stroke were further classified according to four procedural measures:time from groin puncture to first angiographic run, time to first retrieval attempt, time to revascularization.

 A sample of 558 patients with acute ischemic stroke who underwent mechanical thrombectomy at our medical center were included in this study. Forty patients (7.2%) were discarded due to sub‐optimal segmentation (n = 30) or processing errors (n = 10), leaving a final sample size of N = 518 (51% female, 74.8±12.9 years). Women presented significantly smaller mean diameter for all analyzed vessels (p < 0.01) and an increased TI for both carotid arteries(p < 0.01). Age was significantly correlated with increased TI in all analyzed vessels (0.35£r£0.52;p < 0.01) Patients with hypertension and/or atrial fibrillation displayed significantly higher TI in both carotid arteries (p < 0.01). Additionally, the brachiocephalic trunk was found to be more tortuous in patients with atrial fibrillation (p < 0.01). A higher TI in all ipsilateral carotid segments was associated with higher times to first angiographic run and to final revascularization (p < 0.05). A TI from the ipsilateral carotid segment over 0.28 independently predicted difficult catheter access (time to first angiographic run >40 min, 3.8% of cases) with a sensitivity of 0.92 and a specificity of 0.68.

 An automated software was successfully used to characterize the anatomical vascular features from CTA. Gender, age, hypertension and atrial fibrillation were found to significantly influence vascular tortuosity in anterior circulation arteries. Patients with difficult catheter access and/or delayed revascularization presented higher TI of ipsilateral carotid arteries. Carotid TI emerged as a potential predictor of difficult catheter access.


This study aims to test the effects of litigation risk, investment opportunity set, growth opportunities and financial distress on accounting conservatism. This research uses the 2014-2018 period for mining companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange. This research uses secondary data using data from 190 observations. The research test uses descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis with the help of IBM SPSS Statistic program version 23. The results indicate that litigation risk, investment opportunity set and financial distress do not affect accounting conservatism. However, growth opportunities positively affect accounting conservatism.


He holds a PhD in sociology and comparative and international education from Indiana University, Bloomington. His research and teaching focus on the intersection between education and social movements. His main line of research examines the emergences of international large‐scale assessments and their consequences for public discourse and public opinion worldwide. He also conducts research on the work of youth and educational NGOs in the environmental movement and in the LGBTQ movement. where her studies were funded by the National Science Foundation. Her current work focuses on the politics of assessment, both domestically and internationally. She is also interested in the role of ideas in education policy; public opinion and elite preferences in policy formation; and the role of culture in educational success. She has previously held a variety of positions in philanthropy, government and journalism. When referencing this document, we recommend the following citation: Pizmony‐Levy, O. and Green Saraisky, N. (2016). Who opts out and why? Results from a national survey on opting out of standardized tests. Research Report. The study was not associated with any grant or other funding from either public or private sources. 3 Acknowledgments First and foremost the authors wish to thank the individuals who completed the National Survey on Opting Out of Standardized Tests. The responses they provided offer new insights into the opt out movement, and we are grateful for their time and thoughtfulness. all of whom are deeply involved in the opt out movement, provided feedback and insight in the development and piloting of the survey. We are also indebted to the administrators of the local, state and national opt out groups who assisted with the survey implementation and dissemination. Lizbeth Morales – for all of their hard work. Table 1 Sample description, by parental status Table 2 Distribution of responses by states Figure 1 Three steps toward participation in opt out Figure 2 Respondents by geographic region Figure 3 When did you first hear about opting out? Figure 4 When did you first hear about opting out? By region Figure 5 When did you first hear about opting out? By education Figure 6 When did you first hear about opting out? By political ideology Figure 7 How did you first hear about opting out? Figure 8 Which of the following sources provided information that made you want to know more about and/or participate in activities relating to opting out? Figure 9 Which …


Current Protocols in Immunology New York: Greene Publishing Associates and John Wiley & Sons; 1992. $240.00. A detailed looseleaf manual with thorough descriptions and protocols for laboratory procedures and methods relevant to immunologic research. The articles include not only procedural steps but listings of reagents and discussions relevant to understanding the rationales and to applying protocols successfully. Appended material includes supplier names and addresses (with telephone and facsimile numbers) and a detailed index. Two supplements to the core volume have been issued.


I am a little bit obsessed with introductory statistics books, in my attempt to convince the rest of the world that the most minimal grasp of mathematics will in fact combine with a tiny amount of statistics to produce all sorts of impressive-looking abilities. This includes not only the ever-popular ability to figure out how the news is lying to you, but also all kinds of everyday magic in trying to design, build, debug, or maintain computer systems. The author of Naked Statistics shares this opinion, and so has written a book which aims at explaining some reasonably complex and subtle statistical concepts without requiring you to do any noticeable amount of math. It does include the math, should you want to follow along, but it hides it at the end of the chapters for easier skipping by people who are not enthusiastic about numbers. If you have been resisting statistics because it seems to be made up of complex and incomprehensible mathematical formulae with the occasional curve, this book may change your mind. You will probably also enjoy it if you vaguely remember a statistics course in college but aren't quite sure how it relates to things you might care about. It's not directly related to computers , and if you find yourself needing to calculate your own statistics, you might end up wanting a more number-heavy introduction. (Or not. It's surprising how often the numbers are less important than the ability to say, for instance, " Shouldn't we be comparing these to some population? " or " Are you sure this correlation is relevant? ") Algorithms in a Nutshell also attempts to bring a difficult and useful domain to non-specialists. It doesn't do as good a job at avoiding looking and sounding like a mathematics text, although it does try. I'm still looking for an unthreatening algorithms book. On the other hand, take their word for it and mine: at some point you are going to need to write code that does searches, or sorts, or looks through a problem space. Or you are going to need to deal with somebody else's code for these things that is dying horribly. At that point, knowing the best and worst cases for different algorithms is going to be important. This is as practical and friendly an introduction as you're going to get, heavy on the examples. It's not going to …


A graph G = G(n, e) consists of a set of n nodes e pairs of which are joined by a single edge; we assume that no edge joins a node to itself. A graph with modes is called a complete -graph if each pair of its nodes is joined by an edge. The graphs belonging to some collection of graphs are independent if no two of them have a node in common. The maximum number of independent complete -graphs contained in a given graph G will be denoted by Ik(G).


The objective of the present study was to determine the best possible percentage of Bos taurus (BT) genes on age-at-first-calving (AFC), days to first post-partum service (DFPS), days open (DO) and calving interval (CI) in crossbred cows. Data was collected in a typical commercial dairy farm of Tabasco.


The author introduced a new cross-zero trigger in this article. It has simple circuit and super performance. Because of the whole wave disposal and the zero current trigger mode, it can apply the load with any power factor. A small trigger can trigger a large capacity transistor by the transistor leakage trigger mode. Only once insulation can complete the synchronization and trigger functions. The trigger can be whole electronic with no synchronous transformer and impulse trigger.


: This research empirically examined the level of women's empowerment and political participation in the Cross River South Senatorial District (CRSSD), which comprises Akampka, Akpabuyo, Bakassi, Biase, Calabar Municipality, Calabar South, and Odukpani Local Government Areas. A purposive sampling procedure was used to select the study's sample population. Two hundred and fifty-nine (259) structured questionnaires (used as data) were evenly distributed to respondents in the aforementioned local government areas. Using the split-half, test


We are all aware of the negative impacts that litter has on both the environment and community pride of place, as well as presenting an unattractive image for the city and represents a significant cost to remediate. The Manukau City Council (MCC) Community Litter Education Strategy (CLES) has been developed in response to the MCC Waste Management Plan 2005-2010 objectives, which reflected concerns from both Council officers and the community with regard to the proliferation of litter in Manukau City.


The impact of parental involvement on student academic achievement has been confirmed by many studies. However, researchers differ on whether parental involvement can statistically improve student writing skills. Furthermore, the association between parental intervention duration and student writing ability is unclear. Consequently, this study examines the impact of parental involvement on student writing ability through a meta-analysis of 13 studies conducted between 1996 and 2021, with effect sizes of 117 and 1449 participants. Three main findings in the meta-analysis results werek identified. First, the overall effect of parent writing participation on student writing ability was statistically significant, resulting in a moderate positive effect (g = 0.666 95% CI [0.324, 1.008]), p < 0.001). Second, parental participation behavior methods and student educational stages had no significant impact on student writing ability. Third, differences in school area and parental intervention duration had a significant impact on student writing ability, suggesting that parental involvement has a greater role in promoting an improvement in student writing ability in urban schools, and that long-term intervention is more conducive to improving student writing ability.


Introduction: The Lichtenberg meteorite fell on Barbania farm near the town of Lichtenberg in the Transvaal region (now North West Province) of South Africa on September 26, 1973 [1, 2]. A single stone with a mass of 4 kg was observed and recovered [1, 2]. The original description [1] classified the meteorite as a chondrite, but no mineral analyses were reported and, hence, more detailed classification was impossible. The goal of this study is to provide basic textural and mineralogical data for this meteorite. Description: Texture: The meteorite has a highly metamorphosed texture with relict chondrules of a variety of types, including barred and excentroradial, in an equigranular groundmass (Fig.1). Significant proportions of opaque minerals are distributed throughout the groundmass.


The exploration of the hemodynamics of the liver is of interest to the physiologist and to the clinician who has to care for patients with portal hypertension. The object of this paper is to report a technic that gives useful information regarding this problem. It utilizes externally placed scintillation detectors and intravenous injection of radioactive serum albumin. One of the scintillation probes is placed over the heart, feeding the information to an EPUT meter (events per unit time); the other is placed over the liver and connected to a ratemeter-recorder unit. In a fasting individual 0.25 µc/kg. of radioiodinated serum albumin (RISA) is injected rapidly to an antecubital vein. Recording over the heart and liver is begun at the moment of RISA injection and is concluded when a well defined plateau is reached over the liver. Both the cardiac and liver data are plotted on the same graph, with time the abscissa and activity the ordinate. The cardiac curve is a useful reference point from which determina...


Heliopsis longipes known as chilcuague is a perennial herb endemic to Sierra de Alvarez and Sierra Gorda, where the States of San Luis Potosi, Guanajuato and Queretaro converge, and its root has traditional uses. However, there is a lack of studies that document the current traditional uses within its entire distribution area. The objectives of this research were to determine the traditional forms of use of chilcuague, and to determine the current demand of its root. Gathers, merchants, and consumers in traditional markets (tianguis) in San Luis Potosi, Guanajuato and Queretaro were interviewed. The root of chilcuague is economically and culturally important. It has di verse traditional uses and its sale is practiced ali year-long at the traditional markets of San Luis de la Paz, Dr. Mora, and San Jose lturbide, Guanajuato; Rioverde and San Ciro, San Luis Potosi; and Jalpan, Queretaro. Chilcuague is used against parasites by adding roots over foocl. Moreover, a correlation with age of informants and knowledge of the uses of the plant was found. A higher amount of dried roots of chilcuague were sold in places with more traditional uses.


The oxidation refining method is an effective process to refine the 75% Si Fe alloy.The thermal balance of the process is calculated,which provides the theoretical basis for the possibility of the normal casting of the alloy after being refined.


This article serves as an overview of arguments in architectural theories which present an ideological tension: dematerialisation and lightness versus materialisation and heaviness.

Daedalus - the designer of Icarus' wings is considered to be the first mythical architect. What would happen if he and his son did not end up with the epic disaster of Icarus drowning in the Ionic Sea? What would happen if Icarus and Daedalus survived until today? What would happen if they were exposed to modern architectural education? This article takes the form of a Socratic Dialog and adds new pages to this Greek myth. Today – in the article – Daedalus, who was always more attached to earth, promotes heavy earth architecture. His sustainable architecture is made out of simple natural materials, it creates no waste, it is easy to build but unfortunately it lacks the lightness which is so much expected by critics rooted in modern architectural world.

"Can Eco-architecture be beautiful at all?" – asks Icarus who has always been an enthusiast of lightness. Today Icarus has become a fashionable light-tech architect who likes to deconstruct and dematerialise architecture and believes that it is a key to new aesthetics. Icarus claims that the whole history of architecture is a story of making buildings lighter, and he sees the introduction of glass in modernism as a highlight of architectural genius. "Lightness determines progress." Just like Buckminster Fuller, he claims that the new style could be distinguished from the old by 'weight'.

Daedalus is fascinated with Zygmunt Bauman's ideas and the dangers of liquid modernity. He sees the idea of dematerialisation as a fashionable, dangerous and fundamentally flawed concept which detached people from their roots. He is afraid that this idea could backfire in the long run and produce people who are so desperate to reconnect with their own culture that they could even turn to terrorism.

This exchange of arguments, which is full of intellectual twists, gives an overview of the battle between different architectural ideas: dematerialisation and lightness versus materialisation and heaviness.


【In terms of the bolt-leaf-hanges in Three-yum and Three yang I referd to successive medical books and many recent literatures on the basis of Huangjenegeong Somun Treatise on the Darting and meeting of Yin and yang, thus considerd concept of successive commentators about the bolt-leaf-hanges in Three-yum and Three yang and reconstructed and systeamtically arranged the bolt-leaf-hanges's interrelationship, yum-yang's relation and movement of six chnnel, and then studied there trinciple in all the universe apply the body and the process is operated by the bolt-leaf-hanges in the trinciples followed in human make his life adaption environment. The process is operated by the bolt-leaf-hanges in Three-yum and Three yang. The trinciples followed in. Firstly, Three-yum and Three yang is not dirrerentiate by many, middle, little of yum-yanggi's different function & role. Secondly, Three-yum and Three yang is negatively related white showing that there is the bolt-leaf-hanges relationship through space of Three-yum and Three yang. Through internal relationship of Three yum channel & Three yang channel, it can be proven that Three-yum and Three yang is in negative relation and through achieving the bolt-leaf-hanges relation in dimensional concept, it can be proven that it can actually be applied to human. Thirdly, by showing Three-yum and Three yang's the bolt-leaf-hanges relation is relation between Three yum & Three yang as well as negative relation, it can be shown that Three-yum and Three yang's the bolt-leaf-hanges activity is circular, and that it maintains itself through appropriate transformation. Fourth, understanding of Three-yum and Three yang's the bolt-leaf-hanges relationship and yum-yang Concern & six channer's activity has been varied. It means that the understanding is affected by socity, philosophical & research culture of the various times. The purpose has been to systematically arrange and diagnosing Three-yum and Three yang's the bolt-leaf-hanges and thus make up a fundamental for recognition. But, further study should be carried out on medical explanation on the bolt-leaf-hanges and interpretation and operation of the bolt-leaf-hanges in O-UnYukKiron.】


Abstract Individual differences studied by chronobiologists and personality psychologists are usually shaped by polygenic selection occurring by small allele frequency shifts spreading across many loci. Therefore, the candidate gene association studies suffer from increased likelihood of false positive findings. We previously associated a PER3 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP, rs228697) with self-ratings on personality-relevant nouns exemplifying personality dimension of Extraversion/Introversion in a sample of 88 female students. To replicate and extend this finding, we genotyped three more SNPs in three circadian clock genes. The results indicated that the minor alleles of PER3 rs228697 and PER2 rs934945 were rather similar in terms of their association with a personality type nicknamed "demure persona" (i.e. described by such nouns as "quietness", "restraint", "taciturnity", "bashfulness", "timidity", "constraint", and "reticence"). Analysis of data from populations of the 1000 Genomes Project suggested that, like frequencies of the minor alleles of many SNPs in circadian clock genes, the frequencies of these two SNPs were higher in populations of out-of-African ancestry compared to populations of African ancestry. We suggested that genetic candidates for Extraversion/Introversion can be prioritized in future association studies by means of identification of genetic signatures of polygenic selection imposed by out-of-Africa expansion of ancestral populations.


The article deals with the problem of shaping students' communicative competence by means of their native language. The contents of lexical work which is carried out by means of research methods is outlined, the theoretical, methodical and didactic bases are viewed.


In this work, we study a quasi-one-dimensional classical Poisson-Nernst-Planck model with oppositely charged ion species. A simple profile of permanent charges: zeros at the two end regions and a constant over the middle region is included. Of particular interest is the effect on ionic flows from the permanent charge (small) with boundary layers. The nonlinear interplay among system parameters is characterized in great details, which provides insights into the qualitative properties of ionic flows of interest.


Through analyzing,"two basic facts,one striking contradiction', existing in present thermalpower mix in China,it is thought that to develop such commercialized and matured electricity generation technology as supercritical pressure units is an effective way to improve thermal power mix;indicated that to develop supercritical pressure units is confronted with design, manufacturing and operationetc. technical difficult points,and deemed that we should make every effort to realize pressure units inChina on the basis of mastering new knowledge and new technology.


OF THE UNITED STATES, No. 740 (102d ed. 1981). 6. T. CHURCH, JUSTICE DELAYED THE PACE OF LITIGATION IN URBAN TRIAL COURTS 53


From a spatial perspective, this paper studies the relationship between urbanization and transformation of economic structure in 31provinces in China's mainland by Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis.Empirical results show that urbanization in each province has the spatial autocorrelation. The second industry has a positive impact on the urbanization, but the effect tends to decrease.The tertiary industry exerts positive role on urbanization, and the degree of influence is rising. Furthermore, by comparing with spatial econometric model, the paper finds that OLS model underestimates the impacts of the secondary industry and overestimates the influence of the tertiary industry due to the lack of spatial factor.


This paper analyzes the legal forms in the southeastern Indian state of Chiapas, Mexico, with particular reference to the Court of Indigenous Peace and Reconciliation (YFCI) of a Tzeltal town and its relationship to other legal levels since the early nineties. On this basis, the paper describes the analogy between YFCI hybrid legal levels and the towns in the municipality of Tenejapa. This will allow to study the separation (and the relationship) of these areas to settle community and intra-community crimes set in a legal logic that makes them less likely to decide on conflicts that can be resolved, as it is subordinated to the reproductive needs of the national legal system.


pared chemical products. What a boon if we could replace the lacking products, not by repeated introduction from without, but by constant steady elaboration from within the body itself! What a triumph if we could give back to the myxedematous patient a working thyroid, to the diabetic a functioning insulin apparatus, and to all the other sufferers from endocrine insufficiencies the living tissues that would restore them to normal health and function! Surely this is a dream worth cherishing, and an attainment worth working for.


It is scarcely necessary in this journal to stress the breadth and variety of management education. But for sections of the population and of the press there is apparently no such appreciation. The stylised view is one of arrogant young business graduates intent on displacing their managing directors and of elegant weekends in country seats. Anything more is generally assumed to be a means of qualifying for an ITB grant. That such misconceptions can exist is one of the results of the rapid and largely unplanned growth of management education in the sixties. This led inevitably to a situation where much of the debate on the subject was based


The effect of ZnO and low γ-radiation on PLA based-films was investigated to be used for food packaging application. Ham slices were inoculated with E. coli, L. innocua and S. enterica and then covered with PLA and PLA/5% ZnO films. The samples were irradiated with a
γ-radiation dose of 0.3 kGy at dose rate of 13.5 kGy/h.
 Microbiological analysis was performed at 0, 1 and 5 days on samples stored at 4 °C. Results showed that no onsistent reduction of bacteria was obtained, even at the fifth day of storage, when the ham was covered with PLA/5% ZnO film and no γ-radiation was performed. The use of
γ-radiation results necessary to reduce the bacteria growth. In fact E. coli and S. enterica were not detected after 5 days of storage; whereas in the case of test with
L. innocua a reduction of 1.3 log CFU/g was observed after 5 days of storage. The antibacterial results indicate that the presence of ZnOin PLA film is effective only for
E. coli. The differences of the results obtained here with those reported in literature (where ZnO
particles are reported to be very effective as antimicrobial material) are accounted for the different methodologies used. In conclusion considering the positive results, even if small, obtained here at least only for the
E. Coli and considering that PLA/5% ZnO film shows, compared to plain PLA film, good tensile properties
(especially Young's modulus and stress at yielding) and good permeability (to O2 and CO2) induce to consider the PLA/5% ZnO composite film usable for food packaging when long shelf life and food safety are required, considering also that it is biodegradable and compostable.


Nuša Farič1, Lee Smith2, Adrian Hon3, Henry WW Potts4, Katie Newby5, Andrew Steptoe1, Abi Fisher1 1. University College London, Dept. Behavioural Science & Health, Torrington Place, WC1E 7HB 2. The Cambridge Centre for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Anglia Ruskin University, East Road, Cambridge, CB1 1PT 3. Six to Start, c/o LSD Accountants, 72 Stockwood Business Park, Redditch, B96 6SX 4. UCL Institute of Health Informatics, University College London, 222 Euston Road, NW1 2DA 5. Department of Psychology and Sports Science, C.P. Snow Building, University of Hertfordshire, AL10 9AB


A method for detecting whether a liquid sample contains one or more drugs of the methamphetamine group comprising: (a) contacting said sample with (i) a pseudoephedrine conjugate / carrier in which pseudoephedrine is associated via its hydroxyl group bearer and (ii) an antibody capable of binding both one or more drugs of the methamphetamine group as said conjugate; and (b) determining whether binding of said antibody to said conjugate is reduced by the presence of said sample being indicative reduced link that the sample contains a methamphetamine group drug.


The harmonic index H(G) of a graph G is defined as the sum of the weights 2 d(u)+d(v) of all edges uv of G, where d(u) denotes the degree of a vertex u in G. We give a best possible lower bound for the harmonic index of a graph (a triangle-free graph, respectively) with minimum degree at least two and characterize the extremal graphs.


Agents causing damage to plant organisms like drought, folivore feeding, fungal pathogens, ground frosts have no significant effect on tree mortality if they occur individually, however their concurrent occurrence may lead to mass dieback of trees on a local scale. Changes in cell biochemistry of trees under the impact of stress factors enable development of fungal infections or facilitate insect attacks. This study presents examples of interactions between physiological changes (e.g. in production of enzymes, phenolic com− pounds, etc.) determining host plant resistance and pathogen or pest responses to these changes.


Quantitative receptorautoradiography wasusedtomeasuremuscarinic cholinergic, benzodiazepine, kainate, phencyclidine(PCP),N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) (measuredin Trisacetate), quisqualate-sensitive, non-quisqualatesensitive andtotal glutamate (measured inTrischloride buffer) binding sites in adjacent sections ofthehippocampal regionof10Alzheimer's disease, nine control, and sixdemented, non-Alzheimer'sdiseasepostmortemhuman brains. The measurementswere comparedtothenumberofneurofibrillary tangles asrevealed byCongoredstaining of adjacent sections. Allassaysand measurements weredonebyobservers blinded totheclinical diagnoses. Binding wasdecreased significantly forallligands exceptquisqualate in stratumpyramidaleofCAloftheAlzheimer's disease brains. Thebinding loss wassignificantly greaterforthenon-quisqualate and NMDA sitesthanforthemuscarinic, benzodiazepine andkainate sites withthe total glutamate andPCPsite losses being intermediate. Onlythelossofbenzodiazepinebindingwas significantly correlated withthenumberofneurofibrillary tangles. Lesserbinding losses wereseeninadjacent areas.Thisdifference inthedegree ofbinding decrease isconsistent withthehypothesis that NMDA receptors arelocated on more distal dendrites ofhippocampal neurons. Theretheymay berelatively more vulnerable thantheotherreceptors tothe pathological process.


Introduction The link between school education and art therapy is supported by the fact that it comes to supplement the common school education activities of children with special educational requirements with a dual purpose: to complete and fix their specific content; to train and practice as much as possible the students' minds and critical thinking through artistic means. Objectives Prevention of absenteeism and school dropout of the child with special educational requirements through art therapy. Methods In art therapy, the most used methods specific to the fields of visual arts are: drawing, painting, icon, modeling on the wheel, but other techniques can be used. Children are the ones who choose their work materials and activities from the offer that the art therapist makes. From the offer of materials, the beneficiary prefers to paint porcelain objects and letters. He was challenged to identify letters after which he painted them. Results Increasing the feeling of social utility, self-confidence. Improving school situation. Reducing school dropout and literacy. The beneficiary has an interest in letters and numbers and their writing. Form words quickly, easily identifying letters. Create your own games by comparing numbers. Make puzzles with letters and numbers. Art education helps the beneficiary to more easily express their emotions, perceptions, desires and way of thinking. Learning numbers and letters becomes a fun activity when using colors. Conclusions The child needs education through art, because without it there is an imbalance in the fundamental purpose of man, that of developing harmoniously and multilaterally. Disclosure No significant relationships.


This article adopts Copenhagen School, and Paris School approaches belonging to the broader framework of securitization theory in explaining whether Bangladesh's policy on the 2017-18 Rohingya refugee influx from neighbouring Myanmar has been securitized. In doing so, it analyses how the political discourses and governmental actions in Bangladesh have transformed over time. The findings suggest that human security-focused discourse, which was sensitive to the refugees, prevailed in Bangladesh during the initial days of the refugee influx. However, the national security-focused discourse has started to dominate the country's refugee policy as Bangladesh's early repatriation-oriented refugee policy has failed to yield any development for more than two years. Moreover, the lack of sincere efforts from Myanmar to provide security assurance and necessary civil rights to the displaced Rohingyas has made them reluctant to go back. As a result, the refugee settlement in Bangladesh is likely to persist for the foreseeable future. In such a situation, newly imposed securitized actions taken by Bangladesh as restricting the refugees from movement, mobile communication, internet, and livelihood opportunity could be counterproductive. It recommends Bangladesh to develop a comprehensive policy on the refugee issue that will address the country's security concerns and facilitate sustainable repatriation of the Rohingyas to Myanmar.


This research is based on the principles of adaptive focus. In this document, the results of the field research on thermal comfort regarding housing produced in series are presented. The survey was conducted in the municipalities of the Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Mexico that have presented the most urban growth in the last 10 years. Measurement times were determined according to bioclimatic analysis: cold, warm and transition. The environmental variables, such as dry bulb temperature, wet bulb temperature, black gl obe temperature, relative humidity and wind speed in the living room of the houses, were measured while, simultaneously, 426 surveys about thermal sensation were conducted to the inhabitants. The ques tionnaire was performed according to ISO 10551 and ASHRAE 55 Regulations. The annual neutral temperature in naturally ventilated houses in the Metropolitan Area of the Valley of Mexico is 21.3oC and extensive thermal comfort limits are 16.0oC and 26.7oC. The Mexico's Energy Efficiency Standard in residential buildings, NOM 020 ENER-2011, suggests that the ideal temperature for interiors is 23°C, which is inconsistent with the neutral temperature resulting from the investigation; therefore, considering it favors the use of artificial devices for air conditioning and the energetic cost of housing.


Electrically detected magnetic resonance experiments showing spin dependent recombination in commercial p‐n diodes are presented. The observed anisotropy in the g values along with the marked shift from the free electron g‐value point to a metal‐vacancy complex. Deep level transient spectroscopy reveals the presence of the Pt acceptor level (0/−) at Ec−0.23 eV and the donor level (+/0) at Ev+0.32 eV in the same device. Calculations of the recombination rates support that spin dependent recombination occurs at the Pt (+/0) donor level.


The creation of large scientific collections has been an important development for anthropological and paleopathological research. Indeed the biological collections are irreplaceable reference systems for the biological reconstruction of past population. They also assume the important role of anthropological archives and, in the global description of man, permit the integration of historical data with those from bio-anthropolgical research. Thinking about the role of mummies and bones as scientific resources, best practice of preservation of ancient specimens should be of high priority for institution and researchers. By way of example, the authors mention their experience regarding ancient human remains preserved in the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography at the University of Turin.


The thyroxine-binding properties of the sera of pregnant and non-pregnant ewes have been investi-gated during a study of the peripheral metabolism of thyroxine. The preparation of an actomyosin-like protein from the uterus has been described Its adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity was very low compared to that of skeletal-muscle actomyosin. At 280 with Ca2+ activation, the pmoles of P liberated/mg. of N/min.


Seismic isolation systems for buildings are generally selected to achieve higher seismic performance objectives, such as continued operation or immediate occupancy following a design earthquake event. However, recent large scale tests have suggested that these objectives may be compromised if the shaking includes large vertical acceleration components that are damaging to the nonstructural components and contents. Some research has been conducted to develop three dimensional isolation systems that can isolate the structure from both the horizontal and vertical components of ground motion. In several cases, systems have been proposed without much justification of the target design parameters. Rocking has been noted as a potential concern for structures with 3D isolation systems, and complex systems have been proposed to control the rocking. In this study, the fundamental dynamic response of structures with 3D isolation systems is explored. Target horizontal and vertical spectra for a representative strong motion site were developed based on NEHRP recommendations, and horizontal and vertical ground motions were selected that best fit the target spectra when the same amplitude scale factor was applied to all three motion components. Using a simple model of a rigid block resting on linear isolation bearings, the following aspects are evaluated for a wide range of horizontal and vertical isolation periods: response modes and severity of rocking, horizontal and vertical displacement demands in the isolation bearings, and attenuation of both horizontal and vertical accelerations in the structure relative to the ground acceleration. Preliminary results point to a number of useful observations. For example, rocking appears to be an issue only if the horizontal and vertical isolation periods are closely spaced. Helical spring isolation systems that have been applied to a few structures have this characteristic. However, if the horizontal isolation period is large relative to the vertical isolation period, troublesome rocking can be avoided. In addition, other researchers have proposed systems with vertical isolation periods on the order of 2 seconds, which require large displacement and damping capacity. However, preliminary results suggest that vertical isolation periods as low as 0.5 seconds will be effective in attenuating the vertical acceleration. Limiting the vertical isolation period will make design of a 3D isolation system more feasible with respect to vertical displacement capacity and avoiding rocking.


This paper presents measurements of H2SO4 and OH concentrations at a boreal forest site in Finland using Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometry, a previously established technique for the measurement of these compounds. The main focus of the paper appears to be the testing of several proxies for sulfuric acid concentrations and the evaluation of a chemical for both sulphuric acid and OH concentrations. This is an important area of research due to the importance of gas phase sulfuric acid in atmospheric particle formation. The data set presented in the paper is interesting and worthy of eventual publication in ACP. I do have several comments that the authors should take into consideration in their revisions of the manuscript.


The effects of three different CO2 concentrations (400, 600, and 1000 ppm) on the population parameters and growth of the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae, were examined. Raw life history data from M. persicae were analyzed using an age‐stage, two‐sex life table to take into account the viable development rate among individuals. The population projections of M. persicae indicate the stage structure and variability of the population growth under different CO2 concentrations based on an age‐stage, two‐sex life table analysis. Significantly longer oviposition duration and higher fecundity were observed under elevated CO2 (600 and 1000 ppm) than those under ambient CO2 (400 ppm). Furthermore, the M. persicae population reared under elevated CO2 concentrations showed higher intrinsic and finite rates of population increase than under ambient CO2 concentrations. These results indicate that the population parameters and growth of M. persicae were positively influenced in the fecundity by elevated CO2 concentrations relative to the ambient CO2. These findings indicate that it is basically remained to understand the direct effects of CO2 elevation on the host plants, and the interaction between the host plants and M. persicae in the same CO2 concentration for establishing more realistic population growth model systems for M. persicae in the aerial environment rising CO2 concentration level.


The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of profitability, company size, auditors gender, and reputation of accountant firms influence simultaneously toward audit delay in manufacturing company that listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2009 to 2011. Data that used in this research is financial statements from each company, publized through website www.idx.co.id . This study used purposive sampling methods. The data which have already collected are processed with classic assumption test before hypothesis test. The results of this study show that of profitability, auditors gender and reputation of accountant firms significant effect toward audit delay, Whereas, company size do not influence time of audit delay.


Victimology, following in the train of criminology, is starting to incorporate genocide into its research and theory. How will this new direction affect understandings of genocide, and how might it reshape victimology itself? We begin by proposing a new term, victimality, to indicate a group's potential for victimization by genocide and other atrocity crimes. Then we rework two of victimology's traditional concepts – victim precipitation and victim proneness – to show how they might be used to analyse the dynamics of genocidal processes. We apply the three concepts to the Armenian genocide of 1915 and suggest ways in which victimologists might engage further with the crime of all crimes.


In the present article we review the dynamics of the ABS breaking system and discuss a simple way of introducing this topic at the high school level.


The purpose of this chapter is to explore a framework to assist in the assessment of presentation exercises, and to facilitate reflective learning. It aims to provide an assessment tool that can be altered to suit numerous contexts and disciplines. The use of presentations is commonplace in the pedagogy of business courses in particular marketing/sales based curricula. Effective oral communication skills are central in modern business. Through the incorporation of sales presentations into the pedagogy of a marketing curriculum, these vital skills can be enhanced. Crucially however, they must be used so that reflective learning can occur, otherwise students will fail to hone and develop these skills further.


Deep Neural Networks often suffer from lack of robustness to adversarial noise.
To mitigate this drawback, authors have proposed different approaches, such as adding regularizers or training using adversarial examples.
In this paper we propose a new regularizer built upon the Laplacian of similarity graphs obtained from the representation of training data at each intermediate representation. This regularizer penalizes large changes (across consecutive layers in the architecture) in the distance between examples of different classes.
We provide theoretical justification for this regularizer and demonstrate its effectiveness when facing adversarial noise on classical supervised learning vision datasets.


Pump sources for optical fiber amplifiers, e.g., Erbium-doped fiber amplifiers or Raman amplifiers, are reviewed. Higher optical power is required for the optical fiber amplifiers in DWDM transmission. Recently published results regarding improvements of the optical power are introduced.


Digital Materiality paradigme enhances the architecture products fabrication for construction. It develops the communication between Materials, data, design, construction, structure and fabrication. The integration of advanced digital computationnel Tools into architecture materialization results in enhanced performance systems. The produced system from this paradigm reduce waste, reduce energy consumption and increase the sustainability of construction aspect which all coincides with sustainable development goals SDGs. Digital materiality led to production of complex 3D configurations and deployable structures by exploiting the material dimension. Smart material systems evolves from the programming of the material properties. Smart materials are programmable materials with engineered performances. The research aims to identify the materialization process of the paradigm in recent architecture projects, as well as identifying and classifying material programming methods. This paper presents an up to date review on Digital Materiality and material programming applications. The research classifies material programming into bending active and interactive stimuli active architecture methods. A digital architecture materialization production framework is deduced which utilizes the material dimensions of the system.


By partial order method and fixed point index theory,a new computational theorem of topological degree for a non-cone completely continuous mapping is eastablished. As an application,the existence of nontrivial solutions for Hammerstein integral equations is obtained.


A method and apparatus for decrementing the access terminal assignments in a wireless communication system, the method comprising determining whether the MACID non MACID of access terminals having allocated to a particular interlace is received, allocated for that particular interlace If MACID non MACID of access terminals with is determined, the method and apparatus are provided and a decrementing the access terminal assignments in accordance with the MACID.


Present studies done in the field of industrial robot off-line programming have not yet established an effective method to correct the mechanical error that exists between the geometrical model of a robot and the actual robot itself. For example, concerning mechanical errors to be corrected, there is no way to correct nongeometrical parameters, such as deflection, for each robot. Many methods use special instruments such as three dimensional measuring instruments to correct the errors, and they are not suitable for use in an actual production line. In this research, deflection is included in the mechanical errors to be corrected, and we've established a autonomous error calibration method by using the robot itself as a measuring device.


Dysphagia or impaired swallowing function causes significant morbidity and mortality, and is diverse and common especially in the elderly. Dysphagia might cause aspiration pneumonia and various health problems whose severity range from trivial to lethal conditions, which often compromise the quality of life for patients. Even if the symptoms are mild, it is needed for medical attention because dysphagia could be a multidimensional problem with frequent occurrences and an early sign of serious underlying conditions. Therefore, the swallowing healthcare management is important. Dysphagia occurs during the oral and pharyngeal stage in the swallowing process regardless of age. Many medical experts in this field strongly stated that there is a necessity of healthcare study relating to swallowing disorder. In general, the evaluation of swallowing function is provided by video fluoroscopy or video endoscopy, which are currently international standards. However, those methods are invasive and restrictive examination. Therefore, the development of non-invasive/-restrictive evaluation method is one of the significant needs in dysphagia research. In my talk, I introduce some results of evaluation and investigation using the biometric measurement data of air flow, swallowing sound, and displacement by attaching two types of sensors. In addition, we discuss about the possibility of wearable sensors in the field of healthcare monitoring system.


In this paper, we apply the periodic unfolding method in perforated domains introduced by Cioranescu et al. (Portu- gal. Math. 63(4) (2006), 467-496) to a class of elliptic problems with nonlinear conditions on the boundary of the holes. A new compactness result will play a major role in the homogenization process and provides correctors without using any extension operator.


ACANTHOSIS nigricans has been a disease of interest to dermatologists and internists since it was first independently described in 1890 by Pollitzer 1 and Janovsky. 2 Reports of about 400 cases of acanthosis nigricans have appeared to date in the medical literature. 3 The conditions in these cases have been divided almost equally into the adult type, occurring in persons after the age of 20 years, which is usually associated with intra-abdominal malignant growth, and the juvenile benign type, occurring in persons under 20 years of age, without evidence of internal malignant growth. According to Curth, 3c however, no strict dividing line in age is possible between the so-called malignant and benign forms of acanthosis nigricans, as in some of the cases of the juvenile type either an internal malignant growth has developed while the patient was under 20 years of age or an internal malignant growth has appeared later in


This paper analyzes the reason and condition of the generation of moire effect when taking photos with a digital camera, further studies a new tilt measurement method based on moire effects of SLR digital camera and then develops the general application of moirefringetechnique.


The Meal-Smith criteria-based Hoc-modeling technique for assessing pilot rating is applied to the Landing and Approach of Higher Orders Systems (LAHOS) data in addition to the Neal-Smith flight test data. The purposes of this analysis are to examine the effects of a complex task that may include more than one controlled variable, .and to see the effects of changing the bandwidth frequency which should be specified in advance in applying the Neal-Smith met hod. Results show that the threeLevel-boundary determined for the Neal-Smith flight test data conforms well to the LAHOS rating data for approach only, if the bandwidth frequency is properly set, but it does not for the rating data including landing. For pitch angle control tasks, a slight change in the bandwidth frequency brings about a translational shift of the whole three-Levelboundary pattern determined for a bandwidth frequency. Works for the future are discussed on the grounds of these results.


Early in the 1990s, the introduction of economic reforms in Russia created expectations of a substantial reallocation of labour; "old" jobs in the state and former-state sector were to be shed and "new" jobs created in new private firms. Although the labour market experienced relatively heavy flows, they did not occur in the expected pattern. Most of the separations were quits rather than lay-offs and former-state enterprises continued to hire at relatively high rates. This paper takes a fresh look at the developments in labour turnover and the relationship between the components of labour turnover and various enterprise characteristics. National-level aggregate statistics are used to gain insights concerning the scale and structure of labour turnover in medium and large enterprises. A more detailed examination is then made of the components of labour turnover and their relationship to selected enterprise characteristics using microdata from administrative reporting in four Russian regions.


With the development of society, people concern themselves more about how to study than what to study. To university students, learning to study is a objective need of social development as well as an indispensible way to become useful persons. Therefore it is a must to provide university students with necessary study methods and strategies.


RESPECT THE INVENTION OF OPTICAL GLASSES VERY refractive WHICH ARE FREE OF CDO AND THO. REFRACTIVE INDICES ARE THEIR BETWEEN 1.85 AND 2.05 AND INDICES ABBE ARE BETWEEN 25 AND 43 COMPOSITIONS ARE LOCATED IN THE FOLLOWING RANGE:. SIO, 5 TO 15; BO, from 2.5 to 8; SIOBO, DE 7.5 A 23; SIOBO, 1.3 to 2.1; LAO, from 43 to 56; GDO, from 0 to 14; LAOGDO from 43 to 60; ZRO from 3 to 10; NBO, from 0 to 15; TAO, from 0 to 20; NBO TAO OF 11 TO 22.


Distance education involves both the student and the instructor in various tasks associated with learning and testing the absorption of that learning. In this chapter, parallels are drawn between educational and wo kplace tasks– the understanding of prescribed material, assignments, experiences and acquisition of knowledge on one hand and the components of a job on the other. It draws on the telecommuting literature as it relates to telecommuting's attraction to the worker, the organization and the community, the importance of the task, the technology required, the role of the supervisor and the individual attributes one needs to be a successful teleworker. These are brought together in a model aimed at providing a guide to the possible adoption of distance education and enabling administrators to assess its potential and some of the pitfalls that may be encountered.


Background. The one-year renal graft survival rates have grown to 93.4% for transplantation from cadaveric and 97.2% from living donors. Early detection and elimination of complications after kidney transplantation improve these figures.The study purpose was to develop an algorithm for the diagnosis and treatment tactics of postoperative complications after kidney transplantation by reviewing literature data and analyzing the results of our own experience.Material and methods. The study included 75 patients who underwent kidney transplantation from a living donor at the Republican Research Centre of Emergency Medicine from March 2018 to December 2019.Results. The original authors' algorithm developed for the diagnosis and treatment of complications after kidney transplantation covers all postoperative complications that lead to renal transplant dysfunction. It is based on assessing the symptoms that typically occur in a specific complication. The main instrumental methods in the diagnosis of postoperative complications are ultrasound and radiological investigational techniques. The biopsy has the main role in diagnosing a graft rejection. Among 75 patients after kidney transplantation, 23 (30.6%) developed various early postoperative complications, including both surgical and immunological ones. Renal graft dysfunction was eliminated in 17 (73.9%) of 23 patients. The loss of a transplanted kidney was associated with the death of 7 recipients (9.3%). The causes of death were pulmonary embolism in 2 (2.7%) cases, infection and sepsis as a result of immunosuppression in 2 (2.7%) cases, hypovolemic shock in 2 (2.7%) cases, and acute ischemic stroke in 1 (1.3%) case. Two recipients underwent renal transplant nephrectomy. The cause of nephrectomy was graft rejection and bleeding from the renal artery. A oneyear survival rate was 90.7%. The proposed treatment and diagnostic algorithm showed a 95.7% diagnostic value in identifying the complications, and 91.3% of the therapeutic effect in coping with a renal transplant dysfunction.Conclusions. Early treatment of revealed complications allows saving the transplanted kidney function. Step-bystep differential diagnosis of complications after kidney transplantation, according to the proposed algorithm, allows choosing the treatment tactics based on complication pathogenesis.


The purpose of this note is to give the proof of a theorem of Bourgain with some additional details and updated notation. The theorem rst appeared as an appendix to the breakthrough paper by Friedgut, Sharp Thresholds of graph properties and the k-SAT Problem [2]. Throughout, we use notation and denitions akin to those in O'Donnell's book, Analysis of Boolean Functions [5].


The bandwidths of a digital band-pass filter (BPF) can be tuned through adopting an extra parameter called bandwidth-tuning parameter into its transfer function (mathematical model). Such a BPF with tunable bandwidths is called variable-BPF. This paper suggests an efficient approach to the low-complexity implementation of a variable-BPF. The variable-BPF is designed on the basis of the minimax criterion and its coefficients are polynomial functions of the bandwidth-tuning parameter. This improved approach represents all the variable coefficients as unequal-order polynomials. By employing unequal-orders instead of identically the same order as reported in the previous work, unnecessary high orders can be further lowered. As a consequence, the utilization of unequal-order polynomials can further reduce the implementation complexity of the designed variable-BPF, which leads to a low-cost filter implementation as well as fast filtering operations. A comparative implementation example is given to show the complexity reduction along with the achieved comparable variable-BPF accuracy.


A one-manufacture and retailer supply chain facing uncertain demand was studied.Different from the traditional piecewise linear loss-averse utility function,this paper takes the viewpoint of the prospect theory and assumes that the retailer's utility function is piecewise-nonlinear.The decision-making behaviour of retailer and the coordination of whole supply chain in buy-back contract were studied.It is found that the loss-aversion retailer's optimal order quantity decreases as the degree of loss-aversion increases and the greater the buyback credit the more the optimal order quantity of retailer.Furthermore,There exists a unique buyback credit can coordinate the whole supply chain.


Reliable and rapid test on the status of parking spaces through magnetoresistive sensor employed by vehicles is still on unsolved problem,also the algorithms soely relying on the threshold or adopting the state machine detection are hard to solve this problem.This paper analyzes the current vehicle detection algorithms,and discusses in detail the sensor output characteristic curve when the vehicle passes.And in combination with the output characteristics of magnetoresistive sensor,a vehicle detection algorithm based on locus analysis is proposed,which could well trace the curve properties and is beneficial to the processing of signal curve.Matlab simulation proves the feasibility and correctness of the proposed algorithm.


The equipment with higher measuring accuracy is installed at a suitable place in fore and aft to get ship sway data during sailing in wind and wave. The data is classified. The ship sway data prediction model based on PSO-SVM method is provided, and the extreme short time prediction result which meets the demand can be get after multi-steps calculation.


This paper is dedicated to investigation of the elastic inverted pendulum with hysteretic nonlinearity in the suspension point. We consider the problem of stabilization and optimal control of such a system. In the frame of the bionic model we present an algorithm which provides an effective procedure for finding of optimal control parameters together with application of this algorithm to the system under consideration. The results of numerical simulations, namely, the phase portraits and the dynamics of Lyapunov function are presented and discussed.


Extreme thrombocytosis (EXT, platelet count > 1000 × 103/μL) is an uncommon but potentially clinically significant finding. Primary EXT in the setting of myeloproliferative disorders is linked to thrombotic and/or bleeding complications more frequently than secondary EXT, which typically occurs in reaction to infection, inflammation, or iron deficiency. However, comorbidities have been reported in adults with secondary EXT. Clinical implications of EXT in children are not well defined, as prior studies targeted small and/or specialized pediatric populations.


The continuous infusion of Duodopa (levodopa + carbidopa gel) is an alternative to conventional oral therapy in patients with advanced Parkinson ́s disease (1), because this new treatment has shown a better control of motor fluctuations and a reduction of dyskinesias (2,3). The infusion system has a Duodopa portable container connected to a duodenal tube placed through a gastrostomy tube. We report on 2 patients with advanced Parkinson ́s disease treated with Duodopa infusion and a knot found in the duodenal tube.


Software in the Systems Engineering Simulator at NASA's Johnson Space Center must be updated frequently to insure reliability and accuracy of the simulation. The Attitude Control System of the Space Station Freedom is one large component of the station simulation which must likewise undergo upgrades and maintenance. The baseline McDonnell Douglas Space Systems Co. (MDSSC)/Honeywell Attitude Control System has been integrated into the laboratory as a new system rather than modifying the older, existing version. Because this was replacing the older version, testing and verification were simplified as the existing task interfaces could be retained. This prevented many errors while at the same time provided a realistic capability for the laboratory.