The Cascade Heating System produces a secondary flame in the side of the port neck and this low velocity secondary flame overlays and burns out over the root of the primary flame. This reduces the level of excess oxygen and therefore the flame core temperature. The use of the Sorg® Cascade Heating System and additional measures for reducing NOx will reduce NOx levels to less than 650 mg/Nm 3 in the medium term.


We report local-density-approximation-based electronic-structure calculations for the compound LiPdH. As in the case of the recently discovered family of CuO{sub 2}-based superconductors, LiPdH{sub {ital x}} is predicted to be a metal with substantial ionic character. We have used the band-structure results to calculate the McMillan-Hopfield parameters within the rigid muffin-tin approximation. These parameters have values close to those of PdH and lead to the prediction that LiPdH{sub {ital x}} may be a good superconductor.


A power generation system includes integrated photovoltaic (PV) panels. Each of the integrated PV panel includes photovoltaic cells, a junction coupler coupling the photovoltaic cells in series, in parallel, or in combinations thereof, output terminals, and a DC to AC converter coupled between the junction coupler and the output terminals. The DC to AC converter includes switching devices and the integrated PV panels are coupled in series at the respective output terminals. A controller is provided in the power generation system for generation switching command signals for the switching devices of the integrated PV panels to synthesize an output voltage of the power generation system.


When we view visualizations, we not only have a visual representation of the data, but also a verbal one. Recent work has shown that these visual representations of data can be biased, such that the position of a line in a chart will be consistently underestimated. But are the verbal representations of position encodings also biased in the same manner, or is this a purely visual bias that can be mitigated with verbal context? We explored the bias in position reproductions for simple uniform lines for both visual and verbal representations. We find that the direction of the bias changed depending on the response modality, with visual reproductions showing a position underestimation while verbal responses showed overestimation. This finding indicates that, even for simple line charts, biases are still present for both visual and verbal representations, although the directionality of this bias depends on the modality.


Following on from the article in the last journal examining the ethical issues within the operating theatre, this article will examine the legal and ethical conflicts surrounding consent in the child. The scenario of a child refusing surgery, coupled with the desire to help is a problem faced by many practitioners. Legislation was created to clarify the situation, but subsequent legal interpretation has clouded the issue once again.


vi Acknowledgments, v Asymptotic estimate of the sumset of Farey fractions, 28 Bibliography, 52 Dedication, iv Discrepancy estimate, 9 Discrepancy of Roots of Quadratic Congruences, 1 Equidistribution, 3 Erdős-Turán type inequality, 34, 39 Introduction, 1, 17, 34 Multiplication Table and divisor problems, 18 Preliminaries, 35 Sieve methods and spectral theory, 7 Some properties of Farey fractions, 21 Special functions associated to Farey fractions, 37 Sumset of Farey Fractions, 17


20027 Background: Total surgical excision and adjunctive chemotherapy are cornerstones of treatment of hepatoblastoma in children. But many are unsuitable for radical surgery at diagnosis due to extensive intrahepatic and/or extra hepatic disease. We assessed 18 consecutive cases during the last two years, all of whom presented with unresectable tumor, treated in our center with neoadjuvant chemotherapy,in order to analyze the clinical profile and response to treatment. Methods: A retrospective analysis of patients who presented to our institute during January 2004 to January 2006 was carried out. All patients were biopsy proven hepatoblastoma. One patient was operated without anterior chemotherapy outside our institute .Two patients had lung metastasis. Rest all had stage 3 disease. All the patients were given cisplatin [90 mg/m2] and continuous infusion doxorubicin [80 mg/m2 over 4 days]. The response to therapy was assessed. Results: Mean age of presentation was 3 years and 4 months [range 1 year to 11...


BACKGROUND
 Goal setting is a key part of the rehabilitation process. The use of technology and electronic tools such as smartphone applications (apps) and websites has been suggested as a way of improving the engagement of users in meaningful goal-setting and facilitating shared decision-making between patients and health professionals.

 OBJECTIVE
 To describe experiences of health professionals and patients in the use of the English language version of the iPad app Aid for Decision-making in Occupational Choice (ADOC) to facilitate collaborative goal setting in rehabilitation.

 METHODS
 We recruited participants from three acute and post-acute care rehabilitation wards in both public and private organizations in New Zealand. Participants were registered allied health professionals including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, and speech-language therapists, who engage in goal setting as part of their normal work, and their adult patients. We collected data via semi-structured interviews to gather information about the experiences of the participants in the use of ADOC for goal setting. Data were analyzed with thematic analysis.

 RESULTS
 Eight health professionals and eight patients participated in the study. Six main themes emerged from the data: a) Changing patients' perspective on what is possible; b) Changing health professionals' perspective on what is important; c) Facilitating shared decision-making; d) Lack of guides for users; e) Logistic and organizational barriers; and f) App related and technical issues.

 CONCLUSIONS
 Health professionals and patients found ADOC to be a valuable tool when setting shared rehabilitation goals. The use of ADOC promoted a patient-centered approach that empowered patients to engage in collaborative goal setting. The technological limitations of the app that negatively impacted experiences can be addressed in the future implementation of ADOC in rehabilitation settings.

 CLINICALTRIAL
 The trial was retrospectively registered and allocated to the Australian New Zealand Clinal Trial Registry (ACTRN) number ACTRN12620001328965.


The Internet as we know it today depends on secure communication—electronic commerce relies on the private transmission of payment information, social networking sites and configurable portals on the secret exchange of login credentials, etc. Certificates and encryption are the fundamental building blocks of the Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) protocols used to protect transmitted data. Modern browsers handle the majority of the workload necessary to communicate securely over the web: encryption of outgoing data, decryption of incoming data, validation of certificates, storage of certificates, maintenance of trusted certificate authority list, etc. However, browsers rely on users to perform (at least) two tasks to support secure communication: recognize encrypted websites and respond to invalid certificates. Studies have confirmed that these tasks are unusable—users do not notice or do not understand encryption identification mechanisms in browsers [1, 2] and connect to websites with invalid certificates just as they connect to websites with valid certificates [3]. Browser designers have recognized this fundamental flaw in their design and both major browsers have implemented substantial changes to their certificate management interfaces in their upcoming releases—Firefox 3 and Internet Explorer 8. In this paper, we describe the two-pronged experimental evaluation of the relevant features of Firefox 3. The first prong is a 270 user online survey which asked users to evaluate a screenshot of a website displayed using Firefox 2 or 3 and identify if the website was encrypted. The second prong is a 10 user lab study which compared the reaction of users to invalid certificates from both familiar and unfamiliar websites in Firefox 2 and 3.


The present invention, the at least one surface, at least a portion the at least one pre-functionalized with an organic compound hydroxyl or primary-coated with a layer containing at least one water-soluble polymer containing a secondary amino functionality, cellulose and / or that the synthetic fibers based on the substrate, the organic compound, and at least one epoxy functionality and at least one of R It includes groups, and R


Laser emission was observed in photonic semiconductor dots with a discretized optical mode spectrum. The photonic dots with lateral sizes between 1 and 5 μm provide a three-dimensional optical confinement by using in the vertical direction AlAs/GaAs Bragg mirrors and in the lateral directions the refractive index discontinuity at the etched surfaces. In the optically pumped structures, the laser emission takes place on the fundamental mode of the microcavities. External threshold excitation densities of 200 W/cm2, which correspond to a very low internal optical excitation power of 0.15 μW per microcavity post, were measured for microcavity structures with a lateral size of 2.7 μm.


natal, delivery, and postnatal periods is available in this database. Women from the cohort were included in the current study if they had 2 deliveries during the study period, with the first being a CD and the second a singleton delivery with cephalic presentation at 37 weeks gestation or greater. Indication for the first CD was categorized as either elective or unplanned; subcategories for unplanned CD were labor dystocia, nonreassuring fetal well-being, and other indications. Cervical dilation at the time of first CD was categorized into 3 groups: fully dilated, 6 to 10 cm, and 5 cm or less. Those women who had an elective CD as their first CD were used as a reference group. The risk of repeat CD was the main outcome of the study. Results were adjusted for maternal confounders such as maternal age, height, body mass index (BMI) at first delivery, pregestational diabetes at first pregnancy and pregestational hypertension at first pregnancy. Relative risks (RR) were determined by performing modified Poisson regression analysis. A total of 5302 women met inclusion criteria for the study cohort. Of those, 2186 (41.2%) had an ERCD and 3116 underwent TOLAC. Among the TOLAC group, 30.6% (n= 953) had an elective CD with their first pregnancy and 69.4% (n= 2163) had an unplanned CD for their first delivery. Those with a previous unplanned CD had a lower successful VBAC rate (64.3%) than those with a previous elective CD (79.3%) with an adjusted RR of 1.64 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.43-1.89]. First CD performed for labor dystocia had the lowest successful VBAC rate (56.2%) of all indications for first CD, followed by nonreassuring fetal wellbeing (67.4%) with the highest success rate of 78.2% being for other unplanned indications. The adjusted RR for repeat CD in women who had dystocia in their first pregnancy was 1.96 (95% CI, 1.69-2.27) compared with women whose first CD was elective; adjusted RR for nonreassuring fetal well-being was 1.48 (95% CI, 1.26-1.75) compared with elective first CD. As cervical dilation increased with the first labor for women who had dystocia, successful VBAC rates also increased (≤ 5 cm: 45.3%, 6 to 10 cm: 57.5%, fully dilated: 68.6%). In conclusion, compared with elective CD for first delivery, women whose first CD was unplanned had a 64% higher risk of repeat CD. Greater cervical dilation in the first labor was associated with an increased chance of vaginal birth in the second delivery.


The coverage and spatial distribution of vegetation is a fundamental index to estimate the ecological environment and desertification in arid desert area.Comparison among deserts in the same latitude region,Gurbantunggut Desert is the unique which teems with lots of plant species,although the distribution of vegetation is more sparse than that of some typical desert steppe.In this paper,vegetation coverage of the western Gurbantunggut Desert was selected as the target indicator,which was extracted using normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and linear spectral mixture model (LSMM),based on Landsat TM images.In order to get better result,we chose the best endmember in the LSMM process through different methods,and utilized the measured vegetation coverage data to validate the vegetation fraction that came from remote sensing images.The results showed that:the NDVI method was subjected to many restrictions,and wasn't suitable for application in the arid desert area.While,the LSMM showed a better result,thus vegetation,alkaline soil,bare sand and dark sand had been successfully selected for further analyses.A significant linear relationship also was found between vegetation fraction and vegetation coverage,with a correlation coefficient of 0.858.All those reflected that vegetation coverage in the arid desert area can be extracted indirectly through remote sensing images.


Photograph of Leon McGeorge seated at a bench as he leans on his lunch pail with an open book on his lap. A furnace as well as other students are visible in the background of the image.


INTRODUCTION Over the past ten years, the Prosthetics Clinical Services Department of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago has treated thirty-six (36) persons with bilateral arm amputations. Of these, twenty-three had sustained high-level bilateral limb loss, High-level is defined as the absence of a functional physiological elbow joint In some cases the anatomical elbow is present, but the joint is impaired and non-functional necessitating a prosthetic elbow joint This accumulated clinical experience has been augmented by significant input fiom the Northwestern University Rehabilitation Engineering Research Program in Prosthetics and Orthotics. Guided by a fitting philosophy that has evolved over this period, our combined efforts have resulted in considerable success in the rehabilitation of this most severely impaired group of persons with arm amputations,


1. A method of manufacturing hexagonal pipe-size blanks "turnkey" 252,6 ± 1,8 × 5,0 + 1,5 / -1,0 × 4300 + 80 / -30 mm for storage and transportation of spent nuclear fuel, comprising: electroslag remelting the cast hollow steel ingots nizkoplastichnoy 04H14T5R2F-III with a content of boron of from 2.0 to 3.0% the size of 5.0 × 470 ± 5.0 × vn.270 ± 3000 ± 100 mm, boring and turning them into hollow bars -zagotovki size of 5.0 × 450 ± 5.0 × vn.280 ± 3000 ± 100 mm heated to a temperature of 1030-1040 ° C, rolling to steel making tube-lash size 284 × 11 mm × 25600-26600 stretch of 9 μ , 88 to 10,39, compression of the diameter Δ of 36.18 to 37.58% and removal of a saw cutting hot process waste pilger heads and seed end, whereupon-runner pipe is cut saw hot cutting on multiple pipes Dina 10100 ± 50 mm and the residue, generally multiples of the pipe is cut into two pieces-times range not less than 5000 mm in length, bore, and grind in pipes - blank size 278,5 ± 1,8 × 5,0 + 1,5 / -1,0 mm and a hexagonal profiled pipe predetermined razmera.2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the hollow billet ingots are thrown into one row on the grate of the furnace in batches of 10-12 pieces at a temperature in the third zone of 800-900 ° C and held without tilting during 40-60 minutes, warmed to temperature 1030-1040 ° C at a speed of 2,6-2,8 ° C per minute with uniform tilting from 22-th to 7-th window through 12-15 minute at an angle ≈300-310 °, aged for 40-50 minutes with uniform tilting from the 7th to 4th window through 13-17 minutes, turn over the 4th window hole on the furnace from the furnace and produce a temperature-center hollow billet ingot 1030-1040 ° C.3. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that posad following two hollow billets ingots produced after tilting to grate the first 2-zagotovok.4 hollow ingot. A method according to claim 1, exc


This paper discusses features of the process of stimulated Raman scattering for the amplification and compression of femtosecond pulses. The main regularities of the process are analyzed, negative factors that reduce the energy-pumping efficiency are explained, and the optimum conditions of the process for obtaining the greatest energy-conversion efficiency are determined.


FIELD: measurement technology; weighing and delivery of agents fed for transportation. SUBSTANCE: required amount of agent is introduced from reservoir to point of transportation; required amount is renewed by means of algorithm based on use of predictive model. Algorithm is renewed on basis of data of process with the use of recursive procedure of minimum square method. Adaptive selection algorithm is used for determination of necessity of replacement of at least one previous parameter of algorithm based on use of predictive model by at least one new parameter of algorithm based on use of predictive model for adaptation of algorithm based on use of predictive model. EFFECT: enhanced accuracy of process. 26 cl, 8 dwg


The holograms of three-dimensional objects have been interest topics for a long time, but in the last few years other alternatives have been sought to avoid their complexities. Many of them seek to create three-dimensional effects using parallax and knowledge about stereographic vision, in other words, they use two-dimensional images. In this paper we explore some of the benefits of calculating the wave front of three-dimensional objects, as well as several considerations that must be considered. The main ones are presented when holograms are implemented in an LSM, because of the calculation conditions and laboratory tools. Using spherical waves is a great example, a magnification along the propagation axis is produced and the objects are deformed. Therefore, it is necessary to make a study and propose changes to the algorithm that allow us to solve this situation. Despite being fundamental complications, they allow us to explore a large amount of solutions and even consider future applications. Within this work, we seek to present some of the proposals that resolved these situations for the work teams applications.


The problem of choosing " good " nodes on a given compact set is a central one in multivariate polynomial interpolation. Besides unisolvence, which is by no means an easy problem, for practical purposes one needs slow growth of the Lebesgue constant and computational efficiency. In this talk, we present new sets of nodes recently studied for polynomial interpolation on the square that are asymptotically equally-spaced w.r.t. the Dubiner metric. Then, we shall deal in particular with two families, Xu and Padua points, which show Lebesgue constants with optimal grow, i.e. log 2 (n), with n the degree of the interpolating polynomial. Finally, we discuss some applications of such points.


In the present work a custom-developed, avalanche noise diode model is used in a commercial CAD software and is applied to three real case scenarios. Among the few noise diodes that have been characterized in recent years, and whose models are available in the literature, the $20\ \mu m^{2}$ p-i-n diode developed with commercial a 130-nm SiGe BiCMOS technology is considered. Simulations are carried out with the diode connected to: (i) the attenuator of a noise injection circuit in a total power radiometer, (ii) the switching section of a Dicke radiometer, (iii) and a SIW band-pass filter for satellite receivers (emulating the frequency response of the front-end). The equivalent noise temperature at the output of all the above systems is evaluated according to the circuital blocks behavior, showing realistic responses of the diode in combination with passive devices. This paper shows that the presented avalanche noise diode model, previously not available in modern CAD, is applicable to other avalanche diodes available in literature and used to rigorously study passive systems.


We present a new rendering technique, termed LOD-spriterendering, which uses a combination of a level-of-detail (LOD) representation of the scene together with reusing image sprites (previously rendered images). Our primary application is an acceleration technique for virtual environment navigation. The LOD-sprite technique renders an initial frame using a full-resolution model of the scene geometry. It renders subsequent frames with a much lower-resolution model of the scene geometry and texture-maps each polygon with the image sprite from the initial full-resolution frame. As it renders these subsequent frames the technique measures the error associated with each low-resolution polygon, and uses this to decide when to re-render the scene using the fullresolution model. The LOD-sprite technique can be efficiently implemented in texture-mapping graphics hardware. The LOD-sprite technique is thus a combination of two currently very active thrusts in computer graphics: level-of-detail representations and image-based modeling and rendering (IBMR) techniques. The LOD-sprite technique is different from most previous IBMR techniques in that they typically model the texture-map as a quadrilateral, as opposed to a lower-resolution scene model. This scene model, even if only composed of a few polygons, greatly increases the range of novel views that can be interpolated before unacceptable distortions arise. Also unlike previous LOD techniques, the LOD-sprite algorithm dynamically updates the image sprite every several frames. The LOD-sprite technique can be implemented with any LOD decomposition.


JFE Steel has 3 plate mills, which are located at Keihin District of its East Japan Works and Kurashiki and Fukuyama Districts of West Japan Works. JFE Steel's 3 plate mill system enables efficient operation taking full advantage of the respective features of each mill, including equipment, technologies, and location. JFE Steel has developed numerous advanced technologies for steel plate products in order to satisfy advanced customer requirements for mass production, quicker delivery, dimensional accuracy, heavier gauges, higher strength, and improved weldability.


A sample of 2,360 skulls representing 21 of the 22 recognized species of Dipodomys were examined for the presence and structure of the interparietal. The interparietal is basically formed from four ossification centers. These often fuse during the early stages of development. The median components are the equivalent of the interparietal of other animals while the antero-lateral components are possibly equivalent of the tabular bones of reptiles and primitive mammals. While examining a series of skulls of the Merriam kangaroo rat, (Dipodomys merriami) it was noted that the interparietal is variable in the number of bones composing it. Subsequently, 2360 skulls of 21 of the 22 recognized species of the genus Dipodomys (Hall and Kelson, 1959) were examined. In addition a series of 19 embryos of D. merri- ami were cleared in KOH and stained with Alizarin Red-S. The interparietal in Dipodomys, is bounded posteriorly and laterally by the supraoccipital and its ascending branches and anteriorly by the parietals (Fig. 1). In most species of this genus it is a shield-shaped structure, but may be only a narrow sliver wedged in between the ex- tremely developed auditory bullae of such species as D. deserti. As the animals become older, there is a tendency for the sutures be-


Stein's llustrators have provided useful interpretations of her often hermetic writings. Clement Hurd focused on the childlike humor of The World is Round which Andrew Hoyem transformed into a circular artist's book. Susan Weil's etchings duplicate Stein's technique in Tender Buttons. Shirley Sharoff's bookwork captures the movements of "Procession." Matthew Tyson's drawings catch the understated horrors of "War Poems." Aurélie de Nemours' colors evoke the structure of "Early and Late." Responding to Stein's denials of authorship, Irma Blank provides a digest of Everybody's Autobiography, visually reduced to an illegible script. Fahrner's "mise en scéne" of "Parlor" proves that Stein wrote performable plays.


Text feature representation is an important and fundamental problem widely studied in many text analysis tasks such as text classification. However, most of the existing methods on text feature extraction focus on text itself, for example, bagof-words (BOW). In this work, we propose to make use of Knowledge Graphs (KGs) to enrich text representation in a novel HIN perspective. There are two main challenges due to the complexity of KGs. First, how to address the ambiguity when mapping the entities in a text to a KG. Second, how to incorporate the relations of entities in the same document, which indicate the intra-document semantics. To solve these problems, we present a novel Meta-Path Based Text Feature Enrichment (MeTEN) method. The MeTEN can effectively map nouns or noun phrases in a text to entities in a KG, and effectively discover their relations represented by meta paths in the KG through a novel bi-directional meta path generation algorithm. Extensive experiments on real-world datasets demonstrate that MeTEN can effectively enrich text feature and thus improve text classification.


Objective:to discuss Antimicrobial resistance of extended-spectrum β-lactamases and material particle AmpC in Klebsiella pneumoniae. Method: Kirby-Bauer diffusion method was used in susceptibility testing and ESBLs and AmpC producers were detected by NCCLS2002 in Klebsiella pneumoniae.Results : The prevalence of ESBLs and AmpC producers were 61.4%.143 strains produce ESBLs and the resistance rates to Ceftriaxone,Cefotaxime,Levofloxacin were 70%,but all of them were susceptibility to Meropenem,Imipenem.8 strains produce AmpC and all of them were resistant to cephalosporins,β-lactams/β-lactam ase inhibitors,but all of them were susceptibility to Cefepime,Imipenem.3 strains produce ESBLs and AmpC and all of them were resistant to cephalosporins,β-lactams/β-lactam ase inhibitors,Aztreonam,Cefoxitinand one of them was resistant to Imipenem.Conclusion:the ESBLs and AmpC enzyme causes to the drug resistance of pneumonia gram Reber fungus which resistanced many kinds of antibiotics.


We report on a Phase 2 feasibility study of an effort to compute the mechanical behavior of the incendiary powder RS41 during compaction and release using the experiments conducted at China Lake as a data base. Our simulation, using a prototype material model, develops two-dimensional density gradients in even these simple, uniaxial double-piston experiments. In our view, the computational simulation of the behavior of RS41 while press loading this material into a round and under subsequent launch conditions is feasible within the framework of current technology. For the model development that was conducted as part of this feasibility study, the code of choice was the implicit Lagrangian hydro code NIKE2D. The applicability of the explicit companion code DYNA2D is also discussed.


This paper analysises the design feature of some kinds of non-removable valves for liquefied petroleum cylinders,and introduces the way,the cost and the quality of the main parts machining.


One of the striking features of Hobbes's theory of representation is his attempt to rewrite the central dogma of Christian theology in terms of a concept of representation he first devised for his politics. This is the dogma of the Trinity, according to which God is triune. This chapter shows the conceptual tangles Hobbes gets himself into when he tries to explain how God can be three and one at the same time in ways consistent with his theory of (political) representation. This analysis leads to the conclusion that Hobbes's insistence on holding to a highly unorthodox view on this dogma, which, by his own recognition, is irrelevant to salvation, is explained by his conviction that his newly coined theology of the Trinity 'manifestly tend(s) to Peace and Loyalty', as it contests 'Ancient Errors' that corroded unified sovereignty and were responsible for breeding unending trouble and disorder in the state.Keywords: Christian theology; Hobbes's trinity; triune God


Utilizing a naphthenic acid ester as a dispersant, an aqueous conductive carbon black dispersion was produced, which displayed excellent flocculation resistance, increased grinding efficiency, and inherent rheological stability when compared to a dispersion utilizing competitive dispersant or no dispersant at all. The aqueous conductive carbon black dispersion was subsequently formulated into an aqueous conductive automotive primer. The primer exhibited excellent dry film conductivity, rheological stability, and wetting characteristics when applied to plastic substrates. Humidity sensitivity of the primer was greatly reduced over similar primers formulated with competitive surfactant-based carbon black dispersions


In recent years, Machine Learning (ML), especially Deep Learning (DL) approaches, has attracted great attention in medical field. In this study, we proposed a deep learning-based approach in order to automatically diagnose Temporomandibular Disorder (TMD) on Magnetic Resonance (MR) images. 2576 MR images of 200 patients diagnosed with and without TMD were collected. These images were classified as 8 groups. First of all, a basic Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) was used for the problem. After that, 6 different fine-tuned pre-trained convolutional neural network models, Xception, ResNet-101, MobileNetV2, InceptionV3, DenseNet-121 and ConvNeXt were applied on data set. Finally, the accomplishment of Vision Transformer (ViT) in task solving was also discussed. Performances of the approaches were evaluated by metrics such as accuracy rate, precision, sensitivity, F1-score, Negative Predictive Value (NPV), specificity, Area Under Curve (AUC) and kappa coefficient. Grad-CAM results of the best architectures for diagnostic examination were obtained. Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC) value was computed to assess correlation between the models. According to the test results, deep learning-based architectures assessed were found to be successful in the diagnosis of TMD.


Soil fertility and crop management are the two most important factors of modern agricultural activity. Managing the balance of vegetative and reproductive growth is the essence of managing a cotton crop. It is well known from numerous fertilizer experiments that the yield of agricultural crops has been strongly dependent on the supply of mineral nutrients, which have been used in crop cultivation to exploit the full genetic potential of the plant. Supplying optimal quantities of mineral nutrients to growing crop plants is one way to improve crop yields. In recent years, several approaches have been tried to break this yield plateau, and among them is application of plant growth regulators (PGRs). In maximizing the quantity and quality of a crop it is necessary to identify the constraints that may affect it and to devise methods of overcoming them through the use of inputs or changes in management practices.


Unraveling the genetic basis of reproductive isolation is significant for the understanding of the speciation process. Hybrid zones, the regions where two species co-occur and produce hybrids, offe ...


This article,on the one hand,emphasizes the feature that Taylor series expansion is used to solve the Limit problem of indeterminate form by analysing several typical examples;On the other hand,by use of limit thinking of indeterminate form we portray the new methods for summing n k=1 Σk2 and ∞ n=1 Σ n12 respectivly.


The silicification of rice straw is a factor that affects the grain production and straw nutritive quality. The procedure of chemical analysis for silicon in straw is, however, time and labor consuming, and slightly poor in accuracy. The study has attempted to apply near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) technique as an advanced alternative to predict the fiber composition and silicification in rice straw. Ninety-two samples from different seasons and varieties were collected over the Fujian Province. Their chemical analyses were carried on the aspects of hemicellulose, cellulose, lignin, extractable and non-extractable silicon, and the results were used as a database for NIRS analyses. The prediction model was developed through modified partial least square regression (MPLS) for a calibration program. The factors that may affect the calibration, cross-validation and the prediction for the application of NIRS on rice straw were also discussed.


The indicator system of territorial financial stability evaluation is one kind of financial risks prewarning system. On the basis of collecting the relative data and prudence analysis, the paper finds out that it is an information analysis system about financial risk and its changing trend by reviewing the development of territorial macro-economy and financial institutions. Taking Hubei province as an example, the paper analyzes the principle and contents of building the indicator system of territorial financial stability evaluation from five aspects, such as theoretical basis, target requirement, composition, analysis method and some issues for further completing the indicator system.


Coding for non-binary source with side information at the decoder is studied with an emphasis on ternary alphabet. The underlying linear code is the concatenated codes with short block outer codes and a rate-1 inner encoder over the ternary field. It is shown that the proposed scheme outperforms the results reported so far.


(57) ABSTRACT Provided are a method of producing mixed powder compris ing noble metal powder and oxide powder, wherein powder of ammonium chloride salt of noble metal and oxide powder are mixed, the mixed powder is Subsequently roasted, and ammo nium chloride is desorbed by the roasting process in order to obtain mixed powder comprising noble metal powder and oxide powder, and mixed powder comprising noble metal powder and oxide powder, wherein chlorine is less than 1000 ppm, nitrogen is less than 1000 ppm, 90% or more of the grain size of the noble metal powder is 20 m or less, and 90% or more of the grain size of the oxide powder is 12 um or less. Redundant processes in the production of noble metal powder are eliminated, and processes are omitted so that the inclusion of chlorine contained in the royal water and nitrogen respon sible for hydrazine reduction reaction is eliminated as much as possible. Consequently, the present invention aims to omit the drying process at a high temperature and thereby prevent grain growth and aggregation, and further eliminate the pull Verization and classification processes in order to consider ably reduce the production cost.


Ocean tide effects on gravitational field can be recognized as a kind of loading influence. In some sites, for example, group of islands in the ocean and coastland, the ocean tides loading influence on gravitational field can reach to magnitude of μgal, therefore, it must be taken into account in research of high precision gravitational field. This paper studied the theory and method for influence of ocean loading tides on gravitational field. In the process of deducing the formula, on avoided to develop the density of point loading into spherical harmonics, but directly to take the gravitational potential of ocean loading as a foundation and to contain the height of ocean tides in this expression, the relevant formulas for ocean tide's influence on gravitational field are deduced out. At the same time, some problems which should be noticed when the accuracy reaches magnitude of ngal are discussed. This study can provide reference and bases for theoretical research of space geodesy.


A novel tunable ultra-wideband (UWB) bandpass filter (BPF) with narrow notched band based on photonic method is proposed. The filter is mainly composed of an electrooptical phase modulator (EOPM) and a phase shift fiber Bragg grating (FBG). As the FBG serves as a tilt filter with limited bandwidth and a π-shift, the optical phase-modulation to intensity-modulation conversion induced by the reflection of the FBG generates a bandpass radio-frequency response with narrow notched band. Both theoretical analysis and experimental results confirm the feasibility of the proposed approach.


Orthopaedic manifestations of type-I hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy (Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease) include recurrent dislocation of the patella4, pes cavovarus'45. and scoliosis5. In 1985, Kumar et al. descnibed hip dysplasia in five girls from three families. One patient was diagnosed as having type-Il hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy (the neuronal type of peroneal muscular atrophy) according to clinical and electromyographic criteria. and the other four girls (two pairs of sisters) had type-I hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy. In 1989, an unpublished review of the medical records of patients who had type-I hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy was done at Newington Children's Hospital. Twenty-six of the seventy-seven patients who had this diagnosis were available for a clinical and radiographic examination of the hips. A review of the charts of the remaining fifty-one patients was performed, and in none of those records was there any suggestion of an abnormality of the hip. Of the twenty-six patients for whom radiographs and a record of an examination of the hips were available, two had dysplasia of the acetabulum and excessive valgus angulation of the femoral neck bilaterally. These patients, a boy and a girl, were fraternal twins. One had no symptoms of hip disease and the other had mild symptoms. including a limp and pain in the groin with activity. We describe here a family in which four siblings, two brothers who were twenty-five and twenty-seven years old and two sisters who were nineteen and twenty years old, were seen because of pain that was secondary to dysplasia of the hip. The symptoms were not apparent until late adolescence or early adulthood. All four of the siblings and their mother had type-I hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy according to clinical and dcctromyognaphic diagnostic criteria. The radiographs of the mother showed degenerative joint disease without evidence of acetabular dysplasia. The disease was also diagnosed with use of clinical criteria in the maternal


In May 1995, the Missouri legislature adopted language in its 1995-96 budget which specifically limits eligibility for state funds to private physicians' offices, public and private hospitals, public health agencies, federally-qualified health centers, community health centers, rural health clinics, community health agencies, and some state contractors. Of the providers who were ineligible for state money because they did not meet these definitions, only Planned Parenthood performs abortions. Planned Parenthood filed suit in May 1996, arguing that it was being discriminated against because it uses privately raised funds to provide abortions and to advocate a woman's right to choose to terminate her pregnancy. Judge Fernando J. Gaitan, Jr., of the US District Court for the Western District of Missouri found no legitimate purpose for the distinction made in the budget and ruled that the exclusion violates Planned Parenthood's constitutional right of equal protection. A permanent injunction was issued on June 21, 1996, blocking the exclusion of Planned Parenthood of Mid-Missouri and Eastern Kansas from receiving family planning funds. This judgement makes it extremely unlikely that Missouri will try to withhold funds from Planned Parenthood in 1996.


Two untreated rabbits and two rabbits sensitized with human β‐lipoproteins were intravenously injected with human β‐lipoproteins (20 mg as proteins) once a day for 18 days. One of the sensitized rabbits revealed three xanthomas along a yellow tendon of the left leg. Elevation of serum cholesterol level by the repeated injections was slight. Histologically, the xanthomas showed many foam cell nests around the vessels. Numerous polymorphonuclear cells and histiocytes were observed in the central area of these nests. Mature foam cells crowded the peripheral zone. In the intermediate zone, immature foam cells appeared. Immunohistochemical and lipid histochemical studies indicated the incorporation of human β‐lipoproteins into the histiocytes and immature foam cells. In the mature foam cells, however, apoproteins of human β‐lipoproteins had been degraded. The xanthomas apparently developed from the incorporation of extravasated human β‐lipoprotein immune complexes into dermal histiocytes. It is conceivable that human β‐lipoproteins were incorporated more easily in the aggregated immune complex form than in their natural form. Another possibility is that human β‐lipoproteins were more readily incorporated when they were rendered polycationic by complexing with immunoglobulins.


A novel MoS2 quantum dot (QD) decorated g-C3N4 (MoS2-QDs/CN) heterostructured photocatalyst has been synthesized via a simple wetness impregnation method. The as-prepared MoS2-QDs/CN composite exhibited strong absorption in the visible light region. Its photocatalytic activity on hydrogen evolution was evaluated by splitting water under visible light irradiation (λ > 420 nm). The highest H2 yield of 19.66 μmol h−1 was achieved on 50 mg 1 wt% MoS2-QDs/CN photocatalyst (loaded with 1 wt% Pt), which was 6.6 and 1.84 times those on pure g-C3N4 and 1 wt% Pt loaded g-C3N4, respectively.


Neutron reaction cross sections play a vital role in tracking the production and destruction of isotopes exposed to neutron fluence. They are central to the process of reconciling the initial and final atom inventories. Measurements of irradiated samples by radiochemical methods in tangent with an algorithm are used to evaluate the fluence a sample is exposed to over the course of the irradiation. This algorithm is the Isotope Production Code (IPC) created and used by the radiochemistry data assessment team at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). An integral result is calculated by varying the total neutron fluence seen by a sample. A sample, irradiated in a critical assembly, will be exposed to a unique neutron flux defined by the neutron source and distance of the sample from the source. Neutron cross sections utilized are a function of the hardness of the neutron spectrum at the location of irradiation. A spectral index is used an indicator of the hardness of the neutron spectrum. Cross sections fit forms applied in IPC are collapsed from a LANL 30-group energy structure. Several decades of research and development have been performed to formalize the current IPC cross section library. Basis of the current fission spectrummore » neutron reaction cross section library is rooted in critical assembly experiments performed from the 1950's through the early 1970's at LANL. The focus of this report is development of the spectral index used an indicator of the hardness of the neutron spectrum in the fission spectrum energy regime.« less


The article is dedicated to the problem of preparing students for the pedagogical interaction based on the principles of tolerance, humaneness and focus on individuality. One of the ways to solve this problem is the modeling of situations of pedagogical interaction by future teachers. While modeling, students learn to consider situations integrally, specify the necessary set of conditions basing on the psychological and pedagogical principles of teaching, education and development


The literature on the new international division of labour (NIDL) highlights the rapid growth of the electronics industry in East and Southeast Asia. By contrast, the Indian electronics industry has received less attention because of its traditional emphasis upon import substitution and relatively weak articulation with the prevailing global division of labour. Moreover, the application of the microchip technology in India is still in its early stages, though government interest and support for it suggest a promising future. Nevertheless, in computer software India is emerging as a competitive location for software development and exports.


Combined with the LRB mechanical properties,many factors on the bearing horizontal restoring force model were taken into account.The paper proposed the correction parameters of the main influence factors.Then the paper decoupled bearing model.The results can be applied to existed common LRB resilience of the model.


An amorphous silicon double-injection pin diode with an injection gate was fabricated and analyzed. The device possesses a gate-controllable N-type negative-resistance current/voltage ( I/V) curve, which can be employed for switching or logic control and can be combined with other amorphous devices to develop optical electronic IC's on a glass substrate for low-cost applications. A model to illustrate the operating mechanism is included. Also, the design considerations to fit various applications were studied.


The outbreak of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) impacted the world ' s public health and economy tremendously, including Bangladesh. The first confirmed cases were reported in Bangladesh on March 8, 2020, and as of August 26, 2020, the total number of positive COVID-19 cases were 302 147, with 4082 dead (Figure 1). The extremely diverse cases were between 21 and 40 years of age (55%), while those over 60 years of age (48%) were fatal, where the average fatality rate was only 1.33%. 1 As a low-income, developing, densely populated country, Bangladesh is at a higher risk of the pandemic due to fragile health systems, poor socioeconomic conditions, frequent natural disasters, an increasing number of older adults, migrants, refugees, dense cities, and other infectious diseases. According to the Directorate General of Health Services


A prepolymer foaming composition based on 3,3',4,4'-benzophenonetetracarboxylic acid dianhydride methyl ester and diamines: 4,4'-diaminodiphenylmethane and m-phenylenediamine for the production of high-temperature polyimide foam (PIF) is proposed. The p ossibility o f u sing P IF a s a b inder f or c omposite materials (foam composites) reinforced with carbon or organic fibers with low density (0.4–1.1 g/cm3) a s a result of foaming of the binder during the formation of the foam composite is shown. The density and mechanical properties of the foam composite can vary within a relatively wide range depending on the volume content of the fiber and air pores. The high glass transition temperature of 260°C, combined with the high thermal stability of carbon or polyimide fibers, contributes to the retention of the mechanical properties of such composites at elevated temperatures. The temperature of the start of mass loss of the foam composite must be at least 550°C, and it depends on the type of fibrous material. The combination of the excellent thermal and mechanical properties of lightweight PIF composites, together with the exceptional fire resistance of polyimide materials, may provide new applications in advanced aircraft and shipbuilding technologies.


— We will explain why the Treatise on Basic Philosophy is a metascientific work and not a philosophical one. We will then argue that this meta-science is part of a long process of naturalization of thought that begins at the end of the Middle Ages to give birth to the scientific thought of the study of the world. For Bunge, naturalization takes the form of the naturalization of the general thought which makes it possible to replace philosophical general discourse with scientific general discourse. Finally, this naturalization of general discourse should not be confused with the projects of naturalization of philosophy, in particular one of many projects of scientific or naturalized metaphysics known as ontic structural realism.


There are a number of frameworks for modelling argumentation in logic. They incorporate formal representation of individual arguments and techniques for comparing conflicting arguments. In these frameworks, if there are a number of arguments for and against a particular conclusion, an aggregation function determines whether the conclusion is taken to hold. We propose a generalization of these frameworks. In particular, this new framework makes it possible to define aggregation functions that are sensitive to the number of arguments for or against(in most other frameworks, aggregation functions just consider the existence of arguments for and against). In this paper, we explore this framework (based on classical logic) in which an argument is a pair where the first item in the pair is a minimal consistent set of formulae that proves the second item (which is a formula). Introduction Modelling argumentation has been a subject of research as long as the study of logic. They are closely intertwined topics, and modelling argumentation in logic is a natural, and important, research goal. A useful introduction to argumentation is in (Tou58), and a comprehensive recent review of modelling argumentation in logics is in (PV00). Since paraconsistent logics have been suggested for applications including reasoning with specifications (HN98) and reasoning with news reports in structured text (Hun00), a logic-based theory of argumentation such as proposed below may be applicable in various roles. Whilst most proposals have been made for modelling argumentation in logic, all are limited in the way that they combine arguments for and against a particular conclusion following. None are sensitive to the number of arguments for and against, apart from some proposals for counting the number for and the number against, and if there are more arguments for, then the conclusions follows, otherwise it is defeated. Most proposals for modelling argumentation in logic are based on some form of binary argumentation (only the existence of arguments for and against is considered). A simple Copyright c 2000, American Association for Artificial Intelligence (www.aaai.org). All rights reserved. form of argumentation is that a conclusion follows if and if only if there is an argument for the conclusion, and no argument against the conclusion. So a conclusion follows only if it is not rebutted. A development of this idea is to only consider arguments that have not been undercut, and to check this by recursion for subarguments. An argument is undercut if and only if one of the assumptions for the argument is rebutted. Each undercut to a subargument is itself an argument and so may be undercut, and so by recursion each undercutter needs to be considered. In this paper, we propose a new framework for argumentation with non-binary aggregation functions. For this framework, we have the following requirements: to derive arguments from a set of formulae that is potentially inconsistent; to compare arguments for and against a particular consequent; to identify undercuts for each argument, and by recursion, to identify undercuts for all subarguments for an argument; to evaluate each argument in terms of all its undercuts, and by recursion, all undercuts to its subarguments, and the value assigned to an argument decreases with increasing number of undercuts, and increases with increasing number of undercuts to each of the undercuts of the subarguments; to accumulate arguments for a consequent so that each extra argument contributes less to the accumulated value; In our framework, that is based on classical logic, an argument is a pair where the first item in the pair is a minimal consistent set of formulae that proves the second item (which is a formula). Non-binary aggregation functions can be defined that are sensitive to the number of arguments for and against a conclusion. This paper defines the framework and explores its properties.


Astral projecttion and out-of-body experience are two phenomena that very few researchers of consciousness have attempted to really understand. Although numerous people of multiple cuirures from all over the world have reported these phenomena, epistemologists have yet to formulate any satisfactory theories or models that map out rhese experiences. This paper provides a working model of these experiences by urilizing multiple dimensions of motion, space and rime. Besides sensation and imagination, a vital ability of perceprion that is highly emphasized in this multidimensional model is emotion.


For d⩾3 we give an example of a constant coefficient surjective differential operator P(D):풟′(X)→풟′(X) over some open subset X⊂ℝd such that P+(D):풟′(X×ℝ)→풟′(X×ℝ) is not surjective, where P+(x1, …, xd+1)≔P(x1, …, xd). This answers Problem 9.1 posed by Bonet and Domański ('Parameter dependence of solutions of differential equations on spaces of distributions and the splitting of short exact sequences', J. Funct. Anal. 230 (2006) 329–381) in the negative.


In this paper, we study the general second Painlevé equation and find a sufficient condition for its solutions to be oscillating and the corresponding asymptotic expression as its independent variable x approaches negative infinity by using the uniform asymptotics and the monodromic data methods. AMS (MOS) Subject Classification: 35E99


A system analysis software package based on Matlab language is presented.This software package can complete power flow calculation,the continuous power flow,small-signal stability analysis,dynamic and time-domain simulation of the measurement unit targeting and the other areas of analysis and research.By power flow calculating the same IEEE14 node system,then the calculation results are analyzed and compared,and the results show that the calculation results are right and have a certain precision.


Nearly six decades of multi-disciplinary social science evidence points to important academic, social and civic benefits for low income students of color who attend high quality, diverse schools. Research briefs highlighting key studies that document these beneficial outcomes are summarized in prior "Research Briefs" in this series (see www.school-diversity.org). Some of this research has also pointed to benefits accruing to students of all races and ethnicities attending integrated schools. Less direct attention has been paid to the ways in which "white" students1 are advantaged by racially diverse school settings. As described below, diverse schools benefit white students by providing far better learning outcomes. Enrollment in racially integrated schools is also associated with important social and psychological advantages that improve productivity in an increasingly diverse workplace. Recognizing that sustained support for school diversity on the part of white families is central to the creation of stable, integrated schools, this research brief outlines the best evidence to date on the benefits of racially diverse K-12 experiences for white students.


Laser-produced tin micro-droplets plasmas in vacuum are the prominent light sources for the generation of extreme ultraviolet light (EUV) in the semiconductor industry. Highly charged tin ions (Sn 8+ - Sn 14+ ) produced during the ablation of the tin droplets by a pulsed laser (CO 2 or Nd:YAG) are responsible for the so-called in-band radiation at 13.5 nm ± 1%. However little experimental information about the spatiotemporal evolution of the plasma parameters is available. This limits our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for the generation of the highly charged tin ions and hence of the EUV light. For the first time, we propose a streaked Thomson scattering diagnostic of the tin plasma measuring simultaneously ion and electron features in the collective scattering regime. A novel approach including an etalon spectrometer is discussed for the measurement of the ion feature with high spectral resolution. Using fluid modeling data from ARCNL [1] as input, we show that such measurements are feasible leading to good signal to noise levels and minimum perturbation of the plasma. Information about electron density and temperature, average charge state and ion temperature can be retrieved from single shot measurements.


15-Crown-5-appended metalloporphyrin causes a K(+)-driven self-organization to bind a bifunctional guest ditopically, thereby allowing the circular dichroism (CD) detection of chirality induced in the ensemble when chiral amines are employed as the guest; the chiroptical properties are discussed.


The molecule of the title compound, C20H20N2, is not planar. The dihedral angle between the planes of the quinoline and phenyl rings is 64.6 (1)°, and these two planes make angles of 17.7 (2) and 47.7 (3)°, respectively, with the plane of the central iminomethyl moiety.


This volume provides the reader with an update on the ongoing research in creole studies. The papers represent several lines of research in the study of Creole languages. Central issues in phonology, semantics, lexicon and syntax are addressed in various creole languages. These include Cape Verdean Creole, Haitian Creole, Lesser Antillean Creoles, Kriol, Saramaccan, and Sranan.


Traditional media, such as newspapers, are having to reassess their role in the Internet age. Not only are newspapers having to compete with each other, but also with foreign newspapers from all over the globe and their information providers choosing to deliver news on their websites. The aim of this paper is to determine the present state and the future of the British newspaper on the World Wide Web. An evaluation of the five British broadsheet websites was carried out between 11th August and 11th September 2000. Three broad categories were selected to evaluate the websites information content, interactivity and business and marketing features. Interviews were also carried out in order to gauge the opinion of journalists, information specialists and New Media professionals as to the future path for newspapers. The results showed that newspapers, to a certain extent, are still repurposing their hard copy content for the Web. However, online newspapers are making some advances by maximising their content and by developing discussion forums and feedback mechanisms. FT.com has made the greatest effort to reassess its purpose on the Internet. The interview results showed that there is no clear strategy for the future of newspapers on the WWW. However, what became clear was the opinion that newspapers should concentrate on targeting a local audience, facilitating community publishing and investing in research. All stress that whatever move they make, newspapers must make one and fast.


We develop a jet-photon conversion mechanism in the expanding quark-gluon plasma.The jet-photon conversion in hot quark-gluon medium is a vital source of the thermal photon production.The jet converts into photons via the secondary Compton and annihilation processes in the quark-gluon plasma.The gluon-photons are also considered in the calculation of prompt photons which includes the effect of the shadowing and isospin of nucleus.We find that the prompt gluon-photons are also an important modification to prompt photons.


A novel remote sensing (RS) laboratory based on the hardware/software (HW/SW) co-design paradigm for the image enhancement/reconstruction problems pursuing the real time implementation is presented in this study. The application of the developed approach consider the typical single-look synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging systems operating in real-world RS scenarios with uncertainties attributed to random signal perturbations in inhomogeneous propagation medium (i.e., possible to imperfect system calibrations and carrier trajectory deviations). The proposed "real time remote sensing laboratory" (RTRSL) provides a HW-level platform for the evaluation of different collaborative RS imaging techniques using the Xilinx Virtex-4 XC4VSX35-10ff668 field programmable gate array (FPGA). Hardware implementation examples are reported to illustrate the usefulness of the developed RTRSL for system-level and algorithmic-level optimization of highresolution image enhancement tasks performed with the real-world RS imagery.


In spite of the evolution of Augmented Reality~(AR) technology, it is not wide spread in everyday life. There may be many reasons, but one of the reasons is that it has been developed for very specific users, such as researchers and professionals. To overcome this problem, Grubert et al. proposed the pervasive AR. It is not limited to a specific situation, but is usable in various instances and providing continuous and flexible AR experience. The AR browser is the example of utilizing pervasive AR. The AR browser understands the context of the user and provides corresponding information. However, if the corresponding information to the context of user cannot reach the user in time due to massive data transmission, unexpected network congestion, poor service quality or signal strength, it cannot be guaranteed to be continuous. This leads to a degradation of the user experience, and it cannot support pervasive AR. This paper presents the Progressive Augmented Reality, the way which quickly send incomplete, yet informative, response about the user's current context rather than wait for sending complete information to the user. The concept of Progressive Augmented Reality comes from Progressive Data Science. Our system is aware of network quality by collecting various network health parameters. According to the network status quality, it divides the chunk information to the optimal number and transmits the one that have the highest priority among the divided information. By conducting the above process iteratively, all the divided information is updated. Our client-side system utilizes Android ARCore and has been tested on Google Pixel 2XL.


Provided are an X-ray tube with which irradiation is possible while rapidly switching a plurality of different x-rays with a simple configuration, and an x-ray CT device employing same. An x-ray tube comprises first and second electron emission units, a deflection means, and a target. The deflection means switches the directions in which first and second electron beams are transmitted to first and second directions. The target further comprises first, second, third, and fourth faces. The first face receives the first electron beam in the first direction and projects a first x-ray toward an irradiation field. The second face receives the second electron beam in the first direction and projects a second x-ray in a direction different from the irradiation field. The third face receives the first electron beam in the second direction and projects the first x-ray in a direction different from a prescribed irradiation field. The fourth face receives the second electron beam in the second direction and projects the second x-ray toward the irradiation field.


Rapid hazard avoidance maneuvers will be required for unmanned ground vehicles operating at high speeds in rough changing terrain. Without rapidly decreasing speed in every situation, there is limi ...


Objective To observe the change of macrophages in peritoneal cavity,immune function,and TNF-α in peritoneal fluids after a pneumoperitoneum with insufflating carbon dioxide(CO_(2)) or helium(He) in rat model,investigating the effects of different gases on peritoneal local immunity.(Methods)The count of cells and TNF-α in peritoneal fluids with insufflating CO_(2),He and control condition were studied.Meanwhile,the number and percen-(tage) of macrophages,the phagocytic index and phagocytic percentage were examined. Results The count of cells in peritoneal fluids in the He group increased significantly((P0.05),) while that in the CO_(2) group had no significant differences with the control group.TNF-α in peritoneal fluids increased significantly in the He group and control group(P0.05),but decreased markedly in the CO_(2) group(P0.05).The count of macrophages in peritoneal cavity in the He group increased significantly(P(0.05),) but the percentage of macrophages in peritoneal cavity,phagocytic index and phagocytic percentage were not significantly different among the three groups. Conclusion(Different gases) have different effects on peritoneal local immunity.CO_(2)has more effects on TNF-α releasing from peritoneal cells,while He does less.Attention must be paid to the effects on peritoneal local immunity when CO_(2) pneumoperitoneum is used on malignant tumors in laparoscopic surgery.


Mogul authorities. Our author holds, in opposition to some distinguished Indian historians, that Guru Gobind Singh was in no way opposed to the Muslim religion, but only to Mogul tyranny and he speaks of the Guru as one of the greatest of Indians of all ages, as a great general and a great saint. His book should attract the attention of all interested in the Sikhs. The historical part of the volume is somewhat economical of dates and one would have been glad to have seen it illustrated by a map to show the position of some at least of the obscure Pan jab villages so frequently mentioned in the annals of the Gurus. E. D. MACLAGAN.


Modeling and evaluation of knowledge discovery in wholesale and retail industry By Tokuyo Mizuhara Abstract: This thesis demonstrates an enterprise-wide Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) process CRISP for wholesale and retail industry, which can facilitate business decision-making processes and improve corporate profits. While part of the KDD process described here is well documented, the modeling and evaluations used in the commercial products is not reported in literature. Hence, the focus of this thesis is on the development and evaluation of models used in the knowledge discovery. Description of the underlying models will help the decision makers better understand the quality and limitations of the KDD process. The usefulness of KDD process CRISP is illustrated for two companies, i.e. a multinational retailer and a small chain of specialty grocery stores. The detailed steps highlight business understanding, data exploration, data preparation, data modeling, results evaluation, and interpretation. The methodologies applied in this thesis include prediction, clustering and association to discover knowledge about products/suppliers, consumers, and business units. Date: September 1, 2009


An octacosapeptide with the entire sequence proposed for the newly isolated vasoactive intestinal polypeptide was synthesized and had the expected biological properties. Synthetic peptides corresponding to the C-terminal hendeca-, tetradeca-, pentadeca-, and docosapeptide sequences of the vasoactive intestinal polypeptide showed activities that increased with increasing chain length.


A Han-Kobayashi based achievable scheme is presented for ergodic fading two-user Gaussian interference channels (IFCs) with perfect channel state information at all nodes and Gaussian codebooks with no time-sharing. Using max-min optimization techniques, it is shown that jointly coding across all states performs at least as well as separable coding for the sub-classes of uniformly weak (every sub-channel is weak) and hybrid (mix of strong and weak sub-channels that do not achieve the interference-free sum-capacity) IFCs. For the uniformly weak IFCs, sufficient conditions are obtained for which the sum-rate is maximized when interference is ignored at both receivers.


Nosocomial infective endocarditis (IE) is a relatively uncommon but, a serious complication affecting critically ill hospitalized patients who are frequently exposed to life-saving invasive procedures. Immunosuppressive treatment in solid organ transplant recipients predisposes to infections, nevertheless, nonspecific symptoms of IE, such as fever, lassitude, weight loss, and signs of inflammation may often be misinterpreted as acute rejection episode or a common urinary tract infection. The case reported here was a recent renal transplant with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus IE. We believe the diagnoses of IE in her were missed at her first presentation due to her non-specific symptoms and lack of echocardiography and blood culture results. Septic procedure at insertion of central venous catheter (CVC) in the Intensive Care Unit with trauma to tricuspid valve (TV) at the time of CVC insertion was a possible source of infection for IE. The patient was managed effectively with intravenous antibiotics in spite of having hanging pedunculated vegetation on TV.


This quasi experimental research, aims to study the effects of Qi Gong, Damnoen stick exercise and healthy food on blood lipid level of Damnoensaduak hospital personnel. The outcomes were the levelsof cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL and LDL compared between the control and experimental groups after 6 and 12 weeks of implementation. The samples included 33 cases for each group. Inclusion criteria was blood cholesterol level over 200 mg / dL for three consecutive years: 2006, 2007 and 2008. The subjects were assigned randomly to 2 groups. The data was analyzed using one-way analysis of covariance. The results showed that after 6- week implementation ; cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL and LDL levels were not different between two groups. But after 12 - week implementation; cholesterol and triglyceride levels were statistical significantly lower than in the experimental group statistical significantly at the .05 level. The HDL and LDL levels were not significantly different. Keywords: Qi Gong, stick exercise, healthy food, blood lipid level


Affective factors play an integral role in English language learning. If we want to be successful in teaching language writing, we need to look into these socio-psychological factors of students. There is a correlation between self-efficacy and writing anxiety that directly influences students' writing performance. Students' self-confidence in writing can minimize the anxiety. Pedagogically, methods are chosen specially by teachers, because of acquisition and learning of writing skills of students.


The performance of an acoustic parametric source was investigated at the NRL Acoustic Research Tank Facility. The source utilized a USRD type E8 transducer, driven simultaneously at two frequencies close to the resonance frequency of 1.5 MHz. Narrow‐beam difference‐frequency waves, at frequencies ranging from 30–200 kHz, were generated by the nonlinear nature of acoustic propagation. Measured values of the difference‐frequency SPL and a sequence of radiation patterns illustrate beam formation in the nearfield of the parametric source. The results show that the E8 transducer is suitable for use as a parametric source and also demonstrate the flexibility of the NRL facility as a research tool in nonlinear acoustics.


Extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUVL) at 13.5 nm will soon be applied in high-volume manufacturing of semiconductors, as a replacement to the ArF excimer laser immersion lithography. Recently, the potential application of exposure wavelengths of 6.x nm (particularly 6.6-6.8 nm) has been discussed as EUVL extension. The 6.x nm exposure source is currently under development, therefore screening of resists with conventional exposure tools will accelerate the selection or novel development of high sensitivity resists for 6.x nm EUVL. In the present study, the sensitivities of a chemically amplified (CA) resist (OEBR-CAP112) and non-CA resists (ZEP520A and poly(methyl methacrylate)) were evaluated with 30 keV and 75 keV electron beam lithography (EBL) tools. In terms of radiation chemistry, the obtained dose/sensitivities (μC cm-2) were converted into the absorbed doses (Gray; Gy = J kg-1). If EB- and EUV-induced chemical reactions are the same, the required absorbed doses for EB and EUV would be similar values. The sensitivities for EUV/soft X-rays including 6.x nm were predicted assuming the required absorbed doses in a resist would show similar values for both EB and EUV. We investigated precise sensitivities of the resists for EUV/soft X-rays including 6.7 nm using highly-monochromated synchrotron radiation. For both CA and non-CA resists, the predicted and experimentally obtained sensitivities agreed well with each other. These results suggested that almost the same chemical reactions are induced in resists for both EUVL and EBL. Hence, it was found that we can predict the resist sensitivities for EUV/soft X-rays at any exposure wavelength from the exposure results for EBL.


Taoism thought, as the main traditional ideology and culture in China, has been endowed with great educational significance at present. Based on the new situation and requirements of current education, Taoism advocates following the law of the development, respecting the development of individual personality, teaching students by precepts and examples, and breaking through the traditional bondage, which play an important guiding role in the education reform. Based on the author's study and practical experience, this paper first analyzes the basic thought of Taoism, and then sums up the enlightenment of Taoism thought to modern humanistic education.


Because of the constant reduction of available public network addresses and the necessity to secure networks, middleboxes such as network address translators and firewalls have become quite common. Because they are designed around the client-server paradigm, they break connectivity when protocols based on different paradigms are used (e.g., VoIP or P2P applications). Centralized solutions for mid-dlebox traversal are not an optimal choice because they introduce bottlenecks and single point-of-failures. To overcome these issues, this article presents a distributed connectivity service solution that integrates relay functionality directly in user nodes. Although the article focuses on applications using the Session Initialization Protocol , the proposed solution is general and can be extended to other application scenarios. lthough end-to-end direct connectivity was a must in the early days of the Internet, currently, increasing numbers of hosts are connected through middleboxes such as network address translators (NATs) that enable the reuse of private addresses and/or firewalls, which are used to secure corporate networks and internal resources. These devices work seamlessly in case of client-server applications (although the client must reside in the " protected " part of the network), but they limit the end-to-end connectivity of the applications that use different paradigms, such as voice over IP (VoIP) and peer-to-peer (P2P). In particular, middleboxes prevent nodes behind them from being contacted directly from external nodes. For example, an internal host might not have a problem starting a data transfer to an external host, but the reverse (e.g., an incoming VoIP call) may be impossible. Thus, proper strategies for middlebox traversal are required to enable the seamless communication between hosts, no matter where they are located. Among the known strategies, hole punching and relaying [1] represent the ones that are used most frequently. The common idea is to make the middlebox function as if the internal host begins the communication. The middlebox then creates a temporary channel with the remote host, thus allowing the delivery of external packets. In particular, the hole punching forces each internal host to maintain a persistent connection with an external rendezvous server located on the public Internet. This creates a type of " hole " that can be used by an external host to contact the internal host directly. If hole punching fails, for example, if hosts are behind symmetric NATs, the relaying represents the last chance: internal hosts maintain a persistent connection with an external node (the relay server), …


We study theoretically the modulation of bandgaps of in-plane elastic waves by the out-of-plane wavenumber that is parallel to the piezoelectric material rod axis in piezoelectric composite structures. The dependence of bandgaps of in-plane elastic waves on the out-of-plane wavenumber and the filling fraction are calculated with and without the composite's piezoelectricity. The in-plane bandgaps can be opened (or closed) and the in-plane wave modes can be tuned by controlling the propagation of out-of-plane elastic waves. The in-plane bandgap in the low-frequency range can be easily obtained by introducing an out-of-plane wavenumber, and is almost independent of the composite's piezoelectricity. Meanwhile, the widths and starting frequencies of in-plane bandgaps in a relatively high-frequency range can be modulated by the filling fraction and the composite's piezoelectricity. The piezoelectric composite structure is very useful in the design of ultrasonic transducers to avoid the invalid modes of in-plane elastic waves without affecting the working modes corresponding to the out-of-plane wavenumber. The method to calculate the total transmission spectrum of elastic waves in this paper is useful to study piezoelectric composite structures with finite length in engineering applications.


The patient underwent and electrophysiology (EP) procedure. He was intubated prior to the procedure. He developed sustained ventricular tachycardia when the ICD was turned off. Eleven cardioversions were required with an accumulated 108 seconds of ventricular tachycardia. He became hypotensive and received 6.2 L boluses of fluids and 5, 400 mg boluses of amiodarone and was placed on an amiodarone drip.


Objective To explore the effect of psychological and behavioral intervention for patients intending to suicide using ganophosphorus medicine.Methods Fifty patients intending to suicide using ganophosphorus medicine were divided into the control group and the experimental group.The patients in the control group received routine nursing care and psychological care while the patients in the experimental group received music relaxation therapy,the suggestion therapy,psychological unblocking and the biofeedback therapy beside the routine care.Results After the intervention,there were significant differences in each factor score of SCL-90(P0.05).The patients in the experimental group had a significant improvement in understanding suicide behavior(P0.01 or P0.05).Conclusions The psychological and behavioral intervention can change patients' incorrect cognition and behaviors who intended to suicide.It also could correct their unhealthy psychological status,enhance their ability of dealing with stress,and improve their quality of life.


This visual analysis reviews the virtual political advertising of the homosexual organization Fundacion Iguales (Equals Foundation) during the first right wi...


Taken a sweeping view of Mr Fu ge's study on XieBingying,he collected a vast amount of materials and made great efforts to reveal Xie's personality and mind experience,the style and value of her works from the literature of contemporary and present age in all directions,which offered academic support for the re exploration and arientation of Chinese literary history of the 20th century.


working report - Value functions (risk profiles) of financial instruments and the real distributions of risk factors are not available in analytically closed forms. These components have to be approximated. In this work, a new approach for risk measurement is introduced. The underlying methodology is based on the utilization of extremal measures for approximating the P&L distribution. A special class of "extremal measures" is employed which exploits the monotonicity of price sensitivities entailed by convexity. Clearly, in case the value functions have monotonous derivatives, the payoff-functions are convex or concave depending on whether a position is held short or long. The incorporated extremal measures provide approximations for both risk factor distribution and risk profiles, and allow for deriving an adequate approximation of the P&L distributions, in particual for appealing VaR-estimates. The basics of this approach are presented and first numerical results are tested against the currently apllied VaR-approaches and the simulation benchmarks established earlier in Allen (1994).


Most of the territories of the Russian Federation are characterized by the multinational composition of the population, which is expressed in the interaction of ethnic communities, so the topic of multi-ethnicity is at the peak of relevance today. As an object of study, we consider the Republic of Mordovia as an ethnopolitically prosperous subject of the Non-Chernozem Zone of the Russian Federation of the Volga Federal District, where peoples "live in peace and harmony." The article discusses the prerequisites for the formation of polyethnicity in the Mordovian region as part of the territories that later became part of the present-day Republic of Mordovia. The first official data on the peoples of the Mordovian region are given in the statistics of the Russian Empire census of 1897 with a foreign contingent in the provinces of Mordovia. They show the distribution of the population according to their native language – the population spoke Belarusian, Polish, German, Jewish and other foreign languages, which indicates the prerequisites for formation of multinationality of the Mordovian region.

The multinationality of the Republic has evolved historically due to various factors. The events of the Patriotic War and the First World War caused refugees from Western countries to move to the regions of Russia, resettle in shared apartments, work and interact with the local population, some of the refugees and prisoners of war as a result remained in Mordovia forever. These were certainly prerequisites for the development of the region in line with the multinational subject of the Russian Federation. Thanks to unpublished sources found in the archive, the direct role of representatives of the peoples of foreign countries in the process of forming the multinationality of the region is shown. The poly-ethnicity of the population of the region led to the fact that components of several national cultures were simultaneously present in the socio-cultural environment. The multinationality of the Republic of Mordovia attracts the scientific community of ethnologists, which is confirmed by research publications. A review of publications on the issues of migration of the population abroad was undertaken. On the basis of state statistics data, a comparative description of the change in the dynamics of the population of Mordovia was carried out. It enabled to present the data on the composition of the population of the region. This happened mainly due to migrations of peoples from countries of near and far abroad.


An alternative approach to a quantum theory of gravitation is explored in which a quantum version of the Newtonian equivalence principle is paired with special relativistic quantum field theory. Since no clear statement of the Galilei-Newton equivalence principle exists in quantum mechanics, the purpose is to take the first step in this direction by stating and sketching the proof of this nonrelativistic equivalence principle of quantum mechanics. One proceeds from operational statements to their theoretical expressions rather than postulating a formal system. Three references. (JFP)


This study explores the form and function of deception in close relationships. Free response descriptions of situations involving the deception of a relational partner were obtained from 357 university students and other adults. Descriptions were coded for type of deceptive communication, antecedent condition, type of information and reasons given for being deceptive. Results indicated that falsification was the most frequently reported type of deceptive communication and avoiding hurt to partner was the most frequently reported specific reason for deception. Comparisons across types of relationship revealed that (1) married respondents reported proportionately more instances of omission and fewer instances of explicit falsification relative to other relationship types, (2) dating respondents reported proportionately more reasons focused on protecting their resources and avoiding stress/abuse from partner, (3) dating respondents reported proportionately more reasons focused on avoiding relational trauma/termination, and (4) married respondents reported proportionately more reasons focused on avoiding threats to partner's face/self-esteem. For the total sample, high ratings of relational satisfaction, closeness and perceived partner commitment were associated with the general category of partnerfocused reasons.


It is argued that the Brans-Dicke theory may explain the present accelerated expansion of the universe without resorting to a cosmological constant or quintessence matter


Various methods of preparing formaldehyde-C14 were investigated. Since the primary source of C14 was carbon dioxide, various methods of " converting it to formaldehyde were investigated. Later, when methanol-d4 became available, conversion of it to formaldehyde was investigated. The desirability of preparing anhydrous formaldehyde was considered important and the scale of the reaction was limited to the millimole range. The ·direct reduction of carbon dioxide was carried out by adding, in ether solution, a stoichiometric amount of lithium aluminum hydride for reduction to formaldehyde to a solution of carbon dioxide in diethyl ether at -80 ; but a yield of only 25 per cent formaldehyde was obtained. The brormination of salicyl alcohol, which forms formaldehyde by elimination of the methoxyl, - CH2OH, group suggests a method of converting carbon dioxide - d4 to formaldehyde - C14 , through carbonation of phenol to yield salicylic acid which would be subsequently reduced to salicyl alcohol. The bromination of salicyl alcohol at 40-50° resulted in the formation of 71 per cent formaldehyde, but it was obtained as an aqueous solution from which it would have to be isolated. the until heated


As the world thrives for its need to complete its energy demand and supply challenges, the state estimation in distribution systems remains a key factor at online observing and controlling in Energy Management Technology. As the world is advancing towards an advance era in order to fulfill its energy supply different sources whether traditional or renewable online monitoring of Distribution of state estimation is becoming more challenging and demandable. In this letter, a concept for state estimation is offered. The accountability for SE is surrogate to indigenous means in secondary substations. By means of past statistics and probabilistic models the substation bad statistics charts knowledge is gathered. Topology and observability analysis as well as bad data identification are performed Data not performing well is identified using topology tools is accomplished with a perfunctory that crosses the secondary substations of the primary substation feeders.


'... I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.' The fastest growing musical expression in Ghana is the religious music that has come to be described as 'gospel music'. Especially since the late 1980s gospel music has assumed an increasingly prominent position in Ghanaian religious and social life. Gospel music constituted about 75% of recorded musical works in Ghana in 1993; and in 2001 it was believed that about 90% of musicians were plying their trade in churches. This boom in gospel music coincided with the phenomenal spread of the charismatic movement. The charismatic movement affected most branches of Ghanaian Christianity and also produced a distinct group of churches that eventually came to be known as 'Charismatic Churches'. The movement indelibly left its mark on the Church. In Ghana so much of Christian expression of spirituality at the popular level has been the result of the Charismatic movement. Gospel music has become one of the most important expressions of popular Christianity. Perhaps no other aspect of popular Christianity embodies the aspirations, fears, the selfunderstanding, and the faith and hope of the ordinary Ghanaian Christian as the various strands of popular religious music, which have together been referred to as 'gospel music'. The thesis of this paper is that contemporary Ghanaian gospel music represents a high point in a long process of assimilation of the Christian message by Ghanaians. It is one of the most important and popular expressions of Christianity as understood by Ghanaian Christians.


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[Purpose] This study investigated spine kinematics during normal sitting and flexion sitting with lateral reaching using a three-dimensional motion analysis system. [Participants and Methods] Nineteen healthy young adult males participated in this study. While seated, each participant was asked to reach toward the right using his right hand. Spine angles were defined as T1, T4, T8, L1, and L5 segments. Kinematic data were calculated using the Euler angle and compared to normal sitting and flexion sitting. During flexion sitting, each participant wore a trunk flexion brace. [Results] In the frontal plane, the angle of the T8 segment during flexion sitting was significantly less than during normal sitting. In the axial plane, there were significant differences among the T4, L1, and L5 segments. [Conclusion] Changes in spinal alignment decrease spinal movement and change the movement strategy during lateral reaching while seated.


This paper first gives the definitions of the uniform convergence of a fuzzy valued function sequence and a series whose terms are fuzzy valued functions;weierstrasstest on uniform convergence is made,and some properties of the fuzzy valued function sequence and the fuzzy valued function terms series are given.


Double agents are a special breed of people. They pretend to spy for one foreign intelligence service while actually spying for another. All intelligence services fall victim to such deception from time to time. It's all part of the ''wilderness of mirrors'' in spy wars where illusion and reality coexist and confound. Former Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) Richard Helms once told Congress that detecting a double-agent operation is ''one of the most difficult and tricky aspects of intelligence work, and there isn't anybody who's been in it very long who hasn't been tricked once, twice, maybe many times.'' Helms's statement was prophetic, though he couldn't have known it. During the Cold War the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) bucked the law of averages by recruiting double agents on an industrial scale; it was hoodwinked not a few but many times. The result was a massive but largely ignored intelligence failure. The facts are available from official sources. Double agent operations do not figure prominently in accounts of Cold War espionage. Revelations about the Cuban, East German, and Soviet/ Russian fiascos attracted some attention in their day but were soon


ii f\ UIET descends on the school \J and throughout the building students, teachers, janitors, adminis trators, each person starts to read." Thus ^egin in essence many articles describing what occurs when Sus tained Silent Reading (SSR) be comes a part of a school program. But beyond the glowing descriptions, what do we really know about SSR? What is the rationale? How is it implemented? What does the re search show? This article is an attempt to synthesize the answers to these questions. Contrary to the title of this article, SSR has been around longer than 10 years. It has existed for as long as people have been reading. Whenever a person selects something to read for his/her own purpose, spends more than a few moments perusing it, and comprehends whatever s /he wants, SSR is occurring. Only in the last decade, however, has SSR gained attention as a component in a school reading program. This attention grew out of the realization that, although much time is spent teaching students how to read, few opportunities are afforded them to practice reading. Adults who know how to read but who do not read "have never gained the reading experience necessary to develop an interest in, or ability to enjoy, reading books or other materials" (LeGrand-Brodsky 1979, p. 948). SSR, sometimes called Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading or USSR (Hunt 1967), is an attempt to incor porate reading as a normal activity into the school program. Briefly described, SSR is a struc tured activity in which students are given a fixed period of time for the silent reading of self-selected mate rial. There are to be no interruptions


Observations of quasar pairs reveal that quasar host halos at z ~ 2 have large covering fractions of cool dense gas (≳ 60% for Lyman limit systems within a projected virial
radius). Most simulations have so far failed to explain these large observed covering fractions. We analyze a new set of 15 simulated massive halos with explicit stellar
feedback from the FIRE project, covering the halo mass range M_h ≈ 2 x 10^(12) - 10^(13) M_☉ at z = 2. This extends our previous analysis of the circum-galactic medium of high-redshift galaxies to more massive halos. Feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGN) is not included in these simulations. We find covering fractions consistent with
those observed around z ~ 2 quasars. The large HI covering fractions arise from star formation-driven galactic winds, including winds from low-mass satellite galaxies that
interact with the cosmological infalling filaments in which they are typically embedded. The simulated covering fractions increase with both halo mass and redshift over
the ranges covered, as well as with resolution. Our simulations predict that galaxies occupying dark matter halos of mass similar to quasars but without a luminous
AGN should have Lyman limit system covering fractions comparable to quasars. This prediction can be tested by measuring covering fractions transverse to sub-millimeter
galaxies or to more quiescent galaxies selected based on their high stellar mass.


1Chief of Obstetrics Service, Professor of Obstetrics, Hospital Aleman, Buenos Aires University, Argentina 2Chief of Oncology Service, Hospital Aleman, Buenos Aires University, Argentina 3Chief of Surgery Service, Hospital Aleman, Buenos Aires University, Argentina 4Chief of Residents at Obstetrics & Gynecology Service, Hospital Aleman, Buenos Aires University, Argentina 5Obstetrical staff phycisians, Hospital Aleman, Buenos Aires University, Argentina


Oxidative stress is a damaging process resulting from an imbalance between excessive generation of oxidant compounds and insufficient antioxidant defence mechanisms. Oxidative stress plays a crucial role in the initiation and progression of cigarette smoke-induced lung injury, deterioration in lung functions, and development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In smokers and in patients with COPD, the increased oxidant burden derives from cigarette smoke per se, and from activated inflammatory cells releasing enhanced amounts of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS, RNS, respectively). Although mild oxidative stress resulting from cigarette smoking leads to the upregulation of the antioxidative enzymes synthesis in the lungs, high levels of ROS and RNS observed in patients with COPD overwhelm the antioxidant enzymes capacities, resulting in oxidant-mediated lung injury and cell death. In addition, depletion of antioxidative systems in the systemic circulation was consistently observed in such patients. The imbalance between the generation of ROS/RNS and antioxidant capacities — the state of "oxidative stress" — is one of the major pathophysiologic hallmarks in the development of COPD. Detrimental effects of oxidative stress include impairment of membrane functions, inactivation of membrane-bound receptors and enzymes, and increased tissue permeability. In addition, oxidative stress aggravates the inflammatory processes in the lungs, and contributes to the worsening of the protease-antiprotease imbalance. Several markers of oxidative stress, such as increases in lipid peroxidation products and reductions in glutathione peroxidase activity, have been shown to be related to the reductions in pulmonary functions. In the present article we review the current knowledge about the vicious cycle of cigarette smoking, oxidative stress, and inflammation in the pathogenesis of COPD.


Abstract The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an important predictive prognostic tool. However, its accuracy for predicting sepsis remains debatable. This study aimed to evaluate the factors influencing the ability of NLR to predict sepsis. Adult patients with sepsis or septic shock from the eICU database were enrolled in this study. Results showed that there was a significant difference in NLR between the survival and nonsurvival groups (median [lower quartile–upper quartile], 15.27 [7.92–26.28] vs. 17.97 [8.94–31.85], P = 0.008). Area under the curve (AUC) of NLR on the sixth day was the highest. AUC of NLR was significantly higher in the Simplified Acute Physiological Score (SAPS) 3 ≤52 group than that in the SAPS3 > 52 group (0.78 ± 0.05 vs. 0.69 ± 0.03, P = 0.007). AUC of NLR in the nonshock group was significantly higher than that in the shock group (0.72 ± 0.04 vs. 0.65 ± 0.05, P < 0.01). The ability of NLR as a prognosis predictor of sepsis was influenced by admission time, SAPS3, and shock.