Physicochemical parameters could help to reduce or otherwise contribute to the growth and survival of plankton biotopes in the water bodies. This study investigated the physicochemical parameters and plankton biotopes of Ntawogba creek in Port Harcourt, River state. Water samples were collected from five stations representing upstream and downstream. Electrical conductivity (EC), pH, Dissolved oxygen (Do), Chemical oxygen demand (COD), Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), Nitrate, and Phosphate were determined under standard laboratory methods. Zooplankton and Phytoplankton abundance were also determined. Concentrations of Electrical Conductivity (Range=860.00µS/cm) and Chemical Oxygen Demand, (Range=31.80mg/L) varied widely, the other parameters had narrow variations. pH, EC and Phosphate ion concentrations varied from 7.06 – 8.27 (7.54±0.23), 395.00 – 1255.00 (722.40±160.47)µS/cm and 0.01 – 0.04 (0.03 ± 0.01)mg/L respectively. Nitrate ion concentrations varied from 0.63 – 5.34 (3.41 ± 0.77) mg/L while Dissolved Oxygen varied from 0.00 – 4.90 (2.92 ± 0.84) mg/L. BOD and COD ranged as follows: 2.80 - 22.70 (14.20 ± 4.21) mg/L and 4.50 – 36.30 (22.72 ± 6.74) mg/L respectively. Phytoplanktons recorded are as follows: Bacilariophytes (291 species), Euglenophytes (68 species) and cyanophyceae (139 species) while zooplanktons identified are protozoans (37 species), copepods (19 species), cladocera (462 species) and rotifers (100 species). This study therefore suggests high pollution impact occasioned by heavy municipal waste discharges and recommends that the government should evolve better solid and liquid waste management policies and practices. The government agencies should enforce all relevant environmental laws, standards and regulations as well as industry operators to treat industrial effluent before disposal into public drain.


The plasmid pAM alpha 1 in Streptococcus faecalis was found to be severely impaired in its ability to exhibit amplification (generation of tandem repeats of the tetracycline resistance determinant during extended growth in the presence of tetracycline) when harbored by the recombination-deficient host cell UV202.


Vehicular ad hoc network (VANET) is a promising technology to enable the communications among vehicles. In intelligent transportation systems (ITSs), VANETs have many unstable channel characteristics such as short transmission time, low packet delivery ratio, frequent link breakage and rapidly changing topology caused by high mobility. One of the critical issues is the design of stable and scalable routing algorithms that are robustness to frequent path disruptions caused by vehicles' mobility. Previous stable routing protocols in VANETs have been generally focused on vehicle position and velocity based on the ignorance of the channel conditions. This paper argues the use of vehicles movement information including highway mobility model besides position, direction, velocity and digital mapping of roads to predict how long a route will last. And the channel state information is introduced to calculate every moving vehicle's transmission range. In this way, a new vehicular reliability model is proposed to facilitate the reliable routing in VANETs. The communication-link reliability is defined as the routes' stable lifetime. The well-known ad-hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV) routing protocol is extended to propose our reliable ad-hoc on-demand distance vector routing protocol AODV-L. To evaluate the proposed routing protocol, we compared the traditional AODV routing protocol with AODV-L through OMNET++. Simulation results demonstrate that AODV-L outperforms significantly the AODV routing protocol in terms of better delivery ratio and less end-to-end delay.


Herta Oberheuser was the only woman convicted in Doctor's trails in Nurnberg. When she was working with other doctors (for example Karl Gebhardt or Fritz Fischer) in Ravensbruck concentration camp she made many medical experiments on women prisoners. The experiments consisted of bones transplantations and also injecting bacteria and shrapnels into wounds to simulate battleground conditions. German doctors tried to work out way to inhibit and cure gas gangrene. This bacterial infection was very common under field conditions. Motive for unhuman experiments in Ravensbruck was attempt to kill Reinhard Heydrich, the head of Reich Main Security Office (RSHA). Attempt took place in 1942 and was unsuccessful, Heydrich died in the same year, due to gas gangrene infection. Article is based on Nurnberg trails witnesses and operated women prisoners memories. People who had known Herta Oberheuser described her as ruthless, cruel, Nazi fanatic and devoided of any human feels and empathy. She was dreaded among prisoners, they were terrified to meet the assistant of doctor Gebhardt.


The number of attacks against hospital buildings has increased, especially during non-international armed conflicts. In Syria, the main feature of such attacks is their deliberate nature. According to International Humanitarian Law, hospitals are civilian objects subject to  special protection: they must be respected and protected in any circumstances, unless they are used to commit acts harmful to the enemy. However, a matter of concern is that the special protection accorded to hospitals under Humanitarian Law does not find but a partial recognition in the provisions on war crimes contained in the Statute of the International Criminal Court.


Newly employed school site principals are thrust into a socio-political learning environment where whiteness and institutional racism exist. Thus, it is critically important that embedded throughout principal preparation, enrolled teachers learn, experience, and "see" race and the intersectionality of race and educational justice in the public school learning environment.


As I approached the end of my senior year and was ready to enter the field of information systems, I decided that my senior honors thesis would be a good opportunity for me to explore an emerging technology. While the idea of using hypertext to store and retrieve information is not a new concept, it is a new technology that has only emerged in the last few years with the development of the personal computer.To learn more about hypertext, I divided my thesis into four sections. In the first section I wrote a short research paper to familiarize myself with the concept of hypertext. In the second section, I reviewed seven software packages that are currently being used to create hypertext systems. I was able to experiment with three of these packages, and my comments regarding them are included in this section. In the third section, I created a hypertext application by putting parts of my thesis into a hypertext system using the Guide software package. Last, I reviewed the contents of my thesis to summarize what I have learned from conducting this project. Show full item record


This paper describes the design of an integrated coupled-oscillator array in SiGe for millimeter-wave applications. The design focuses on a scalable radio architecture where multiple dies are tiled to form larger arrays. A 2 times 2 oscillator array for a 60-GHz transmitter is fabricated with integrated power amplifiers and on-chip antennas. To lock between multiple dies, an injection-locking scheme appropriate for wire-bond interconnects is described. The 2 times 2 array demonstrates a 200 -MHz locking range and 1 times 4 array formed by two adjacent chips has a 60-MHz locking range. The phase noise of the coupled oscillators is below -100 dBc/Hz at a 1-MHz offset when locked to an external reference. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the highest frequency demonstration of coupled oscillators fabricated in a conventional silicon integrated-circuit process


A mathematical model and a numerical solution of the problem pertaining to non-stationary temperature fields and profile temperature stresses in multi-layer heat pipelines of various application purposes are given and obtained in the paper. The developed mathematical model is applied for calculation of temperature fields and stresses in heat pipelines with the purpose of an efficient usage of heat-transfer agent power po- tential.


span broader sets of the questions than the section titles suggest. Perhaps the most fruitful way to approach this anthology and to make use of it in scholarship or teaching is to think of each article as a valuable snapshot of one situation in the Sámi world, combining with other snapshots to create a mosaic—one that reflects both the wide array of challenges facing Sámi in the past and present and reflecting the tremendous creativity and resolve of Sámi in response to such challenges. Thomas A. DuBois University of Wisconsin–Madison


GENERALLY infants vonmit easily, and frequently throw up a part of the undigested milk. The indication for an emetic is also not unfrequent, but in many instances difficult to determine, in consequence of want of subjective symptoms, which are only communicated by words. Frequent eructations, combined with anorexia, or irregular appetite, improper alvine dejections, and a puffed-up epigastrium, with a proportionally slight, or no alteration at all of the pulse, are the most frequent symptoms of indigestion, which serve as the indication for an emetic. Far more obscure and ambiguous in its phenomena is the bilious state, where, sometimes, neither eructation, nor the puffed state of the epigastrium, nor superabundant bilious matter in the evacuations, appear; and the head being heavy and hot, fever and moaning being present, it becomes sometimes very difficult to decide whether to direct our remedies to the affection of the head or of the liver. In similar cases I have frequently been able to unravel the intricacy by a careful investigation, by touch and percussion of the right hypochondrium, and by inspection of the urine, in which latter we frequently detect, by its darker colour, or by a yellow brown stain which it causes on the linen, the bilious state. In this place we will content ourselves with these slight remarks, which will require a more accurate exposition when we shall have to speak of abdominal 4ffections; it belongs, however, to our present puirpose to observe that supposing there be a well-established indication for evacuation by emetic, very much will depend upon the mode in which we carry it into effect. Many an infant


Over the past five years, deep learning and large-scale neural networks have made significant advances in speech recognition, computer vision, language understanding and translation, robotics, and many other fields. Deep learning allows the use of very raw forms of data in order to build higher-level understanding of data automatically, and can also be used to learn to accomplish complex tasks. In the next decade, it is likely that a fruitful direction for research in data management will be in how to seamlessly integrate these kinds of machine learning models into systems that store and manage data. In this talk, I will highlight some of the advances that have been made in deep learning and suggest some interesting directions for future research.


The phenomenon of media digitalization due to advances in internet technology now makes independent musicians more willing to market, conceptualize and create their own brands more awake from the side of originality and authenticity. This makes the development and progress in their music process clearer the path, the flow and the process. This study aims to determine the Semarang City Independent Music Industry Marketing Strategy in the Digital Era. The research method used is qualitative research with a case study approach, which is looking for or exploring problems from one case to get a comprehensive and in-depth picture of the Marketing Strategy of the Independent Music Industry of Semarang City in the Digital Age in marketing their products or musical works through digital media platforms. The results of this study are the transition of sales to digital content and streaming fees as a new solution for the music industry. This is a new opportunity for musicians today to manage their music industry business independently. The quality of songs and works outside of music such as photography, videography, good quality artwork designs are demands that they must meet to encourage the brand quality of their own products. The demand to be more creative every day becomes their capital to always take the initiative to find new marketing patterns through the content they produce.


This paper utilizes a unique new data set on credit card accounts to analyze how people respond to changes in credit supply. The data consist of a panel of several hundred thousand individual credit card accounts followed monthly for 24-36 months, from several different card issuers, with associated credit bureau data. We estimate the dynamic effects of changes in the credit limit and in interest rates, and consider the ability of different models of consumption and saving to rationalize these effects. We find that increases in credit limits generate an immediate and significant rise in debt. This response is sharpest for people starting near their limit, providing evidence that liquidity constraints are binding. However, even people starting well below their limit significantly respond. We show this result is consistent with conventional models of precautionary savings. Nonetheless there are other results that conventional models cannot easily explain, such as the fact that many credit card borrowers simultaneously hold other low yielding assets. Unlike most other studies, we also find strong effects from changes in account-specific interest rates. Debt is particularly sensitive to large declines in interest rates, which can explain the widespread use of teaser rates. The long-run elasticity of debt to the interest rate is about -1.3. Less than half of this elasticity represents balance-switching across cards, with most reflecting net changes in total borrowing. Overall, the results imply that the consumer plays a potentially important role in the transmission of monetary policy and other credit shocks.


The method of accident risk assessment at power engineering objects that include significant uncertainty of the input data is presented in this paper. Expert linguistic evaluation of the parameters of the power-engineering object using fuzzy sets is offered in the given task. It is suggested to use the method of risk-events when analyzing the risk of power engineering objects. This method allows to get characteristics of the event risk together with the probability of event occurrence at each stage of accident development. The risk-event method is based on calculations of the generalized tree of risk-events.


Hazardous waste disposal landfills require liners constructed of compacted soil material to help prevent the migration of hazardous wastes. The performance of a compacted soil liner is partly a function of the porosity. Porosity is important because the transport of materials through the liner will occur via the pore space. The main purpose of this project is to study the pore spaces of compacted soil materials and to estimate the effective porosity, which is the portion of the pore space where the most rapid transport of leachate occurs. The pore space of three soil materials, till, loess, and paleosol, is studied by using mercury intrusion porosimetry, water desorption, and image analysis. These analyses provide cumulative porosity curves from which the pore size distribution of a soil sample may be estimated. Theory is developed to estimate the effective porosity of a compacted soil material based upon a model of its pore size distribution and pore continuity. The effective porosities of the compacted till, loess, and paleosol materials are estimated to be 0.04, 0.08, and 0.09, respectively. These values are 10 to 20% of the total porosities. Comparisons between measured and predicted Cl travel times through compacted soil samples are made in order to verify the estimated effective porosities. The estimated effective porosities are reasonable because predicted Clfirst breakthrough times are similar to the measured first breakthrough times in compacted till, loess, and paleosol materials. For the three soil materials used in this study., predicted first breakthrough times are 5 to 10 times earlier when effective porosity is used in the Darcy-equation-based calculations as compared to Darcy-equation-based calculations that u~ilize total porosity. This report was submitted in fulfillment of cooperative agreement CR-811093-01-0 by Iowa State University under the sponsorship of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This report covers a period from 10/1/83 to 4/30/86, and work was completed as of 12/31/85.


The invention discloses a sodium bicarbonate injection plastic package and the manufacturing method, wherein the plastic package comprises first containers (1, 6) containing sodium bicarbonate injection (3) and charged with first carbon dioxide gas (4) and a second container (2) made from gas-barrier material; the first containers (1, 6) are sealed inside the second container (2). The manufacturing method comprises the following steps: the first containers (1, 6) are provided and the sodium bicarbonate injection (3) is filled in the first containers (1, 6); the first carbon dioxide gas (4) is charged into the first containers (1, 6) and then the first containers (1, 6) is sealed; the second container (2) made from gas-barrier material is provided and the sealed first containers (1, 6) are arranged inside the second container (2); and then, the second container (2) is sealed. The plastic package of the invention can guarantee that the sodium bicarbonate injection contained therein does not decompose.


The isolated dilated CS does not affect the mitral valve diastolic blood flow, so there is no significant effect on the filling of left ventricular blood flow. EP09.19 The quantification of Z-scores of the color flow widths of atrioventricular valves in the fetuses with dilation of the coronary sinus BW. Zhao, Jf. Zhu, XZ. Wei, JL. Luo, M .Pan, B. Wang, XH.Peng. Department of Diagnostic Ultrasound & Echocardiography, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, Zhejiang University College of Medicine, Hangzhou, China


An ongoing program of field experiments to analyze vibrator‐earth response has verified two major problems in Vibroseis® data acquisition: amplitude and phase control of vibrator output, and suppression of vibrator‐generated harmonic distortion. This study confirms that these problems are more severe on rigid ground (i.e., frozen tundra) than on soil. The test results demonstrate that a large‐amplitude vibrator resonance at 40 Hz and a higher frequency (equal to or greater than 100 Hz) earth‐baseplate resonance dominate the vibrator‐frozen ground response. Adaptive, closed‐loop amplitude control of ground force virtually eliminates baseplate‐ground decoupling at the resonant frequencies while maximizing force output throughout a sweep. Analysis of far‐field downhole signals indicates that phase locking to ground force, along with amplitude control, provides a more stable downgoing wavelet than phase locking to baseplate or reaction mass acceleration. Quantitative spectral analysis of downhole and vibrator...


Controlled source seismic investigation of crustal structure below ice covers is an emerging technique. We have recently conducted an explosive refraction/wide-angle reflection seismic experiment on the ice cap in east-central Greenland. The data quality is high for all shot points and a full crustal model is modelled. A crucial challenge for applying the technique is to control the sources. Here, we present data that describe the efficiency of explosive sources in the ice cover. Analysis of the data shows, that the ice cap traps a significant amount of energy, which is observed as a strong ice wave. The ice cap leads to low transmission of energy into the crust such that charges need be larger than in conventional onshore experiments to obtain reliable seismic signals. The strong reflection coefficient at the base of the ice generates strong multiples which may mask for secondary phases. This effect may be crucial for acquisition of reflection seismic profiles on ice caps. Our experience shows that it is essential to use optimum depth for the charges and to seal the boreholes carefully.


The article analyzes the legal status of Ukrainian refugees in the Republic of Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. It is noted that the level of Ukrainian refugees in European countries has increased significantly due to the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into the territory of an independent sovereign state - Ukraine.In particular, the list of normative legal acts in these countries, which regulate the main issues of the legal status of refugees, is highlighted. In our work, attention is focused on the fact that the main legal acts that regulate the legal status of refugees are the Convention on the Status of Refugees, signed in Geneva on July 28, 1951, and the Protocol on the Status of Refugees, signed in New York from October 4, 1967. During the study of the problem of our research, a difference was defined between the concepts of "refugee" and "temporary protection", which differ in their validity period. The analysis of scientific and legal sources allowed us to single out the main features of the legal status of refugees: a long bureaucratic process of obtaining refugee status; probability of documents being seized; impossibility of employment during application processingto receive refugee status; the difficulty of returning home, if the circumstances under which the person received refugee status have not ended; equality of rights with citizens of a specific state; receiving housing, financial, medical and other social benefits; the possibility of protecting one's rights in case of their violation.So, according to statistical data, more than 7 million citizens left Ukraine with the start of hostilities, which challenged many states that sheltered our citizens. The analysis of scientific literature and normative legal documents allowed us to state that persons with refugee status are endowed with all the same rights as citizens of a particular state, except for the right to vote, which, traditionally, belongs only to legal citizens of the state.


Social enterprises are important contributors to Vietnam's socio-economic development, namely by providing services in such areas as health and education. While the state-managed Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM) has recently acknowledged their presence and put forth related public policy suggestions, there remains a lack of related government policies and sparse literature exploring the emergence of social enterprises. This thesis therefore aimed to enrich the literature and help inform potential government policy decisions by exploring possible explanations for social enterprise emergence in Vietnam, and examining the perceptions of social enterprises regarding related potential state policies. An analysis based on both qualitative and quantitative data, in conjunction with social capital theory and theoretical explanations for social enterprise emergence (Teasdale 2011), suggested that levels of social capital are not conducive to the rise of social enterprises in Vietnam, while the state's failure to adequately address its population's socio-economic needs was a primary explanation for social enterprise emergence. The CIEM's policy suggestions were also found to be strongly correlated with the expressed needs of Vietnamese social enterprises, indicating that these suggested policies are contextually relevant and their implementation could enable social enterprises to further address government shortcomings in meeting the country's development needs.


For the majority of pancreatic cancer patients, metastatic spread is the most life-threatening issue, significantly shortening survival (1). Yet, the road for a cancer cell to successfully set its metastatic niche and to grow there is fortunately long and sown with pitfalls. Consistently, the estimated time for pancreatic cancer patients to develop a widely disseminated disease through subclonal metastatic evolution from a parental clone inside the primary carcinoma is 6.8-year, as recently reported (2). To the important question of whether the poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer is due to its late diagnosis, or because it metastasizes early during clonal evolution, Yachida et al . indeed answered that there is a long latency to development of an infiltrating cancer, and thus a large window of opportunity for early diagnosis and cure. Yet, until early detection of pancreatic cancer becomes routine, the reality is that most patients will likely continue to be diagnosed with advanced disease, as recently mathematically predicted through a comprehensive study that benefited from a large group of patient's autopsy data (3).


It is a pleasure to be here with you for this lunch-debate of the Centre des Professions Financières. I would especially like to thank your chairman Michel Pébereau for his kind invitation. Today, I am delighted to be able to speak to you on a highly topical subject: monetary policy in Europe in the context of economic recovery. The prospect of a very gradual normalisation of our monetary policy gives rise to concerns and expectations. I will begin by focusing on what our accommodative monetary policy has already achieved today, before talking about prospects for the future.


Typhus Fevers SIR,-It is well known that typhus is much more prevalent in the winter months than in the summer, but the explanations offered appear to me to be much too subtle. Lack of vitamins in winter may increase susceptibility to some small extent and certainly does increase the death rate to a much greater, but the main explanation of the increase, to my mind, is the huddling together of louse-infested bodies in the cold weather, and the rapid communication of the virus thus facilitated. I base this view on my experience during the great typhus epidemic of 1915 in Serbia. (See My Balkan Log, 1921.) Then we had all the conditions of overcrowding, but there was no lack of essential foodstuffs. It was the trains crowded with refugee peasants, and the overcrowding of barracks, hospitals, and prisoner-of-war camps, that allowed the disease to get a grip on the population. In our hospitals, for instance, we had four patients to every two beds pushed together. They were all louse-infested, and the disease, once started, became rampant. As soon as we cleared spaces between the beds and got rid of the overcrowding the percentage of new cases dropped dramatically, although the diet was the same. Our unit consisted of six doctors and twelve British orderlies, We were well fed, well housed, well clothed. We lacked for nothing. Yet three of the doctors and nine of the orderlies caught the disease dressing the infected wounded in our hospitals; and of the orderlies three died, a death rate in our unit of 25°,' It is probable that only louse-borne typhus occurs in Europe, and the flea and tick typhus diseases of tropical countries and America do not concern us. The fact that the body louse can only crawl is, therefore, our main protection. In connexion with this I remember an odd episode. Sir Thomas Lipton had brought out a contingent of nurses on the Erin to Salonika, and he was accompanying them on the train as far as Belgrade. We heard they were passing through our station at Uskub in Macedonia late at night, so we went up to greet them. They knew nothing of the epidemic then raging, and I vividlv remember their interested faces as I told them about it and that we thought it was louse-borne. "Tell nie, doctor," said Sir Thomas, breaking in, "can these little animals fly? " I saw a smile go round the nurses, but I pretended not to notice. " No, Sir Thomas," I answered gravely. " Ah, well," he said, " then it's not so catching as it might be." And he was right. -I am, etc., London, WI. J. JOHNSTON ABRAHAM.


Voltage unbalance has been interpreted in a number of ways based on the conditions and complexities that are involved. This paper takes the widely used expression of voltage unbalance factor (VUF) and puts forward the various ambiguities that arise due to voltage variation and unbalance when applied to a test case. If the results are not properly interpreted, they affect decision making with regard to motor derating and protective system settings. It is also shown that various voltage combinations are possible for a particular VUF. By fixing an upper limit so as to signify the upper limit, a simple solution by way of conceptual interpretation is suggested to overcome the same. The discussion that is put forward is supported by a test case.


A New Nation of Goods: The Material Culture of Early America. By David Jaffee. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010. Pp. 400. Cloth, $45.00.)Reviewed by Wendy A. WolosonA New Nation of Goods is the latest contribution to a growing body of scholarship dedicated to American material life from the 1790s to the 1850s. David Jaffee's new book documents the material objects and creators that together worked as agents of change, driving the cultural and material transformations that paved the way for mass consumption before the Civil War. Focusing on New England towns in Massachusetts and Connecticut, the author richly details how, like their urban counterparts, Americans living in the hinterlands had serious material aspirations that were fulfilled by a group of talented local artisans.Each sprawling chapter begins with a different object, moving us through time, generations, and significant market transformations. The book opens with a deep analysis of two eighteenth-century portrait paintings of the Ebenezer Devotions Sr. and Jr., illustrating the shifts in education, religion, craftsmanship, cultural authority, and regional culture from one generation to the next. The paintings depict the intellectual authority of the clergyman and its displacement by the economic authority of the ascendant merchant, the father's extensive library in the background of his portrait replaced by a quill pen and open account book in the foreground of his son's portrait.The following chapter on the "Village Enlightenment" documents these shifts in greater detail. The object lesson here is Marlborough, Massachusetts resident Silas Felton's Franklinesque manuscript autobiography, which, among other things, expresses his keen desire to read books all day, rejecting the life of farming into which he was born. For ambitious young men, the country's increasing access to print exposed them to new ideas that were themselves agents of cultural change and inspired their readers, already primed and anxious for new experiences, to be the agents of change through the production and consumption of consumer goods. This "new group of lesser lights, the rising men and women of the post-Revolutionary gentry," according to Jaffee, were "eager to engage in the project of improving their persons, their houses, and their villages" (96).The process of "cultural integration and hybridization" (145) that took place in newly "cosmopolitan communities" could not have been possible without material adaptation and invention. Clocks perhaps best exemplify the transformation of consumer goods during this time. Finely crafted precision objects that occupied valuable domestic real estate, tall case clocks were the ultimate status symbols in upper-class households. By the first decades of the nineteenth century, artisan-entrepreneurs such as Eli Terry fundamentally changed their design, exchanging expensive brass workings for standardized wooden parts, assembling them using efficient divisions of labor, and making them mantle-sized to accommodate more modest household budgets and the logistical needs of the people who peddled them.Indeed, itinerant peddlers' ability to easily transport clocks (and tinware, books, and "fancy goods") was crucial to their commercial success. "Itinerants," Jaffee writes, "were at the center of the process of commercialization, facilitating the shift from local exchange, fostering the expansion of production in the countryside, and expanding the role of commodities in everyday life" (157). Peddlers distributed more widely the production of rural artisans and brought into the hinterlands products from cities that came from across the Atlantic. Itinerants encouraged their customers to consume beyond necessities, educated them about the latest fashions, and "promoted the transforming properties of goods" (157).In order to meet consumer demand, craftsmen applied manufacturing efficiencies to their work to increase production and offer a choice of styles and prices. …


Fire is one of the most magical elements in existence. It is everywhere: in the sky and on the ground, in hearts and in minds, inside and out, in water, in the air and in the soil … It is both divine and demonic. It is between light and dark. It is the source of both life and death. It is a clash. A clash that gave rise to our existence and, simultaneously, the creation of an error.


The excellency of a superhybrid material based TiO2 nanoparticles (NPs) has been improved by the surface modification of the TiO2 with a coupling agent of 2-(3,4-epoxycyclohexyl)ethyltrimethoxysilane to render them highly compatible with organic monomer mixtures avoiding aggregation. Such TiO2 NPs are then attached with a polymer. The border of linear refractive index of hybrid TiO2 NPs-polymer is enhanced in comparison with that of pure epoxy resin or polymer. Nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficient of hybrid TiO2 NPs-polymer are measured by femtosecond Z-scan technique at 800 nm. This hybrid material has been fabricated and studied to have a great potential for ultrafast optical waveguide in optical communication quantified by the propagation loss of the hybrid TiO2 NPs-polymer optical waveguide in the range of 4.79 to 11.90 dB/cm, which is depending on the volume percent of TiO2 NPs.


Teachers are the agent of social change. For teachers, promoting gender equality is not a question of opinion, but a requisite responsibility. The present study aims to examine the B.Ed. trainee students' perception of gender equality. It followed a descriptive survey design for which one self-made questionnaires was used as the tool and focused group discussions arranged for qualitatively perspective. Total 136 B.Ed. trainee students was taken as sample from Aliah University and WBUTTEPA of Kolkata, West Bengal. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis was done. It is found the B.Ed. trainee students have average level of gender equality perception irrespective of their gender, place of residence stream, types of family. There exist no significant differences in the perception level of gender equality among the students from different categories such as gender, discipline, residential status and although there exist significance positive differences in between family types. Based on this study, guidance and suggestions may be provided to enhance students' awareness, knowledge, understanding and competencies in relation to gender equality and to encourage student engagement in a global sustainable development. This study will give a direction to the management and administration for endorsing a favorable environment where seeds of human rights, gender equality, social justice can be sown.


The every link of affecting medium consumption in dense-medium system was analysed in Xinghua Coal Preparation Plant,and measures were put forward to solve problems and reduce medium consumption.Through the measures,the considerable economic benefit was gained.


The invention relates to an assembly type wallboard and an installation method of the assembly type wallboard. The assembly type wallboard comprises an edgewise locating plate, a plurality of keels, face plates and decorative surface layers, wherein the edgewise locating plate is arranged perpendicular to the horizontal installation datum of the wallboard; the keels are arranged in a vertical state according to a basic array pitch modulus with the edgewise locating plate as the datum relative to the horizontal installation datum of the wallboard, and the upper ends and the lower ends of all the keels are fixed; the face plates are installed on the two sides of the keels in a fastening mode through row nails, and gaps are reserved between the face plates on each side; the decorative surface layers are arranged outside the face plates arranged on the two sides, and the gaps are filled with expansible joint materials, and anti-cracking bands adhere to the gaps. As a result, the assembly type wallboard is easy and convenient to install and locate, high in strength and resistant to water.


Shopping centres have transformed consumers' consumption patterns, behaviour, and spatial trips. Consumers' shopping trips have shifted from traditional shopping streets to shopping centres. Their decision to patronise a shopping centre is generally influenced by a set of attributes that consumers consider commanding them to visit the centre. These attributes or reasons establish a shopping centre's role in a neighbourhood. This paper aims to analyse consumers' reasons for visiting shopping centres, their visits companions, and the frequency of their visits to the shopping centres as determinant factors for township shopping centres as entertainment spaces in South Africa. The study contributes to the literature on shopping centres in townships outside of South Africa's metropolitan areas. A questionnaire survey was employed to acquire data from 390 consumers in Namakgale Crossing using the convenient sampling technique. The study concludes that township shopping centres play an entertainment and social role in addition to their economic role.


Durability of solar components for CSP (Concentrated Solar Power Plant) technologies is a key point to lower cost and ensure their large deployment. These technologies concentrated the solar radiation by means of mirrors on a receiver tube where it is collected as thermal energy. The absorbers are submitted to strong environmental constraints and the degradation of their optical properties (emittance and solar absorbance) have a direct impact on performance. The characterization of a material in such condition is complicated and requires advanced apparatuses, and different measurement methods exist for the determination of the two quantities of relevance regarding an absorber, which are its emittance and its solar absorbance. The objective is to develop new optical equipment for measure the emittance of this solar absorber at elevated temperature. In this paper, we present an optical bench developed for emittance measurement on absorbers is conditions of use. Results will be shown, with a discussion of some factors of influence over this measurement and how to control them.Durability of solar components for CSP (Concentrated Solar Power Plant) technologies is a key point to lower cost and ensure their large deployment. These technologies concentrated the solar radiation by means of mirrors on a receiver tube where it is collected as thermal energy. The absorbers are submitted to strong environmental constraints and the degradation of their optical properties (emittance and solar absorbance) have a direct impact on performance. The characterization of a material in such condition is complicated and requires advanced apparatuses, and different measurement methods exist for the determination of the two quantities of relevance regarding an absorber, which are its emittance and its solar absorbance. The objective is to develop new optical equipment for measure the emittance of this solar absorber at elevated temperature. In this paper, we present an optical bench developed for emittance measurement on absorbers is conditions of use. Results will be shown, with a discussion of so...


The MIT Faculty has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters. Abstract— Actuator efficiency is an important factor in the design of powered leg prostheses, orthoses, exoskeletons, and legged robots. A continuously-variable series-elastic actuator (CV-SEA) is presented as an efficient actuator for legged locomotion. knee prosthesis during level-ground walking.


Economic and political demands are driving computational investigation of systems and processes like never before. It is foreseen that questions of safety, optimality, risk, robustness, likelihood, credibility, etc. will increasingly be posed to computational modelers. This will require the development and routine use of computing infrastructure that incorporates computational physics models within the framework of larger meta-analyses involving aspects of optimization, nondeterministic analysis, and probabilistic risk assessment. This paper describes elements of an ongoing case study involving the computational solution of several meta-problems in optimization, nondeterministic analysis, and optimization under uncertainty pertaining to the surety of a generic weapon safing device. The goal of the analyses is to determine the worst-case heating configuration in a fire that most severely threatens the integrity of the device. A large, 3-D, nonlinear, finite element thermal model is used to determine the transient thermal response of the device in this coupled conduction/radiation problem. Implications of some of the numerical aspects of the thermal model on the selection of suitable and efficient optimization and nondeterministic analysis algorithms are discussed.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of loss-premium comparisons (loss-premium comparison refers to the amount of an actual loss compared to the premium level) and insurance coverage on customer acceptance of insurance claim frauds, based on Adams' equity theory. Customer perceptions of insurance frauds have been studied in recent years. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was used as an instrument in the research. The hypotheses were tested using a 3 loss-premium comparisons (the actual loss amount was lower than, or equal to or higher than the annual premium) × 2 insurance coverage (the loss is covered or not covered by the insurance policy) experimental design in a claim application context. Findings – The results showed that loss-premium comparisons and insurance coverage significantly affect the final claim amounts. According to the results, age and education may relate to customer acceptance of insurance claim frauds. Originality/value – This study proposed a first...


This telephone apparatus comprises a base station (1) and a plurality of combined devices (HS1, HS2, ...) connected by a plurality of radio channels at that base station (1) .To save the batteries that power these devices handset (HS1, HS2, ...), is brought into state as long as possible standby these devices: including the exploration period free channels becomes very spaced in time. Application: Telephone answering the DECT standard.


This research is motivated by the low ability of critical thinking and the high mathematics anxiety of class IX-D students at SMPN 1 Nganjuk as many as 30 students. The low ability of students' critical thinking in solving non-routine problems is 78.6% of students who are unable to solve non-routine problems. Mathematical anxiety of students in doing assignments is 63.3%, this is evident from students' fear of failing to solve problems. Learning that focuses on developing critical thinking skills is still rarely done, this makes students feel difficulty in solving problems related to non-routine problems, resulting in an increase in student anxiety in Jurnal THEOREMS (The Original Research of Mathematics) Vol.5 No.1, Juli. hal.69-76 URL: http://jurnal.unma.ac.id/index.php/th Naskah masuk:2020-07-02 Naskah diperbaiki:2020-07-05 Naskah diterima:2020-07-08


Medical tourism refers to travel abroad to obtain medical services. Medical tourism plays an important role in the future of medical and tourism industries throughout the world, due to the development of healthcare technologies, facilities, and some global changes. Right now, medical tourists or international patients use medical tourism agents and facilitators to find reliable providers and have trouble-free travel arrangements. Medical tourism facilitators can positively influence patients' health-seeking behaviors by advocating for patient choice, counseling, and offering support to the patient and his or her family members. One of the most outstanding facilitators of medical tourism is medical tourism companies. Depending on the type of activity, some of them refer patients to a foreign country (outbound medical tourism), some refer patients from a foreign country (inbound medical tourism), some refer patients from a city to another city in a country (intrabound medical tourism), and some are both. Medical tourism companies play a substantial role as moderator between the potential clients in a home country and medical services in destination country. The aim of this article was to review the different roles and positions of medical tourism companies. Then, the benefits of international cooperation, such as reducing marketing costs and providing appropriate medical services, are reviewed.


This study examines the performance of the return of Gold ETFs, Gold mutual fund, and physical Gold. Using the data collected from MCX, NSE and SMC Trade Online for the period from April 2007 to September 2012, adopting descriptive statistics, ANOVA and LSD test. Results proved that investing in Gold ETFs are more profitable than investing in Gold Mutual Fund and Physical form of Gold.


This paper deals with the robust passivity synthesis problem for a class of uncertain linear systems with time-varying delay in state and control input. The parameter uncertainties are norm-bounded and allowed to appear in all matrices of the model. The problem aims at designing an observer-based dynamic output-feedback controller that robustly stabilizes the uncertain systems and achieves the strict passivity of closed-loop systems for all admissible uncertainties. By converting the problem at hand into a class of strictly passive control problem for a parameterized system, the explicit solution is established and expressed in terms of a linear matrix inequality. A numerical example is provided to demonstrate the validity of the proposed approach.


ABSTRACT: This paper aims at presenting the epistemological, pedagogical and political grounds for a comprehensive education proposal, created in light of the historical-critical pedagogy and guided by the pedagogical principle of polytechnics. Therefore, one rescues the notion of this concept, from the Marxian conception until the interpretations made by some of the most important Brazilian authors in this field, whose theoretical support was put into practice via a social laboratory experience, between January 2005 and August 2006, in the city of Ariquemes, northern Brazil, whose results showed the feasibility of a comprehensive education model, whose purpose is human emancipation, under the Marxist perspective. Keywords: Integral education. Polytechnic. Historical-critical pedagogy. *Este artigo e um dos resultados do Projeto de Pos-Doutorado "Do Trabalho como Principio Educa-tivo a Politecnia como Principio Pedagogico da Educacao Integral", realizado na UFOPA – Universi-dade Federal do Oeste do Para, pelo Programa Nacional de Pos-Doutorado, com bolsa da CAPES, de set./2014 a ago./2015.


In Europe, robotic milking systems, available commercially since 1992, were in use on more than 1000 farms at the end of 2001. Thus the question, "do they work" is more than adequately answered. In North America, the first commercial robotic milking system was installed in Ontario, Canada in March 1999. Together, the provinces of Ontario and Quebec now have 54 dairy farms with robotic systems consisting of 65 Lely Astronaut stalls on 42 farms, 15 DeLaval stalls on 10 farms, and 3 Boumatic stalls on 2 farms. In addition, 1 farm in Nova Scotia milks with 2, 2 box AMS Liberty systems and there is one Boumatic installation in Western Canada. USA robotic milking farms include 3 herds in Pennsylvania and 3 in Wisconsin. Thus the question "are they suited to US conditions?" is still under debate. Early observations gained from working with Ontario herds may be helpful in identifying issues relevant to the adoption of robotic milking in the United States and Canada.


In the Fatty Acid Synthase II system, Enoyl-(acyl-carrier-protein) reductase (ENR) encoded by FabI genes is a limiting step enzyme and there is no homologue ENR found in invertebrates which makes it selective target for drug discovery. From Molecular dynamics simulations it was concluded that the solvated protein stabilized at 2.5 ns with larger mobility in the substrate - binding loop and the conformational flexibility of the molecule was revealed. To study the inhibitory effects of novel small molecules in the thiopyridine series, a 2D QSAR model was developed and evaluated for its efficiency. The R2 > 0.96 and Q2 = 0.978 depicted the predictive ability of the models which was determined using a test set of 3 compounds. The receptor-ligand interactions were studied and highest affinity was reported for GCT ID, 343129 (-9.09 Kcal/mol), 341772 (-8.90 Kcal/mol) and 268776 (-8.85 Kcal/mol). These compounds were analysed for their drug like properties and toxicity which projected acceptable blood brain barrier permeation and human intestinal absorption and reduced lipotoxicity. Thus the results suggest further synthesis of new thipyridine series of compounds and experimental testing against drug resistant Staphylococcal infections


OBJECTIVE
To study the immunogenicity of co-expression of p30, one of a group specific antigens, and glycoprotein gp90 genes of Reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV).

METHODS
p30 and gp90 genes were amplified with the template of plasmid pPB101 containing the whole sequence of spleen necrosis virus (SNV), and cloned into pET-28a(+) vector. The positive clone pET-p30-gp90 was identified by enzyme analysis and sequencing. The co-expressed protein p30-gp90 was confirmed by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis. After quantitation, the purified protein p30-gp90 was immunized to Balb/c mice three times to prepare the p30-gp90 specific anti-serum. Afterwards, we detected the REV infected Chick Embryo Fibroblasts (CEF) by Immunofluorescence assay (IFA) with the prepared anti-serum.

RESULTS
The p30-gp90 was co-expressed efficiently by SDS-PAGE and Western blot analysis. The anti-serum of p30-gp90 reacts with REV infected CEF in IFA.

CONCLUSION
The expressed protein of p30-gp90 keeps good immunogenicity.


Objective To investigate the effect,safety and complication of patient controlled hypodermic analgesia(PCHA) with sufentanil in patients undergoing gynecologic tumor surgery.Methods Sixty patients undergoing gynecologic tumor surgery were randomly divided into two groups of PCHA with sufentanil(group S,30 cases) and fentanil(group F,30 cases).The visual analogue scale(VAS),side effects and satisfaction were recorded at 4,8,24 and 48 h during PCHA.Results Compared with group F,VAS scores of group S at some time point in 4~48 hours were less and sedation scores were higher(P0.05).Conclusions PHCA with sufentanil is effective and safe for treatment of postoperative pain after gynecologic tumor surgery.The effect of analgesia and sedation of sufentanil is better than of fentanil.


The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. All rights reserved. Reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product for educational or other non-commercial purposes are authorized without any prior written permission from the copyright holders provided the source is fully acknowledged. Reproduction of material in this information product for resale or other commercial purposes is prohibited without permission of the copyright holders. recommended the preparation of this review paper on algae-based biofuels as a reference platform for possible future work of the Organization. Development of the review paper was coordinated by Alessandro Flammini (GBEP Secretariat) under the overall guidance of Mr Jeff Tschirley (Chair, FAO Bioenergy Working Group). (FAO, Fisheries Department) and other FAO colleagues, who provided inputs and support in the preparation of this paper. The information contained does not necessarily reflect the official views of the Organization. This review paper provides a joint contribution to the programme of work of the FAO Interdepartmental Working Group on Bioenergy and the Global Bioenergy Partnership (GBEP). ii Summary iii Summary General conclusions • A multitude of algae-based biofuel (ABB) pathways are possible and need to be determined on a case-by-case basis. o There is a variety of land based cultivation systems, and several different ABBs and other bioenergy carriers can be produced. o Land based systems are more developed then sea based systems. o Many input sources can be used, like combustion gas, salt water and wastewater. The availability of these influences the exact ABB concept. o Climatic conditions, such as annual solar irradiation and temperature, strongly influence ABB design. o ABB systems are suitable for many land and water types, …


Major disparities in health across the globe are largely a function of varying access to services (Gonzales & Papadopoulos, 2010). Though there are countless individuals worldwide with psychological distress that may benefit from therapy, there likely will never be enough time or clinicians available to address the great need. For those who would potentially participate in mental health services but do not, there are many external barriers to successfully engaging in traditional in-person modalities. These include but are not limited to: insufficient funds, lack of transportation, mobility-reducing physical health issues, and shortages of clinicians or facilities in the region. Those who most often encounter these barriers and do not get adequate care, such as International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 66: 145–150, 2016 Copyright © The American Group Psychotherapy Association, Inc. ISSN: 0020-7284 print/1943-2836 online DOI: 10.1080/00207284.2015.1096109


Allele frequencies for the insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism of the angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE) gene were determined in a large case–control study of 517 unselected patients with venous thromboembolism and 478 blood donors. The D allele frequency was 0·53 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0·50–0·56] in patients and 0·54 (95% CI 0·50–0·57) in controls, giving an odds ratio for the D allele of 0·97 (95% CI 0·81–1·16). In the same population, the odds ratio for the factor V Leiden mutation (F5G1691A) was 6·9 (95% CI 4·0–11·9). Therefore, the ACE I/D polymorphism is not a risk factor in a representative group of unselected patients with venous thromboembolism. The possibility that the I/D polymorphism is a risk factor for venous thromboembolism specifically after hip replacement cannot be excluded.


Safety bar is the key part of sea rover,which is the guarantee for the safety of the passengers.Its design method and quality are the key step for the development of amusement equipment.The stress distribution of the bar is calculated based on COSMOSWorks.It proves that the FEM analysis based on COSMOSWorks is helpful to optimize the parameters of the product.


2. Compl6te excision of a wound leaving an aseptic surface is possible only in supeyficial wounds and in superficialj muscular wounds. It is impracticablein deep.ene-n tratng wiounds, compound fractures, etc., on ana-tomical. grounds, and it would also entail a miuch freer removal of tissue, which may impair future functional iresult. These latter cases, whien treated by soap solution and primary' suture, heal better than if an antiseptic such as eusol or bipp had been used. It follows from thisthat the tissues them-selves are able to deal su&essfully with any infection whiclh is left belhind without the aid of any antiseptic. This point is particularly exemplified by those cases in whicl there is at first an intense local reaction following on the operation; it subsides as the tissues gain the upper hand. 3. Success depends on getting cases within a few lhours of being wounded, before infective processes have spread far into the adjacent muscles, on the thorough removal of dead or grossly damaged tissues, and on the localization by x rays and removal of any foreign body that miay be Dresent. 4. -Compound fractures of the upper extrexmity practically always do well; only three cases of fracture' of the femur hiave been tllus treated, and of these two were succes9fuAl butt the number is too small to warraint a definite opinion. It is necessarily the most severe type of case one has to deal with, but the results of those cases have been distinctly encouraging. 5. The -'advantages of primiary suture are obvious: (a) Easy, rapid, and painless dressings; (b) time is saved for everybody once the patient has left -the operating theatre; (c) it is economical. Tlle time taken in the operating theatre is, however, considerably longer, and thlis generally forbids the use of the mnethod when tlle pressure of work is high. 6. One of the most important points is that no severe injury which has been stitclhed up should be evacuated for at least a week-first, because movement mav just turn the balance during the early days of local reaction when the tissues are getting the upper hand and cause failure, and, secondly, because when it is very difficult to decide whlether the case should be opened up or not the operator himself is in a much, better position to judge what is likely to be taking place inside the wound he has sewn up than some one else who gets the case later; consequently stitches remain in which may otherwise be taken out perhaps through no fault of any one. 7. No.opinion can be given as to the ultimate functional result as to bony union and action of-muscles. In tllose cases in which primary suture has been out of the question owing to gross loss of tissue, after the usual operative procedure I have used a soap pack after the manner of the salt pack. It has been leftin as a rule for five to seven days, and when taken out left a beautifully healtlly wound. Ackloweledqenients.-I wish to express mry indebtedness to Colonel Cuthbert Wallace, CtM.G., for much help and encouragement, and to Lieut.-Colonel D. 0. Hyde, D.S.O., R.A.M.C., for kindly alfowing me to keep these catses and to publish notes on them.


The results of the experiment revealed that the application of simazine, 2-chlorc 4, 6 bis (ethylamino)-s-triazine, at 1.0 kg/ha and above reduced the yield of maize (Zea nays L.) and residual wheat (Triticum aestivum) crops. Application of farmyard manure at the rate of 5,000 kg/ha was not found capable of reducing the toxic effect of the herbicide to maize. On the contrary, the residual farmyard manure effectively reduced the toxicity to wheat grains and straw (statistically significant differences in grains only) as concluded by the yield data. Farmyard application to wheat showed superiority to sludge and green manure (Ipomea carnosa) in increasing the yield. The nitrogen content indicated and increasing trend with increasing levels of simazine in both the crops. The phosphorus and potassium content were also found to rise with application of simazine over control. The total uptake of major nutrients was found to increase with the application of the chemical


Dam removal, spills, and epic flooding are important events that can energize and galvanize people in a watershed. But in ordinary circumstances, what is the catalyst that brings these individuals together and unifies them in efforts to improve water quality, reduce the impact of flooding, and addresses other issues? Building and sustaining a coalition of concerned and invested stakeholders allow us to be more connected and informed about important issues that affect water quality, recreation opportunities, and other demands on water use. Surface water is used for many purposes that often compete with one another in the regulatory and policy arena. We suggest that the geoscience community is well positioned to play a lead role in bridging the gap between science and policy and in guiding public discourse in watershed issues. Consider a hypothetical competition over a river in the northeastern United States: On one hand is the requirement for minimum discharge levels and water temperatures to sustain a native trout fishery, and on the other hand there is the direct economic benefit of water-taking to satisfy high water demand industries, such as microchip manufacturing plants. A situation like this may be polarizing, but resolution and equity are likely to be achieved if all sides have a voice in the decision-making process. Without a regional awareness of competing needs and interests, poor decision-making can result in asymmetric rules for taking, using, and managing finite water resources. Thus, a key to guiding watershed management is to establish a working dialog among stakeholders. There are many examples and attempts at building discourse among various stakeholders within a watershed, and we believe geoscientists can play a pivotal role in facilitating this discourse. Here we highlight the success we have had with the Mohawk Watershed Symposium (MWS) in New York State as an example of how an annual conference focused on watershed issues can level the playing field and provide a forum for competing and complementary interests. The Mohawk Watershed in east-central New York State is typical of many watersheds in the eastern United States, where a number of different, but not mutually exclusive, interests pull policy and science in more than one direction. Issues surrounding clean water and a healthy ecosystem dovetail with recreation and economic opportunities along the primary river corridor. These interests are complicated by changes in the overall hydrology, including flood and drought regimes (e.g., Cockburn and Garver, 2015), point-source …


During ganglion transplantation, some neurons undergo pathological changes under the in-fluence of ischemia, decentralization, and damage of axons, up to and including their death. The purpose of this article is to analyze the existing problem in order to prevent or reduce the death of neurons, which can lead to the death of animals in the experiment and patients in the clinic.


Influenza, "the flu," is more than a bad cold. Seasonal outbreaks yearly cause not only tremendous misery and debility but huge numbers of hospital admissions and deaths. The last flu season, which ran from October 2018 until May 2019, caused up to 42.9 million flu illnesses, up to 647,000 hospitalizations and up to 61,200 flu deaths, according to preliminary numbers from the CDC [2]. Those figures are only slightly higher than the average over the past decade.


Intratumoral heterogeneity presents a major obstacle to the widespread implementation of precision medicine. The authors assessed the origin of intratumoral heterogeneity in nonseminomatous germ cell tumor of the testis (NSGCT) and identified distinct tumor subtypes and a potentially lethal phenotype.


Chaplaincy is a spoke in the wheel of interdisciplinary care that uses its disciplines to better the patient's medical condition. Therefore, chaplains ought to consider how their emotional and spiritual support helps interdisciplinary teams treat patients' illnesses/injuries. This essay explores how chaplains can contribute more effectively to interdisciplinary care by keeping their patients' condition in focus throughout their spiritual assessments and using models that are familiar to the medical team.


Complex measured velocity signals of blasting vibration are transformed into the superposition of several simple harmonic waves by the wavelet packet decomposition and reconstruction techniques.In this way,the problem of structural dynamic response under the action of blasting velocity load becomes the problem of that under a series of simple harmonic loads.By introducing a new concept of velocity factor into the computational model of blasting vibration effect,the contribution of structural transient response is considered into structural dynamic response.At the meantime,normalized energy proportion is added to the computational model,and only dominant frequencies of relatively large energy proportions can be included when considering the influence of blasting load frequencies.Then,on the basis of the model above,a new safety criterion of blasting vibration effect is put forward,which can reflect the relation between the structural velocity response magnitude under blasting load stimulation and the following parameters: structural characteristics,amplitude,frequencies including several dominant frequencies,duration and energy proportion of blasting load.In the end,by combining with an actual engineering case,velocity response amplitudes are calculated by the computational model put forward in this paper and the temporal analysis method,respectively.And the computational results show that this computational model is feasible.


Considering the expensive cost of the on-line instrument for measurement and control of beating degree, the on-line measurement is implemented by using soft measuring technique. The beating process is briefly introduced firstly. The mathematical model of beating degree is established by using the method of linear regression analysis. The parameters of the model are identified. The on-line correction method for soft measurement model is then illustrated. Finally, hardware implementation for soft sensor and control of beating degree are depicted.


This essay was based on the experience of the authors in the development of research in health and nursing whose central theme is family care experience, which is addressed by means of a comprehensive approach. In the development of this essay we seek to thematize how such approach flows in the research in a way which captures the shapes and outline of the fluid and dynamic reality that are the experiences of the daily human life, outlined in this comprehensive approach and, with privilege, in the History of Life; and the aesthetic and ethic dimensions. In the capture through the researcher's sensitive and empathetic eye toward the other (research participant), we realize the people and their families 'say yes to life', even in the face of the most difficult situations such as the illness; in a perspective of the now, people take care of life, in life and for life, trying to be close to the potentials that present themselves in the 'here and now', not permitting that the nearest possibility of finiteness be the deadly horizon that would annul this care. We understand that the comprehensive approach, by sensitively leaning on localized and personalized situations of illness and care, can support us in comprehending the permanence, transcendence, and universality of human suffering.


The number of women migrating for work from Indonesia has steadily risen since the mid 1980's; and by the year 2000 had increased to over 300,000 migrants. A significant number of Indonesian women voluntarily migrate to work are trafficked for sexual and labor exploitation in Malaysia and Singapore. This article explores trafficking problems and situation in
Indonesia, especially focused in the border areas.

International definitions of trafficking recognize a broader spectrum of abuses. In Indonesia, the most commonly recognized sectors into which women and children are trafficked in Indonesia include: migrant work, domestic work, sex work and servile marriage in the form of mail order
brides. People from several areas of Java, Sumatera and Kalimantan who voluntarily migrating for work as domestic servants, later found themselves coerced into abusive conditions. Among them are Indonesian women who were recruited by false promises of employment and later coerced into prostitution or forced labor. Other cases show that ethnic
Chinese women and teenage girls in the West Kalimantan district are recruited as mail-order bridges for men in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

The Indonesian government has made significant efforts towards implementing a framework of action to address trafficking abuses against Indonesian women and children. Along with governmental actions, Indonesian civil society organizations (including NGOs and universities) have also increased their attention to the issue of trafficking in persons.
Civil society organizations are now more effectively conducting research on trafficking related issues, implementing prevention and awareness raising activities in high risk communities, providing victim protection services such as legal aid case-handling and reintegration support, and advocating for increased law enforcement.


Electron-induced surface charging characteristics of sintered alumina were studied in relation to the polycrystalline features, such as (a) grain boundaries, (b) non-uniform distribution of grain size, and (c) orientation of grains, by adopting the scanning electron microscope `electrostatic mirror technique.' Significant variation in the charging characteristics of grains and grain boundary regions were not observed for bombardment with low energy (< 8 keV) electrons corresponding to secondary electron yield ((delta) ) > 1. Interestingly, for higher energies (> 8 keV) corresponding to (delta) < 1, the grain boundary regions were found to charge more negatively than the grains. The electrostatic mirror studies reveal that (1) the mirror image formation is not possible at high density defect zones, (2) the size of the mirror images, formed at one location varies significantly from that formed at another location, due primarily to the variation in the defect prone grain boundary volumes and, (3) the size of the image, formed on the grain, varies from that formed on another, due to variation in the crystallographic orientation of the grains. The results suggest that alumina undergoes inhomogeneous charging under electron bombardment.


The present invention relates to cosmetic compositions containing resveratrol ferulate in a topically acceptable carrier. Such compositions are particularly effective for skin lightening and anti-aging applications and have excellent color stability and extended shelf life.


Introduction:
 Cardiovascular disease is the primary cause of death amongst end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. Though arteriovenous fistulas (AVFs) are the access of choice for hemodialysis, joining a high-pressure artery and low-pressure vein leads to cardiac volume overload acutely. Debate exists as to the cardiac ramifications of AVFs, due in part to the difficulty of recruiting ESRD patients and controls for prospective studies. Animal models have been essential in AVF studies, but their usefulness is limited by interspecies differences in physiology and other factors. Thus, we have developed a three-dimensional (3D) cardiac tissue chip with tunable pressure and stretch to model the acute hemodynamic changes associated with AVF creation.

 Hypothesis:
 In this study, we aimed to replicate the hemodynamics of murine AVF models in vitro and hypothesized that if 3D cardiac constructs were subjected to "volume overload", they would display fibrosis and key gene expression changes seen in AVF mice.

 Methods:
 Mice underwent either AVF or sham procedure and were monitored for 28 d. Cardiac tissue constructs composed of h9c2 rat cardiac myoblasts and normal adult human dermal fibroblasts in hydrogel were seeded into devices and exposed for 96 h to 100 mmHg/10 mmHg pressure (0.4 s/0.6 s) at 1 Hz. "Systolic" pressure was generated via pneumatic pump while a hydrostatic pressure head gave rise to "diastolic" pressure. The controls were exposed to "normal" stretch while the experimental group was exposed to "volume overload".

 Results and Conclusions:
 The in vitro model yielded similar fibrosis-related gene expression profiles (see figure) and patterns of fibrosis as the murine model.


ABSTRACT In today's classrooms, learning does not have to be bounded by physical space. By having access to a range of digital communication technologies, students and teachers can synchronously and asynchronously engage in authentic learning opportunities extending beyond the local community. They can be learning and interacting with others from around the world. This occurred with Grade 3 students from a school in Alberta, Canada, and Lima, Peru who investigated how their physical environments influence their quality of life. Over a seven-week period, the two groups engaged in synchronous and asynchronous activities in addressing this topic. A case study approach was used to research the project. Four key findings emerged from the data to inform teaching practice for designing and facilitating online international collaborative learning.


Literature Review Effect of Walking Activity on Physical Fitness Levels
Muhammad Annas Nur Hasyim Anamudzi1, Edi Purwanto2, Nur Lailatul Masruroh2

Background: The lack of activity (movement), alcohol consumption and fast food is one of the triggers for people to look out of shape. Related to the prime physical activity is to do daily activities without asking for excessive approval. Walking is an activity that can be done by everyone and very effective for long-term health. This study recommends studying the effect of walking on physical fitness levels.
Methods: The research method used in this study was literature study by reviewing 20 international journals related to the effect of walking activities on the level of physical fitness. Data collection was done by searching from the published article database on Google search (Scholar) and EBSCOhost. Then the data were centesis with descriptive analysis.
Results: In the analysis of 25 journals related to the effect of walking activities on the level of physical fitness, it was found that 20 journals said that there was an influence of walking on the level of physical fitness. But there were 5 journals that have different opinions, that people who want to do walking activities can benefit from a very good level of physical fitness

Discussion: There was a relationship between the effect of walking activities on the level of physical fitness. The more often a peson does exercise, it can increase their physical fitness.


AbstractUsing the computational fluid dynamic numerical simulation method, the gas, liquid, and solid three-phase hydrodynamic behavior in a self-made aeration fluidized bed reactor was simulated n...


Background and Aim: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are being increasingly used by forensic laboratories. In the Iranian population, few studies have been reported that aim to investigate allelic frequencies and determine genetic variation of SNPs based on SNPforID database. The goal of the current study was to evaluate the population genetic diversity by genotyping of 25 informative autosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms residing in Gilan province in Northern Iran, using the SNaPshot assay. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the results of the bioinformatics analysis indicated that at least 25 autosomal loci SNP could help discriminate between Iranian ethnic groups. A total of 53 unrelated individuals from the Gilakis ethnicity group provided blood samples for extraction of genomic DNA by the RGDE method. The SNapShot method was used to genotyping 25 selected SNPs on the 3110xl ABI Genetic Analyzer. Statistical analysis was conducted using the Arlequin 3.5, GeneAlex 6.5 and GeneMapper 5.0 software. Results: The mean heterozygosity was 0.428. The minimum heterozygosity observed was 0.190 that related to rs938283. Minor allele frequency (MAF) for rs938283 was 0.105. There was significant deviation in allelic frequencies from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for all the studied SNPs except rs1382387. The calculated FST values presented among Gilak and three Iranian ethnic groups including Kurd, Persian ad Lors were not significantly genetic different. Conclusion: Evaluation of the 25 autosomal SNP simultaneously enabled discrimination among ethnic groups within the population. The results presented Gilakis ethnicity genetically when compared to the other ethnicity, Lor, Persian and Kurdish, are similar. The SnapShot method has appropriate sensitivity and specificity to simultaneously genotype SNPs.


There are few published reports of the infectious sequellae of shark attack in humans. Using patient medical records and epidemiologic data from Vibrio surveillance forms maintained by the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services, we describe the clinical features of three patients with shark-associated wounds from whom Vibrio organisms were recovered in pure culture from clinical specimens.


Looking for the right resin solution for composite applications? View our website and contact us about our solutions. Our experts are happy to help!


Depending on its operating conditions, traditional soot blowing is activated for a fixed time. However, low-frequency soot blowing can cause heat transfer efficiency to decrease. High-frequency soot blowing not only wastes high-pressure steam, but also abrades surface pipes, reducing the working life of a heat exchange device. Therefore, it is necessary to design an online ash fouling monitoring system to perform soot blowing that is dependent on the status of ash accumulation. This study presents an online monitoring model of ash-layer thermal resistance that reflects the degree of ash fouling. A wavelet threshold denoising algorithm was applied to smooth the thermal resistance of the ash layer calculated by the heat balance mechanism model. Thus, the variation in thermal resistance becomes more visible, which is more conducive to optimizing the operation of soot blowing. The designed Support Vector Regression (SVR) model could achieve the online prediction of thermal resistance denoising for low-temperature superheaters. Experimental analysis indicates that the prediction accuracy was 98.5% during the testing phase. By using the method proposed in this study, online monitoring of heating surfaces during the ash fouling process can be realized without adding complicated and expensive equipment.


PERFORMING HISTORY History performed is always tendentious, and unable to cloak itself in the dress of the impartial judge while being the zealous advocate. The first three articles seek to understand how exactly these advocacies are constructed, by, respectively, the warring churches of a Sicilian town, the commodification of Jordanian hospitality, and a coronation ceremony in Zambia.


Stainless steel tubes are widely used in various fields, such as electrode tubes, probe tubes, electronic parts, painless injection needles, and micro-nozzles etc. In this study, a self-developed prototype dieless drawing machine is used to explore the formability of the dieless drawing process of SUS304 stainless steel tubes. The critical process parameters of the forming temperature, drawing velocity, the drawing accelerations and area reduction are investigated. A commercial finite element code of DEFORM 3D is used to simulate the temperature, stress, strain distributions and drawing velocity limit in the dieless drawing process of the stainless steel tubes. The maximum area reduction obtained can reach 50% and the better forming temperatures are between 1000°C and 1100 °C.


Based on the importance of the work of freshmen's instructors, this paper analyzes the characteristics of the freshmen of the new era, and points out that the instructors should accurately grasp students' thought tendency and growth law, adopt corresponding measures according to different situations, and on the basis of understanding and respecting the freshmen, help them dealing with all kinds of problems, and lay a solid foundation for the healthy growth and all-round development of university students.


Crude extracellular e nzyme from a 3-day c ulture of Penicillium chrysogenum (PCL 5 01), in basal medium containing cellulose as the sole carbon source, yielded 0.67 ± 0.03, 19.94 ± 1.30 and 8.50 ± 0.50 units mg protein of 1 , 4 - â-endoglucanase, â-glucosidase and xylanase activity -1


Crop protection strategies relying on the improvement of the natural plant immune system via genetic engineering are sustainable solutions against the pathogen thread on food security. Here we describe a novel way to improve the plant immune system by immune protease engineering. As proof of concept, we increased resistance against the late blight pathogen Phytopththora infestans by rendering the tomato secreted immune protease Pip1 insensitive to the P. infestans-secreted inhibitor Epic2B. This concept can be applied to secreted immune proteases in crops by precision breeding.


&NA; Various options for treatment entry, engagement and retention for substance abuse problems have been proposed but none is more controversial than the issue of coercing or pressuring substance abusers into treatment. Most people who need treatment won't get it, and most people who enter treatment will not complete it. The use of coercion to persuade reluctant substance abusers to enter and remain in treatment has a long history, especially in the criminal justice system. The use of coercion with other populations is also promising. This paper provides an overview of some of the current arguments for and against the use of coercion in substance abuse treatment. The three types of legal, formal and informal coercion are discussed. Issues related to motivation and intervention techniques are also reviewed. Most people cycle through a wide range of motivational influences to enter treatment. Some argue that substance abusers must choose treatment on their own for it to be effective. Others argue that coercion is effective in getting people into treatment and keeping them there long enough for it to be effective. Both internal motivation and external pressures from various sources are independent and powerful influences to enter treatment. The effectiveness of coercion in treatment retention and pervasiveness of coercion in treatment is also reviewed.


The generalized moment expansion provides an effective algorithm for the approximation of the time dependence of observables that monitor stochastic processes. Up to now this method had been applied mainly to one‐variable birth–death processes or to one‐dimensional Fokker–Planck systems since in these cases analytical and numerical methods for the evaluation of the generalized moments were available. Here we demonstrate that numerical sparse matrix methods can be used to extend the range of application of the generalized moment expansion to higher dimensions. For this purpose we introduce a simple but general discretization scheme for Fokker–Planck operators of Smoluchowski type which is, for these special operators, superior to common numerical discretization schemes for differential operators. As an application we determine the Mossbauer absorption spectrum of a Brownian particle in certain two‐ and three‐dimensional potentials. This serves as a model for the motion of the heme group in myoglobin.


A method is presented to optimize the orientation of directional sensors and instruments in a vehicle body-fixed frame. Directional dependence is included by creating a uniformly distributed set of directions in the body-fixed frame and formulating the objective as a function of these directions. The method is demonstrated by application to photodiodes for sun sensing, for which the covariance of the sun vector estimate is derived as a function of the photodiode configuration. The measured sun vector angular accuracy is then minimized as a function of the configuration, which enables the most accurate sun sensing with the given hardware. This technique maximizes subsystem performance and provides a design method to replace traditional, iterative design approaches to sensor placement.


Abstract In this article I argue that there has been a significant cultural change in the meanings attached to two specific sites in the Australian cultural imaginary—the city and the suburb. I see this change as the product of opposing versions of multicultural Australia. In several Australian cities, particularly Sydney, although the combination of multiculturalism and economic globalization has helped to create increasingly cosmopolitan inner city suburbs, it has also contributed to the development of an antithetical but perhaps more politically significant version of the middle or outer suburb. This new version of the suburb is defined by minority ethnic or racial identities; it is increasingly represented as criminalized; and its development runs against the grain of the traditional conception of the suburb in the Australian national imaginary, as well as the globalizing rhetoric endorsing a cosmopolitanizing transnational citizenship. The context for the discussion is given particular force by the series of 'race riots' which occurred in the Sydney beach suburb of Cronulla in December, 2005. These events raised serious concerns about the fate of multiculturalism in Australia and highlighted the tensions that lie beneath what is often regarded as a successful set of social policies.


Naomi Oliver, creator of the website Top End Lost and Found (TELAF) has today been announced the inaugural winner of the Animal Hero Award for her contribution to improving the lives of animals in the Territory. Nominations for the award were called for as part of Animal Awareness Week, which was held last month. Local Government Minister, Malarndirri McCarthy today presented Ms Oliver with a trophy and $150.00 prize money which will go towards promoting the TELAF website. "This is the first Animal Hero Award and it recognises the contributions made by Territorians who selflessly strive to provide a better place in our community for animals," said Ms McCarthy. "Naomi Oliver created and launched (2006) the Top End Lost and Found (TELAF) website which aims to reunite lost pets with their owners. "Naomi has spent many hours creating and maintaining this website and today we thank her for that," "The website was established in 2006 and has since helped over 2000 owner and pets be reunited. "It is great to see the initiative taken to care for our animals and provide this service free of charge to the public".


We consider the problem of estimating the state of a time‐invariant linear Gaussian system in the presence of integrity attacks. The attacker can compromise p$$ p $$ out of m$$ m $$ sensors, the set of which is fixed over time and unknown to the system operator, and manipulate the measurements arbitrarily. Under the assumption that the system is regular and system matrix A$$ A $$ is non‐singular, we propose a secure estimation scheme that is resilient to p$$ p $$ ‐sparse attack as long as the system is 2p$$ 2p $$ ‐sparse detectable, which achieves the fundamental limit of secure dynamic estimation. In the absence of attack, the proposed estimation coincides with Kalman estimation with a certain probability that can be adjusted to trade‐off between performance with and without attack. Furthermore, the detectability condition checking in the designing phase and the estimation computing in the online operating phase are both computationally efficient. Two numerical examples including the IEEE 68 bus test system are provided to corroborate the results and illustrate the performance of the proposed estimator.


Financial Disclosures: Dr Hernandez reported receiving research support from Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, and Merck & Co; serving on the speakers' bureau for Novartis; and receiving honoraria from AstraZeneca and Medtronic. Dr Fonarow reported receiving research grants or other research support from GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, and the National Institutes of Health; receiving honoraria from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boston Scientific/Guidant, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Schering Plough, and St Jude Medical; serving as a consultant for Boston Scientific/Guidant, GlaxoSmithKline, Medtronic, Merck, Novartis, Pfizer, Scios, and St Jude Medical; and serving on the American Heart Association's Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee. He holds the Eliot Corday Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine and is also supported by the Ahmanson Foundation (Los Angeles, California). Dr Curtis reported receiving research support from Johnson & Johnson and Medtronic. Drs Hernandez and Curtis have made available online detailed listings of financial disclosures (https://www.dcri.org/about-us /conflict-of-interest/).


Capacity proximity communication using the present invention discloses a tuning inductor, comprising chip stack package, the package comprising: at least one pair of stacked die, the die having a pair of opposing faces overlap; and between the pair of stacked dies at least one electric capacity proximity communication (CPC) interconnects. The CPC interconnect comprises overlapping opposite surface of the first face of the plate of the first capacitor and a second capacitor plate in the overlapped face of the second opposing surface, the first capacitor plate and second capacitor electrode plate spaced apart and aligned. CPC interconnect element further comprises an inductor and a first capacitor plate and second capacitor plates are connected in series, which forms part of the capacitor plates of the capacitor, and forms an LC circuit having a resonance frequency with the capacitor and inductor elements.


Total Quality Management is, without a doubt, an idea whose time has come. Many "buzz words" come and go in the process of making the defense industry more effective and productive. Total Quality Management (TQM) may well be just another of these buzz words. Whether it is or not, though, it is especially relevant at this time of defense cutbacks, and the Department of Defense is pursuing implementation of this philosophy with vigor.


An experimental study of the stability and coordination of oxygen- and nitrogen-containing ligands in association with Mg2+ in the gas phase has been undertaken. The ligands chosen exhibit a wide range of physical properties in terms of their ionization energies, dipole moments, and polarizabilities, and a simple electrostatic model reveals a semiquantitative trend between these properties and the ability of each ligand to stabilize Mg2+. The model clearly demonstrates why water is extremely effective at stabilizing Mg2+, and in this respect, CO2 also proves to be a good ligand. Evidence of a discrete first solvation shell is apparent only for those ligands which do not display hydrogen bonding. For water, methanol, and ethanol, hydrogen bonding leads to extended solvation units for which the boundaries are less obvious. However, for more complex alcohols, steric interactions appear to negate the influence of hydrogen bonding. Discrete solvation shells are observed for most aprotic ligands, and the optimu...


Impact of Sex on Morbidity and Mortality Rates After Lower Extremity Interventions for Peripheral Arterial Disease Observations From the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Cardiovascular Consortium Elizabeth A. Jackson, MD, MPH,* Khan Munir, PHD,* Theodore Schreiber, MD,y Jeffrey R. Rubin, MD,z Robert Cuff, MD,x Katherine A. Gallagher, MD,jj Peter K. Henke, MD,jj Hitinder S. Gurm, MD,* P. Michael Grossman, MD*


Many small island states in the Caribbean like Antigua and Barbuda depend heavily on petroleum-based products for power generation. Given the fluctuating oil prices, there is now an urgent push for increased energy security. Antigua is one of the fastest-growing islands for grid-connected Renewable Energy Sources (RES). Whilst the increase in grid-connected RES improves the islands' energy security, and it is equally important to understand the impact that RES have on the network's reliability and security. Thus, a base case model of the power network was built, and the following areas were analysed: load flow, contingency analysis, and fault analysis. The Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA) 69kV power network is used as a case study for this project. PowerWorld and Homer Energy software have been used to simulate and model the grid. Results from the project show that RES changes the power flow and could help to improve the system voltage profile if placed correctly. Whilst increased penetration of Wind Turbine Generators (WTG) on the grid increases the system fault levels, they also play a key role in active and reactive power control. This means that the APUA network must be more flexible, and system operators must have network visibility to react to changes on the network. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact that RES (in particular, wind and solar PV) has on the operational, security, or reliability of a small-scale power network.


This paper reports a detailed two-dimensional (2-D) analytical capacitance-voltage (C-V) model for a modulation-doped field effect transistor. The contribution of various capacitances on the performance of the device is shown. The analysis includes the effect of design parameters on cutoff frequency, and the peak cutoff frequency obtained is 190 GHz. The excellent agreement with the simulated and experimental data proves the validity and applicability of the model to optimize the device at high frequencies.


There is a growing interest by power system operators to encourage load resources to offer frequency regulation. There are several studies that evaluate the system-wide benefits of such load resource participation. However, the current literature often overlooks the potential adverse impact on power distribution feeders. This paper seems to address this open problem. We focus on a scenario where load resources offer regulation down service. We start by developing a novel data-driven approach to use distribution-level μPMU data to analyze transient load behaviours. Subsequently, we model the aggregate load transient profile, in form of an aggregate three-phase surge current profile, that is induced on a distribution feeder once a group of loads responds to a regulation down event. The impact of delay, e.g., due to sensing, communications, and load response, is taken into consideration. Distribution grid reliability is then analyzed based on different characteristics of typical over-current protection relay devices. Both momentary and permanent reliability indices are calculated. Case studies suggest that it is possible to jeopardize power distribution grid reliability if several regulation down load resources are on the same feeder. The probability of failure depends on the distribution grid protection system and the amount and distribution of delay in the regulation aggregation system.


A resonant power converter is provided. The resonant power converter comprises a balancing circuit (BC) for balancing the voltage in a feeding connection (N). The balancing circuit (BC) comprises: a first positive control means (BS1) in series with an inductor, wherein the first positive control means (BS1) and the inductor (BL) is coupled between the positive DC conductor (1a) and the feeding connection (N), and a second negative control means (BS2) in series with the inductor (BL), wherein the second negative control means (BS2) are coupled between the negative DC conductor (1b) and the feeding connection (N). The first positive and second negative control means (BS1, BS2) are adapted to be alternatingly switched on and off for balancing the resonant power converter, such that the voltage in the feeding connection (N) is substantially the mean voltage of the positive DC conductor (1b) and the negative DC conductor (1a).