Embedded devices are omnipresent in modern networks including the ones operating inside critical environments. However, due to their constrained nature, novel mechanisms are required to provide external, and non-intrusive anomaly detection. Among such approaches, one that has gained traction is based on the analysis of the electromagnetic (EM) signals that get emanated during a device's operation. However, one of the most neglected challenges of this approach is the requirement for manually gathering and fingerprinting the signals that correspond to each execution path of the software/firmware. Indeed, even simple programs are comprised of hundreds if not thousands of branches thus, making the fingerprinting stage an extremely time-consuming process that involves the manual labor of a human specialist. To address this issue, we propose a framework for generating synthetic EM signals directly from the machine code. The synthetic signals can be used to train a Machine Learning based (ML) system for anomaly detection. The main advantage of the proposed approach is that it completely removes the need for an elaborate and error-prone fingerprinting stage, thus, dramatically increasing the scalability of the corresponding protection mechanisms. The experimental evaluations indicate that our method provides high detection accuracy (above 90% AUC score) when employed for the detection of injection attacks. Moreover, the proposed methodology inflicts only a small penalty (-1.3%) in accuracy for the detection of the injection of as little as four malicious instructions when compared to the same methods if real signals were to be used.


Geometric Near-neighbor Access Tree (GNAT) is a metric space indexing method based on hierarchical hyperplane partitioning of the space. While GNAT is very efficient in proximity searching, it has a bad reputation of being a memory hog. We show that this is partially based on too coarse analysis, and that the memory requirements can be lowered while at the same time improving the search efficiency. We also show how to make GNAT memory adaptive in a smooth way, and that the hyperplane partitioning can be replaced with ball partitioning, which can further improve the search performance. We conclude with experimental results showing the new methods can give significant performance boost.


ABSTRACT As a profession with social justice as an ethical mandate, social work is well positioned to lead systems towards anti-racist practice and equity through consciousness-raising efforts. At a time of heightened overt bigotry, polarization, and 'othering,' training social workers on how to identify, name, and disrupt oppressive practices is that much more critical. This paper outlines the development and components of customized anti-racist/anti-bias trainings for the Social Work Department of a large, urban healthcare system in the US. The trainings were developed in partnership with the system's Office of Diversity and Inclusion and built upon unconscious bias core curriculum. The trainings intentionally drew connections between systemic oppressive structures, US history, the creation and maintenance of dominant narratives, and micro-level bias, all of which culminate in inequitable outcomes and disparate experiences for service users and communities. This paper suggests possible application and implications of such trainings to diverse settings including classrooms and organizations. Social workers benefit from enhancing their ability to analyze their role in perpetuating racism and bias in organizations and with the people served.


I will describe an exact relation between self-avoiding branched polymers in D + 2 continuum dimensions and the hard-core continuum gas at negative activity in D dimensions (joint work with David Brydges, [1, 2]). Our results explain why the critical behavior of branched polymers should be the same as that of the iφ3 (or Yang-Lee edge) field theory in two fewer dimensions (as proposed by Parisi and Sourlas [3]). I will also discuss directed branched polymers in D + 1 dimensions, and show that they, too, are related to the hard-core gas in D dimensions [4]. I will review conjectures and results on critical exponents for D + 2 = 2, 3, 4 and show that they are corollaries of our results.


In this paper, we investigate the sensitivity of capacity estimation results subject to convective weather forecast errors. Our goal is to examine how throughput estimates vary with different types of weather forecast errors, including time shifting, coverage/intensity, and position shifting. We investigate capacity estimates in both en route airspace and transition airspace for Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) routing scenarios. We consider capacity estimation for a variety of weather forecast look-ahead times, ranging from 5 minutes to 2 hours.


Human visual attention can be deal with complex scenes in real time effortlessly and efficiently and detect the most interesting regions quickly. Based on the characteristic of human visual attention, one more comprehensive computation framework is proposed which fully takes the advantage of color contrast to obtain visual fixations of natural color images. Firstly, the color space conversion strategy is employed. The RGB color images are converted into the HSV color space and Lab color space respectively. Then, the superpixels generation algorithm is utilized to segment natural images in the HSV color space and in the Lab color space. Next, color feature-contrast in the two color space is respectively implemented and the corresponding single visual fixation is obtained. Finally, the color feature-fused strategy is adopted in order to get the final visual fixation. Experimental results show that our proposed framework can effectively improve the effect of visual fixations compared with a single color space for the natural color images. Moreover, the full resolution visual fixations can be obtained by employing the proposed framework in this paper compared to the context-aware approach. Meanwhile, these experimental results also clearly demonstrate that the proposed model for saliency estimation is effective.


Recent findings suggest that the vitronectin receptor, a member of the integrin family, plays an important role in the attachment of osteoclasts to bone matrix. We report here the localization by in situ hybridization of the mRNA for the α and β subunits of the vitronectin receptor in rat bone sections. To generate the rat‐specific RNA probes used in this study, we cloned cDNA fragments of integrin chains αv, β3, and β5 by the polymerase chain reaction from rat cDNA. These fragments share 86–91% homology with the respective human sequences. In situ hybridization localized the αv and β3 mRNAs to regions undergoing extensive bone resorption. The histologic appearance and prestaining of bone sections for tartrate‐resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) indicated the presence of these mRNAs in osteoclasts. These observations support immunohis‐tochemical findings that osteoclasts express high levels of the vitronectin receptor, confirm the identity of this receptor as integrin αv/β3, and suggest that osteoclasts may actively synthesize these molecules.


In many studies, data are collected hierarchically. Not always do such data follow balanced, multivariate designs. For example, in repeated measurements may be taken at almost arbitrary time points, resulting in an extremely large number of time points at which only one or only a few measurements have been taken. Many of the parametric covariance models described so far may then contain too many parameters to make them useful in practice, while other, more parsimonious, models may be based on assumptions which are too simplistic to be realistic. A general, and very flexible, class of parametric models for continuous longitudinal data is formulated as follows:


In recent years, more and more intensive treatment protocols have been initiated with the goal of improving long-term survival of pediatric cancer patients. Empirical evaluation of the psychological and social adjustment of the cohort of children with newly diagnosed cancer being treated with these modem regimens is essential to enhance quality of life. Inconsistencies in the literature on the "average" adjustment of children with cancer can be attributed to a number of methodological differences across studies. Assessment of physically healthy children's adjustment based on independently derived information from the children, parents, and teachers has consistently shown a lack of congruence among these three sources. This discordance or lack of agreement among reports of child adjustment was termed "cross-informant variance" for the purposes of the present investigation. Cross-informant variance among child, parent, and teacher report measures has not been systematically investigated for pediatric cancer...


Through the research on the rules of coal and gas outburst in mine outdated district,setting up regional prediction models between outdated district geology exploratory boring data and outburst index by quantification theory,then distribute the mine outdated district and check up the accuracy of the prediction models.Then apply the prediction models modified to distribute the mine new district.And the difficult issues that regional prediction of outburst dangerous in new districts when we can't determine the predictions parameters directly,have been resolved.


Now a day's wireless ad-hoc network is receiving more popularity as compared to wired networks. A wireless ad hoc network is a decentralized type of wireless network. A Mobile Ad hoc Network can change locations and arrange itself. A Mobile Ad-Hoc Network (MANET) is self-configuring network of mobile nodes connected by wireless links to form an uninformed topology without the use of existing transportation. Previous make inquiries in ad hoc networking have generally studied the routing problem in a non-adversarial setting by considering the trusted atmosphere. In this paper, we investigation the design and performance evaluation of a new efficient on demand routing protocol for mobile ad-hoc networks. Up till now many routing algorithms have been proposed to find the routing trouble in mobile ad-hoc networks so it is difficult to evaluate the presentation of different routing protocols qualitatively as there are many point of view that affect the performance of network. The proposed TAODV (Tactical On Demand Distance Vector Routing Algorithm) algorithm performs superior for finding routing problems in Mobile Ad Hoc networks. Most of the proposed algorithms use a blind flooding technique through the route discovery process. This method is unsuccessful and creates excessive routing overhead. To defeat this problem, the forth put routing protocol uses a query localization technique that importantly reduces the network traffic and raises the performance of network. The simulation results clearly show that proposed on demand routing protocol is more efficient and resizable than existing ones.


The methodology for the construction of an index of the educational expense per person in Spain during the last decades, which is exposed in this article, is based on the study of the principal components. From data provided by different sources and previously cleansed, we construct the index. Next, we seek for a mathematical model which is fit for their behaviour during those years. As a result, we conclude that the growth of expenses has followed an exponential-lineal tendency, with an approximate growth accumulated rate of 0'4 %.


File ID uvapub:88488 Filename 332857.pdf Version final SOURCE (OR PART OF THE FOLLOWING SOURCE): Type article Title Chronic stress effects on hippocampal structure and synaptic function: relevance for depression and normalization by anti-glucocorticoid treatment Author(s) Copyright It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content licence (like Creative Commons). UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (http://dare.uva.nl) The mechanism by which these behavioral effects of corticosteroid hormones are achieved has in part become evident from electro-physiological studies over the past two decades (reviewed in Joëls et al., 2007). In short, exposure to high levels of corticosteroids directly after stress quickly raises neuronal activity in hippocam-pal cells, on the one hand by promoting synaptic strengthening as demonstrated with paradigms inducing long-term potentiation (LTP; Wiegert et al., 2006), on the other hand by enhancing the frequency of mEPSCs and glutamate release probability (Karst et al., 2005; Olijslagers et al., 2008). The latter rapid, non-genomic actions require expression of MRs. At the same time, a slower, gene-mediated cascade is started via GR-dependent pathways, a cascade that will affect neuronal properties some hours later, i.e., by the time that the rapid effects have subsided. In CA1 neurons, these slow GR-dependent effects mostly attenuate information transfer – e.g., by enhancing cell firing frequency accommodation and hampering the induction of LTP (Joëls and de Kloet, 1989; Kerr et al., 1989; Kim and Diamond, 2002) – thus preserving earlier encoded information and normalizing activity to the pre-stress level. Yet, there seems to be a substantial regional specificity for GR-signaling pathways. For instance, dentate granule cells appear to be relatively resistant to slow GR-mediated signaling (Karst and Joëls, 2003; Van Gemert et al., 2009); principal neurons in the BLA can even display enhanced excitability some hours after stress (Duvarci and Paré, 2007; Liebmann et al., 2008). The delayed GR-mediated excita-tory effects in the BLA may in part develop secondary to a rapid-onset MR-dependent enhancement of glutamatergic transmission


Hardware-in-the-loop testing of IR/EO sensor systems requires the application of real-time IR/EO simulation/stimulation technology. Stimulation of the IR/EO system under test can be achieved by either scene projection or by direct signal injection. Although less intrusive, projection technologies are (to date) somewhat immature, thus requiring the use of direct-injection approaches for many sensor test applications. Even where projection can be applied, direct-injection testing provides additional flexibility and test capabilities which can augment the projection-based testing. The development of multiple, system-specific sensor interfaces provides one solution, however it is a very costly approach in terms of both time and money. What is needed is a reconfigurable, universal programmable interface (UPI), which can be utilized with minimal changes to stimulate a wide variety of IR/EO sensor systems. A UPI can also be utilized during the sensor development phase to evaluate and refine sensor designs. An opportunity now exists to leverage emerging trends in technology to develop such an interface, given a clear understanding of the processing and interface requirements. This paper discusses the development of processing and interface requirements for the UPI, as well as the resulting system design concept which will be used for its implementation.


Congenital hypoplasminogenemia (HPG) is characterized by markedly impaired extracellular fibrinolysis leading to the formation of ligneous (woody) pseudomembranes on mucosal surfaces, including the eye, mouth, bronchopulmonary tree, and genitourinary tract. HPG is caused by homozygous or compound-heterozygous mutations in the plasminogen gene (PLG; 6q26). We present a report of the first therapeutic use of replacement therapy with plasminogen purified from human plasma. A male of Turkish descent was diagnosed at 4 weeks of age with congenital hypoplasminogenemia following presentation with typical ligneous conjunctivitis. The serum plasminogen activity level was A). At 2 months of age he suffered a severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection requiring ventilatory support for 5 days and a 1 month hospitalization. From this time he had recurrent respiratory problems. From 4 months of age he was treated with fresh frozen plasma (FFP) 20 mL/kg/week. At 18 months of age he was found to have exophytic lesions within both the right and left main bronchi. He had one incident of acute severe dyspnea with cyanosis which responded to non- invasive oxygen insufflation. Subsequently he had repeated bronchoscopies with laser removal of bronchial lesions with FFP cover. At 20 months of age during preparation for bronchoscopy he had an episode of acute cyanosis and cardiac arrest with asystole and was resuscitated after 30 minutes. CXR showed atelectasis of the left lung and of the right lower lobe. He was admitted to the ICU and required both ventilatory and circulatory support. Profuse viscous lung secretions were aspirated. One week later he was given a dose of plasminogen of 4 mg/kg, with a second dose of 6 mg/kg and subsequent doses of 6.5 mg/kg every 48 hours. The pharmacokinetics are shown in the Figure. Note that baseline level before the first dose is 21% due to FFP therapy. Progressive dissolution of the membranes and exophytic lesions with some blood spotting, was noted, and was associated with decreased oxygen requirements. Improvement in the ligneous eye lesions was also observed. After 4 days he was extubated., but required reintubation after 36 hours due to exhaustion; he was finally extubated 1 week after receiving the first dose of plasminogen. Plasminogen replacement has continued with a regimen of 6.5 mg/kg every second day. There has been progressive dissolution of the membranes with greatly reduced lesions seen after 6 weeks of treatment. CXR before administration of plasminogen showed atelectasis of the left lung and of the right lower lobe (left panel). Six weeks after initiation of regulalar plasminogen substitution ventilation in both lungs had improved significantly (right panel) In this patient substitution with plasminogen was effective and showed no significant side effects. Patients with severe plasminogen deficiency might benefit from prophylactic or early treatment to prevent severe complications such as occurred in this patient. Disclosures Moran:ProMetic Life Sciences, Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership, Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees. Schneppenheim:Baxalta, now part of Shire: Membership on an entity9s Board of Directors or advisory committees.


Document-level sentiment classification is a process that aims to predict the sentiment rating of a particular document. The most popular methods take word embeddings as the inputs of a neural network. However, there are many different senses that coexist in a word embedding; such ambiguous word representation will cause models to misunderstand a text, which will result in predicting the sentiment incorrectly. Accordingly, to make the information in the text representation more explicit, we propose a Bidirectional Selection Mechanism (Bi-SM), which filters out redundancy from different perspectives by alternately selecting salient information contained in the text representation and the category representation. Bi-SM mainly contains two parts-Selection and Back Selection. At the word level, the Selection module uses the category of each word to "filter" out redundant senses. Meanwhile, the category will be enriched in this module for further being used in the Back Selection module. Subsequently, the Back Selection module uses the "filtered" word information to "select" the salient "enriched category", which is further used at the sentence level to "filter" out redundancy in the sentence representation. The same thing happened at the sentence level. Our experimental results demonstrate that our proposed models can achieve consistent improvements compared to state-of-the-art methods.


Abstract Rapid urbanization, a high pace of industrialization, and the demands of Soviet Marxist ideology have confronted Soviet city planners with enormous tasks. These are further complicated by the disadvantageous position of local government units as opposed to industries located in their territory, the manner in which national economic planning sometimes hinders efforts at local planning, and certain weaknesses of the city planning profession in both training and methods. While there is a great and continuing quantitative increase in apartment housing, the existence of the individual house poses special problems for city planners, and the construction of local facilities and services has not kept up with housing. The planner's attack on urban problems has recently focused on two programs: design of residential areas as largely self-contained micro-districts, and the reduction of center-city concentration via the satellite city.


Abstract The work has an individualized perspective, analyzing the results after the implementation of the tool in the Federal Court of Maranhao, under the perspective of the professionals who work with the Electronic Auction, regarding the efficiency and transparency of the same, the legislation applicable to the trading floor is the law 10,520 / 02 and regulated in electronic form by decree 5,450 / 05. It determines as general objective the analysis of the perceptions of the criers of the Regional Federal Court of Maranhao in relation to the efficiency and transparency in government purchases from the adoption of the electronic trading session. The methodology is classified according to the objectives, descriptive; the qualitative approach; being configured, as for the procedures, as a case study; using as data collection technique the semi-structured interview research corresponding to the Nucleus of Financial Administration and Budget and Information Technology Nucleo. The results are exposed through the identification and analysis of the key performance indicators of the JFMA after the implementation of the Electronic Auction Tool, through the optics of the criers. After analyzing the key indicators, the results showed that this modality is in fact allowing a more efficient and transparent public service delivery. In conclusion, the advantages conferred to the organization in relation to the adoption of the Electronic Screening tool, as well as the obstacles still existing and faced by the TRF / MA. Completes the conclusion of the improvement of Process Time, Bureaucratic Exacerbation, Administrative Transparency the process of using the tool brought to the Federal Court of Maranhao.


PURPOSE: A searching apparatus, a method thereof, and a program thereof which uses permutation are provided to efficiently search for a search target by consonant and vowel. CONSTITUTION: A searching unit(21a) configures partial permutation with reference to permutation feature information. The searching unit specifies an accumulation permutation in which a Korean character of the partial permutation is completed. The searching unit searches for the accumulation permutation and supplies a registration name as a search result.


The question of defining media management has been an important one for media management scholars since the infancy of their discipline. According to Picard (2008, p. 664), media management can be described as a critical analysis of how media companies evolve over the time. Indeed, media companies and institutions have their own industrial, economic and editorial specificities which make them different from any other ones in terms of project management, type of talents involved, international developments, costs analysis and structures (Chan-Olmsted and Chang, 2003; Doyle, 2022; Sanchez-Tabernero and Carvajal, 2002). As expressed by Kung (2007), it is important to note that the scope of the field is multidimensional and involves different academic notions coming from different academic areas like media economics, political economy, media studies and mass communication journalism (p. 22-23). Interestingly, the field of management research itself is not considered at the core of media management scholars' interests and references. In the article, I would like to suggest that media management, as a sector study of management, would be well inspired to better look at contemporary developments of management research than it has done over the past. For that to happen, the structure of the papers works as follows: first, I try to sum up some of the main aspects of the current academic research in general management. Second I show how these aspects can be discussed to reconsider how we see and define media management. To conclude, I focus on media business ethics as I consider that ethics issues have not been sufficiently taken into account by media management scholars to redefine their discipline. In the initial part the paper, I consider five different streams of management research. These five streams presently co-exist among the management scholar community: the first one is focusing on management as a set of techniques and tools. The second one concerns management considered as a social science. The third one, which has been increasingly important over the last few years, is interested in management as practice (Johnson et al., 2007). The fourth and fifth ones are about management studied as an ethic (Freeman et al., 2010) and as politics (Alvesson and Willmott 2012). Secondly, it seems interesting to try to understand media management using these categories. Media management could be indeed non only reconsidered as a sector studies with a set of specific techniques (media marketing, media finance etc..), of exclusive concepts (like audience changes, hit model etc), of selected practices (distribution, production, journalism, advertising etc), but also as a certain field to reconsider ethical (deontological separation between the editor and the publisher, privacy matters, stakeholder management etc..), and political issues (heroic/post-heroic leadership, user rights etc..). In its third part, the aim of the paper is to demonstrate that, reconsidering media management comes with the fact that ethical reach is indeed consubstantial with the managerial activity in the media. As Picard (2006) rightly explained, the value of the media is indeed related to their capacity to maintain their reputation among audiences and citizens. In conclusion, I will try to propose a portrait of such an ethical/responsible media manager and explore new avenues for research. Bibliography Alvesson, M. and Willmott, H (2012). Making Sense of Management: A Critical Introduction . London: Sage . Chan-Olmsted. S & Chang. B (2003). "Diversification Strategy of Global Conglomerates : Examining its Patterns and Determinates", The Journal of Media Economics , 16(4) :213-234. Doyle.G, (2002). Understanding Media Economics , London: Sage. Freeman, E., Harrison, J., Wicks, A., Parmar, B. and De Colle, S. (2010). Stakeholder Theory: The State of the art . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Johnson, G., Langley, A., Melin, L. and Whittington, R. (2007). Strategy as Practice – Research Directions and Resources . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Kung. L, (2007). "Does Media Management Matter ? Establishing the Scope, Rationale, and Future Research Agenda for the Discipline", Journal of Media Business Studies , Vol. 4, n°1, p. 21-40. Picard, R. (2006). « Journalism, Value Creation, and the Future of News Organizations », Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, Harvard University, Working Papers Series. Picard, R-G, (2008). « Le management des medias », in Sonnac, N. Greffe, X. Culture web – Creation, contenus, economie numerique. p. 663-673,  Paris: Dalloz. Sanchez-Taberno. A & Carvajal. M (2002). Media Concentration in the European Market : New Trends and Challenges, Pamplona, University of Navarra. 724 words.


Small cell transmembrane and glycosylated protein (SMAGP) was recently identified in the metastasizing rat pancreatic adenocarcinoma line BSp73ASML. SMAGP, an evolutionary conserved transmembrane protein, is expressed on lateral epithelial cell membranes. SMAGP expression was restricted to or was upregulated in several metastasizing as compared to nonmetastasizing human and rat tumor lines. In contrast to nontransformed tissue, SMAGP was mainly expressed in the cytoplasm, as has already been described for high‐grade human colorectal cancer. This raised the question on the impact of SMAGP on tumor progression. To answer the question, metastasis formation was evaluated in the nonmetastasizing rat pancreatic adenocarcinoma subline BSp73AS (AS), which was stably transfected with SMAGP cDNA (AS‐SMAGP). Cytoplasmic SMAGP expression promoted cell agglomeration, but inhibited tumor cell proliferation, adhesion to and migration toward vitronectin and matrigel invasion, which was accompanied by a failure of actin reorganization. AS‐SMAGP clones strongly promoted metastasis formation by dislodgment of normal tissue; 82% of rats developed lymph node metastasis as compared to 22% of rats receiving AS or mock‐cDNA‐transfected AS cells. The incidence of lung metastasis was increased from 6% in AS to 98% in AS‐SMAGP tumor‐bearing rats. Thus, SMAGP strongly promotes tumor progression. This likely is due to redistribution from the plasma membrane into the cytoplasm. SMAGP redistribution does not only facilitate tumor cell detachment from neighboring cells and the extracellular matrix, but obviously contributes actively by a not yet defined mechanism to tumor cell agglomeration and capillary plugging. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


volume written by a host of authors with direct experience of blood disorders in the tropics, is more than welcome. Many chapters make fascinating reading. Outstanding is the contribution by Fleming on haematological manifestations of malaria and other parasitic diseases and particularly the introduction on why haematological values may be significantly different in tropical Africa. There is an excellent review of tropical splenomegaly, dengue fever, and Burkitt's lymphoma. It is difficult to understand why nutritional megaloblastic anaemia due to vitamin B12 deficiency among Indian vegetarians is said to be excessively rare in South India when the reviewer has seen over 100 such cases among Hindu vegetarians in London in the last 5 years. Other chapters do not go much beyond the contents of the average haematology text. A fuller account of the haematology of tropical sprue (apart from India) would have been welcome. The book has much to offer all those who might see patients with tropical problems and it should be on the shelf of every medical library. I. CHANARIN Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex


With the development of converted-wave exploration technology,multi-wave multi-component seismic exploration methods have been applied more widely.According to the metal model research,the receiving and processing method of multi-wave and multi-component seismic data is discussed and studied in this paper,mainly aiming at such special technologies as separation and noise reduction of multi-wave data,common conversion point gathering,NMO and migration method.The data receiving methods and processing techniques are of great significance for further application of converted-wave seismic techniques to metal ore body exploration.


Section 9 of the Currency and Exchanges Act 9 of 1933 authorises the making of regulations in relation to 'currency, banking or exchanges'. Under this section the Exchange Control Regulations were promulgated by GN R1111 GG Extraordinary 123 of 1 December 1961.


The western South-eight block which is located in the comprehensive tap demonstration area of NO.2 oil production plant, has already gone through three years' fine development. The production has been stable, the rising amplitude of comprehensive water cut has been small, and the natural decline rate has been controlled effectively. But with the deep development, this block has gone into the late ultra-high water cut stage. To maintain high efficient water flooding development is more and more difficult, therefore fine 3D geological modeling and reservoir numerical simulation work have been carried out. And some practical residual oil saturation diagrams have been put forward finally towards this block, which has provided a reliable basis for the next oilfield development.


INTRODUCTION It has been estimated that for every two persons with Type 2 diabetes is a major public health challenge. The diagnosed diabetes, there is another undiagnosed 4 complexity of the disease is manifested through case . Developed countries are spending 10% or more microvascular and macrovascular complications. of the annual health budget for managing diabetes and Previous research has indicated both genetic and its associated complications. The cost of diabetes 5,6 environmental factors are implicated in disease treatment amounts to billions of dollars every year . 1 causation . Developing countries with 80% of global diabetes Family history plays a very significant role in type 2 population, are spending an insufficient amount for diabetes etiology and relatives of patients with diabetes management and in many parts even the diabetes have a 10 to 20 fold increased risk of cheapest lifesaving diabetes treatment drugs are developing diabetes as compared to people with a unavailable. World Health Organization has 2 negative family history for the disease . forewarned a "tsunami" of diabetes in Asia during the 7 next decade . Diabetes is regarded as 21st century's epidemic. The global burden of diseases includes 246 million people Pakistani population is reported to have one of the which make about 5.9% of the world's adult world's highest incidence rates of type 2 diabetes 8 population. About 7 million people develop diabetes mellitus . With the disease prevalence of 11% among every year and 3.8 million die due to the disease 20-79 age group it will go to number five in 2025. 3 complications . Impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) is found in an equal ABSTRAC... Objective: To determine the effects of various socio-demographic factors upon the prevalence of diabetes mellitus. Background: Type 2 Diabetes is growing at an epidemic scale. Besides genetic predisposition, numerous environmental factors elicit the development of diabetes. An estimated 246 million people are suffering from diabetes worldwide. Majority of diabetics (80%) live in very poor countries of the world, where even the least expensive lifesaving diabetes drugs are not available. Pakistan ranks number seven in terms of global diabetes burden and is projected to reach number five in 2025. Approximately half of the diabetics are aware of their disease status, and most of them are diagnosed with complications and poor metabolic control. This study determines the effects of various socio-demographic factors upon the prevalence of diabetes mellitus. Material and Methods: Study Design: Cross-sectional. Place: National Institute of Diabetes and Endocrinology, DUHS, Karachi, Pakistan. Duration of study: March 2008 to December 2009. Sample size: 1029. Results: The mean age of the study sample was 50.5 ±12.1 years. Fifty two percent study participants were males and 48% females. They were from various occupations, educational levels and socio-economic strata. Among these diabetics, 73% had family history of diabetes; 20% were doing exercise, 20% knew self monitoring blood glucose and 6% had knowledge to inject insulin. Only 29% followed diabetes diet. Conclusions: A vast majority of diabetic patients was not doing exercise; had least knowledge of self monitoring blood glucose and did not follow diabetes diet. Various environmental factors, lack of related information and peoples' reluctant attitude played important role in the high prevalence of diabetes. Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shaikh, Dr. Saima Akhund, Dr. Mukkaram Ali, Dr. Masood Hameed Khan TYPE 2 DIABETES; Effects of socio-demographic factors among patients. ORIGINAL PROF-1998


To qualify for factory jobs in major apparel-and footwear-exporting nations, more women stay longer in school. Whether Americans shop in fashion boutiques or low-priced superstores, the clothes and shoes they buy are often made in other countries. Many of these nations are poor, not just by U.S. standards but by global norms as well. In years to come, the have-not countries will likely continue to expand their role as world suppliers of apparel and footwear. With the dismantling of the Multifiber Arrangement in January 2005, the last quotas on clothing imports were lifted—except against China. In the World Trade Organization's Doha Round, negotiators are considering a proposal to end tariffs on all exports from the world's 70 poorest countries.


Background and Objective: Nitric Oxide in the small intestine causes relaxation of smooth muscles. Research indicates that extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields (ELF) affect nitric oxide level in the tissues. The objective of this study was to grasp the effect of prolonged exposure to ELF on the nitrergic system in the small intestine. Materials and Methods: 21 adult male rats were allocated to three groups: the experimental group exposed to ELF (50Hz, 1mT) for 75 days, the sham-operated group underwent similar conditions except ELF exposure; and the control group mice were kept under the laboratory normal condition. The isolated strips of the colon were inserted into organ bath and were linked to force transducer power lab A to D system and their mechanical activity were recorded in response to L-NAME. Data was analyzed using one way ANOVA test. Results: The results exhibited a significant increase (p≤0.05) of ileum basal contractions in experimental group when compared to control and sham groups. However, administration of L-NAME (inhibitor of NO synthesis) led to a significant decrease in ileum contraction in the experimental group compared to the sham and control groups (p≤0.05). Conclusion: It can be concluded that prolonged exposure to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields may decrease the activity of nitrergic system in small intestine of the male rats.


Introduction Mechanotransduction has demonstrated potentials for tissue adaptation in vivo and in vitro. It is well documented that ultrasound,as a mechanical signal,can produce a wide variety of biological effects in vitro and in vivo [1]. As an example,


Discrete particle simulations are used to study the shear rheology of dense, stabilized, frictional particulate suspensions in a viscous liquid, toward development of a constitutive model for steady shear flows at arbitrary stress. These suspensions undergo increasingly strong continuous shear thickening (CST) as the solid volume fraction ϕ increases above a critical volume fraction, and discontinuous shear thickening (DST) is observed in a range of ϕ. When studied at controlled stress, the DST behavior is associated with nonmonotonic flow curves of the steady-state shear rate as a function of stress. Recent studies have related shear thickening to a transition from mostly lubricated to predominantly frictional contacts with the increase in stress. In this study, the behavior is simulated over wide ranges of concentration, dimensionless shear stress, and coefficient of interparticle friction. The simulation data have been used to populate the lubricated-to-frictional rheology model of Wyart and Cates [Phy...


A novel tapered small‐size electromagnetic band‐gap (S‐EBG) microstrip filter structure is proposed and implemented. This structure is comprised of a main 1D microstrip EBG structure and two auxiliary EBG structures arranged in a compact configuration and Chebyshev distribution is adopted to eliminate ripples in the passband. It exhibits an ultrawide stopband with high attenuation and excellent transmission in the passband, yet the circuit area remains small. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 46: 154–158, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.20929


In the field of Life Sciences, it is very common to deal with extremely complex systems, from both analytical and computational points of view, due to the unavoidable coupling of different interacting structures. As an example, angiogenesis has revealed to be an highly complex, and extremely interesting biomedical problem, due to the strong coupling between the kinetic parameters of the relevant branching – growth – anastomosis stochastic processes of the capillary network, at the microscale, and the family of interacting underlying biochemical fields, at the macroscale. In this paper, an original revisited conceptual stochastic model of tumour-driven angiogenesis has been proposed, for which it has been shown that it is possible to reduce complexity by taking advantage of the intrinsic multiscale structure of the system; one may keep the stochasticity of the dynamics of the vessel tips at their natural microscale, whereas the dynamics of the underlying fields is given by a deterministic mean field approximation obtained by an averaging at a suitable mesoscale. While in previous papers, only an heuristic justification of this approach had been offered; in this paper, a rigorous proof is given of the so called 'propagation of chaos', which leads to a mean field approximation of the stochastic relevant measures associated with the vessel dynamics, and consequently of the underlying tumour angiogenic factor (TAF) field. As a side, though important result, the non-extinction of the random process of tips has been proven during any finite time interval.


Benefits of repeated air-root-pruning of seedlings when stepping up to progressively
larger containers include excellent lateral root distribution immediately below
the root collar and an exceptionally fibrous root ball. To evaluate long-term
field performance of repeatedly air-root-pruned container stock, three plantings
of swamp white oak (Quercus bicolor Willd.) 10 to 13 years old were located that also included bareroot planting
stock. Initial and final stem diameter and height and above-ground green
weights were determined on randomly selected trees at each site. On a site with
a sandy, excessively drained, high pH soil, trees (age 10) from container stock
were 1.5 times taller, 2.3 times larger in dbh, and 2.8 times greater in green
weight than trees from bareroot stock which averaged only 2.9 m tall, 3.9 cm
dbh, and 16.3 kg green weight. On a site with high clay, poor internal
drainage, and frequent flooding, trees (age 12) from container stock were 1.4
times taller, 1.8 times larger in dbh, and 4.1 times greater in green weight than
trees from bareroot stock which averaged 4 m tall, 7.3 cm dbh, and 28 kg green
weight. On an upland site with deep loess soils, there was a trend for trees
(age 13) from container stock to be only slightly larger than trees from
bareroot stock with each stock type averaging 9.6 m tall, 20 cm dbh, and 177 kg
green weight. Repeated air-root pruning produced lateral roots immediately
below the root collar that resulted in large container stock with large
well-balanced root systems that were competitive on harsh or less than ideal
oak sites. Although the process is relatively labor intensive, propagation of repeatedly
air-root-pruned container stock is readily adaptable internationally to locally
available sources of organic matter and open-bottom containers.


American Society of Cytopathology: 47th Annual Scientific Meeting, Sacramento, California, November 2–6, 1999, 1999;43:885–970 Analytical and Quantitative Cytology and Histology: Volume 20, Number 6, (December 1998), 1999; 43:89–93 Analytical and Quantitative Cytology and Histology: Volume 21, Number 1 (February 1999), 1999; 43:313–320 Analytical and Quantitative Cytology and Histology: Volume 21, Number 2 (April 1999), 1999;43: 503–509 Analytical and Quantitative Cytology and Histology: Volume 21, Number 3 (June 1999), 1999;43: 681–686 Analytical and Quantitative Cytology and Histology: Volume 21, Number 4 (August 1999), 1999;43: 880–884 Analytical and Quantitative Cytology and Histology: Volume 21, Number 5 (October 1999), 1999;43: 1184–1190 European Federation of Cytology Societies: 26th European Congress of Cytology, Budapest, Hungary, September 26–29, 1999, 1999;43:687– 741


The importance of making visible the invisible, of looking behind the masks presented by everyday consumer goods, became a central theme in Mr. Bigelow's first-time effort to teach about the "global sweatshop" and child labor in poor countries. We invited the Nike Corporation to respond to this article, but it failed to do so. I began the lesson with a beat-up soccer ball. The ball sat balanced in a plastic container on a stool in the middle of the circle of student desks. "I'd like you to write a description of this soccer ball," I told my high school global studies class. "Feel free to get up and look at it. There is no right or wrong. Just describe the ball however you'd like." Looks of puzzlement and annoyance greeted me. "It's just a soccer ball," someone said. The students must have wondered what this had to do with global studies. "I'm not asking for an essay" I said, "just a paragraph or two." As I had anticipated, their accounts were straightforward - accurate if uninspired. Few students accepted the offer to examine the ball up close. A soccer ball is a soccer ball is a soccer ball. They sat and wrote. Afterward, a few of them read their descriptions aloud. Brian's is typical: The ball is a sphere which has white hexagons and black pentagons. The black pentagons contain red stars, sloppily outlined in silver.... One of the hexagons contains a green rabbit wearing a soccer uniform with "Euro 88" written parallel to the rabbit's body. This hexagon seems to be cracking. Another hexagon has the number 32 in green standing for the number of patches that the ball contains. But something was missing. There was a deeper social reality associated with this ball - a reality that advertising and the consumption-oriented rhythms of U.S. daily life discouraged these students from considering. "Made in Pakistan" was stenciled in small print on the ball, but very few students thought that fact significant enough to include in their descriptions. However, these three tiny words offered the most important clue to the human lives hidden in "just a soccer ball" - a clue to the invisible Pakistanis whose hands had crafted the ball sitting in the middle of the classroom. I distributed and read aloud the Bertolt Brecht poem "A Worker Reads History," included in Rethinking Our Classrooms (Rethinking Schools, 1994, p. 91), as a tool to pry behind the soccer-ball-as-thing: Who built the seven gates of Thebes? The books are filled with names of kings. Was it kings who hauled the craggy blocks of stone? . . . In the evening when the Chinese wall was finished Where did the masons go? Imperial Rome Is full of arcs of triumph. Who reared them up? . . . Young Alexander conquered India. He alone? Caesar beat the Gauls. Was there not even a cook in his army? . . . Each page a victory. At whose expense the victory ball? Every ten years a great man. Who paid the piper? "Keeping Brecht's questions in mind," I said after reading the poem, "I want you to re-see this soccer ball. If you like, you can write from the point of view of the ball, you can ask the ball questions, but I want you to look at it deeply. What did we miss the first time around? It's not 'just a soccer ball.'" With not much more than these words for guidance - although the students did have some familiarity with working conditions in poor countries they drew a line beneath their original descriptions and began again. Versions one and two were like night and day. With Brecht's prompting, Pakistan as the country of origin became more important. Tim wrote in part: "Who built this soccer ball? The ball answers with Pakistan. There are no real names, just labels. Where did the real people go after it was made?" Nicole also posed questions: "If this ball could talk, what kinds of things would it be able to tell you? It would tell you about the lives of the people who made it in Pakistan. ... But if it could talk, would you listen? …


In order to investigate the degradation property of acetylated starch film in simulated environments with different pH,acetylated starch film was installed in the different simulated environments with different pH as 1.2,7,12,respectively.The weight loss rate,surface morphology,crystalline structure,hydrophobic property and mechanical property were characterized and analyzed by SEM,XRD,contact angle measurement,mechanical testing and DMA.The results showed that the structure and mechanical property of acetylated starch film were affected by the different values of pH.During the degradation,the V-type crystalline structure of the film was kept and the hydrophobic property and elongation at break decreased while the tensile strength decreased after an initial increase.Under the alkaline condition,the degradation rate of the film was much higher in the initial 14 days and the surface defect was partially appeared and the crystallinity increased as the degradation time increased.In contrast,under the acid condition,the film degradated more quickly in later stage and the holes were appeared on the surface of the film and the crystallinity increased before decreasing from the 28th day.These results provided fundamental data for the development of the starch-based degradable materials with different degradation rate which were suitable for different application environment.


It is with much hesitation that I attempt to discuss so difficult a subject as the early recognition of paresis, for here we are confronted with borderland conditions and overlapping states. I know of no subject which is so important and no subject concerning which error is more frequently made both on account of the gradual invasion and also because of the generalized character of the symptoms. The recognition of the disease in its early stage is especially difficult because, in the average case, general disturbances for a long time precede the appearance of special symptoms indicative of organic change. In cases in which a satisfactory and detailed history of the very early period can be obtained, we usually receive an account of general ill-health, an ill-health evidenced both by complaints on the part of the patient, as well as by the observations of his friends. As a rule, we find that the patient has not been well for some time,-usually months. If during this preliminary period of ill-health, the patient visit his physician, the case is not infrequently mistaken for one of neurasthenia, and yet when the symptoms presented are closely analyzed, it is found that they resemble those of neurasthenia only superficially. It is true we have quite commonly the symptom of ready fatigue and in addition inability to maintain the attention for any length of time Upon affairs of business or other every-day matters. Notwithstanding, the typical fatigue syndrome of neurasthenia is wanting, as an analysis of the early symptoms will show. The friends of the patient often maintain that his appearance and manner


This study is the first report on the synthesis, characterization and application of amine-functionalized mesoporous nanocomposites based on natural rubber (NR) and wormhole-like mesostructured silica (WMS). In comparison with amine-functionalized WMS (WMS-NH2), a series of NR/WMS-NH2 composites were synthesized via an in situ sol-gel method in which the organo-amine group was grafted onto the nanocomposite surface via co-condensation with 3-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (APS) as the amine-functional group precursor. The NR/WMS-NH2 materials had a high specific surface area (115–492 m2 g−1) and total pore volume (0.14–1.34 cm3 g−1) with uniform wormhole-like mesoporous frameworks. The amine concentration of NR/WMS-NH2 (0.43–1.84 mmol g−1) was increased with an increase in the APS concentration, corresponding to high levels of functionalization with the amine groups of 53–84%. The H2O adsorption–desorption measurement revealed that NR/WMS-NH2 possessed higher hydrophobicity than WMS-NH2. The removal of clofibric acid (CFA), a xenobiotic metabolite of the lipid-lowering drug clofibrate, from the aqueous solution using WMS-NH2 and NR/WMS-NH2 materials was investigated using a batch adsorption experiment. The adsorption was a chemical process in which the pseudo-second order kinetic model expressed the sorption kinetic data better than the pseudo first-order and Ritchie-second kinetic order model. In addition, the CFA adsorption sorption equilibrium data of the NR/WMS-NH2 materials were fitted to the Langmuir isotherm model. The NR/WMS-NH2 with 5% amine loading had the highest CFA adsorption capacity (6.29 mg g−1).


Flash photolysis of each of five diazonaphthoquinones (1-diazo-2(1H)-oxonaphthalene-4-sulphonate, 2-diazo-1(2H)-oxonaphthalene-4-sulfonate, 2-diazo-1 (2H)-oxonaphthalene-5-sulfonate, phenyl 2-diazo-1 (2H)-oxonaphthalen-4-sulphonate, and phenyl 2-diazo-1 (2H)-oxonaphthalene-5-sulphonate) in aqueous solutions was found to produce two short-lived intermediates preceding the ultimate idenecarboxylic acid reaction products


One dimensional problem of heat conduction for the Knudsen numbers more than 0.1 corresponding to nano-structures is implemented utilizing the Dual-PhaseLag (DPL) model and its special case, Cattaneo and Vernotte (CV) model as well as the Fourier law. The results are compared with the results obtained from the Ballistic-Diffusive Equations (BDE) model, which considered being an accurate approximation of the Boltzmann equation. It is observed that in Knudsen numbers of order one, the DPL model, with considering the real value of the ratio of temperature to heat flux time lag, leads to better results than the CV model in which this ratio is considered to be equal to zero whereas in the greater values of Knudsen number there is no advantage between two approaches. In the smaller values of Knudsen number the curves obtained from the DPL and CV models match to each other, and lay very close to the curves obtained from the Fourier law


The international community has come to criticize existing foreign aid practices for their poor coordination, misguided programming, and ineffective implementation strategies. China's controversial aid policies pose an alternative to dominant Western aid paradigms, as they thwart conventions of conditionality and good governance paramount to traditional donors. This thesis evaluates Chinese health aid as an alternative to Western health aid via the impacts of each on sub-Saharan African health capacity, commitment to health, and overall health outcomes. Results indicate that Chinese aid does not significantly impact health in sub-Saharan Africa, while World Bank aid displays strong significant relationships with improvements to government commitment to health and overall health outcomes.


Introduction Several lines of research support the hypothesised connection between the level of insulin-like growth factor-1 in the foetus and neonate and the potential of autistic characteristics appearing in the first 2 or 3 years of life. This model could account for the dominance of male over female occurrence, the relationship to maternal antepartum infection and the potential benefit of breast-feeding in preventing or reducing the psychoneurologic manifestations of autism. Conclusion The level of insulin-like growth factor, especially in cases of insulin-like growth factor gene polymorphism, could determine the likelihood in new-bornsthat they may subsequently exhibit the characteristics of infantile autism. Such suppression of IGF could also serve as a biomarker to aid in the diagnosis of autism.


For a tolled highway where consecutive segments allow vehicles to enter and exit unrestrictedly, we propose a simple toll pricing method. It is shown that the method is the unique method satisfying the classical axioms of Additivity and Dummy in the cost sharing literature, and the axioms of Toll Upper Bound for Local Traffic and Routing-proofness. We also show that the toll pricing method is the only method satisfying Routing-proofness Axiom and Cost Recovery Axiom. The main axiom in the characterizations is Routing-proofness which says that no vehicle can reduce its toll charges by exiting and re-entering intermediately. In the special case when there is only one unit of traffic (vehicle) for each (feasible) pair of entrance and exit, we show that our toll pricing method is the Shapley value of an associated game to the problem. In the case when there is one unit of traffic entering at each entrance but they all exit at the last exit, our toll pricing method coincides with the well-known airport landing fee solution-the Sequential Equal Contribution rule of Littlechild and Owen (1973).


Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain among the leading causes of death worldwide. An accurate identification of individuals who are at risk of a cardiovascular event plays a critical role in successful preventative intervention

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The electronic truck scale as weighing calculation tool of the large amount material is already widely applied in each domain of national economy. But the users of weighing instrument meet all kinds of cheating behaviors which is also one pattern after another,which is impossible for us to guard against. This article emphatically introduces all kinds of cheating phenomenon and guard method with the phenomenon which the author meets in the practical work.


The technological components regarding building cladding are designed for ensuring thermo-hygrometric comfort conditions within habitable spaces and realising smart buildings. Often the solutions adopted are identified referring only to the characteristics of mechanical and energy materials without considering the ecological–environmental properties in an urban context. Thus, it is appropriate to choose technological components not only according to material type, but also ecological aspects pursued through presence and/or structured integration of natural elements. The technical-design forms based on "building–nature" integration allows, on one hand, the sustainable soil use with multiple benefits (ecosystem services) that natural systems produce, on the other hand, the identification of technological solutions sized referring environmental quality levels achieved through appropriate natural species use. In this way, it can be obtained lower buildings investment and maintenance costs, and greater energetic–environmental benefits. So, it is proposed an evaluation protocol for settlement transformation interventions structured considering environmental effects obtained with Nature-Based Solutions (NBSs) into the project. According to ecological–environmental quality level achieved with NBSs, the technological component is sized according to preliminary design parameters (noise reduction and solar irradiation degree) obtained through NBSs. The total performance level of technological solutions is expressed using Economic–Environmental Indicators. The protocol is tested on social housing case in Anagnina district of Rome (Italy).


Although senile dementia is medically defined as physical disorders of the brain, from the sociological perspective, senility is a conception that is socially constructed. I focus on how social members interpret and react when engaged in interaction with those who are putatively senile, and find that their embarrassment and some general epistemological characteristics of human beings are closely connected. This point of view is evident, not only for layman/senile person interactions, but also in caregiver's groups such as the ADRDA where caregiver/patient interactions are interpreted as epistemological balancing styles.


Title: What effects would the concept of Uberization of trucking engender on fill rates in French distribution channels?Authors: Alice Cazaux – Maxime Gouge – Diane GrabowskiResearch questions: Wha ...


atrichia with papular lesions (OMIM no. 209500). Later on, it has been reported that the 5′-untranslated region of the HR gene contains four potential open reading frames (ORF): U1HR, U2HR, U3HR and U4HR. Of these, U2HR encodes a functional inhibitory peptide composed of 34 amino acid residues. Notably, all the mutations responsible for MUHH have been found in the U2HR region. Mutations in the U2HR have been shown to cause increased translation of the main physiological ORF of the HR gene that links inhibition of Wnt inhibitor, such as SFRP2. Excessive induction of Wnt signaling induces the proliferation of epithelial cells and the terminal differentiation of epidermal keratinocytes resulting in epidermal hyperplasia and the formation of abnormally proliferating follicular cysts. In conclusion, we report the first Japanese case of MUHH with a novel heterozygous mutation in the U2HR gene, characterized by AGA-like hair loss. Although only several cases of MUHH have been reported in the Asian populations, it should be kept in mind that MUHH is a differential diagnosis for AGAlike hypotrichosis in young patients. Taisuke ITO, Yutaka SHIMOMURA, Masaaki OGAI, Jun-Ichi SAKABE, Yoshiki TOKURA Department of Dermatology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Laboratory of Genetic Skin Diseases, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata, and Department of Dermatology, Seirei Hamamatsu General Hospital, Hamamatsu, Japan


The aim of this paper is to investigate the effect of domestic and foreign outsourcing on level of employment. We will distinguish between narrow outsourcing (intra-industrial purchases of inputs) and broad outsourcing (inputs from all sectors). Outsourcing is calculated using domestic and import – use matrices of input-output tables for 28 Spanish manufacturing industries for the period 1993 to 2002. These data are included in a labour demand function estimated using dynamic panel data techniques. Our main results show that narrow international outsourcing has a negative impact on the demand for labour, while broad measures are not significant. We also include spillover effects to capture technological changes. JEL CLASSIFICATION:; F14; J23; L6; 033


ABSTRACT In this paper, we consider a nonlinear wave equation with damping and source terms of variable-exponent types. First, we use the stable-set method to prove a global result. Then, by applying an integral inequality due to Komornik, we obtain the stability result.


The nano-pore dispersed cholesteric liquid crystals (ChLCs), prepared by a photopolymerization process using a mesogenic monomer and a ChLC mixture, recently has begun to attract attention because of their advantages, such as fast response, non-deformation of helical structure, and electro-optic tuning of selective reflection band. The nano-pore dispersed ChLCs have nanosized pores in the polymer matrix, and therefore the macroscopic helical structure is not distorted and only the LC molecules inside the nano-pores change the orientation even at high electric fields. In this study, we investigated the helical pitch dependence of the threshold voltage in the nano-pore dispersed ChLCs.


Objectives: The aims of this study were to collect sociodemographic, clinical data regarding practice of self-medication and to assess quality of life in healthcare workers involved taking care of COVID-19 patients.
Methods: The study population consisted of 104 healthcare workers from Gauhati Medical College and Hospital directly involved in management and control of COVID-19 Pandemic. It was a cross-sectional observational study using non-probability sampling. Data were collected in a questionnaire developed by the investigators which included age, sex, and occupation, COVID-19 such as symptoms, medicines used, contraction and confirmation of COVID-19 positive, and self-medication when COVID positive, symptomatic relief, and adverse effects and usefulness of self-medication. The data for mental health were obtained in a questionnaire based on the Professional Quality of Life Scale (Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue Version 5) with responses rated on a five-point Likert scale.
Results: The study consisted of 104 participants. Males were n=42 (40%) and females were n=62 (60%). Doctors n=20 (19%), Laboratory Technicians n=22 (21%), Nurses n=44 (42%), Pharmacists n=13 (13%), Ward boys n=3 (3%), and Ward girls n=2 (2%) took part. Eighty-four (97.7%) respondents took paracetamol, 39 (45.3%) took cough syrup, 30 (34.9%) used nasal decongestants, 25 (29.1%) utilized throat gargle, 24 (27.9%) used azithromycin, 22 (25.6%) used cefixime, 13 (15.1%) took amoxyclav, 27 (31.4%) took ORS, 3 (3.5%) took Doxycycline, 4 (4.8%) used Ivermectin, 1 (1.2%) took Dexamethasone, and 1 (1.2%) used Multivitamin. About 68% (n=51) of COVID Positive respondents self-medicated with Azithromycin, 24% (n=18) with Ivermectin, 41.3% (n=31) with Doxycycline, 20% (n=15) with Dexamethasone, and 4% (n=3) with Levocetrizine and Paracetamol. The Mental Health Assessment Scores were obtained as the sum total of scores of answers to the 30 questions provided per respondent. About 7% (n=7) respondents with total score between 60 and 69, 12% (n=13) from 70 to 79, 29% (n=30) from 80 to 89, 22% (n=23) from 90 to 99, 16% (n=17) from 100 to 109, 13% (n=13) from 110 to 119, and 1% (n=1) between 120 and 129. This indicates that some participants had mild burnout, most had moderate burnout, and a few had severe burnout.
Conclusion: Self-medication practices common among healthcare workers, increased during the COVID-19 Pandemic which must be appropriately managed to stay away from the ill effects. Providing adequate mental health resources and education to the affected health workers will motivate them increasing their productivity during the pandemic.


Various numerical analysis schemes for the classification of remotely sensed data are evaluated with respect to their capabilities for crop identification. A per point Gaussian maximum likelihood classifier, per point sum-of-normal-densities classifier, per point linear classifier, per point Gaussian maximum likelihood decision tree classifier and a texture-sensitive per field Gaussian maximum likelihood classifier were applied to seven sets of Landsat MSS data on several crop types and regions. The results of the implementation of the classifiers indicate that, given a representative set of training statistics, the choice of classification algorithm of the differentiation of corn and soybeans from one another and from other crop types made relatively little difference in accuracy, whereas the use of a different training method affected the accuracy significantly. In addition, the linear classifier is found to be the easiest for the analyst to use and to cost least in computer time per classification.


The unsteady heat transfer through a longitudinal fin of various geometric profiles is studied. The thermal conductivity and heat transfer coefficient are assumed to be temperature dependent making the resulting partial differential equation (PDE) highly nonlinear. Numerical solutions are compared to solutions found via a variant of the variational iteration method and a dynamical systems analysis is conducted.


The dynamics of a hub-functionally graded material beam system rotating in a plane is investigated.It is assumed that the physical properties of the functionally graded material follow certain kinds of power law gradient distribution and vary in the thickness direction.The second order coupling deformation variable,also known as the longitudinal shortening caused by transversal deformation,is considered.By using the method of assumed modes to describe the deformation of the beam,the rigid-flexible coupling dynamic equations of the system are derived via employing Lagrange's equations of the second kind.Then,by considering two different gradient distribution rules,the impact of material distribution and gradient indices on the dynamic characteristics of the hub-functionally graded material beam system undergoing large overall motions are discussed by using numerical simulations.The results show that different functionally gradient distribution rules and material gradient indices will have a great impact on the dynamics of the system.


Most of the power industry's engineers and planners have gained their work experience in vertically integrated public utilities, where investments are identified through least-cost planning models and bids are invited for precisely specified types of plant. Now, however, private producers are driving a new approach to least-cost investments in electricity supply. They are willing to absorb technical and financial risks--something that least-cost planning has never dealt with satisfactorily--and to find more innovative ways to reduce risk. Traditional approach to least-cost planning need to be overhauled. As private investment increases, least-cost planning models will become less useful for identifying the best investment choices. Under the new paradigm, competition should lead to lower-cost supplies. However, the least-cost models still will be useful for monitoring industry performance because they can help show whether investments, plant operating schedules, and prices are indeed being competitively determined.


An investigation is made into the dynamics involved in the movement of the contact line when a single liquid with an interface moves into a vacuum over a smooth solid surface. In order to remove the stress singularity at the contact line, it is postulated that slip between the liquid and the solid or some other mechanism occurs very close to the contact line. It is assumed that the flow produced is inertia dominated with the Reynolds number based on the slip length being very large. Following a procedure similar to that used by Cox (1986) for the viscous-dominated situation (in which the Reynolds number based on the macroscopic length scale was assumed very small) using matched asymptotic expansions, we obtain the dependence of the macroscopic dynamic contact angle on the contact line velocity over the solid surface for small capillary number and small slip length to macroscopic lengthscale ratio. These results for the inertia-dominated situation are then extended (at the lowest order in capillary number) to an intermediate Reynolds number situation with the Reynolds number based on the slip length being very small and that based on the macroscopic lengthscale being very large.


ABSTRACT This work qualifies and quantifies the natural convective phenomena occurring in a hemispherical enclosure filled with ZnO-Water monophasic nanofluid with a volume fraction varying between 0% (pure water) and 10%. The dome of the cavity is kept isothermal while its circular base generates a power varying between 0.5W and 400W. The disc can be inclined with respect to the horizontal plane by an angle varying between 0 and 180° (horizontal disk with a dome facing upwards and downwards respectively). The 3D numerical approach is carried out with the finite volume method based on the SIMPLE algorithm. The temperature and velocity distributions are presented and the convective heat transfer is examined for all processed configurations. The nanofluidic convective heat transfer is quantified by means of correlations of the Nusselt-Rayleigh-Prandtl-tilt angle type. They allow to optimize the thermal design of these cavities used in the field of electronics.


The present invention relates to an implant (10) for prevention or treatment of a nearby hernia a stoma of a member formed at the abdominal wall, comprising a layer of a porous structure (11), covered on its face (13) intended to be placed facing the abdominal cavity by a first film (16) non-stick material, characterized in that said porous structure (11) comprises a first portion (14) intended to be in contact with the ostomate member (3) and having a first thickness E1, and a second portion (15) having a second thickness greater than said first thickness E2 E1, said first portion (14) being covered on its face intended to be placed facing the abdominal wall by a second film (16) non-stick material.


Titanium diboride is one of the candidate materials for high temperature applications and also for control rod elements in high temperature reactors. This paper presents the experimental data on the composites of B4C-nano TiB2 that were synthesized successfully by co-precipitation method at temperatures between 973 and 1523K. Titanium tetraisopropoxide, boron carbide and isopropanol were used as the precursor materials. The phase constitution and microstructure of B 4 C-nano TiB 2 during synthesis were investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to determine phase and microstructure of TiB 2 -B 4 C composites. The DTA/DDTA and TG/ DTG results improve that the first exothermic reaction is TiO 2 phase and second exothermic reaction takes place at 1523K which is TiB 2 phase.


This paper first presents sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues of adolescents and youth in the Asian and Pacific region based on demographic trends and other socioeconomic factors that influence sexual behavior among young people. Two distinct demographic trends coexist in the region both of which have important implications for the SRH of youth. First there is the widening gap between sexual maturity and the age at marriage which results in premarital sexual activities among young people in many countries in the region. The second trend is the continuing prevalence of adolescent marriage and the low use of contraception during adolescence resulting in a high rate of adolescent fertility. In addition there are various socioeconomic factors that are influencing the sexual and reproductive behavior of youth in the Asian and Pacific region including inadequate access to correct information; the availability of and access to youth-friendly health services; peer pressure and the erosion of the role of the family; economic constraints; and the gender power imbalance. The paper then reviews the governmental perspectives and policies on the SRH of young people in the region and concludes with policy recommendations. While many governments in the region have recently started to recognize the importance of SRH issues for youth the programs in this field are still at an early stage of development and some countries continue to view youth RH as a "non-issue". Seven strategic elements are recommended to address the issue of the SRH of youth including: the promotion of youth participation; the strengthening of the data collection system; the promotion of gender equality and life-skills development among youth; the improvement of access to information for young people; the provision of quality gender-sensitive services; the sensitization of adults; and the promotion of partnership modalities in programs and multisectoral collaboration. (authors)


Nowadays, most Higher Education Institutions (HEI) rely on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for all aspects of their activities such as administration, teaching, learning and research services. Even though the adoption of ICT in higher education has been extensive since mid 1990s, it has failed to produce the radical changes in learning and teaching. While many studies have been conducted on ICT usage in higher education especially in the developed countries, similar studies in the context of Islamic-based higher education institution (IHEI) are scarce. IHEI are unique institutions because its mission and vision are based on Islamic teachings and values. While it is well recognized that ICT implementation is a complex process, planning its use in the context of IHEI posed a greater challenge due to the cultural factor and the negative attitude towards the technology. This paper presents the analysis of ICT implementation barriers and organizational issues at UIN Jakarta, as a case study of an Islamic-based higher education institution in Indonesia. The findings revealed that the barriers include aspects related to organizational constraints, technological constraints, IT management problems, individual and cultural factors. While most factors are common, the aspect of organizational culture factor that relates to its being a religious institution is unique to this HEI.


[Objective]To analyzed the result of re-examination and confirmation of HIV antibody positive samples tested in HIV initial examination laboratory of CDC in 12 counties and cities of Qiannan prefecture.[Methods]After re-examination of the Positive samples send by CDC of each county in CDC at prefecture level with Sandwich ELISA method,the positive samples tested by CDC at prefecture level were send to provincial center to be confirmed.[Results]Of the 122 positive samples tested by CDC at county and city level,107 were positive after re-examination by CDC at prefecture level,while 15 were negative.The coincidence rate was 87.7%.After re-examination of the 107 positive samples by provincial CDC,104 were positive ,the coincidence rate was 97.2%.The coincidence rate of the 122 samples was 85.20%.[Conclusion]The accuracy of the examination result in HIV initial screen laboratory was not ideal,comprehensive measures must be taken to improve the examination level.


Based on the fact that the structural domain need be divided into some finite element meshes when structural topology optimization is made,and some optimization problems may need a large finite element mesh,a new structural topology optimization method was proposed.The minimum compliance topology optimization of continuum structures was dealt with volume constraint.The moving of compliance and process of iteration were controlled by the varying volume constraint,an optimality criteria was incorporated,and a new structural topology optimization method subject to compliance was proposed.The results show that the proposed method has higher efficiency,and is robust and practicable,making the optimum structure obtained with 0?1 distribution material property.


Integrative review study aiming to understand how health education actions influence self-care during chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer. The research was structured in six stages and sought to answer the following guiding question: How do health education activities interfere with the self-care of women with breast cancer in chemotherapy? We used primary data in free access databases with established criteria for searching in journals in Portuguese, English and Spanish through research modalities and levels of evidence in the period 2000-2017. In your. In the analyzed publications, all published in English, it was observed that the role of nurses in health education and the strategies adopted promote self-care actions and self-management of adverse reactions by the patient and enable improvements in quality of life after chemotherapy. It is important to invest in educational actions for women in this treatment modality because it allows greater impact in the prevention of complications resulting from adverse reactions, self-care enhancement and reduction of costs with additional treatments.


Aim: To study the pathophysiology of defecation disorders in patients with primary pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and the diagnostic potential of anorectal function testing (AFT) including endosonography in the work-up of these patients. Methods: 59 Patients were evaluated with a validated questionnaire, clinical examination, AFT and endosonography. Results: Women with POP showed lower squeezing pressure, postponed first sensation and desire, lower capacity and prolonged pudendal nerve terminal latency time compared to healthy controls (all p < 0.01). Manometric findings did not differ significantly between patients with and without constipation. Patients with fecal incontinence had significantly lower resting and squeezing pressures than patients without fecal incontinence and an increased risk of an external sphincter defect (odds ratio = 12.75, 95% confidence interval 2.40–66.67). Although digital rectal examination could quantify absent, decreased and normal squeezing pressure, the positive predictive value for external sphincter defects was low (0.32). Conclusion: AFT indicates the presence of neuromuscular damage of the anorectal region in patients with POP. AFT is not useful in the work-up of patients with POP and constipation, because it fails to discriminate between symptomatic and asymptomatic patients. In cases of fecal incontinence, AFT and endosonography are helpful to distinguish between functional and anatomical problems.


Is there any relationship between birthweight and weight during childhood and adult life? With diabetes? With hypertension? With dyslipidemia? With coronary heart disease? Epidemiological studies have revealed strong links between various markers of reduced intrauterine and early postnatal growth and the susceptibility to diabetes, hypertention, hypertriglyceridemia and the insulin resistance syndrome in adult life. The early studies from Sheffield in the United Kingdom showed that it is people who were small at birth because they failed to grow, rather than because they were born early, who are at increased risk of chronic disease. The markers for reduced intrauterine growth is birthweight and Babies with Retarded Fetal Growth vs Large for Gestational Age Mary Anne Lim-Abrahan, MD UP -PGH


Belief in God is the basis of Islam and all other divine religions. Therefore, it is essential to accept the existence and unity of God before the basis of other beliefs. In this article, the problem of God's existence and unity (isbat al-wajib) has been introduced according to the evidences of Kalām scholars. According to our study the article reflects isbati-vajib (important proof) evidences of the Islamic scholars starting from the Proof of Huduth to the proof of ilmi awwal. The Proof of Huduth, based on the substance (jovhar) and the accidence (araz) method, is assumed that all objects that make up the universe come from a substance and the properties (araz) possessed by this substance. Johvar and araz are hadith. Therefore such logical conclusion arises that the universe consisting of jovhar (substance) and araz (accidence) is also Hadith. The possibility evidence consequently is similar to the Proof of Huduth. The possibility evidence was first used by Farabi and Ibn Sina. The purpose and order evidences had been used since the time of Socrates. This evidence is based on the dominance of an extraordinary, sensitive and subtle order in nature. The evidence of qabulu amma is explained by the fact that at the result of universe history the religion and God concept in human beings are innate. Qabulu amma evidence is also called fitrat (nature) evidence. The last evidence of primary science is based on fact that every scientist prior to teach a science learns it from other scientist. Finally, this chain of knowledge stands in Allah, the perpetual and eternal God. All the evidence serves to prove God's existence and unity.


The author presents Robert Kennedy's life from the times of his youth to when a foreign gunman felled him and the subsequent investigation which remains incomplete


Research results in simulation engineering are primarily based on software – from small scripts written by a single researcher to big software projects developed at the researchers institute or by an international community. Usually the research results are published in a publication, whereas the underlying software and data resulting from the software is not available. Consequently, the results which are discussed in an article can be difficult to reproduce. Initiatives like the FAIR data principles try to give an idea how research data can be stored in order to reuse research results. This article describes how the FAIR data principles may be applied for research software in simulation engineering and give an idea how infrastructure services can help researchers handling their research software.


2n gametes are the result of meiotic mutations occurring during micro – and mega-sporogenesis. They have been identified in several plant species of different taxa. The potato is probably the crop plant where they have been most intensively studied and also more appropriately used for the genetic improvement of cultivated genotypes. This paper reviews how 2n gametes allow potato breeders to broaden the genetic basis of the cultivated Solanum tuberosum, introducing both new genes for the improvement of traits of interest and allelic diversity to maximize heterozygosity. We provide molecular and breeding evidence that, in the potato, 2n gametes represent a unique tool to transfer target genes from wild forms to the cultivated tetraploid gene pool. In fact, species directly crossable to S. tuberosum haploids can be exploited through sexual polyploidization crossing schemes. For those which have developed crossability barriers, specific crossing schemes based on ploidy bridges can be designed. In this paper we also give possible hypotheses to explain conflicting results on the genetic control and meiotic mutations responsible for 2ngamete formation in the potato.


Background: It is well known that allergy development is linked to alteration in microbiome and cytokines levels. colonization of children gut by wide array of microbes and bacteria is associated with mucosal and systemic immune responses as well as allergy development. Investigating the role of gut microbiota and serum cytokines clarifies the pathophysiology of the disease and enhance development of management plan. This study aimed to assess fecal microbiota in asthmatic children and correlate it with serum CXCL8 and p38 MAPK as potential asthma severity markers. Results: This case control study enrolled 56 asthmatic children aged 2-8 years, and 20 non asthmatic children of matched sex and age group as a control. Fresh stool samples were obtained from enrolled children for analysis of gut microbiota through DNA extraction and Real time PCR, using species-specific primers, serum CXCL8 and P38MAPK levels were estimated by ELISA. Higher level of Bifidobacterium and lower level of Lactobacillus was reported in asthmatic compared to non-asthmatic children, current results showed significant difference between asthmatic and non-asthmatic subgroups regarding CXCL 8 serum level. Study reported significant negative correlation between presence of asthma and serum markers CXCL8 and p38MAPK while significant positive correlation between presence of asthma and Bifidobacterium Log. Conclusions: the association between CXCL8 level, p38 MAPK and microbiome suggesting a link between gut bacteria and inflammatory status. Moreover, elevated CXCL8 , and p38 MAPK level increase symptoms severity. The alteration of microbiome level associated with elevated markers level suggesting the protective role of gut microbiome in asthma control.


Identification of fluid contacts (OWC & GOC) on seismic is a challenging task in the limestone reservoirs. Confident definition of the pool limits in particular and reservoir characterization in general has always been there in the minds of geoscientist. Bassein structure, producing from 125m thick gas column followed by 8 to10m oil leg supported by the bottom water within limestone reservoir, is one such case. Impedance difference across the contact interfaces in limestone reservoir is good enough to produce the seismic events, but mapping them has so far been an issue despite having a few calibration points from well logs. Velocity difference between overburden and limestone reservoir in the presence of structural element causes lateral velocity variations at nearly horizontal contacts and undulate them in time domain leading to structural complexity. Moreover, contacts are further modulated by lateral variations in average velocity of overburden at reservoir top.


A new method for calculating Auger decay rates in molecules is proposed andtested. Essential features are (1) construction of the continuum orbital viasolution of the Lippmann-Schwinger equation with a projected potential, (2)matching in the asymptotic region of the Lippmann-Schwinger wave function withthe eigenfunctions of the long-range Hamiltonian, and (3) complete evaluationof the Auger matrix elements between Hartree-Fock wave functions for theinitial and final states. The method is tested on the /ital KLL/ Auger spectrumof atomic Ne and then used to predict Auger decay rates for the LiF moleculeionized in its deepest shell.


Editor's Introduction: This article explores the many ways that West Africans arrived in New England by way of the British American Caribbean during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Rather than being shipped directly from Africa, Africans who arrived in New England were usually the "residue" or leftover human cargo from these Guinea voyages. Small numbers of Africans were shipped with the rum and sugar sent back to New England as part of the provisions and carrying trade. Africans who arrived in New England by these circuitous migrations were the captive cousins of the hundreds of thousands of Africans who labored on Caribbean sugar plantations. They shared ethnic origin, language, cultural, and spiritual beliefs and practices as well as kinship connections. This article argues that the propensity to resist enslavement often found in the Caribbean was also true of enslaved Africans in New England.Historians agree that most enslaved Africans who lived in colonial New England were transshipped from the Caribbean, namely from the British colonies of Barbados, Jamaica, Antigua, and Nevis. Robert S. Desrochers concluded that one-third of the slaves imported to Massachusetts in the 1700s came directly from Barbados.1 In The Akan Diaspora in the Americas (2010), Kwasi Konadu also found that enslaved blacks in Boston came from Barbados and Jamaica. However, Konadu does not make a connection between the Gold Coast presence in Boston and the incidences of slave rebellion in that colonial town.2 The most well-known authority on New England slavery, Lorenzo Johnston Greene, documents the myriad ways that enslaved Africans in New England resisted slavery, from running away to poisoning, arson and murder. However, he does not link the incidences of slave resistance in New England to the presence of Africans who had been "seasoned" in the Caribbean and had therefore participated in or at least witnessed acts of rebellion before being transshipped to New England.In this article, Dr. Kerima Lewis attempts to make an ethnic and cultural link between Africans in New England and the Caribbean by demonstrating that acts ofresistance were in the repertoire of many enslaved West Africans no matter their location, whether in New England or the Caribbean. At the same time, she documents the many prominent New England families who became involved with importing these rebellious slaves from the Caribbean to New England.Africans held in slavery in New England shared a close ethnic affinity with Caribbean slaves. Slave traders from Massachusetts as well as Rhode Island exchanged gallons of rum, a variety of foodstuffs, and dry goods for Africans along the West African or "Guinea Coast." Although most Africans purchased in the transatlantic slave trade were sold in large allotments to anxiously waiting Caribbean sugar planters, many slave ship captains regularly brought along a few Africans when they returned to Boston and Newport.3Thus, enslaved Africans who arrived in New England colonies were "part and parcel" of the hundreds of thousands of Africans delivered to the Caribbean during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Although separated by the expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, these captive cousins shared languages, worldviews, and kinship ties as well as spiritual ideas. Since they shared both an ethnic and cultural relatedness, it follows that those in New England would have exhibited a similar propensity for resistance typically attributed to enslaved Africans in the Caribbean.Africans who were transshipped from the Caribbean on New England slave ships were often labeled "refuse" because they were children, aged, sickly, or those known to be rebellious. Caribbean planters enjoyed the privilege of purchasing the more physically robust West Africans for their sugar plantations while the "residue" or "leftovers" were often sold to interested buyers in New England.4 Acts of slave resistance occurred in different ways in various locations across the Atlantic, from slave rebellions organized on the coast of West Africa to slave ships during the Middle Passage and upon their arrival in the Americas. …


This thesis intends to describe the whole architecture and implement process of the information management system for the house property mapping.The J2EE program for Browser//Web Server/EJB Server/DataBase Server architecture is implemented with JBuilder.With the development and the appliance of the information management system for the house property mapping,the J2EE platform which based on hierarchical component model is proved effective in separating operation logic from bottom technology.The J2EE platform makes the information management system flexible and extensible.The J2EE platform reduces the cost and complexity in developing a system of multi-tier,and strengthens the security of system.The J2EE platform is also proved to be well applied in modern management of files、Office Automation and controlling the work flow.


The aim of this paper is to introduce a new class of sets called Supra g * π -closed sets in Supra topological spaces  and to study their properties. Further we study supra g * π -open sets and their properties.


Aluminum hydride is a covalent, binary hydride that has been known for more than 60 years and is an attractive medium for on-board automotive hydrogen storage, since it contains 10.1% by wt. hydrogen with a density of 1.48 g/ml. There are at least 7 non-solvated AlH{sub 3} phases, namely {alpha}, {alpha}{prime}, {beta}, {gamma}, {var_epsilon} and {zeta}. The properties of {alpha}-AlH{sub 3}, obtained from the Dow Chemical Co. in 1980, have been previously reported. Here we present a description of the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of freshly prepared {alpha}, {beta} and {gamma} phases of AlH{sub 3}. In all cases the decomposition kinetics are appreciable below 100 C and all will meet the DOE 2010 gravimetric and volumetric vehicular system targets (6 wt% H{sub 2} and 0.045 kg/L). However, further research will be required to develop an efficient and economical process to regenerate AlH{sub 3} from the spent Al powder.


Background

Glycerin is produced as an 11% by-product in biodiesel manufacturing. Impurities are concentrated in the glycerin phase. High-vacuum distillation of glycerin is an energy-intensive process. A new low-cost purification strategy for glycerin is needed. This paper reports the refining of the glycerin phase obtained from palm-oil biodiesel synthesis by ion-exchange with cationic resins. In the literature and to the best of the authors' knowledge, the use of a real glycerin phase from biodiesel has not been reported. The ion-exchange equilibrium was determined in a batch process, while variables for the industrial scaling-up were studied in continuous operation.

Results

The sodium content obtained with low amounts of resin is lower than that obtained with mineral-acid refining. Almost complete sodium removal could be achieved in continuous operation. Langmuir and Freundlich models give a good fit to the equilibrium data. Amberlyst was the best resin. Breakthrough capacity was 96% of static exchange capacity. 95% of the static ion exchange was recovered by washing with water-soap.

Conclusion

A 96.6% purification level of glycerol was obtained with the resin Amberlyst 15, using a methanol content of 60%, liquid phase flow of 0.8 mL min−1 and 0.3 g resin g−1 glycerin phase; dynamic exchange capacity was 96% of the static exchange capacity. Exchange capacity is almost completely regenerated by washing with water-soap. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry


In continuance to providing a reliable and cost-efficient road construction material that would aid the development of sustainable pavements while also eradicating agricultural wastes to protect the environment, Cassava Peel Ash (CPA) modified asphalt mixture is seen to be one of the most viable options. This study aimed to determine the suitability of Cassava Peel Ash (CPA) in hot mix asphalt for improved pavement performance. Using response surface methodology, a central composite design was employed for the mix design parameters, namely coarse aggregate (CA), fine aggregate (FA), mineral filler (MF), bitumen content (BC), and cassava peel ash (CPA). CPA was used as a partial replacement for filler and varied between 0% and 20%. The BC varied between 4% and 8%, the MF varied between 15% and 20%, the FA varied between 10% and 14%, and the CA varied between 46% and 52%. The interactive effect between the mix design parameters on the volumetric properties of the asphalt mixtures was evaluated. The results obtained showed the Marshall stability, flow, density, volume of the void, and void in mineral aggregates of the asphalt mixtures at 1.8037–8.045 kN, 2.7-8.22 mm, 2.0426–2.3909%, 1.094–7.966% and 55.5105–93.1393% respectively. These results indicate that the interaction of CA, FA, MF, BC, and CPA influences the volumetric properties of asphalt mixtures. From the RSM analysis, a prediction model and an optimal condition of 4.018% asphalt content, 20% cassava peel ash, 46% coarse aggregate, 10% fine aggregate, and 15% mineral filler were achieved for the asphalt mixtures. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-10-07 Full Text: PDF


Chapter 21, «Choice of Access Points,» of the Anglo-American Cataloguing Rules was implemented in HyperCard for delivery of instruction to library science students. Hypertext offered two caracteristics that matched characteristics of cataloging decisions: the capability of providing multidimensional structure to a multidimensional task, and data richness. The rules, examples, sample title pages, and tutorial material were implemented in HyperCard, along with graphics that suggest the cataloging environment. Several data structures were developed, including a decision tree to provide an overview and ready access to particular rules or tutorials. Implication discussed include the potentiel of hypertext to support instruction and cataloging workstations, changes in orgaizational structures, and the opportunity to redifine classroom instruction in cataloging