The magnetoelastic (MEL) stresses of single crystal Ho and Er thin films are measured at low temperatures and in applied magnetic fields up to 12 T by means of a capacitive cantilever technique, to determine the irreducible second-order basal plane MEL stress Bγ,2. For Ho, the data are well fit by the Callen and Callen law, giving Bγ,2=0.29 GPa at 0 K and 12 T, slightly larger than the bulk value, which suggest a negligible effect of the clamping on Bγ,2. For Er, the lack of saturation prevents the determination of the single-ion contribution to Bγ,2 at 0 K. Nevertheless, its sign, which is negative, agrees with the theoretical crystal field prediction.


In this note we derive an expression for the largest learning rate which guarantees convergence of SGD in the linear setting. We then specialize to the case of normally distributed observations, which allows us to get a simple linear form of SGD update, and simplifies expressions for largest learning rates.


Abstract Prediction of mean flow stress within the hot rolling of steel products can lead to significant improvement in the manufacturing. In this paper this problem is dealt on data coming from a real industrial plant and it is shown how inadequate well known literature models are. Alternative models are then proposed by improving existing formulae by means of genetic algorithms based optimization and by the development of artificial neural networks based models. The performance of the proposed methods are compared and put into evidence the advantages of the use of artificial intelligence techniques within the handled industrial problem.


Micro-optical elements and related technologies are becoming increasingly important in a number of areas. There are many different methods of fabricating these micro-optical elements. One such technique to produce microlenses is the UV-curable resin method. This method involves the application of droplets of UV-curable resin to a substrate, which can then be cured using UV light. The quality of the lenses produced using this method can vary due to a number of experimental difficulties. These include the fact that the UV resin shrinks as it is cured. This shrinkage effect is a difficult problem, as it is a property of the UV material and the substrate. The ability to pre-shape the liquid droplet may enable the manufacturer to compensate for this shrinkage. In this paper we propose a method to generate a controlled perturbation of the liquid profile and hence the optical properties of the final lens. We describe our method of inducing variations in the droplet profile using an applied electric field. This method enables the fabrication of aspheric lenses. The analysis of this fabrication method requires the development of an accurate lens profile measurement system. A number of techniques can be used to examine the resulting lens elements including mechanical techniques such as Dektak profilometry and optical techniques such as interferometric techniques including laser profiler and white light profiler. In this paper we give the details of the modified Mach-Zehnder interferometric measurement system used, discuss the optical properties of the lens and show a demonstration of the perturbation of the lens profile.


Concurrent infections are a common complication of viral respiratory infections. They pose diagnostic challenges due to an overlap of similar symptoms, resistance to treatment and extending length of hospital stay. In this review we will extensively discuss the most common concurrent infections in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A thorough literature search was conducted in online databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar and included systematic reviews, meta-analyses, prospective and retrospective cohort studies in this review. Bacterial co-infections are the most common concurrent infections in patients with COVID-19 succeeded by viral and fungal co-infections. The prevalence of co-infections in COVID-19 patients is higher in intensive care units (ICU). Gram negative bacteria such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli, whereas gram positive bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus are common pathogens for bacterial co-infections. The findings for the most common viral co-infection are inconsistent however, larger number of studies report respiratory viral co-infections such as influenza and respiratory syncytial virus. Fungal co-infections in COVID-19 patients are most commonly caused by the Candida spp. and occur predominantly in patients admitted in the ICU and are associated with high mortality and morbidity in COVID-19 patients. Continuous research on concurrent infections occurring in COVID-19 is essential. Larger prospective studies based on stratified groups of age, gender, and both ICU and non-ICU settings should be conducted. Studies on microbial susceptibility can lend more weight to empirical antibiotic and antifungal therapy. Early diagnosis of concurrent infections in COVID-19 is imperative to prevent poor patient outcomes.


Based on principle of elasticity stability of structure,the calculating formulas for dynamic stability load of steel structure members on high temperature condition under axial dynamic load were conducted.The influence of dynamic stability of end of differ restrict of rod,length thin ratio,size of rod,damping force and exciting frequency etc were studied.How to reduce vibration respect steps of members in practical engineering was raised.It provided some references for the value on high temperature condition in steel structure engineering.


The lucrative higher education market has intensified the competition among higher education providers as they aggressively promote their institutions to international students. In this study, we explore the factors which are important to Chinese international students when deciding on a study destination and higher tertiary education (ITE) institution. The results of this study provided the impetus to understand the factors which can be a source of sustainable competitive advantage for New Zealand and its ITE providers in the highly competitive Chinese market. Strategically, the results revealed New Zealand must maintain its position as a provider of quality higher education and build upon two unique distinctive capabilities: its comparatively low cost and reputation of being a safe country. Additionally, it would be strategically advantageous to build close collaborations between the Government and the institution to attract overseas students.


Abstract As a new concept in policy analysis, instrument constituencies shed light on the 'supply side' of policy-making and thereby fill a gap in our understanding of national and transnational policy dynamics. Policy instruments are not only 'active' because they contain scripts for reordering society but also because they gather a constituency comprised of practices and actors oriented towards developing, maintaining and expanding a specific instrumental model of governing. Instrument constituencies account for a hitherto neglected form of agency and explain the often-observed paradox that policy solutions sometimes chase policy problems, although the former are meant to emerge as answers to the later. We give an outline of the concept as it has been developed so far, formulate propositions, and discuss linkages with established research traditions in policy studies.


PURPOSE: To accurately specify the burial position of a metallic cable by arranging a monitor window of a cable probe near the metallic cable. CONSTITUTION: An approximate position of a metallic cable 12 is detected via the detection of radio energy emitted from the cable 12 and, then, a casing 16 of a cable probe 10 is pushed toward the vicinity of the cable 12. Thereafter, the radio energy detected with a radiowave frequency receiver 23 is monitored to detect the direction of the cable 12. Also, when the casing 16 is sunken so as to keep the projected bottom 18 thereof at the burial position of the cable 12, a light source 36 operates. Thereafter, a shutter 20 is opened, and a TV camera picks up the image of the cable 12 through a monitor window 19. As a result, the cable 12 can be visually watched. Once the cable 12 is visually confirmed, the casing 16 is further buried into the soil, thereby keeping the bottom 18 in contact with the cable 12. As a result, a receiver 23 detects maximum radio energy. COPYRIGHT: (C)1995,JPO


Due to the condition of the original material, there are unavoidable flaws in this reproduction. We have made every effort to provide you with the best copy available. If you are dissatisfied with this product and find it unusable, please contact Document Services as soon as possible. ABSTRACT In this note we examine a special class of wiretap channels and give some useful characterizations of its members.


Counter-transference reactions may help to discern latent interview-contents. This will be described with an example from the research project Geschichte und Erinnerung (History and Memory). In this project interviews with men and women, who agreed to and actively supported Hitler and National Socialism (ordinary bystanders and perpetrators) have been conducted and evaluated.


Purpose
This paper aims to propose a new strategy to functionalize zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF-8) to improve its dispersion stability and tribological properties in lubricating oil.

Design/methodology/approach
Dialkyl dithiophosphate polydopamine ZIF-8 (DDP@PDA@ZIF-8) was prepared via mussel-inspired chemistry and the Michael addition reaction. The tribological properties of DDP@PDA@ZIF-8 as an additive in the white oil were evaluated with four-ball friction and wear tester at different temperatures. The worn surface was analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectrum (XPS).

Findings
The as-prepared DDP@PDA@ZIF-8 shows high dispersion stability in the white oil. Tribological results confirmed that the DDP@PDA@ZIF-8 exhibited a small wear scar diameter at 25°C. However, excellent friction reduction and anti-wear properties were observed at 75°C. The XPS result indicates that a series of tribochemical reactions occurred on the worn surface, forming the complex protective film.

Originality/value
This paper provides a study of highly dispersed ZIF-8 as lubrication additives.


The natural frequency and principal vibration pattern were o btained by computer simulation based on 3200mm plate mill of Jinan Iron an d Steel Co.,Ltd.The basic frequenc y of the dynamic performance of ma in drive system was closed to the measured value, and it shows that the drive desige is reasonable.


A backward swing noise reduction of windshield wiper by using an embedded system is proposed. The embedded hardware mainly consists of SH microprocessor and motor driving IC. The embedded software implements PID algorithm. In the experiments, the target motor speed is dynamically changed and its schedule is devised to reduce the backward swing noise. The results indicate that the proposed embedded system and the speed schedule attains 10dB noise reduction. This corresponds to two third reduction of the noise for human feelings.


Measurements of in‐cloud vertical air motion are key to quantitatively describe cloud dynamics and their role in cloud microphysics. Here, a retrieval technique for estimating the in‐cloud vertical air motion using the upward edge of the radar Doppler spectrum is presented. An additional broadening correction factor that depends on the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) is introduced. A variety of independent measurements are used to assess the performance of the new technique. The vertical air motion is unbiased with an uncertainty of 0.2 m s−1 for SNR <30. The properties of in‐cloud vertical air motion are investigated from 1 year of ground‐based observations of warm marine boundary layer clouds. Clouds with higher LWP are characterized by stronger vertical air motions compared to those having lower LWP values.


This issue of Workplace Health & Safety contains a Continuing Nursing Education Module on "The Mental Health of the Organic Farmer: Psychosocial and Contextual Actors" 1.0 contact hour of continuing nursing education credit will be awarded by AAOHN upon successful completion of the posttest and evaluation. A certificate will be awarded when the following requirements are met by the participant: (1) Participant logs on to the AAOHN LMS website at www. aaohn.org/education/online-learningcenter and enrolls in the course ($10 members; $15 non-members); (2) The completed posttest and course evaluation are entered online at http:// www.aaohn.org by January 2021; (3) A score of 75% (6 correct answers) is achieved by the participant. Upon completion of this lesson, the occupational health nurse will be able to:


The objective is to find a Cellular Automata rule that can form a 2D point pattern with a maximum number of points (1-cells). Points are not allowed to touch each other, they have to be separated by 0-cells, and every 0-cell can find at least one point in its Moore-neighborhood. Probabilistic rules are designed that can solve this task with asynchronous updating and cyclic boundary condition. The task is considered as a tiling problem, where point tiles are used to cover the space with overlaps. A point tile consists of a center pixel (the kernel with value 1) and 8 surrounding pixels forming the hull with value 0. The term pixel is used to distinguish the cells of a tile from the cells of a cellular automaton. For each of the 9 tile pixels a so-called template is defined by a shift of the point tile. In the rule application, the 9 templates are tested at the actual cell position. If all template pixels (except the central reference pixel) of a template match with the corresponding neighbors of the actual cell under consideration, the cell's state is adjusted to the reference pixel's value. Otherwise the cell is set to the random value 0 or 1 with a certain probability. The hull pixels are allowed to overlap. In order to evolve a maximum of points, the overlap between tiles has to be maximized. To do that, the number of template hits is counted. Depending on the hit-number, additional noise is injected with certain probabilities. Thereby optimal patterns with the maximum number of points can be evolved. The behavior and performance of the designed rules is evaluated for different parameter settings.


Hartmann, Martín Ariel Modelling and Prediction of Perceptual Segmentation Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2017, 94 p.(+included articles) (Jyväskylä Studies in Humanities ISSN 1459-4323; 303 (nid.) ISSN 1459-4331; 303 (PDF)) ISBN 978-951-39-6902-8 (nid.) ISBN 978-951-39-6903-5 (PDF) Finnish summary Diss. While listening to music, we somehow make sense of a multiplicity of auditory events; for example, in popular music we are often able to recognize whether the current section is a verse or a chorus, and to identify the boundaries between these segments. This organization occurs at multiple levels, since we can discern motifs, phrases, sections and other groupings. In this work, we understand segment boundaries as instants of significant change. Several studies on music perception and cognition have strived to understand what types of changes are associated with perceptual structure. However, effects of musical training, possible differences between real-time and non real-time segmentation, and the relative importance of different musical dimensions on perception and prediction of segmentation are still unsolved problems. Investigating these issues can lead to a better understanding of mechanisms used by different types of listeners in different contexts, and to gain knowledge of the relationship between perceptual structure and underlying acoustic changes in the music. In this work, we collected segmentation responses from musical pieces in two listening experiments, a real-time task and a non real-time task. Boundary data was obtained from 18 non-musicians in the real-time task and from 18 musicians in both tasks. We used kernel density estimation to aggregate boundary responses from multiple participants into a perceptual segment density curve, and novelty detection to obtain computational models based on audio musical features extracted from the musical stimuli. Overall, our findings provide evidence for an effect of experimental task on perceptual segmentation and its prediction, and clarify the contribution of local and global musical characteristics. However, the findings do not resolve discrepancies in the literature regarding musicianship. Furthermore, this investigation highlights the role of local musical change between homogeneous regions in boundary perception, the impact of boundary indication delays on segmentation, and the problem of segmentation time scales on modelling.


Background: It is speculated that the anesthetic strategy during endovascular therapy for stroke may have an impact on the outcome of the patients. The authors hypothesized that conscious sedation is associated with a better functional outcome 3 months after endovascular therapy for the treatment of stroke compared with general anesthesia. Methods: In this single-blind, randomized trial, patients received either a standardized general anesthesia or a standardized conscious sedation. Blood pressure control was also standardized in both groups. The primary outcome measure was a modified Rankin score less than or equal to 2 (0 = no symptoms; 5 = severe disability) assessed 3 months after treatment. The main secondary outcomes were complications, mortality, reperfusion results, and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scores at days 1 and 7. Results: Of 351 randomized patients, 345 were included in the analysis. The primary outcome occurred in 129 of 341 (38%) of the patients: 63 (36%) in the conscious sedation group and 66 (40%) in the general anesthesia group (relative risk, 0.91 [95% CI, 0.69 to 1.19]; P = 0.474). Patients in the general anesthesia group experienced more intraoperative hypo- or hypertensive episodes, while the cumulative duration was not different (mean ± SD, 36 ± 31 vs. 39 ± 25 min; P = 0.079). The time from onset and from arrival to puncture were longer in the general anesthesia group (mean difference, 19 min [i.e., −00:19] [95% CI, −0:38 to 0] and mean difference, 9 min [95% CI, −0:18 to −0:01], respectively), while the time from onset to recanalization was similar in both groups. Recanalization was more often successful in the general anesthesia group (144 of 169 [85%] vs. 131 of 174 [75%]; P = 0.021). The incidence of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage was similar in both groups. Conclusions: The functional outcomes 3 months after endovascular treatment for stroke were similar with general anesthesia and sedation. Our results, therefore, suggest that clinicians can use either approach. In this single-blind, randomized trial including patients with large vessel occlusion of the anterior cerebral circulation, standardized general anesthesia and standardized conscious sedation for endovascular therapy resulted in comparable modified Rankin scores when evaluated 3 months after intervention. These observations suggest that the functional outcome 3 months after endovascular treatment for ischemic stroke is comparable for general anesthesia and sedation.


The present invention relates to compounds of Formula (I) wherein Ar, Ar 2,R2, R3, R4, m, p and s are as defined in the description and claims, and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. The compounds are useful for the treatment and/or prophylaxis of diseases that are associated with the activation of the glycogen synthase enzyme, such as diabetes.


Metal optics is actively used in IR optics, which makes it necessary to clean it from dust and other operational contaminants. This increases the life of these notably expensive products. Usually their mechanical wiping is excluded, since it leads to the appearance of scratches and other defects on the surface, markedly increasing the scattering of radiation. Methods for the selection of solvents have been analyzed and experiments have been carried out that make it possible to accept efficient their use in the purification of metal optics from contaminations. Contaminations have different physicochemical properties and are present, as a rule, together on the surface of metal optics (taking into account the corrosion properties of the latter). Solvent compositions based on azeotrope mixes with freon-114B2, having a solubility parameter (δ) corresponding or close to the solubility parameter (δ) of the main (by weight) contamination or a mixture of contaminants which are present on the optical surface, were used.


We present a new type of error backpropagation gradient descent algorithm. In the new algorithm, unless the error is already very small, we move along quickly ("glide") in flat regions. This algorithm seems intuitively appealing because flat regions should be "safe" regions where the error doesn't usually change much over distance. Using a simple 2-layer, 3-neuron neural network that computes the XOR function as a test bed, we find that for small to moderate learning rates, this algorithm converges significantly faster than conventional backpropagation gradient descent with the same learning rate outside of flat regions. For example, at eta=0.5 the new algorithm converges about 3 times as fast as the conventional one. However, the new algorithm is riskier than the conventional one and tends to diverge at higher learning rates. While the new algorithm already has some practical value, it could be even more useful if the divergence problem can be solved. Some ideas that may lead to its solution are given at the end of the paper. This work represents an early attempt to conquer the vast flat regions in an error curve, turning the known properties of flat regions to our advantage.


Past research on communication in negotiation has concentrated on actual interaction in competitive labor‐management and crisis negotiation; the present study is relevant to perceptions of strategy choice in both competitive and cooperative interpersonal settings. Participants rated the extent to which they would choose examples of seven negotiation strategies in varying situations. Results showed a preference for integrative strategies over distributive. Moreover, the degree of power differential and liking between negotiators and degree of integrative potential and importance of the context has a discernible effect on these preferences.


Glasses systems based on TeO2-ZnO-Na2O (TZN), TeO2-WO3, and TeO2-Na2O-ZnF2 are reported here, with a number of other components added (PbO, GeO2, Nb2O5, Bi2O3, Er2O3, Yb2O3, PbF2, and ErF3).

Glass formation was shown for the first time, to this author's knowledge, in the ternary system (90-x)TeO2-10Na2O-xZnF2 for x = 5 to 30 mol. %. Glass stability (Tx-Tg) was found to increase with ZnF2 addition, reaching a plateau of around 161oC at x = 25 mol. %. This could be due to competition of various phases to crystallise (NaZnF3 and Zn2Te3O8) as the eutectic is approached, with fluoride addition. These glasses are the most stable ZnF2 containing tellurite compositions reported to date, to the author's knowledge.

As-received ZnF2 batch material was shown to contain a significant proportion of Zn(OH)F, identified by XRD. The as-received ZnF2 was fluorinated with (NH4)HF2, which produced a substantially more phase pure powder, with oxygen levels reduced from around 13.2 to 3.1 at. % from XPS spectra. By calculation from the O1s XPS peaks, the proportion of Zn(OH)F was reduced in the powders from 39.7 to 9.4 mol. %.

A number of absorption bands in the infrared were identified by FTIR for the TeO2 -ZnO-Na2O glasses due to intrinsic lattice vibrations (visible in a 0.2 mm sample), and extrinsic impurity absorption, including: free OH (around 3.0 microns, 3300 cm-1), weakly hydrogen-bonded OH (around 3.3 microns, 3060 cm-1), and strongly hydrogen-bonded OH (around 4.8 microns, 2090 cm-1).

For the series (90-x)TeO2-10Na2O-xZnF2, mol. %, x = 5 to 30 mol. % melted for 2 hours as bulk glasses, OH bands at 2900 cm-1 were reduced in intensity with ZnF2 addition due to self drying of the melt, from around 0.12 cm-1 (120 dB.m-1) for x = 5 mol. %, to around 0.02 cm-1 (20 dB.m-1) for x > 15 mol. %. Melting time also had a significant effect on drying of this series, with the loss at 2900 cm-1 reduced by two orders of magnitude when increased from 1 hour (around 705 cm-1, 705 dB.m-1) to 2 hours (0.01 cm-1, 10 dB.m-1). Refractive index of the series (90-x)TeO2-10Na2O-xZnF2, mol. %, x = 5 to 30 mol. % decreased linearly with ZnF2 addition, from 2.02 (x = 5 mol. %) to 1.85 (x = 30 mol. %), as the fluoride and zinc are less polarisable than oxygen and tellurium.

Cohen-Grest viscosity modelling was used to predict the fibre drawing temperature (around 330oC, corresponding to a viscosity of 10^4.5 Pa.s), and fragility of the fluorotellurite core / clad pair (20 / 25 mol. % ZnF2), occurring at least 60oC < Tx. Fragility of these glasses was predicted to lie between oxide tellurite glasses (stronger) and fluorozirconate glasses (more fragile).

Increasing melting time and fluorination resulted in a significant decrease in OH bands in the 700 nm to 2.5 micron region for unstructured 70TeO2-10Na2O-20ZnF2 mol. % fibre, from around 40 to 4 dB.m-1 at 2.5 microns as melting time was increased from 3 to 10 hours. Fibre optical loss for the 10 hour melt was relatively flat (around 5 dB.m-1) over the entire 700 nm to 2.5 micron region.


The IRI2038 project will explore plausible yet provocative scenarios for the future of RD this is frequently accomplished through videos or narratives set in the future. This column takes the form of a 2038 interview with a retiring R&D executive looking back at what has changed over her career, illustrating the potential impacts of several trends and weak signals identified by the IRI2038 process. On May 15, 2038, IRI's Director of Futures Studies, Nikhita Cruise, sat down with Dr. Rachel Chen, retiring Chief Innovation Officer of one the world's largest consumer products companies, to talk about how much the development of new products and the management of R&D have changed over the course of Chen's 30-year career. NIKHITA CRUISE [NC]: Good morning, Dr. Chen. First, I want to thank you for taking time to talk with IRI about the changes you have seen over the course of your outstanding career. For the benefit of our readers, listeners, and viewers, perhaps you could briefly tell us about your career. RACHEL CHEN [RC]: Good morning to you, Nikhita, and thank you for those kind words. As far as my own history, I joined my firm right out of college in 2008 as a research scientist in the U.S. labs of our skincare division. My first management job was six years later, when I became section head of a team researching OTC drugs for improved digestion in our Shanghai facility. I spent ten years in Shanghai, moving up the management ranks, gaining experience in other business units. By the 2020s, our businesses in Africa were growing exponentially, so I moved here to our research facility in Addis Ababa, where I have remained ever since. Five years later, I was named Chief Innovation Officer. You know, Nikhita, this interview itself is an example of one of the biggest changes we've all seen over the last few decades. It was just 10 years ago that intelligent avatars became intelligent enough to stand in for humans in meetings around the world, finally solving the age-old problem of conducting meetings across time zones. I'm sitting here in my den having my morning coffee, being interviewed by a real-time hologram of your avatar two meters away from me, who is simultaneously seeing me as if I were in your den. Meantime, the real Nikhita Cruise is sound asleep in her Alexandria home. [Dr. Chen looks at holographic image more closely.] Wait a minute, that really is you, isn't it, Nikhita? I don't even remember the time zones anymore--What time is it there on the East Coast? Midnight? NC: It's actually I AM here, but don't worry about it. I have been looking forward to doing this interview in person for a long time. But your point about how technology has impacted the way we communicate and collaborate is well taken. My first question, then: For over lO0 years, your company has been famous for its skill and innovation in consumer research. Can you tell us how you have seen that change? RC: Certainly. When I joined the company, we did a lot of direct consumer research. Now, the only research with real consumers is done by our contract product developers. When we want to test a major new product idea ourselves, we usually go to one of the human simulation companies. Back around 2020, Henry Markram was finally successful in developing a neuron-level simulation of the human brain. Five years later, full human simulators were available, and five years after that, firms like Real Simulations, Inc., started appearing, offering to test new products on thousands of simulated humans of any demographic profile. …


According to the result of energy balance,the temperature field of water jacket was simulated.The FEM model was established properly,with which the stress analysis and strength calculation were done.The factors influencing the safety of the structure were summarized,and thermal loading was the most damaging.The research of the stress distribution can provide the theoretical foundation for the reconstruction of the water jacket.


THERE is no reference to short extensor muscles of the hand in modern textbooks of anatomy, or even i n Wood Jones's (1941) classic book; this relatively unimportant omission is surprising in view of the abundance of records of such cases i n the nineteenth century and earlier literature. This case is presented as the third short extensor of the hand to be reported in the literature of the past 2 years for which a patient underwent operation. D u n n and Evarts (1963) thought their case to have been a ganglion; Bingold (1964) diagnosed rheumatoid tenovaginitis; and in this case the patient was admitted for removal of a ' ganglion '.


Abstract It is increasingly required that new developments in care provision be evaluated (Everitt and Hardiker, 1996). An evaluative study of a new, volunteer-based aftercare service, providing short-term support for older people on discharge from hospital, combined the collection of quantitative data with in-depth interviews with a small number of service users, volunteers and hospital-based staff


In the littlest Higgs Model with T-parity, we discuss the pair production of the T-odd top partner (T−) which decays almost 100% into the top quark and the lightest T-odd particle (AH). Considering the current constraints, we investigate the observability of the T-odd top partner pair production through the process pp → T−T̄− → tt̄AHAH in final states with two leptons at 14 TeV LHC. We analyze the signal significance and find that the lower limit on the T-odd top partner mass are about 1.04 TeV, 1.14 TeV, 1.23 TeV at 2σ confidence level at 14TeV LHC with the integrated luminosity of 30 fb, 100fb, 300fb. This lower limit can be raised to about 1.34(1.44) TeV if we use 1000(3000) fb of integrated luminosity. PACS numbers: 14.65.Ha,13.66.Hk,12.60.-i ∗Electronic address: email@example.com


During neural development, progenitors both divide to expand the neural progenitor (NP) population and differentiate as neurons and glia. This balance of proliferation and differentiation is crucial to the proper development of the central nervous system (CNS). This balance appears to be regulated by multiple different mechanisms including apicobasal polarization by Partitioning defective proteins (Par) as well as Hedgehog signaling, which in addition to its role in dorso-ventral patterning also promotes progenitor proliferation. How both of these pathways are modulated at the end of neurogenesis remains poorly understood. Using bioinformatics we identified the polarity genes pard3 and prkci as candidate targets for microRNA-219 (miR-219). miR-219-deficient zebrafish embryos have a deficit of oligodendrocytes, the myelinating glial cells of the CNS. Because a disruption in polarity could affect the types of cell divisions that NPs undergo, thus altering the balance of cell types that arise, we hypothesized that neural precursor maintenance is regulated by modulation of polarity cues through miR-219. We found that miR-219 inhibited expression of pard3 and prkci mRNAs via target sites in the 3' untranslated region. These data support the role of miR-219 in downregulating expression of Par polarity proteins at the end of neurogenesis. In addition, we also found that Sonic Hedgehog (Shh) signaling was significantly increased in miR-219 morphants, suggesting a role for miR-219 in regulating the levels of Shh. Using prkci mutant zebrafish embryos we found that reduction of apical Par proteins results in a reduction of Shh signaling.


During stretching of the hollow fiber, by preventing slippage between the hollow fiber and the drawing rollers, providing a porous hollow fiber membrane production apparatus and method capable of producing a homogeneous hollow fiber membrane. A heat treatment unit 10 for heat-treating the hollow fiber, the hollow fiber has been heat treated to a porous hollow fiber membrane production apparatus and a cold drawing section 20 for cold drawing, cold drawing unit 10 includes a plurality of feed rollers 21 includes a cold drawing rollers and a plurality of take-up roller 22 disposed at the conveying direction downstream side of the hollow fiber than this plurality of feed rollers 21, among the plurality of feed rollers, the conveying direction of the hollow fiber friction coefficient of the outer circumferential surface of the feed roller 21c disposed on the most downstream, the other higher than the friction coefficient of the outer circumferential surface of the feed roller 21b, and among the plurality of take-up roller, the conveying direction most upstream of the hollow fiber higher than the friction coefficient of the outer circumferential surface of the take-up roller 22b other than arranged take-up roller 22c to the.


Asking the maximum value of a determinant whose number of rows is n and elements are 1 or-1 is not until now been solved.This article attempts to solve this problem. Firstly we transforms this problem into askint the maximum value of a determinant whose number of rows is n-1 and elemnts are 0 or 1.Then we has given a method that using a determinant whose number of rows is k-1 and value is relatively large to construct a determinat whose number of rows is k and value is relatively large too.Lastly we make this kind of method to acquire the values of determinants whose number of rows is 3 to 8 and elements are 1 or -1.


The goal of the ELMO Bumpy Torus Reactor (EBTR) study is the evaluation of the EBT confinement concept as the basis for development of a commercial fusion power reactor. A multidisciplinary, self-consistent treatment of EBT reactor scaling and design has been completed and a reference design (EBTR-48) has been developed. This design, based on a realistic plasma model and relatively conservative engineering parameters (i.e., 1 MW/m/sup 2/ neutron wall loading and a 7.3 T maximum toroidal field), is a steady state, ignited-mode system with high plasma power density and aspect ratio. The total thermal power of EBTR-48, exclusive of blanket multiplication, is 4000 MW; the design is based on a standard module and the design power level for a particular plant is determined by the number of modules used. Several design variants have been investigated in detail to illustrate the effect of near-term and advanced technologies and to illustrate the design freedom offered by devices with low field and high aspect ratio. The high aspect ratio simplifies many aspects of the design, most notably those associated with remote maintenance, accessibility, and repair. It appears that a commercially successful EBTR could be constructed with only slight advances in existing technology, ifmore » the present understanding of the physics can be extrapolated to the reactor regime and does not differ markedly from the model developed for this study.« less


Diffusion studies were performed to determine the temperature and sulfur partial pressure dependence of Yb diffusion and solubility in . Over the temperature range of 930° to 990°C and pressure range of 3.3–33 atm, the diffusion appears to consist of a saturated surface component and a slow deep diffusing component. The slow diffusing component can be described by the approximate relation where the sulfur partial pressure, , is measured in atmosphere and the activation energy for the process is . The surface concentration (and hence solid solubility) of obeyed the relation These results suggest that the diffusion and solubility of is determined by the cadmium ion vacancy concentration in .


Locust Heaven Locust outbreaks have severe consequences for agriculture, but the conditions that promote an outbreak are unknown. Cease et al. (p. 467) investigated aspects of the locust diet and found that increased nitrogen content of cereal grasses reduced the size and viability of a herbivorous locust species. This locust prefers low N plants, which result from heavy grazing by livestock and erosion. High-protein plants inhibit locust swarming, which explains why grazed systems are more prone to outbreaks. Current paradigms generally assume that increased plant nitrogen (N) should enhance herbivore performance by relieving protein limitation, increasing herbivorous insect populations. We show, in contrast to this scenario, that host plant N enrichment and high-protein artificial diets decreased the size and viability of Oedaleus asiaticus, a dominant locust of north Asian grasslands. This locust preferred plants with low N content and artificial diets with low protein and high carbohydrate content. Plant N content was lowest and locust abundance highest in heavily livestock-grazed fields where soils were N-depleted, likely due to enhanced erosion. These results suggest that heavy livestock grazing and consequent steppe degradation in the Eurasian grassland promote outbreaks of this locust by reducing plant protein content.


This paper studies the dividend policy adjustments of eighty NYSE firms to protracted financial distress as evidenced by multiple losses during 1980-85. Almost all sample firms reduced dividends, and more than half apparently faced binding debt covenants in years they did so. Absent binding debt covenants, dividends are cut more often than omitted, suggesting that managerial reluctance is to the omission and not simply the reduction of dividends. Moreover, managers of firms with long dividend histories appear particularly reluctant to omit dividends. Finally, some dividend reductions seem strategically motivated, e.g., designed to enhance the firm's bargaining positions with organized labor. Copyright 1990 by American Finance Association.


Provided in the present invention are voriconazole sodium phosphate hydrates and polymorphs thereof, and the preparation and use thereof, wherein the voriconazole phosphate hydrates prepared using an isopropanol water system, an ethanol water system and an ethanol system have different crystal forms, and these crystal forms all have good water solubility and stability, and the preparation processes thereof are simple. Voriconazole phosphate hydrates are mainly used to treat fungal infections.


An imaging biomarker of myelin integrity is an unmet need in multiple sclerosis (MS). Selective inversion recovery (SIR) quantitative magnetization transfer imaging (qMT) provides assays of myelin content in the human brain. We previously translated the SIR method to 7T and incorporated a rapid turbo field echo (TFE) readout for whole‐brain imaging within clinically acceptable scan times. We herein provide histological validation and test in vivo feasibility and applicability of the SIR‐TFE protocol in MS.


The invention relates to an industrial production method of a rhamnolipid biosurfactant dry powder, comprising the following steps of: (1) coarse filtration; (2) high-speed centrifugation; (3) vacuum concentration; (4) addition of an embedding medium; (5) spray drying; and (6) cyclone separation. The dry powder rhamnolipid produced by the method is convenient to store and transport, and during the storage process, active components will not be minimized. Simultaneously, application field is widened.


The value agile scrum process can generate is not guaranteed simply by mere adoption. Rather the process creates an opportunity for improvement in the development process. Mismanagement of the approach by an organization can reduce the potential added value or in extreme situations have a negative impact. Therefore, appropriate management procedures are necessary to realize the full potential of the agile scrum approach. This chapter focuses on the human resource challenges the agile scrum approach creates for an organization. The dynamic pace, cross-functional composition, and self-directed team approach requires special consideration in the development of most human resource functions. In particular, the authors will review changes to the employee selection, performance management, and learning and career development processes. These changes will better align these functions with the values and principals of the agile scrum approach and help organizations manage this sometimes chaotic approach to innovation without constraining it.


The family is the main foundation in building a strong and integrity Muslim society. In addition, the family is the smallest part of society that determines the progress or decline of a society, therefore it takes the concept of a strong family and in accordance with the circumstances of a plural society and a tolerant society. One of the family concepts that encompasses all these things is the concept of the maṣlaḥah family. The concept of the maṣlaḥah family according to the Nahdlatul Ulama Family Relief Society of Yogyakarta Special Region is a happy family whose basic needs are fulfilled and can also play an important role in society. Elements The formation of the maṣlaḥah family is maṣāliḥ usroh and maṣāliḥ 'āmmah. Utah usrah is achieved if it meets the elements of: the husband and wife are salih, good children, good association, and rizki enough. The mood of the Ammah in the family includes the fulfillment of all aspects of dharuriyat's maslahah, namely: the protection of religion, the protection of the soul, the protection of reason, the protection of the family, and the protection of property. If all these needs are fulfilled in the family, then create a family maslahah. Therefore, the fulfillment of all aspects above become the main priority in the formation of the maslahah family.


Abstract This study presents a national analysis of 24,190 young Canadians in which relationships between religious group involvement and the spiritual health of children with and without disabilities is described. Two key findings emerged: 1) Children who report religious involvement report higher self-rated importance of spiritual health compared with non-involved peers; 2) among involved children, spiritual health was rated as less important among three groups of young people in particular: those with multiple disabilities, those with a learning exceptionality and those with behavioural disorders. Implications for inclusive ministry are discussed.


Precise source depths are critical to the understanding and interpretation of many seismological and tectonic processes. However, conventional earthquake location methods based on the arrival times of direct P and S phases have far less constraint on focal depths than on epicenters. Therefore, developing a method that can systematically and efficiently estimate focal depths with high accuracy, especially for the vast number of small earthquakes that can only be observed at local and regional distances, would make significant contributions to the geoscience research community. In this study, we develop a new method, named "Depth‐Scanning Algorithm," to efficiently identify depth phases at local and regional distances. We first construct template waveforms of possible depth phases by applying various phase shifts to the original P and S waveforms to mimic the effect of reflection(s). We then systematically scan waveforms after the P and S phases for segments that match the depth‐phase templates. The arrival times of those segments are compared to the theoretical arrival times of depth phases predicted with an assumed velocity model and focal depth. We repeat the above process for a range of assumed focal depths, and the one most consistent with the theoretical prediction is deemed the final solution. Synthetic tests and applications to real data demonstrate the merits of our method compared to conventional location methods.


Scanning confocal Raman spectroscopy was used to non-destructively evaluate the structural and electronic properties of n+/n0/n+-GaN Gunn-diode structures. The depth profiles of the free carrier concentration and mobility were obtained from a line shape analysis of the ω–, ω+ coupled phonon-plasmon modes. It was found that the intensity profiles of the Raman polar A1(LO) phonon mode depend on the thickness of the undoped n0 layer, while the intensity profiles of the nonpolar E2high mode were unaffected by the doping. The change in frequency and linewidth of E2high mode throughout the thickness of the GaN layers, however reveal structural inhomogeneity in the diode structures. The carrier concentration and mobility exhibit only slight variations with thickness with the largest variation being at the free surface of the device. (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


This paper presents the possibility of using Gallium Nitride (GaN) high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) instead of the conventional silicon metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) to implement a high-frequency intermediate bus converter (IBC) as part of a typical distributed power architecture used in a space power application. The results show that processing the power at greater frequencies is possible with a reduction in mass and without impacting the system efficiency. The proposed solution was experimentally validated by the implementation of a 1 MHz zero-voltage and zero-current switching (ZVZCS) current-fed half-bridge converter with synchronous rectification compared with the same converter using silicon as the standard technology on power switches and working at 100 kHz. In conclusion, the replacement of silicon (Si) transistors by GaN HEMTs is feasible, and GaN HEMTs are promising next-generation devices in the power electronics field and can coexist with silicon semiconductors, mainly in some radiation-intensive environments, such as power space converters. The best physical properties of GaN HEMTs, such as inherent radiation hardness, low on resistance and parasitic capacitances, allow them to switch at higher frequencies with high efficiency achieving higher power density. We present an optimized design procedure to guaranty the zero-voltage switching condition that enables the power density to be increased without a penalization of the efficiency.


Kinesin is a nanometer-scale, ATP-powered molecular motor protein that steps along the surface of microtubules. The microtubule tracks are cytoskeletal filaments, 24 nm in diameter, with an overall structural polarity that results from their asymmetric tubulin subunits. Kinesin recognizes the structural polarity and moves toward only one end of a microtubule. A major obstacle in the way of creating kinesin-powered devices is the development of methods for the controlled positioning and alignment of the microtubule tracks. Only by positioning microtubules with defined polarity can kinesin transport, or force generation, be directed efficiently within a device. Here, we report a method to surface immobilize microtubules with approximately 90% parallel alignment using a single-chain antibody that binds α-tubulin exposed at the microtubule minus end.


The characteristics of absolute vortex flux along the main flow direction in a channel formed by tube bank plain fins were studied using numerical simulation method in this paper.A dimensionless parameter of absolute vortex flux along the main flow direction,Reynolds number of secondary flow was provided;the effects under different transverse spacing and Reynolds number of air in the channel formed by tube bank plain fins on the Reynolds number of secondary flow and Nusselt number were presented.


'CURA AQUARUM' IN ROMAN LAW Summary The supervision over public waters was one of the most important tasks of Roman administration. In the republic the control and protection of public waters belonged to censors and aediles since there was no separate offices relevant exclusively in this extent. Firstly, censors were responsible for maintaining the proper water status in the Tiber as well as the prevention and removal of the devastation caused by periodic flooding. Secondly, were their tasks related to supply water to the City of Rome. They took care to ensure both continuity of water supplies, as well as they were also required to maintain the state aqueducts. In turn, aediles exercised the control over the central distribution and water quality.  The proper cura aquarum developed in the principate together with the establishment of the office curatores aquarum . They were appointed on the initiative of Octavian Augustus in 11 BC on the basis of the senatus consultum de aquaeductibus . This office gradually strengthened. This was reflected in the gradual takeover by curatores functions so far carried out by aediles and censors. In 11 (15) BC a new office of curatores riparum et alvei Tiberis was established, which in the year 101 the Emperor Hadrian transformed into curatores riparum et alvei Tiberis et cloacarum Urbis . Curatores riparum occupied the highest position in the hierarchy of cura aquarum .


A growing and significant research literature utilizes feminist frameworks to study relationships with food from a variety of vantage points. In this article, we are especially interested in feminist food sovereignty, feminist political ecology, and feminist theories of care, both because caring labor has been historically undervalued in food systems and because neoliberal modes of commodification and marketization have interpellated activists, scholar-activists, and activist-scholars into new ways of self-care and caring for others. To begin, we provide a brief overview of the places where we work, including the city of Pomona, the Pomona Valley Certified Farmers Market, and the Pomona Community Farmer Alliance (PCFA), a community organization and local activist collective. We then draw on nearly three years of participatory ethnographic work in this community to explore and theorize care work in local food systems activism. Our conceptual framework, framed by feminist food studies and theories of care, illuminates how PCFA members conceive of their own caring work in practice, as well as how they negotiate the complexities of caring for others and self, while being left by the state to do this work. We also explore how activists' care practices sometimes lay bare structural inequalities and the failure of the state, while also reinforcing and challenging neoliberal ideologies embedded in volunteerism. To conclude, we discuss the gendered implications of our work for food systems research, specifically considering the complementarity of Progressive and Radical approaches to food systems transformation.


Simple Summary Breast cancer progression is prominently regulated by the persistent presence of inflammatory mediators and by stromal cells that are located in the tumors. Here, we connected these two elements by demonstrating that potent pro-inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor α and interleukin 1β) lead to the conversion of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to inflammatory cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). These inflammation-driven CAFs secrete metastasis-promoting factors that elevate the dispersion, scattering, and migration of breast cancer cells via activation of tumor cell receptors that signal through Ras proteins and via Gαi proteins; the latter receptors were identified as the chemokine receptors CCR2, CCR5, and CXCR1/2. Together, these findings demonstrate that, in breast tumors, chronic inflammation can induce the deleterious process of MSC-to-CAF conversion and thus sets pro-inflammatory mediators as key targets for inhibition, potentially leading to lower levels of pro-metastatic CAFs in breast tumors. Abstract The pro-inflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) and interleukin 1β (IL-1β) are expressed simultaneously and have tumor-promoting roles in breast cancer. In parallel, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) undergo conversion at the tumor site to cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), which are generally connected to enhanced tumor progression. Here, we determined the impact of consistent inflammatory stimulation on stromal cell plasticity. MSCs that were persistently stimulated by TNFα + IL-1β (generally 14–18 days) gained a CAF-like morphology, accompanied by prominent changes in gene expression, including in stroma/fibroblast-related genes. These CAF-like cells expressed elevated levels of vimentin and fibroblast activation protein (FAP) and demonstrated significantly increased abilities to contract collagen gels. Moreover, they gained the phenotype of inflammatory CAFs, as indicated by the reduced expression of α smooth muscle actin (αSMA), increased proliferation, and elevated expression of inflammatory genes and proteins, primarily inflammatory chemokines. These inflammatory CAFs released factors that enhanced tumor cell dispersion, scattering, and migration; the inflammatory CAF-derived factors elevated cancer cell migration by stimulating the chemokine receptors CCR2, CCR5, and CXCR1/2 and Ras-activating receptors, expressed by the cancer cells. Together, these novel findings demonstrate that chronic inflammation can induce MSC-to-CAF conversion, leading to the generation of tumor-promoting inflammatory CAFs.


ABSTRACT: Human spermatozoal polypeptides have been solubilized by incubation of spermatozoa in phosphate‐buffered saline. Inhibition of peptide release by the acrosin inhibitor N‐α‐tosyl‐L‐lysin‐chloromethyl suggests the direct involvement of the acrosomal enzyme in the liberation of the peptides. The peptides were coupled to activated Sepharose 4B gel and the peptide‐absorbed antibody of antispermatozoal antisera was detected with the aid of 125I‐protein‐A tracer. The occurrence of three types of peptides became evident: one that binds to both sperm‐agglutinating and sperm‐immobilizing antibodies, one that binds to sperm‐immobilizing antibodies, and another that binds to sperm agglutinating antibodies only. The peptides might be of interest from an immunological point of view, because the relatively mild procedure of their solubilization could also prevail under physiological conditions, resulting in release of immunogenic peptides from spermatozoa in the genital tracts.


The authors propose a novel buried-gate-type MOSFET (BG-MOSFET) with ultrathin gate oxide films formed by rapid thermal oxidation (RTO) technology. The BG-MOSFET fabricated showed good punchthrough characteristics and much smaller hot-carrier degradation. The optimum trench depth is ~0.1–0.2 µm deeper than source/drain junction depth considering current gain, avalanche breakdown voltage and hot-carrier immunity.


The Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a perennial woody shrub cultivated mainly in the tropics for its starchy tuberous roots. It belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae which also includes rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) and castor bean (Ricinus communis). Among tropical crops, rice, sugarcane, maize and cassava are the most important sources of calories for human consumption. Problems in the propagation of cassava are virus diseases and low rates of seed germination. Thus, a study was undertaken to develop an efficient in vitro mass propagation protocol of Manihot esculenta Crantz. Young and actively growing stem segments were excised from adult plants of cassava. Samples were cut into a 3~4 cm nodal segments with single node after sterilization, and cultivated in the different medium supplemented with various plant growth regulators for 4 weeks. For shoot multiplication, single-node stem segments, approximately 1 cm in length, were taken from in vitro derived shoots and subcultured. After 4~6 weeks, the shoot generation rate was 55.6%, the shoot number and its length were 1.0/explant and 2.3 cm in the most favorable medium composition. Our experiments confirmed that in vitro growth and multiplication of plantlets could depend on its reaction to the different medium composition, and this micropropagation techniques could be a useful system for healthy and vigorous plant production.


Polyimides have been extensively studied in view of their wide industrial applications. Adhesion to a substrate is essential for normal operation of devices. This problem is often solved by the use of an adhesion promoter on the surface of interest. A surface-sensitive technique such as XPS has proved to be a powerful analytical tool for the analysis of the polymer/substrate interface. In the present paper, the interfaces of the SiO 2 /γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (γ-APS)/Pyralin system have been investigated at a precured stage. A detailed analysis of the molecular structures formed at the interface is carried out using XPS spectroscopy. An attribution of the various peak components is made with the help of accurate calculations of presumed core-electron binding energies using a recent procedure based on the Density Functional Theory. Two acid-base mechanisms are described. The first one occurs between the ammonium end of the γ-APS molecule and the silicon surface hydroxyl (NH 3 + SiO - ), whereas the second one is formed between the ammonium end of the γ-APS and the polymer carboxylic function (NH 3 + COO - ). The results at the first interface are in contradiction with the expected stable oxygen-bridged bond (siloxane), thus the rearrangement of the γ-APS molecule upon heating, as suggested by Linde in a dynamic 'Flip model,' has been studied.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ABSTRACT Schiff bases are aldehyde or ketone-like compounds with an imine or azomethine group in placeofthecarbonylgroup.They'recommonlyutilized inindustry,andtheyalsohaveawidespectrumof biological activity. There are a number of different reactions that can be utilized to synthesize the Schiff bases. The mostfrequentapproachistousemineralacidsascatalystsinanacidcatalyzedcondensationreactionofprimary amine with an aldehyde or ketone under refluxing conditions. This brief study highlights the most promising antimalarial, growth hormone, auxin, and cytokine all have outstanding growth regulator actions whenthiodiazole Schiff basesare used.Ithasbeenshownthatthe Schiff base complexesof 2-pyridinecarboxaldehyde and its derivatives have significant superoxide dismutase activity. Schiff bases can be further studied for other novel pharmacological activities by utilizing QSAR studies. Moreover, various derivatives could be synthesized with diverse therapeutic potential.


These Ecole polytechnique federale de Lausanne EPFL, n° 448 (1984) Reference doi:10.5075/epfl-thesis-448Print copy in library catalog Record created on 2005-03-16, modified on 2016-08-08


This paper describes our sociocultural perspective on learning in secondary school mathematics classrooms where technology is integrated as a central resource. Our approach is predicated on the assumption that learning is achieved by appropriating and using effectively, cultural tools -- technical and physical artefacts, but also concepts, reasoning, symbol systems, modes of argumentation and representation -- currently recognised and validated by the relevant community of practice. We theorise four roles for technological devices such as calculators and computers, in which different voices may be heard: technology as master, servant, partner, and extension of self. In a community of practice classroom technology may be involved in any of the latter three roles. One classroom episode is analysed to reveal the different 'voices' that emerge through the interaction of mathematics, people (teacher and students) and technology. Analysis of these 'voices' provided insight into the role that technology played in students' learning.


An improved high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was devoloped for the analysis of carbonyl compounds in cigarette mainstream smoke. Cigarette smoke was collected using DNPH-treated pads, which is a simpler procedure compared to conventional impinger collection, and the diminishing of acrolein-DNPH derivatives was prevented. After 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) derivatization, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acetone, acrolein, propionaldehyde, methyl ethyl ketone, butyraldehyde, and crotonaldehyde in mainstream cigarette smoke were analyzed with recovery at the range of 86.6% to 99.0%. The minimum detectable quantity for carbonyls ranged from 0.036 to 0.095 μg/cigarette. 2R4F Kentucky reference cigarette and 36 foreign and domestic cigarettes were analyzed.


'He slept less and less; they gave him opium and began to inject morphine. But this did not relieve him. The dull pain he experienced in the half asleep condition at first only relieved him as a change, but then it became as bad, or even more agonizing, than the open pain.'


The present work is devoted to investigation of stable additional absorption that is induced by gamma radiation in pure Ca0.28Ba0.72Nb2O6 single crystals.


Conducted was a retrospective analysis of results of examining 1944 patients with focal thyroid tumors. The examination included an ultrasound examination, fine needle aspiration biopsy under its control and assessment of the level of the thyroid stimulating hormone. Shown was high informativeness of fine needle aspiration biopsy with cytological examination in comparison with the other methods.


Vanadyl porphyrin complexes in asphaltenes from heavy (Karmalinskoye) oil and in asphaltene films obtained as a result of adsorption on the surface of aluminum oxide were studied by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and double electron-nuclear resonance (ENDOR) in the W-band frequency range (microwave frequency of 95 GHz, magnetic field of 3.4 T). Mims ENDOR spectra from 1H and 27Al nuclei are observed. ENDOR spectra are different for native oil and asphaltenes from one side and the adsorbed samples from the other side while no significant changes in X- (microwave frequency of 9 GHz) or W-band EPR spectra are found. The results allow supposing that vanadyl porphyrin complexes (at least in the studied asphaltene films) participate in the formation of asphaltene aggregates through the functional groups rather than π−π interactions. The data show the feasibility of the commercial pulsed ENDOR approaches for the investigation of crude oils and their constituents under external influence.


The aim of the article is to present the multi-system education in Andorra and the related language immersion. The observations made during the author's participation in an academic seminar in Andorra and acquiring literature on the subject enabled her to explore the originality of the country's educational system, consisting in the freedom of choice among three different systems: the Andorran, French or Spanish school, and, as a consequence, in language immersion. Choosing a school, parents and students are guided by such criteria as the distance between the school and the place of residence, the language of instruction, the possibility of continuing education abroad. The variety of educational systems results from the history of the Principality of Andorra. The first schools were founded by the French and the Spanish, who competed for influence in a given area. The innovative Andorran school was created only in 1983, and since that time it has been thriving and has the highest number of students. The author poses a question about the relationship between the educational system and the Andorrans' national identity, as well as about the possibility of cooperation between the systems.


The following article, presented as an introduction to this special anniversary issue marking the beginning of the Anthropology and Education Quarterly's fifteenth year of publication, is a slight revision of the Past President's Address delivered at the annual business meeting of the Council on Anthropology and Education, Chicago, 19 November 1983.


Reviewed book: BISHOP-CLARK, Cathy; DIETZ-UHLER, Beth. Engaging in the scholarship of teaching and learning: a guide to the process, and how to develop a project from start to finish. Sterling, Virginia: Stylus Publishing, 2012. --- DOI: http:/dx.doi.org/10.12957/matraga.2017.27094


The absence of formal communications of the concept of nursing to the social operations of Nursing Services was recognized to limit rational administration at the state level. A formal structure was claimed to be needed to integrate the conceptual and operational facets of the subject. The term formal structure referred to the interpretation of observed phenomenon as a consequence of transformed regenerative energy (Davis & Hersch, 1981; Piaget, 1970, Fuller, 1975). Formalism proceeds by translating the subject's functional structure into logical and mathematical equations, through modeling. The development of a formal structure of the subject of nursing was claimed to be necessary to resolve the communication deficits between the conceptual and operational determinants of performance.
The purpose was to initiate the development of a formal nursing structure. Model development included a partial description of the formal modeling process, and definitions of the computer-based simulation methods used for complex subjects. The initial phase explicitly identifies the domain of unique subject, in preparation for translation into model form. To examine explicit representations modeled and employed for state level administration, surveys were conducted to locate and collect models in use. A generic schematic of the domain variables was proposed to represent the source and limits of the nursing.
The findings revealed the general lack of development of formal methods of modeling, and the lack of development for computer simulation models of the complex relationships of administration of nursing of a social unit. The WICHE model employed by the Division of Nursing described labor supply and demand applicable to state level operations, but was limited in the ability to demonstrate the entire context, service impact of the social unit, and to design new policies or programs to satisfy life goals. No model was located that included the license conditions for all nurses and nursing provider institutions as the source of explicit rules, goals, limits, and languages of the subject of nursing, operated by state programs. A formal nursing structure was considered the appropriate method to explain, demonstrate, and analyze present and future conditions of labor and services, that directly correspond to legal and environmental conditions, from standard assumptions, measures, and constructs of energy.


Subjective kinematic motion analysis done by a trained physical therapist using standard assessment such as the Fugl-Meyer assessment (FM) and/or theWolf Motor Function test (Wolf), have a limited ability to objectively characterize post stroke movement of subjects with a hemiparetic limb or demonstrate fine change over time. The goal of the research was to take the characterized synergies linear matrix model and find an application with stroke survivors. Twenty-two participants were tested for motor impairment using a modified FM (MFM) assessment. Motion capture data was collected using the Vicon motion capture system. This data was processed using Vicon BodyBuilder and MATLAB to construct a stroke subject's Synergy Matrix (SM) from which was developed the Synergy Matrix Score (SMS). This score is compared with the MFM score in terms of efficacy of accepted assessment standards, precise quantitative data, sufficient sensitivity to characterize change over time, and usefulness for clinical reporting. The results show that the SMS provides comparable accurate assessment of the subjects post stroke motion with a high level of sensitivity and greater description of shoulder, elbow, and wrist information in the form of a seven by seven matrix. The SM scoring scale (0,inf) also has the ability to quantify change over time at a finer resolution than the MFM range of 0-2 (33% banding) or the Wolf range of 0-4 (25% banding). Results also show that the SMS objectively generates a relevant score comparable to the MFM while maintaining a greater resolution of detail and density of information allowing the physical therapist to better target therapies as well as spend more time working with patients and less time spent on documentation. Adding the SMS to a control system on a therapeutic robot will further automate the SMS into a realtime feedback loop as applied, for example, to stroke prognosis of the targeted therapy.


The main purpose of the study was to investigate the distinctness and reliability of analytic (or multi-trait) rating dimensions and their relationships to holistic scores and e-rater® essay feature variables in the context of the TOEFL® computer-based test (TOEFL CBT) writing assessment. Data analyzed in the study were holistic and multi-trait essay scores provided by human raters and essay feature variable scores computed by e-rater® (version 2.0) for two TOEFL CBT writing prompts. It was found that (i) all of the six multi-trait scores were not only correlated among themselves but also correlated with the holistic score, (ii) high correlations obtained among holistic and multi-trait scores were largely attributable to the impact of essay length on both holistic and multi-trait scoring, and (iii) some strong associations were confirmed between several e-rater variables and multi-trait rating dimensions. Implications are discussed for improving the multi-trait scoring of essays, refining e-rater essay feature variables, and validating automated essay scores.


This paper examines the wide-spread practice where data envelopment analysis (DEA) efficiency estimates are regressed on some environmental variables in a secondstage analysis. In the literature, only two statistical models have been proposed in which second-stage regressions are well-defined and meaningful. In the model considered by Simar and Wilson (2007), truncated regression provides consistent estimation in the second stage, where as in the model proposed by Banker and Natarajan (2008a), ordinary least squares (OLS) provides consistent estimation. This paper examines, compares, and contrasts the very different assumptions underlying these two models, and makes clear that second-stage OLS estimation is consistent only under very peculiar and unusual assumptions on the data-generating process that limit its applicability. In addition, we show that in either case, bootstrap methods provide the only feasible means for inference in the second stage. We also comment on ad hoc specifications of second-stage regression equations that ignore the part of the data-generating process that yields data used to obtain the initial DEA estimates.


Aim: To investigate the impact of time of performance of delayed orchiectomy on overall survival of patients with advanced germ cell tumors of testicle who didn't undergo surgery before starting of treatment. Materials and methods: From 1986 to 2010 in the department of clinical pharmacology and chemotherapy 71 (4,8%) of 1486 patients underwent delayed orchiectomy. During the first course of chemotherapy (1st group) 39 (55%) patients underwent surgery, 21 (29,6%) patients - during 2nd -4th courses (2nd group), after the ending of chemotherapy – 11 (15,5%) patients (3rd group). Results: Final histological investigation of the specimens revealed viable germ cell tumor in 25 (64,1%) patients in the 1st  group, in 10 (47,7%) patients in the 2nd group and no viable tumor in the 3rd group. Conclusion: Performance of orchiectomy simultaneously with the removal of the other sites of the tumor after chemotherapy doesn't impair survival.


Objective
To investigate the effect of flushing uterine cavity with metronidazole and hydrogen peroxide solution combined with antibiotics on levels of white blood cell (WBC), C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) in puerperal infected parturients.

Methods
From September 2016 to December 2018, a total of 120 parturients with puerperal infection in Chongqing Kaizhou District People's Hospital were selected and divided into observation group and control group according to the random number table method, with 60 cases in each group. The pregnant women in control group were given conventional antibiotics by intravenous infusion of penicillin and oral ampicillin; while the cases in observation group were treated with metronidazole combined with hydrogen peroxide solution to wash the uterine cavity based on the conventional treatment. The levels of WBC, serum CRP and PCT were detected, respectively.

Results
There were no significant differences in WBC count, serum CRP and PCT levels of maternal whole blood at 1 d postpartum between the two groups (all P > 0.05). At the 3 d and 5 d postpartum, the WBC counts in the observation group were (9.39 ± 1.79) × 109/L and (6.93 ± 1.23) × 109/L, which were significantly lower than those of the control group (12.05 ± 2.33) × 109/L and (9.93 ± 1.94) × 109/L, respectively, with the significant differences (t = 7.03, P < 0.001; t = 10.05, P < 0.001). The maternal serum CRP levels in the observation group were (22.97 ± 10.57) mg/L and (15.42 ± 8.82) mg/L, respectively, which were lower than those of the control group (31.67 ± 12.59) mg/L and (20.86 ± 10.83) mg/L, respectively, with significant differences (t = 3.92, P< 0.001, t = 2.98, P = 0.01). At the 3 d and 5 d postpartum post-treatment, the serum PCT levels of the observation group were (2.87 ± 1.47) μg/L and (0.81 ± 0.50) μg/L, which were lower than those in the control group [(3.78 ± 1.90) μg/L and (1.68 ± 0.99) μg/L], with significant differences (t = 2.96, P = 0.01; t = 5.92, P < 0.001). The overall effective rate of maternal treatment in the observation group was 98.33% (59/60), which was significantly higher than that in the control group [80.00% (48/60)], with significant differences (χ2 = 10.44, P < 0.001). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that treatment was a protective factor affecting the clinical efficacy of puerperal infection (OR = 0.35, 95%CI: 0.15-0.87, P < 0.01), but the history of vaginitis during pregnancy (OR = 3.49, 95%CI: 1.12-1.89, P = 0.01) and age (OR = 1.12, 95%CI: 1.02-1.19, P = 0.01) were both risk factors affecting the clinical efficacy of puerperal infection. Prolonged labor was not an independent risk factor for the clinical efficacy of puerperal infection (OR = 2.15, 95%CI: 1.01-5.11, P = 0.08).

Conclusions
When puerperal infection occurs, timely and effective anti-infection interventions were necessary. It was a protective factor affecting the clinical efficacy of puerperal infection. Metronidazole combined with hydrogen peroxide solution to wash uterine cavity combined with antibiotics was beneficial on patients with puerperal infection.

Key words:
Puerperal infection; Anti-infection; Leukocyte; C-reactive protein; Procalcitonin


In this paper, we present an intelligent non-invasive medical device which is used to monitor the insulin present in our body by means of a non –invasive blood glucose concentration monitoring system. The advantages of NIR spectroscopy over MIR spectroscopy include greater penetration depths and less background interference due to water absorption diffused type IRE/IRD method. Also we would like to add few more applications like blood pressure, pulse rate, serum cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol. The entire project is designed with an embedded technology which will be easier for the patients to monitor the above said parameters without extracting even a single drop of blood. This a wireless patient monitoring system to measure the vital parameters remotely and necessary control actions can be take under risk developing situations. This system would be a reliable and efficient real time patient monitoring system that can play a vital role in providing better patient care. This method of measuring blood glucose level will be a continuous monitoring in human body.


1 Beginning the Physical Examination: General Survey and Vital Signs 2 The Skin, Hair, and Nails 3 The Head and Neck 4 The Thorax and Lungs 5 The Cardiovascular System 6 The Breasts and Axillae 7 The Abdomen 8 Male Genitalia and Hernias 9 Female Genitalia 10 The Anus, Rectum, and Prostate 11 The Peripheral Vascular System 12 The Musculoskeletal System 13 The Nervous System: Mental Status 14 The Nervous System: Cranial Nerves, Motor, Sensory, and Reflexes 15 Infants Through Adolescents 16 The Pregnant Woman 17 The Older Adult References Answers and Explanations


Summary: The malformation of the esophagus can be classified into two groups: congenital malformations and acquired lesions. The most common congenital malformation is esophageal atresia. Other congenial malformation such as duplication cyst, vascular rings and congenital stenosis are described. The acquired lesions are more common. The esophagitis secondary to GERD is the most frequent. Lesions can also be due to foreign body or caustic ingestion, to trauma or to tumors, more unusual in children.


enunciation of a war-fighting doctrine with nuclear weapons from the early 1960s to the present, and their analysis of Marshal V. D. Sokolovskii's Military Strategy is both balanced and well founded. The basic asymmetry between the Soviet warwinning doctrine and the United States' concepts of deterrence, based on mutual assured destruction, reflects, on the one hand, Soviet persistence in the Clausewitzian view of war as an extension of politics, and on the other, American fascination with deterrence as an end in itself. Although the discussion of the organization of the armed forces begins with a detailed analysis of Soviet high command, the following chapters—on the five branches of the armed forces, their territorial units, and supporting services—are hardly more than a handbook survey. The same is also true of the chapters on party-military relations, the military-industrial complex, manpower and training, and education of officers. While lists of districts, schools, and their commanding officers are valuable, they cannot substitute for analysis and do not make for a readable text. Perhaps the most controversial feature of the volume is the final chapter, in which the authors weigh the balance and find the Soviet threat ominous. In addition to Soviet doctrinal emphasis on winning a nuclear war (if such should come), they point to an increased militarization of Soviet society since 1967 and the continued support of large programs for civil defense. They conclude that the Soviet Union has created a military machine which the leadership of the CPSU will use as it comes to perceive vulnerabilities in the West and China. Soviet authorities might answer, of course, that their military preparations represent an answer to possible efforts by the People's Republic of China and the West to exploit Soviet vulnerabilities. Although the implications of Soviet military doctrine and the militarization of society are thus open to debate, the authors deserve credit for stating the issues in a comprehensive and balanced fashion.


The Western North American Naturalist (WNAN) is pleased to announce the award for the outstanding natural history paper of 2012. This annual award was instituted to cele brate our authors' achievements in creative and meaningful research, insightful interpretation, and articulate writing. Finalists were selected from the 50 regular articles published in Volume 72, and the WNAN Editorial Board members selected a winner by vote. The winning paper is "Site-occupancy moni toring of an ecosystem indicator: linking char acteristics of riparian vegetation to bea ver occurrence" by Stewart W. Breck, Michael I. Goldstein, and Sanjay Pyare (WNAN 72:432– 441). Stewart Breck, as senior author, will re ceive a cash award of $300. We give honorary mention to two other finalists:


Conclusions Of the samples of human thermal sweat investigated by us only two showed any ascorbic acid present and in these cases the amounts found could be considered practically negligible. Dehydroascorbic acid determinations indicated the presence of this acid in most samples. The amounts found were not sufficient to suggest the induction of vitamin C deficiency through excessive sweating. The use of rubber bags in the collection of sweat may lead to high titration values and appears responsible for some of the high values for ascorbic acid in sweat that have been reported.


Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects nearly 16 million Americans (1), with over 10 million cases diagnosed, and is characterized by serious, costly, and potentially fatal complications. The total cost of diagnosed cases of diabetes in the U.S. in 1992 was estimated to be $92 billion (2). To prevent or delay the costly complications and to enable people with diabetes to lead healthy productive lives, appropriate medical care based on current standards of practice, self-management education, and medication and supplies must be available to everyone with diabetes. This paper is based on technical reviews titled "Diabetes Self-Management Education" (3) and "National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education Programs" (4). The goal of medical care for people with diabetes is to optimize glycemic control and minimize complications. The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) demonstrated that treatment that maintains blood glucose levels near normal in type 1 diabetes delays the onset and reduces the progression of microvascular complications. It is reasonable to infer that optimal glycemic control can also benefit most individuals with type 2 diabetes (5). To achieve optimal glucose control, the person with diabetes must be able to access health care providers who have expertise in the field of diabetes. Treatment plans must include self-management training, regular and timely laboratory evaluations, medical nutrition therapy, appropriately prescribed medication(s), and regular self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) levels. The American Diabetes Association position statement "Standards of Medical Care for Patients with Diabetes Mellitus" outlines appropriate medical care for people with diabetes (6). An integral component of the DCCT was self-management education (inpatient and/or outpatient) delivered by an interdisciplinary team. Self-management training also helps people with type 2 diabetes adjust their daily regimen to improve glycemic control. Diabetes self-management education is the process of providing the person with diabetes with the knowledge and skills to perform self-care on a day-to-day basis. Self-management education teaches the person with diabetes to assess the relationships among medical nutrition therapy, activity level, emotional and physical status, and medications and then respond appropriately and continually to those factors to achieve and maintain optimal glucose control. Today, self-management education is a critical part of the medical plan for people with diabetes, such that medical treatment of diabetes without systematic self-management education can be regarded as substandard and unethical care. The National Standards for Diabetes Self-Management Education Programs establish specific criteria against which diabetes education programs can be measured, and a quality assurance program has been developed and subsequently revised (7). Treatments and therapies that improve glycemic control and reduce the complications of diabetes will also significantly reduce health care costs (8). Numerous studies have demonstrated that self-management education leads to reductions in the costs associated with all types of diabetes. Participants in self-management education programs have been found to have decreased lower-extremity amputa-


The progress of the LED lighting makes the luminance criterion as evaluation standard for road lighting become more important, but the luminance distribution calculation is very difficult. In this paper, a new luminance coefficient matrix is introduce for straight road, this provides a new simple method for luminance calculation. The derivation method and the result of the matrix for R3 pavement as an example were given. An applied example of the luminance coefficient matrix is given in this paper.


The invention discloses a wheel motor slip processing control system which comprises multiple motor controllers (MCUs), wherein the MCUs are mutually connected through a CAN (controller area network) bus, and all can work in a normal driving mode or slip processing mode; when working in the normal driving mode, the MCUs control corresponding wheel motors to output first torques T1; when working in the slip processing mode, the MCUs control the corresponding wheels motor to output second torques T2; the MCUs also can work in an auxiliary slip processing mode, and control the corresponding wheel motors to output third torques T3 when working in the auxiliary slip processing mode; and when any one of the MCUs works in the slip processing mode, the MCU working in the slip processing mode notifies the MCU working in the normal driving mode to switch to the auxiliary slip processing mode, wherein T1>T3>T2.


This paper presents an RF receiver front-end for MB-OFDM-based ultra-wideband (UWB) systems. The receiver occupies only 0.35 mm2 in a 0.18 mum CMOS process and consists of a low-noise amplifier, downconverter and a bandpass filter. There are no on-chip inductors and the receiver requires no off-chip matching components. The measured receiver gain is 21 dB, noise figure is less than 6.6 dB, input IIP3 is -5.6 dBm, and the receiver consumes 19.5 mA from a 2.3 V supply. The receiver covers all the MB-OFDM bands from 3.1 to 8 GHz.


I.Introduction: The Art and Science of SLA It has been implied(Ellis, 1998; Widdowson, 2000)that the so-called"practical knowledge"of language teaching practice should be informed by the existing body of "technical knowledge"forged through ongoing empirical research in the field of second language acquisition. On this view(Larsen-Freeman, 2000 ; Shohany, 2000), the key to understanding the process of second language acquisition(SLA)is firmly entrenched in the scientific method. Accordingly, one may be tempted to reason that second language pedagogy is more of a science than an art although, to be sure, elements of both have a place in the language classroom. However, consideration of existing literature in the field of SLA, at the level of both general theory and specific scientific inquiry into the role of instructed learning in acquisition, suggests some serious limitations-theoretical as well as empirical-on the value of the scientific method. Such limitations raise important questions concerning the certainty and reliability of the answers that science purports to provide to key questions in the field. Accordingly, practitioners in the field of second language pedagogy might do well to maintain a healthy skepticism with respect to the science of SLA and concentrate their energies in the artistic endeavor of teaching.


This paper discloses development and evaluation of die attach material using base metals (Cu and Sn) by three different type of composite. Mixing them into paste or sheet shape for die attach, we have confirmed that one of Sn-Cu components having IMC network near its surface has major role to provide robust interconnect especially for high temperature applications beyond 200°C after sintering.


I summarise the ELT requirements derived from the science cases in the area of galaxy formation/evolution and cosmology. This summary is based on the talks, posters and discussion in parallel Session A of this meeting, but also makes use of various publically-available ELT science case documents. Topics covered include studies of black holes, dark matter, properties of galaxies at a range of redshifts (including the first galaxies to form), fundamental constants and cosmology.


Production of biodiesel from non-edible oils is one of the effective methods to reduce production costs and alleviate the obstacle of traditional raw material supply. Rhus typhina L. (RT) is a promising non-edible plant because it grows fast and has abundant seeds. But previously reported oil content of RT was only 9.7% and 12%. Further research into improving the biodiesel production of RT seed oil is urgently needed. Here we obtained the biodiesel production of RT with a maximum oil content of 22% with a low free fatty acid content of 1.0%. The fatty acid methyl ester (FAMEs) of the RT seed oil was produced by a standard optimized protocol use KOH as a catalyst with the highest yield of 93.4% (w/w). The quality and purity of RT FAMEs, as well as the physio-chemical characterizations of the biodiesel products, were investigated and compared with the international standard of ASTM D6751 and EN 14214. The values of fuel properties are comparable with mineral diesel and environmentally friendly. Overall, the proposed RT seed oil could be a potential source of raw materials for producing high-quality biodiesel after the optimization and transesterification.


The female amativeness and marriage in Zhang Ailing's novels are short of love, in which the
women's final hankering is the realistic living requirement and lust. Therefore we can find out clearly Zhang
Ailing's timeworn female view and the realistic culture and psychological causation that the view causes.


The conformational properties of κ-carrageenan in 0.2M LiI and ι-carrageenan in 0.2M LiCl were analyzed by size exclusion chromatography combined with low-angle laser light scattering. Fractionated samples with narrow molecular weight distributions (Mw/Mn ∼ 1.4) were used, and Mw in the disordered states were 35,000 (κ-35) and 200,000 (κ-200) for κ-carrageenan and 65,000 (ι-65) and 170,000 (ι-170) for ι-carrageenan, respectively. The analyses were performed across a temperature range where the conformational transitions occurred, and at extremely low concentrations (2–50 μg/mL) due to low amounts of samples injected and the subsequent dilution occurring during the separation. The results indicate that a twofold increase of the molecular weight (Mw) occurs for κ-carrageenan upon inducing the ordered conformation. For ι-carrageenan an additional increase in Mw may take place, which is attributed to the strong tendency for aggregation of ordered chains especially at high molecular weights. The results thus suggest that both κ- and ι-carrageenan are double (or multiple) stranded in their ordered conformations, within the concentration range studied here. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Biopoly 49: 71–80, 1999


CASTROVIEJO S ANGLED CORNEAL SCISSORS were modified (1) by shortening the cutting blades to make them stiffer and stronger, (2) by rounding off both sides of the shortened scissors points to prevent injtury to the iris, corneal endothelium, and Descemet's membrane, and (3) by putting an adjjustable stop screw in one side of the scissors halndle to limit full closure of the scissors points. This prevents the scissors from ctutting out and obviates the need for repeated reinsertion into the anterior chamber. The stop screw thus facilitates the performance of a continuous incision. Eaclch scissors snip is limited to about four millimeters as the scissors are advanced. Both Jose Barraquer of Colombia anid R. Troutman have described angled spring cataract scissors wvith a sliding stop device.


Polycaprolactone (PCL) grafting on vinyl alcohol-co-vinyl acetate) (PVA-Ac), was investigated in the melt at high temperature (170°C), below the PVA-Ac melting point, by ring opening polymerization of ϵ-caprolactone initiated by metal alkoxyde sites present in PVA-Ac: no additional initiator was used. The obtained average structures were determined by 1H NMR. As expected, small grafts, with low average polymerization degree (DP), were obtained, between 4 and 12 h of reaction. These DP are due to exchange reactions between hydroxyl groups and PCL growing chains. The PVA-Ac was shown to be partially substituted by short PCL grafts. The DP linearly increased with the initial Lactone/PVA-Ac ratio, and the substituted alcohol sites rate were limited to 63%.It was shown that the used reactive system is characterized by a quazi-living polymerization mechanism. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2007


Background: Wistar and Sprague-Dawley (SD) Outbred Rat can be considered the standard rodents for acute myocardial infarction (AMI). However, a direct comparison between Wistar and SD Rat as models of AMI has not been adequately evaluated so far.
Methods: MI was constructed and cardiac functions were measured to show the success of model construction. The metabolites among Wistar, SD rats and patients with AMI were screened, respectively, and further three groups and subgroups metabolic pathway analysis was applied through MetaboAnalyst 4.0.
Results: The animal MI model was constructed successfully. All the QC samples we inserted qualified, which allowed us to confirm that the analytical results were valid. After screening by three methods, there are 42 significant plasma metabolites determined in our study, which consist of 19, 18 and 23 metabolites in Wistar, SD rats and human with AMI, respectively. Therefore, to discuss the similarity of Wistar and SD rats to human, SD rats and human had two similar screened metabolic pathways, whereas Wistars rats and human had three screened metabolic pathways. Through subgroup analysis, Glycerophospholipid metabolism was only one which possessed metabolic pathway difference and did not affected by age and time, whereas Sphingolipid metabolism increased only in AMI when compared to SHAM group.
Conclusions: Sphingolipid metabolism in SD rats is not suggested to be substitute for human metabolic research and the effect of Wistar rats on metabonomic is better than that of SD rats because their metabolic pathways are relatively closer to human's real world.


We study here a wearable device capable of translating bio-sensed data into cartoon-like graphics projected in the physical surrounding. We hypothesize that such 'expressive laser aura' (LA) may serve for biofeedback purposes; more interestingly, as the display extends past the wearer's intimate/personal space it can complement non-verbal communication by giving others an instant cue about that person's real inner state (or unformulated needs), at social or even at public range. In this preliminary work, we demonstrate a (non wearable) LA that changes its shape as a function of the level of anxiety of an office worker. In the future we plan to make the device wearable, as well as give it the ability to represent more complex states such as emotions. CR Categories: H.5.1 [INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION]: Multimedia Information Systems—Artificial, augmented, and virtual realities;


In the 1950s and 1960s, thousands of migrant workers were recruited by Dutch employers. The Dutch government supported this by concluding recruitment treaties with the Italian, Spanish, Greek, Turkish, Moroccan and other governments. This article describes how the problem of labour shortage was defined in the political arena in such a way that the recruitment of migrant workers became a solution, while other potential solutions such as emigration restrictions, facilitating married woman to work and restrictions on longer education for young people were not considered. The recruitment of migrant workers was not so much a political choice between a number of alternatives, but a resultant of choices made in several relatively independent policy fields. Problems in these fields -child labour, housing shortage, family policy and population growth- had a higher priority and their solutions blocked alternative solutions for the labour shortage


The present research featured the implementation of lean manufacturing based on project management technology. The research objective was to substantiate the possibility of using tools and methods of lean production at industrial enterprises. The study involved such scientific methods as participant and non-participant observation, statistical methods, process modeling, and survey. At industrial enterprises, lean production methods should be implemented as a project activity, i.e. in different business units and at different levels. To achieve total inclusiveness, managers should be trained in the basics of project, and all other employees – in the basics of lean production. Even separate projects of lean production can increase efficiency and labor productivity. However, the use of certain tools often becomes an end in itself, and not a way to solve the actual problems. Employees involved in lean manufacturing projects often lack awareness and motivation. Insufficient experience in independent project slows down the implementation of lean production projects. Nevertheless, the authors proved that lean production projects can be effective if implemented properly. They also identified some problems specific to industrial enterprises and outlined activities that can improve operational efficiency.