The world of Z.K. Burrus's Senestre on Vacation is a damp, bitter one. Thomas Senestre, the figure at the center of the story, is sponge-like. His apartment overlooks a pool. He soaks himself with alcohol (at a bar called The Bog, no less). He wanders beaches at night. More than that, though, he slogs. The work is constructed with short, sharp sentences—phrases, biting mantras—that belie the dullness of the work. The central figure of the work, Senestre is a less-than-mediocre cop. In the opening chapter, he relates to his partner the set-up for the mystery: he's received a letter from a mysterious woman claiming to be a friend of his mother's. The woman beckons him to come to her town and protect her from a stalker. Senestre's partner's take on the matter, mulled over beer: "My verdict: why the hell not?" And so Senestre leaves his dismal life behind and, before him, discovers an equally dismal hotel and seashore. Senestre suffers from insomnia; as such, he is as grouchy as one expects a non-sleeper to be. In terms of describing the looks of those around him, he's as vicious as a plastic surgeon with debts to pay. Six pages into the work, he makes note of the saddlebags of one woman. Similarly, on a man, Senestre notes "sunken eyes, skin folds, and a pleated neck." He imagines gripping a woman he's nicknamed "Globe Face the Elder" (as she has a daughter whose face is equally globular) and choking her with her "double chin forced upwards." For the record, he also hates boats ("they and their monotonous motion...play on his nerves"), a collection of wreaths he comes across in a local store ("They were hideous...dead leaves curled around a lopsided center"), and tight spaces ("Never had he liked tight spaces. He liked them less in the company of others"). He is fascinated by his own hatred, rolling it over in his mind, and it becomes the overwhelming trait of not only his character, but the narration and narrative focus. Because he is fascinated, it seems to be assumed that the reader will also be fascinated. If we aren't, the text would threaten, our chins, too, might be in danger. In a sense, Senestre's unwaveringly vile voice can be compared to the sketches in a Peanuts cartoon: so marked, so distinctive, that the world becomes both clear and static. There are no surprises. Dog, as portrayed by Charles Schultz, looks one way; football, as portrayed by Schultz, looks the same each time Charlie Brown looks to kick. The world of Senestre on Vacation is similar in that we, as readers, know how the world will look before we see the world. The women are fat and ugly. The men are ugly and drunk. Everything is moist. And Senestre can't quite figure out how to kick a football.


The FTCs action against Toys "R" Us centers on the implementation by Toys "R" Us of a policy in which it reserved the right not to carry the same toy items sold by a manufacturer to warehouse clubs. The FTC alleges that the Toys "R" Us policy reflects an attempt to exercise market power by impeding competition from warehouse clubs. Toys "R" Us defends its policy as an efficiency-enhancing vertical restriction designed to lessen the ability of warehouse clubs to "freeri'de" on services provided by Toys "R" Us. This paper presents the results of several economic analyses designed to distinguish between these hypotheses. The FTC claims that Toys "R" Us organized a horizontal agreement among toy manufacturers to boycott the warehouse clubs. The FTC also claims that Toys "R" Us engaged in unlawful vertical agreements with manufacturers not to deal with warehouse clubs. According to the FTC, these actions had the result of excluding.a more efficient rival and raising the price consumers pay for toys, without affecting the incentive or ability of Toys "R" Us to provide dealer services that promoted industry output. Together with its economics expert, the FTC argued that: (i) Toys "R" Us is a monopsonist purchaser of toys; (ii) Toys "R" Us has monopoly power at retail in many local markets; and (iii) Manufacturers unilaterally would have chosen to sell to warehouse clubs absent the coordination among toy manufacturers engineered by Toys "R" Us. The paper summarizes the economic analysis presented in expert testimony on behalf of Toys "R" Us. The analysis indicates that the Toys "R" Us warehouse club policy did not harm competition in the toy industry. While a firm's ability to exclude a more efficient rival may reflect an exercise of market power that harms competition in an industry, Toys "R" Us' policy cannot be characterized in this manner. First, Toys "R" Us' policy was limited in its


Saudi Arabia is perhaps one of the most controversial countries in terms of its very poor overall gender gap performance, although it has, according to Pew Research, the fastest growing female labour force participation rate of all the G20 countries. Although the education sector is by far the largest employer of Saudi women, the low level of representation of women in leadership positions in Higher Education demonstrates the fact that they have not been effectively empowered. Under the 2030 vision that the government recently announced, many reforms have been introduced, which are expected to have a direct impact on the empowerment of women. Therefore, this paper looks at the factors that might be considered as barriers to women rising to leadership positions in Saudi higher education institutions. Qualitative data was used for this study and semi-structured interviews were employed with Saudi males and females working in Saudi higher education institutions. The data was then thematically analysed. Findings showed that there are still many challenges, or rather barriers, to women leadership. It indicates that the main challenges are organisational barriers, cultural barriers and personal barriers. The participants gave suggestions on how comprehensive reforms could be made which would lead to more effective outcomes in lowering barriers to women's rise to leadership in the country.


An innovative composite vertical connecting structure (CVC) with capacity carrying and energy-dissipating ability is proposed in this study, which could be used in prefabricated composite shear wal...


Simple Summary Endometrial cancer (EC) is one of the most frequent cancers with increasing annual death rates. Therefore, it is of great clinical importance to understand the mechanisms of endometrial cancer invasiveness and metastasis. MiRNAs are small single-stranded RNAs that regulate gene expression. They were discovered to play a role in all steps of cancer development. This study aimed at conducting a systematic review of the role of miRNAs in endometrial cancer invasiveness and metastasis. The collected data demonstrate that miRNAs regulate EC invasiveness and metastasis by different targets. MiRNAs seem to be potential candidates for diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers, as well as possible therapeutic targets. Abstract Endometrial cancer (EC) is the most common genital cancer in women with increasing death rates. MiRNAs are short non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression on the post-transcriptional levels. Multiple studies demonstrated a fundamental role of miRNAs in the regulation of carcinogenesis. This systematic review is a comprehensive overview of the role of miRNAs in the regulation of cancer cell invasiveness and metastasis in EC. The literature was searched for studies investigating the role of miRNAs in the regulation of invasiveness and metastasis in EC. We explored PubMed, Embase, and Scopus using the following keywords: miRNA, metastasis, invasiveness, endometrial cancer. Data were collected from 163 articles that described the expression and role of 106 miRNAs in the regulation of EC invasiveness and metastasis out of which 63 were tumor suppressor miRNAs, and 38 were oncomiRNAs. Five miRNAs had a discordant role in different studies. Moreover, we identified 66 miRNAs whose expression in tumor tissue or concentration in serum correlated with at least one clinical parameter. These findings suggest a crucial role of miRNAs in the regulation of EC invasiveness and metastasis and present them as potential prognostic factors for patients with EC.


As a supplemental means of teaching,the Geometer's Sketchpad(GSP)has an important role in the mathematical teaching of propositional variant.Its visual and dynamic features enable it to reduce the cognitive load and optimizing the students cognitive structure.At the same time,the implementation of various variants can promote the teaching of the proposition during the teaching course of higher mathematics.And the mathematical teaching of propositional variant based on the Geometer's Sketchpad is related to the formula,theorems and laws and so on.


Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect of paradoxical intervention skill on neurosis.Methods The symptoms of mental disorders were removed by actively eliciting and aggravating the unde rlying unpleasant experience.The therapist and the patient constructed a symptom hierarchy in which the points of symptom were rated from the most to the least upsetting.The more the patients gained the points,the more severe symptoms were actively evoked.Through accumulating the scores the attention of the patients were distracted from self to the objective,so that the patients were free from the symptoms.Results The clinical skill had been shown to be very effective for the 52 patients in the investigation.The 10 main symptoms were obviously improved. Conclusion The Paradoxical intervention skill is suitable for applying to various problems in adolecent students,especially to the obsessive thingking, the obsessive image and phobia.


Lead-free solders with high Sn content cause excessive interfacialreactions at the interface with under-bump metallization duringreflow. The interface formed after reflow affects thereliability of the solder joint. For this paper, we investigated the interfacialreactions of Sn_0.7Cu and Sn_36Pb_2Ag solder on electrolytic Ni layer for differentreflow times. The traditionally used Sn_36Pb_2Ag solder was used as a reference. It was found that during as-reflowed, the formation of Cu-rich Sn–Cu–Ni ternary intermetallic compounds (TIMCs) at the interface of Sn_0.7Cu solder with electrolytic Ni is much quicker,resulting in the entrapment of some Pb (which is present as impurity in the Sn–Cu solder) rich phase in the TIMCs. During extended time ofreflow, high (>30 at.%), medium (30-15 at.%) and low (<15 at.%) Cu TIMCs formed at the interface. The amount of Cu determined the growth rate of TIMCs. Cu-rich TIMCs had higher growth rate and consumed more Ni layer. By contrast, the growth rate of the Ni–Sn binary intermetallic compounds (BIMCs) in the Sn36Pb2Ag solder joint was slower, and the Ni–Sn BIMC was more stable and adherent. The dissolution rate of electrolytic Ni layer for Sn_0.7Cu solder joint was higher than the Sn36Pb2Ag solder joints. Less than 3 μm of the electrolytic Ni layer was consumed during moltenreaction by the higher Sn contauning Sn_0.7Cu solder in 180 min at 250 °C. The shear strength of Sn–Pb–Ag solder joints decreased within 30 min of reflow time from 1.938 to 1.579 kgf due to rapid formation of ternary Ni–Sn–Au compounds on the Ni–Sn BIMCs. The shear strength of Sn_0.7Cu solder joint is relatively stable from 1.982 to 1.861 kgf during extended timereflow. Cu prevents theresettlement of Au at the interface. The shear strength does not depend on the thickness of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) andreflow time. Ni/Sn–Cu solder system has higher strength and can be used during prolongedreflow.


Objective:To reveal the relationship between IFN-γand IL-10 and the activity of periodontitis. Method: The concentration of IFN-γandIL-10 in gingival crevicular fluid(GCF) was measure by ELISA. Sixty teeth from 40 patients with adult periodontit is were sampled, among which there were 30 teeth in active phase, while the rest were in non-active phase.Result:Significant difference was found in the level of IFN-γ in GCF between the active group(14.25±2.35 ng/ml and the non-active group (4.36±0.41 ng/ml,P 0.05) and in the level of IL-10 in GCF between the active group(3.64 ±0.56 ng/ml) and the non-active group(11.26±3.05 ng/ml,P0.05). Conclusion:IFN-γ,the Th1 cytokine may be predominant in diseased sites, whereas IL-10,the Th2 cytokine may reduces local inflammation. The high ratio of IL-10/IFN-γ may be related to reduced clinical periodontal parameters.


In this work, two popular evolutionary algorithms such as genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) based SDMA-OFDM multi user detection (MUD) have been presented which overcome the limitations of classical detectors. They are simple to implement and their complexity in terms of decision-metric evaluations is very less compared to maximum likelihood detection (MLD). These techniques are shown to provide a high performance as compared to the other detectors especially in a rank-deficient scenario where numbers of users are high as compared to the base station (BS) antennas. In this scenario, Zero forcing (ZF) and minimum mean square error (MMSE) based MUDs exhibit severe performance degradation. To investigate almost realistic performance of a wireless communication system, it is important to use a proper channel model. Since the simulation parameters in this work are based on IEEE 802.11n wireless local area network (WLAN) standard, TGn is the channel model used.


High rate (up to 15 A/sm2 investigated after its electrochimico-thermal treatment (nitriding and thermal treatment). Various potential ranges (or current density ranges) can be emphasized: region of anodic anion activation (sublimiting currents), diffusion limitation area (caused by salt passivation) and transpassive dissolution region. It is shown, that heat treatment influence is the most essential in the region of salt passivation (or limiting current region). The double role of hydrodynamics is revealed during dissolution under these conditions: influence on ion mass transfer rate in solution and on removal of the hard carbon-bearing products produced as a result of selective dissolution of components of nitrided steel. It is shown, that in sublimiting currents and transpassive dissolution ranges specific dissolution rate depends on the nitrogen content of studied steel. ) anodic dissolution of Ст3 steel in chloride solutions (1−6 M NaCl) was


Massive online argumentation deliberation has the potential to capture collective intelligence and crowd wisdom. However, certain observable phenomena, such as polarization, often emerge in online argumentation and deliberation, preventing constructive discourse. Accurately detecting the presence and intensity of polarization is important to determining if collective intelligence and crowd wisdom can be captured from online deliberation. In this paper, an innovative method of measuring polarization quantitatively in online argumentation is presented. Important polarization attributes such as homogeneity in groups, heterogeneity across groups, the number of poles, and the size of poles are identified to measure polarization in online argumentation. This new method uses our argumentation tool, Intelligent Cyber Argumentation System's (ICAS) cognitive computing component, a fuzzy logic engine, to derive the participant's agreement distribution. Then we apply an income polarization measurement from the field of economics [7] that we have modified and expanded for argumentation, on the agreement distribution to produce a polarization index value. We discuss why our method to measure argumentation polarization is a significant improvement over existing measurements for online argumentation polarization in terms of these identified attributes. We conducted empirical studies using ICAS that demonstrate that our method outperforms others that exist on our empirical data.


(57) Abstract: double catheter system (10) is provided with and the secondary sheath (114) the main catheter (112). Here, the sub sheath (140) is slidably received in the main stent (125) within. The main stent (125) is obtained is expanded to a balloon (111) by partially within the main vessel (M), branched stent (140) is partially within the branch vessel (Br) by an optional balloon (115) Be expanded. Optional balloon are positioned at the distal end of the secondary stent (114). Secondary stent (114) is partially advanced through the interior of the expansion of the main stent (125), leaving the side opening of the main stent (125) (127). On the other hand, a stent delivery system (110) is kept adjacent to the vessel intersection (I).


: During the COVID-19 pandemic, online electronic educational systems have been used in most schools and universities as they were forced to move their operations from classrooms to online settings. However, these systems face a serious security issue. Access control considers the core of data security for any implemented system. This paper presents the well-known role-based access control (RBAC) approach to enhance system security and improve user role and system privilege. This study also addresses the issues faced by extant schemes, such as security risk tolerance, by proposing a privacy-preserving educational system that utilizes RBAC and smart multi-factor authentication. This approach uses an asymmetric cryptosystem based on the Elgamal digital signature operation to provide multi-factor authentication while relying on low-complexity cryptographic hash functions. RBAC manages system security via the "user classification, role authorization, and unified management" approach. By limiting the amount of data that users can access, RBAC is particularly suited for multi-level applications. This approach also uses informal analysis and the Scyther tool to conduct extensive formal security proofs. RBAC offers many benefits, including mutual authentication, identity anonymity, forward secrecy, key management, and high resistance to well-known attacks, such as phishing, replay, Man-In-The-Middle (MITM), and insider attacks. Compared with other schemes, RBAC offers more security features and boasts higher cost effectiveness in processing and communication. Furthermore, our work achieves a good balance between performance and security complexity when compared to the state-of-the-art. So, we get good results at a cost of 0.253 ms for computing and 1326 bits for communication


Wireless sensor network is an important technique that is used in industry and agriculture as a monitoring network.In largescale monitoring applying condition,wireless sensor network has the characteristics of ultra-large-scale,ultra-low-cost and complex topological changing which results in its limited transmission.It brings the network protocol rigorous requirements.The existing protocol algorithms,such as CNS,SPT and GIT,don't consider these characteristics roundly,so they can't be applied directly.An equally effective routing algorithm based on fine-grain gradien(tFGLRA) is proposed.Furthermore,based on routing theo-retical analysis and simulation,the simulation of the FGLRA is completed from small-scale to ultra-large-scale.Meanwhile,FGLRA is compared with aggregation tree routing and location-assisted routing.Simulation shows,FGLRA routing network can effectively reduce energy consumption,uniform network load and extend network life cycle,and it is especially suitable for large-scale monitoring data transmission.


Tool steels, as a whole, serve a large range of applications in hot and cold working of metals as well as injection moulding of plastics or light alloys. Among them, ledeburitic tool steels are more precisely devoted to serve in cold working operation where an extremely high wear resistance is requested. Therefore, these steels present coarse and very hard primary alloyed (ledeburitic) carbides. On the other hand, non ledeburitic tool steels have a still wider range of use in hot working and especially in warm (plastics) or hot (light alloys) injection moulding. The carbides in these steels are very fine secondary micro-carbides. Although the application and microstructural metallurgy of these two large categories of tool steels are very different, the evolution of the demand is unique, in the common scope of optimising the compromise between high mechanical resistance levels and better response to both static and cyclic loadings. This requires specific analyses of relationship between chemical and microstructural parameters and their consequences with regard to toughness and fatigue resistance. These relations cannot simply be extrapolated from more classical and better known constructional steels which differ in chemistry, mechanical characteristics and microstructures with generally less volume fraction or less alloying of carbides. In ledeburitic tool steels, the particular and almost individual characteristic of the coarse primary carbide plays a major role besides the average characteristic of the surrounding matrix homogeneously reinforced by secondary hardening micro-carbides. For these steels, numerical modelling of realistic microstructures is able to calculate the stress distributions and concentrations resulting from the heterogeneity in terms of carbide size, shape and distribution, as well as the topological characteristics of the fracture surface. Non ledeburitic tool steels exhibit more classical microstructures but remain particular especially by their relatively high levels of carbon and other alloying elements. Additionally to metallurgical and cleanliness factors some specific parameters, dealing with static and cyclic loading susceptibilities of mould parts have to be considered. Thus, particular surface types with various sharpness and depth of grooving as well as residual stresses in the loaded area are considered. The objective of these investigations is to define the metallurgical trends that will allow a more tailored conception of moulds resulting in higher injection productivity and a larger range in injection pressure, without increasing mould size and weight. This report is divided in two parts, the first one dealing with ledeburitic tool steels, the second one with non ledeburitic tool steels.


An intense search i s under w a y in many areas to prevent the introduct ion o f glassy-winged sharpshooter, a nonnative invasive insect l inked to the spread of Xyllelafastidiosa, the bacterium that causes Pierce's disease. Since many people have not seen the glassy-winged sharpshooter, i t can be confused with other insects occurring in vineyards and backyards ("look-a-likes"). The following photos and descriptions are useful tools in correctly iden t i f y ing this pest.


It has been fascinating to trace the gradual erection of the British edifice of orthopaedics, and nostalgic to recapture a memory, however fleeting, of some of the figures who built it and taught us so much of our sum of knowledge half-way through the twentieth century—the remarkable spell of Robert Jones, the lofty, ascetic Tubby, the pugnacious Openshaw, the forceful and enthusiastic Hey Groves, the earnest but irascible Laming Evans, the equable and thoughtful Elmslie, the restless and exuberant Trethowan. It is always tempting to conclude: "those were the days." It is probably wise to do no more than record the events and leave judgment of progress to a later century. But we are being judged already and not always kindly or even truthfully. We are justified surely in priding ourselves on what has already been achieved, and on the service that orthopaedic surgery now gives to the community and promises for the future. In concern for this aspect of our work we have perhaps tended to neglect our capacity for basic research. But we are aware of this shortcoming, as witness our closer relationships with research departments of universities and royal colleges, and our increasing contacts with colleagues in the basic sciences. Finally, apart from the most intellectual snob and the pessimistic cynic, all must surely rejoice at the enthusiasm, industry and ability of our young colleagues—the orthopaedic surgeons of to-morrow.


Based on the perspective of psychological capital, this study takes the students of Suqian College as the research object, adopts the questionnaire survey method and mathematical statistics method, and uses the "psychological capital questionnaire for college students" and the "academic achievement scale for college students" to Investigate college students of randomly selected 500 students. Through the analysis of the data obtained by SPSS statistical analysis software, the research on the relationship between college students' psychological capital and academic achievement draws two conclusions: First, there is a difference in the population variables of psychological capital and its sub-dimensions and academic achievements and their sub-dimensions in gender, grade, specialty, student source, whether it is the only child. Second, there is a significant positive correlation between the psychological capital of college students and their various factors and their academic achievements and their various factors. Keywords—college students; psychological capital; academic achievement; influence mechanism


Abstract: Three informal surveys of college students enrolled in a semester-long course on near-death experiences (NDEs) suggest that exposure to information about the NDE may bring about substantial changes in beliefs about NDEs, life after death, and God, as well as reduce fear of death and increase one's level of spirituality. These surveys and previous research point to the importance of conducting more systematic and large-scale studies of the impact of NDE materials on the general population.


A conjoined twin monster fetus was delivered by per-vaginum in a pluriparous buffalo, which was presented with dystocia. The twin monster consisted of two female fetuses which were fully developed having eight limbs, i.e. four forelimbs and four hind limbs, joined together at the anterior part of the body. The monster can be classifi ed as conjoined twin monster (Thoraco abdominopygophagus).


A suspension of C3AH6-NaOH was prepared by adding -37g of Ca(OH)2 with stirring into 2l of aqueous solution in which -27g of NaAlO2 is dissolved. The CaCO3 fibers having aspect ratios of -20 with diameters of -3μm were obtained by blowing CO2 gas into the suspension at 80-85°C. Successive CO2-gas-blowing at 25-30°C leads to precipitation of the fine particles of Al(OH)3 on the surface of the CaCO3 fibers, so that the CaCO3 fibers coated with fine particles of Al(OH)3 were obtained. By heating them at 500°C, the CaCO3 fibers coated with fine particles of activated alumina with large specific surface area of -120m2/g were also obtained. These coated layers firmly adhered to the CaCO3 fibers.


Field experimental observation station is one of basic establishments for our national science research.This review expounded the highlighted significances of establishing the experimental observation station in Jinsha River valley,based on the analysis of four aspects:1.important roles in the national social-economic development; 2.obvious and serious problems in entironment; 3.study weakness in the gulley erosion and restoration ecology; and 4.important significance in subjects development.Soil and water conservation,and restoration ecology were suggested as the main orientation subjects for the station.Additionally,the main research aspects and its main topics in the station were also pointed out.


The crystal structures of four diamides represented by the general formula CH3−CONH(CH2)nNHCO−CH3 (n = 2−5) were solved by X-ray diffraction in order to establish the conformational preferences of the polymethylene segments. The results are complementary of our previous works on diamides and diketones where the conformation of the dicarbonylic units were established. The results appear useful to study the conformation of related compounds, as polyamides, where the experimental data are scarce. A folding trend of the polymethylene segment, when the number of methylenes is less than 4, can be deduced. The same conclusions were inferred from ab initio quantum mechanical calculations at the MP2/6-31G(d)//HF/6-31(d) level.


View the brunch menu at YEW restaurant + bar in downtown Vancouver near Stanley Park, offering a West Coast urban twist on classic brunch fare, all made with seasonal ingredients.


Objective To study the association of thyroxine with Acute myocardial infarction.Methodsthe levels of T3,FT3,T4,FT4,hs-TSH in AMI group.ResultsCompared with the normal group,the AMI group has lower levels of T3,expectly significantly lower of TSH.ConclusionThere is a close link between blood T3,TSH and Acute myocardial infarction.


Objective To study the long-term stability of G4 CyberKnife by analyzing daily quality assurance result,and to seek a suit of method for clinical daily dosimetric verification.Methods Quickcheck system was used to collect daily quality control data to investigate the stability of dose output and energy stability,meanwhile,the flatness and symmetry of the beam field were analyzed.Results The dose output and energy generally varied within ±2%,the flatness within ±5% and the symmetry within ±2% for the data in two months.Conclusion The stability of G4 CyberKnife is acceptable for accurate radiotherapy.Quickcheck system can ensure the safety and precision of the G4 CyberKnife.


is the prosperous period of Horgas port trade development. The key point of the thesis is to analyze the historical reasons that promoted Horgas Pass 's trade development in a fast speed before 1962. The author consideres: the foundational element that promoted the port's trade is special attention came from our Party and government. The basic political element is friendly relation between China and the Soviet Union; the motive power is necessity between Xinjiang and the Soviet Union?Easten European countries.


The article covers questions of theoretical and methodological soil forming biochemistry basics in the light of V. I. Vernadskyi and V. A. Kovdra ideas with emphasize on undercover steppe vegetation conditions and solid rocks conditions. Specific of soil formation biochemistry in Zmiiny island conditions is analyzed.


Language is the carrier of culture, bearing the national cultural information. As the most culturally-loaded element in any language's vocabulary, idioms have aroused more and more attention. This paper starts with the analysis of the relationship between culture, idioms and translation, and makes an investigation of cultural factors affecting idiom translation such as subjective and objective factors. Based on these analyses, the paper will propose the cultural translation principles and strategies focusing on cultural connotations of idioms in order to transfer the English idioms translation from the language level to the cultural level.


Zack McCormack is an advanced practice professional pharmacy student in the College of Pharmacy. In this article, Zack describes his experience with the Purdue Chapter of Habitat for Humanity—a nonprofit, Christian housing ministry with a belief that everyone should have access to decent, safe, and affordable housing.


Synopsis Locomotor habits in mammals are strongly tied to limb bones' lengths, diameters, and proportions. By comparison, fewer studies have examined how limb bone cross-sectional traits relate to locomotor habit. Here, we tested whether climbing, digging, and swimming locomotor habits reflect biomechanically meaningful differences in three cross-sectional traits rendered dimensionless— cross-sectional area (CSA), second moments of area (SMA), and section modulus (MOD)—using femora, tibiae, and fibulae of 28 species of mustelid. CSA and SMA represent resistance to axial compression and bending, respectively, whereas MOD represents structural strength. Given the need to counteract buoyancy in aquatic environments and soil's high density, we predicted that natatorial and fossorial mustelids have higher values of cross-sectional traits. For all three traits, we found that natatorial mustelids have the highest values, followed by fossorial mustelids, with both of these groups significantly differing from scansorial mustelids. However, phylogenetic relatedness strongly influences diversity in cross-sectional morphology, as locomotor habit strongly correlates with phylogeny. Testing whether hind limb bone cross-sectional traits have evolved adaptively, we fit Ornstein–Uhlenbeck (OU) and Brownian motion (BM) models of trait diversification to cross-sectional traits. The cross-sectional traits of the femur, tibia, and fibula appear to have, respectively, diversified under a multi-rate BM model, a single rate BM model, and a multi-optima OU model. In light of recent studies on mustelid body size and elongation, our findings suggest that the mustelid body plan—and perhaps that of other mammals—is likely the sum of a suite of traits evolving under different models of trait diversification.


World Health Organization currently encourages, recommends and promotes traditional herbal medicines in National Healthcare Programmes as such drugs are easily available at low cost and inherently safer than the potent synthetic drugs. According to WHO, about 80% of the world population relies on traditional medicines, mostly on plant drugs. Adulteration, however, becomes a very serious problem with the crude drugs, and often occurs when a drug is not easily available or when its price is comparatively high. Adulteration, in many cases, may not be intentional and in many cases could occur due to mistaken identity of the plants. WHO acknowledged that pharmacognostical standards should be proposed as a protocol for the diagnosis of herbal drugs, and internationally-recognized guidelines for their quality assessment are necessary. The plant materials should be collected at an appropriate stage of their growth and thereafter well authenticated by detailed taxonomical study. The most convenient time of collection is the period during which the drug is highest in its contents of active principles. According to WHO guidelines, medicinal plant materials are categorized according to sensory, macroscopic and microscopic characteristics. An examination to determine these characteristics is the first step towards establishing the identity and degree of purity of such materials, and should be carried out before any further tests are undertaken.


We report on quantum transport measurements of a carbon nanotube (CNT) quantum dot that is functionalized with magnetic {Mn4} complexes. The coupling between the spin‐5/2 MnII ions within each {Mn4} complex is predominantly antiferromagnetic. Coulomb diamond measurements at T = 4 K reveal that the covalent attachment of the complexes to the CNT framework has only little influence on the carbon nanotube quantum dot. Surprisingly, a strong increase of noise is observed upon cooling the sample to T = 30 mK. Time traces of the current taken at a diamond edge reveal a random telegraph signal. We attribute this to fluctuations of molecular spin states of the attached {Mn4} complexes.


The main ways for accomplishing technical reequipment of old thermal power stations are analyzed. It is shown that factors reducing the number of possible alternatives should be accounted for in working out the design. The reconstruction of the Dzerzhinskaya and the Novogor'kovskaya cogeneration power stations in the Nizhegorodskaya power system are considered by way of example. An alternative of the basic thermal scheme for a power unit at a gas-turbine cogeneration power station is described. It holds promise for heat supply to industrial users.


The article is devoted to priority areas of cooperation the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a non-profit, non-governmental organizations. The author identifies five main areas of cooperation. Much attention is paid to expert and analytical support and Advisory support of Russian foreign policy. It is established that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation invites NGOs to implement the foreign policy of the country. The author believes that the involvement of civil society institutions in the foreign policy activities is intended to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Russian foreign policy. Key words: public diplomacy, expert diplomacy, foreign policy of Russia, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, non-profit organizations, non-governmental organizations.


Environmental applications such as volatile organic compounds decomposition, destruction of nitrogen oxides or ozone generation utilize different chemical reactions. The efficiency of these reactions depends among others on the temperature, on the residence time (mixing of reactant medium) and also on the pressure in reaction volume. The increase of pressure in this volume can be achieved by application of power ultrasound. At the same time many reactions can be enhanced by ionization of the reactant medium, which is most frequently performed by electrical discharges. The synergy of power ultrasound with electrical discharges therefore opens new unique perspectives for many applications. The simple and reliable way which reflects these requirements is offered by the combination of Hartmann type ultrasound generators with non-thermal electrical discharges. We describe a new setup of the Hartmann gas-jet ultrasonic generator combined with the electrical discharge with reduced gas flow rate. Our idea involves a rod along the nozzle-resonator axis. New nozzle construction also enables to control electric field in the nozzle-resonator gap and creates high power ultrasoud field in volume in front of the resonator. Apart of the fact that the discharge is stabilized along the resonator orifice circumference, it becomes more uniform and it increases its volume.


Computing education necessitates programming skill. But it varies in students. How can we quantify or measure the skill? We are yet to have a standardized measurement system for the programming ability. The concept of Programmer Quotient (PQ), which gives a measure of innate programming ability, attributes a value to one's ability to program, just like Intelligence Quotient (IQ). This would remain the same independent of the programming experience. In this paper, we consider few inherent skills such as Analytical ability, ability to synthesize etc. and try to correlate these skills to one's programming ability. A questionnaire was designed and used to measure the skill in these areas. Then a model was designed from the data collected. It can predict the programming skills of a student from his/her inherent skills, irrespective of the programming language.


The concentration ratios of glutaraldehyde to benzalkonium bromide and isothiazolone to benzalkonium bromide have been studied. The effect of pH and temperature, etc. on biocide efficiency was introduced as well. The optimized combination of biocide was found. The effect of microbe's biogenic sludge flaking and algaecide with the best mixing rate of medicine are obtained.


Contents ι. Introduction I 2. Systematics (a, The correct name of the genus p. 4; b, Diagnostic characters of the species and subspecies p. 6; c, Abbreviations p. 9; d, Key to the species and subspecies p. 10; e, Survey of the species and subspecies p. 11; f, Disregarded specimens p. 30; g, Wilcoxon tests for the difference between certain measurements in allied subspecies p. 31; h, Early stages p. 36; i, The species concept in Nyctalemon p. 37) 3. Biology 38 4. Distribution 43 5. Evolution 46 6. Bibliography 52 1. INTRODUCTION In November 1949 the late Professor Dr. L. J. Toxopeus of Bandung, Java, sent me a specimen of Nyctalemon for identification, but neither with the help of our collection, nor with the current literature did I succeed in ascertaining the correct name of this insect. On the contrary it appeared that, though the described forms of this genus clearly were of different value, viz., partly good species, partly geographical subspecies representing these species in restricted areas, no satisfactory division of the genus into species and subspecies had been given. Thus, Seitz' classification of the known forms into four species of which three are polytypic proved to make no sense. Therefore I resolved to study the genus more closely. In the ensuing correspondence Toxopeus gave me the benefit of his experience by providing references to relevant literature and quotations from


Distributed Key-value database is designed for storing, retrieving, managing associative arrays and data is replicated across different nodes for high availability, and no single point of failure. In such systems, Apache Cassandra is a peer-to-peer architecture which any user can connect to any node in any data center and can read and write data anywhere. Most of the systems usually select a fixed number of replicas of read/write requests in keyvalue storage. When the more replicas a read request chooses, it may increase the response time and reduce the system performance. Therefore, the encoded data is written to a Distributed Hash Table (DHT) and the decoded data are retrieved by automatically adjusting the read and write consistency level. The proposed approach tends to achieve the read/write performance of client requests for key-value storage system by automatically select the minimum number of consistent replicas of defining the consistency level.


The explicit and implicit moral education are the two aspects of ideological and political education.Explicit moral education has played a significant role in a specific period of our country.However,with the economic development and social progress,its shortcomings are exposed.Around the world more and more importance are attached to the implicit moral education.This paper will compare the implicit moral education between China and Britain,to explode the implicit ideological and political education,learn the successful experience of the implicit moral education,innovate the way of implicit ideological and political education.


Recently, many biomaterials have been used as medical and dental implants". These materials must necessarily satisfy the following conditions: i) no toxicity of circumferential tissue, ii) no carcinogeniciy, iii) no allergenic action, iv) enough strength for use as dental and medical implants. Many metal biomaterials such as 316 stainless steel, Co-Cr-Mo alloy and Ti alloy satisfy these conditions. However, corrosion of metals and tissue sensitivity due to released ions are still attendant problems. Meanwhile, biomaterials of alumina ceramic (Al2O3), do not dissolve any ions and alumina ceramic appears optimal for longterm cases by virtue of its total inertness and superior biocompatibility. Even so, alumina ceramic has some weak points. These are "brittleness" and "unbendabilit y". Therefore, new biomaterials are being developed to improve on these faults. In this study, cytotoxicity of new biomaterials were investigated by the cell culture method.


Taking to consideration the antropology venues, the medical disclosures regarding paraphilia, centered on pedophilia, the present paper tries to make an introduction review on the topic under discussion. However, regardless the type of studies made over the time, whether they consisted in questionnaires and forums where people were invited to comment upon this sexual disorder or deviation, to more complex medical research involving MRI scans and DNA analysis, none of them proved their effectiveness, or found a real cause.


I this article, Rohrich et al. document an important observation when evaluating patients for breast augmentation, namely that some form of preexisting asymmetry is the rule rather than the exception. Such observations are critical when counseling patients about breast augmentation and constitute an important part of the informed consent process. Discussing these types of asymmetries and pointing out ahead of time what can and cannot be corrected can be of great benefit in heading off significant patient/ physician misunderstandings. With regard to specific asymmetries, I agree with the authors that perhaps the two most important dimensional observations are base diameter measurements and the location of the inframammary fold. Both of these parameters can be manipulated and changed in a positive manner to create improved symmetry. What is more difficult to alter is nipple-areola complex position, both in relation to the opposite nipple-areola complex and in relation to the breast mound itself. Here, a periareolar incision is required, which many patients find objectionable. Certainly, I would support the observation that slight asymmetries in nipple-areola complex position are magnified with breast augmentation, and this fact needs to be pointed out to the patient ahead of time. Another observation I have made, and one that is readily evident in this article, particularly in Figures 2, 3, and 6, is that augmentation can stretch out and enlarge what is otherwise a relatively lax areola. Some patients may find this areola enlargement objectionable, and it is important to discuss this possibility during the preoperative counseling process. Another problem I have observed after augmentation, although it is not noted in this article, is postoperative prominence of veins in the breast skin across the chest. When I have seen this, it has been very disconcerting for the patient and has been a source of patient dissatisfaction. Therefore, in patients with mild venous prominence present preoperatively, I now point out this possibility ahead of time, because this can head off potential patient dissatisfaction. In summary, Rohrich et al. reinforce a concept that is very important to keep in mind when providing informed consent to a population of patients with high expectations and little tolerance for error. The more proactive we plastic surgeons are on the front end in discussing and heading off misunderstandings and misconceptions, the fewer problems we will have on the back end when they are much more difficult to manage. In the long run, we will provide better care for our patients using this approach.


The structure of the title compound, [Cd2(C12H27O3SSi)4(C10H8N2)]·2C7H8, consists of discrete molecules, with the two halves of the complex molecule related to each other by inversion symmetry. Two (tri-tert-butoxysilanothiolato)cadmium units are bridged through the 4,4′-bipyridyl ligand. The geometry of the CdII atoms is intermediate between square-pyramidal and trigonal-bipyramidal. The solvent toluene molecules pack in the voids between the mid-point of the 4,4′-bipyridine and the tert-butyl groups of an adjacent complex. There is disorder in the 4,4′-bipyridine molecule, with site occupancies of 0.506 (7):0.494 (7).


We have developed a robust algorithm for designing explicit depth extrapolation operators using the projections-onto-convex-sets (POCS) method. The operators are optimal in the sense that they satisfy all required extrapolation design characteristics. In addition, we propose a simple modification of the POCS algorithm (modified POCS, or MPOCS) that further enhances the stability of extrapolated wavefields and reduces the number of iterations required to design such operators to approximately 2% of that required for the basic POCS design algorithm. Various synthetic tests show that 25-coefficient 1D extrapolation operators, which have 13 unique coefficients, can accommodate dip angles up to 70°. We migrated the SEG/EAGE salt model data with the operators and compare our results with images obtained via extrapolators based on modified Taylor series and with wavefield extrapolation techniques such as phase shift plus interpolation (PSPI) and split-step Fourier. The MPOCS algorithm provides practically stable...


We present the technique and results for finding norm-conserving pseudopotentials and EAM potentials that can be used to recover atomic and electronic structure of liquid iron at and above the melting point. Pseudopotentials were found by minimizing the energy differences of our results with all-electron reference methods; EAM potentials — by the modified hybridization method proposed earlier by Belashchenko. We show that these potentials are at least as accurate in describing liquid iron as the established potentials in the field.


This thesis concerns a study of an immersion-style Cree language program in an elementary school in northern Manitoba. Using a collaborative action research model, students' language proficiency, attitudes and academic performance as well as parent and teacher interviews were analyzed to assess the effectiveness of the program and to explore the program's correspondence to community needs and expectations. Findings showed that while students were acquiring Cree vocabulary, their ability to communicate in Cree was very limited and they were not able to converse. Findings also showed that Cree Program students had generally positive attitudes toward Cree language and culture, and that the increased time devoted to Cree had no demonstrable negative effects on their academic performance in other subject areas. Adult interviews demonstrated clearly that community adults had both high hopes and realistic assessments of the program and of students' performance, and, perhaps most importantly, in light of the sad history of Aboriginal education in Canada, parents expressed a strong commitment to the Cree Program and appeared very engaged in their children's education. Cree Program Study iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research study would not have been possible without the kindness and support of the following individuals. I would like to thank: Ron Cook whose Cree language skills and cultural knowledge were essential to the research, William Dumas and Loretta Dykun who often smoothed the way and gave invaluable feedback, The students, parents and staff at Wapanohk Community School for being so accommodating, Greg Penney and the School District of Mystery Lake for their support, moral and financial, Ken Horton and my thesis advisor, Seonaigh MacPherson for their time, supportive words and critical comments. Thank you all. Cree Program Study iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements............................................................................................................ iii Table of


External application of pulsed electromagnetic fields using an investigational device (TranStim Transdermal Neuromodulation System, EMKinetics, Inc., Mountain View, CA) produces the same stimulation of the posterior tibial nerve as traditional electrical stimulation, results from a proof-of-concept study demonstrate.


Abstract Sedimentation field-flow fractionation (sedimentation FFF) is a new technique that has been used to separate and characterize a variety of submicron particles. With the aid of a newly developed on-channel concentration procedure, sedimentation FFF was used to study the colloidal particles contained in samples collected from the Colorado, Green, and Price Rivers in eastern Utah during the spring run-off season. Samples from the different rivers displayed distinctly different fractograms, which could serve to "fingerprint" and characterize the colloidal content. The fractions obtained, when analyzed, displayed distinct differences in chemical composition. Each fraction re-emerged at its original elution volume when re-injected into the apparatus, indicating that the sedimentation FFF procedure had successfully concentrated then fractionated the colloidal particles in the river water.


In this lecture, we restate the model for Robobrain and the IR wall-based sensing algorithm. We then define, simulate and analyze a feedback controller designed to make Robobrain track a signal near the wall.


In this paper we test the existence of gender gaps in educational mismatch for a developing country (Dominican Republic), an interesting case study due to its recent policies of education promotion, which achieved an important increase in enrolment rates at all levels of schooling, particularly for women. We use recent microdata to distinguish between over and undereducation, finding asymmetric effects by gender, particularly harmful for women. Various matching techniques based on propensity score methods were implemented in order to evaluate the impact of the over and under education index on earnings.


Between 2000 and 2005 alongside their Iranian colleagues, the team from the German Mining Museum examined the prehistoric copper-mining area located close to the village of Veshnaveh in the mountains of central Iran. Two mines, Chale Ghar 1 and 2, which had been hollowed out by copper-mining activities, had been filled with the water from melting snow. There objects were uncovered unrelated to prehistoric mining activities: among them were ceramics, as well as very well preserved animal bones, fruits and seeds, wooden vessels, as well as jewellery and personal ornaments. The assemblage and the way in which the objects had been disposed support the assumption that the mines had probably served as a natural sanctuary. Aided by a 14C examination of charcoal collected at the bottom of the depositional features, and by the discovery of an Umayyad coin, it is sensible to assume that the use of Chale Ghar 1 – outside mining activities– ran from c. 800 BC to the 8th century AD. The present study deals with the classification of the personal ornaments, their possible import and trade, the depositional practice and aspects of pre-Islamic religious acts and religious actors.


A random finding of hyperglycaemia in children and adolescents is a good reason for detailed evaluation and for estimation of the underlying disorder. Hyperglycaemia may be the first sign of an early phase of type 1 diabetes mellitus, of type 2 diabetes mellitus, of a diabetic syndrome or of a subtype of MODY diabetes (Maturity-Onset Diabetes of the Young). These conditions differ by their natural course, long-term prognosis and by optimal therapy.


In this issue, we have an international range of contributors, covering a variety of different contexts, using a host of methods to study marketing-related phenomena. Each, in turn, generates a fascinating range of insights into many areas that have been flagged up as worthy of future research and which push the boundaries of marketing knowledge, offering, at the same time, useful and usable insights for practitioners. Our first contribution by Ross and Grace is the type of academic paper that secures attention from various groups. They examine international student recruitment, focusing on the Australian educational context in particular. Somewhat surprisingly, international student recruitment is an area that, despite its importance to universities across the world, has not yet been studied in detail in terms of the factors that enable institutions to perform well in attracting this valuable segment of the market. Moreover, the existing research base is skewed towards the university sector. Ross and Grace's study itself examines this sector, but importantly they broaden their focus to include high schools as well. This is a novel contribution, as is their development of a more comprehensive model – the Strategic Performance Model – which builds upon those already found in the mainstream marketing literature. Subsequently validated by their primary research, their findings can help guide institutions in orienting their approach to student recruitment. Given its topic, it will be of interest to government, policymakers, and high-level university staff and administrators looking to replace government funding with fee income. It is essential reading for those interested in international marketing education but who do not work in the higher-education sector. More generally, marketing theorists looking to contribute to the debates surrounding market orientation, innovation, learning, performance, and the external environment will find much of intellectual sustenance. Our second paper deals with the issue of place marketing, paying particular attention to what Teller and Elms describe as evolved retail agglomerations. These are basically those retail environments that have gradually developed in particular locations and help attract people to a given area. They are not planned retail sites like the out-of-town shopping centres that garner much consumer attention. They may, however, be branded in some way. What they can benefit from, as Teller and Elms' empirical research argues very strongly, is the adoption of a market and customer orientation. This means that place marketers have to actually study the needs of those who frequent their retail locations and respond to these appropriately, not, as so often seems to be the case, branding a place offering in a way that is interesting to the place marketer alone.


Positive attitude of teacher educators is important for improving the quality of ICT teaching in teacher training institutions and technological competency of teacher educators is an important condition for building this attitude. This present study aims to analyse the Attitudes towards ICT of teacher educators among teacher training institutions situated in the North 24 Parganas district according to their technological competency. Descriptive survey research design has been administered for this present study. The present study comprises of 200 teacher educators of few selected teacher training institutions in the North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. Two self-made questionnaire on Attitudes towards ICT and technological competency rating scale by the researcher were used as tools for administering the present study. The study was done by random sampling on teacher educators of several teacher training institutions of North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal. Seven null hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance using mean, standard deviation, t-test, Anova and correlation analysis as statistical techniques. The finding shows that there is a significant positive relationship between Attitudes towards ICT and technological competency of teacher educators in different teacher training institutions. It was also concluded that teacher educators' technological competency is not the only determinant of their Attitudes towards ICT.


The mathematical model of the MTZ wheel tractors dynamics, that took into consideration a link connection of the balancing front-axle beam with tractors body and the steering wheels suspension, is presented in the paper. The conclusions, based on the computer solving of the mathematical model, are given.


Some of the problems in the development of pulsewidth power converters when the switching frequency is increased from hundreds of kilohertz to tens of megahertz are highlighted. The major goal is the establishment of a ten megahertz power chain designed to operate in a distributed system from a DC power bus of 24 to 48 V. Available components and materials are discussed, and possible topologies-flyback, forward, push-pull forward, and buck converters-are examined. The performance criteria chosen for this analysis are, in the order of preference, output requirements, size and weight, efficiency, and cost.<<ETX>>


Solitary contralateral adrenal metastasis from a renal cell carcinoma is distinctly unusual but aggressive surgical resection alone can produce long-term survival.


1International Court of Justice Disputes — Nature of dispute — Definition — Different views of dispute — When dispute sufficiently defined for adjudication — Agreement to submit whole dispute to International Court of Justice — Whether unilateral application by one Party placed whole dispute before the Court International Court of Justice — Jurisdiction — Requirement of consent — Agreement between Parties to submit whole dispute to Court — Relationship between jurisdiction and seisin — Method of seisin — Whether agreement envisaged seisin by unilateral application — 1987 and 1990 agreements between Bahrain and Qatar — Whether sufficient to provide basis for the jurisdiction of the Court — Whether consent to jurisdiction conditional upon conclusion of a special agreement — Invitation by Court to Parties to submit whole dispute to the Court by joint or separate acts — Submission by one Party acting alone — Whether sufficient — Admissibility International Court of Justice — Procedure — Method of seisin — Unilateral application — Procedural consequences — Invitation by Court to Parties to submit whole dispute to it by joint or separate acts — Whether Court envisaging coordinated acts by both Parties — Unilateral act by one Party — Time-limits for filing of Memorials Treaties — Definition — Essential nature of a treaty — Form of agreement irrelevant — Treaty contained in several separate instruments — Minutes of a meeting — Whether capable of amounting to a treaty — Intention of the parties — Foreign Minister not authorized to sign binding agreement and not intending to do so — Whether preventing minutes from constituting a treaty — Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969, Article 2(l)(a) Treaties — Interpretation — Principles of interpretation — Common intention of the parties as revealed in the text — Recourse to supplementary means of interpretation — Travaux préparatoires — Recourse to negotiating history to confirm interpretation of text — Effect of conflict between interpretation reached by study of text and negotiating history


To investigate whether depressed oncology patients show a specific depressive symptom profile, we compared depression symptoms in depressed cancer patients (CANCER‐DEP) and depressed patients without a chronic somatic disease (NONCANCER‐DEP).


This text provides an engaging and interesting look into the field of Corporations while developing the critical thinking skills necessary to succeed in practice. Written to effectively enable Socratic instuction in the classroom, special attention has been paid to incorporate recent business developments into the teaching materials, including late-breaking material from Wall Street Journal reportage and other sources. The Teacher's Manual is a series of questions and answers that moves across all the cases and associated principles. It provides occasional background lecture discussions, including summaries of leading law review articles. The casebook is supported by a TWEN website for adopting teachers, which will have updates provided by the author.


We present a model for asynchronous distributed computation and then proceed to analyze the convergence of natural asynchronous distributed versions of a large class of deterministic and stochastic gradient-like algorithms. We show that such algorithms retain the desirable convergence properties of their centralized counterparts, provided that the time between consecutive communications between processors plus communication delays are not too large.


Appendicitis is the most typical cause of an acute abdomen. Clinical
history and physical examination are used to make the diagnosis of
acute appendicitis. Abdominal ultrasonography is frequently used to
diagnose appendicitis. To reach the diagnosis, numerous grading
systems were devised. These rating scales are based on clinical
characteristics and lab tests. Alvarado, Modied Alvarado, and
RIPASA are a few examples. There is still no conclusive laboratory test
for the diagnosis of appendicular perforation. Few studies have shown
that appendicular perforation is associated with elevated serum
bilirubin, but their signicance has not been emphasized. The current
study aims to evaluate the link between bilirubin levels and its validity
as a predictive marker for the diagnosis of appendicular perforation in
light of the aforementioned context


If neutron stars can be twice as massive as the Sun, most conjectures about exotic states of matter at maximum compression are ruled out.


summary Objectives: To study the clinical, radiological and immunological profile of pulmonary tuberculosis in HIV infected patients and assess the response to short-course chemotherapy regimens. Methods: Seventy eight patients (68 males and 10 females) with HIV infection and having sjmptoms suggestive of tuberculosis attending the Government Hospital for Thoracic Medicine. Tambaram or the Tuberculosis Research Centre, Chennai were studied. The diagnosis of tuberculosis was based on clinical evaluation, bacteriological examination including sputum smear and culture and chest skiagram. HIV diagnosis was based on two tests (rapid/I-LISA), delecting different antigens. CD4+ T cell counts were done on all patients initially and at the end of treatment. Blood tests and skiagrams were repealed at 2 months and at the end of treatment. All the patients were tre<iled with standard (RNTCP) short course regimens. Patients were given all the doses under supervision during the initial intensive phase and through community DOTS providers in the continuation phase. Results: Sixty five patients had culture confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis, of whom 54 had smear positive disease, initially. The radiological manifestations were varied, with 11 subjects having miliary tuberculosis, 54 with non-homogeneous opacities and 10 with cavitation. The mean CD4 cell count at intake was 192 ± 172 cells/cumin. Patients showed good initial response to treatment with significant weight gain. At the end of 2 months of treatment. 91%of patients had sputum cultures negative for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. However, the CD4 % fell significantly by the sixth month. The study is being continued to assess the long-term response to SCC of patients with HIV and tuberculosis. Conclusions: Tuberculosis has a varied clinical presentation in patients with Hi V infection. The spectrum of radiographic features ranges from normal toa miliary pattern. Inspite of clinical and bacteriological improvement during treatment, immunologic deterioration m y continue. Key worth: Pulmonary tuberculosis, HIV infection. Clinical profile of TB/HIV patients.


T his article is part of the research in C ruz de P iedra, E stado de M exico, the community is characterized by agriculture in a process of change from one traditional agriculture to a conventional. In analyzing the outcome of the investigation, showed that the role women have within the standard of living is important to share their work within the process change which is the subject of this article. T he work of being a housewife, added agricultural activities, either as payment for labor or as the owner of the land, plus the income obtained through the program Oportunidades , which allow families to invest savings in money conventional products. The aim of this article is to describe the participation of women through what is called the rural culture of women in C ruz de P iedra, E stado de M exico. The relationship with the environmental work of farmers generated several questions, inclu-ding: What is women's participation in this kind of environment and farming system? How important is T he financial support that the federal government gives to people of C ruz de P iedra, through the O portunidades program within the pattern of subsistence How important it is? D oes migration exist? How does it support people?


Inflammation plays a fundamental role in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The bioactive dietary flavonoid quercetin has received increased interest due to its anti‐inflammatory properties, but its effects on neuroinflammation in AD are not known. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of dietary flavonoid quercetin on neuroinflammation in AD. Double transgenic female mice (B6C3‐Tg(APPswe, PSEN1dE9) 85Dbo/O) were randomly assigned to either quercetin (QAD) or placebo (PAD) treatments (n=10/group). C57BL/6 mice were used as age matched old (OWT) and young (YWT) controls. Quercetin (1% in mouse chow) (QAD) or placebo (OWT and PAD) was administered from 3–13 months. QAD, OWT and PAD were sacrificed at 13 months of age. YWT were sacrificed at 3 months of age. Brain tissue was collected and analyzed for TNF‐α, IL‐1β, IL‐6 and MCP‐1 mRNA expression using RT‐PCR. YWT showed significantly lower levels of TNF‐α, IL‐1β, IL‐6 and MCP‐1 versus all other groups (P<0.05). Furthermore, PAD showed significantly elevated levels of IL‐1β, IL‐6, and MCP‐1 versus OWT (P<0.05), but quercetin blunted this response for IL‐1β and MCP‐1 (P<0.05). Our data show that quercetin can partly block the increased gene expression of neuroinflammatory factors in AD. These findings may have important implications in AD as well as other neurodegenerative diseases in which inflammation plays a necessary role.


Photonic crystals are a synthetic crystal whose refractive index is periodically modulated on a scale with the wavelengths of visible and infrared light. Due to multiple interference of lightwaves scattered from each unit cell, these crystals exhibit partial and complete photonic band gaps (PBGs) which is analogous to the electronic band gaps in a semiconductor. Among them, colloidal particles have been widely used and easily fabricated into face-centeredcubic (fcc) lattices of sphere. Moreover, the colloidal crystals have been used as a template for inverted opal structures. The morphology of inverted opals can be controlled by filling ratio and surface property of the particles. Here, we investigated in detail the PBGs of inverted opals with various morphologies. Specifically, we simulated the PBGs for inverted opals with hollow shell or interconnected window. Furthermore, we fabricated the inverted opals with optimized morphologies.


Ustilago scitaminea, the causal organism of whip smut of sugarcane is basically a disease of meristematic tissue and it proliferates in young and actively growing tissues. It enters the healthy sugarcane plant through lateral buds, overcoming the barriers of bud scales. With the germination of an infected bud the fungus also gets activated and grows along with the apical meristem and later on manifests itself by converting the apical meristem in a very characteristic manner i.e., by producing a typical whip like smutty structure. Screening of sugarcane genotypes against smut is mainly done either by inoculating the setts (planting material) by dipping in the spore suspension of smut or by painting the buds with the spore suspension at the time ofplanting. Inoculated setts are planted in the field for germination and symptom expression. Every sugarcane pathologist faces problems of getting enough uniform smut infected sugarcane planting material (setts) for carrying out other experiments. Taking the analogy from the grassy shoot disease (GSD), where the mother shoot feeds the grassy lanky albinoid tillers, this technique was developed by inoculating the underground buds of the cane at the time of tillering, taking advantage of the canes own physiology of tillering and grand growth. In a highly susceptible variety like CoLk 7901 the success rate of infection was 83% with the new method compared with the common sett inoculation method that produced an infection level of only 36%. Moreover, the systematically infected tillers produced at the grand growth stage of sugarcane were excellent experimental material and thus could circumvent the lack of uniform infecting material for conducting other studies.


Abstract : Applications in low energy kinetic studies, high energy accelerator technology and beam heating in fusion studies have fostered experimental and theoretical studies of the volume production of negative hydrogen ions in a magnetic multicusp discharge. In this study, a self-consistent approach based on Maxwellian moments of the Boltzmann equation is presented. The departure of the electron energy distribution fro a Maxwellian is also discussed and incorporated. The results of this model for discharge currents ranging from 1-100 A, for pressures ranging from 1-100 mTorr, and for voltages ranging from 20-100 V are compared to previous studies. Finally, scaling laws with discharge current, gas pressure, and discharge voltage are established and used to predict the optimum operating regime for a magnetic multicusp ion source.


By column chromatography separation and purification,3-chloro-1,2-propanediol glycol in soy sauce was derived with phenylboronic acid into 3-chloro-1,2-propylene glycol phenyl boric acid ester,which was determined by gas chromatography flame ionization detector and external standard method.The method had simplicity and accuracy with the recovery of 82.6 %.


Introduction Over the last 20 years, the treatment of patients with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has evolved dramatically but the changing patient characteristics have not been well des...


The objectives of the present study were to examine (a) the potential correlates of role satisfaction, and (b) whether related role elements (e.g., role clarity, role efficacy, role importance) and team cohesion were predictors of role satisfaction within intercollegiate sport teams. Participants included 174 male and female intercollegiate basketball players ( M age = 20.85 ± 1.42 years). Initial correlation analyses revealed that role satisfaction was associated with role clarity ( r = .69), role importance ( r = .76), role efficacy ( r = .42), attractions to group-task ( r = .31), and attractions to group-social ( r = .25; all ps M sat = 6.56 ± 1.35) and higher satisfaction (i.e., upper 33%; M sat = 9.27 ± 0.38) groups. A simultaneous binary logistic regression analysis determined significant predictive relationships with respect to role efficacy ( ? = 1.03, p ? = 2.08, p = 0.001), role importance ( ? = 1.64, p ? = 0.87, p = 0.051), and attractions to group-social ( ? = 0.85, p < .05). The overall prediction success was 88%, with 86.5% of the low satisfaction cases and 90% of the high satisfaction cases correctly classified. Results suggest that role satisfaction is a salient perception among intercollegiate athletes and, furthermore, is closely related to important group processes such as team cohesion. Potential implications will be discussed.


In this article the condition of integration processes in industry in the region is viewed. Dynamics of integration processes in industry in the region is defined and critical assessment of their condition in the Samara region is defined.


In view of the problems exiting in computer repair maintenance course of the health information management professional,a course examination system based on the Web was designed.Combining with the course orientation and course examination requirements,we designed basic architecture of LAN examination system with ASP and SQL Server database technology.The cost of the examination was reduced using this virtual technology.The system not only provides the research foundation for further development,but also helps teachers explore the reformation of theory and practice integration curriculum.


The title compound, [Cu2(C2H3O2)4(C7H6N2S)2]·2C4H10O, exhibits distorted square-pyramidal coordination geometry around each CuII atom, with the basal plane comprising O atoms from four bridging acetate ligands and the apical position occupied by the thiazole N atom of 2-aminobenzothiazole. The dinuclear complex lies on a crystallographic centre of inversion and has a Cu⋯Cu distance of 2.6850 (14) A. Complexes are linked into one-dimensional chains by a combination of intermolecular O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds involving the butanol solvent molecules.


This mixed convection study compares the fluid and thermal behaviour of the developing flow in distributed heated modules along the lower wall of a rectangular channel at high Reynolds number in the presence (mixed) and absence (forced) of a buoyancy force generated due to the temperature difference between heated modules and the fluid near these modules. The time averaged mass, momentum and energy equations along with the k-/spl epsiv/ equations for turbulent closure are solved. A special explicit method, MAC (marker and cell), is used to solve these governing equations. In this paper, a comparative study of the distribution of Nusselt number and pressure drop on the lower channel wall in forced and mixed convection cases is reported. The detailed analysis is presented through streamline plots, turbulent kinetic energy contours, pressure contours and temperature contours. It can be seen from this study that although the buoyancy force has a significant effect on the nature of the flow and thermal fields, the average Nusselt number and coefficient of pressure over each module is nearly the same for natural and mixed convection cases. The heat transfer coefficient and the pressure coefficient increase with module height but decrease with an increase in module length in both cases.


There are many railway crossings which are unmanned due to lack of manpower and unavailability of electricity needed to fulfill the demands. Hence, many accidents occur at such crossings, since there is no one to take care of the functioning of the railway gate when a train approaches the crossing. This paper describes the automatic railway gate control system using pneumatic cylinder with sensor assistance for saving precious human lives and preventing major disasters in railway track. Here pneumatic power is used so that it can be efficient in the remote area also.


This article tries to analyse country-level variations in the selected Asian developing economies in terms of their growth path and their position in the process of structural transformation in the recent decades, by estimating the turning point (TP) for each country. It also examines the magnitude of the contribution of intersectoral shifts and within-sector productivity gains in the economy-wide labour productivity growth by conducting the shift-share analysis. The results of turning point (TP) estimation show that all these countries had achieved their turning points except the Philippines between 1980 and 2018. However, the productivity increase in agriculture is not evident as their GAP in the year when TP would have been achieved is not even near to zero. Further, the shift-share analysis highlights the contribution of within-sector productivity growth is relatively more than that of intersectoral shifts of labour. Thus, the main concern is to make sure that there is a steady intersectoral movement of labour from low productive to high productive sectors, which can be done primarily through expanding the productive sectors (industry and services) to generate employment opportunities. Also, equally important is increasing the productivity of the agricultural sector so that the process of structural transformation could happen smoothly. For this, the public and private investments in R&D of both agriculture and non-agriculture sectors are highly crucial.


Objective To evaluate the efficacy of drospirenone and ethinylestradiol tablets after the surgical abortion in China. Methods Literatures on drospirenone and ethinylestradiol tablets used in surgical abortion in Cochrane library,PubMed,Elsevise,CNKI,WanFang and VIP database were searched by computer. A meta- analysis was conducted on postoperative vaginal bleeding,vaginal bleeding duration,resumption of menstruation and the thickness of endometrium by using RevMan 5. 0 software. Results 11 articles and 4 224 patients were included. Meta- analysis showed that drospirenone and ethinylestradiol tablets could reduce the vaginal bleeding time〔MD =- 3. 01,95% CI(- 3. 98,- 2. 05) 〕,accelerate the resumption of menstruation〔MD =- 11. 64,95% CI(- 15. 45,- 7. 84) 〕and increase the thickness of endometrium〔MD = 1. 73,95% CI( 0. 79,2. 67) 〕,but could not significantly reduce the vaginal bleeding volume〔MD =- 12. 49,95% CI(- 38. 52,13. 54) 〕. Conclusion Drospirenone and ethinylestradiol tablets could reduce the postoperative vaginal bleeding duration after surgical abortion,improve the resumption of menstruation and the thickness of endometrium,but show no obvious effect on the volume of postoperative vaginal bleeding. Given the quality of literatures included,the conclusions of the Meta- analysis could be influenced.


Education is a conscious effort to develop personality, guide the abilities and education of students, both formal and non-formal. Currently, education in Indonesia is entering the 4.0 era, technological developments during the Covid-19 pandemic have become business opportunities, including in the field of education such as tutoring (BIMBEL). This study aims to analyze the optimization of learning programs through the Zenius e-learning- based application which is often used by students, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic , where this is one of the implementations of using technology as an educational tool developed through e-learning . This study uses a literature study method obtained from journals, and other supporting data from various studies and research results that are relevant to optimizing the Zenius application. The results of this study are that it can be seen how optimal the procurement of e-learning sites is as a means to maximize distance learning for students, especially during the current Covid-19 pandemic . This can be known through the process of studying literature through digital media which will be carried out by the public in order to get the desired results regarding the platform of the e-learning . The benefits of this research include being able to review how optimal the e-learning platform is to facilitate students in maximizing distance learning during pandemic conditions like today, so that it can be seen to what extent it is running quite optimally. Thus, the conclusion of this study is that by utilizing technology to maximize distance at this time is effective, because with the existence of sites or renewable features regarding e-learning, it can make the teaching and learning process can be carried out without being constrained by space and time.


The majority of existing solutions to the Multi-Target Tracking (MTT) problem do not combine cues over a long period of time in a coherent fashion. In this paper, we present an online method that encodes long-term temporal dependencies across multiple cues. One key challenge of tracking methods is to accurately track occluded targets or those which share similar appearance properties with surrounding objects. To address this challenge, we present a structure of Recurrent Neural Networks (RNN) that jointly reasons on multiple cues over a temporal window. Our method allows to correct data association errors and recover observations from occluded states. We demonstrate the robustness of our data-driven approach by tracking multiple targets using their appearance, motion, and even interactions. Our method outperforms previous works on multiple publicly available datasets including the challenging MOT benchmark.


Case A man, aged 69 years, presented with a 2-year history of diarrhoea, including nocturnal symptoms, faecal incontinence, abdominal pain and weight loss of 22 kg. He had no perrectal bleeding. His past medical history included chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), gout, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, biventricular failure, aneurysmal dilatation of the ascending aorta, chronic renal failure, hypertension, previous excess alcohol intake and previous endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) for choledocholithiasis. His current medications reflected these conditions. He was an ex-smoker and denied current alcohol use.


From the end of July to the beginning of August 2004, a typhoon (called Typhoon No. 10 in Japan) attacked Shikoku Island and the Tyugoku area of Japan before moving towards the eastern part of the Korean Peninsula. Due to this typhoon, rain fell very heavily on Shikoku Island. From July 30 to August 2, the accumulated precipitation reached 2000 mm, and a daily precipitation of 1,317 mm was recorded, which was greater than the Japanese historical daily rainfall record of 1,114 mm. During this period, a huge number of landslides was triggered on Tokushima Prefecture, among which some catastrophic landslides on Kisawa village caused the loss of two lives and severed roads. Field investigations showed that the displaced soil mass from the source areas of these landslides travelled long distances with low apparent friction angle, showing the characteristics of high mobility. Because the main rocks of the displaced landslide masses are weathered greenstone and serpentinite, which are usually not liquefiable, questions were then raised as to why these landslides were of such high mobility. Samples were collected from the source areas and then drained/undrained ring shear tests were performed on them. The failure process due to the rainfall was firstly geotechnically simulated using a newly developed ring shear apparatus: the initial stresses on the sliding surface were reproduced in the apparatus; then, the pore-water pressure was gradually increased simulating the rise of ground-water level during rainfall until the shear failure was triggered. The test results showed that a great reduction in the shear strength resulted after the shear failure with very low apparent friction angle. Undrained ring shear test results also showed that high pore-water pressures could be generated within these samples when they suffered large displacements of shearing. This paper presents the field and laboratory investigation results, as a case study.


As days go by mobile phones have become minicomputers equipped with many sensors due to advancement in microelectronics, which increases the processing power of these devices and has made possible new forms of input interfaces like gesture based user interfaces. Due to the increase in power a new type of interaction has been introduced in which the user interacts with the computer using movements or gestures made while holding a device or while interfacing with the device. We have developed a system which makes use of the data gathered from accelerometer and gyroscope. In the system, we have fixed gestures which are used to execute certain operations in the user's computer. With the development of this system our main aim is to reduce the user's dependency on traditional input devices like mouse and keyboard.


Enzinger and Weiss' classified angiomatoid malignant fibrous histiocytoma (AMFH) as a subtype of malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH). Clinically, AMFH manifests itself as a multinodular or multicystic, hemorrhagic mass. 1 We saw a patient with a markedly bleeding, cystic tumor on chronic radiodermatitis of the lower abdomen. The risk of massive bleeding and its development on chronic radiodermatitis is reported herein. Report of a Case A 62-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital in June 1982, because of a bleeding, cystic tumor on chronic radiodermatitis of the lower abdomen. In 1966 she underwent total hysterectomy for cervical carcinoma and was put on a radiotherapy with a total of 8,000 rads of cobalt 60. She had noticed a fingertip sized nodule on chronic radiodermatitis six years prior. The nodule was symptomfree. It grew to be about the size of a table tennis ball during one year. It was reduced in size temporarily


Drawing on the experience of Victoria, Australia, the authors show that the adoption of statewide standards does not have to mean the sacrifice of school-site autonomy. AFTER A decade of invention and experimentation, two strategies for improving public education have emerged, each having a corps of prominent advocates, each moving in a different direction. One set of reformers is bent on decentralizing public education so that individual schools will be more responsive to community needs, local priorities, and parental preferences. For example, in Chicago locally elected school councils hire principals and establish curricula. In many states the Coalition of Essential Schools supports the efforts of individual schools to shape unique programs that respond to their students' needs. Calls for schools that are carefully tailored to serve local needs gamer the support of many people who are accustomed to local control in a diverse society. By contrast, other reformers propose a system of state or national standards and assessments that would set expectations for all students and all schools. California is the first state to have implemented an extensive system of curriculum frameworks; Goals 2000 encourages other states to do so as well. The New Standards Project is developing sophisticated approaches to assessing students' work, collaborating with 19 states and six districts. Calls for national standards strike a chord among those worried about students' inadequate performance and wary of the low standards that might be overlooked in the zeal for local variation. Practitioners and policy analysts have noted the seeming contradictions in these two approaches. Competing strategies that would centralize or decentralize the system appear destined to collide when the independent decisions of local schools confront the uniform expectations of a system of state or national standards and assessments. In the U.S. we typically think of such issues in all-or-nothing ways. Either schools are free from outside control, or they are dominated by it. Either they define their own curriculum and standards, or they submit to the mandates of a bureaucracy or government. With such expectations in mind, those in district offices and government agencies tend to clutch and wield the little control they have while those in the schools defy those efforts or find ways to comply minimally while continuing to pursue their independent purposes. It is an either/or game played in a context of "us versus them." Educators in other countries do not frame the options so starkly or regard centralization and decentralization as mutually exclusive. As Harold Howe II and Margaret Vickers described in their Education Week commentary on 14 July 1993, the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) illustrates an alternative worth considering. The balance of standards and diversity exemplified by the VCE is echoed by the more general compatibility of central curriculum guidance and school-site governance. Victoria, Australia, provides evidence that state standards and local variation not only can coexist, but also can be mutually reinforcing. There are no school districts in Victoria, and since 1984 each school has been governed by an elected school council composed of parents, teachers, administrators, and community members. Since these local councils make many managerial and curricular decisions, Australian schools vary widely. At the same time, however, Victoria has adopted statewide both a set of curriculum frameworks for primary school through grade 10 and an innovative program of curriculum and assessment (known as the VCE) for grades 11 and 12. Because private schools receive public funding in Australia, all students in grades 11 and 12, whether they are enrolled in the exclusive Methodist Ladies College or in the working-class high school of Footscray-Yarraville, prepare for similar assessments. Thus Victoria employs a combination of school-site autonomy and centralized direction that seems to work. …


Agent cooperation based system is currently a prevalent issue in Artificial Intelligence (AI), and its application to Distributed Decision Support Systems (DDSS), operating over the Internet, is a potentially valuable contribution. This paper proposes a system (AODDSS) of using multiple agent cooperation to support decision making. It describes the structure of individual agent and the frame of AODDSS, the workflow of agent cooperation, and the methods of distributed decision making, and its application in store chains with a view to applying this technology to DDSS.


Early retirement in Germany is very costly and amplifies the burden which the German public pension system has to carry due to population aging. This paper shows that the German pension system provides strong incentives to retire early. The paper provides econometric estimates of these incentive effects on old age labor supply, using several specifications of the incentive variables and their covariates. These estimates are used to simulate the individual responses to three policy changes: (a) the adjustment factors for early retirement introduced by the 1992 pension reform will increase the retirement age of men by about 1.5 years; (b) this increase is almost the same as the effect of a shift in the "normal retirement" age from 65 to 67; (c) introducing close to actuarially fair adjustment factors (6% per year of delay) would increase the average retirement age by about 2 years and 2 months. The effects are about half the size for women.


Background: This study tested whether combined hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) and allogenic adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ADMSCs) would be superior to either one for improving the neurological function in rat after acute traumatic spinal cord injury (TSCI) in rat. Methods and Results: Adult-male SD rats (n=40) were equally categorized into group 1 (sham-operated control), group 2 (TSCI), group 3 (TSCI + HBO for 1.5h/day for 14 consecutive days after TSCI), group 4 (TSCI + ADMSCs/1.2x106 cells by intravenous injection at 3h and days 1/2 after TSCI) and group 5 (TSCI + HBO + ADMSCs), euthanized and spinal-cord tissue was harvested by day 49 after TSCI. The result showed that the protein expressions of oxidative-stress (NOX-1/NOX-2), inflammatory-signaling (TLR-4/MyD88/IL-1ß/TNF-α/substance-p), cell-stress signaling (PI3K/p-AKT/p-mTOR) and the voltage gated sodium channel (Nav1.3/1.8/1.9) biomarkers were highest in group 2, lowest in group 1 and significantly lower in group 5 than in groups 3/4 (all p<0.0001), but they did not differ between groups 3/4. The spinal cord-damaged area, the cellular levels of inflammatory/DNA-damaged (CD68+/GFAP+/γ-H2AX+ cells), MAPK family biomarkers (p-P38/p-JNK/p-ERK1/2) and cellular expressions of voltage gated sodium channel (Nav.1.3, Nav.1.8 and Nav.1.9 in NF200+ cells) as well as the pain facilitated cellular expressions (p-P38+/peripherin+ cells, p-JNK+/peripherin+ cells, p-ERK/NF200+ cells) exhibited an identical pattern of inflammation, whereas the neurological integrity displayed an opposite pattern of inflammation among the groups (all p<0.0001). Conclusion: Combined HBO-ADMSCs therapy offered additional benefits for protecting the neurological architectural and functional integrity against acute TSCI.


The utility model relates to a glue quick-bonding device. The glue quick-bonding device comprises a needle cylinder base body, a needle head pipe, and a piston pushing pipe, wherein the needle head pipe is arranged at the front end of the needle cylinder base body, and the piston pushing pipe is arranged at the rear end of the needle cylinder base body. The glue quick-bonding device further comprises a needle cylinder base body handle and a pushing pipe round handle, wherein the needle cylinder base body handle and the pushing pipe round handle are respectively arranged at the front end and the rear end of the piston pushing pipe. During use, the needle cylinder base body is used for extracting glue, the piston pushing pipe is pushed, the glue is bonded on a plane needing the glue, and therefore the problem that the glue can be bonded on hands easily is solved. The glue quick-bonding device has the advantages of being environment-friendly, clean, and convenient to use.


Current conceptions of attitude do not adequately distinguish between attitudes and factual beliefs on the one hand, or between attitudes and preferences on the other. To hold an attitude is to ascribe an objective moral property to the attitude‐object; however, the conception of such properties rests on an incoherent theory of relations as constitutive of their terms, and the belief in them has only pseudo‐cognitive content. Moralism, or the maintaining of attitudes, is a special technique for disguising and promoting interests. Attitudes serve as rationalizations for concealed or unconscious impulses and are themselves defended by further rationalizations. These considerations call into question some common techniques of attitude‐assessment. Some apparent exceptions, namely 'aesthetic attitudes' and 'authentic values', reveal themselves to be either (a) factual beliefs about aesthetic properties or about human motivation respectively, (b) preferences, or (c) moral attitudes as defined. Moralism is not e...


Coal combustion continues to be a major source of energy throughout the world and is the leading contributor to anthropogenic mercury emissions. Effective control of these emissions requires a good understanding of how other flue gas constituents such as sulfur dioxide (SO2) and sulfur trioxide (SO3) may interfere in the removal process. Most of the current literature suggests that SO2 hinders elemental mercury (Hg0) oxidation by scavenging oxidizing species such as chlorine (Cl2) and reduces the overall efficiency of mercury capture, while there is evidence to suggest that SO2 with oxygen (O2) enhances Hg0 oxidation by promoting Cl2 formation below 100 °C. However, studies in which SO2 was shown to have a positive correlation with Hg0 oxidation in full-scale utilities indicate that these interactions may be heavily dependent on operating conditions, particularly chlorine content of the coal and temperature. While bench-scale studies explicitly targeting SO3 are scarce, the general consensus among full-scale coal-fired utilities is that its presence in flue gas has a strong negative correlation with mercury capture efficiency. The exact reason behind this observed correlation is not completely clear, however. While SO3 is an inevitable product of SO2 oxidation by O2, a reaction that hinders Hg0 oxidation, it readily reacts with water vapor, forms sulfuric acid (H2SO4) at the surface of carbon, and physically blocks active sites of carbon. On the other hand, H2SO4 on carbon surfaces may increase mercury capacity either through the creation of oxidation sites on the carbon surface or through a direct reaction of mercury with the acid. However, neither of these beneficial impacts is expected to be of practical significance for an activated carbon injection system in a real coal-fired utility flue gas.