The healthcare industry is expanding swiftly and total healthcare expenditures are expected to reach 18% of GDP by 2008. However there exist steep variances in quality of care and high incidences of medical error. This has given impetus to efforts at progressively evolving the healthcare delivery system. The role of information technology (IT) is seen as being central to cost reduction and quality improvement of healthcare delivery. Furthermore, efficiency gains will realize approximately 20% in cost reductions. However, there are significant challenges associated with widespread adoption of IT by healthcare providers. Despite the existence of vendor and technology maturity, implementation rates for clinical patient record systems were only 35% in 2006. This study addresses the problem of low IT adoption in hospitals through a three pronged analysis methodology. A Clockspeed analysis has revealed a dichotomy between the maturity levels of technology and vendors on the one hand and delivery processes on the other. This has resulted in lower business value being realized from IT investments by healthcare providers. To address the concern of low business value realization from IT investments, a workflow and Social Networking Analysis was conducted on the surgery patient flow process of a prominent Boston area hospital. It was demonstrated that productivity gains could be achieved through redesign of social networks at the workplace and by inculcating an enterprise-wide process orientation. This would generate greater business value from existing IT investments and thereby impact the rate of IT adoption. Furthermore, an assessment of IT Governance styles and IT Architecture maturity was done at the same Boston area hospital. The findings revealed the requirements necessary for migration towards an IT Architecture that could deliver data integration and an enterprise-wide process orientation. A top management driven approach towards a uniformity in governance styles and an alignment of business strategies throughout the organization were identified as the key requirements. The improved business value realized from IT investments through this combined approach makes the case for faster IT adoption by hospitals, and by extension, by healthcare providers in general.


The VESUVIO spectrometer at the ISIS pulsed neutron and muon source is an epithermal and thermal neutron station requiring a software suite able to tackle the analysis of experimental data from several neutron techniques. We present an update on the tools available within the MANTID environment for the treatment of neutron Compton scattering data, and we discuss new strategies for the analysis of neutron Compton profiles and momentum distributions that provide robustness to the scientific studies based on this technique.


Numerical simulation was carried out for a propane fire of mass transfer rate on a 1m high vertical wall. The objectives of this study are to confirm the outcomes of evaluation of the simulator through simulation of natural convection, and to compare the results of the wall fire with those of previous studies. It was confirmed that the simulated boundary layer was laminar at while it was turbulent at . The z direction velocity showed lack of turbulent mixing as seen in the natural convection case, and the profiles of temperature and velocities were in relatively good agreement with those of experiment and previous simulation. It was found that the air entrainment into the boundary layer was well predicted.


Abstract A new version of extended irreversible thermodynamics (EIT) satisfying a Hamiltonian structure is proposed. For pedagogical purpose, the simple problem of linear heat conduction in a rigid body is investigated to illustrate the general framework. In contrast with earlier versions of EIT wherein the heat flux was upgraded to the status of state variables, we select here its conjugate dual and higher order fluxes as new independent variables. Their time–evolution equations are formed of reversible and irreversible terms but they cannot take any arbitrary form. Restrictions are placed on the reversible terms by imposing a Hamiltonian structure while the irreversible contribution is subject to the requirement to satisfy the second law of thermodynamics. Explicit expressions of the temperature and heat flux waves are also derived.


In this paper, a compact tactile display which consists of multiple vibrotactile actuators with 4-different vibrotactile unbalanced masses and a Peltier thermoelectric module is proposed. By stimulating 2 different sensory channels including mechanoreceptors and thermoreceptor simultaneously, surface texture and material composition can be displayed using the implemented device. 3 experiments were conducted for the performance evaluation of the proposed device through discriminating various patterned textures. Experimental results show that the developed device can be used to display surface texture and temperature together and suggest the possibility of implementing a small-sized, multi-fingered tactile display device.


When we began to plan the general program of democratizing our elementary department, we purposed to develop some "objective scale for measuring citizenship habits." Taking the Horace Mann scale as a starting-point, we hoped to evolve a method of objective measurement which could be appreciated by the children. After more than six months of thought and effort we decided, however, that the first need was to make the children conscious of the standards which should be functioning. Looked at this way, it did not first mean the construction of a yardstick by the faculty by which the children could measure themselves, but rather the development of a sense of social responsibility and a recognition of its demands.


A phase delay analysis is proposed against pursuing a flat group delay response for the design of wideband circuits. While it is believed that a large group delay variation introduces a large data-dependent jitter, this brief reconsiders the effectiveness of the group delay analysis in the evaluation of wideband circuits. Because of its own differentiating nature, the group delay provides a good insight on the delay variation at a vicinity of a certain frequency. However, for certain kind of wideband circuits, the group delay analysis cannot provide a sufficient insight since much of useful information is lost or distorted during the differentiating operation. In this brief, the effectiveness of the phase delay analysis is investigated and comparison with a traditional group delay analysis is presented with a theoretical approach and through a few circuit examples.


We review the Rein-Sehgal model and criticize its use for low energy neutrino induced coherent pion production. We have studied the validity of the main approximations implicit in that model, trying to compare with physical observables when that is possible and with microscopical calculations. Next, we have tried to elaborate a new improved model by removing the more problematic approximations, while keeping the model still reasonably simple. Last, we have discussed the limitations intrinsic to any approach based on the partial conservation of the axial current hypothesis. In particular, we have shown the inability of such models to determine the angular distribution of the outgoing pion with respect to the direction of the incoming neutrino, except for the q{sup 2}=0 kinematical point.


Administration of fresh frozen plasma (FFP) in trauma patients has historic origin. With the introduction of synthetic colloids, indication for FFP switched from fluid therapy to prophylaxis for bleeding, therapy for coagulation disorders and improving pathological coagulation status. With the introduction of coagulation factor concentrates, indication for FFP could be further restricted to rare specific clinical situations: We really need plasma for transfusion or plasma exchange in trauma patients with hereditary deficiency in coagulation factor V, in factor XI or in vWF:CP (synonym: ADAMTS13) in order to maintain haemostatically effective factor levels of at least 15–20%, because for these deficiencies no licensed concentrates are available yet for substitution [1]. Plasma exchange in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) and adult haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) is another 1A-indication for plasma [1]. In trauma patients with liver dysfunction, plasma could be transfused when PT is <50% and major bleeding occurs (grade 2C) [1]. Other congenital coagulopathies are principally treated with coagulation factor concentrates e.g. haemophilia A is treated with factor VIII concentrates, also in the trauma situation. The effect of oral anticoagulants or of a severe vitamin K deficiency is recommended to be reversed rapidly by administration of prothrombin complex concentrates (PCC) [1,2]. If in such emergencies no concentrates are available in the hospital, FFP could be considered as an alternative but with lower efficacy compared to factor concentrates. The question however, is do we really need FFP for these rare indications or should other virus-inactivated preparations such as solvent-detergent (SD) plasma be preferred. Austrian experience shows that it is feasible to run a level-1 trauma unit without FFP [3]. Most important, use of an early goal-directed TheraNostic approach (with point-of-care coagulation monitoring and physiology-driven use of potent coagulation factor concentrates) with avoidance of FFP improved trauma patient survival [3]. Early correction of bleeding may indeed be the explanation for outcome improvements. This cannot be achieved with FFP in clinical practice because of a logistic delay of 35 45 mins. due to ABO-identical FFP request from the blood bank/depot, thawing and warming (using licensed equipment) of FFP stored in suitable freezers and infusion of large quantities through a filter of a pore size of 170–230 μm. Accordingly, the Austria task force on Peri-operative Coagulation recommended the use of factor concentrate as a first choice, because this permits quick, effective and physiologydriven correction of relevant deficiencies in trauma-related massive bleeding [2]. Despite the short list of rare indications for FFP, the recommendations and the observed survival benefit of the factor concentratebased coagulation management, FFP administration is still standard practice in many hospitals as prophylaxis and therapy for plasma clotting disorders in trauma-related bleeding. One myth encouraging the use of FFP is the perception that overt trauma-induced coagulopathy with microvascular bleeding can be corrected by FFP dilution. FFP is an 8.5% protein solution, the main components being water, albumin (40 50 g/l) and other plasma proteins, while the concentration of fibrinogen (2 4 g/l) and other coagulation factors is physiologically low and varies considerably (0.6 1.4 IU/ml) depending on the original Fresh frozen plasma, cryoprecipitate and platelets: Evidence and risks


Time-resolved photoluminescence studies were performed on epitaxially grown InP either doped with iron or with iron and sulphur to gain information on the carrier trapping characteristics of Fe3+/Fe2+. The carrier trapping time was found to be dependent on both the iron and sulphur concentrations, from which the electron and hole capture cross sections of the Fe deep centers are determined as σe=1×10−15 cm2 and σh=6×10−15 cm2, respectively.


Ethiopia's agriculture-led industrial development strategy (ADLI) stipulates that smallholder-led commercial transformation of agriculture is vital for the social and economic development of the country. The improving productivity and market success (IPMS) of Ethiopian farmers project is intended to demonstrate market-oriented transformation of smallholders in Ethiopia. This five-year project, operating in 10 districts distributed in four Regional States, follows innovation systems perspective and value chains framework, and participatory commodity development approach in identifying and implementing various interventions. Action research is an integral part of the project designed to draw and synthesize lessons for scaling out and up of successful practices. This chapter presents syntheses of the results and lessons of the development of institutional support services in promoting market-oriented dairy and livestock fattening to transform smallholder farms into rural agro-enterprises. Major conclusions and implications include: (1) the traditional production and technology focused extension service approach is inadequate for market-oriented agricultural development; market-oriented extension service is required; (2) provision of market information in various forms, facilitating virtual or physical linkages of producers with buyers, and formal and informal collective action for produce marketing increase bargaining power of farmers; (3) different input supply systems including community-based, farmer-to-farmer, the private sector, cooperatives and the public sector can be appropriate and effective for different value chains; (4) creating linkages between producers, input suppliers and other value chain actors is an important part of value chain development and a task for the extension service; (5) market-oriented agricultural development is a continuous and dynamic process that requires different types of interventions at different stages of development; (6) community-based insurance for small ruminant fattening enterprises can be successfully developed, benefiting especially female-headed households; and (7) credit systems to support small-scale commercial livestock production and agribusinesses can be successfully used to boost production and the supply of inputs and services.


Geospatial data (geodata in short) sharing is of great importance to promote and facilitate Geographic Information System (GIS) application. The adoption of numerous geodata formats and the existence of semantic discrepancies make geodata sharing a difficult task. Geodata translation, the transformation of geographic information from one data format to another and from one conceptual model to an intended conceptual model, is a key issue in geodata sharing.
This study aims to develop techniques for automating the generation of geodata translators and enabling high-level customization of geodata translation so as to facilitate semantic reconciliation.
A model-driven framework for geodata exchange is proposed to empower the acquisition of the desired features. In the framework, a 4-layer conceptual model of data representation is adopted, which consists of instance, schema, meta-schema and meta-meta-schema layers in a bottom-up order. Each layer is assumed to have an associated formalism for representing data. Upper layer data specifies models for lower layer data. A proprietary data format is conceptualized as a specific 3-layer model of data representation and can thus be accommodated in the framework. In a layer, there is assumed to be means for specifying transformation from one model to another. Data translation is conceptualized as a top-down chain of model transformations starting from the meta-schema layer with upper layer transformation automatically guiding lower layer model transformation, thus model-driven. This procedure is entitled framework, because it can naturally accommodate various geodata formats without significant restrictions and is open to legacy, current and forthcoming systems. In addition to automating translator generation, it makes customization of translation possible and easy, both on a dataset-by-dataset basis and on a format-by-format basis.
XML-based implementation of the proposed framework has been explored, prototyped and tested. A means for declaratively specifying translation rules between meta-schemas (and schemas) has been devised and its associated processor developed. Meta-schema translation specifications can be processed automatically to generate enhanced schema translators, which can produce associated schema mappings in addition to translating source schemas to target schemas. Reconciliation of semantic discrepancy, if needed, can be performed by human operators through customizing schema mappings in a declarative way.


Based upon the quality of structure project,it illustrates the advantages and disadvantages and its application range of several common test methods of the strength of structure concrete.From the analyzing result,rebound method should be prior in testing the concrete strength.When its result is doubted,core-drill method could be used to verify it,so as to enhance the accuracy of rebound method.


Lead filamentary crystals have been subjected to finite deformations. The parameter δ associated with deviations from linearity in Hooke's law in the form e=s′11σ +δ(s′11σ)2 (where e is the strain, σ the stress, and s′11 Young's modulus along the whisker axis) has a value of 4.2±0.6 for four crystals oriented in the 〈110〉 direction. The resulting linear combination of third‐order constants is, C111−4.6 C112+3.6 C123+3.1 C144−3.7 C166=4.4×1011 N/m2.


This paper describes our research on implementing a scanner and parsers for Z specifications. Rather to code them from scratch, we use tools that have specialities on creating such tasks. These tools generate several Java files which can be integrated with a main program in Java. Our research could produce a scanner and parser for Z specifications. These tools could benefit Z specifications to be studied further.


The present invention discloses a method for protecting a flat type image display screen means, wherein the analog / digital converter according to the sampling clock to the analog RGB video signal into a digital RGB image signal. The scaler converts the digital RGB image signals into a frame unit, so that it can be displayed on the LCD flat panel display module, the LCD module and transmitting the signal corresponding to the input timing signal. Frequency detecting section detects the output frequency scaler. The microcomputer determines whether the frequency detecting section detects a frequency within a given frequency range, and in this way controls the power supply of the LCD module.


Although philanthropy has been important in many societies, it is safe to say that it has never played such a prominent role, nor become such an elaborate part of the social structure, as it has in twentieth-century North America. Much has been written on it, particularly in recent years, and many reasons have been given for its development, but there has been little scientific analysis of it as a social activity, nor interest in its relations to the social order. The purposes of this paper are threefold: to trace the development of organized philanthropy since the beginning of the century in a Canadian city, here called Wellsville; to analyse how the philanthropic pattern has become elaborated and integrated into the structure of the community; and to assess the function which this organized activity fulfils for both the individual and various groups in the community. Before the twentieth century, philanthropy in Canada was a haphazard affair, and except for the few individual donors who occasionally gave large sums of money for the cause of religion, health, or education, "giving" was mainly confined to the poor and indigent. Today vast sums of money are continuously being raised by the combined efforts of large numbers of voluntary collectors for an infinite number of purposes. Thus in a relatively short period of time "giving," once the prerogative of the pious and wealthy, has become part of the common experience of a large proportion of the population of any modern city or large town. With the increase in giving has come the increased participation of many people in the actual work of collecting money through the media of highly organized, money-raising campaigns.


Abstract Lesueuria minderiana, a new genus and species of nongeniculate Corallinaceae (Rhodophyta) from southern and western Australia, consists of branched endophytic filaments which form a partly pseudoparenchymatous, partly filamentous thallus within the geniculae of the only known host, Metagoniolithon chara. Cell fusions occur between cells of contiguous filaments, secondary pit-connections are absent, and haustoria have been observed. Heavily calcified uniporate conceptacles develop external to the host. Tetrasporangia lack apical plugs and are produced on the conceptacle chamber floor peripheral to a central, sterile columella. Conceptacle roofs are formed from a group of peripheral filaments which surround and enclose the conceptacle chamber. Lesueuria is referable to the Mastophoroideae and is distinguished from other genera of that subfamily by its semi-endophytic habit, and possibly parasitic nutrition, by the absence of organized vegetative tissues and by the lack of epithallial cells on veget...


It's risky business taking pictures of unborn babies when there's no medical need to do so. That's the word from the Food and Drug Administration, which is concerned about companies trying to turn an important medical procedure into a prenatal portrait tool.


In this study a new concept of the cover for installation for continuous casting of steel have been studied and discussed. The main essence in the most favourable construction includes the existing stresses and strains developed in service conditions. Instead of former cover, made with heat-resistant concrete and flat plate, the new solution introduced two factors: increased rigidity whole cover and new thermal insulation material. It is a composite refractory material, more light, plastic and more resistant for thermal shocks. In the final results, the new tundish cover confirmed in practice prolongation of the cover exploitation from 15-25 000 tones to above 90 000 tones poured steel.


In this chapter, Aura Lehtonen and Jacob Breslow consider how the lives of children and families intersect with, and are adversely affected by, contemporary policy and media discourses of 'childhood' and 'family'. The chapter focuses on the UK government's deployment of normative discourses of childhood in relation to austerity policies. The chapter argues that harsh, neoliberalising polices have been advanced precisely through discursive appeals to normative concepts of 'childhood'. Specifically the chapter evidences how key policy programmes have simultaneously 'infantilised' poor parents and 'adultified' poor children to justify austerity policies which – ironically – have the most severe impact on poorer families with children most severely. The chapter thus shows how intersecting policy and media discourses, should be folded into relational understandings of children, young people and families' lives in the current political-economic moment.


This paper carried out to develop the concept of CBIR by using Wavelet Transform Methods for feature form and texture extraction and adaptive histogram for feature color extraction. The method is not only recognize the images that have been stored in database, but also be able to find some resemblance ornament image or texture as well as form. Although They are different size, direction of slope, and the layout of texture and color. In calculating the percentage of similarity is not only based on performance measurement precision but also the image of the relevant. Basically Grade value calculation is using the fuzzyfication process to get the similarity values with the S-curve which is then used as input to perform retrieval of image with the threshold algorithm. It will display the image based on the representation of the highest grade in each query image, which has been compared with the image database. High grade values indicates that the characteristic image of the sample (query) is similar to the image database and others. After that proceed by comparing the value of grade representation of the image by using the min operator in fuzzy logic. The Advantage threshold algorithm is the simplicity of similarity image process when the performance of CBIR becomes more reliable.


In this study, a Novel architecture comprising a sink node is designed to minimize power consumption as well as improve quality of service (QoS) of wireless body area network (WBAN). Furthermore, in the quest to enhance the network lifetime and QoS, we utilized MAC protocol to classify the physiological attributes into normal and critical data. A routing protocol known as Efficient Energy and QoS (EEQ) algorithm is implemented to transmit the normal data through the shortest and appropriate route. According to the EEQ algorithm, the weight value is considered based on parameters such as network lifetime, link stability and throughput. The data is conveyed through the path having the highest weight value. However, the data is encrypted using RSA algorithm. In order to compare EEQ with other existing protocols, a number of simulations is executed on OMNet++ software to show that the proposed work outperforms other related research works.


An embedded cloud test system based on cloud computing approach is designed and constructed, aiming at solving the problems of inadequate computing resources in the embedded devices and lack of real-time remote monitoring in the remote test system of oil level. The function of cloud test monitoring center is achieved based on the Amazon's Eucalyptus cloud platform. The S3C2440 A microprocessor and the STM32F103 microprocessor, used to develop the hardware concerning measurement and control nodes and embedded server, are chosen by the measurement and control site. Under the support of the embedded Linux operating system and adoptions of KVM and QEMU, the embedded server achieves the virtualization of test equipment, and the communication between control nodes and embedded server utilizes the Modbus communication protocol. The designed system has realized the function of real-time remote monitoring and has met the requirements of practical applications, the entire process proved by field test results finally.


Earlier work, often referred to as the "hole in the wall" experiments, has shown that groups of children can learn to use public computers on their own. This paper presents the method and results of an experiment conducted to investigate whether such unsupervised group learning in shared public spaces is universal. The experiment was conducted with "hole in the wall" (minimally invasive education, or MIE) computers in 17 locations in rural India. Focus groups in each location were tested for computer literacy for 9 months. Results, which are discussed in the paper, show that groups of children can learn to use computers and the Internet on their own, irrespective of who or where they are. Furthermore, such group self instruction is as effective as traditional classroom instruction, whilst this learning is considerably less expensive and is independent of teachers and schools. The results point to a new pedagogy for children's education in those circumstances where schools and teachers are either absent or not effective due to any reason.


This paper pondered the origin of wood-block and the appraisal about "Masha" edition and book collectors which is involved in Chinese Philology written by Mr.Zhang Shunhui,pointing that the understanding of wood-block printing' origin is simplified,"Masha" edition is appraised partially,and the knowledge level of large bureaucracy and the book-collected landlord is underrated,the discussion all above is in order to correct some misunderstanding about Chinese Philology.


Major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII) molecules on B cells display antigenic peptides that trigger CD4 T cells specific for the same antigen to activate naïve B cells to differentiate into plasma cells. The MHCII transactivator, CIITA, is highly expressed in B cells (corresponding to MHCII expression), but silenced in transition to mature plasma cell. Understanding CIITA regulation can elucidate details of the generation of humoral immunity. Work has been done describing the role of proximal elements in the CIITA locus and their contribution to the regulation of CIITA. Recent experiments have shown that there are elements involved in CIITA regulation in non-immune cells that are much more distal to the promoter than previously thought, up to 50kb from the active promoter. However, no data on these or other elements in B cells and plasma cells were described. Using a medium throughput PCR-based DNaseI hypersensitivity assay to screen across the CIITA locus, regions of accessible chromatin were characterized that distinguish between the active and silenced state of CIITA expression. Computational methods reveal key regions of cross-species homology and transcription factor binding. These methods together identify novel distal regulatory elements that will be confirmed using a Bacterial Artificial Chromosome (BAC) system.


When developing and analyzing new hyperparameter optimization methods, it is vital to empirically evaluate and compare them on well-curated benchmark suites. In this work, we propose a new set of challenging and relevant benchmark problems motivated by desirable properties and requirements for such benchmarks. Our new surrogate-based benchmark collection consists of 14 scenarios that in total constitute over 700 multi-fidelity hyperparameter optimization problems, which all enable multi-objective hyperparameter optimization. Furthermore, we empirically compare surrogate-based benchmarks to the more widely-used tabular benchmarks, and demonstrate that the latter may produce unfaithful results regarding the performance ranking of HPO methods. We examine and compare our benchmark collection with respect to defined requirements and propose a single-objective as well as a multi-objective benchmark suite on which we compare 7 single-objective and 7 multi-objective optimizers in a benchmark experiment. Our software is available at [https://github.com/slds-lmu/yahpo_gym].


Seasonal and zonal climatologies of Rayleigh-Taylor growth rates under geomagnetically quiet conditions during solar minimum and solar moderate conditions as a function of local time and altitude are calculated using open source data and software. It is under the action of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability that plumes of depleted plasma, or plasma bubbles, are understood to develop in the bottomside of the equatorial ionosphere. The growin python module utilizes other Heliophysics python modules to collate and process vertical plasma drift to drive the SAMI2 is Another Model of the Ionosphere (SAMI2) model and subsequently calculate the flux tube integrated Rayleigh-Taylor growth rate. The process is repeated for two different types of drift inputs: the Fejer-Scherliess model and measured drifts from the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecasting System (C/NOFS). These growth rates are compared to bubble occurrence frequencies obtained from a dataset of bubbles detected by the C/NOFS satellite. There is agreement between periods of strong positive instability growth and high frequencies of bubble occurrence in both low and moderate solar activity conditions when using C/NOFS drifts. Fejer-Scherliess drifts are only in agreement with bubble occurrence frequencies during moderate solar activity conditions. Bubble occurrence frequencies are often above 25% even when growth rates in the bottomside F region are negative. The climatological nature of the growth rates discussed here begs further study into the day-to-day variability of the growth rate and its drivers.


Although several studies have examined stress singularity at the edge of an interface, few have focused on shear loading. The present paper analyzes a stress singularity in a shear loading that should be useful in the electronic device machining process. In the present study, the enriched finite element method is applied to analyze the intensity of singularity in two-dimensional joints under a shear loading. The stress fields in dissimilar materials (bi- and three-material joints) described by one and two real intensities of singularity are investigated. In addition, the intensity of singularity in the joints with various model geometries and material properties are investigated and discussed.


-In many species, adult birds lay earlier and have higher reproductive success than do yearlings. We found no difference, however, between adult and yearling female Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus alexandrae) in date of clutch initiation, clutch size, hatching success, number of fledged young, or territory size. Adult females defended their broods more vigorously, and more were observed with broods, a situation suggesting that more yearlings lost their eggs or young and did not renest. Pairs composed of two adults produced more fledged young than did pairs composed of two yearlings, but clutch size and date of clutch initiation were similar in the two groups. We suggest that the following factors may allow yearlings to reproduce almost as successfully as adults: (1) a reduction in competition with adults for territories because of high population turnover, (2) the presence of extensive male parental care and precocial young, and (3) a dependence on a food source that is readily available and can be obtained without specialized foraging skills. Received 8 August 1983, accepted 28 March 1984. HYPOTHESES concerned with the factors that influence the onset of breeding in birds focus at three different levels: (1) on general environmental cues, such as changes in photoperiod or rainfall, that explain differences in timing among species or among geographical areas (reviewed by Wingfield 1983); (2) on specific extrinsic factors, such as weather or the availability and quality of food, that explain differences in timing among populations or among years (e.g. Perrins 1970, Zwickel 1975, Greenlaw 1978); and (3) on intrinsic factors, such as age and experience of the female or the male, or on genetic factors that explain differences in timing among individuals within populations (e.g. Perrins and Moss 1974, Finney and Cooke 1978, Harvey et al. 1979, van Noordwijk et al. 1980). In this paper we concentrate on intrinsic factors, specifically the influence of age on reproductive performance. Age and experience have long been considered to be important variables in explaining not only the timing of breeding but the reproductive output as well. In many species, older birds lay earlier and have higher reproductive success than first-time breeders (e.g. Nelson 1966, Crawford 1977, Blus and Keahey 1978, Middleton 1979). This has been attributed to ' Present address: Department of Zoology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada. the inexperience of young birds in locating food required for egg formation (Lack 1968) and to social inhibition of young birds when they compete with adults for breeding sites (WynneEdwards 1962). In some species, however, firsttime breeders do just as well as older birds (e.g. Leinonen 1973, Myrberget 1967). In this paper, we compare timing of breeding, reproductive output, and territory size of adult and yearling Willow Ptarmigan (Lagopus lagopus alexandrae) of both sexes. We then compare Willow Ptarmigan with other species of grouse and discuss the effects of mating-system type, population demography, and other factors on the timing of breeding and reproductive output of young birds.


As a result of the transition presented in the Mexican penal system, as a product of the constitutional reform of June 18, 2008, it is convenient to understand the philosophical foundations on which the mixed inquisitorial system that is left and the accusatory system that is adopted is based. That is why it is important to contrast the secrecy that prevails in the first with the transparency that promises the second and, in the same way, it is pertinent to emphasize the presumption of guilt that characterizes the inquisitive system with the right to the presumption of innocence, which has as basic foundation the accusatory system.


Purpose: The ArcCheck 4D diode array was designed specifically for rotational therapy QA and records data every 50 milliseconds. This work quantifies its field size dependence and designs strategy for its correction. Methods: The field size dependence was measured using a 6 MV photon beam of a linac and compared with ion chamber measurements in the same geometry. Square field sizes of 4×4 cm2 to 30×30 cm2 as well as rectangular fields of 6×4 to 6×30 cm2 elongated in both the X and Y directions were measured. To correct for the field size dependence, the field size for each signal update was automatically detected and a correction factor that corresponded to the equivalent square was applied to the raw data. Five fixed‐gantry IMRT plans (18 fields) that covered a variety of sites were used to test the correction strategy. Treatment plans were generated using the Pinnacle3 (v9.0) with a density override of 1.05 g/cc for the entire cylinder. Only beams that did not go through the treatment couch were used for the comparison to eliminate the uncertainty associated with couch transmission. Results: Normalized to a field size of 10×10 cm2, the diodes over responded by 2.1% at 30×30 cm2 and under responded by 2.0% at 4×4 cm2. The biggest improvement in passing rates was seen in the head and neck plan which exhibited the largest treatment fields, with the average passing rates improved from 79.5% and 90.4% for 2%/2mm and 3%/3mm, respectively, when no field size dependence was corrected, to 95.7% and 98.7%, respectively, with field size dependence correction. Conclusions: The ArcCheck diodes exhibit a measurable field size dependence which can be corrected using its 4D raw data. This correction is important for large and small treatment fields which allows for the use of more stringent criteria.


Introduction. The article examines the problem of digital transformation of modern society and education, which significantly affects the efficiency and effectiveness of the cognitive development of the individual. The aim of the study is to identify the determining factors for the development of cognitive abilities under the current conditions of digitization of educational processes. Materials and Methods. The methodology of the research includes a content analysis and reviewing international and Russian research papers that consider the problems of information development of society, evaluate the development of the education system in the current conditions, determining the specifics of the influence of digital content on cognitive processes. Results. The authors consider the factors and interrelations of cognitive and emotional, motivational, linguistic, creative components of development; determine the impact of metacognitive/systemic skills in the current conditions of digitalization of educational processes. It is noted that an important factor determining the development of cognitive abilities at a higher level in the conditions of digitization of educational processes is the creation of an appropriate educational environment that takes into account the psychophysiological age-related characteristics and helps to increase motivation and cognitive activity. It is indicated that the digitalization of educational processes significantly changes the ways of communication and the language environment. It is shown that modern cognition is directly related to the language of information development of society. At the same time, the digitalization of educational processes primarily determines the language transformation and the formation of new mechanisms for the assimilation of information. It is emphasized that the digitalization of educational processes determines the need for the formation of metacognitive abilities and universal competencies, which primarily include systematic thinking. Conclusions. The authors have revealed the main factors and interrelations of the effectiveness and efficiency of cognitive development in the current conditions of digitalization of educational processes.


Distillation experiments for binary system ethylformate-acetone were carried out using a 15 cm I.D. and 135 cm height packed column under total reflux condition. Comparing experimental and calculated concentrations profiles of liquid phase, distances between two adjacent mixing points of 10.1, 15.18 and 19.40 mm ceramic Raschig rings were determined. The distance was increased according to the increasing dimension of packings and an empirical correlation between them was proposed. The experimental results also convinced of the utility of the model column which simulates the flow phenomena in an industrial packed column, proposed in previous article, for phenomenological study of mass transfer.


Granular cell tumor (GCT) of the breast is an uncommon and a benign tumor that can mimics carcinoma clinically as well as radiographically. The GCT is characterized by a proliferation of large cells with abundant eosinophilic granular cytoplasm of ubiquitar seat. We report a case of a granular cell tumor of axillary seat in a woman of 47 years. The diagnosis was confirmed at pathologic examination of percutaneous biopsy. The evolution of the granular cell tumor is often favorable. Surgery remains the treatment of choice. The diagnosis is exclusively pathological.


BACKGROUND
There is evidence that idiopathic achalasia has an autoimmune component and a significant association with several autoimmune comorbidities has been described. However, data regarding the prevalence of autoimmune diseases in achalasia are not well established, and few studies have explored this association.

OBJECTIVE
Our primary aim was to prospectively investigate the type and frequency of autoimmune comorbidities in a large cohort of consecutive achalasia patients. Our secondary aim was to investigate the effects of autoimmune comorbidities on achalasia phenotype (clinical features and manometric pattern).

METHODS
The study population consisted of 375 consecutive patients (215 females-median age 55 ± 17 years), referred at our tertiary referral center from January 2008 to January 2018, with clinical and instrumental (EGDS, barium esophagogram, and manometry) diagnosis of idiopathic achalasia. Gender- and age-matched subjects undergoing manometry and pH-impedance monitoring for typical gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) complaints served as controls. In all patients a detailed history taking was carried out, recording the presence and type of autoimmune comorbidities.

RESULTS
The overall prevalence of autoimmune comorbidities was two times higher in achalasia than in control patients (12.3 vs. 5%, respectively). The presence of comorbidities did not significantly affect disease's phenotype, as the age of disease onset was similar in achalasia patients with and without comorbidities (50.13 ± 14.47 and 48.3 ± 18.71, respectively, P = NS).

CONCLUSIONS
Although larger epidemiologic studies are needed to confirm our data, our findings likely suggest that achalasia has a complex multifactorial pathophysiology with an autoimmune component.


Mediation effects of multiple mediators are determined by two associations: one between an exposure and mediators ( S ‐ M ) and the other between the mediators and an outcome conditional on the exposure ( M ‐ Y ). The test for mediation effects is conducted under a composite null hypothesis, that is, either one of the S ‐ M and M ‐ Y associations is zero or both are zeros. Without accounting for the composite null, the type 1 error rate within a study containing a large number of multimediator tests may be much less than the expected. We propose a novel test to address the issue. For each mediation test j , j = 1 , … , J , we examine the S ‐ M and M ‐ Y associations using two separate variance component tests. Assuming a zero‐mean working distribution with a common variance for the element‐wise S ‐ M (and M ‐ Y ) associations, score tests for the variance components are constructed. We transform the test statistics into two normally distributed statistics under the null. Using a recently developed result, we conduct J hypothesis tests accounting for the composite null hypothesis by adjusting for the variances of the normally distributed statistics for the S ‐ M and M ‐ Y associations. Advantages of the proposed test over other methods are illustrated in simulation studies and a data application where we analyze lung cancer data from The Cancer Genome Atlas to investigate the smoking effect on gene expression through DNA methylation in 15 114 genes.


A pair of specific primers was designed according to invA gene of salmonella. The SYBR Green real-time PCR method for detecting salmonella was established. The specificity,sensitivity and repeatability of this method was analyzed. The result showed that this method were good specificity and repeatability,the detection of salmonella minimum copy number was 1×10CFU/mL. Therefore,the study established the salmonella specific, sensitive and rapid real-time fluorescence PCR detection method.


Dual radio frequency (RF) powers are widely used with commercial plasma etchers for various nanoscale patterns. However, it is challenging to understand the relationship among the dual RF powers and the etching processes. In this work, the effect of the dual RF bias powers on SiO2 sputter etching was investigated in inductively coupled plasma (ICP). The relationship was studied among 2MHz and 27.12MHz RF bias powers, a 13.56MHz ICP source power, the ion bombardment energy, the ion density and the etching rate. The results show that the ion density of Ar plasma can be controlled in the region of 109–1011 ions/cm3, and DC self-bias can be controlled by controlling the ratio of dual RF bias powers while the ion density is maintained with the operation of source power. This work reveals that the dual RF bias powers expand the process window of the ion density and the ion bombardment energy independently in the ICP plasma source. The sputter etching rate is also modeled using the ion-enhanced etching model, an...


The article deals with the roll of Hungary in international foreign study. Hungary became a host and sending country, by 15.000 incoming and 10-8.000 outgoing students. Our survey was carried out among the 300 students in 2008. The second halt of paper point out the structure, motivation, and the value of answers. It strengthens the importance of family background. 5-6% of students never been abroad. Most of them are the first from the family, who spend longer period in a foreign country. 2,5% of student were not Hungarians, they arrived from surrounding countries. The geographical choice of staying among the girls was more diverted. High proportion mentioned to stay longer period in abroad.


A high frequency scanning acoustic microscope (SAM) operating at 1-1.3 GHz was used to investigate subsurface defects in diamond-like carbon (DLC) films that were 2-3 /spl mu/m thick. Because the wavelength of the longitudinal wave in the film was comparable to the film thickness, the acoustical images obtained were near-field images. To interpret the features in the acoustical images, a multidisciplinary approach was utilized through the combination of SAM with atomic force microscopy (AFM), focused ion beam (FIB) technique, surface Brillouin spectroscopy (SBS), and optical microscopy.


An important area of process control and automation is one of the main PID guidelines. The present work was carried out with the objective of testing the process of PID control and data processing. The method of determining the level of syntax in relation to PI processing time was tuned using Ziegler-Nichols and SIMC model frequency response methods. To do this, he did the level control and monitoring of the tank supply system. Using Smar's SYSTEM302® software, you can also use programmable logic programming (CLP), the supervision and parameterization of instruments for the diagnostic and monitoring process. With this work one can apply in practice the knowledge of several disciplines that were carried out during the course of Control Engineering and Automation, moreover, as this subject and the technology are comprehensive in the industrial branch at present, serve as a great base of experience for a future professional of Control Engineering and Automation.


A LATE take‐off, compared with other countries, has not stopped West Germany's aircraft industry from reaching for the heights. Prevented from making an early start by the Allies after the last war, the German aircraft manufacturers had to stand and watch its national airline, Deutsche Lufthansa, starting up again without being able to supply any aircraft for its use. Production of parts and later of whole aircraft only got off the ground under N.A.T.O. shields and through licensing schemes from foreign companies. German engineers had a long backlog to make up, both in skills and in experience and know‐how, but they eventually overcame those obstacles. They were helped by their friends who lad previously granted them production licences and encouraged by their Government to amalgamate into larger units. The latter was achieved more or less on a geographic basis: two loosely woven sets of co‐operative groups were created, one in the North and the other in the South of the country, named respectively Entwicklungsring Sud and Entwicklungsring Nord. Each component company maintains its own identity and is still able to continue its own research or production work or to look for partners for specific schemes in other countries.


This paper addresses the following questions as they relate to the role of intermodalism in future military mobilizations: How do we respond to future contingencies? How large a force must be mobilized? How do we get the divisions to the ports? Concerning the sealift, what types of vessels are required and how many are needed? What are the features of the ideal intermodal marine terminal? How can the intermodalism industry help? As the military transporters look to the future, they try to imagine what changes that future will bring. The commercial sealift industry is changing. The terminals of today are significantly different from those of yesterday and tomorrow's terminals will change even more. The military must work with industry to ensure these changes will offer solutions to the military deployment problem, not greater challenges.


Trace analysis of long‐lived isotopes of technetium and plutonium requires a very sensitive and selective detection method. A laser ion source (LIS) based on resonance ionization spectroscopy with subsequent mass analysis (RIMS) offers these properties. Measurements with an ion source made of extremely pure pyrolytically coated graphite are discussed. Photoionization of 99Tc has been measured with a LIS efficiency of 4×10−3 leading to an extrapolated detection limite of 5×106 atoms. The elements selectivity depends on the working temperature of the cavity and varies from 1×104 (1860 K) to 8×10−2 (2130 K).


The use of oat in the food industry in recent years was reviewed.The problems of oat food were analyzed,and its development trend discussed,with a view of providing some references for the in-depth researches concerned.


The region of northern Liaoning Province and southern Jilin Province is one of the typical area in which the Archean granite-greenstone belts and high-grade metamorphic rock terrains developed well,and produce many mineral resources such as Au,Cu,Zn,Fe.This paper describes the major geological features of granite-greenstone belts and high-grade metamorphic rock terrains,through analysis of three typical deposits related to greenstone:Hongtoushan massive sulfide deposit,Jiapigou lode gold deposit and Broadshigou BIF iron ore deposit,and make a five-point summary:strata-bound ore body,tectonic consistency,deposit concentration,margin mineralization and late deposit inheritance.


Over 72% of population in Europe lives in cities nowadays, using a variety of different transportation vehicles for their intercity mobility. A high density of transportation vehicles in cities is a substantial problem in urban areas, since these vehicles are almost exclusively powered by fossil fuels. Fossil fuels have an impact on human health and emit harmful emissions to the environment when burned. Nevertheless, modern lifestyle is highly dependent on fossil fuels and therefore also highly vulnerable in the case of supply shortfalls. Nowadays, environmental problems and the impact of concentrated transport on human health, especially in cities, gained importance and lead to the detection and greater implementation of alternative technologies and advanced sustainable solutions in the field of environmental protection in cities. Since the EU is heavily dependent on imported fossil fuels and has very small oil reserves and a high share of urban population affected by transport pollutants, it is particularly important for the EU to reduce their impact as efficiently as possible and to implement new solutions for a more sustainable future. One such solution is represented with Green zones areas where we try to minimize harmful transport related environmental and social impacts such as emissions, noise, smog, particle matter, etc. Therefore, this paper consists of an identification and examination of green zones in the selected EU member states (including UK) with special emphasis on German cities and London and analysis of their pros and cons.


India`s exports nearly tripled in the 1990s. Decomposing export growth shows that it has been driven by incumbent firms rather than the entry of new firms. By using a new panel on Indian firms and estimating a dynamic discrete-choice model of the firm`s decision to export, we find evidence that economic liberalization has led to greater domestic competition, spurring firm efficiency and increasing Indian firms` competitiveness and ability to export. We show that export growth has been an outcome of local firm innovation which has come about due to increased competitive pressure from FDI entry.


Should dermatologists be required to disclose matters of personal health, especially if matters related to physician health may increase the risk of harm to a patient?


The cohomology of the classifying space BU(n) of the unitary group can be identified with the the ring of symmetric poly- nomials on n variables by restricting to the cohomology of BT, where TU(n) is a maximal torus. In this paper we explore the situation where BT = (CP 1 ) n is replaced by a product of finite dimensional projective spaces (CP d ) n , fitting into an associated bundle


Abstract Sequence analyses on the intron from the elongation factor-1α gene were conducted to examine the population structure of sword prawn (Parapenaeopsis hardwickii) in the East China Sea and Taiwan Strait. Five samples including 207 individuals were separately collected from the north of East China Sea (NECS) and waters off Tamsui, Taichung, Putai, and Cheding, and 102 alleles were identified. Despite no phylogeographic structure in alleles, pairwise FST values and analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed significant genetic difference between the NECS and the other four samples. The UPGMA tree of five samples showed two distinct clusters; one included the NECS sample; the other included the rest of samples. The results suggest that two populations exist in the East China Sea and Taiwan Strait. To ensure resource sustainability and maintenance, the sword prawn in the Taiwan Strait and the north of the East China Sea should be treated as two separate populations and then be separately managed in future. Both Tajima's D and Fu and Li's D statistics and analysis of mismatch distribution for overall alleles suggested that sword prawn in studied area had experienced population expansion.


SUMMARY The enteric pathogen Campylobacter can be carried into poultry processing facilities on and within live birds. Numbers of Campylobacter recovered from carcasses decrease after scalding but increase during feather removal. Mechanical feather picking causes mist as well as particles of dust, feathers, feces, and other matter to become airborne around the machine. This study was conducted to determine if Campylobacter associated with broilers during defeathering can become airborne and contaminate other carcasses in or around a commercial defeathering machine. Carcasses with low numbers of Campylobacter were hung near an operating commercial feather pickerwheretheywereexposedtoairbornecontaminantsfor1min.LownumbersofCampylobacter weredetectedintheairnearthepicker.However,microbiologicalcultureofcarcassesafterexposure to airborne contamination in the picker room revealed that they had no more Campylobacter than unexposed carcasses. These data suggest that airborne contamination does not contribute to the high numbers of Campylobacter routinely found on defeathered carcasses.


This theoretical PhD thesis, with potential of direct application to some experiments performed by the experimentalists of our QUANTIC team at ENS, has for goal to address some of the scaling issues for quantum information processing with superconducting qubits. In this regard, remote entanglement of spatially separated quantum systems could be considered as a powerful resource towards a modular approach. In such an approach, the quantum information is encoded, protected and locally manipulated in small units consisting of a few cavity modes or/and few qubits and the communication between modules is ensured through quantum teleportation techniques. Sharing of a pair of entangled subsystems between two modules is central for these teleportation protocols. While this isolation of the modules simplifies the scaling by avoiding any undesired cross-talk between the units, the absence of local interactions leads to difficulties for entanglement generation.


(57) ABSTRACT System for determining relative positions comprising an encoder having encoder elements, and a sensor unit having a first sensor and at least one second sensor. The sensor unit and the encoder are movable relative to one another and their position relative to one another is determinable by the system. The first sensor and second sensor have a sensor distance with respect to one another. The sensor furthermore has a component composed of a dimensionally stable and aging-resistant material having a coefficient of thermal expansion which, in terms of absolute value, is in a range of 0 to 5-10°K. The sensor distance is determinable highly precisely by the component by virtue of the component serving for the positional fixing of the sensors or by virtue of the component having a scale with the aid of which the sensor distance can be measured.


We introduce the publicly available code sphray, a smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) ray tracer designed to solve the 3D, time-dependent, radiative transfer equation for cosmological density fields. The SPH nature of sphray makes the incorporation of separate hydrodynamics and gravity solvers very natural. sphray relies on a Monte Carlo (MC) ray-tracing scheme that does not interpolate the SPH particles on to a grid but instead integrates directly through the SPH kernels. Given an arbitrary (series of) SPH density field(s) and a description of the sources of ionizing radiation, the code will calculate the non-equilibrium ionization and temperature state of hydrogen (H i, H ii) and helium (He i, He ii, He iii). The sources of radiation can include point-like objects, diffuse recombination radiation, and a background field from outside the computational volume. The MC ray-tracing implementation allows for the quick introduction of new physics and is parallelization-friendly. A quick Axis Aligned Bounding Box (AABB) test taken from computer graphics applications allows for the acceleration of the ray-tracing component. We present the algorithms used in sphray and verify the code by performing the test problems detailed in the recent Radiative Transfer Comparison Project of Iliev et. al. The source code for sphray and example SPH density fields are made available on a companion website (http://www.sphray.org).


Disclosed is a hydraulic driven built-in rotation scraping type pipeline cleaning device. A main guide plate and an auxiliary guide plate are adopted to form a one-way pressure relief structure, the operating posture of a spindle on the inner central line of a pipeline is maintained through the guide plates, a sealed impeller and a positioning support frame, fluid kinetic energy is used for driving the impeller to drive a pipeline cleaning cutter to clean the pipeline circumferentially in the pipeline, meanwhile, a rim working portion of the composite pipeline cleaning cutter combining effective functions of various pipeline cleaners is further kept in the maximum and optimal contact with the inner wall of the pipeline, the axial portion adopts an alloy grinding head to remove large-particle dirt and metal scaling bonded on the inner wall of the pipeline, the kinetic energy of fluid is used for driving the pipeline cleaning cutter to work, the pipeline can still be in a normal operation state, cleaned dirt can be carried by the fluid quickly and cannot accumulate, and choking of the pipeline can be avoided. The pipeline cleaning device is compact in structure, convenient and flexible, safe and durable, high in popularity, simple to operate, convenient to implement, energy saving, high in cleaning speed, long in cleaning distance and free of damage to the pipeline wall.


Plant nutrition is considered one of the most important plant sciences dealing with plant productivity and hence has a great role in global food security. The proper nutrition of cultivated plants in its time, source, amount, and place is the guarantee for this satisfied production. Therefore, the science of plant nutrition is an increasingly important area in plant sciences, which has direct and indirect link with human health. The concept of plant nutrition has been changed from investigation of the application, translocation and metabolism of nutrients by plants into the "engineering" of these applied nutrients for human health. So, it has been established that "feed the soil to feed the human". Thus, recent developments in the field of plant nutrition have led to a renewed interest in the relationship between plant nutrition and human health. Therefore, this is an introduction to highlight on the new book series "Sustainable Plant Nutrition under a Changing World", which will be published by Springer Nature. This book series will focus on advance issues in plant nutrition under stressful environments starting with the changing in global climate and reaching to the production of cultivated crops biofortified with desirable nutrients like iodine, and selenium.


Owing to the lower precision of domestic rotameter,the traditional measurement and control system of rotameter is reformed and so the intelligent measurement and control system is developed.The system hardware structure and software function are designed based on the IPC610 hardware and Kingview software platform,which realized the real-time data acquisition and processing.The measurement precision and stability of metal tube rotameter are improved and the ratio of performance to price is better than that of the traditional one by using this technology.


The disharmony between micronutrient recommendations throughout Europe is considerable, for children and women in particular. This is because there is currently no standard approach for deriving micronutrient recommendations. Therefore, large variations exist across Europe, causing confusion among consumers, food producers and policy-makers. This is, in particular, worrying in certain targeted groups, such as infants, children, pregnant and lactating women as there is now evidence showing that what pregnant women and children eat will not only have an immediate impact on their health but will also have an impact on the later health. Therefore, adequate nutritional status is crucial. There is an important need to improve harmonization of the recommendations for nutrient intakes in Europe. For the development of public health nutrition policies at European level, it is essential to base it on the best scientific evidence available. This is the reason why EURRECA was established and funded by the European Commission in 2007. The objective was to review and undertake the alignment of methodologies for the derivation of micronutrient recommendations in European populations. The results of EURRECA presented in this issue will help the scientific community at large, particularly nutrient requirement setting bodies and policy makers. It will also help health professionals and industry to make use of such scientific data in their work to improve the process of decision taking based on scientific evidence. In addition, it has been agreed at European level that the prevention of diet-related diseases is one of the new societal challenges of the 21st century. These new societal challenges can only be tackled by a more cross-border, cross-disciplinary, integrated approach with the participation of all the stakeholders. Therefore, the EURRECA conclusions can also be used to define future research strategy on the way forward and especially in view of synergies with the Horizon 2020 implementation. I would like to congratulate all the EURRECA partners for their contribution to the global effort to improve human health and the quality of life of our European citizens.


Introduced fuel consumption labels in typical countries and regions,conducted comprehensive analysis on the nature and main technical requirements of label.Explained how the blue print of Chinese fuel consumption label was decided as well as the main technical requirements of new published standard for fuel consumption label.


ACCESS or Malley Center Membership Card # __________________________ E-mail: ______________________________ Faculty/Staff – are you in Peoplesoft for a quick voucher reimbursement? YES NO UNSURE Refund Requested (there are no refunds for guest passes or towel service):  Intramural Sports (specify the sport) ______________________________  Lifetime Recreation (specify the class)* _________________________________  Aquatics (specify the class) _________________________________  Malley Center Membership*  Locker Rental* *Medical refunds for fitness classes, Malley Center memberships & locker rentals will be prorated based on the time the refund was requested and the amount left in the term of the initial agreement.


Perspective private hospitals) in New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia have registe over 12 000 episodes of care in the AuSCR since 2009. AuSCR provides live, web-based reports to hospital clinicians to enable real-time tracking of adherence to clinical indicators, patient characteristics and outcome The NSF audit and the AuSCR form important infrastructure for monitoring the quality of hospital st Stroke care needs an integrated system for monitoring the quality of hospital care


This paper presents one method of forecasting flooding in open-cast mines, the Statistical Balance Method. This method – using the equation of water balance discharge – was processed using data from the initial flooding period of the (post-mining) open-pit "Pątnow", in the Poznan region of Poland. The parameters of this equation were determined using multiple regression. The quality of the prognostic model was estimated ex ante based on statistical values. The next step involved ex post verification of the model, conducted by comparing the original forecast data to the results of the monitoring of the consequent flooding of the open-pit mine over a period of 18 months. The updated prognosis of the flooding of the "Pątnow" reservoir as well as the data concerning the subsequent and actual flooding of the reservoir is hereby presented.


We present an aggressive rehabilitation program that addresses specific post-concussion symptoms for patients with a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). Our pathway is illustrated by our report of a 38-year-old female who was injured during a wind storm as a result of a direct blow to the left temporal area. In the fourth month following her injury, she was diagnosed with a right-sided central and peripheral vestibular neuropathy. She had cognitive difficulties and consistently poor multitasking abilities. After five months of brain rest and incomplete resolution of symptoms, she was referred to our program. A comprehensive rehabilitative program, including patient specific goals, was initiated to address the multiple deficiencies and symptoms to improve her quality of life (QOL). The program utilized a multidisciplinary team approach including instructing the patient on "feel better" and "get better" strategies. The patient's progress and symptoms were continuously monitored, addressed, and targeted. Progression of activity was based upon achievement of multiple symptom-regulated goals. The program also included training cognitive function under physical stresses to return her to her pre-injury high-level of function and activity. Approximately 11 months following the concussive event she was discharged and placed on a long term maintenance program, as her QOL was essentially normal. As is typical with mTBIs, the recovery in this case was not linear and rehabilitation often evoked symptoms, but the concussion management team closely managed and addressed the symptoms. One particular intervention, the adjustment of visual acuity to 20/30 instead of 20/15, was particularly effective in reducing symptoms triggered by vision corrections. A focused, personalized rehabilitation program that targets the symptoms of a concussion helps identify and resolve concussion symptoms. This philosophy is based on traditional sports medical rehabilitation methods that first assess an injury and then work to strengthen weaknesses.


Acute lung injury (ALI) is hallmarked by lung edema, excessive inflammation, and respiratory failure resulting in 40% mortality. Multidrug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) infections often cause ALI in patients with compromised immunity. It is well established that Adenosine, a signaling nucleoside increased upon tissue injury, has been shown to protect against ALI through activation of adenosine receptors (ARs). Extracellular and intracellular adenosine concentrations are regulated by equilibriative nucleoside transporters (ENTs). Whether altering adenosine signaling and uptake can prevent or treat bacterial P. aeruginosa‐induced ALI is unknown. We hypothesize that ENT1 inhibition will increase extracellular adenosine and protect against P. aeruginosa‐induced ALI via activation of ARs. ENT1 pharmacological inhibitors and null mice were used to determine the effects of ENT1 inhibition on P. aeruginosa‐induced ALI. We found that P. aeruginosa infections induced ALI in C57BL/6 mice in a dose dependent manner. Pharmacological inhibition of ENT1 via NBTI significantly attenuated P. aeruginosa‐induced ALI, as assessed by wet‐to‐dry lung weight, bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) protein levels, BAL inflammatory cells, and pulmonary function determined by static lung compliance, tissue damping, and tissue elastance. NBTI also increased bacterial clearance in mice infected with P. aeruginosa. Additionally, NBTI attenuated P. aeruginosa‐induced IL‐1β levels in the BAL of mice. Consistent with ENT1 pharmacological inhibitor data, ENT1 null mice attenuated P. aeruginosa‐induced ALI as assessed by BAL protein and BAL cell counts. Finally, agonists of A2AR and A2BR mimicked NBTI blunting of P. aeruginosa‐induced ALI, whereas, antagonists against A2AR or A2BR diminished the protective effect of NBTI inhibition on P. aeruginosa‐induced ALI. These results suggest that inhibition of ENT1 protects against P. aeruginosa‐induced ALI via adenosine‐mediated activation of A2AR and A2BR. Inhibition of ENT1 may be a novel approach to prevent and treat P. aeruginosa‐ induced ALI.


Epileptiform neuronal activity during seizures is observed in many brain areas, but its origins following status epilepticus (SE) are unclear. We have used the Li low‐dose pilocarpine rat model of temporal lobe epilepsy to examine early development of epileptiform activity in the deep entorhinal cortex (EC). We show that during the 3‐week latent period that follows SE, an increasing percentage of neurons in EC layer 5 respond to a single synaptic stimulus with polysynaptic burst depolarizations. This change is paralleled by a progressive depolarizing shift of the inhibitory postsynaptic potential reversal potential in layer 5 neurons, apparently caused by upregulation of the Cl− inward transporter NKCC1 and concurrent downregulation of the Cl− outward transporter KCC2, both changes favoring intracellular Cl− accumulation. Inhibiting Cl− uptake in the latent period restored more negative GABAergic reversal potentials and eliminated polysynaptic bursts. The changes in the Cl− transporters were highly specific to the deep EC. They did not occur in layers 1–3, perirhinal cortex, subiculum or dentate gyrus during this period. We propose that the changes in Cl− homeostasis facilitate hyperexcitability in the deep entorhinal cortex leading to epileptiform discharge there, which subsequently affects downstream cortical regions.


Seventeen greenhouse-grown grasses from the Nebraska Sandhills region were surveyed for foliar stomatal density and distribution, closed guard cell lengths, open stomatal apertures, and surface characteristics (using scanning electron microscopy), surface conductance (using a steady-state porometer), and drought-induced leaf modifications. Leaves of C3 species exhibited a proclivity toward being amphistomatic or hyperstomatic, while C4 species tended to be more hypostomatic. Leaf modification, when it occurred, resulted in the enshrouding of the adaxial surface. Conductance data showed functional amphistomaty in most species, revealing differential functioning of adaxial and abaxial stomata. Conductance patterns were not closely related to stomatal aperture per unit area leaf surface or to stomatal distribution patterns. Lowered adaxial: abaxial conductance ratios, increased stomatal density, reduced stomatal size, and less drought-induced leaf modification were seen in C4 grasses as compared with C3 grasses. C3 range and C3 meadow species did not differ in conductance ratios, density ratios, or stomatal size, although meadow species exhibited much greater drought-induced leaf modification. Postulations involving correlation of adaxial: abaxial conductance ratios to stomatal distribution patterns, and assumptions of stomatal distribution based upon habitat and/or photosynthetic pathway may be erroneous. These characteristics may be of limited usefulness as morphological indicators in the search for drought-tolerant ecotypes of prairie grasses. Analysis of characteristics related to drought tolerance 'in grasses has generally been restricted to crop and lawn species such as blue panicgrass (Dobrenz et al., 1969), barley (Miskin and Rasmusson, 1970), wheat (Teare, Peterson, and Law, 1971), bentgrass (Shearman and Beard, 1972, 1973), and rye (Gay, 1989). Very little information concerning these characteristics has been reported on prairie grasses (Redmann, 1985; Anderson and Briske, 1990). Vegetation within the prairie regions of North America


The quality of captured images will be highly affected by an abnormal weather like rain or snow. Such bad weather conditions can degrade and corrupt the performance of various outdoor vision systems like CCTVs, traffic cameras etc. Even if many bad weather conditions can affect the quality of captured images, rain affects the image in a more negative way because, it is observed as bright streaks. Because of the negative effect of rain on outdoor vision systems, rain removal is an important problem. Detecting rain streaks accurately is a difficult task since rain has no particular location in an image. Rain removal has been an active research topic over many years and several techniques has been proposed. From all these studies, rain removal from an image can be classified into four main categories. The first category is simply filtering based whereas the second category builds models for rain streaks. In the third category, a 2-step processing is performed for rain removal and in the fourth category, deep learning techniques are used. So, in this paper, we have done a detailed study on the effects of rain on images and various rain removal methods.


Diseases caused by various Mycobacterium sp., especially Mycobacterium tuberculosis, are a major burden on global health care. Due to high intrinsic antibiotic resistance, treatment options are severely limited. In mycobacteria, WhiB7 coordinates intrinsic resistance to a broad range of antibiotics. While WhiB7 has been established as an auto‐regulatory transcriptional activator, the signals and genes needed to induce its expression are poorly understood. Using Mycobacterium smegmatis as a model, we coupled transposon mutagenesis and next generation sequencing with WhiB7‐specific antibiotic selection to identify genes that contribute to WhiB7 regulation and function. We showed that whiB7 expression was regulated by two coordinated processes: early termination of the whiB7 transcript and increased whiB7 promoter activity. Early termination was irreversibly maintained by constitutive expression of a putative aspartate aminotransferase gene, MSMEG_4060. A pair of hypothetical genes, MSMEG_3637 and MSMEG_3638, were identified as important contributors to whiB7 promoter induction on antibiotic challenge. Expansion of our understanding of the WhiB7‐resistance pathway may lead to identification of inhibitors that allow the use of previously ineffective antibiotics to treat mycobacterial diseases.


Background and Objectives: T helper (Th) lymphocytes play a key role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. As a new subset of lymphocytes, Th9 is thought to be involved in a wide range of disorders including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In this study, we evaluated frequency of Th9 and Th2 cells and its correlation with disease activity in patients with different stages of RA. Methods: The frequency of circulating interleukin 9and/or interleukin 4producing CD3+CD8-T cells was determined among 41 patients with established RA, 14 patients with very early RA (VERA) and 23 healthy controls by flow cytometry analysis. Then, correlation of cell frequencies with disease activity score 28 (DAS-28) was assessed. Serum levels of interleukin 6 and anti-citrullinated peptide antibodies were measured by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay. Results: Frequency of Th9 cells was significantly higher in RA patients compared to healthy controls (P=0.009). Moreover, mean percentage of circulating Th9 cells in patients with inactive VERA was significantly higher than that in those with active disease (P=0.046). In addition, mean percentage of Th9 cells had a negative correlation with the DAS-28 (r=0.568, P<0.05). There was no significant correlation between the mean serum level of interleukin 6 and percentage of Th2 and Th9 cells (P>0.05). Conclusion: Our results suggest that Th9 cells may have a potential role in RA initiation. Thus, targeting Th9 cells could be a promising strategy for advanced RA therapies.


The hypothesis was tested that psychophysiological features of the Coronary Risk Personality (CRP) already are clearly discernable before myocardial infarction (MI). Psychological test assessments wer


Classical swine fever (CSF), a listed disease of the Office International des Epizooties (OIE), is an important, highly contagious and often fatal pig disease with widespread economic implications. The classical swine fever virus (CSFV) is the causative agent of this disease. The virus is an enveloped, non-segmented, positive-strand RNA virus that belongs to the Pestivirus genus within the Flaviviridae family. The CSFV genome contains a single large open reading frame (ORF), a 5'-nontranslated region (5'-NTR) and a 3'-nontranslated region (3'-NTR). During the past decade, much progress on the CSFV molecular characterization have been achieved and more than thirty CSFV genomes being sequenced and annotated. However, the genome structure and its protein functions remain to be further elucidated. We present here an overview of CSFV molecular characterization and potential future directions for research.


Burnout syndrome is common among healthcare professions, including resident physicians. We aimed to assess the prevalence of burnout among resident physicians in Jordan, and a secondary aim was to evaluate the risk factors associated with the development of burnout syndrome in those residents, including gender, working hours, psychological distress, training sector, and specialty. In this cross-sectional study, 481 residents were recruited utilizing multistage stratified sampling to represent the four major health sectors in Jordan. Data were collected using an online questionnaire, where the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI) was used to assess the prevalence of burnout. The prevalence, group differences, and predictors of burnout were statistically analyzed using STATA 15. Overall, 373 (77.5%) residents were found to have burnout. Factors associated with higher levels of burnout were psychological stress (β = 2.34, CI = [1.88–2.81]), longer working hours (β = 4.07, CI = [0.52–7.62], for 51–75 h a week, β = 7.27, CI = [2.86–11.69], for 76–100 h a week and β = 7.27, CI = [0.06–14.49], for >100 h a week), and obstetrics/gynecology residents (β = 9.66, CI = [3.59–15.73]). Conversely, medical sub-specialty residents, as well as private and university hospital residents, had lower burnout levels. We concluded that decreasing the workload on residents, offering psychological counseling, and promoting a safety culture for residents might help in mitigating burnout consequences.


ABSTRACT Sea piracy is one of the greatest threats to trade and commerce on high seas. According to the annual report 2020 of the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP), a total of 97 incidents (comprising 95 actual incidents and two attempted incidents) of piracy and armed robbery against ships were reported in Asia in 2020. The number of incidents was just double the last year's 2019 sea piracy cases. The incident of piratical attacks affected Asian Countries and particularly Southern Asia and Southeast Asia is the most affected area. Southeast Asia covered 41 percent of total pirate attacks during 1995-2013. Although India and Malaysia are geographically differently located both are mostly affected by these incidents of sea piracy and it has a long-standing history to fight against piracy. India has proposed the Anti-Maritime Piracy Bill, 2019 to curb this menace in tune with the United Nations Convention on the Law of Seas (UNCLOS), 1982, and Malaysia has the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Act, 2004. The present study analyses the concept of piracy in Asian countries and its international and national legal framework to deal with piratical attacks. It is found that Southern Asia and particularly Southeast Asia is one of the most affected areas in piratical attacks. Further, there is no specific legislation to deal with piracy in India and Malaysia. Therefore, India and Malaysia should have strong domestic legislations for the apprehension and prosecution of pirates.


This paper is divided in two parts. In the first part we study a second order neutral partial differential equation with state dependent delay and noninstantaneous impulses. The conditions for existence and uniqueness of the mild solution are investigated via Hausdorff measure of noncompactness and Darbo Sadovskii fixed point theorem. Thus we remove the need to assume the compactness assumption on the associated family of operators. The conditions for approximate controllability are investigated for the neutral second order system with respect to the approximate controllability of the corresponding linear system in a Hilbert space. A simple range condition is used to prove approximate controllability. Thereby, we remove the need to assume the invertibility of a controllability operator used by authors in (Balachandran and Park, 2003), which fails to exist in infinite dimensional spaces if the associated semigroup is compact. Our approach also removes the need to check the invertibility of the controllability Gramian operator and associated limit condition used by the authors in (Dauer and Mahmudov, 2002), which are practically difficult to verify and apply. Examples are provided to illustrate the presented theory.


In its first part, this paper develops ideas regarding the importance of the insurance industry as a powerful provider of services to operational risk management, especially in emerging-market economies. The insurance industry not only has the role of financing losses, but also acts as a shadow supervisor of their insured financial institutions. Furthermore, the insurance industry is an operational risk data source and a contributor of techniques to estimate operational risk capital charges.


Experimental investigation into the effects of base bleed on wake stabilization for the suppression of flow-induced oscillation has shown that when the bleed flow rate is increased, the initial vortices are formed downstream, thus constituting the main cause of the removal of vortex excitation from the body which has produced them. Base ejections, if unsuitably placed, however, could aggravate oscillation. In wake buffeting, the situation can be greatly improved if base bleed is introduced from the downstream body but not from the upstream body.


The paper presents an instrumentation set for effective diagnostics of early symptoms of fetal distress in high-risk pregnancy based on bioelectric signals recording. The representative database of records has been established that enabled the complex analysis of signals recorded on a surface of maternal abdomen. As an outcome, the effective algorithms have been developed for processing both the fetal electrocardiogram and the signal of electrical activity of a uterine muscle. This allowed the development of unique diagnostic system based on external biosignal measurement module connected to the standard personal computer. In this system, like in a classical fetal monitor, the fetal heart rate (FHR) signal together with contraction activity signal of uterine muscle and fetal movement become an essential source of information on fetal condition. In addition, there is a possibility for spectral analysis of FHR signal as well as a morphology assessment of fetal ECG signal.


Epoxidized soyabean oil (ESO) has been used to toughen epoxy resin cured with an ambient temperature hardener. The ESO was prepolymerized before blending with epoxy resin to obtain modified networks having various concentrations of ESO. The modified networks were also made by blending the ESO with epoxy resin by a one-stage process. All the modified networks were characterized for their thermal, flexural and impact properties, and compared to the parent epoxy network. The optimum properties were obtained at 20 parts per hundred grams of resin (phr) of ESO. The impact behaviour is explained in terms of morphology observed by scanning electron microscopy.

© 2001 Society of Chemical Industry


Abstract Background: Sub-optimal transitioning of patients from chronic kidney disease (CKD) to end stage renal disease (ESRD) may result in poor clinical outcomes and increased healthcare costs. The objectives of this study were to estimate the average total cost per patient who requires initiation of renal replacement therapy (RRT) stratified by status at initiation; optimal (RRT initiation as an outpatient with an arterio-venous [AV] Fistula, Graft or Peritoneal Dialysis [PD] catheter), and sub-optimal (RRT initiation as an inpatient and/or via central venous catheter [CVC]). Methods: Data from the Study To Assess Renal Replacement Therapy (STARRT), a Canadian, multi-centre, 6 month retrolective study (n = 339), were used for this analysis. Unit costs for resources were obtained from participating hospitals, the literature, and/or standard costing sources. The analysis was performed from the perspective of healthcare payors and reported in 2011 Canadian Dollars (CAD). A propensity score technique was applied to control for potential confounders between the two groups. Results: Two hundred of the eligible patients for analysis (61.9%) were sub-optimally and 123 (38.1%) were optimally prepared. For this analysis, 106 "matched" pairs were used. The average total cost per patient was estimated to be $63,225 (with a 95% CI ranging from $58,663–$67,958) for the sub-optimally initiated patients, and $39,260 (with a 95% CI ranging from $35,683–$43,007) for the optimally initiated patients (p < 0.001). Limitations: Costs were calculated utilizing a conservative approach, using the cheapest available prices for medications and other resources. Assumptions had to be made for the costing of dialyses. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate, after adjusting for potential confounders, that optimally initiated patients for RRT have significantly lower healthcare-associated costs compared to sub-optimally initiated patients.


This book, by one of the leading pulmonary physiologists in England, presents a comprehensive discussion of asthma in children. It carries the mark of an individual with an intense interest in the disease and a commitment to understanding its nature and treatment. The introduction, with its attention to the spectrum of the disease and epidemiological considerations is excellent. The greatest strengths of the book' lie in the areas of the author's primary research experience, pulmonary physiology. Thus, his discussion of the pathophysiology of asthma is knowledgeable, well-referenced, and describes with clarity and precision the technical details of the physiological measurements. In particular, his discussions of the definition of asthma and description of the physiological abnormality are well thought out and clearly expressed. Unfortunately, the further Dr. Jones gets from his own research area of pulmonary physiology, the less well referenced the material becomes, and occasionally uncritical acceptance of the literature is seen. The author becomes particularly myopic in his discussion of chemotherapy. He ignores four years of literature on the use of theophylline for prophylaxis of chronic asthma and ignores 15 years of work related to the use of alternate day prednisone therapy as a means to use corticosteroids for chronic prophylaxis with a reasonable degree of safety. Thus, he spends much time discussing a variety of preparations of ACTH ( adrenocorticotropic hormone) which is virtually unused at specialty centers managing asthma in the U.S.A. His ignorance regarding therapeutic experiences in the United States results in almost completely irrelevant sections on the management of asthma. The weaknesses of this book, however, must be put into the perspective of current attempts at comprehensive discussions of this important and often debilitating childhood disease. The author's emphasis on defining the physiologic abnormality and relating it to treatment is better done than other attempts I have seen. I would strongly recommend that anyone trying to increase his understanding of asthma read the first five chapters, which range from epic demiology through pathophysiology. The chapter on chemotherapeutic agents, however, has little redeeming virtue. His discussion of the psychosomatic aspects of asthma is intriguing and rational but the references are not always critically analyzed. Still, the concepts are interesting, and if not accepted uncritically, worth the time to consider. In summary, this book can be recommended for those interested in obtaining a concise basis for understanding and conceptualizing asthma. From this point of view, it is an important book since most physicians in training and many practicing physicians have only the most superficial concept of the diagnostic criteria, pathophysiology, and clinical patterns. Asthma in Children, with limited reservations, can be recommended as an excellent review of these areas. The treatment areas, however, are best left ignored; better reviews are available elsewhere. Effective treatment however requires an understanding of the disease pro~ cess. Consequently, the areas of this book's strength are alone worth the price to physicians who deal with asthma.


Better biomarkers to predict death early in acute liver failure (ALF) are needed. To that end, we obtained early (study day 1) and later (day 3) serum samples from transplant-free survivors (n=28) and non-survivors (n=30) of acetaminophen (APAP)-induced ALF from the NIH sponsored Acute Liver Failure Study Group, and from control volunteers (n=10). To identify proteins that increase early in serum during ALF, we selected individuals from this cohort for whom ALT was lower on day 1 than day 3, indicating a time point before the peak of injury (n=10/group). We then performed untargeted proteomics on their day 1 samples. Out of 1,682 quantifiable proteins, 79 were elevated [≥]4-fold in ALF patients vs. controls and 23 of those were further elevated [≥]4-fold in non-survivors vs. survivors, indicating potential to predict death. Interestingly, the biomarker with best performance was LDH. To confirm the prognostic potential of LDH, we measured activity in all day 1 and 3 samples from all 58 ALF patients. LDH was elevated in the non-survivors vs. survivors on both days. In addition, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses revealed that LDH alone performed similarly to the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD), while a combination of MELD and LDH outperformed either alone. Finally, Upstream Analysis of our proteomics data indicated activation of LKB1-AMPK signaling in liver regeneration after APAP overdose and we confirmed that in mice. Overall, we conclude LDH can predict death in APAP-induced ALF and that LKB1-AMPK signaling may be a promising therapeutic target to improve survival.


Early-in fact, before breakfast-on Monday morning, the 12th of January, 1824, an unexpected knock sounded on the door of Jonathan Knight's house at No. 90 Church Street, which, in those days when New Haven was a town of about 10,000, stood near the southeast side of the Lower Green. It was a fashionable street and few people were abroad in the neighborhood; but an early visitor at that house was probably not uncommon, since Dr. Knight practised medicine in addition to serving as the first Professor of Anatomy and Physiology in the Medical Institution of Yale College. The caller proved to be General Kimberly, a well-known lawyer, who, despite his serious expression, did not seek medical advice. No doubt the Doctor had been up and about for some time, as befitted his manifold activities, preparing for the day's work, which included a lecture and demonstration, and administrative duties at the medical school, followed by consultations with patients. The medical school curriculum was at its peak for the year, the lecture courses covering the period from October to February. Perhaps Dr. Knight was already considering his discourse to the students and what new complexity of the human organism he could present. The student of 1824, not unlike his present-day descendant, but probably for different reasons, had to be prodded more sharply than usual to arouse his intellectual attention on a midwinter Monday morning. The residents of New Haven, according to traditional custom, preferred to devote their Sabbath Day to religious pursuits. Even the young gentlemen of Yale College (wearing shawls and stovepipe hats) went to church, which seems a quaint conceit in the light of some of our modern week-end recreations. Evidently these fellows were seriously impressed with their preparation "for service in Church and Civil State." The medical students were like their academic brethren; for we read in the contemporary Yale catalogue that "the medical students, during their residence in the Institution, are subject to the same moral and religious restraints, as those of the Academical College." The news brought by General Kimberly may have given the learned professor reason to suspect that not all of his anatomical class had spent the preceding day in sober contemplation of moral


The phosphorus partition (L P ) and phosphate capacity ( C PO 43 − ) were measured for TiO 2 bearing basic oxygen steelmaking slags in the CaO–SiO 2 –MgO–Fe t O–(TiO 2 –MnO–Al 2 O 3 –P 2 O 5 ) system at 1 650 ° C. The effect of slag and metal additions were tested by varying the TiO 2 content from 0.0 to 18.0 mass% and the [Ti] content from 0.009 to 0.301 mass%. A recently published L P model was used to assess the experimental L P data using the measured slag composition and temperature. Experimental L P data from this study and literature data were used to modify the published model to include titania. Increasing the TiO 2 concentration of the slag was found to decrease the L P and C PO 43 − of basic oxygen steelmaking (BOS) slags. Capacity values in the range of 2.2 × 10 16 to 1.5 × 10 18 at 1 650 ° C were obtained. An empirical model for determining C PO 43 − was developed for BOS slags using a large dataset of published slag and pO 2 data for relevant slag systems, including published data for titania bearing slags. The predicted C PO 43 − from the empirical model was found to agree with the experimentally determined C PO 43 − data from this study.


As dermatologists, we treat and care for the patient's skin diseases and most dermatologists today are providing treatments to meet esthetic demands of our patients. An esthetic dermatology setup comprises treating various skin and hair conditions to achieve youthful, radiant skin for our patients. We choose various armaments such as peels, lasers, various energy devices, botulinum toxin, and even hyaluronic acid fillers to achieve the best outcome. Medi facials can be integrated into esthetic practice to achieve better esthetic outcomes with a feel-good factor to the client. In this article, we will understand what Medi facials are, what are the equipment required for Medi facials, and how we can combine medical procedures to cosmetic facials to achieve better outcome.