Plasma testosterone concentration was 4.7 ± 6.2 SD, 14.7 ± 1 1.8 SD, 263 ± 144 SD and 495 ± 143 SD ng/100 ml in infant, juvenile, adolescent, and adult chimpanzees, respectively, as measured by competitive protein binding. The water blank of the method was 4.0 ± 2.9 SD ng/100 ml and was not subtracted. Plasma testosterone binding affinity and capacity as measured in concomitant samples by a Sephadex, equilibrium dialysis method was significantly less (p < 0.001) in adult chimpanzees than in any of the other age groups. Both the range of plasma testosterone and the fall in testosterone binding are similar to corresponding measurements reported for human pre- and postpubertal subjects. Estimates of the percent of the total testosterone remaining unbound in prepubertal and postpubertal male chimpanzees are about twice the corresponding values reported for boys and men, respectively. Serum total proteins and globulin were greater in adult than in infant chimpanzees while serum albumin and the albumin/globulin...


Satellite imageries have been widely used to analyze a region by planners. Data from the satellite usually have lower accuracy than other expensive methods e.g. drone, aerial view, etc. However, the data from satellite have wide range area and sufficient enough for modeling a land use. The accuracy assessment, therefore, becomes a vital task to ensure the model from the satellite imagery meets the minimum requirement. Validating the classification result by comparing to the real location or by other higher resolution images is needed. The paper proposed additional validation by comparing the classification result by another result in different date through the cross-tabulation method. Two satellite imageries in the same year were processed before classification to get the land-use and land-cover classification. Comparing two land-use classified images gave the accuracy statistics using cross-tabulation. The kappa statistic and accuracy showed the classification performance of 0.7592 that similar to the sampling-based accuracy assessment (0.75390). Therefore, the proposed method was appropriate as the accuracy assessment.


The purpose of the experiment's recorded here was to establish the normal curves of the circulatory and respiratory responses to a gradual increase of carbon dioxide in the inspired air and to determine whether there is an after-effect. A gradual increase of carbon dioxide in the inspired air was secured by allowing the subject of experimentation to rebreathe 52 liters of air in a Larsen-Henderson rebreathing apparatus (23). In one series of 52 experiments, preliminary to the rebreathing, oxygen was added to the atmospheric air in sufficient amount to raise the content to about 30 per cent and then throughout the period of rebreathing a small flow of washed oxygen was allowed continually to enter the reservoir of t,he apparatus. In another series of 20 experiments the subject rebreathed the 52 liters of atmospheric air with the result that carbon dioxide not only accumulated but the oxygen content of the air was gradually exhausted. Preceding each experiment preliminary observations were made on each physiological condition to establish the normals for a basis of comparison; and during the experiments the respiratory changes, the pulse rate and arterial blood pressures were recorded. Determinations of the composition of the alveolar air, venous and capillary blood pressures, the hand volume and the rate of blood flow through the hand were added as the occasion permitted and included 8 to 10 studies of each. The respirat,ory data were obtained by recording the movements of the spirometer drum on a kymograph and also by reading the minute volume of breathing with the Larsen automatic recorder (23). The alveolar air samples were taken from a special opening in the mouthpiece by the method of Haldane and Priestley (9). The arterial blood pressures were determined with the Tycos sphygmomanometer by the


[T is quite generally believed that functional nervous disorders have markedly increased during recent years, though no authentic data are available in support of this belief. Physicians practicing in any branch of medicine always have had to deal with cases of mild mental distress which seemed out of proportion to the anxiety normally incident to the physical disturbances in question. Physical illness, even of slight degree, may be a new experience and may so suddenly change the accustomed relationship of the individual to his environment that new problems arise beyond his ability to solve. Hidden from the medical attendant, but disturbing the patient, lie concealed fears of disability and death, of economic embarrassment, and of concern for the welfare of dependents. Usually these minor difficulties pass away upon the return of health or are dissipated by the wise counsel of the physician, but occasionally the anxiety engendered may remain and require special treatment.


Objective to satisfy domestic people are now making higher and higher demands on drilling equipment,objective to improve further automatic level of power tong.In this paper,the PLC hydraulic pneumatic control system of the punching process of iron roughneck was proposed for the walking power tong.Here OMRON PLC CPM1A is taken as an example,and Programming system block is given,PLC hardware circuit,Electric circuit diagram,PLC ladder-shaped chart and PLC control program sentence were illustrated.The control of Iron Roughneck based on PLC and working power tong greatly reduced the Iron Roughneck development cycle,which suits the development tendency of domestic petroleum machinery that is worth promoting.


The transoral-transpalatine approach to the ventral craniocervical junction is the most frequently used route for decompression of the ventral cervicomedullary area. 1 This article presents the complications encountered in 692 patients who underwent this operation between 1977 and 2005. Since 1990 there have been no infections or major morbidity.


A new technique, momentum resolved electron stimulated desorption ion angular distribution (ESDIAD), provides a method for taking snapshots of the zero-point position and lateral momentum of particles adsorbed on crystalline surfaces. By employing state-of-the-art electronics and computer technology it is possible to record for each desorbing particle the desorption direction together with the flight time. High momentum and directional resolved images are obtained, with time-of-flight resolution in the picosecond range and data acquisition rates up to 100 kHz. This enables us to deconvolute spatial and momentum contributions to the ESDIAD pattern and to map the low frequency motion of the adsorbed particles. These maps reflect the adsorbate interactions with the substrate and with neighboring species on the substrate. For selected examples it is demonstrated that by measuring the three dimensional momentum vector for each desorbing particle it is possible to probe the lowest energy states of adsorbed spec...


Background: The use of plants known to possess significant antioxidant activities have been widely recommended in the complementary and alternate system of medicine in the treatment of diabetes mellitus. Among the many plant used in Nigeria for the management of DM are Vernonia amygdalina and Ficus exasperata. This study was designed to assess the effect of the combination of the aqueous extract of Vernonia amygdalina and Ficus exasperata on blood glucose level, lipid profile, hepatic enzymes, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status in alloxan-induced diabetes in rats.
Method: Twenty five rats were divided into five groups. Four groups were made diabetic by the intra-peritoneal administration of alloxan monohydrate (150mg/kg body weight) while the fifth group served as normal control. Serum, hepatic and renal concentrations of reduced glutathione (GSH) and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) as well as the catalase activity were determined. The blood lipid profile and some hepatic enzymes were also studied.
Result: The combined extract lowered lipid peroxidation, increase glutathione concentration and catalase activity in all the tissues of diabetic rats. The individual extract lowered the total cholesterol LDL-Cholesterol, coronary risk index (CRI), and atherogenic index (AI) while increasing the concentration of HDL cholesterol in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. Diabetes lowered hepatic enzymes' activities but the leaf extract significantly increased it.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that combination of the extracts showed additive effect on each other and it is highly recommended for the management of diabetes.


The use of stone-washing and bleaching to create surface effects on fabrics is difficult to control and caustic. A novel machine uses laser-beam intensity variation to reproducibly modify the surface of fabrics without harming product quality.


Selecting the best suppliers is a significant yet complex decision which requires careful consideration of various performance criteria. Hence, supplier selection is an important issue and has a strategic significance for every company. One of the techniques that can be used for selecting suppliers is data envelopment analysis (DEA). In this paper, to handle ambiguity and fuzziness in supplier selection problems, a novel fuzzy DEA approach with double frontiers for selecting suppliers is developed. Compared with the traditional DEA, the DEA approach with double frontiers can identify the best supplier appropriately and easily without the need to impose any weight restriction or the need to calculate the cross-efficiency matrix, which requires a large number of computations and may also result in inconsistent conclusions. A numerical example demonstrates the application of the proposed model.


The purpose of this study is to probe the differences caused by selected cognitive variables such as entrance test scores (ETS) and grade point average (GPA) on the performance of the graduates in the Licensure Examination for Teachers (LET). It entailed a causal-comparative embedded mixed method research design. The study followed a cohort of 42 purposively sampled graduates of Bachelor of Elementary Education (BEEd), College of Education (CoEd), Mindanao State University (MSU), General Santos City (GSC). Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to determine the differences in the LET performance when grouped according to arbitrary categories of the cognitive variables. A presentation of case narratives and thematic analysis was further used to explore the significant differences. The result disclosed that the ETS of the graduates grouped as passed and conditional cause a significant difference in the LET performance. It further uncovered that the GPA of the graduates grouped as high, average, and low causes a significant difference in the LET performance. The qualitative probes revealed themes such as access to review materials, metacognitive strategies, motivational experiences, and efficacy to succeed. These themes provide explanatory context to the differences in the performance of the graduates in the LET. The implications are further discussed in the study. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.19.4.12


This paper we discusses the energy efficient topology control issue in ad hoc wireless networks. In order to find an optimal network topology that has maximal network lifetime meet QoS requirements, which is involved with traffic requirements, hop bound and bandwidth, we design an Energy Efficient Topology Control algorithm that integrates a relevant QoS Routing algorithm. In the course of comparing most of algorithms concentrated on how to minimize energy consumption, the combined analytical and numerical results indicate this optimal algorithm can obtain an optimal network lifetime, which is a genuine time value and more significant and reasonable than taking minimizing energy consumption into account purely.


Objective To study the optimal condition of random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) for candida genotyping in our laboratory. Methods Use RAPD in candida genotyping when the primer,template,concentration of Mg 2+,dosoge of Taq polymerase were in different condition. Results RAPD in optimized condition could be used in candida molecule typing. Conclusion RAPD is a quick and credible method of pathogen genotyping in the pathogenic and epidemic study of microbiologic infection.


Using a sample of 122×10^6 Υ(3S) events recorded with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at SLAC, we search for the h_b(1P) spin-singlet partner of the P-wave χ_(bJ)(1P) states in the sequential decay Υ(3S)→π^0h_b(1P), hb(1P)→γη_b(1S). We observe an excess of events above background in the distribution of the recoil mass against the π0 at mass 9902±4(stat)±2(syst)  MeV/c^2. The width of the observed signal is consistent with experimental resolution, and its significance is 3.1σ, including systematic uncertainties. We obtain the value (4.3±1.1(stat)±0.9(syst))×10^(-4) for the product branching fraction B(Υ(3S)→π^0h_b)×B(h_b→γη_b).


The paper provides information on the index of fluctuating asymmetry of the Pitsunda pine in industrial and recreational areas in the city of Tuapse (the Russian Black Sea coast of the Caucasus). It is shown that pollution is localized in the port area, and in the city center, the fluctuating asymmetry index is comparable to that for resort areas at a considerable distance from the Tuapse port. The necessity of taking into account the climate when using the coefficient of fluctuating asymmetry of the needles of the Mediterranean (Pitsunda) pine in assessing the degree of ecological well-being of various areas is shown.


Abstract Pyridinium chlorochromate (PCC), in refluxing benzene, has been found to be an effective and convenient reagent for the oxidation of steroidal Δ5-3β-tetrahydropyranyl ethers to the corresponding Δ4-3,6-diones in high yield.


Substance P (SP), an 11-amino-acid neuropeptide, has long been considered an effector of pain. However, accumulating studies have proposed a paradoxical role of SP in anti-nociception. Here, we review studies of SP-mediated nociception and anti-nociception in terms of peptide features, SP-modulated ion channels, and differential effector systems underlying neurokinin 1 receptors (NK1Rs) in differential cell types to elucidate the effect of SP and further our understanding of SP in anti-nociception. Most importantly, understanding the anti-nociceptive SP-NK1R pathway would provide new insights for analgesic drug development.


We successfully deposited high quality biaxially oriented Ba x Sr 1-x TiO 3 thin films on polycrystalline yttrium iron garnet substrates using both the metal-organic chemical liquid deposition and pulsed laser deposition methods with biaxially oriented MgO and yttriumstabilized- zirconia buffer layers. The dielectric losses of the films range from 0.005 to 0.015 while 25% of dielectric constant change was observed with 40V bias voltage up to 10 MHz. Both the dissipation and dielectric constant of the films remained nearly constants over a wide temperature range. A dual-tuning microwave phase shifter using a BST film grown on an MgO buffered polycrystalline YIG substrate was fabricated. A significant phase shift was observed in a wide frequency range when an electric bias or a magnetic field was applied to the device.


This paper examines the behaviour of the competitive firm that exports to two foreign countries under multiple sources of exchange rate uncertainty. There is a forward market between the home currency and one foreign country's currency, but there are no hedging instruments directly related to the other foreign country's currency. We show that the separation theorem holds when the firm optimally exports to the foreign country with the currency forward market. The full-hedging theorem holds either when the firm exports exclusively to the foreign country with the currency forward market or when the relevant spot exchange rates are independent. In the case that the relevant spot exchange rates are positively (negatively) correlated in the sense of regression dependence, the firm optimally opts for a short (long) forward position for cross-hedging purposes.


This study was designed to determine the characteristics of rumen fermentation, and post-ruminal protein digestion of untreated and treated soybean meal (SBM) using gas production (GP) technique and three step in situ/in vitro procedures. Soybean meal (SBM) was treated by autoclaving, roasting, with ethanol and mixed by various proportions of  Acacia saligna (AS) leaves (1:3, 1:1, 3:1) ratios. The results showed that the highest cumulative GP was observed in untreated SBM followed by treated SBM with ethanol, roasted SBM and SBM+AS (3:1). The lowest mean values of GP were obtained in SBM+AS (1:3), autoclaved SBM and SBM+AS (1:1). The predicted metabolizable energy (ME, MJ/kg DM) and net energy (NE, MJ/kg DM) varied widely in substrates and was particularly high in untreated SBM, while SBM+AS (1:3) had significantly the lowest values of ME and NE. The highest mean values of NH3-N concentration were obtained with untreated SBM, while the lowest was obtained with autoclaved SBMand followed by SBM+AS (1:3), ethanol-treated SBM and roasted SBM. Rumen degradable protein (RDP, %) varied from 33.6% in autoclaving SBM to 62.4% in SBM+AS (3:1). Intestinal protein digestion (IPD, %) content was highest in autoclaving-SBM, roasting SBM and untreated SBM and lowest mean value of IPD was recorded in SBM+AS (1:1).The highest mean values for VFA concentrations were obtained with SBM+AS (3:1)and SBM treated with ethanol followed by SBM plus A. saligna leaves (1:3). The lowest mean value of VFA concentration was obtained by autoclaving SBM or roasting SBM. It is concluded that autoclaving SBM, ethanol- treated SBM and mixing SBM with Acacia leaves (1:3) could be used advantageously to reduce RDP and increase the bypass protein but the autoclaving SBM showed the best treatment on improving the intestinal protein digestion of SBM.


The concept of state in Islam only regulates principles or principles, among others, about leaders who must be honest, trustworthy, fair, transparent, and protect human rights (fitrah). Islam teaches and gives guidance in the life of the state. This means that the State must be built as a home to uphold justice in accordance with the rights that are basically owned by every citizen. The success of the Prophet Muhammad. Building a Muslim community in Medina by some Muslim intellectuals is called the City State.  The problem in this research is how the concept of the rule of law in the perspective of Islamic law. The method used in this research is descriptive research, descriptive research is intended to provide data as thorough as possible about an effort, symptoms, events and events that occur at the moment, and is deductive based on general theories applied to explain about a set of data, the relationship of a set of data with another set of data. In this study the method used is a normative juridical approach. The activities carried out are the inventory of legal materials, identification of legal materials, classification of legal materials, systematization of legal materials, and interpretation and construction of legal materials.  Based on the results of the study shows the concept of the State of Islamic Law Perspective with various scopes between the idea of state, Religion, State and law according to  Al-Quran and Hadith as well as the contribution of Islamic Law to the development of National Law.


A field experiment was done to study the residual effect of biochar application on the growth and yield of red chili (Capsicum annum L.). The experiment was done at Wringinrejo Village, Blitar Regency of Indonesia. The biochar treatment was applied to cassava crops from 2009 until 2013. The subsequent soil then was used for chili planting in 2013 with the treatment of: (i) Biochar residue (with and without biochar), and (ii) fertilizer application (No fertilizer, Nitrogen, Farm Yard Manure (FYM), and combination of N+FYM). These treatments were arranged in a split plot design with biochar residue as the main factor, and fertilizer application as the sub factor; with 4 replications. The collected data were: (i) the growth and yield of chili, (ii) yield component, and (iii) soil quality. The results show that after4 year of application, biochar still had a significant effect on the growth and yield of red chili. In general, chili planted on plot that given biochar before, tend to be higher with more branches compared to the chili planted on non-biochar applied plot. Thus it can be concluded residual effect of biochar significantly influenced the growth and yield of red chili. Application of nitrogen fertilizer and farm yard manure increase the chili yield, both on non-biochar, and applied biochar plot. The highest fruit yield (14.6 t.ha) was obtained by chili planted on biochar-treated plot applied with nitrogen and Farm yard manure.


Petroleum-producing companies world-wide routinely use numerical reservoir simulation as an engineering tool to manage their hydrocarbon reservoirs efficiently. The task of building models with a large number of gridblocks is not easy, and analyzing the voluminous results produced by such models is even more difficult. This paper discusses the historical evolution of techniques used to analyze reservoir simulation data over the past decade. It outlines how the advancement of workstation technology and the introduction of an X-Window system opened up an entirely new way of using mainframe computing power and workstation graphical display capabilities simultaneously. The paper also discusses Saudi Aramco`s experience in the development of sophisticated reservoir simulation postprocessing packages. The authors emphasize the need for direct communication between the programmer and end users to facilitate a user-friendly package. They present a practical example illustrating the benefit of these postprocessing packages in the construction and history matching of a large model with approximately 52,000 cells. They estimate savings in manpower and computer resources using current technology.


The utility model belongs to a heater, in particular to an electromagnetic rapid water boiler. The electromagnetic rapid water boiler comprises a water storage tank, a heating tube and a buffer tank, wherein an inflow tube is connected with an electromagnetic feed valve and then the water storage tank; two inductive switches and a safety tube are arranged inside the water storage tank; an outflow tube of the water storage tank is connected with an inflow tube of the heating tube through a tee joint; the other end of the tee joint is connected with a plug; an electromagnetic heating induction coil is arranged outside the heating tube; the upper part of the heating tube is connected with the buffer tank; an inductive switch is arranged at the water outlet of the buffer tank; and the buffer tank is connected with the water storage tank through a steam pipeline. The utility model has the advantages of rapid heating, low electricity loss, safety, reliability, easy operation, low fabrication cost and extremely long service life; water and electricity are fully isolated from each other during heating; because a water temperature sensor is arranged at a water inlet, the electromagnetic heating power can be automatically matched according to water temperature, so that outflow balance is achieved; water output is high; and the utility model can be widely used to supply hot water to differently places and heat liquid pipelines.


The objectives of this research to explain the effect of (1) E-Learning on the learning motivation; (2) Social Media as a learning medium on the learning motivation; (3) E-Learning and social media as a learning medium on the learning motivation. This research uses a quantitative approach with correlational research type. The data analysis technique used simple and multiple linier regression test. The results of this research indicatet that (1) there is a positive and significant influence between E-Learning on the learning motivation on a simple linier regression test from tcount>ttable (7.295 > 1.97) and a significance value of 0.000 < 0.05; (2) there is a positive and significant influence between social media as a learning medium on the learning motivation on a simple linier regression test from tcount>ttable (7.476 > 1.97) and significance value of 0.000 < 0.05; (3) there is a positive and significant influence between E-Learning and social media as learning media on learning motivation on the calculation of multiple linier regression test from Fcount>Ftable (34.831 > 3.04) and a significance valu of 0.000 < 0.05.


ABSTRACT n-Butyltriphenylphosphonium peroxodisulfate in refluxing acetonitrile transforms trimethylsilyl (TMS) and tetrahydropyranyl (THP) ethers, ethylene acetals and ketals to their corresponding carbonyl compounds in excellent yields. Selective oxidative deprotection of TMS and THP ethers in the presence of ethylene acetals (ketals) is of additional importance in this method.


Atherosclerosis-related cardiovascular diseases are a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) comprise the medial layer of the arterial wall and undergo phenotypic switching during atherosclerosis to a synthetic phenotype capable of proliferation and migration. The surrounding environment undergoes alterations in extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness and composition in addition to an increase in addition to an increase in cholesterol content. Using an atherosclerotic murine model, we analyzed how the mechanics of VSMCs isolated from western diet fed apolipoprotein-E knockout (ApoE-/-) and wild type (WT) mice were altered during atherosclerosis. Increased stiffness of ApoE-/- VSMCs correlated with a greater degree of stress fiber alignment as evidenced by atomic force microscopy (AFM)-generated force maps and stress fiber topography images. On type-1 collagen (COL1)-coated polyacrylamide (PA) gels of varying stiffness, WT VSMCs had higher adhesion forces to N-Cadherin (N-Cad) and COL1. ApoE-/- VSMC stiffness was significantly greater than WT cells with increased cell stiffness with increasing substrate stiffness for both ApoE-/- and WT VSMCs . In addition, ApoE-/- VSMCs showed an enhanced migration capability on COL1-coated substrates and a general decreasing trend in migration capacity with increasing substrate stiffness, correlating with the lower adhesion forces as compared to WT VSMCs. Altogether, these results demonstrate the potential contribution of the alteration in VSMC mechanics in the development of atherosclerosis.


Several types of sensors have been developed over the past few years that quantify the vapor concentrations of the hydrazines. These sensor s are able to detect concentrations as low as 10 parts per billion (ppb) up to several parts per million (ppm). The scope of this review wi ll be focused on those sensors that are most current in the marketpla ce as either leak detectors or personnel monitors. Some technical information on the theory of operations of each hydrazine detector will a lso be included. The review will highlight current operations that utilize hydrazine sensors including the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), the United States Air Force (USAF) at Cape Canaveral Air Station (CCAS), USAF F-16 facilities. The orientation of the review will be towards giving users usable practical information on hydrazine sensors.


In this paper we consider some non-homogeneous Poisson models to estimate the probability that an air quality standard is exceeded a given number of times in a time interval of interest. We assume that the number of exceedances occur according to a non-homogeneous Poisson process. This Poisson process has rate function �(t), t � 0, which depends on some parameters that must be estimated. We take into account two cases of rate functions: the Weibull and the Goel-Okumoto. We consider models with and without change-points. When the presence of change-points is assumed, we may have the presence of either one, two or three change-points, depending of the data set. The parameters of the rate functions are estimated using a Gibbs sampling algorithm. Results are applied to ozone data provided by the Mexico City monitoring network. In a first instance, we assum e that there is no change-point present. Depending on the adjustment of the model, we assume the presence of either one, two or three change-points. The best fit model varies according t o the region of the city. In some cases we have that the Goel-Okumoto with two change-points is the best model. In other cases we have that the best adjustment is given by a Weibull rate function with one, two or three change-points.


A scroll compressor 20 comprises a generally cylindrical outer housing 38 into which a pump unit 22, having an orbiting scroll 26 located between a crankcase 24 and a fixed scroll 28, and a bearing mount 32, which supports a bearing 34, is assembled by force- fitting or shrink-fitting. The outer surfaces of the fixed scroll 28, and/or of the crankcase 24 and/or of the bearing support 32 are cylindrical in form and preferably contact the inner periphery of the housing 38 around their entire peripheries to maximise holding strength, and they have diameters greater than the inner diameter of the outer housing 38 to provide an interference fit on assembly which may cause the outer housing 38 to deform beyond its plastic yield point.


Package (10) having a stack of disposable absorbent products (12) in an enclosure defined by a flexible polymer material (11). The enclosure has top and bottom walls (18, 20), sidewalls (24), and end walls (15, 16) disposed opposite one another. A compressed stack of disposable absorbent products (12) is located in the interior (26) of the enclosure and exerts an expansion force against the end walls (15, 16) from the interior (26). The compressed stack includes a first disposable absorbent product (12f) contacting one of the end walls (15, 16), which has a portion (29) that is substantially transparent. The first disposable absorbent product (12f) includes a graphic display (50c) on an outer surface thereof that faces that end wall (15, 16). No portion of the graphic display (50c) is visible through the substantially transparent portion (29) of that end wall (15, 16).


The present invention is a thin film transistor array relates to a substrate, and more specifically, by forming the gate electrode in the same layer of the lower substrate without forming the color filter on an upper substrate, the insulating layer between the process simplified effect, the data line and the pixel electrode by the use of the planarization material is BCB, there is an effect that it is possible to significantly decrease the C


AbstrcatServe,return of service and third receive of some athletes of men doubles were comparatively (analyzed) with the methods of literature study,video statistics,mathematic statistics and expert interview. The results showed that foreign athletes' line of serve and return of service were flexible and the third (receive) were in superior position.


Consider Becker's (1973) classic static matching model, with output a stochastic function of unobserved types. Assume symmetric incomplete information about types, and thus commonly observed Bayesian posteriors. Matching is then assortative in these `reputations' if expected output is supermodular in types. We instead consider a standard dynamic version of this world, and discover a robust failure of Becker's global result. We show that as the production outcomes grow, assortative matching is neither efficient nor an equilibrium for high enough discount factors. Specifically, assortative matching fails around the highest reputation agents for `low-skill concealing' technologies. Our theory implies the dynamic result that high-skill matches (like the Beatles) eventually break~up. Our results owe especially to two findings: (a) value convexity due to learning undermines match supermodularity; and (b) for a fixed policy in optimal learning, the second derivative of the value function explodes geometrically at extremes.


athletes. In: RJ Maughan (ed.) Sports Nutrition, The Encyclopaedia of Sports Medicine, An IOC Medical Commission, 1st Edition. Chichester, UK: John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Monteiro C, Cannon G, Moubarac J, et al. (2018) The UN decade of nutrition, the NOVA food classification and the trouble with ultra-processing. Public Health Nutrition 21(1): 5–17. DOI: 10.1017/S1368980017000234. NHS England. Greener NHS. Available at: www.england.nhs.uk/ greenernhs (accessed 24 April 2023). Papadopoulou SK, Mantzorou M, Kondyli-Sarika F, et al. (2022) The key role of nutritional elements on sport rehabilitation and the effects of nutrients intake. Sports 10(6): 84. DOI: 10.3390/sports10060084. Shanley D, Hassan A, Lunan E, et al. (2023) Relative energy deficiency in sport: Diagnosis and management in primary care. InnovAiT 6(5): 1–7. DOI: 10.1177/ 17557380231155943. Stanner SA, Hughes J, Kelly CN, et al. (2004) A review of the epidemiological evidence for the 'antioxidant hypothesis'. Public Health Nutrition 7: 407–422. DOI: 10.1079/ PHN2003543. Taneri PE, Wehrli F, Roa-Diaz ZM, et al. (2022) Association between ultra-processed food intake and all-cause mortality: A systematic review and meta-analysis. American Journal of Epidemiology 191(7): 1323–1335. DOI: 10.1093/aje/ kwac039. Thomas DT, Burke LM and Erdman KA (2016) Nutrition and athletic performance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 48(3): 543–568. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000000852. Williams C and Rollo I (2015) Carbohydrate nutrition and team sport performance. Sports Medicine 45: 13–22. DOI: 10.1007/ s40279-015-0399-3. Yavari A, Javadi M, Mirmiran P, et al. (2015) Exercise-induced oxidative stress and dietary antioxidants. Asian Journal of Sports Medicine 6(1): E24898. DOI: 10.5812/asjsm.24898. Zoe Study. Available at: https://joinzoe.com/our-science.


The study of a collection of cestodes assigned to the genus Diplogonoporus Lonuberg, 1892 disclosed but two species, D. balaenopterae Lonnberg, 1892, aud D. tetrapterus (von Siebold, 1848) (provis.). These cestodes occur characteristi cally in marine mammals but occasionally are found in terrestrial hosts; D. balaenopterae is recorded for the first time from the domestic dog, and it is con cluded that D. grandis (Blanchard, 1894), from man, is conspecific with D. balaenopterae. The latter species is recorded for the first time from the hump back whale, lVIegaptera novaeangliae (Borowski). The relatively small D. tetrap terus, a common parasite of the Steller sea lion, Eumetopias jubata (Schreber), is reported for the first time from the sea otter, Enhydra lutris Linnaeus, and from the domestic mink, Afustela vison Schreber. Descriptions of representative specimens are presented, and the taxonomic status of other species assigned to Diplogonoporus is discussed. Although the diplogonadic organization of these cestodes is somewhat variable, it is nevertheless constant and serves to char acterize the genus Diplogonoporus. The process of asexual reproduction by means of transverse subdivision of primary segments is described. This ability and the diplogonadic structure of these cestodes are considered to be adaptations that increase the production of eggs and thereby the probability of reproductive success in the marine habitat. species have been identified from the stomach of fin whales in northern waters: Clupea harengus, Alallotus villosus, A mmodytes personatus, Boreogadus saida, Eleginus gracilis, Theragra halcogramma, Gadus morrhua, Pleurogrammus monoptergius, Sebastodes glaucus, Osmerus eperlanus, Oncorhynchus keta, Sardinella melanostica, Engraulis japonicus, Cololabis saira, and Podonema longipes. Data on fishes eaten by the sei whale have been published by Rice (1963), who examined 77 of these mammals from waters off the Pacific :0Jorth west, with the following findings: Engraulis mordax was present in 29 animals (37%); Cololabis saira in 8 (10%); and Sardinops sagax in one stomach. From humpback whales taken in the Bering Strait and in the Chukchi Sea during August-September, Tomilin listed the following species: kl allotus villosus, Clupea harengus, and A mmodytes personatus. Rice examined 149 of these whales from waters off the Pacific Northwest and found Engraulis mordax in 98 stomachs (65%). Diplogonoporus sp. has been recorded also from the sperm whale, Physeter catadon Linnaeus, which, according to Tomilin, feeds to some extent on fishes.


We investigate magnetic solitons in an immiscible binary Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), where the intraspecies interactions are slightly weaker than the interspecies interactions. While their density and phase profiles are analogous to dark-bright solitons, other characteristic properties such as velocities, widths, total density depletions, and in-trap oscillations are different. In the low velocity regime, a magnetic soliton reduces to a traveling pair of magnetic domain walls. Collisional behaviors of the solitons are also briefly discussed. We further demonstrate that these solitonic states can be realized in a quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) spin-1 ferromagnetic BEC with weak spin interaction, e.g., a Rb87 BEC.


It was shown that the built-in electric field, formed by contact periphery, influences greatly on the effectiveness of photoelectric transducers (PT) made on the basis of metal-semiconductor (M-S) contacts. Enhancement of this field results in increasing voltage sensitivity on >50% and current sensitivity on more than 50 times of these PT's. As a result a physical model of electric field distribution in M-S contacts was suggested, considering the built-in peripheral electric field, which accounts for increasing barrier conductivity under the influence of photoelectromotive force.


This study focuses government sourcing decisions in Nebraska, including the benefits and costs of government performance (insourcing) versus contracting with the private sector (outsourcing). The study generally concludes that government insourcing is likely to increase taxpayer costs and produce lower quality outcomes as compared to outsourcing to a competitive private sector provider. It also recommends changes in the assessment and evaluation of government activities to increase transparency and critical evaluation of potential savings from outsourcing whenever the government competes with the private sector.


Objective To investigate the clinical efficacy of psychological behavioral intervention with drug in the treatment of ovulatory disorders. Methods Sixty-eight patients with ovulatory disorders were randomly divided into the control group and the observation group by random number table, with 34 cases in each group. The control group was only given drug for treatment, while the observation group was given psychological and behavioral intervention therapy on the basis of the control group. The clinical efficacy and mental health changes of the two groups were observed.Results The total effective rate of the observation group was 97.06%(33/34), significantly higher than 82.35%(28/34)of the control group(χ2=3.981, P0.05). The improvements in compulsion, depression, anxiety and other negative emotions were significantly better than those in the control group(t=3.537, 4.012, 3.731, 3.975, 4.109, P0.05). Conclusion The psychological behavioral intervention with drug has significant effect in the treatment of ovulatory disorders, and it can significantly improve the cure rate, effectively alleviate the adverse emotions, and improve mental health.


There are some specific rules of spatial distribution of FDI. Majority of foreign enterprises are inclined to agglomerate in the same area. Based on the historical data of FDI in Jiangsu, this paper investigates the spatial evolution patterns of FDI. As the analysis of aggregate data result, the spatial distribution of FDI had experienced three evolutive stage, namely stochastic diffusion--from diffusion to agglomeration--agglomeration. A further study of industrial data reveals that traditional industry had experienced the evolution from agglomeration to diffusion, but emerging industry had evolved from stochastic distribution to agglomeration. The factors of production costs,externality of agglomeration economics and path dependence played crucial roles in the process of spatial evolution of FDI.


The efficiency of the adsorbents; kaolinite (MY22s) and smectite (Sa01) for the removal of lead (II) ions from aqueous solution was investigated. Parameters such as contact time (t) and initial concentration (Co) with a particle size of 80 μm were studied by using a batch scale adsorption technique. This is with the intension of optimising appropriate conditions to be utilised on a commercial scale to decontaminate industrial effluents. Adsorption equilibrium was reached within 60 min for the 50, 70, 90, 110 and 130 ppm initial concentration (Co), of lead (II) ions with a 500 mg weight adsorbent. The adsorption capacity (Qt) of lead ion removal increases with increasing initial concentration, Co of lead (II) ions in solution. The adsorption efficiency or percentage of removal reached 92% for 130 ppm initial concentration, Co, of lead (II) ions with Sa01. Kinetic modelling analysis using the linear correlation coefficient (R 2 ) values showed that the adsorption mechanism follows the pseudo-second order model for the adsorption of lead (II) ions on Kaolinite (MY22s) and smectite (Sa01). The adsorption data were also modelled by using both the Langmuir and Freundlich classical adsorption isotherms. These experimental data fitted the Langmuir isotherm for kaolinite (MY22s) and Freundlich isotherm for smectite (Sa01).


Note: This essay was originally published in 1928 (long before computer networks were invented :-) ) and discussed size in the natural (biological) world and systems. As you read it, think about whether there is a "right size" for a network (or a piece of a network such as an Autonomous System), and what aspects of a network determine the "right size." You might also find the political statements at the end of interest.


With the modern semiconductor supply chain, the ownership of both intellectual property (IP) and integrated circuit (IC) cannot be guaranteed. The IP piracy may take place at the untrusted IC designer or untrusted foundry without the knowledge of the original IP owner. The untrusted foundry can also perform IC piracy with reverse engineering of GDSII, overproducing the number of ICs, and shipping out-of-spec/defective devices. A holistic solution is proposed to protect the ownership of both IP owners and IC designers. In this solution, a dynamically obfuscated wrapper for split test (DOST) and a secure split test methodology together aim at preventing IP overusing at multiple abstraction levels and enabling IC designers to fully control the production, test, and authentication processes. DOST has been implemented and validated on video graphics array-liquid crystal display, floating-point and graphics unit, Leon3, and Leon3mp benchmarks. DOST enables the structural tests in the locked mode and the functional tests in the functionally unlocked mode. The results show that the proposed method is highly robust against IP and IC piracies with an insignificant area (1.381%) and power (1.276%) overhead.


The success rate of the company is often associated with stock prices. High stock prices will impact increasing the value of the company and increasing market confidence. This study aims to analyze the effect of total asset turnover and profitability on firm value in food and beverage companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for the 2010-2019 period. This study will also examine the good corporate governance variable used as a moderating variable in the research model.
The population is food and beverage companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange for 2010 – 2019. From this population, 26 selected companies became the research sample, as many as 14 companies. Moreover, the number of observations used were 140 observations. The data type used is secondary data and the data analysis technique used in Panel Data Regression Analysis and Interaction Moderating Test with the help of EViews10 software.
The results of this study indicate that the alpha 5% profitability has a positive and significant influence on firm value. Meanwhile, total asset turnover has a positive but not significant effect on firm value. This study also indicates that good corporate governance can strengthen the influence of profitability on firm value. However, good corporate governance cannot moderate the effect of total asset turnover on firm value.


Statistical methods and analyses leave the average physician "cold," and he has a feeling of complete inadequacy as he passes on quickly to "more interesting" phases of his reading. The author has done a service to the reader in his explanation of the "why and wherefore" of statistical analyses and a brief, practical review of certain principles which are not too complicated for understanding.


Modeling dislocations is an inherently multiscale problem as one needs to simultaneously describe the high stress fields near the dislocation cores, which depend on atomistic length scales, and a surface boundary value problem which depends on boundary conditions on the sample scale. We present a novel approach which is based on a peridynamic dislocation model to deal with the surface boundary value problem. In this model, the singularity of the stress field at the dislocation core is regularized owing to the non-local nature of peridynamics. The effective core radius is defined by the peridynamic horizon which, for reasons of computational cost, must be chosen much larger than the lattice constant. This implies that dislocation stresses in the near-core region are seriously underestimated. By exploiting relationships between peridynamics and Mindlin-type gradient elasticity, we then show that gradient elasticity can be used to construct short-range corrections to the peridynamic stress field that yield a correct description of dislocation stresses from the atomic to the sample scale.


President Lorena Madrigal offered remarks at the meeting and has provided the following report for publication in the proceedings: "I would like to thank all members of the association who are active in one way or another in the AAPA. Our association continues to be a volunteer-run association. Specifically I would like to acknowledge the members of the executive board, who give so much of their time to the AAPA. This year is a year of transitions, as the president, secretary/treasurer, a member of the board and the AJPA Editor step down. I thank Lyle Konigsberg, secretary/treasurer, Debbie Guatelli-Steinberg, board member, and Chis Ruff, AJPA editor. We are happy to welcome Karen Rosenberg as the new president, Anne Grauer as the new secretary/treasurer, Josh Snodgrass as the new board member, and Peter Ellison as the new AJPA editor. I am delighted to see the quality of the papers being published by the American Journal of Physical Anthropology and by the Yearbook of Physical Anthropology. These two journals continue to increase in their visibility and impact factor. I would like to thank Chris Ruff for the many years he devoted to the AJPA and to Trudy Turner and Bob Sussman who were able to transition the Yearbook from one to another editor without any problems. New people are elected because association members are willing to run. Let me encourage you to run for positions next year. Please keep in mind that several of us had to run several times before we were elected. Other members of the association provide support by serving in its various committees: Joel Irish (Career Development), Daniel Wescott (Education), Michael A. Little (History), Matt Cartmill (Meetings), Sara Stinson (Publications), Susan Ant on and Agustin Fuentes (Diversity), Ben Auerbach (Task Force on Repatriation), and Ed Hagen (Website). Our association depends on volunteers for hosting our meetings. The work involved in hosting a conference is enormous. I want to thank our gracious host Andy Kramer and his committee. Speaking of hosting meetings, I would like to acknowledge Anne Grauer, who completed a new manual for local arrangement chairs (LAC), which is now available at our website. During this year as president, I have tried to increase the visibility of the association and of biological anthropology in the public arena, while trying to involve the junior members of our association in its administration.


This paper proposes a different experimental setup compared with the traditional ones, in order to determine the acceleration of gravity, which is carried out by using a fluid at a constant rotation. A computerized rotational system—by using a data acquisition system with specific software, a power amplifier and a rotary motion sensor—is employed in order to evaluate the angular velocity and g. An equation to determine g is inferred from fluid mechanics. For this purpose, the fluid's parabolic shape inside a cylindrical receptacle is considered using a rotational movement.


This paper studies effects of repair cost on the rework decision-making in an imperfect quality Economic Production Quantity (EPQ) model. The optimal lot sizes and the expected annual inventory costs for the cases of EPQ model with a rework process and without any reworking of defective items are compared and analyzed. With straightforward numerical derivations, this note proposes a set of mathematical equations to assist in determining on whether it is beneficial or not to rework. Sensitivity analysis and numerical example are provided to demonstrate their practical usages.


This article examines whether changes in the governance of public hospitals in Norway have affected the perceived practices of operational managers. A study involving a survey of and interviews with clinical managers in Norwegian hospitals has shown that managers considering themselves highly involved in management control practices. The managers' perception of their control activities was related to such institutional pressures as budget deficits, as well as to contextual variables such as department size. This article shows that clinical managers also use accounting information for purposes other than simply being accountable for meeting budgets.


The light source and the reflector and the optical member in combination. Reflected light is reflected in a single mode incident on the reflector. At least with respect to the reflector optical function occupies any part other than the solid angle of the optical member surrounds the light source. The reflector second portion of the direct light received. The optical member occupies substantially all of the remaining portion of the solid angle of the predetermined first portion directly receives light from the light source. Reflected light beam from the reflector is reflected as reflection mode determined in advance. The inner surface of the optical element and / or the outer surface is shaped to refract or direct the light source is transmitted directly to the light from the optical member, and / or refracted or reflected from said guide light from the first portion the light beam is reflected from the reflector to the light of the optical member to form a predetermined beam.


ark twain's most deliberate and sustained attempt to tell the unvarnished truth about his own life is preserved in the nearly 250 autobiographical dictations that he competed with a stenographer between 1906 and 1909. In order to encourage complete veracity, Twain decided from the outset that the dictations would be set aside for posthumous publication. Despite such good intentions, however, the Autobiography that resulted is singularly tame and unrevealing, most especially about its subject's interior life. This truth was not lost on the earnest but frustrated penitent. "I have been dictating this autobiography of mine daily for nine months," he observed on April 6, 1906; "I have thought of fifteen hundred or two thousand incidents of my life which I am ashamed of, but I have not gotten one of them to consent to go on paper yet."1 "As to veracity," he told William Dean Howells, the autobiography "was a failure" (Howells 316). Twain thus found in practice that the conscious commitment to personal candor worked paradoxically to produce its exact opposite. It is a kindred paradox that he came closest to revealing the truth about himself in his travel and fiction writing, when the pressure to tell the personal truth was much reduced. Indeed, it was precisely because he assumed that he could not open himself in fiction that he so frequently—and without knowing it—did so. It is this inadvertently revealing autobiography—the candid self-revelations that always eluded him when he set out on purpose to unveil them, but that turned up,


The influence of illumination conditions of detectors upon their photoelectric characteristics has been investigated both experimentally and theoretically. It has been shown that under some experimental circumstances the plots of relative photoresponse vs wavelength of nonlinear detectors can be falsified by the spectral characteristic of light source (spectral radiant intensity).


The main subject of this paper is a local-time effect, which is one of manifestations of the phenomenon of macroscopic fluctuations. The essence of this phenomenon is that the pattern (shape) of histograms, which are built on the base of short samples of the time series of the fluctuations measured in the processes of different nature, are non-random. Many-years of investigations of such histograms carried out by the method of macroscopic fluctuations [1] revealed a variety of phenomena [2–4]. The most important among the phenomena is the local-time effect [5–8]. The local-time effect consists of the high probability of the similarity of the histogram pairs, which are divided by a time interval equal to the local-time difference between the points of measurement. This effect was registered in the scale of distances from the maximal distance between the locations of measurement which are possble on the Earth's surface (about 15,000 km) to the distances short as 1 meter. Besides, this effect can be observed on the processes of very different nature [2–4]. The idea of a typical local-time experiment is illustrated by Fig. 1. There in the picture we have two spaced sources of fluctuations 1 and 2, which are fixed on the distance L between them, and synchronously moved with a velocity V in such a way that the line which connects 1 and 2 is parallel to the vector of the measurement system's velocity V . In this case, after a time duration t0 t0 = L V ; (1)


The overall objective of this project is to develop a fuller understanding of the interactions of mixtures of anionic co-contaminants with oxide-mineral surfaces. Our specific focus is on the competitive interactions of chromate and oxalic acid on ferric oxyhydroxide and on natural aquifer materials. Chromate and oxalate are of practical interest as widespread contaminants at many DOE facilities. However, these anions also are excellent model adsorbates for elucidating fundamental aspects of ionic adsorption processes, particularly with respect to organic acids.


Abstract Tumoral calcinosis (TC) is an uncommon disorder characterized by the deposition of calcium phosphate in periarticular tissues. TC has been a controversial clinico-pathological entity first described in 1943. The calcium deposits are usually present in the large joints such as the hips and shoulders. Patients often present with localized swelling and reduced mobility around the involved joints which interfere with activities of daily living. A 12-year-old boy presented at our clinic with a painful swelling around his left elbow joint with 6-month duration over which the swellings progressively increased. Radiological imaging identified a soft tissue calcified mass present around both elbow joints. Excision and biopsy of the left elbow demonstrated a tumor consisting of myxoid material with multiple areas of calcification with a well-defined capsule. Microscopy confirmed typical features of TC. We present our case report due to unusual clinical presentation noted in this case.


"Road Engineering Technology Standard" (JTG B01-2003) suggests that checking compu-tations of movement speed for designers in designing the speed changing roads,climbing lane,superelevation limited roads is necessary. The road geometrical constitutional parameters such as plane and horizontal and vertical curve radius,gradient,superelevation,widening,stopping sight distance and indicative road signs etc.,are main factors of influencing the movement speed of vehicle. In order to solve the problem of continuity of movement speed,first should solve the continuity of road alignment,that is to solve the combined problem of road geometrical elements.


Objective: To analyze on the status of occupational harmfulness of one cemet plant. Methods: Hazards field tests and occupational questionnairs were applied. Results: Noise,high temperature,heat radiation,dust( mixed dust,cement dust,coal dust),CO,NOX,SO 2,Cl 2,e tc. were found as the main occupational hazard factors which may exist in this cement construction project. Conclusions: The control methods in the cement construction project works well and is feasible according to laws concerned.


In multimedia retrieval, a query is typically interactively refined towards the " optimal " answers by exploiting user feedback. However, in existing work, in each iteration, the refined query is re-evaluated. This is not only inefficient but fails to exploit the answers that may be common between iterations. Furthermore, it may also take too many iterations to get the " optimal " answers. In this paper, we introduce a new approach called OptRFS (Optimizing Relevance Feedback Search by query prediction) for iterative relevance feedback search. OptRFS aims to take users to view the " optimal " results as fast as possible. It optimizes relevance feedback search by both shortening the searching time during each iteration and reducing the number of iterations. OptRFS predicts the potential candidates for the next iteration and maintains this small set for efficient sequential scan. By doing so, repeated candidate accesses (i.e., random accesses) can be saved, hence reducing the searching time for the next iteration. In addition, efficient scan on the overlap before the next search starts also tightens the search space with smaller pruning radius. As a step forward, OptRFS also predicts the " optimal " query, which corresponds to " optimal " answers, based on the early executed iterations' queries. By doing so, some intermediate iterations can be saved, hence reducing the total number of iterations. By taking the correlations among the early executed iterations into consideration, OptRFS investigates linear regression, exponential smoothing and linear exponential smoothing to predict the next refined query so as to decide the overlap of candidates between two consecutive iterations. Considering the special features of relevance feedback, OptRFS further introduces adap-tive linear exponential smoothing to self-adjust the parameters for more accurate prediction. We implemented OptRFS and our experimental study on real life data sets show that it can reduce the total cost of relevance feedback search significantly. Some interesting features of relevance feedback search are also discovered and discussed .


The system of ensuring transport security in railway transport is considered, aimed at reducing the risk of committing acts of unlawful interference, including terrorist acts, using weapons, explosives and other dangerous substances, by limiting their carrying by the offender to transport infrastructure facilities and vehicles.A list of high-risk goods transported by rail is given. The normative documents regulating transport security are analyzed. The minimum number of posts of the transport security unit for the transport infrastructure facility has been determined.Measures aimed at improving the efficiency of the transport security system are presented.


Informed by acculturation, ecological, and social capital theories, the study examined the contribution of parental acculturation, parental involvement, and intergenerational relationship to well-being in Southeast Asian American adolescents. Using data from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, 491 Southeast Asian American adolescents and their parents comprised the sample. Path analysis showed that parental involvement fully mediated the effect of parental acculturation on intergenerational relationship, whereas intergenerational relationship mediated the effect of parental involvement on child outcomes. Service implications are discussed.


The paper aims to describe, from a ceramological point of view, the activities of the Iron Age site at Hotofta, a small hamlet in the hinterland of Uppakra, and to compare the small ordinary site with a larger central place . The investigation is based upon a simple statistical evaluation of the pottery from one trench at the Hotofta site. The pottery from Hotofta proved to be generally undecorated, oxidized fired, and about half of it was burnished. Only 3% of all the pottery was decorated. The ware was made of a fine clay, tempered with granite. A technological investigation undertaken by Berta Stjernquist in 1972 showed that the pottery was made out of local clay, that is to say, the pottery had been locally produced. The Hotofta pottery painted a picture of functional, everyday pottery inventory used in everyday life for cooking, storing and eating on a Scanian farm two thousand years ago.


Background Genetic susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) varies among populations. Few data exist on associations of HLA class II and class III alleles of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and susceptibility to SLE in Tunisians. Patients and Methods We compared HLA-DRB1*, DQA1, DQB1* and C4 allotypes in 62 Tunisian SLE patients and 100 matched controls. We also assessed the association of specific alleles with distinct autoantibody profiles in SLE patients. Results HLA-DRB1*0301, -DRB1*1501 and C4AQO alleles were increased in the SLE patients, while the frequencies of HLA-DRB1*04 and DQB1*03 were decreased. HLA-DQA1*0102 and DQA1*0501 were significantly increased in the SLE patients. HLA-DQB1*0201 and DQB1*0602 were more frequent in the SLE patients. C4A*QO and C4B*QO were increased in frequency in the SLE patients compared to the controls, but only C4A null was significantly increased. Eleven of 17 SLE patients with the C4 null allele were HLA-DRB1 *0301 positive. Three of 16 SLE patients with HLA-DRB1*1501 were associated with HLA-DQB1*0501 rather than DQB1 *0602, as has been reported in European SLE patients. Conclusions The MHC class II alleles (DRB1, DQA1, DQB1) and C4 null associations noted in other ethnic groups are also found in Tunisians, suggesting shared susceptibility factors across ethnic lines in predisposition to SLE. In contrast to other ethnic groups, MHC class II alleles are not associated with the presence of specific autoantibodies in Tunisian SLE patients.


In neutral solution the radical Me2ĊOH reduces diazofluorene (FIN2) to FIN2H· with k 4.6 × 108 dm3 mol–1s–1 and this N-protonated radical (Iµ 3 850 dm3 mol–1 cm–1) decays in a second-order reaction with 2K3.7 × 108 dm3 mol–1s–1. FIN2H· does not react with oxygen. In the presence of NaOH FIN2–. is formed and this radical is long lived but rapidly transfers an electron to oxygen and to p-nitroacetophenone. Trichloromethylperoxyl, Cl3COO·, oxidises FIN2 with K 1.2 × 107 dm3 mol–1s–1.


The use of bone-seeking radionuclides effectively controlled bone pain in men with prostate cancer metastatic to the bone, according to the results of a systematic review.


Mg-3Al-1Zn (AZ31) alloy was caliber rolled at 250, 300, 350, 400 and 450 °C. The effects of caliber rolling temperature on the microstructure and tensile properties were investigated. The room temperature tensile tests were carried out to failure at a strain rate of 1 x 10 -4 s-1. The nature of stress-strain curves obtained was found to vary with the temperature employed in caliber rolling. The yield strength and tensile strength followed a sinusoidal behaviour with increasing caliber rolling temperature but no such trend was noted in ductility. These variations in tensile properties were explained by the varying grain sizes obtained as a function of caliber rolling temperature.


Objective To study the association between vitamin D receptor(VDR) gene Apal polymorphism and vitamin D deficiency rickets in infants and to explore their genetic susceptibility. Methods Case-control study was adapted to choose 56 confirmed cases of infants with rickets(case group) and 76 cases of normal infants(control group) as the subjects.Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism technology was applied to examine VDR gene Apal site polymorphism.The frequencies of the VDR genotype and allele between the two groups and the correlation between VDR genotype and clinical index were compared.Results Frequencies of AA,Aa and aa genotypes were 14.3%,46.4%and 39.3%in the rickets group,and 13.3%,50%and 36.8%in the control group respectively.Frequencies of A,a alleles were 37.5%, 62.5%in the rickets group and 38.2%,61.8%in the control group.No significant difference was found in either the frequency distribution of this VDR genotype or this allele(A or a) between two groups.There was significant difference in serum calcium level at ApaI genotype of the VDR gene.Conclusion VDR gene polymorphism ApaI is associated with serum calcium levels.VDR gene polymorphism ApaI doesn't seem to pose risk on children in developing vitamin D deficiency rickets.


PURPOSE: A discharging device for a multi-stage type movable cultivation system is provided to reduce the job labor for harvesting crops by automatically discharging cultivation groove containers. CONSTITUTION: A discharging device(10) for a multi-stage type movable cultivation system discharges cultivation groove containers(20) cultivating plants to the harvesting state from the multi-stage type movable cultivation system, by moving forward, backward, upward, and downward. A horizontal moving unit(11) collects the discharged cultivation groove containers by moving the containers to the horizontal directions. A descending unit descends the collected cultivation groove containers. A vertical moving unit installed on the horizontal moving unit for mounting the cultivation groove containers on the descending unit. A first frame(100) installed on the upper side of the multi-stage type movable cultivation system for installing the vertical movement device(101).


Based on the basic imagery concept of Synthetic Aperture Radar(SAR), this paper analyses the influence the phase errors on SAR imagery quanlity, and the important factors contributed to phase error. And analyse the key technologies, the fundamental implementation methods further.


Abstract The triazole core is a highly versatile heterocyclic ring which can be accessed easily with the Cu(I)-catalyzed Huisgen cycloaddition reaction. Herein we present the preparation of ionic liquids that incorporate a 1,2,3-triazolide anion. These ionic liquids were prepared by a facile procedure utilizing a base-labile pivaloylmethyl group at the 1-position, which can act as precursors to 1H-4-substituted 1,2,3-triazole. These triazoles were then subsequently converted into ionic liquids after deprotonation using an appropriate ionic liquid cation hydroxide. The densities and thermal decompositions of these ionic liquids were measured. These novel ionic liquids have potential applications in gas separations and in metal-free catalysis.


A fault-predictable discrete event system (DES) is a system where any fault can be correctly predicted before its occurrence. This paper studies the verification of fault-predictability in bounded and unbounded DESs modeled by labeled Petri nets (PNs). An approach based on the construction of a Predictor Net and a Predictor Graph (PG) is proposed. In particular, a necessary and sufficient condition for fault-predictability is derived by characterizing the structure of the PG. Furthermore, two rules are proposed to reduce the size of a given PN, which allows one to analyze the fault-predictability of the original net by verifying the fault-predictability of the reduced net.


Poly(amido-carbonate)s and poly(amido-thiocarbonate)s derived from 1,6-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl-carbamoyl)-hexamethylene I and 1,4-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl-carbamoyl)-phenylene II, and phosgene or thiophosgene, have been synthesized by a phase transfer catalysis process, which was ineffective for polymers derived from monomer I because the best results were obtained without catalyst, but was effective for those derived from monomer II obtaining higher yields when the catalysts were used. The ineffectivity was attributed to a hydrolytic process of the polymeric chains in the reaction media.


. The Clements' Deterministic model of plant communities implies that a change in one species, especially a change in the physiognomic dominant, would have profound effects on the remainder of the community. Gleason's Individualistic model suggests there would be little effect.

These alternative models are tested by examining the forest composition on both sides of a boundary along which the tree Nothofagus menziesii is slowly invading.

Classification of forest composition, excluding N. menziesii, gave little evidence of an effect of N. menziesii on the lower strata: understorey vegetation types were distributed across the boundary. Some differences were found at individual sites, but these were often inconsistent between sites.

Ordination, also excluding N. menziesii, similarly showed that none of the first three understorey axes reflected any effect of N. menziesii. The fourth axis was correlated with the presence of N. menziesii, but only when canopy trees were included. It is concluded that specific composition of the canopy in these montane New Zealand evergreen forests has little effect on the understorey, supporting Gleason's Individualistic concept of the community.


FIELD: machine building. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to the field of power machines building. Double-acting orthogonal power unit comprises an orthogonal turbine with one or more airfoil blades installed by means of a cross-beams on the end half-shafts, and an electric generator, which shaft is connected to one of the orthogonal turbine half-shafts, at that, the half-shafts are located coaxially, and the half-shafts blades and axes are oriented transversely to the flow incident on the orthogonal turbine, at that, each blade made with an aerodynamic profile is symmetrically relative to the said blade axis of rotation provided with a blade with the active turbine blade profile, also oriented across the flow incident on the orthogonal turbine and located from the blade, made with the aerodynamic profile axis of rotation at a distance of 0.35 to 0.5 from the distance, on which the blade with an aerodynamic profile is located from the axis of rotation,wherein all blades are made with projecting above the blades outer surface baffles, oriented perpendicular to the orthogonal turbine axis of rotation. EFFECT: invention is aimed at increasing the double action orthogonal power unit performance and preventing the turbine from stopping with the blade speed of rotation decrease below the optimum one. 4 cl, 2 dwg


SUMMARY 1. Trait evolution can occur in response to anthropogenic alterations to ecosystems and can occur on timescales similar to those of ecological processes suggesting that it could alter ecosystem function. In this study, we characterise the effects of life history evolution on nutrient recycling using the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata) as a model system. 2. Guppy life history traits evolve in response to predation pressure. When predation pressure is removed, guppy population density and average body size of the population also increase. Therefore, the evolution of guppy life histories involves changes in individual traits and demographic characteristics, both of which can alter nutrient recycling. The relative contributions of these variables to guppy-driven nutrient recycling are unknown. 3. We synthesise data from published experiments to disentangle how differences in individual traits, population characteristics and environmental conditions contribute to differences in guppy excretion rates. Individual guppies adapted to the absence of predators [low-predation (LP) guppies] have lower nitrogen and phosphorus excretion rates than individual guppies adapted to predators [highpredation (HP) guppies]. However, LP guppy populations excrete twice as much nitrogen as HP populations because of their larger average body size and higher population densities. 4. We compare these findings to guppy excretion data collected from HP and LP sites in four rivers in Trinidad. Phenotypic and population differences in excretion rates are consistent with those observed in the experiments. 5. Our study demonstrates that life history evolution can alter nutrient recycling in freshwater ecosystems. Characterizing the combined effects of traits and demographics is essential for understanding the effects of life history evolution on ecosystem processes.


D ESPITE the efforts of the popularizers of Epicurean philosophy in Rome, Latin may be said to have had no philosophical literature when Cicero began to write on philosophical subjects.1 From the remains of the dramatic literature of the Roman stage before the Ciceronian age, however, enough evidence emerges that the theater-goers had ample opportunity to acquaint themselves with the tenets of the principal philosophical schools of the Hellenistic period as well as with many of the more important investigations of the earlier eras of Greek speculation. Indeed, so abundant are allusions to philosophers and to their teachings that, notwithstanding the classic mentality of the less cultivated members of the average audience,2 it is difficult to escape the conclusion that these recurrent references to philosophical precepts must have been understood3 and may have been treasured in the hearts of their hearers.4 And if this conclusion be considered insupportable, with confidence it may be said that, even if much of the philosophizing presented on the stage was "caviar to the general" and fell flat, yet with "the judicious" sucb philosophizing procured approbation in an age when religion was decadent and when the noblest spirits among the Romans were seeking in Greek philosophy an influence sufficiently strong to stem the tide of demoralization.


Department of Pharmaceutical Engineering, Woosuk University, Wanju, 565-701, Republic of Korea (Received December 13, 2010. Accepted December 21, 2010)ABSTRACT: A homothallic filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans has been used as the a model organism forstudying growth and development for eukaryotic system. Various studies about specific transcription factors havebeen performed for elucidating the molecular mechanisms of growth, asexual and sexual developmental processes.Among them, the fkhE gene (AN2025.3) is located in chromosome VII and contains an ORF encoding 718 aminoacid polypeptide intervening with two short introns. The cDNA sequencing revealed that at least four types of alter-native splicing events were occurred when the fkhE gene was transcribed. The putative FkhE polypeptide containsa conserved forkhead domain and a bipartite nuclear localization signal at it's N-terminus and C-terminus, respec-tively. Deletion of fkhE resulted in impaired conidiophore formation in a solid medium. However, the sexual devel-opmental process or cleistothecia formation was normal. Furthermore, fkhE deletion mutant produced conidiophoresand conidia under the submerged culture, indicating that the fkhE gene is involved in asexual developmental processsimilar to the fkhF gene.KEYWORDS :


Fullerene graph G is a connected plane cubic graph with only pentagonal and hexagonal faces, which is the molecular graph of carbon fullerene. A spanning subgraph of G is called a perfect star packing in G if its each component is isomorphic to K1,3. For an independent set D ⊆ V (G), if each vertex in V (G) \D has exactly one neighbor in D, then D is called an efficient dominating set of G. In this paper we show that the number of vertices of a fullerene graph admitting a perfect star packing must be divisible by 8. This answers an open problem asked by Došlić et al. and also shows that a fullerene graph with an efficient dominating set has 8n vertices. In addition, we find some counterexamples for the necessity of Theorem 14 in [14] and list some subgraphs that preclude the existence of a perfect star packing of type P0.


Docker containers are the de-facto standard to package, distribute, and run applications on cloud-based infrastructures. Commercial providers and private clouds expand their offer with container orchestration engines, making the management of resources and containerized applications tightly integrated. The Storage Group of CERN IT leverages on container technologies to provide ScienceBox: An integrated software bundle with storage and computing services for general purposes and scientific use. ScienceBox features distributed scalable storage, sync&share functionalities, and a web-based data analysis service, and can be deployed on a single machine or scaled-out across multiple servers. ScienceBox has proven to be helpful in different contexts, from High Energy Physics analysis to education for high schools, and has been successfully deployed on different cloud infrastructure and heterogeneous hardware.


The heparinoid G31150 was studied in dogs, by techniques designed originally for heparin. The compound (a breakdown product of polygalacturonic acid, methyl ester (Geigy)) has 1.3 times the metachromatic activity but only 1/10 to 1/26 the anticoagulant activity of heparin. Heparinoid G31150 could be recovered quantitatively by procedures used to extract heparin from blood. Following intravenous injections of heparinoid G31150 approximately 50% of the injected metachromatic activity was found to be excreted in the urine. By its metachromatic activity the injected heparinoid was detected in the circulation, decreasing at a constant rate over a hour period. Determinations of coagulation time indicated much less G31150 present for a much shorter time.


As an attempt to collect more in-plane emission power out of wavelength size two-dimensional photonic crystal defect lasers, edge-emitting photonic crystal double-heterostructure quantum well membrane lasers were fabricated by shortening the number of cladding periods on one side. 120μW peak output power was collected from the facet of the single mode laser at room temperature. Laser efficiencies were analyzed and agree very well with three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain modeling.


This paper presents the following algorithms to compute the sum of n d-bit integers on reconfigurable parallel machine models: i) a constant-time algorithm on a reconfigurable mesh of the bit model of size d/spl radic/n log/sup (O(1/)) n/spl times//spl radic/n, ii) an O(log* n)-time algorithm on a reconfigurable mesh of the bit model of size d/spl radic/(n/log* n)/spl times//spl radic/(n/log* n), iii) an O(log d+log* n)-time algorithm on a reconfigurable mesh of the word model of size /spl radic/(n/(log d+log* n))/spl times//spl radic/(n/(log d+log* n)), and iv) an O(log* n)-time algorithm on a VLSI reconfigurable circuit of area O(dn/log* n).<<ETX>>


The ionospheric sounding system is a type of high-frequency over-the-horizon skywave radar developed for ionospheric research and HF channel management. The hardware system of a portable low-power multifunctional ionospheric sounding system is presented in this paper. The device can be used for typical ionospheric sounding and spectrum monitoring at monostatic and bistatic station. The system structure and the primary module are depicted in detail. Typical experimental results demonstrate that the design of this device is successful for ionospheric researching.


Background Bladder cancer (BC) is the most common cancer of the urinary tract and invariably predicts a poor prognosis. In this study, we found a reliable gene signature and potential biomarker for predicting clinical prognosis. Methods The gene expression profiles were obtained from the GEO database. By performing GEO2R analysis, numerous differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were found. Three different microarray datasets were integrated in order to more precisely identify up-expression genes. Functional analysis revealed that these genes were mainly involved in cell cycle, DNA replication and metabolic pathways. Results Based on protein-protein interactome (PPI) networks that were identified in the current study and previous studies, we focused on KIF15 for further study. The results showed that KIF15 promotes BC cell proliferation via the MEK -ERK pathway, and Kaplan‐Meier survival analysis revealed that KIF15 expression was an independent prognostic risk factor in BC patients. Conclusion KIF15 may represent a promising prognostic biomarker and a potential therapeutic option for BC.


Temperature rise and specific absorption rate (SAR) distribution in a human head due to an antenna are evaluated at multiple frequencies in a single simulation. An algorithm is developed by integrating the Debye model of head tissues parameters into the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method by using the auxiliary differential equation (ADE) approach along with the use of bioheat equation for SAR and temperature computations. The tissue EM parameters are used from the available three-term Debye coefficients from 500 MHz to 20 GHz.


The following thesis entitled "Proposal for the Construction of a Cocoa Processing Plant in the District of Juanjui, for the use of the raw material produced in the Province of Mariscal Caceres, San Martin Region, originates from the lack of use of the raw material that is produced in the Province, in large quantities, being only exported as raw material, taking away the added value that the grain would have now of the transformation to processed products.
Its objective is to develop an architectural proposal with functional spaces, which is integrated into the place, considering the climate, building materials of the area, an economically feasible design according to the rules, current regulations and needs.
For this research, we worked with two samples, a sample of cocoa-producing farmers enrolled in the Association ACOPAGRO Mariscal Caceres, which amounts to 270 producers and another sample of consumers, which would be 230 inhabitants of the province of Mariscal Caceres between ages from 15 to 65 years.
The data collection was carried out by applying the interview, surveys and direct observation of examples of existing infrastructure, thus proposing a quantitative and descriptive level research. Two variables were analyzed throughout the investigation: Cocoa Processing Plant as an independent variable and Use of the raw material as a dependent variable.
For data processing, the information obtained from the application of the instrument was collected, the statistical program SPSS was used, so it will be presented by means of relative frequency tables, which are the percentages of cases in each category. The objectives were met, and the conclusions and recommendations were obtained, together with the architectural proposal that is a response to the needs and is reflected in the Plans, the model and the 3D digital version.


Magnetic properties of 3[Formula: see text] transition metal ion-doped methaylamonium lead bromide (MAPbBr[Formula: see text] have been theoretically studied under the framework of density functional theory. All 3[Formula: see text] transition metal ions are doped at the Pb site of MAPbBr3. Some of the 3[Formula: see text] transition metal ions induced a significant amount of magnetic moment with stable ferromagnetic ordering. 3[Formula: see text] orbital electrons of the dopants are the main source of magnetism in all cases. Total density of state calculations has been performed to understand the magnetic behavior. Local magnetization density for stable ferromagnetic ordered state has been calculated to understand the local origin of the magnetic moment. Also, band structure and Bader charge analysis have been done for stable ferromagnetic ordered materials. Ferromagnetism along with semiconducting behavior makes it a viable material for spintronics applications.


In the context of adaptation of the water resources sector to climate change, water reuse is widely proposed and encouraged especially in arid and semi-arid areas like the Middle East. We consider riverbank filtration (RBF) an appropriate technology that efficiently and dependably procure quality water from Zarqa River thus making a contribution to protect Jordan�s remaining surface and ground water resources. The river is contaminated with treated domestic and industrial wastewater principally from the city of Amman, but still serves as a main source for irrigation water.
Since 2007, a riverbank filtration (RBF) well field consisting of six wells was installed along the Zarqa river, Jordan. Salt tracers were released to the hyporheic zone and were detected in a RBF well (5 m distance from the river) during subsequent pumping. From the tracer test data (pumping rate: 10 m3/h), rapid travel times were approximated (14 m/min). Additional sampling demonstrated that fecal indicator bacteria and bacteriophages were removed from river water by RBF at the Zarqa River field site by up to 4.2 log10, which is a significant improvement of the river water quality. This implies that public health risks from exposure to riverbank filtrated water, like consumption of raw vegetables that are irrigated with this water, may be reduced by 2000 to 2500 times as compared to using river water directly. These results suggest that riverbank filtration is an appropriate technology which can enhance the safe reuse of treated wastewater.


The middle of the fifteenth century was a turning point in the relations between the Italian states, and the relative stability which Italy enjoyed until the Neapolitan expedition of Charles VIII in 1494 forms part of the background to the history of its political thought during that period. The peace of Lodi had put an end, in 1454, to a succession of wars which had begun in the 1420s. It had been followed by the conclusion of an Italian league, aimed at safeguarding the integrity of the Italian states as well as peace among them; in fact, wars were chiefly prevented or contained by triple and dual alliances between the five greater powers which were its members, Milan, Venice, Florence, the papacy, and Naples. To the relative stability and equilibrium in inter-state relations, threatened primarily by the expansionist policies of Venice and the papacy, there corresponded a similar stability in the internal conditions of the Italian states, although it too could be temporarily threatened. Domestic crises occurred in Milan in 1476 with the assassination of Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza; in Florence in 1478 with the Pazzi conspiracy, but these were of short duration; far more serious and lasting was the revolt of the Neapolitan barons against Ferrante of Aragon in 1485. The lesser princes, such as the Malatesta at Rimini and the Este at Ferrara, were more vulnerable; a judicious policy of placing themselves under the protection of one or more of the greater powers, as well as serving them as condottieri , could help them to achieve security and dynastic survival.


In the past few years, there has been much discussion about an emerging sociopolitical force popularly known as the anti-environmental movement. It can also be referred to as anti-environmentalism, the ecocontrarian movement and/or the countermovement against sustainability. This essay will analyze anti-environmentalism in the context of sustainability. It will begin with an examination of sustainability as an empirical project. More specifically, it will be argued that anti-environmentalism needs to be understood within the context of a vibrant, spirited and authentic definition of sustainability. Following this discussion, there will be a general examination of the countermovement against sustainability. This will lead into an investigation of wise use groups, corporative resourcists and resource libertarian think tanks. The final section of the essay will provide some tactical responses to anti-environmentalism.


The cardiac conduction system is responsible for maintaining and orchestrating the rhythmic contractions of the heart. Results from lineage tracing studies indicate that precursor cells in the ventricles give rise to both cardiac muscle and conduction cells. Using chick embryonic hearts, we have found that Notch signaling plays an important role in the differentiation of cardiac muscle and conduction cell lineages in the ventricles. Notch1 expression coincides with a conduction marker at early stages of conduction system development. Mis-expression of constitutively active Notch1 (NIC) in early heart tubes exhibited multiple effects on cardiac cell differentiation. Cells expressing NIC had a significant decrease in the expression of cardiac muscle markers, but an increase in the expression of conduction cell markers. Loss-of-function studies further support that Notch1 signaling is important for the differentiation of these cardiac cell types. Functional electrophysiology studies show that the expression of constitutively active Notch1 resulted in abnormalities in ventricular conduction pathway patterns. During cardiogenesis, groups of myocardial cells become separated from each other, and migrate to form the trabeculae. These finger-like projections found within the ventricular chamber coalesce to generate the muscular portions of the interventricular septum, the thickened myocardium, and future sites of the conduction system. We have found that Notch signaling regulates the migration of cardiac cells during cardiogenesis. Over-expression of constitutively


Quantum theory is a probabilistic theory whose states include correlations that are stronger than any that classical theories allow but not as strong as those of hypothetical "superquantum" theories. This raises the question "Why the quantum?" – whether we can articulate principles that account for the character of quantum probability. We ask what quantum-logical notions to this investigation. This project isn't meant to compete with the many beautiful results that information-theoretic approaches have yielded but rather aims to complement that work.


We present a study of the substitution of Mn by Cu on the compound Ni2 Mn1-x Cux Ga0.9 Al0.1, showing that the substitution of a small amount of Al on the Ga site does not affect the magnetic and magnetocaloric potential compared to Ni2(Mn,Cu)Ga alloy. The samples were prepared with 10% substitution of Al and with Cu concentrations of x = 0.0, 0.2, and 0.3. Magnetization measurements as a function of temperature performed from 10 to 400 K, with an applied field of 0.02 T showed a ferromagnetic state, with critical temperature Tc = 295 and 300 K for the samples with Cu, x = 0.2 and 0.3, respectively. For the sample without Cu, a complex behavior is observed at Tc = 370 K, with martensitic transition at 220 K and a premartensitic at 250 K. Analysis of x-rays diffractograms at room temperature show a L 21 structure for x = 0.0, while for x = 0.2 a mixture of L 21 and martensitic is present, and the sample with x = 0.3 it is in a fully martensitic phase. Heat capacity measurements were performed in order to c...


Ophthalmologists have long sought for objective methods of refraction, since the results are reliable and will therefore give the greatest percentage of relief. To further this end, the axis chart which I used in the course of refraction with streak retinoscopy is presented ; use of this chart appreciably shortens the examination, at no expense to precision. For patients of all ages, cycloplegic refraction is the most reliable and is the method of choice, and neutralization by plus and minus spheres is the common method. I use the method of electric streak retinoscopy (Copeland), which is not as popular as planomirror retinoscopy but which has been found to be scientific, reliable and convenient. A few words will describe the simple construction of the streak retinoscope (Copeland). STREAK RETINOSCOPY The streak of light is produced by the specially constructed filament, which is designated in the shape of a hairpin or an inverted,


Balancing the patient's body fluid volume in a major surgery is an important. Currently the anaesthetist controls the patient's body fluid level by infusing the patient with the intravenous fluid. There is, however, no analytical method available to assist the anaesthetist to accurately estimate the required infusion rate. In this work, a Knowledge Base (KB) Decision Support System (DSS) is developed to achieve this purpose. The Decision Support System employs a Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) as its main controlling unit. The FLC operates based on a knowledge base which is a collection of rules acquired from the expert experience and observations. The knowledge base is fine tuned to reflect closely the anaesthetist's preferences for a particular case. The performance of the KBDSS in comparison with the infusion rate prescribed by the anaesthetist is illustrated.


The health system is the culmination of organisations, institutions, and resources which work together for the purpose of providing health care and improvement in health (WHO, 2006). This system comprises a number of different levels (Proctor, Reid, Compton, Grossman, & Fanjiang, 2005) as shown in Figure 1. The highest level is the environment which provides the regulatory, policy, and funding frameworks in which the lower levels of the health system operate. The health system is a complex system (Plsek & Greenhalgh, 2001) meaning that it is highly coupled and many outcomes are the result of the interactions that occur between many different parts (Plsek, 2003). Not only can interactions occur between different parts at the same level, but they can also interact across levels. Adding to the complexity of the health system is that these interactions play out over time, often with effects being distant in both time and place to causes (Forrester, 1961). This dynamic complexity (Sterman, 2000) arises when systems change over time, are tightly coupled (characterised by strong interactions), are governed by feedback, and play out over time. Research has shown that people are very poor at understanding problems with dynamic complexity, with performance on tasks and outcomes declining as complexity or the strength of feedback increases (Paich & Sterman, 1993). In this way, the health system is more than simply the sum of its parts because all aspects of the system need to function together in order to provide health care. One of the main difficulties in health care reform therefore is the systemic nature of health care. Reform to one area will undoubtedly affect other areas. Most problems arising from the operation of the health system are studied and addressed using conventional reductionist methods, which reduce, isolate, and freeze aspects of the system at a given time. This fails to deal with the dynamic complexity inherent in the health system and which is often the source of the problem. The result is that all too often, well intentioned interventions make the original problem worse by failing to fully understand the complexities involved in the origin of a problem (Sterman, 2000). In this article, we introduce system simulation as a means of exposing the underlying causes and systemic structures of problems within the health care system, as well as providing a tool for assessing the likely impact of new interventions. The following sections will examine the advantages of simulation, areas of application, how simulation experiments can overcome some of the limitations of randomised control trials (RCTs), and various simulation methodologies as well as the challenges of conducting simulation experiments.


Summary form only given. The water plasmas generated by atmospheric discharges have already demonstrated their potencial also for surface modification of polymer materials and are emerging as a very flexible concept to generate selective functionalized polymer surface. We have developed a novel type of surface dielectric barrier discharge generating thin layers of visually diffuse plasmas along the treated polzmer polymer using water-based electrolyte as a electrodes. This technique has been designed particularly to achieve uniform treatment of outer or inner suface of polymeric tubes and other hollow bodies (e.g. tubes, containers, flasks, catethers). Especially the treatment of inner surface of tubes is a serious challenge for atmospheric pressure plasma processing. In our work we focused on functionaliyation of polzmeric surface, grafting with biocompatible materials and increasing novel properties. The discharge was energized by a sinusoidal alternating current and high voltage power supply with 15-20 kV amplitude and 25-30 kHz frequency. In our experiments PTFE tube (outer diameter - 8mm) was inserted vertically into water-based electrolyte (5% solution of oxalic acid) and filled by the same solution. Both electrically insulated volumes of solution serve as a liquid electrodes. The surface dielectric barrier discharge is always generated from the contact line of the lower liquid surface with dielectric wall of PTFE tube, so in principle the simple control the level of inner or outer surface liquid can change the location of inner and/or outer plasma treatment. During the plasma treatment the tube was moved vertically up. The diffuse plasma layer was generated in ambient air with an unspecified content of water and electrolyte molecules evaporated by the discharge. After treatment the strong and stable hzdrophylic treatment was observed. This was exemplified by the permanent surface oxidation and replacement of a high fraction of the surface determined by XPS.


Based on study and analysis of the failure and monitoring technology of CNC machine tool,and the methods about predictive maintenance were established.