Twenty monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) reacting with cholera toxin (CT) of Vibrio cholerae strain 569B were characterized in cross-section and GM1 ganglioside inhibition assays. MAbs were characterized by reaction with CT and Escherichia coli heat-labile porcine strain (LTp) and human strain (LTh) enterotoxins, and by GM1 ganglioside inhibition of mAb binding. Eight of 10 CT-A specific and 3 of 10 CT-B-specific mAbs cross-reacted with LTh and LTp. GM1 ganglioside inhibited reactions of the CT-B cross-reacting antibodies. Results showed that these epitodes common to the B subunit of CT and LT are located in or near the GM1 ganglioside binding region, and that the GM1 ganglioside-binding region of LT differs from that of CT.


The facet-dependent performance has aroused great interest in the fields of catalyst, lithium ion battery and electrochemical sensor. In this study, the well-defined Co3O4 cubes with exposed (001) plane and octahedrons with exposed (111) plane have been successfully synthesized and the facet-dependent electrocatalytic performance of Co3O4 for rechargeable Li–O2 battery has been comprehensively investigated by the combination of experiments and theoretical calculations. The Li–O2 battery cathode catalyzed by Co3O4 octahedron with exposed (111) plane shows much higher specific capacity, cycling performance, and rate capability than Co3O4 cube with exposed (001) plane, which may be largely attributed to the richer Co2+ and more active sites on (111) plane of Co3O4 octahedrons. The DFT-based first-principles calculations further indicate that Co3O4 (111) has a lower activation barrier of O2 desorption in oxygen evolution reaction (OER) than Co3O4 (001), which is very important to refresh active sites of catal...


HIV/AIDS related lymphoma (ARL) are a group of heterogeneity of neoplasms, and they have poor prognosis. The factors of pathogenesis elucidated in recent years include immune injury caused by HIV, EB virus infection and genetic changes. There are four pathological types of ARL, including diffuse large B cell lymphoma, Burkitt lymphoma, plasmablastic lymphoma and primary effusion lymphoma. Morphological characteristics, immunophenotype markers and clinical data should be combined to make diagnosis and differential diagnosis, which will facilitate timely treatment and improve prognosis.

Key words:
HIV infections; Lymphoma; Neoplastic processes; Pathology


This paper describes a simple method for the estimation of amplitude, frequency and phase of an input signal with an improved performance for a second order generalized integrator phase locked loop (SOGI-PLL) using a proportional resonant (PR) controller. In order to enhance the performance of tracking which include steady state error, a PR control is suggested over proportional-integral (PI) control. The instantaneous tracking performance is improved because the PR controller resonates at fundamental frequency. The analysis and mathematical model of single-phase SOGI-PLL with PI and PR controllers are developed. The performances of these two controllers are compared for various tests under same circumstances. The results show that both PI and PR control can achieve good control effects but the PR control is simpler, better improvement of steady state accuracy and uses low cost computational resources. The effectiveness of the control is verified using simulation results. Keywords— Second Order Generalized Integrator (SOGI), Phase -Locked Loop (PLL), Proportional-Integral (PI) Control, Proportional Resonant (PR) Control.


The knowledge of the pressures on the bottom of vessels sailing at high speeds is essential for the design bottom plate and its scantlings. However, only a few semi-empirical methods based on scarce full or model scale experimental results can be found in the open literature. The shortage of measured data is partly due to the complexity of the measurements. This kind of data is valuable for validating the proposed analytical methods and for providing background to the rules issued by the classification societies. Two methods are reviewed in this paper to measure the pressure distribution on the bottom of fast ships. In the former, membrane-type pressure sensors are fitted on a grid of points on the bottom of the vessel, while in the latter Pitot-tubes are connected to digital pressure transducer through a 48-channel fluid switch wafer. The pros and cons of both methods, which were tested in the Towing Tank of the Laboratory for Ship and Marine Hydrodynamics of the National Technical University of Athens, are presented and discussed.


Abstract The control of mosquitoes, tsetse flies and stableflies by insecticides usually requires chemicals which can last for weeks or months in spray deposits. Natural pyrethrins do not have this property and cannot compete in this field of application with, for instance, the organo-chlorine compounds such as DDT or dieldrin. However the development of resistance to the established insecticides and the increasing concern about their polluting tendencies has resulted in a search for replacements which while having an adequate persistence where they are applied are likely to decompose in the outside environment. Some of these have come from among the newer synthetic pyrethroids. Earlier pyrethroids were not really toxic enough to these insects but the discovery of tetramethrin and resmethrin has shown that related chemicals can be even more toxic than the best insecticides from other groups. The effects on toxicity, measured by topical application, of variations in the alcohol and acid components in relat...


The objective of this paper is to assess the variety of specialized clinics available in practice before the implementation of the 1990 Contract. An audit was carried out using information provided in the log diaries from trainees in the West of Scotland sitting the mock Membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (MRCGP) examinations. The different types of clinics being carried out were identified from the information given. Data were obtained from 147 practices. A wide variety of clinics were being carried out, many of which were included in the list of recommended health promotion clinics and many which did not attract a fee prior to the contractual changes. Only 57% of practices employed a practice nurse and 36% of trainees had no clinic experience in a typical week. The findings indicate that principals are aware of the benefits of clinics in practice and often undertake to carry them out themselves. It is important that trainees gain more experience in carrying out these clinics. Many more clinics have been set up since the contract changes but unless more funding is available to tackle the social problems which adversely affect health we will fail to improve the health of our community.


Robust control problems in linear systems are considered on the base of analysis of related linear quadratic differential game. New explicit formulae for the "best" robust optimal control input and the "worst" exogenous disturbance derived with the use of pseudo-inverse matrices ) (t D+ were originally suggested in this author's previously published paper "Reduction of Dimensionality in Choosing Robust Optimal Control in Linear Systems", WSEAS Transactions on Mathematics, Issue 4, Volume 2, October 2003, pp. 318 323. The meaning of the use of the pseudo-inverse matrices is that some uncontrollable or almost uncontrollable components are automatically eliminated in choosing optimal control. In this paper the proof of the main theorem as well as meaningful and detailed analysis are presented. We shall demonstrate that the extremal that corresponds to the saddle point of the game may be extended beyond conjugates points (under assumption that remains non-negative definite). We reveal that computational difficulties, which may arise in obtaining the solution of the game and the optimal control law, are related to the fact that the trajectories (where the state ) of the system may be exactly or approximately localized in the subspace of dimensionality less than on some time interval. We shall demonstrate how to overcome these difficulties by using "inverse" matrix differential equations of Riccati type and pseudo-inverse matrices. ) (t D ) (t x ) ,..., ( 1 n x x x = n


Wide band gap metal oxide semiconductors have been explored for a plethora of applications in recent years [1]. Thin film transistors (TFTs) especially have found extensive utility in environmental sensors and flexible electronics for modern devices. Amorphous Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide (a-IGZO) is a wide band gap metal oxide semiconductor with ideal properties for next generation sensors. It's transparent thin film coupled with wide band gap and high field effect mobility provides an ideal platform for such sensors. It's stability and high mobility gives it a major advantage over the organic TFTs that have been traditionally used for such sensing applications. Oxygen sensors has seen large demand recently owing to the modernization of agricultural methods and in biomedical applications where it is of critical importance. In the present work an a-IGZO TFT is fabricated and demonstrated for oxygen sensing with in-situ electrical characterization. a-IGZO thin films are prepared by simple, low-cost solution processing. The a-IGZO TFT is used to sense oxygen (O2) gas and ppm level detection is achieved. The effect of change in electrical characteristics of IGZO TFTs with oxygen adsorption is utilized to achieve high sensitivity [2]. The saturation drain current $(\mathrm{I}_{\text{Dsat}})$ increment of 20 uA/ppm and Vth shift of 100mV/ppm in presence of oxygen is observed.


The processes in development of the borrowed shortenings in the modern languages are considered. The significance of this article can be proved by the some reasons. Firstly, the borrowed shortening is one of the developing branches of lexicology nowadays. Secondly, the borrowed shortening reflects the general trend of simplification of a language. Thirdly, the borrowed shortening is closely connected with the development of modern informational technologies, being a developing branch of linguistics.


Abstract: Bituminous coal was activated by using steam at 750°C in a furnace. The activated carbon (AC) particles were chemically treated with thiophosphoric and amine type extractants, then characterized and tested for precious metal selectivity in chloride media. The adsorption of anions [PtCl3−4, PdCl2−4] or cations [PtCl+, PdCKH2O)3+, Ni(H2O)+, Cu2+) on the carbon surface was elucidated by means of complexation and physical adsorption models. Owing to electrostatic repulsion in acidic media (> 1 M HC1), the thio- and amine-treated bituminous ACs did not react with copper and nickel cations. The adsorption rate constant for platinum showed a dependence on solution pH and extractant dosage on the surface of the carbon and was of the order 10− 2 min_1. A three-parameter Toth isotherm best described the adsorption data for single component solutions. Furthermore, platinum adsorption was described by pseudo first order kinetics neglecting the intraparticle diffusivity.


Loomstate (Grey) linen fabric was scoured in the presence of nonionic wettingagent at 90° for 30 minutes using aqueous solutions of NaOH (16 g/L) or CaCO 3 (40 g/L) or NaOH (16 g/L.) plus Na 2 S (2 g/L) plus Na 2 SO 3 (2 g/L) or tap water. A material-to-liquor ratio of 1:30 was employed. The scouring effect, expressed as percent loss in fabric weight, was offset by sodium carbonate. Scoured fabric brough about by waking use of the alkaline mixture was employed for bleaching. Bleaching of grey and scoured linen fabrics was carried out using a new oxidizing combination, viz. NaCO 2 /KMnO 4 , under different permanganate concentration, pH's and duration. Results obtained indicated that the bleaching effect - expressed as whiteness index and loss in fabric weight - of sodium chlorite is much greater in the case of scoured than grey fabric. Presence of KMnO 4 in the bleaching formulation not only improves the bleaching effect but also reduces the differences in whiteness between the scoured and grey fabrics. A bleaching formulation consisting of NaClO 2 (5 g/L), KMnO 4 (0.4 g/L), and nonionic wetting agent (1g/L) is adequate for bleaching grey and scoured linen fabric, provided that bleaching is carried out at pit 6 and 90°, for 90 minutes using a material-to-liquor ratio of 1:30. Comparable or even better results are obtained at pH 4 but pH 6 is preferred because evolution of chlorine dioxine is minimized. Consumption of NaClO 2 /KMnO 4 cooxidant during the bleaching treatment of grey and scoured linen fabrics was also examined. Furthermore, a free radical mechanism was reported to account for the effeciency and ease of application of the NaClO 2 /KMnO 4 bleaching system.


In a process of education, student performance and OCB will positively affect the students themselves, both during the education process as well as in real life. Therefore, these two variables need serious attention from lecturers / teachers. One role of the faculty in improving student performance and OCB is through the lecture, with certain models. This study quantitative approach aims to see how they affect the democratic leadership model in lectures on performance and OCB students. Based on the results of research and data analysis were conducted on the effect of democratic leadership in the lecture to the students' performance and OCB it can be concluded that: (1) democratic leadership have a significant effect on the performance of students in the management department of education in IAIN STS Jambi, amounting to 69% of the category "medium ", with levels of correlation and regression are significant, (2) democratic leadership significantly influence OCB student in the management department of education in IAIN STS Jambi, amounting to 73% of the category" high ", with the level of correlation and regression are significant. Suggestions can be submitted from the research that has been done is necessary to the application of learning by democratic leadership approach by other lecturers at IAIN STS Jambi environment, so that the students have and OCB performance is better, so the quality of the campus in general will also increase.


In the course of blood clotting, a potent thromboplastic activity develops, which is no longer present in serum. Biggs, Douglas, and Macfarlane (1) in early studies with the thromboplastin generation test found that prolonged incubation of the generating mixture was accompanied by loss of thromboplastic activity. These investigators suggested that this loss could result either from intrinsic instability of blood thromboplastin or from a neutralization effect. Similar results were obtained by Spurling and King (2), who demonstrated progressive loss of thromboplastin on prolonged incubation when serum was used as the source of plasma thromboplastin component (PTC) in the thromboplastin generation test. The data to be presented suggest that the thromboplastin formed by blood components is inactivated by a plasma protein contained in the crude albumin fraction.


Background and purpose:  The incidence of ischaemic stroke has increased or remained high in China; however, little population‐based evidence is available on the incidence and survival of lacunar infarction (LAC). We examined the incidence of LAC in a northern Chinese (Beijing) population and monitored survival.


Vehicular Ad‐hoc Networks enable efficient communication between vehicles with the aim of improving road safety. However, the growing number of vehicles in dense regions and obstacle shadowing regions like Manhattan and other downtown areas leads to frequent disconnection problems resulting in disrupted radio wave propagation between vehicles. To address this issue and to transmit critical messages between vehicles and drones deployed from service vehicles to overcome road incidents and obstacles, we proposed a hybrid technique based on fog computing called Hybrid‐Vehfog to disseminate messages in obstacle shadowing regions and a multihop technique to disseminate messages in nonobstacle shadowing regions. Our proposed algorithm dynamically adapts to changes in an environment and benefits in efficiency with robust drone deployment capability as needed. Performance of Hybrid‐Vehfog is carried out in Network Simulator and Simulation of Urban Mobility simulators. The results showed that Hybrid‐Vehfog outperformed Cloud‐assisted Message Downlink Dissemination Scheme, Cross‐Layer Broadcast Protocol, PEer‐to‐Peer protocol for Allocated REsource, Fog‐Named Data Networking with mobility, and flooding schemes at all vehicle densities and simulation times.


Abstract What effects does economic violence have on individuals? Can one resist it by means that measure up to the oppression endured but that don't disqualify action by making it participate in a spiral of violence? This article analyzes novels and films that represent industrial capitalism (Jia Zhangke's A Touch of Sin, Arno Bertina's Des châteaux qui brûlent), and finance capitalism (Don DeLillo's Cosmopolis, J.C. Chandor's Margin Call). In these works, it seems that the violence suffered by subjects is doomed to be exteriorized once again in destructive and self-destructive forms that lend themselves to aestheticization. The articulation of violence reproduces class inequality: whereas legalized and naturalized structural violence operates through intermediaries, the subjective violence used by the dominated is immediate, physical, and instantly reprehensible. In the works of Bertina and DeLillo, the performance and carnivalization of the world can be vectors, if only fleetingly, of protest. In the works of Chandor and Jia, individualist retreats and escapes forward prevail. Exploring a number of key moments in these fictions, this article seeks to determine the principles by which economic violence proliferates and metamorphoses.


Propagation of electromagnetic waves along earth-space paths in forest environments is analyzed in this paper, where the transmitter is placed in the air region above the vegetation, while the receiver may be in the air region or within the vegetation. This propagation model considers the forest as a horizontally stratified, anisotropic medium of canopy and trunk, bounded by ground below and air above. Dyadic Green's functions in their eigenfunction expansion forms for planarly layered anisotropic media are applied to analyze this problem. The analytical close forms of these electric fields are then obtained by using the saddle point techniques and branch cut integrations in the complex plane and, hence, expressed in terms of direct wave, multiply reflected waves, and lateral waves. Propagation mechanisms of these waves are studied and radio losses in a typical forest are calculated numerically.


Purpose To evaluate the clinical value of ultrasound-guided internal jugular vein(IJV)catheterization in infant patients.Materials and Methods Sixty infant patients aged between 30 days and 3 years with weight ranging from 3.70 to 15.0 kg who underwent surgery due to congenital heart diseases were recruited in this study.The patients were divided into two groups according to the catheterization approach:control group(catheterization by midway approach,n=30)and experimental group(catheterization guided by ultrasonography,n=30).The overall success rate of catheterization,the success rate of catheterization at first attempt,and the complications during catheterization in two groups were recorded and compared.Results The overall success rate of catheterization and the success rate of catheterization at first attempt in experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group(100%vs.80%,P0.05;93.3%vs.70%,P0.01),respectively.In addition,the complication rate in experimental group was lower than that in the control group(0%vs.26.7%).Conclusions Internal jugular vein catheterization guided by ultrasound is a reliable and safe technique in infant patients.


The use of concrete reinforced with nonmetallic bars in composite materials, characterized by higher values of strength and by lower values of Young's modulus compared to steel, implies that the design of structures will be influenced almost exclusively by the serviceability limit state (SLS). This circumstance deserves some reflection on the values of the actions to be considered at the SLS and at the ultimate limit state (ULS). As the actual codes consider the same distribution of actions obtained by statistical methods, for the SLS and, amplified, for the ULS, it is necessary to reexamine from a probabilistic point of view the effective distributions of actions to be adopted for the two different limit states. This, which is obviously true for any kind of structure built with any material, becomes paramount for concrete structures with nonmetallic reinforcement. In this paper some possible statistical distributions of actions for the verification at the ULS and the statistical distribution of the sampl...


describes the promotion of a confectionery mass, such that the mass is guided on an essentially free of abrupt diversion flow path. When using screw rotors as the conveying means, this is achieved in that the screw rotors (3, 11) are each supported only at its inlet end and the discharge connection piece (10, 20) are arranged substantially in the axial direction. These nozzles can thereby conical and preferably coaxial with, but optionally be also mounted slightly eccentrically to the axis of the screw rotors.


The sudden changes in human mobility, the immense increase in demand for logistics and delivery systems, governmental restrictions, and uncertainty of the spread dynamics have introduced several transportation and location-related decision problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence, a variety of Operations Research (OR) tools and techniques have been applied to tackle these problems for mitigating the adverse effects of the spread. In this study, we first investigate the emerging decision problematics observed during epidemics/pandemics under four research clusters as: ( ${i}$ ) effects of epidemics on transportation, (ii) effect of mobility on pandemic spread, (iii) logistics and delivery systems, and (iv) medical waste management and wastewater-based epidemiology. Next, we explore the OR tools implemented to solve the transportation and location-related decision problems in each cluster.


Digital to analog converter is widely used mixed-signal circuit. Testing of analog and mixed signals faces lots of challenges due to the wide range of circuits and unavailability of one appropriate fault model. SAF (stuck_at_Fault), Stuck_open and stuck_short fault model at transistor level is used in this paper. Further these fault models are used to analyze the effects on the characteristics parameter of 3-bit R-2R DAC.


In last two decades, rapid development of analytical methods and their combinations have enabled powerful chromatographical resolution of the regioisomers of TAGs, and their reliable determination by MS using soft ionization methods. In this review article, the resolution of TAG regioisomers by chromatography alone using silver-ion HPLC, reversed-phase (RP)-HPLC, and high-resolution gas– liquid chromatography (GLC) will be presented. Further, the determination of regioisomers by MS solely, using negative ion chemical ionization tandem MS was reported. In addition, the determination of regioisomers by chromatography and MS using GLC and electron ionization (EI) MS, silver ion HPLC, and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) or ESI MS, RP-HPLC APCI-MS, and RP- and normal-phase (NP)-HPLC and ESI-MS-MS, are discussed. The use of several LC columns in series, or use of two-dimensional chromatography has resulted in excellent resolution of the regioisomers of TAGs. The resolution of regioisomers prior to mass spectrometric determination is an essential analytic step, especially, when the composition and structure of short-chain TAGs, which contain abundantly other isobaric TAG, are analyzed.


The aims of this research are (1) to describe the theme and language style in the novel of TKVDW and BC , (2) to describe the author's social-cultural setting of TKVDW and BC , (3) to describe a linked theme and language styles from the novel of TKVDW and BC and authors' social-culture through intertextuality study. This research used theory of Art from Sumardjo & Saini, 1988: 3) and the study of intertextuality referred to Nurgiyantoro's theory (1995: 50). The type of this research was a qualitative research by using descriptive method. The objects of this research were (1) theme and language style of the novel TKVDW was written by Hamka and BC was written by HES (2) social-cultural setting of Hamka and HES. Theme of the novel can be found from the problem solving, choosing the dominant problem inside of the novel and the problem involved the figure of the novel. On the novel of TKVDW was found about 34 of language variations and 447 items of language style, while on the novel of BC was found about 32 of language variations and 285 items of language style. Therefore, Hamka was more dominant in using the language variation and language styles than BC 's Novel by HES. It can be concluded that the socio-cultural setting of author has significant influence to the choice of theme and the language styles indeed to be used into their works.  Key word : Novel, Theme,Language Style, Social-Culture Setting, Intertextual Study.


T o T H e e d I T o r McMullen et al discuss the increasingly recognized role of platelet deposition in the lung vasculature of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The group used the immunostain CD61, found predominantly on thrombocytes, to assess the degree of platelet deposition in COVID vs control tissues. In their discussion of this well-written article, the group comments that one limitation of their study is the inability to exclude the source of the platelet deposition: is it from local pulmonary megakaryocytes or circulating platelets and thromboemboli? Similar work at our university suggests that this platelet deposition is extrapulmonary and corroborates the finding of the Chicago group that there is indeed increased platelet deposition in COVID-19. We studied several postmortem venous thromboemboli of patients with COVID-19 vs noninfectious pulmonary embolism and found increased platelet deposition in the COVID-19 cohort. Using a modified Carstair stain, we were able to visually differentiate platelets from fibrin FIGURE 1 analogous to the original article's use of CD61. Combined with the findings of McMullen et al, there is accumulating evidence that platelet aggregation is a major component of the coagulopathy present in COVID-19. In the original study, the deposition was limited to mostly interalveolar capillaries and smaller vessels. Our preliminary findings extend this platelet aggregation evidence to larger thromboemboli as well. In addition, we found an increase in sloughed endothelial cells in our COVID19 cohort, one of the proposed mechanisms of thrombosis in these patients. Anthony Cardillo, MD Majed Refaai, MD University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY, USA


This review explores 'social movements' as a new way of thinking about large-scale systems change and assesses the potential contribution of applying this new perspective to NHS improvement.


In order to obtain a territorial sustainable vision of development, we need to perform an act of planning and the relative rules of governance. That is to say building a 'machine' or 'process' (which produces TIA, SEA and their connection with EIA at different geographical scales) that can be used to assess, in a territorial dimension, the current and future regional or local capability to be competitive in sustainability.


The subject of adjudication has in recent years produced considerable interest among lawyers, political theorists, and the public at large. The interest has been fueled by two decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States: Brown v. Board of Education, the desegregation case decided in 1954, and Roe v. Wade, the abortion decision of 1973. The outcomes of those cases appeared to turn on value choices not directly attributable to those of the framers of the Constitution and thus on principles of the Court's own choosing.' As a result, the decisions called into question the traditional distinction in American law between "reason," the realm of adjudication, and "will," the realm of politics.2 It was an easy step to the conclusion that there is nothing distinctive about the legal process, that dispute settlement in the courts is no different from the making of policy in the legislative branch, and that conventional understandings of adjudication have to be revised accordingly. This view has in turn produced substantial ferment in modern legal scholarship.3


The IAAF World Championships in Athletics (WCH) is one of the biggest sports events with high popularity. However, the influence and economics of WCH still face many challenges. This study discusses the challenges faced by WCH on venue and marketing management and proposes strategies to address these challenges by reviewing the literature on the development and management of WCH and other sports events from the perspectives of venue management and marketing management. In terms of selecting the host city, this study suggests considering the city's size, transportation convenience and its sports spirit and cultural background. Facing the increased demand and heightened expectations for live events and entertainment, multi-purpose venues with diverse attractions and amenities should be taken into account. Additionally, to increase the quantity and quality of the athletes, offering substantial prize money for athletes is crucial. And creating a compelling fan experience, activating sponsorships, and partnering with influencers should be also considered to promote the marketing management of WCH.


We report, for the first time, room temperature continuous-wave (CW) operation of GaInNAs vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser diodes emitting at a wavelength of 1.2 /spl mu/m and grown all-epitaxially in a single step on a GaAs substrate. Oxide-apertured devices demonstrated CW threshold currents as low as 1 mA, slope efficiency above 0.045 W/A, and thermal impedance of 1.24 K/mW. Larger sized devices exhibited a pulsed threshold current density of 2-2.5 kA/cm/sup 2/ and slope efficiency above 0.09 W/A.


The existence of optimal points for calculating accurate stresses within finite element models is discussed. A method for locating such points is proposed and applied to several popular finite elements.


The invention discloses a power supply protecting device and terminal equipment. The power supply protecting device comprises the components of a power supply module which is used for supplying electric energy for each electric power consumption module; a subscriber identification module (SIM) card interface module which is used for connecting with an SIM card; and a hot plugging protecting module which is arranged between the power supply module and the SIM card interface module and is used for limiting the current when shortcircuit occurs. The power supply protecting device and the terminal equipment can realize hot plugging of the SIM card through the hot plugging protecting module. Even when the SIM card causes shortcircuit of a VCC and a GND, faults such as system resetting are prevented, thereby effectively protecting the system. The power supply protecting device and terminal equipment have advantages of simple structure, low cost, etc.


The article is devoted to the ethnolinguistic study of nominations and ritual use of a towel in the Kuban rites. With a view to identify the neologisms and universal Slavonic features the semantics of a towel realized in the texts of Kuban family rites is investigated against the background of the maternal (Ukrainian and South Russian) and related ritual traditions. In addition, the paper makes an attempt to observe the systemic relations inside all the ritual cycle by the example of a towel as an element of objective code of Kuban family rites.


strategies and the filtering of the results, have been addressed in various ways. A detailed analysis of these problems leads to the proposal of a new methodology, which will be developed throughout the study. One main conclusion of this review is that the problems cannot be tackled using purely mathematic or geometric heuristics or classical engineering tools, but require also a detailed understanding of the multiple constraints derived by the underlying cognitive context.


n present research, pressure sensors based on piezoresistive films for integration in smart medical textiles are evaluated using rigid electrodes forming rigid experimental pressure sensors. A systematic study was carried out to investigate the effect of sensing area and number of layers of piezoresistive films on experimental pressure sensor's performance parameters such as pressure sensitivity, hysteresis, and accuracy of output. At 10 kPa pressure, these experimental pressure sensors with a sensing area of 100 mm2 demonstrated pressure sensitivity of 0.05 kPa-1. The pressure sensitivity of sensors increased with an increase in sensing area and with the number of layers of the piezoresistive film. Hysteresis remained in a range of 23% to 25% and demonstrated negligible variations with change in sensing area from 100 mm2 to 900 mm2. The accuracy of all the sensors was found to be above 80%, however no pronounced corelation between the sensing area and the number of layers of the piezoresistive film was observed. It was found that the piezoresistive sensing film can be sucessfully used to fabricate a pressure sensor operating in low-pressure range below 50 kPa.


Times between successive events (i.e., gap times) are of great importance in survival analysis. Although many methods exist for estimating covariate effects on gap times, very few existing methods allow for comparisons between gap times themselves. Motivated by the comparison of primary and repeat transplantation, our interest is specifically in contrasting the gap time survival functions and their integration (restricted mean gap time). Two major challenges in gap time analysis are non‐identifiability of the marginal distributions and the existence of dependent censoring (for all but the first gap time). We use Cox regression to estimate the (conditional) survival distributions of each gap time (given the previous gap times). Combining fitted survival functions based on those models, along with multiple imputation applied to censored gap times, we then contrast the first and second gap times with respect to average survival and restricted mean lifetime. Large‐sample properties are derived, with simulation studies carried out to evaluate finite‐sample performance. We apply the proposed methods to kidney transplant data obtained from a national organ transplant registry. Mean 10‐year graft survival of the primary transplant is significantly greater than that of the repeat transplant, by 3.9 months ( p=0.023 ), a result that may lack clinical importance.


Starting from the status quo and defects of China's reconstruction of financial safety network , this paper inquires into some inherent demands for the effective financial safety net in terms of our country's financial opening up to the world, and concretely explores the principles and steps to build our financial safety net on the basis of summing up international experiences. The author argues that it may effectively prevent the occurring of financial crisis to build a limited financial safety net on the principles of limited protection, completeness, transparence, economy and efficiency, balance of governance and coordination.


[1] Field-aligned currents (FACs) play an important role in the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling system for transporting electromagnetic energy. Although large-scale region 1 (R1) and region 2 (R2) FACs have been statistically investigated for a few decades, there have been relatively fewer investigations of the fundamental characteristics of mesoscale (ranging from about 10 to 100 km) FACs and the relationship between them and large-scale FACs. Here we report some fundamental characteristics of mesoscale FACs on the basis of a statistical analysis using long-term Akebono satellite data from March 1989 to December 1996. We found that the current density of mesoscale FACs with a spatial scale of 10–80 km at ionospheric altitude is on average the largest in the dayside region of 75°–82° in corrected geomagnetic latitude and 0600–1500 in corrected geomagnetic local time. The current density is especially enhanced under the sunlit condition in summer. The intensities and distributions of mesoscale FACs change with interplanetary magnetic field conditions. We also found altitude dependence of mesoscale FACs for the first time. Current densities of mesoscale FACs gradually increase with the altitude. Mesoscale FACs tend to distribute in the R1 current region, and the current density in the morning to noon sector (downward R1 FAC region) is stronger than that in the noon to evening sector (upward R1 FAC region). Further, the seasonal variations of mesoscale FACs correspond to those of large-scale FACs on the dayside but areopposite to those of large-scale FACs on the nightside.


The popular concepts of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) arose from our ability to interact with objects and environments that appear to be real, but are not. One of the most powerful aspects of these paradigms is the ability of virtual entities to embody a richness of behavior and appearance that we perceive as compatible with reality, and yet unconstrained by reality. The freedom to be or do almost anything helps to reinforce the notion that such virtual entities are inherently distinct from the real world---as if they were magical. This independent magical status is reinforced by the typical need for the use of "magic glasses" (head-worn displays) and "magic wands" (spatial interaction devices) that are ceremoniously bestowed on a chosen few. For those individuals, the experience is inherently egocentric in nature---the sights and sounds effectively emanate from the magic glasses, not the real world, and unlike the magic we are accustomed to from cinema, the virtual entities are unable to affect the real world. This separation of real and virtual is also inherent in our related conceptual frameworks, such as Milgram's Virtuality Continuum, where the real and virtual are explicitly distinguished and mixed. While these frameworks are indeed conceptual, we often feel the need to position our systems and research somewhere in the continuum, further reinforcing the notion that real and virtual are distinct. The very structures of our professional societies, our research communities, our journals, and our conferences tend to solidify the evolutionary separation of the virtual from the real. However, independent forces are emerging that could reshape our notions of what is real and virtual, and transform our sense of what it means to interact with technology. First, even within the VR/AR communities, as the appearance and behavioral realism of virtual entities improves, virtual experiences will become more real. Second, as domains such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and the Internet of Things (IoT) mature and permeate throughout our lives, experiences with real things will become more virtual. The convergence of these various domains has the potential to transform the egocentric magical nature of VR/AR into more pervasive allocentric magical experiences and interfaces that interact with and can affect the real world. This transformation will blur traditional technological boundaries such that experiences will no longer be distinguished as real or virtual, and our sense for what is natural will evolve to include what we once remember as cinematic magic.


Copyright 2015 by The Korean Society of Clinical Neurophysiology This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Address for correspondence; Jung Im Seok Department of Neurology, School of Medicine, Catholic University of Daegu, 33 Duryugongwon-ro 17-gil, Nam-gu, Daegu 42427, Korea Tel: 82-53-650-3440 Fax: 82-53-654-9786 E-mail: email@example.com Brief Communication


This paper focuses on the effects of applying quantization during training to Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) used in Simplified Molecular-Input Line-Entry System (SMILES) generation, a form of line notation for molecular information used in the development of pharmaceutical drugs, from the PubChem database. It offers the flexibility to choose the precision used by the model, by defining the number of bits at each layer. The RNNs are the focus of the current study, by comparing the performance of three of the most used algorithms, Simple RNN, Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM), and Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU). The models were trained on a selection of SMILES. By exploiting the QK-eras library, quantization performance was compared to their floating-point equivalent for several combinations of parameters. The goal of the testing program developed is to generate a large number of novel SMILES, facilitating the process of Drug Discovery which is traditionally long, and thus very expensive and difficult. By understanding how the behavior of quantized networks deviates from the regular model, in relation to the parameters used, we are able to control the process of choosing whether to quantize a model and to which degree it becomes more or less efficient. In this study, we observed good performance even for 4-bit models making use of LSTM and GRU layers, the same way we concluded that Simple RNN quantization does not compensate the effort.


The invention provides a chip assembling method. In the process of marking a chip identifier digit on a metal film on the back surface of each chip by using laser after silicon chip test, a recessed bounding box which comprises the chip identifier digit is also marked on the metal film on the back surface of the chip by using the laser, so that the metal film inside the bounding box on the back surface of the chip cannot be stripped when each chip on the sliced silicon chip is stripped from a sticky film. Therefore, the stripped area of the metal film is effectively reduced and controlled, the electric conductivity from the chip to a base can be guaranteed, and the integrality of the identifier digit on the back surface of the chip is well protected simultaneously.


There is a pivoting device for pivoting a flap (1), in particular a container cover to a rotational axis (2) between a first position (A) and a second position (B) provided, said flap arranged in or on a motor vehicle part (3) and in one of the layers (AB) between the flap (1) and the motor vehicle part (3) relative to the extension of the flap (1) narrow gap (4), wherein the flap (1) on a bearing device (5) is rotatably is arranged, wherein the bearing device (5) as a bearing block (5) is formed, which is arranged in a guide device (6) movable. The pivoting device is characterized in that the bearing block (5) comprises a mechanism as long locks the rotational movement of the flap (1) during pivoting, to the translation of the axis of rotation (2) is completed, whereby the flap (1) at first by a translational movement away from the motor vehicle part (3) before the rotational movement of the flap (1) is used. Characterized there is provided between the flap (1) and the vehicle part (3) space, so that it can not come to the tilting of the two components. In this way, the gap (4) between the flap (1) and the vehicle part (3) are formed so narrow that the two components in the first layer (A) of the flap (1) with their opposite surfaces to each other are practically flush.


An acridine-Zn(II) complex is provided to show highly selective chelation enhanced fluorescence(CHEF) effect on an inorganic phosphate(Pi) and highly selective chelation enhanced fluorescence quenching(CHEQ) effect on a pyrophosphate(PPi) without recognizing other anions, thereby being usefully used for detecting the Pi and PPi. An acridine-Zn(II) complex having selectivity to phosphate is represented by the formula(1). An intermediate compound of the acridine-Zn(II) complex is represented by the formula(2) and is prepared by adding dipicolylamine to a reaction mixture of 4,5-bis(bromomethyl)acridine and potassium carbonate. A method for preparing the complex of the formula(1) comprises a step of reacting the compound of the formula(2) with zinc nitrate. Further, the phosphate is pyrophosphate or inorganic phosphate.


This article explores the relationship between accountability journalism and changing media markets in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), especially in the Baltic countries. Although there is agreement that news journalism is salient for vital democratic public spheres, there is a dearth of studies on the relationship between commercial success and media ownership. The comparative approach looks at CEE media systems as media laboratories where the overall tendencies of the media industry can often be seen in their most severe form. Against the common claim of cultural colonialisation caused by foreign ownership within the region, this article argues that in the case of CEE societies, foreign ownership can be beneficial for accountability journalism by enabling journalists to secure the required distance from local political and economic interests. The article approaches the ownership/democracy equation by comparing the structural tendencies of the region, using Latvia as its case study. The data consist of media ownership and readership data, and specialist interviews.


SUMMARY The previous communication-induced checkpointing may considerably induce worthless forced checkpoints because each process receiving messages cannot obtain su ffi cient information related to non-causal Z-paths. This paper presents an enhanced sender-based message logging protocol applicable to any communication-induced checkpointing to lead to a high decrease of the forced checkpointing overhead of communication-induced checkpointing in an e ff ective way while permitting no useless checkpoint. The protocol allows each process sending a message to know the exact timestamp of the receiver of the message in its logging proce- dures without any extra message. Simulation verifies their great e ffi ciency of overhead alleviation regardless of communication patterns.


Few studies focus on the impact of sectarian culture on educational processes at the tertiary level has emerged from Pakistan. Although limited to a certain geographical location, prevalence of sectarian culture is a new dimension that is affecting the quality of education at the tertiary level in Pakistan. The authors of this study examined the impacts of sectarian tendencies on the teaching and learning processes of a public sector university. They used the case study method to generate data through the application of interviews, document reviews, and observations. Regardless of their affiliations with a particular sect, all the participants of this study had consensus that the said phenomenon has negative implications on the overall academic environment of the university and measures should be taken to eradicate the said tendencies from the university. It is suggested that through education a cultural norm needs to be evolved, which values the religious diversity as an asset and not as a burden for society.


In the endpoint security spectrum, organizations can choose between endpoint detection and response (EDR) and endpoint protection platform (EPP). Due to the lack of IT security talent, most organizations choose to start with EPP, as it can prevent threats from the onset when a right approach is applied to known and unknown threats, thus requiring less human intervention when compared to EDR. In addition, automating remediation at the endpoint is a must with these scarce resources.


Aim: Vinegar producers are still on a mission to find acetic acid bacteria fermentation that produces extremely strong vinegar. Vinegar fermentation is caused directly by the acetic acid bacteria alcohol respiratory chain, which is found on the intracellular membrane. In the alcohol respiratory chain, enzyme activity is increased through Acetobacter pasteurianus' semi-permanent vinegar biodegradation, so did the acetification rate. Acetic acid bacteria alcohol respiratory chain activity was increased in a series of experiments with the goal of achieving a high strength fermentation process. Materials and methods: Precursors of alcohol respiration-associated components (ferrous ions and hydroxybenzoic acid) were added, and the air flow rate was increased, to further improve acidification. Researchers examined the color and physical/chemical properties of the finished product, as well as the sensory quality of the vinegar-preserved whole chicken. Two groups are taken with 7 samples per group, G power 80%, coincidence interval will be 95%. Results And Discussion: The pH was found to be 2.37, with an acetic acid content of 8.2%. According to the present study the amount of acetic acid in vinegar was increased by 3.2% using this production method. and the statistical (p=0.001). Conclusion: Three parameters were discovered to increase alcohol oxidation into acetic acid in acetic acid bacteria cells: enzyme activity in the alcohol respiratory chain, precursor of ubiquinone production.


The utility model discloses a flexible stretchable falling device for a vertical reclaimer, which comprises falling pipes, a cloth nose, a metal ring, a guide rod, a first support, a falling hopper, a transfer truck, a vertical reclaimer, a sliding guide, a sliding block, a support plate, an operational frame, a drive motor, a second support, a discharge inclined pipe and a discharge straight pipe; the falling pipe in the utility model is made by sewing of wear-resistant nylon cloth with high strength and good flexibility and is characterized by simple structure, flexible stretching and high operational reliability, stacking of the flexible and stretchable falling pipes among the nylon cloth ensures normal material falling when the falling pipe is stretched or shrunk in the height direction and problems that the existing sleeve-type stretchable falling pipe is easily blocked, equipment investment is big, structure is complex, manufacture is difficult and cost is high are solved well, in addition, the flexible stretchable falling device for the vertical reclaimer in the utility model is simple in structure, convenient in operation and high in operational stability and reliability and has good application value.


Small-scale pilot-plant experiments were conducted on the evaporation of decalcified sulfite spent liquor (I) in a long-tube vertical evaporator. The evaporator used had only one heating tube 2.54cm in ID and 3.5m in length (heating surface 0.28m2). The feed concentration was varied from 10 to 50% (by wt.). In all cases, the feed rate was 34±2l/h, the boiling point was 95±1.0°C., and the temperature drop was 10.0±1°C. Also, for purposes of comparison, kraft black liquor (II) was evaporated under similar conditions in the same evaporator.The over-all heat-transfer coefficients U (kcal/m2h°C) in the evaporation of I from given initial concentrations were as follows : (The initial and final concentrations in weight per cent are given in order in parentheses.) 2, 800 (10, 20%), 2, 600 (20, 30%), 2, 400 (27, 40%), 2, 100 (36, 50%), and 1, 700 (45, 60%). The boiling point rises were 2.7, 4.0 and 5.0°C., respectively, at concentrations of 40, 50 and 55%. The values of U in the evaporation of II under similar conditions were nearly equal to the corresponding values found in the experiments with I. The boiling point rises were 4.0, 6.4 and 8.0°C respectively, at concentration of 4.0, 50 and 55%.


The present invention generally relates to defect processing system in the field of plasma sputtering, in particular, on the defective processing system and method for controlling operation of the power generator used in the sputtering system. Defect processing algorithms, in order to generate at least one command signal to affect the operation of the power generator, for processing a plurality of fault status signal from the sputtering system within a period of time. Defect processing algorithm is capable of generating command signals for up to four in response to a plurality of fault status signal type, the command signal, the system output disabled, the power block output disabled, output enable prevention, and the output drive roll including the back.


Interaction of Cysteine-rich Interdomain Region (CIDR)α-Plasmodium falciparum Erythrocyte Membrane Protein (PfEMP1) and Endothelial Cell Receptors especially CD36 on host cells is main malaria pathogenesis, makes this domain as a malaria vaccine candidate. Recently, the development of the malaria vaccine is conducted by recombinant technology, and the purification of the CIDRα-PfEMP1 recombinant protein is a pivotal step. This study aimed to determine an optimal condition to purify the CIDRα-PfEMP1 recombinant protein by affinity chromatography through imidazole and NaCl concentration. The purified recombinant protein was visualized using SDS-PAGE and its concentration was measured using Image J software and Bradford Assay. The data were analyzed using SPSS 26 software, and the Paired T-Test analysis was conducted to compare the concentration of purified recombinant protein from two different methods. The result showed that thetarget band of purified recombinant protein was 27 kDa. The thickest target protein band was observed in purified recombinant protein using 140 mM imidazole and 300 mM NaCl. The recombinant protein concentration using Image J software was 0.025 µg/µL, while the Bradford Assay was 0.56 µg/µL. The Paired T-Test analysis has a significance value of 0.010 (p<0.05), meaning there was a significant difference between the concentration measurement using Image J software and Bradford Assay. In conclusion, the optimized condition to purify the CIDRα-PfEMP1 recombinant protein by affinity chromatography was using 140 mM imidazole and 300 mM NaCl. It is suggested to measure the purified CIDRα-PfEMP1 recombinant protein concentration using the Bradford Assay method due to its convenience and sensitivity.


Community nurses are often at the forefront of making diagnoses and identifying people who are at risk of illness or infection and this is equally true with regards to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. However, community nurses may be missing the signs that the people they are providing care for may be infected with HIV and they should be offering HIV testing sooner in order to make timely diagnosis. The British HIV Association (BHIVA) (2012) has demonstrated that the number of people who have been diagnosed with HIV in non-traditional settings, such as accident and emergency departments, has increased by 14.4% since a previous audit was undertaken in 2003. Specifically, the number of people diagnosed with HIV by GPs has increased by 6.4% during the same period. But despite these findings, there are still people who are being diagnosed with HIV late. A recent audit of HIV testing and diagnosis of HIV in the UK undertaken by the BHIVA (2008), revealed that patients with HIV infection are going unnoticed by the NHS. The BHIVA scrutinised the records of more than 1000 patients attending HIV treatment centres in the UK. The audit revealed 52.2% of patients were diagnosed HIV positive after they had already shown evidence of an altered immune system; they were shown to be suffering from a range of physical symptoms such as weight loss, chronic diarrhoea, sexually transmitted infections, blood dyscrasia or lymphadenopathy. The evidence shows 25% of patients missed an opportunity for their HIV infection to be detected earlier because an HIV test was not offered, in spite of being seen by an NHS clinician in the years preceding their diagnosis. In the UK in 2011, 6280 people were newly diagnosed with HIV (Health Protection Agency (HPA), 2012). It is estimated that the number of people living with HIV in the UK will exceed 100 000 in 2012; late diagnosis is a concern for all of us. Those people who are diagnosed with more advanced HIV have a tenfold increased risk of death in the first year after diagnosis when compared to those who have been diagnosed earlier (HPA, 2011). In 2008 national recommendations for HIV testing, endorsed by the chief nursing and chief medical officers were published by BHIVA (2008). The BHIVA audit was designed to review how the NHS was reacting to the 2008 national recommendations. Analysis of the audit data revealed a quarter of people living with HIV could have had their diagnosis made earlier, despite recommendations calling for widespread HIV testing. Such a finding is unacceptable. Nurses must be proactive, ensuring that when they are providing services and where appropriate (BHIVA, 2008), they are offering an HIV test that is tailored to the needs of the individual patient. The single biggest cause of death from HIV in the UK is late diagnosis. When diagnosis is delayed it can result in an increased risk of HIV-related ill health, transmission of the infection to others and increasing the costs of treatment considerably. Since the advent of antiretroviral therapy, HIV has become a treatable condition and when people are diagnosed early they can expect long and healthy lives. It is unacceptable that an opportunity for longer life expectancy for those with HIV is being missed as a result of a late or delayed diagnosis. It is absolutely possible to live well with HIV, but a person's chances are significantly improved by early diagnosis and prompt treatment. The call for better diagnosis and the recommendations that have been provided by BHIVA (2008) mean every nurse should know how and when to offer an HIV test appropriately, in order to drive down late diagnoses of the virus. HIV prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care remain closely intertwined. Testing and early diagnosis can provide people with access to appropriate treatment and support which in turn reduces the risk of transmission, enhances prevention and wellbeing. Based on the results of this audit, community nurses are encouraged to offer HIV testing and by so doing will be helping to expand the need to test across clinical settings with the intention of reducing the number of people living with undiagnosed HIV infection. Increased testing can potentially reduce a substantial amount of HIV-related illhealth, as well as reducing the costs of expensive treatments as this illness progresses.


IN 1987 780,905 cases of gonorrhea were reported to the Centers for Disease Control for the nation as a whole. Of these, 71,098 (9.1%) were from New York City. A vaccine for gonorrhea is not likely in the immediate future. Thus, management of infections due to N. gonorrhoeae depends to a considerable degree on the provision of effective treatment. When first introduced into clinical medicine during the 1940s, penicillin was remarkably successful in the treatment of gonorrhea: A single dose of 200,000 units was effective in most cases. Through the years a gradual increase in the resistance of Neisseria gonorrhoeae to penicillin was countered with gradual escalation in the recommended dose of penicillin, peaking at 4,800,000 units in 1972.1 Two recent developments have rendered single-agent treatment of gonorrhea with penicillin obsolete. First, absolute resistance to penicillin has become more prevalent. In 1987 25,230 cases of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea were reported to the Centers for Disease Control. More than 22% (5,707) of these cases were reported from New York City. Second, concomitant infection with Chlamydia trachomatis has been common in patients who have gonorrhea. As a result of these developments, The United States Public Health Service has issued new recommendations for the treatment of infections due to N. gonorrhoeae.1


The research aims to clarify the rule of the hierarchical network shopping after the spread of companies that work in network shopping and the entry of a huge number of young people into this field with the depletion of money and the lack of real trade, what is mentioned eariler led to the stagnation of the economy and bankruptcy of many people because most of those entering these companies are poor and aspired to quick profits And richness , Based on the research investigation and evidence, it is clear to me that this sale is forbidden and impermissible expand it, and that people should be warned against joining it.


1 In the present study, the expression of sterol regulatory element‐binding proteins (SREBPs) in livers of a novel rat model of metabolic syndrome, namely SHRSP.Z‐Leprfa/IzmDmcr (SHRSP.ZF), as well as its lean littermates (SHRSP.lean), was examined. 2 The expression of SREBP‐1c was significantly elevated in SHRSP.ZF rats, whereas expression of SREBP‐2 was significantly decreased. 3 Serum cholesterol levels in SHRSP.ZF rats were significantly higher than those in SHRSP.lean rats. 4 Elevation of cholesterol levels by cholesterol loading significantly elevated SREBP‐1c levels and significantly decreased SREBP‐2 levels in SHRSP.lean rats, suggesting that serum cholesterol levels may be closely related to the expression SREBPs. 5 These results suggest that the expression of SREBP‐1c and ‐2 is modified in the metabolic syndrome rats as a result of the high cholesterol level in these rats.


This article undertakes an auto-critical analysis of the research team's ethnographic study of Cultural Enterprise Office (CEO), a Scottish creative business support agency. We discuss the team's composition and how this relates to other analyses of ethnographic teamwork. Our research is situated in the wider policy context of the "creative-economic" turn in the UK's research funding. This has been accompanied by increased emphasis on "knowledge exchange" and "impact" in the drive for greater accountability in higher education. The team's evolution in the course of undertaking research is illustrated by reference to four "pivotal moments," which illustrate how we "performed" knowledge exchange.


The purpose of this analysis is to approximate the analytical dependences which allow to calculate the vibrational energy loss coefficient at any frequency when calculating the noise from the axle lathe and boring machines. A regression analysis was conducted using the method of least squares. The paper presents the results of the regression coefficient calculations. The dependences obtained allow us to determine the loss coefficient value not only at the geometric mean frequencies of the octave spectrum, but also at the natural frequencies of oscillations.


Performance Improvement projects based on EFQM model guide the organization to raise its excellence position to better one. On the contrary, selection the ineffectiveness projects will result to wasting resources. So the using of the best tool for selection and prioritizing the effective improvement projects, leads the organizations to achieve its goals with maximum productivity. The aim of this research is proposing an approach for prioritizing improvement projects in EFQM excellence model based on analytic network process (ANP) and quality function deployment (QFD) methods. The proposed model has been tested by a real case application, which refers to an Iranian company operating in the automotive industry. In this case, the mixture of 40 improvement projects and sub-projects with five EFQM enabler criteria has been characterized by using of the research model. Also, the test of the hypothesis of this research has been done by using Spearman correlation coefficient.


Maternal-child health services in a remote fishing village in Kyushu, Japan, were assessed. Child rearing based on the cultural tradition of the area is on the decline, but some aspects of it have survived. Child health services in the area do not adequately meet the health status and needs of this population. This fishing village, which is located on a small island, has neither hospitals nor resident doctors. It has 1 public health clinic, 1 maternal-child health center staffed by 1 resident public health nurse, and one aging midwife who is practicing independently. Childbirths used to be undertaken, in private homes, by a midwife, witnessed by all the women in the family. In recent times, to ensure safe childbirths, women are either taken to a hospital on another island or accompanied by a midwife to their own maternal-child health center. Following the island's tradition, postpartum care is still provided by the new mother's parents and family. Routine baby checkups given by a general physician and a public health nurse at the maternal-child health center are well attended (95%-100%), but they fail to meet the needs of this population such as prevention and/or treatment of tooth decay and allergy common among the island's 3-year-olds for lack of specialists. By comparison, maternal-child health services in Tokyo include a checkup for 3-year-olds attended by a doctor, public health nurse, dentist, psychologist/counselor, dietitian, and a dental hygienist.


Comparative analysis between anaerobic fermentation and ethanol fermentation with steam exploded corn stalk was conducted in the paper. The results showed that steam explosion treatment can significantly increase the yield of biogas and ethanol production ratio of corn straw,the maximum biogas yield of normal and mesophilic fermentation of steam exploded corn straw is 1. 67 times and 1. 63 times higher than that of the controlled test respectively,and the largest ethanol conversion rate is 4. 47 times higher than that of the controlled test. The analysis of energy conversion rate of anaerobic fermentation and ethanol fermentation with steam exploded corn straw showed that the maximum energy conversion efficiency of anaerobic fermentation process was only 2 013. 29 kJ·kg -1 ( normal temperature) and 3 151. 15 kJ·kg -1 ( mesophilic temperature) ,respectively which was far lower than the maximum energy conversion of ethanol fermentation process 4 225. 88 kJ·kg -1 ,this is due to the adding of cellulase and xylanase which can promote the cellulose and intermediate transformation in the ethanol fermentation process.


Women have a crucial role in the fishery value chains, from pre-fishing to post-fishing activities; however, the lack of sex-disaggregated local level data aggravates the women's invisibility and marginalization in the informal fishing industry and community. Generating local knowledge and representation, this study presents women's role and challenges working in small-scale fisheries in Perez, Quezon, Philippines. Fifty female fisherfolks from the said sector participated in this case study. The results from the field survey indicate that the participants widely dispersed to inland capture fisheries, marine capture fisheries, non-food use production and food fishery production categories. The results also showed that the respondents are scattered across the value chain: active fishing, processing, subsistence fishing, marketing, and pre-fishing activities, in varying intensity and pattern. In contrast to stereotypes that exclusively associate women to gleaning invertebrates, the majority target fish species and other marine invertebrates. Environmental, socio-economic, personal and gender factors are the common constraints that limit their productivity, output, and more importantly their equitable roles and identities. Although coming from a small fishing community, the findings of this study may provide baseline information for relevant local government agency to further intensify profiling on the grounds and to strategically implement gender-sensitive mainstreaming programs.


The invention discloses a method for creating a cartoon character face in a mobile phone based on whitening and skin tendering. The method comprises the steps of extracting sample points and carrying out whitening processing or charcoal simulation processing on an original drawing. According to the method disclosed by the invention, a simple and practical digital image processing algorithm is used and more attention is paid to reducing the data volume and increasing the operation efficiency of a CPU (Central Processing Unit); the DIY (Do It Yourself) operation is carried out on a personal mobile phone of a mobile phone subscriber to create a mobile phone cartoon works with a unique artistic style; and in addition, the method is low in creation cost and quick in operation effect.


The invention provides a driver identification method and device. The method comprises the following steps: obtaining the driving data of a vehicle, wherein the driving data comprises: traveling data of the vehicle, driver state date, and data of the road where the vehicle is travelling; subjecting the driving data of the vehicle to a quantization treatment so as to obtain driving data in a default mode; inputting the driving data in a default mode into a pre-fabricated regression categorization model, according to the output result of the regression categorization model, judging whether the driver of the vehicle is the default driver or not; and if the driver of the vehicle is the default driver, providing customized service to the default driver based on the driving data and driving habit data corresponding to the default driver.


This article through introducing means of eccentricity e in the formula with bimodulus,eliminates influence which the partial column on sections nature change creates,obtains relations P_(r1) and P_rand P_t the both has the theory significance and to be practical.After the revision the formula with bimodulus enables the formula with bimodulus to be solved with the formula with tangent modulus between contradiction.


The oxidation of common sulfide minerals exposed naturally,or more often by mining activities, often is responsible for the secondary geochemical anomalies and produces serious environmental problems During the oxidation of sulfide minerals such as pyrite, galena, sphalerite, and arsenopyrite, the harmful elements such as S, Pb, Cd, and As could be effectively released into the environment(air water soils plants animal)and risk human healthy


Describes a framework which can be used by retail organizations in planning the introduction of a process of continuous quality improvement. The framework consists of four sections – organizing, systems and techniques, measurement and feedback, and changing the culture. Outlines the key features of these sections. Also outlines a five‐stage process by which the framework can be used by the executive management of any retail organization.


The explants of a Dioscorea zingiberensis line with high saponin content were cultured and propagated to breed good cultivars and high quality seedlings for scale production of Dioscorea zingiberensis.The results showed that the callus culture days and callus rate induced from shoot tip explants was minimum and maximum respectively,the callus rate of shoot tip explants cultured on MS+ 0.5 mg/L BA+0.5 mg/L NAA reached nearly 70% and its callus status was good,The bud differentiation rate of calli cultured on MS+1.0 mg/L KT+0.2mg/L NAA was up to 90.9% and the optimum medium for propagation of axillary buds was MS+0.5mg/L NAA +1.0 or 2.0 mg/L BA.The elongated axillary buds cultured on MS medium could produce roots and regenerate intact plantlets.


Article History: Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the level of research competencies of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students from a State College concerning research conceptualization, formulation of research methods and design and data gathering, processing and analysis. Research Methods: In this study, a survey design was employed. There were 89 Grade 12 STEM students participated in this study by evaluating their selves using the Research Competencies Inventory Checklist (RCIC). Findings: The findings showed that, in general, students were competent to conduct research. This finding suggests that students gained the necessary knowledge and skills to conduct research. However, there were some competencies that need to be enhanced: i. describe the background of the research; ii. draw out and manage information from different studies; iii. construct research Received: 18 Apr. 2020 Received in revised form:02 Feb. 2021 Accepted: 09 Mar. 2021 DOI: 10.14689/ejer.2021.94.16


A short digest of this thesis will be given here on the basis of the subject index. After a brief review of the published literature in chapter 2. a new manometric method is introduced (3.). The rate of the dehydration of H2CO3 is measured in the manometric Van Slyke-apparatus. ... Zie: Summary.


According to life-history theory, survival in long-lived animals is not expected to vary greatly with environmental conditions. However, recent studies of a number of seabirds have shown that ocean climate indices such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation index and sea surface temperature are correlated with adult survival. Here we evaluated whether annual adult survival of Razorbills (Alca torda L., 1758) at two breeding colonies covaried with oceanographic conditions in the North Atlantic during 1995–2006. We also examined pre-breeder survival (from fledging to age 2). The relationship between local adult survival and the North Atlantic Oscillation and two oceanographic variables (Labrador Current temperature profile and Bay of Fundy sea surface temperature) were evaluated using the program MARK. Capture–mark–recapture data fit the assumptions of the program MARK reasonably well with ĉ values ranging from 1.390 to 2.404. Pre-breeder survival rates were high for Machias Seal Island (Ф = 0.778 ± 0.041) and ...


Here we suggest stable maximum temperature criteria of YBCO coated conductors (CCs) considering degradation of YBCO by repetitive exposure to excessive temperature rise. Stable maximum permissible temperature was experimentally determined as the maximum temperature at which CC does not suffer from critical current degradation or burnout. By comparing various over-current characteristics with short-circuit characteristics in regards to the pattern of generated resistance and joule heating flux, maximum permissible temperature rise of YBCO CC in superconducting fault current limiter (SFCL) can be determined as 400 K. Our research is expected to provide rudimental basis for the temperature design of various superconducting power applications including SFCL.


The Linux kernel is a highly configurable software system. The aim of this paper is to develop a formal method for the analysis of the configuration space. We first develop a Linux product overview formula (L-POF), which is a Boolean formula representing the high-level configuration constraints of the kernel. Using SAT solving on this L-POF, we can then answer many questions, such as which options are possible, mandatory, or impossible for any of the processor architectures for which the kernel may be configured. Other potential applications include building a configurator or counting the number of kernel configurations. Our approach is analogous to the methods we use for automobile configuration. However, in the Linux case the configuration options (e.g. the individual device drivers) are represented by symbols in Tristate Logic, a specialized three-valued logic system with several different data types, and the configuration constraints are encoded in a somewhat arcane language. We take great care to compile the L-POF directly from the files that hold the configuration constraints in order to achieve maximum flexibility and to be able to trace results directly back to the source.


Reflections of a multi-dimensional field or research can be found in this diary of a « middle officeholder », also wine's merchant, and his wife, living in Montreuil-Bellay (Maine-et-Loire) and written drom 1612 to 1662. We can retrace in this book evidences in micro-economy, with records of his professional dealings, a record of his married life and family events (according to the rules found in Anjou) and the mentions of territorial political and religious relationships, with a strong hierarchy, and very intricated interreactions, evolving very slowly. It reveals for us the small world of Falligan's family.


Teak furniture business development aims at achieving the three millennium development goals of global partnership, poverty alleviation and environmental sustainability. A value chain of teak furniture connects teak growers with furniture retailers in Europe, the United States and Japan. It distributes value added along the chain, but it produces imbalance of income distribution and pressure on teak plantation sustainability. This paper integrates value chain analysis and systems dynamic approach to observe baseline trends and glimpse future scenarios of teak forest and incomes to various actors participating in the teak business. Future scenarios to obtain premium prices through Fair Trade and business responsibility of international furniture retailers will not only restore the teak furniture business but also foster great leaps in teak plantation sustainability and the livelihoods of teak growers and small to medium-sized teak furniture enterprises. Collective action among them in defining rules and a low level of land conflicts are necessary conditions for success.


Adverse selection caused by asymmetric information impacts the product of green agricultural. With the increase of the number of agricultural Producers and the level of consumption, the green agricultural products will be promoted to a certain extent. Given a certain consumption level, joint in the region and construction the network organizations, which can effectively reduce the opportunism of farmers' green agricultural production and form the market size, and thus greatly enhance the confidence of consumers of the regional green agricultural products. This confidence can break the dilemma in the development of regional green agriculture


In this work, 3 dB branch‐line waveguide in the range of 335‐415 GHz directional coupler is proposed, where the insertion loss is less than 0.9 dB and the directionality is better than 20 dB. The coupler is composed of three "crossing"‐shaped structures, which can effectively enhance the directionality and coupling, based on a certain broad bandwidth. The designed coupler has been modeled and optimized, using commercial full‐wave simulation software HFSS, fabricated by the UV‐LIGA process. In addition, its deformation was theoretically analyzed at different pressures by ANSYS software to test its practicability. Both of the test and simulated results have a nice correlation. We conclude that our proposed coupler has excellent performance and can be used for the investigation of submillimeter wave components in terahertz applications.


Drexel University has adopted the E/sup 4/ experiment (An Enhanced Educational Experience for Engineering Students) as its curriculum for all entering engineering students. Drexel have extended the E/sup 4/ influence by revising the entire undergraduate curriculum using the principles developed and tested in the E/sup 4/ years. The process hasn't been completely smooth, nor is it yet finished, but it is under way. This paper reviews the progress.


Application RockCheck (original version KamenCheck in Slovenian) was developed as an e-learning material, which can be used for teaching and learning geological contents in formal and non-formal education. Our aim was to create the teaching aid that will contribute to the improvement and quality of teaching and learning of basic geological contents within natural science subjects. It was created to be used in classrooms, as an additional motivation tool combined with active learning methods, and also in challenges for lessons in nature. Since the application uses the approach of experimental and observational based learning no pre-existing knowledge is needed, and users can determine names of typical rocks only by following the app's instructions.

The application consists of three main chapters  whose contents are interrelated. The main chapter presents the Rock key where through a simple decision key, by answering the question with yes or no, the user identifies the name of the individual rock. The application enables independent research by observing and experimenting with using simple tools. The other two chapters, Encyclopaedia and School of rock, help the user to enable further learning about rocks in general, about their appearance, formation and usage as well as help to understand geological concepts and procedures. The contents of the chapters are cautiously connected with the links. The last two chapters are a crucial support for planning and teaching the geological contents and present also the good base for preparing active learning challenges. All contents within the application were carefully designed and based on learning objectives of the Slovenian curriculum.

As an important project upgrade the interactive and experimental workshop was created which provides an insight to use the application as a learning aid. The workshop provides the examples and concepts of how the teachers through experiential learning can teach geology and thus increase the understanding and sustainability of knowledge. In order to actively involve the participants in the learning process, the workshop covers a variety of challenges that are addressed through different teaching methods. Besides, the special interactive learning sheets were created, which were designed with a specific goal and level. We also created a  board game called RockGame. It uses the RockCheck app for solving challenges and answering questions in the game. The main aim of the RockGame is to raise awareness about the topic of raw materials. Trough gamification pupils learn about geologist’s role in the raw material value chain. We did so by including the connection between minerals, rocks, raw mineral resources and final products in the game.

The application was made within the student project StoneKey (call "On the creative path to knowledge 2017-2020"). The project involved 9 students of different degrees and study programs, three teaching mentors and a working mentor from the company DigiEd. The project was co-financed by the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union from the European Social Fund.  The application was later upgraded and translated within the EU project RM@Schools 3.0. funded by the European Institute of Innovation and technology.


Within the last decades we have witnessed a decisive turn in the development of Caribbean cultural industries. That turn, associated to an equally significant modification in the conditions on which Caribbean culture is produced, have been lead by an aperture without precedents and by the increase of the amount and the intensity of the exchanges across the region and between it and the rest of the world. That process have implied a questioning of the discourses on identity and nation and a defy to the stable visions that used to identify the national territory with the national cultural identity; furthermore, it has integrated a multiplicity of visual referents of a wide precedence in the Caribbean imaginary, generating a landscape dominated by the ambiguity and the confusion of different expressive media. The present proposal approaches the panorama outlined above in order to confront the recent production in art and literature of Caribbean societies. By doing so, we will be able to determine the weight of a vernacular culture, with a regional reach, linked to intertextuality arose in connection to Internet and communication technologies. The concept of visual literacy, defined by James Elkins as the possibility of confronting the literary discourse with its iconic possibilities and, at the same time, to examine critically the narrative character of the visual, could appear as a useful tool in order to analyze comparatively an amount of proposals that defy formal and geographical categories. However, Caribbean literacy would be attached to conditions that separate it from the framework proposed by Elkins and situated it in its boundaries. It is from that point that we assist to a more fluctuant and volatile panorama, where the crossing of genders and expressive mediums paraphrases the intertextual and auto-referential turn of Caribbean creativity.


Effects of low-molecular-weight organic acids,citric acid and malic acid on soil phosphorus release were studied by a series of batch experiments,and the sequential phosphorus fractionation was analyzed in the soils before and after the extraction of citric acid or malic acid.The results show that the release rate of phosphorus from soil is increased with the increase additions of citric acid or malic acid,and that results in continuous release of phosphorus.Phosphorus release amount by citric acid is larger than that of malic acid.Low-molecular-weight organic acids can promote the release of the inorganic phosphorus fractions(H_2O-P and NaHCO_3-P_i),and mineralization of the organic phosphorus fractions (NaHCO_3-P_o and NaOH-P_o).When citric acid and malic acid are at high concentrations(≧0.5 mmol/L),the releases of phosphorus fractions is in the order of Fe-oxide- and Al-oxide- associated(NaOH-P_i)Ca-associated(HC1-P)plant-available inorganic P(NaHCO_3-P_iH_2O-P).Large amounts of soluble iron and aluminum are also released with the additions of the low-molecular-weight organic acids,and the amounts are significantly correlated with the phosphorus releases(P0.05).It suggests that Fe-oxide- and Al-oxide- associated inorganic P(NaOH-P_i) plays an important role in phosphorus release.


The lidar full-waveform echo can be decomposed into a series of components each of which can essentially be considered as Gaussian function models. In this paper, we use empirical mode decomposition to decompose the original full-waveform echo into a series of intrinsic mode functions (IMFs) and a final residual. The noise-level of the echo is estimated based on the first IMF. The IMF energy density is then compared to the white-noise theoretical spread lines of the 99% confidence-limit level to determine whether some IMFs are considered to contain information. A suitable IMF is then selected based on the comparison result. The maxima of the selected IMF can be used to predict the number and positions of the Gaussian components in a full-waveform echo. The other parameters can also be further estimated. The iteration decrement method is used to detect the components and estimate the initial parameters gradually. Simulations and experiments were done to verify the proposed method, and it was also verified by using the LVIS data set. The proposed method avoids having to use the zero-crossing of the first or second derivatives of the denoised waveform to estimate the initial parameters. The initial parameters are optimized by using the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm.


Active devices, such as synthetic jets and oscillating plate agitators were found to be effective in cooling of high-heat-flux electronics. These devices generate unsteady flows, thinning the thermal boundary layer and enhancing turbulent transport. However, the active devices cause extra power consumption due to flow friction and separation. It is important to understand the factors influencing power consumption in these devices if they are to be applied in cooling system designs. The present study analyzes fluid damping and power consumption in high-frequency (about 1000 Hz) synthetic jets and oscillating plate agitators driven by piezoelectric stacks. This analysis is done numerically, since it is difficult to measure fluid damping. In the simulations, the moving part of the active device is modeled with the moving wall boundary condition. The mesh is updated and the flow is calculated every time the moving part changes its position. The coherent vortex structures generated by theses active devices, like vortices in the synthetic jet cavity or in the oscillating plate tip gap region, are found to cause fluid damping and power consumption. Fluidic power consumption levels with different geometries and different operating frequencies and amplitudes are studied. A correlation is developed to predict fluidic power consumption at different operating conditions.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


Abstract : This thesis analyzes a multi-class M/G/1 priority queueing system in which distinct job types require one service cycle and, with non-zero probability, require a second service cycle. The main objective is to find a new heuristic scheduling policy that minimizes the long-run expected holding and preemption costs. Arrival rates, service rates, and the probability of undertaking second service are all class specific. A mean value analysis (MVA) approach was employed to derive the long- run mean time in queue for each job type under each policy, thereby providing the appropriate cost equations. Numerical experiments suggest that the preemptive resume scheduling policy yields the lowest cost most frequently.


To anchor the thin-layered composite roof effectively, we performed the similar model test and proposed and verified the beam-arch compound structure based on the pressure-arch theory. According to the structure of rock mas and based on Coulomb criterion and the shear failure criterion, we determined the anchoring parameters such as the thickness of anchoring beam. On the basis of this, the roof bolt length was determined. The bolt space is discussed according to the relation between its length and the adjacent bolts' anchoring superposition area. The length of cable is determined according to the arch height. Base on the stability of anchored roadway sides, the structure which is composed of lower anchored rock beam and upper arch through the cable's suspending action ensures the stability of surrounding rocks.


With newest step past testing stage, CEGB and manufacturers discuss reasons for and against going to 700 kV and above range.


This study is one of the fundamental researches for the development of future smart clothing and textile products using silver(Ag) nano powder. Our study was focused on the blocking or insulating effects of nano-processed textiles from electromagnetic waves. Also, for the surveying of the actual effect to human body, we measure the variation of electroencephalogram which is an indication of human physical symptoms. Among various textiles in this experiment, nano silver processed case has shown the best blocking performance from the electromagnetic waves, which decreases depending on the distance. As a reference model of working environment, we setup the visual stimuli object on the computer that is a source of electromagnetic wave. The power spectrum distribution and the incidence of electroencephalogram was measured. The analysed data has shown that, with nano-processed textiles, wave does not appear very often where wave appears only to illustrate the stable states of human's body. However, as for the materials without nano processing, the ratio of waves in the total level of electroencephalogram becomes higher in spite of short exposure to visual stimuli in work environment, which shows that the worker becomes stressed. The wave electroencephalogram of all materials is drawn in calcarine fissure of occipital lobe to show the convergent distribution, and stronger with block-processed Nano Silver Silk(NSS). The study based on the potential risks of human diseases such as physical fatigue by electromagnetic waves, and has shown that the application of Nano Silver textile for human uses require a proper particle size of it which would not penetrate cellular tissues, and a proper binder and binding treatment for it. However, it is highly required for back-up researches to verify various aspects in applying nano silver to textile products.


The application of flow theory can make the instruction take place in a light and pleasurable settings.the paper puts forward a set of teaching approaches to teaching the C programming course,namely,to integrate various teaching media technology and adopt the teach ing method of mingling the experiments into classroom lecture,to let the students"learn from the process of doing,do in the process of learning and enjoy after doing",finally,to enhance the students learning interests,programming thoughts and capabilities.


Applying the theory of discourse analysis,with the Chinese-English version of TEM-8 in 2010 and 2011 as corpus,this author compared different versions of translation,points out the problems occurred in the students' version and come up with some translation strategies.The studies show that if students use the cohesion ties properly,their translation will improve effectively.


Photoionization using attosecond pulses can lead to the formation of coherent superpositions of the electronic states of the parent ion. However, ultrafast electron ejection triggers not only electronic but also nuclear dynamics---leading to electronic decoherence, which is typically neglected on time scales up to tens of femtoseconds. We propose a full quantum-dynamical treatment of nuclear motion in an adiabatic framework, where nuclear wave packets move on adiabatic potential energy surfaces expanded up to second order at the Franck-Condon point. We show that electronic decoherence is caused by the interplay of a large number of nuclear degrees of freedom and by the relative topology of the potential energy surfaces. Application to ${\mathrm{H}}_{2}\mathrm{O}$, paraxylene, and phenylalanine shows that an initially coherent state evolves to an electronically mixed state within just a few femtoseconds. In these examples the fast vibrations involving hydrogen atoms do not affect electronic coherence at short times. Conversely, vibrational modes involving the whole molecular skeleton, which are slow in the ground electronic state, quickly destroy it upon photoionization.


Ecological theory based on the dynamic equilibrium model (DEM) suggests that maintenance of endemic taxa is most likely in stable, unproductive environments. We tested whether this hypothesis, which was developed mainly using terrestrial plant examples, held when applied to distributions of benthic freshwater diatoms in New Zealand. Given current arguments for the ubiquity of microbial organisms, with distributions determined mainly by environmental tolerances, demonstration that distinctive taxa with evidently restricted distributions conform to theory applicable to larger organisms would lend support to the opposite point of view, that barriers to dispersal do exist. We examined diatom communities from over 320 sites representing the entire spectrum of freshwater habitats in New Zealand and assessed relative abundances of the main taxa present. Each taxon distinguished was assigned to one of five distribution categories ranging from cosmopolitan to endemic. We derived indices of disturbance and productivity for each site using the River Environment Classification (REC), a GIS-based classification system developed for New Zealand rivers. Diatom taxa assigned to endemic or distinctive potential endemic categories were significantly more abundant in low disturbance sites but occurred across a range of productivities. However, bogs and tarns, both of which fell mainly into low disturbance and productivity classes, were distinctive in supporting relatively high proportions of endemic and potential endemic diatoms. Thus our findings in general conformed to the patterns predicted by the DEM, thereby supporting the role of dispersal limitation in diatoms. At the same time, conformity with the DEM helps to explain the continued coexistence in New Zealand freshwaters of many common and apparently cosmopolitan taxa with endemic diatoms, since the DEM explanation for maintenance of endemism does not rely on geographic isolation of species.


Dr. Paul Grayburn (Figure (Figure11) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 24, 1954. He graduated from Texas A&M University with a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1976 and The University of Texas (UT) School of Medicine in Galveston, Texas, in 1981. After an internship and residency training in internal medicine at St. Paul Hospital (a UT Southwestern affiliate) in Dallas, he completed his cardiology and interventional cardiology training at the University of Kentucky Medical Center. He worked for 1 year as an instructor in medicine at the University of Kentucky Medical Center before returning to Dallas in 1988, where he practiced interventional cardiology and served as chief of cardiology at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center and was director of the echocardiography laboratories for UT Southwestern Medical Center. In September 2002, he came to Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas (BUMC) as the medical director of cardiology research. Dr. Grayburn has coauthored >270 articles in medical journals and is author/editor of 9 book chapters. He has participated in several multicenter trials that have changed our understanding and management of cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Grayburn is an expert in echocardiography and valvular heart diseases. He has been a visiting professor and lecturer at numerous institutions in the United States and abroad. Dr. Grayburn is the epitome of what an academic physician should be: an outstanding clinician, teacher, researcher, and mentor.


Surgical damage to the inferior laryngeal nerve is one of the most feared complications of thyroid surgery. A detailed knowledge of anatomical variations is necessary. Nonrecurrent inferior laryngeal nerve is a rare anomaly on the right side and is exceptional on the left. The typical course of the inferior laryngeal nerve is due to the embryological development of the aortic arch and supra-aortic vessels, and nonrecurrence is associated with a vascular anomaly such as a right retroesophageal subclavian artery. The nervous anomaly on the left side is possible only with the occurrence of cardiac dextroposition (situs inversus) and a left retroesophageal subclavian artery. The situation is more dangerous when a nonrecurrent branch of the inferior laryngeal nerve is associated with a recurrent branch. This anomaly does not appear to be associated with a vascular anomaly in all cases. We came across two cases of NRLN after performing 965 thyroid surgeries.