The Aj" and 5+ lifetimes are measured using 9.0 of e'*'e" annihilation data collected on or just below the T(45") resonance with the CLEO II.V detector at the Cornell Electron Storage Ring. An unbinned maximum likelihood fit of the proper time distributions is used to obtain the lifetimes. The measured lifetimes are T^+ = 179.6 ± 6.9(stat.) ± 4.4(syst.) fs and = 503 ± 47(stat.) ± 18(syst.) fs.


Detectors of varying dimensions and geometry may be built using plastic scintillating optical fibers. This paper presents a study of the imaging properties of these detectors, directed at assessing the relative advantages of different designs. To this end, the radionuclide source distribution in the object is reconstructed by solving the inverse problem, using generalized matrix inversion. Photon detection matrices, as is well known, are ill-conditioned, a problem which may be dealt with by using truncated singular value decomposition. The design of the imaging device is investigated in term of minimizing these effects on the system matrix, and the effect of different geometric design parameters is examined. Experimental data obtained with small-scale cylindrical and planar devices are presented for different collimation schemes.


In the first part of the process it has been made a diagnostic, which consist in the recollection of information through the PESTAL, used as a tool for the identification of opportunities, threats, debility and strengths, whose objective was the construction of a DOFA matrix in which they would necessary strategies to decrease the risk to which it is exposed and to take advantage of the opportunities in the market. Finally it's found in the financial study, which is clearly intended of the profitability of organization as well as its sustainability and the possible viabilities that can present in the Industrias Alimenticias R&J S.A.S., for previous compliance were analyzed factors like inversions, financial states where is found states of results, cash flow, as well as the application of financial indicators such as the internal rate of opportunities, net present values internal rate of return and finally cost benefit ratio.


AbstractAerodynamic shape optimization for the high-subsonic low-Reynolds-number flow regime represents an area of ongoing research. The interaction between supercritical compressible flow and lami...


Issues faced by tenure track AT education faculty are addressed and suggestions for those who are considering appointments as AT faculty are given. Literature and research from other allied health professions are provided as insights to AT faculty. We also suggest future research ideas related to AT educators. Finally, we consider future developments in the movement of athletic training education programs (ATEPs) into departments/schools of allied health and its impact on tenured AT faculty.


In high-power laser systems, the loading capacity of fused silica components under 351 nm irradiation is an important factor limiting their ability to increase output power, and in the current study, the damage threshold enhancement of fused silica components after RIE and AMP treatments has been investigated. Sub-surface defects in fused silica components after RIE treatment have also been investigated, but the reason for the high damage threshold could never be explained. Since quartz crystals and fused silica belong to the same silica system, and quartz crystals have more characterisation means than fused silica, we can extrapolate to fused silica by studying quartz crystals. We can extrapolate to fused silica by studying quartz crystals, which are characterised by more means than fused silica, and prove that the extrapolation is correct by characterising fused silica. In this study, the relationship between the etching process and the damage threshold is concluded by studying different RIE etching processes, and the damage threshold of the samples is optimal when the etching depth is 1 um.


As a developing country, government of Bangladesh took many initiatives using ICT to improve public service in the platform of e-governance. Currently, m-governance is leveraging the e-governance by a wide range of government initiated services in the context of Public Private Partnership (PPP). Mobile-governance services are designed, based on mobile sms, IVR system and interactive applications. The thesis will discuss the service platform for Educational and Agricultural Sector which are influenced by different actors, factors and indicators in the context of Bangladesh. However, the research also checked the sustainability nature of the m-governance services in the study. Five surveys and many interviews were conducted to answer the research question, and the results are analyzed in a mix of theoretical and conceptual frameworks. Analysis showed that m-governance (mobile-governance) system in Agricultural Sector seemed more complex than Educational Sector in terms of service penetration, measuring sustainability, perceived satisfaction and communication network. However, individual behavior towards technology from user's side, rebound affect, other subjectivity i.e. 'a mobile has different function', and negative environmental impact from WEEE from mobile handset disposals were noted but not considered in the case. The analysis evaluated, Agricultural Sector did not fulfilled the nature of sustainability (environmental concern was immeasurable) in m-governance service in communication, but showed flexibility, and in Educational Sector the service evidenced communication flexibility and sustainability (environmental concern somewhat fulfilled). Analyzing the current situation and reality, the government and policy makers are suggested to have proper plan, increase transparency, and encourage public participation in every m-governance service project. Besides that, policy level intervention needed for 'price setting' for agricultural product. However, government should target more potential receivers in both sectors. In general for sustainability, government of Bangladesh is recommended to start thinking about the WEEE disposals form mobile handset, which has long term environmental and health impact.


This research was carried out in the tissue culture Laboratory at University of Baghdad during 2017-2018 in order to evaluate the effect of plant growth regulators on the propagation of two cultivars of Dianthus (Sun charm White and Master) under Ex vitro conditions by cultivating the single nodes using the MS medium which involved with different concentrations of growth regulators. The interaction treatment 1.0 mg /L BA + 0.2 mg /L NAA gave the highest response percent of bloom reached 100% for the red cultivar, and the treatment 1.5 mg / L BA + 0.2 mg / L gave the highest response percent to the white cultivar bloom reached 90%.In the multiplication stage, the highest branches number was obtained at 4.5 branches by the application of 2.0 mg / L BA + 0.2 and 0.4 mg /L IAA for the red cultivar, while the white variety gave the highest branches number was obtained at the treatment 2.0 mg /L BA + 0.1 mg /L IAA, which gave 4.8 branches. During the rooting stage, the application of IBA at a concentration of 1 mg / L for the red and white cultivars obtained the highest rooting ratio and the highest root length reached 70% and 2.01 cm respectively for red, while the highest rooting ratio and root length of 80% and 2.19 cm respectively were given for white cultivar, and the highest root number at a concentration of 1.5 mg /L, reached 2.50 for red and 2.30 for white. In the experiment of rooting under Ex Vitro conditions, the results revealed that the concentration of 2 mg / L IBA gave the highest rooting ratio, number, and length of roots reached 50%, 1.40 and 1.23 cm respectively for the red cultivar, while the white cultivar was gave, 70%, 1.60 and 1.20 cm respectively, and the plants were adapted under greenhouse conditions.


Contrary to an intact rock, the jointed rock mass shows strain-dependent deformation characteristics (elastic modulus and damping ratio). The maximum elastic modulus of a rock mass can be obtained from an elastic wave-based exploration in a small strain level and applied to seismic analyses. However, the assessment and application of the non-linear characteristics of rock masses in a small to medium strain level () have not been carried out yet. A non-linear dynamic analysis module is newly developed for FLAC3D to simulate strain-dependent shear modulus degradation and damping ratio amplification characteristics. The developed module is verified by analyzing the change of the Ricker wave propagation. Strain-dependent non-linear characteristics are obtained from disks of cored samples using a rock mass dynamic testing apparatus which can evaluate wave propagation characteristics in a jointed rock column. Using the experimental results and the developed non-linear dynamic module, seismic analyses are performed for the intersection of a shaft and an inclined tunnel. The numerical results show that vertical and horizontal displacements of non-linear analyses are larger than those of linear analyses. Also, non-linear analyses induce bigger bending compressive stresses acting on the lining. The bending compressive stress concentrates at the intersection part. The fundamental understanding of a strain-dependent jointed rock mass behavior is achieved in this study and the analytical procedure suggested can be effectively applied to field designs and analyses.


It is a strategic policy of the CPC central government to select college students to work in the countryside as village leaders after graduation.It is also the historical and practical demand posed by the development of the countryside in the new era.However,there have emerged a few problems in actual practice,including the college student village leaders'(CSVLs') bureaucratic working style,blind following in business starting,little concern of the people and their working post,and the marginalization by other village leaders.Due attention should be paid to these problems with necessary measures taken to solve them.This paper probes into the feasibility of the policy itself,and it holds that a good developing platform should be constructed for the CSVLs' selection,training,mutual exchange,business starting and future outlet.


A simple and cost-effective way to obtain high performance in large real-time applications is to utilize high performance hardware. Symmetric Multi-Processors (SMP:s) are today the mainstream in high performance hardware. SMP is, however, a parallel hardware architecture and relies thus on a parallel application software to operate efficiently. A strong focus on quality attributes such as maintainability and flexibility has resulted in a number of new methodologies, e.g. object-oriented and component-based design, which can significantly limit the application performance. Parallel applications have proved to be more vulnerable in this respect than sequential ones. It is thus not always possible to maximize each quality attribute in a design, thereby making trade-offs necessary. A major challenge is to find solutions that balance and optimize the quality attributes, e.g. SMP performance contra maintainability and flexibility. We have studied three large real-time telecommunication applications developed by the Ericsson company. In all these applications maintainability and flexibility are strongly prioritized. The applications are also very demanding with respect to performance due to real-time requirements on throughput and response-time. SMP:s and multithreading are used in order to give these applications a high and scalable performance. This thesis presents the case studies as well as our findings. Our main finding is that dynamic memory management is a major bottleneck in these types of application. The bottleneck can, however, be removed using memory allocators optimized for SMP:s, or by reducing the number of allocations. We found that the number of allocations can be significantly reduced by using alternative design strategies for maintainability and flexibility. We have thus defined 10 guidelines with the aim of helping designers of large real-time applications to establish a balance between SMP performance, maintainability and flexibility. The present thesis is based on the following papers. References to the latter will be made using the roman numbers applied to the particular paper. [I] Daniel Häggander and Lars Lundberg*, "Optimizing Dynamic Memory Management in a Multithreaded Application Executing on a Multiprocessor", in Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Parallel Processing, Minneapolis, USA, pp. 262-269, August 1998. [II] Daniel Häggander and Lars Lundberg*, "Memory Allocation Prevented Telecommunication Application to be Parallelized for Better Database Utilization", accepted for the 6th International Australasian Conference on Parallel and Real-Time Systems, Melbourne, Australia, November 1999. [III] Daniel Häggander, PerOlof Bengtsson, Jan Bosch* and Lars Lundberg*, "Maintainability Myth Causes Performance Problems in Parallel Applications", in Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Software Engineering and Application, Scottsdale, USA, pp. 288294, October 1999. Note: * Local advisor List of papers


Collections in autumn from 526 animals totaled 14,434 ticks; in winter from 528 animals 1038 ticks and in summer from 270 animals 16,864 ticks. Their identification and incidence on domestic animals are given and the discussion includes a comparison with spring and early summer infestations. Meteorological data are included.


A novel high-gain and high-power cavity slot antenna is presented in this paper. The antenna consists of a slotted cavity cover, a driven antenna and a polarization twist reflector. The driven antenna is a balanced-fed dipole. And a 2 × 4 slots array is etched on the top surface of the cavity cover. To excite the cavity slots with uniform amplitude and phase, the polarization twist reflector is used here. Compared with the antenna without the twister, the gain is improved by almost 4.0 dB across the operating band. In addition, the field distributions of the proposed antenna are analyzed through simulation, which proves a high power-handling capacity of 3.94 MW. To verify the design, a prototype operating at 5.8 GHz band has been fabricated and measured. The measured maximum gain and radiation efficiency are 13.6 dBi and 95%, respectively.


Noble gas partitioning at magma ocean conditions in the LHDAC and the Earth's He/Ne budget M.A. BOUHIFD, A.P. JEPHCOAT, S.P. KELLEY AND D. PORCELLI Oxford University, Dept. of Earth Sciences, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PR, UK (email@example.com) DIAMOND Light Source Ltd., Rutherford Appleton, Laboratory, Didcot, UK (firstname.lastname@example.com) Dept. of Earth Sciences, Open University, Milton-Keynes, UK (email@example.com)


OBJECTIVE:To analyze the utilization of traditional Chinese medicine injections in our hospital.METHODS:The consumption sum and DDDs of traditional Chinese medicine injections retrieved from the computer network of "Career-Starting Hospital"of our hospital from 2007 to 2009 were subjected to an ordering analysis.RESULTS:The consumption sum of traditional Chinese medicine injections in our hospital from 2007 to 2009 increased year by year with annual incremental rates of 6.4% and 0.06%,respectively.The cardio-cerebral vascular traditional Chinese medicine injections took the lead in terms of consumption sum and DDDs over the 3 years,and Shenmai injections and Shuxuening injections took the second place invariably over the 3 years.CONCLUSION:The utiliztion of the traditional Chinese medicine injections in our hospital is characterized by great variety,widespread application scope and excessive use of some kinds.Safe and rational use of traditional Chinese medicine injections should be strengthened.


The aim of this article is to offer an empirical description and comparison of governance ar-rangements across different phases of EU cohesion policy and to offer explanations for national and regional variations in the prevalence of governance arrangements in non-Cohesion (Ger-many and Italy), old Cohesion (Greece and Spain), and CEE countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland), covering two regions for each country. Drivers of actor participation on the regional level are often linked to legal and normative requirements regarding the partnership principle. However, we concluded that Europeanization is far from being a straightforward process. The transformation of established vertical power relations within the political system as well as state-society relations at the national and sub-national level in accordance with the partnership principle are mediated by domestic and regional factors – including given respon-sibilities and administrative capabilities of regional government.


It was observed that the trapped magnetic moment of HTS tablets or annuli increases in time (negative relaxation) if they are not completely magnetized by a pulsed magnetic field. It is shown, in the framework of the Bean critical-state model, that the radial temperature gradient appearing in tablets or annuli during a pulsed field magnetization can explain the negative magnetic relaxation in the superconductor. Advances in the synthesis of large melt grown crystals of high-temperature superconductors (HTS) based on Y (Re) BaCuO (1) led to extensive investigations of their superconducting properties with a view of practical applications. One of these applications is creating magnetic systems for compact EPR and NMR spectrometers. The superconductors are magnetized either in a static magnetic field (FC) which is switched off afterwards, or using a pulse method. The pulsed field magnetization (PFM) method is the preferred one because of low power consuming and simplicity. The main disadvantage of HTS materials is a reduction of the critical current Jc with time, which is caused by magnetic flux creep. Therefore, the trapped magnetic


Nowadays, communication technology is increasingly used in Chinese Train Control System. And the Railway Signal Safety Communication protocol is the upper layer protocol that ensures safety transmission of safety related information in a non-trusted channel. The characteristics and behavior pattern of the protocol are closely related to the safety of the whole railway signal system. This paper simulates the safety communication process of RSSP-II safety communication protocol. We analyze its characteristics and behaviors, verify its ability to resist the threats and risks and lay a foundation for future development of the dedicated communication interface devices. Through the simulation, we also find out the key defense technologies of the protocol and the easily-made mistakes in software programming, which is quite useful for future software development.


A civil society suggests the activities of voluntary associations without a direct interference of the state. However, the historical realities of the Russian Empire at the turn of the 20th century do not allow us to find institutions that would be totally independent of the state. There were associations with a relatively high level of self-organization and self-governance, but they were either initiated by the government or controlled or partly financed by the state. At that time it was characteristic for the Russian Orthodox Church also where parish guardianships, a prototype of autonomous institutions of self-government, began to be established at the lowest structures, such as parish communities. Their establishment was spurred by the government's initiative. In the 1860s within the activities of the Special Committee for the Amelioration of Clergymen's Well-Being, established on June 18, 1862, the "Statute on Parish Guardianships of Orthodox Churches" was developed. It was signed into law on August 2, 1864. A special place in the activities of the guardianships belonged to the struggle with poverty and beggary. Much money was spent on the renovation of the existing churches and chapels and the construction of new ones. Special attention was paid to the conditions in parish schools and the building of new schools not only in the center of the parish, but also in the nearby villages (expenses were sometimes up to 50 % of guardianships' revenues). At the beginning of the 20th century much attention was paid to the development of the movement for sobriety, in Mariinsk attention was paid to the struggle with card games. Besides, guardianships paid special attention to the measures aimed at helping the victims of natural calamities, such as fires, and anti-epidemic measures in their parishes, provinces and the whole of the country. Ideally, guardianships were to become a link in the overarching system of public influence on the development of a concrete parish which often united several villages. The experience of the development of parish guardianships in Tomsk Province in the late 19th early 20th century allows us to trace the general tendency to a greater role of public in the life of the country and concrete localities which was interrupted by the World War I and the revolutionary events of 1917.


Figure 1. (a,b) Clinical findings on the first visit. Erythematous macules were diffusely observed with many small pustules on (a) the abdomen, (b) especially on the sides. (c) Clinical findings on the abdomen after the treatment. (d,e) Histopathological findings of the skin lesion revealed Kogoj's spongiform pustules and neutrophilic infiltration in the epidermis, and lymphocyte infiltration in the upper dermis (hematoxylin–eosin, original magnifications: [d] 9100, [e] 9400). (f) Mutation analysis of CARD14 from a peripheral blood sample of the patient identified a homozygous mutation c.236C>T (p.Thr79Ile). (g) The result of nuclear factor (NF)-jB reporter gene assay. The pcDNA3.1+ empty (empty) or CARD14-FLAG wild-type (wild-type) and variants (T79I and D176H) were transfected to HEK293T cells with the indicated dose. After 24 h from the transfection, the cells were lysed and the reporter gene activity was measured using the Dual-Luciferase Reporter assay system (Promega, Madison, WI, USA). The statistical significance of differences compared with wild-type was analyzed using one-way ANOVA with Tukey's multiple comparisons test. P-values of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant (shown with *). R.L.U., relative light unit.


One cannot get rid of the state of exception simply by turning a blind eye to any legal consideration of this institution or by deleting it from codes of law.1 While in times of stability politicians as well as theorists may be under the impression that they do not need to be concerned with it, for obvious reasons the situation changes dramatically when a crisis occurs. The pressure exerted on public authorities under such circumstances is immense. History shows us that in crises public authorities often take the steps considered necessary, even when lacking explicit legal authorization.2 Given that (i) such extra-legal actions as well as actions based on codified emergency powers may pose a threat to the rights and freedoms of citizens and possibly also to the democratic Rechtsstaat, and (ii) every state may sooner or later be confronted with a (severe) crisis,3 it is vital to consider how to reduce the risks associated with crises and states of exception and whether regulating the latter in positive law is beneficial or rather detrimental.4 For obvious reasons, discussing the issue of the state of exception is crucial in the first place in connection with the Rechtsstaat.5 Whereas in an abI.


In this paper, we compare the performance of SBOD and MBOD architectures for storage systems using a command profile based on the Storage Performance Council (SPC-1) Benchmark. The performance comparisons include changes in the strip size, in the number of disks and in the intra-enclosure transmission rate (2Gbps and 4Gbps). We show that performance is maximised with 16kbyte strips and that SBOD performance is up to 120% better than MBOD for large strips; the MBOD becoming bandwidth limited at 2Gbps. We also show that an SBOD with an intra-enclosure transmission rate of 2Gbps matches the performance achievable by 4Gbps MBOD/SBOD when loaded with SPC-1 traffic.


Input-to-State Stability (ISS) and its many derivatives have proved to be extremely useful in the analysis and design of robustly stable nonlinear systems. In this paper, we present a generalization of ISS that subsumes several ISS-type properties and discuss cases where this generalization may fail.


Abstract Quadratic criteria (i.e. based on squared residuals) are widely used to assess the performance of hydrological models. However, the largest errors have a relatively strong influence on the final criterion values, which may be considered a drawback for a complete assessment. This paper studies the case of updated models used for real-time forecasting. It is shown that the fraction of the data series actually impacting the final criterion value is small on many catchments and corresponds to the time steps characterised by the greatest runoff variations. In fact, model updating makes the error distribution more peak-shaped, giving even more relative importance to the time steps with the largest errors. Therefore, assessing the performance of an updated model with a quadratic criterion emphasises that these criteria focus more on the most difficult time steps to model (and the most interesting ones in the case of short-term flood forecasting). Citation Berthet. L., Andréassian, V., Perrin, C., & Loumagne, C. (2010) How significant are quadratic criteria? Part 2. On the relative contribution of large flood events to the value of a quadratic criterion. Hydrol. Sci. J. 55(6), 1063–1073.


The Condor system ([1], [2]) is a widely used "cycle scavenging batch scheduler" which is increasingly being used to utilise the "idle time" of workstations in so-called "campus grid" installations across the UK, yet its security architecture is not well suited to such environments. In this paper we describe how a campus grid Condor installation at the University of Cambridge has addressed the security and other related challenges to build a stable, secure Condor service. We present the system architecture we have formulated, which we hope will be of interest to organisations engaged in similar projects.


As an introduction to this special issue, we define resilience as the capacity of a dynamic system to adapt successfully to threatening circumstances, and we briefly note the history of resilience studies as embedded within the broader field of developmental science. We then elaborate on four developmental principles central for the study of resilience and highlight the importance of early adolescence as a developmental period of particular opportunity for change. Finally, we introduce the five articles of this special issue, each of which presents exciting new work on resilience processes during early adolescence and speaks to aspects of core developmental principles of resilience science.


Based on the analysis of power supplied by vehicle's generator and storage-battery, the power-consuption of eddy-current-retarder was studied. With an example test,if vehicle's own power supply system can meet the need of eddy current retander's power comumption was in vestigated. The results show that the vehicle's power supply system does not need to be reformed after eddy carrent retarder equiped.


A series of abstracts is given of papers recently published by the author. The main conclusions reached are that the earth's magnetization has suffered repeated reversals, and that rock magnetism can be used for geological correlation and for studies of continental drift and polar wandering.


As a result of Matthew Trainer's recent paper on 'Kelvin and piezoelectricity', this paper discusses the way to approach past science. It stresses that the writing on the history of science must (1) be based on reliable sources (i.e. primary sources and historical researches); (2) be sensitive to the differences between past and present science; and (3) be informed about the wider context of the scientific activity under study. Scientific journals have a responsibility to see to it that the historical components of their articles meet these standards.


Chinese government has always been concerned about our farmers' living status. The Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPCCentral Committee proposes to increase farmers' income. At present,our farmers only have the right of possession and use on homestead,and it hinders farmers' income increase. This article analyzes rural homestead system in developed regions,then proposes that use right transfer of rural homestead is feasible and makes institutional innovation.


Due to data limitations, few papers documenting the existence of peer effects explore the mechanisms through which they operate. This paper develops and estimates an equilibrium model of study time choices made by students, given a social network. The model is designed to exploit unique data collected in the Berea Panel Study (BPS). The study time data allow us to quantify an intuitive mechanism for social interactions: one's own study time may depend on friends' study time. The detailed social network data allow us to embed these individual study time choices in an equilibrium framework, allowing for feedback effects. We find evidence of both the direct and indirect effects of friend study time. Not taking into account equilibrium behavior would understate the effect of peers on achievement by 20-30% of a standard deviation.


Low-duty-cycle ultra-wideband (UWB) radios have the potential to provide low-probability of detection (LPD) communications with low-power and low-complexity implementation. Pulse position modulation (PPM) is a prevalent scheme for UWB radios since it can further lower the transmitter complexity by avoiding pulse negation. However, the position shifts of impulse-like UWB waveforms, together with the severe frequency-selectivity of the propagation channels, aggravate the difficulty and complexity of timing synchronization and channel estimation. To circumvent both of these challenging tasks, we develop a differential encoder and its corresponding noncoherent demodulator for PPM-UWB signals. Relying on integrate-and-dump operations of "dirty" templates, our designs are operational when the timing offset and channel information both remain unknown


Abstract In his Social Contract Jean-Jacques Rousseau proposed a "purely civil profession of faith" and tolerance of other religions. In the faith-based side of nation building, early Americans dismissed Rousseau's generic religion and embraced a Protestant Christianity with "liberty of conscience to all men." After World War II, the US moved beyond pan-Protestantism to a more inclusive vision of the American civil religion, accepting Catholic and Jewish Americans into the fold. More recently, some have talked of including Muslims as well. Iraq's notions of Pan-Islam may be far from European societies' secularism, but may actually have some similarities to America's history of civil religion.


Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is a metaheuristic optimization algorithm that owes much of its allure to its simplicity and its high effectiveness in solving sophisticated optimization problems. However, since the performance of the standard PSO is prone to being trapped in local extrema, abundant variants of PSO have been proposed by far. For instance, Fuzzy Adaptive PSO (FAPSO) algorithms have been being studied extensively in recent years. In this study, a modified version of PSO algorithms is presented and is named as Adaptive Particularly Tunable Fuzzy Particle Swarm Optimization (APT-FPSO). In it, the global and personal learning coefficients of every single particle are tuned adaptively and particularly, at an individual extent, within each iteration with the aid of fuzzy logic concepts. Ample statistical evidence is provided indicating that the proposed algorithm further improves the potentialities and capabilities of the standard PSO.


Suspension free-radical polymerization of vinyl monomers, carried out in the presence of alkyl mercaptans as chain-transfer agents, is analyzed. A model which accounts for the development with conversion of the polymer weight fractions having particularly tagged end groups, namely sulfur-containing and unsaturated end groups, is presented. The best current theories for diffusion-controlled polymerizations are included in the model. The sulfur content of poly(methyl methacrylate), determined as a function of conversion by a microcoulometric method, is in good agreement with the values predicted from polymerization kinetics. The rate of weight loss of the produced polymers is then related to the content of the unsaturated end groups. By comparing experimental thermal stability indexes (from thermogravimetry and isothermal heating experiments) to calculated polymer weight fractions, it is shown that the thermal stability of poly(methyl methacrylate) produced in the presence of alkyl mercaptans approximately depends on the square of the weight fraction of the polymer chains with an unsaturated end group.


'Liwhu' (meaning 'death') as a morpheme in some Bette (Obudu) names has cultural, religious and social relevance. Generally used as variations of allusions to death, it encapsulates the Bette person's very essence as a being deeply rooted in the existence of spirits and other supernatural forces. This belief is part of a Bette person's daily life. This article seeks to translate Bette (Obudu) death-related or 'Liwhu' names into English with a view to providing acceptable alternative labels in English. Data were collected at random from a sampled population of 40 Obudu indigenes whose names bear a 'Liwhu' affix. Of these, nine recurrent 'Liwhu' names were retained and organized in five categories, depending on the cultural, religious or social roles they play in the life or lives of the bearer(s). In this study, we translated, analysed and explained the data from three main perspectives, that is, the linguistic, interpretative and semiotic approaches. The paper intends to add to the earlier voices of Asadu and Nzuanke (2014), which stated that most African proper names are translatable because, as symbols or signs, they have meanings that are founded on their particular psycho-spiritual functions in such societies.


Objective To investigate the effect of raising buttock on the bowel movement of patients who received laparoscopic exploration of common bile duct.Methods One hundred choledolithiasis patients were divided into an observation group and a control group after scheduled operation,with 50 cases in each group.Patients in the control group were given conventional nursing care,including sitting in semi-Fowler's position 6 h after the operation and then turning over every 2-4 h.Patients in the observation group were instructed to raise the buttocks 6 h after operation,hold for a few seconds and then relax.They were asked to repeat the motion 10-20 times with the exercise being performed every 2-4 h.Results The time of gas passage was significantly shortened,and rate of abdominal distension and the severity of pain during exercises was significantly lower in the observation group than those in the control group(P0.01 for all).Conclusion The method of raising buttock can effectively help the return of postoprative bowel movement.It is a safe and effective method of rehabilitational exercise.


The known effect of griseofulvin on the metabolism of porphyrins in animals was confirmed in a case of porphyria cutanea tarda in an elderly man, to whom griseofulvin was given purposely to study the result—significant increases of fecal coproporphyrins were observed, more marked than in normal individuals. The increase of blood coproporphyrin was comparable to that observed in the normal controls. The level of blood lipids was unaffected by griseofulvin administration.


KM3NeT is a research infrastructure hosting two neutrino detectors which are currently under construction in the Mediterranean Sea. The KM3NeT/ARCA detector focuses on the detection of high energy neutrinos (>TeV) from astrophysical sources. In this contribution, an analysis of the data obtained during 2021-2022, using machine learning techniques


Objective: To explore the clinical diagnosis value of color doppler ultrasonography in breast hyperplasia.Methods: The ultrasonic appearance and CDFI feature of 201 cases of breast hyperplasia were retrospectively analyzed.According to the ultrasonic appearance and CDFI feature,all the cases were also typed.Results: All the cases were typed into five types: 97(48%) were lobular hyperplasia,48(24%) were solid mass hyperplasia,32(16%) were cystic hyperplasia,3(1.5%) were dutus dilatation hyperplasia,21(10%) were mixed hyperplasia.CDFI: blood flow signal could be detected only in 4 cases of lobular hyperplasia,12 cases of solid tumor hyperplasia and 7 cases of mixed hyperplasia.No blood flow signal could be detected in both cases with cystic hyperplasia and dilatation hyperplasia.The total detecttion rate of color blood flow signal was 11.4%.Conclusion: Color doppler ultrasonography has good value in diagnosing the breast hyperplasia,it can be as the best supplementary to the diagnosis of breast hyperplasia.


Decreasing of interest in mathematics and science subjects among students in Malaysia has been discussed lately. Applications of mathematics and science in real world settings might be able to facilitate increased interests in the subjects, especially in doing research. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to manifest that learning mathematics through project-based activity would cultivate interest in students towards research and foster research-like skill. Experience of teaching mathematics in School of Mathematical Sciences, UKM with integration of biological and physics problems are discussed. The level of interest is measured through students' interest in doing their research projects in the final semester of the undergraduate study. The percentage of students interested in doing applied problems showed an increased in number. Thus it is concluded that the project-based activity led the students to identify their interest and hence head their interest into research.


Because the psychological assessment of high ability usually concentrates on intelligence testing, it is pertinent to discuss the validity of intelligence test batteries. The well‐known Wechsler's scales are analyzed and evaluated. Based on psychometric models, especially the Rasch model, analyses are made of some German editions, which show that hardly a single subtest scores fairly. That is, the true extent of testees' abilities will not be correctly represented by the scores obtained under current scoring rules. Since many of the items of the analyzed editions correspond to items of the American edition (WISC‐R), the same shortcomings must also be suspect for that test battery. In this light, the administration of these tests is no longer acceptable. However, it is shown that Wechsler's basic concept is worthwhile when accompanied by (modern) psychometric tools: a new (German) test battery, AID, is introduced which, in particular, conforms to economic requirements if high ability is to be assessed.


The article analyzes various interpretations of power, politics, and morality proposed by the thinkers of the East and the West in the historical retrospective. The author presents a modern solution to the problem of the interaction between power, politics, and morality.


ABSTRACT Despite the increased recognition of older adult homelessness in research, policy, and practice, few studies have considered the potential to co-produce knowledge using community-based participatory research (CBPR) filmmaking with older adults with homeless histories. This project redresses this gap. Using walk along and drive along interviews the documentary focused on the older adults' experiences of finding home after homelessness. In this article we offer insights into the tensions revealed in CBPR filmmaking and share reflections of social work students regarding their experiences working on this project. We offer recommendations for educators to enhance students' competencies and interests regarding the fields of homelessness and aging and for researchers who may be interested in engaging older adults in CBPR filmmaking.


Formal logic proposed the relation of inverse proportion between the intension and extension of the concept,but Dialectical logic proposed the direct proportion one.This dissertation analyzes such questions of the existence in practice as to explaining "relation of direct proportion" under the frame in formal logic,the application scope of "relation of inverse proportion"、"relation of direct proportion"and some exceptional phenomena,etc,by realizing the relation between concept intension and extension correctly,thus define the concept,understand the development of the individual concept.


Purpose: With the continuous progress and development of social economy, the process of urbanization has been significantly improved. As people's physical fatigue and work intensity are significantly weaker than before, the way of sitting and working is significantly reduced, life and dietary habits have also undergone significant changes, high-calorie diets have further increased, and many regions and countries in the world are currently aging. At the stage of transformation, the average prevalence of diabetes is also on the rise in most parts of the world. Diabetes has become an important global public health and hygiene event in the 21st century. This article aims to study whether controlling hyperglycemia will reduce the white blood cell count and the expression of inflammatory genes. Methods: 85 diabetic patients with poor blood glucose control in a hospital were selected for three months of hypoglycemic treatment, and the difference between the groups was compared by t test. Results: After three months of hypoglycemic treatment, the improvement group showed statistically significant differences in the measured quantity counts of leukocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, and lymphocytes and in the measured quantity counts of S100A8 gene and S100A9 gene mRNAs, none of the differences in the non improvement group. Conclusion: Controlling the blood sugar of diabetic patients can reduce their white blood cell count and also have an effect on the decrease of the expression of inflammatory genes in their granulocytes and monocytes.


The risk evaluation index system for operation security in high slope construction was drawn up on the basis of characteristics analysis of operation security, combined with expert evaluation and fuzzy prioritization method. The evaluation index system includes four factors of geological conditions, operation environment, slope construction and traffic organization, which lays the foundation for correct evaluation the influence of high slope construction to operation security.


In the summer of 2008, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; formerly Environment Canada) scientists partnered with colleagues in academia to lead a field study investigating thunderstorm initiation (TI) in the foothills region of Alberta. The Understanding Severe Thunderstorms and Alberta Boundary Layers Experiment (UNSTABLE; Taylor et al. 2011) intensive observation period (IOP) was conducted during 9-23 July 2008. During this time fixed and mobile observation platforms were used to examine near-surface and upper-air processes related to TI.


Objective To study the effect of group psychological guidance on low self-esteem in patients with schizophrenia.Methods A total of 144 patients with schizophrenia at recovery phrase were randomly divided into two groups,the study group with group psychological guidance and the control group without,which both were treated with former neuroleptics. The Feeling of Inadequacy Scale (FIS), Self-rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) were used to assess patients before and after study.Results Significant differences between two groups appeared in scores of FIS, SAS and SES after 8 weeks (P0.01),and there were significant difference between before and after group psychological guidance(P0.01). Conclusion Group psychological guidance would raise the level of self-esteem in patients with schizophrenia, and improve depression and anxiety.


4096 Background: Effective treatments are urgently needed to improve the prognosis of patients with recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Previous studies demonstrated that both radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) were promising therapies for recurrent small HCC. This trial was designed to compare the efficacy and safety of RFA versus SBRT in patients with recurrent small HCC. Methods: This is a prospective, open label, randomized controlled trial, in which patients aged between 18 and 75 years with recurrent small HCC (occurred more than 3 months after hepatectomy or RFA, a solitary HCC ≤5.0 cm in diameter without vascular invasion or extrahepatic metastasis), KPS score ≥90, Child-Pugh score ≤6, adequate organ function, and estimated life expectancy ≥6 months were considered eligible. All patients were assigned 1:1 to RFA or SBRT group, and stratification was performed according to tumor size (≤ 2.0 cm or 2.1-5.0 cm). The primary endpoint was 2-year local progression-free survival. Secondary endpoints were progression-free survival, locoregional control, overall survival, and safety. Results: A total of 170 patients were recruited during August 2019 to May 2022 (83 in RFA arm and 87 in SBRT arm). In the ITT population, median age was 56 (range, 33-75) and 15 were female. Baseline characteristics were well balanced between treatment arms. Adverse events occurred in RFA and SBRT were mainly grade 1 or grade 2 in severity, and were gastrointestinal and constitutional symptoms, or abnormal laboratory investigations. The most common adverse events were bilirubin increase(14.6%)and AST increase (13.3%) in RFA group vs ALT increase (20.0%) and AST increase (15.3%) in SBRT group. No Grade 3-4 adverse events or mortality were noted. Late adverse events were hardly observed after 3 months. The follow-up of survival data is ongoing. Conclusions: Both RFA and SBRT are tolerable and safe for patients with recurrent small HCC. This randomized controlled trial will report the survival outcomes in 2024, which will make an important contribution in clinical decision-making for recurrent small HCC. Clinical trial information: NCT04047173 .


Under no.11 position paper "Economic and Monetary Union", Romania took responsibility of reporting according to European System of Accounts - ESA 95. Public Institution classification is necessary to delineate the perimeter of general government (S.13), subdividing it into sub-sectors and to define how to consolidate their financial statements. To fulfill this research we used methods of documentary research, observation, analysis and empirical observation. Through the specific procedure of documents observation performed we accomplish delineating the problem in the general context. The empirical experiments produced practical data. The purpose of this study considered the practical applicability of a solution in offering a model of reporting that lead to increased correctness, forwardness, quality, of accounting information provided to their users.


Most recent discussions about race and racism in South Africa have focused on white constructions and representations of blackness. By contrast, understandings of whiteness have hardly been explored at all. A reluctance on the part of white South Africans to problematise themselves as settlers or conquerors is one probable reason for this silence: for most of the twentieth century Afrikaners have insisted on their rights as Africans (often to the exclusion of those whose claim to such status is more obvious) whereas English-speakers have managed the trick of defining everyone else in the country as either racially or ethnically 'other' -while blithely assuming their own identity to be somehow 'normal' and therefore not suitable for deep investigation. South Africa's major historiographical traditions have compounded this lack ofself-reflectiveness over issues of identity. Typically, liberal writers have tended to represent modem South African history as a titanic struggle played out by two competing and ever more extreme nationalisms, African and Afrikaner, with the doughty defenders of noble liberal values squeezed uncomfortably inbetween. Those unsympathetic to the liberal predicament see the problem rather differently. Thus, marxists have cast liberals as (at best) self-righteous moralists and (at worst) conservative reformers and apologists for a system of capitalist exploitation of which they have been the chief beneficiaries. Conversely, Africanists and Afrikaner nationalists have both rounded on liberals as hypocritical interferers or as ciphers for the forces of capitalism, imperialism and communism. Polarised positions such as these have merely served to hollow out our understanding of the history of white politics, power and identity in South Africa issues which, in a post-apartheid era, are being revisited in new and troubling ways. This article is not expressly about liberalism. Instead, it takes its cue from the related, sometimes overlapping, and largely forgotten centrist tradition of 'South Africanism' so as to cast ambient light on the formation of white identity and its


The usability of the interface reflects the quality of the hospital website. A good interface can make people feel the pleasure of being served by medical services when they contact the hospital website. However, the hospital website interface is often criticised. As a preliminary stage to explore the usability of the hospital website interface, this research proposes future development suggestions for the subsequent construction of the hospital website through the operation of five tasks and subjective evaluation of interface functions. Studies have shown that a good interface should achieve the above four aspects: concise and intuitive screen presentation, reasonable location placement, orderly information blocks, and smooth operation routes.


Cold, dense filaments, some appearing as infrared dark clouds, are the nurseries of stars. Tremendous progress in terms of temperature, density distribution and gas kinematics has been made in understanding the nature of these filaments. However, very little is known about the role played by magnetic fields in the evolution of these filaments. Here, I summarize the recent observational efforts and ongoing projects (POLSTAR survey) in this direction.


Stannosilicate zeolites with nanosheet morphology and MFI topology (Sn-MFI-ns) are successfully synthesized with an amphiphilic organic structure-directing agent. Sn source, Si/Sn ratio, crystallization time and temperature impact framework Sn incorporation and nanosheet morphology. Optimal synthesis conditions generate Sn-MFI-ns with high crystallinity and isolated framework Sn sites. Nanosheets are ∼2 nm thick in the (010) direction, resulting in large intersheet mesopore volumes and external surface areas exceeding 430 m2/g. Unlike bulk Sn-MFI, Sn-MFI-ns is highly active in the Baeyer–Villiger oxidation of bulky cyclic ketones using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Although Sn-MFI-ns and Sn-MCM-41 have comparable activity and oxidant efficiency, the nanosheets exhibit drastically higher thermal and hydrothermal stability.


Electron emission from a gold surface was observed at THz peak field strengths above 40 kV/cm. Flipping the polarity of the THz pulses resulted in a significantly different current signal. The electron signal, also measured as function of the THz polarization angle, showed double maxima.


This study focuses on using religious attributes in the trial process of corruption cases in Indonesia, the judge's consideration of the decency of a defendant, and the regulation of a defendant's religious identity in the court decision. By identifying the judge's perspective on a defendant's religious attributes and aspects of decency as an interpretative scheme and constructing their significance on it, this study also presents an analysis of the application of the principle of impartiality of judges and courts based on the Bangalore Principles. Impartiality itself is positioned as the bedrock of judicial integrity. With a field-based research method, this study reveals that religious identity has influenced judges and court decisions, especially considering mitigating factors in criminal sentencing. These findings indicate that the Bangalore Principles fall short of clear guidelines to counter such bias and a clear framework in Indonesia's judiciary to restore its integrity.


(65) Prior Publication Data Disclosed is a system for indicating paper supply in receipt printers, the system including a paper roll including a core US 2008/O142631 A1 Jun. 19, 2008 and length of paper that forms a paper portion, the core including a core diameter and the paper portion including a (51) Int. Cl. decreasing paper diameter, wherein the core contrasts in color B65H 43/00 (2006.01) to the paper portion to create a contrast, a scanner configured (52) U.S. Cl. .................................... 400/613; 242/563.2 to sense data pertaining to areas occupied by the core and the (58) Field of Classification Search ................. 400/613; paper portion via the contrast, wherein the computing 347/104; 242/563.1,563.2 resource is configured to convert the data into measurements See application file for complete search history. of the core diameter and paper diameter, the computing (56) References Cited resource being programmable to create alerts when remain


The generation of H2 from materials having a high content of H atoms is attractive for both sustainable energy and convenient means of hydrogenation. We report that the novel synthesized...


This paper offers a conceptual understanding of the Islamic housing loan (BaiBithaman Ajil) with a special focus on the operational matters and the factors that affect the acceptance of Bai-Bithaman Ajil. Approach: This paper incorporates relevant findings and issues surrounding the acceptance and implementation of the Islamic housing loan Findings: This paper offer more insights on the challenges faced by Islamic banking institutions to deal with both muslim and non-muslim markets in terms of the marketability of the product especially multi-racial society.


This paper proposes a non-isolated high-step-down-ratio auxiliary power supply solution for medium-voltage converter. Different from the state-of-the-art voltage-balancing-circuit designs, the proposed unidirectional balancing cell can reduce a half of the active device and their driving circuits. Also, size of the resonant tank can be shrunk by more than ten folds by decoupling the LC resonant frequency from the switching frequency. Lastly, the balancing cells are connected in an interleaved manner instead of direct series connection. In this way, each balancing cell is self-governed and decoupled from other cells, which eliminates the need for communication or central controller, and improves both reliability and simplicity. The solution, therefore, becomes a scalable and flexible solution for different voltage levels. For n cells, when stacked in an interleaved way, the topology can have n times of input voltage, and (n+1) : 1 step-down ratio. Finally, a 100 W prototype that converts 6 kV to 1 kV using five cells with different power flow directions validates the working principle.


— A new cavernicolous freshwater crab of the tribe Potamocarcinini, Zilchia falcata, is described from Guatemala. Most members of this tribe exhibit a number of homologies that appear to change gradually in form or position. The species groups recognized according to these morphoclines correspond roughly to the genera already established. Three species that have been included among them, however, should not be placed in the Potamocarcinini : Allacanthos pittieri (Rathbun, 1898), Spirocarcinus garthi (Pretzmann, 1971) and Potamocarcinus chacei Pretzmann, 1967. To receive the last of these species, the new genus Eidocamptophallus is erected. Resume. — Une nouvelle espece de crabe d'eau douce cavemicole de la tribu des Potamocarcinini, Zilchia falcata, est decrite du Guatemala. Les gonopodes de la plupart des Potamocarcinini montrent plusieurs homologies de forme et de position, lesquelles changent d'une faQon graduelle parmi les diverses especes. II y a une correspondance generale entre les groupes d'especes definis par ces morphoclines et les genres etablis d'abord dans la litterature. Les definitions des genres de la tribu sont corrigees dans cette contribution. Trois especes, Allacanthos pittieri (Rathbun, 1898), Spirocarcinus garthi (Pretzmann, 1971) et Potamocarcinus chacei Pretzmann, 1967, doivent etre exclues des Potamocarcinini. Un nouveau genre, Eidocamptophallus, est erige pour recevoir la derniere de ces especes. G. RODRIGUEZ, Centra de Ecologia, IVIC, Apartado 21827, Caracas 1020-A, Venezuela. H. H. HOBBS, Jr., Department of Invertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington. B.C. 20560. Fifteen species of pseudothelphusids have been reported to ocxur as troglobites pr troglophiles in the subterranean waters of Southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize (REDDELL, 1982; RODRIGUEZ and HOBBS, in press). AH except two of them belong to the tribe Potamocarcinini. Examinations of crabs collected in caves by the Dreux Expedition to Guatemala in 1975 have revealed the presence there of yet another member of the tribe. Since the generic allocation of this new crab presents difficulties, comments on the status of the genera of the tribe are offered herein.


Objective: To characterize the pharmacokinetics (PK) of SBECD (sulfobutylether-β-cyclodextrin sodium salt, Capitsol) in carbamazepine(CBZ)-treated patients with epilepsy by renal function status. Background: SBECD solubilizes oral CBZ for intravenous use when oral administration is not feasible. IV CBZ is bioequivalent to oral CBZ infused at 70% of the total daily dose (TDD) every 6 hours (q6h). SBECD is eliminated unchanged by renal excretion, and half-life (t ½ ), mean AUC, and C max are increased in patients with moderate renal impairment (RI). Design/Methods: In a phase 1 open-label trial (NCT01079351), adults with epilepsy receiving stable oral CBZ (400–2,000 mg/day) were converted to IV CBZ (70% oral TDD) administered as 15- or 30-min infusions q6h on Days 1–7 of an inpatient period. SBECD PK following single-dose (Day 1) and multiple-dose (Day 7) IV CBZ administration were assessed by renal function (RF) and infusion duration. Results: On Day 1, SBECD exposure was similar for both infusion groups independent of renal function (normal RF, n=35: mean AUC 0–∞ , 782–881 μg·h/mL; mild RI, n=16: mean AUC 0–∞ , 808–905 μg·h/mL). Mean C max was notably greater in the 15-min groups (normal RF, 779 μg/mL; mild RI, 725 μg/mL) versus the 30-min groups (normal RF, 520 μg/mL; mild RI, 478 μg/mL). On Day 7, steady-state SBECD exposures were similar in patients with normal RF (30- and 15-min) and mild RI (15-min) (mean AUC τ : 830–1015 μg·h/mL). Steady-state mean C max was greater in the 15-min groups versus the 30-min groups, but similar for patients with normal RF and mild RI with the same infusion duration. Conclusions: Steady-state SBECD PK was similar to single-dose PK following IV CBZ infusions, indicating linear PK. Accumulation of SBECD, a potentially nephrotoxic ingredient of IV CBZ, was comparable between patients with normal RF and mild RI after 7 days of treatment. Study Supported by: Lundbeck LLC Disclosure: Dr. Tolbert has received personal compensation for activities with Lundbeck LLC. Dr. Ravis has received personal compensation for activities with Fast-Track Drugs & Biologics, LLC. Dr. Ravis has received research support from Fast-Track Drugs & Biologics, LLC and War Eagle Labs. Dr. Karim has received personal compensation for activities with Lundbeck LLC and Aptinyx as a consultant.


Limited visibility due to fog poses a significant danger to travelers. Accurate fog forecasts provide travelers with ample time to make preparations for low visibility conditions. Previous to this study, the Miami's NWS Weather Forecast Office used a combination of factors to forecast fog, mainly moisture and wind speeds derived from forecast and observed soundings. However, a quantitative approach based on research results has not been used yet in South Florida. Due to its subtropical climate that combines marine, Everglades, and urban conditions, traditional fog forecasting techniques are not directly applicable to South Florida. Here we perform a retrospective analysis of the past three fog seasons in South Florida (from November 1 to April 30) using METAR data, radiosonde profiles, and in some cases satellite imagery. The reanalysis applies the United Parcel Service (UPS) Airlines technique based on crossover temperature and modified Richardson number, to all cases. The results demonstrate that a combination technique that uses the crossover temperature in conjunction with a 15-knot maximum threshold of 925 mb winds for fog formation yields the most accurate fog formation predictor at the study location. The crossover temperature is defined as the minimum dew point observed during the warmest daytime heating hours. Fog is forecast when the shelter temperature is expected to cool to a few degrees below the crossover temperature, rather than a few degrees below the dew point. This combination technique successfully predicted 65% of all fog events compared to 38% when the crossover temperature was used in conjunction with the modified Richardson number. Possibly the subtropical location limits the frequency of turbulent mixing due to synoptic features, which may explain why the 925 mb winds outperform the modified Richardson number used in the UPS airlines technique. 1. Motivation of Work Reduced of visibility due to fog can pose a significant hazard to travelers. In fact, a 1995-2000 study by the National Transportation Safety Board found that 63% of all weather-related fatal aircraft accidents were due to Low Instrument Flight Rules (LIFR)/fog situations (Pearson 2002). Fog is also notorious for multi-vehicle accidents for land travelers, with the capability to injure or kill dozens of people (Croft 2002). While the American Meteorological Society Glossary defines fog as reducing visibility below 1km, for the purpose of this paper fog will be defined as a reduction in visibility below 2 miles (3.7 km) due to a surface layer condensation. The site chosen for this study is Tamiami Airport, located in the suburbs of Southwestern Miami-Dade County. Due to the nature of the site, the primary fog analyzed is radiation fog. While the conditions favorable for fog formation, such as clear skies, high humidity in the boundary layer, low turbulence, and a surface temperature inversion, are well known, formation is very sensitive and an inaccurate forecast for any one of them. Even a slight change in weather conditions, can produce a faulty fog forecast. Here we analyze similarities among fog events over the past 3 years and assess the accuracy of two fog forecasting techniques: the Crossover Technique (Baker et al. 2002) and the Modified Richardson Number (Baker et al.


ABSTRACT A novel can alter a change in readers over a lifetime. This paper examines the dynamics of transference animated by novels that affect us. In her reading of Thomas Ogden's The Parts Left Out, the author follows the novel's aesthetic and formal operation as it animates transference to one's own childhood in readers. The conceptualisation of transference in reading advanced in this paper leans on Melanie Klein's version of the workings of unconscious phantasy in the infant's first felt reading of the (m)other. The content of novels that profoundly affect us, the author argues, aesthetically and formally operate via self-other and/or author-reader transference in the event of reading.


Flooding in Dhaka City occurs for both excess rainfall and rise of river water level in monsoon. The central part of Dhaka city which is protected by embankment usually experiences flood due to excess rainfall or urban flooding. The unprotected area is affected by river flood as Dhaka is surrounded by rivers. In recent history, extreme rainfall events in 2004, 2007 and 2009[2] have caused major damage and suffering to the city dwellers. The major problem with central part is to deal with the excess overland flow due to heavy rainfall. The city has four large lakes among which the Central part of Dhaka city drains to "Hatirjheel Lake". With the help of Early Warning of heavy rainfall, the retaining capacity of this lake can be utilized to the effect of the excess rainfall runoff. The effect of the early warning system is analyzed using mathematical models and reduction of damage is calculated in Taka. It is observed that using this system can reduce the damage significantly.


A removable catalyst muffler is designed and applied according to the characteristics of general 125ml motorcycle muffler. It has advantages of convenient disassembling, simpler catalyst replacement and low cost of installation and maintenance.


HCFC1, TCN2, and CD320) did not reveal any deleterious variant that could explain the clinical picture. Only 3 homozygous polymorphic variants (c.1603C>T, c.665C>T, and c.677C> T) were identified in the MTHFR gene. The parents were both heterozygous carriers. However, severe macrocytic anemia in the neonatal period due to MTHFR deficiency has not been described before. The severe clinical phenotype of this patient may not have been solely caused by the MTHFR variants.2,3 It is also possible that other unknown genetic factors contributed to her condition. We suggest that this case might represent a new entity different from other known remethylation disorders.


The lack of a large amount of pottery sherds dating from the 1st to the middle of the 3rd century at the site of Our Lady of the Mountain indicates that the population did not live there permanently during that period. After the establishment of peace and the organization of the Roman administrative authority, the population no longer needed to live on the hilltop and moved to the valley where a settlement with a necropolis was organized. It is not possible to give a precise answer to the question about the function of the hilltop site after the population moved to the valley. The first possibility is that part of the population still remained on the hilltop and lived there in a small, rural settlement of wooden houses, of which almost nothing has been preserved, except perhaps a few post holes that were not destroyed by medieval and modern graves. If, however, the population of the hilltop had completely abandoned their residence there, the possibility of retaining a cult place there remains. There is no evidence that the Late La Tène or perhaps Early Roman building beside the Early Christian complex was used for housing, as no significant amount of pottery was found there. More specifically, regarding the Romanization period, no large amount of pottery was found that could confirm that the hilltop was used as a settlement. Nevertheless, the pottery that has been found and can be dated to that period belongs to fine pots that may not be the pinnacle of Roman pottery, but for a settlement geographically isolated and therefore less connected to the rest of the Romanized part of the Noric-Pannonian border area, those finds are quite significant, even in the fragmented state in which they are. Fragments of thin-walled pottery, slipware, so-called eggshell ware and face pots belong to this period. The complete absence of fragments of coarse pots of the Late La Tène period tradition with a surface combed with vertical, slanted or irregular strokes is also significant, and this situation may indicate that the hillfort was really only a cult area where offerings to pagan deities were brought in fine tableware. This could be confirmed by the face pot fragment that are sometimes associated with pre-Roman beliefs, as well as the positions where earlier Roman pottery was found. All fragments of thin-walled pottery, slipware, face pots, etc. were found in trenches around the present-day church and early Christian church complex, i.e. around a potential earlier pagan sanctuary. Of the coarser pots that can be attributed to the 1st and 2nd century, only very small fragments of a relatively fine fabric can be singled out with certainty, decorated with short strokes with a small comb that sometimes overlap. For the earlier Roman period in Lobor, the find of Trajan's sestertius is also significant, which, together with a bowl of thin-walled pottery of probably Siscian production, is one of the earliest finds at the site of Our Lady of the Mountain, although there is a possibility that it was in later use. If Trajan's coin from Lobor is indeed of a later date, the thin-walled pottery bowl is the earliest confirmed find of Roman pottery in Lobor. Although it is attributed to Siscian production, based on the discovery of one bowl, it cannot be claimed that the process of Romanization arrived from the south, especially since the Lobor area has been connected with the area northwest of it since at least the Late Bronze Age, if not earlier. As it seems according to the current state of research and the analysis of pottery, life returned to the hillfort to a greater extent in the second third or maybe even the second half of the 3rd century. It is possible that the return of the population to the hillfort did not take place during a shorter period, but the findings of pottery suggest that. The number of vessels that can be attributed to the time around the middle of the 3rd century is greater than the number of those dated to the 1st and 2nd century, and in addition, the distribution of fragments of this later ware is no longer concentrated around the present-day church, but extends to the northern plateau and the area along the northern rampart. There are several fragments of relief terrae sigillatae that can be attributed to the Rheinzabern workshops and dated to the second half of the 2nd or the first half of the 3rd century. The only fragment of a Faltenbecher type cup can be dated from the end of the 2nd to the third quarter of the 3rd century. In this later group of early Roman pottery, Pannonische Glanztonware fragments are the most numerous. Although the sherds were not found in a closed context, based on analogies they are dated from the first quarter of the 2nd to the end of the 3rd century. It is indicative that the group of tableware that is dated at the latest is also the most common of the earlier Roman pottery. The largest number of Roman coins found at the site of Our Lady of the Mountain in Lobor can be dated from the middle of the 3rd century onwards. Those include all Roman coins except for the aforementioned Trajan's sestertius and the perforated sestertius of Maximinus I of Thrace, which was obviously in secondary use in a later period. Taking into account the dating of the coins and the group of pottery that appeared in the middle or second half of the 3rd century and whose quantity also increased significantly after that period, primarily glazed pottery, it can be determined with considerable certainty that life returned to the late La Tène hillfort immediately after the middle of the 3rd century and that the Late Antique hilltop settlement in Lobor was established. It is not excluded that the refugial character of the position of the Lobor hillfort was used earlier, perhaps during the Marcomannic Wars, but there is no evidence for this so far. A large amount of tableware cannot be attributed to that time, and certain types, such as unglazed mortars, are completely missing. In addition, there are no finds of Roman coins or other objects that can certainly be attributed to that time and interpreted in favor of a shorter settlement during the uncertain times of the second half of the 2nd century. The significant increase in the amount of pottery and the presence of almost all groups of pottery from the middle of the 3rd century, which are facts that indicate the permanent character of the hilltop settlement in Late Antiquity, could be connected with the turbulent times of the so-called crisis of the 3rd century. The beginning of that crisis period can be connected to the latest dated fragments of tombstones found as spolia at the site of Our Lady of the Mountain, as well as the stelae of Marcus Cocceius Superianus and Valerius Lucilianus found in the center of today's Lobor. It seems that since that time, the deceased are no longer buried in the necropolis of the lower settlement in Lobor, but in a so far unknown location, probably closer to the hilltop settlement, and later next to the early Christian complex in the center of the hilltop settlement. The discovery of graves on the artificially formed elevation north of the shrine of Our Lady of the Mountain did not result in a sufficient amount of pottery fragments that could confirm the position as a Late Antique cemetery, despite the discovery of one bone comb and the foot of a glass cup. The number of pottery fragments is negligible and there are no diagnostic sherds. As it seems so far, the abandonment of the permanent settlement in the valley along the Rieka stream and the establishment of the hilltop settlement was probably not only connected with the threats to the Roman population from the barbarian groups from the other side of the Danube, but also with the general state of insecurity during a greater part of the 3rd century. Late Antique glazed pottery marks the period from the second half of the 3rd to the middle or second half of the 5th century. Although it represents only 2.57% of the Late Antique pottery sherds, which is not an unusual number for sites far from the major workshop centers on the Danube or in northern Italy, glazed pottery represents a group in which almost all basic types and methods of decoration are represented. The bowls, plates, cups, bowls with handles and jugs belong mostly to tableware and mortars to kitchenware. Decorative motifs include grooved single and combed horizontal lines, single and combed undulations, small triangular, rectangular and irregular motifs made by rouletting, notches and oval motifs made with a sharp or rounded object on the rim, notches made using the chattering technique, stamped concentric circles, modeled wavy rim, and sometimes there are combinations of two decorative motifs. The decoration was sometimes carried out by painting with a red slip in the form of flames and flower petals, and the exteriors of several glazed bowls were decorated with burnished horizontal lines. Mortars decorated with slip painting and bowls with burnished horizontal lines, as well as related examples of glazed pottery with an intense olive green or yellow green glaze combined with red slip without a pattern should probably be dated earlier, to the second half of the 3rd and the first half of the 4th century, and glazed pottery of simpler forms, duller glaze and slip color if it was applied, and generally glazed pottery of poor glaze quality could be dated to the later period of the second half of the 4th and the first half of the 5th century. No examples of glazed pottery have been identified that could be could be dated only to the second half of the 5 th or even the 6th century, which is also a problem with other groups of Late Antique pottery from Lobor. Considering the theory about local workshops of glazed pottery, which has not yet been confirmed by field research, it was not possible to determine the workshop origin of the glazed pottery from Lobor, but based on the variety of fabrics, firing techniques, glaze an


Fixed assets describe the company's significant wealth and have experienced depreciation in one accounting period. Fixed assets need to be audited because an audit is a form of critical and systematic examination of the financial statements that have been prepared, along with all financial records as supporting evidence. This is certainly able to maintain the quality of financial reporting. This study aims to determine the procedures, findings, and results of fixed asset accounting audits for the YG Community Health Center (Puskesmas) for the 2022 financial year. The data in this study were sourced from secondary data through the documentation method in data collection. The data analysis used in this research is descriptive qualitative analysis. Based on a review of fixed asset audit procedures at the YG Health Center, we saw several errors in depreciation calculations and account classification and placement. So, a reclassification and recommendation were given for several correcting journals regarding existing errors. There are limitations in this study that include the time to audit fixed assets and the lack of a new auditor in recognizing the specification of any fixed assets, particularly in the health center. For future research, it is recommended to study the impact of any audit recommendation on the audit opinion, especially in the audit of fixed assets.


Research and design of three generation file system for smart card on flash memory were made,introducing log technology and power failure protection to assure smart card's file system reliability,data consistency and integrality.Memory space was assigned according to byte.Mechanisms of valid space collection and reuse improve the using rate of memory space.Technology of wear leveling and page mapped prolong the flash storage life-span,and the design of efficiency memory management improves the rate of data retrieval.Consequently,the whole performance of smart card is strengthened.The simulation makes sure the file system fit 3G EVDO card.


Introduction: The appearance of pigmented lesions in scars of malignant melanoma is a finding that worries dermatologists/dermatopathologists, because they are faced with the possibility of persistence/recurrence of malignant melanoma. Case reports: We present three cases of patients with melanocytic pigmentation in scars of malignant melanoma and discuss the clinical and histological aspects of these. In all cases, we observed macules similar to lentigo spots, but histologically we observed three different patterns: lentiginous epidermal hyperplasia, lentiginous hyperplasia of melanocytes and malignant melanoma in situ. Discussion: There are three types of pigmentation, which may arise in the scar of malignant melanoma: lentigo type lesions, pigmented streaks and diffuse pigmentation. Histologically, three patterns of melanocytic pigmentation in scars of malignant melanoma, are described: lentiginous epidermal hyperplasia, lentiginous hyperplasia of melanocytes and persistence/ recurrence of malignant melanoma. The scar appears to be responsible for pigmentation by a process of induction acting on epidermal melanocytes.


A set of soil water content testing system was developed.The calibration test result showed that the precision of the system was high enough. Pot experiments with 6 treatments and 3 repetitions were conducted. The treatments included paper-mulching , no-mulching, and 3 types of irrigation methods. The soil water content of the 6 treatments was tested using the testing system. It was proved that the technology of paper-mulching with the advantage of resisting water evaporating through the analysis of the water content difference of paper-mulching and no-mulching and the water consumption during the whole growing period under the condition of 3 different irrigation methods.


In situ combustion or fire flooding is a promising enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique designed to produce heavy oils and bitumen. This method involves the in-place heating and combustion of hydrocarbons, resulting in reduced viscosity and increased mobility for improved flow toward the production wellbore. Despite its potential, widespread commercial implementation of in situ combustion has been hindered due to technical and economic challenges like inadequate project design and improper reservoir selection. This literature review paper provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge of in situ combustion by addressing its principles, historical development, combustion processes, underlying kinetics, and testing methods. Additionally, the review tackles existing gaps in the literature, as well as the challenges associated with modeling and implementation in field applications. It also suggests solutions drawn from historical field experiences of the technology. Finally, the review paper proposes comprehensive screening guidelines derived from various literature sources for the implementation of in situ combustion. This framework underscores the technique's potential for efficient and sustainable hydrocarbon extraction, shaping its future as a transformative enhanced oil recovery technology.


Most of the recent product recall incidents indicate that effective management of suppliers and production-distribution planning may play a vital role in increasing product safety. This study explores the opportunities to increase the product safety by analyzing the performance of suppliers and production-distribution system. More precisely, this research analyzes the impact of suppliers' performance on overall profit of supply chain and impact of increasing consumer safety on total profit of supply chain. The novelty of this study is the development of integrated supplier selection and production-distribution model considering consumer risk and product safety. The proposed model is a grey multiobjective model which considers imprecise information as grey parameters. Furthermore, a novel grey-weighted ε-constrained (GWECON) method is developed to solve the proposed multiobjective model.


Oxidative stress affects all intracellular macromolecules, and leads cells to death under unfavorable conditions. Glutathione (GSH) is known to play a critical role in the cellular defense against unregulated oxidative stress in mammalian cells including neurons. We previously demonstrated that GSH depletion induces cell death in the retina, but the mechanism of cell defense by GSH is still unclear. Thus, we here examined the effect of GSH depletion on expression of members of B-cell CLL/lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) family (bcl-2, bcl-XL, bax, bak, n-bak and bad) known to play key roles in determining cell viability. In order to deplete intracellular GSH, we systemically administrated buthionine sulphoximine (BSO), an inhibitor of γ-glutamylcysteine synthetase to mice. After 0, 1, 4, and 7 days of BSO injection, total RNAs from retina of each animals were isolated and subjected to real-time reverse transcription (RT)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. Expression of bcl-XL increased one day after BSO injection, but was back to the basal level on day 4. Its expression decreased on day 7. Expressions of bcl-2 and bax were significantly decreased from 4 days after BSO injection, whereas expression of bad was not changed. An anti-apoptotic molecule, bak displayed a significant decrease 7 days after BSO injection, whereas neuronal cell specific Bak (Bcl-2 homologous antagonist/killer), N-Bak was not altered in its gene expression. Taken together, we demonstrated that decrease in intracellular glutathione level altered expressions of Bcl-2 family members in distinct manners. Our study implies a defensive mechanism of GSH against oxidative stress for retinal neuronal survival which may involve alteration of expression of Bcl-2 family members, especially Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL. Thus, over-expression of Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL may not the only but a critical factor in GSH-dependent cellular protection, and which implies Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL may provide a potent therapeutic tool for cures against oxidative stress induced retinal degenerative diseases such as glaucoma, retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration.


Background: FH, a hereditary disorder, is caused by pathogenic variants in the LDLR, APOB, and PCSK9 genes. This study has assessed genetic variants in a family, clinically diagnosed with FH. Methods: A family was recruited from MASHAD study in Iran with possible FH based on the Simon Broom criteria. The DNA sample of an affected individual (proband) was analyzed using WES, followed by bioinformatics and segregation analyses. Results: A novel splice site variant (c.345-2A>G) was detected in the LDLRAP1 gene, which was segregated in all affected family members. Moreover, HMGCR rs3846662 g.23092A>G was found to be homozygous (G/G) in the proband, probably leading to reduced response to simvastatin and pravastatin. Conclusion: LDLRAP1 c.345-2A>G could alter the PTB, which acts as an important part of biological pathways related to lipid metabolism.


Mass leakage at boundaries can be a critical issue for the reliability of the lattice Boltzmann (LB) method based on Cartesian grids. Despite numerous works based on the LB method, the intrinsic macroscopic mechanisms causing mass leakage are still not fully characterized but are essential to improve the mass conservation of LB simulations. In this paper, an original theoretical investigation of mass leakage at boundaries is proposed within the general LB framework. It is demonstrated that the mass leakage originates from the intrinsic deficiency of the wall-cut LB links at boundary nodes in recovering macroscopic momenta. From a mesoscopic-level definition, i.e., the net loss of distribution functions during the streaming process, the local mass leakage at individual boundary nodes, and its averaged value along smooth boundaries are mathematically expressed using macroscopic variables. The local mass leakage is shown to be dominated by terms proportional to the tangential momentum component. In contrast, the averaged mass leakage is shown to be contributed by various terms, including the boundary curvature, the tangential momentum, and the gradients of density, momentum, and momentum flux. Meanwhile, the amplitude of the averaged mass leakage is theoretically estimated to be proportional to the local grid spacing based on which a first-order accurate correction scheme is proposed. In addition, both the local and averaged mass leakage are demonstrated to be significantly dependent on boundary orientation with respect to the grid. The proposed theoretical analysis is assessed by performing numerical experiments. Two-dimensional weakly compressible flows through straight and curved moving channels are considered to estimate each term appearing in the theoretical analysis. The numerical results are in very good agreement with the proposed analysis, and the proposed mass correction scheme based on the averaged mass leakage effectively cures the mass leakage problems in the considered test cases.


Clinical ethics consultation service remains undeveloped in developing countries. It is recognised that its introduction poses challenges. Malaysia, a multicultural society with diverse religions, values and perceptions further complicate the introduction of formal clinical ethics consultation service. Clinicians attending a national congress workshop completed a Strengths–Weaknesses–Opportunities–Threats analysis. The aim was to gain insight into clinician's expectations and promote initiatives leading to the introduction of clinical ethics consultation service. Clinicians agree that clinical ethics consultation service can improve quality of care, reduce healthcare costs and advocate for patients and providers. The analysis highlighted constraints in sufficient critical mass of relevant expertise and restricted opportunities for training. The opportunities lie in education, curriculum development and availability of dedicated proponents. Cultural barriers, limited resources, lack of awareness, differences in opinions, fear of litigation and destructive influence of social media are seen as threats to the introduction of clinical ethics consultation service. This study illustrates the value of involving stakeholders when introducing clinical ethics consultation service formally. The issues identified will inform the strategic directions for the delivery of clinical ethics consultation service at a national level.


Measles is different from other virus diseases in that the susceptibility of the human species is extreime, but the adequate resistance of the healthy human being towards this aggression is no less striking. G. S. Wilson' remarked. "We have therefore the striking anomaly of a high degree of inmunity to death associated with an apparent lack of immunity to attack. In this respect, as in certain others, measles is unique." This is so true of the Indian situation, where one encounters a distinct difference between the attacks of measles in high socioeconomic groups with that of lower socioeconomic groups, the attacks being much more severe in malnourished children with lowered resistance. In my detailed study of 336 cases of measles from 1964 to 1966 at Hyderabad, India, 54% had pulmonary, bronchitic, and laryngeal infections; 37% had diarrhoeal illnesses (of which about 10% had associated rickets, whooping cough, mumps, and otitis media); and 2% had classical measles encephalopathy. One child had cutaneous and mucosal purpura accompanied by haemorrhages and distressing dyspnoea with predominant neurological and respiratory signs (the so-called "black measles"). In 7% there was x-ray evidence of reactivation of dormnant tubercular focus with negative Mantoux test (an anergy, on average lasting 4-6 weeks). One child had classical tropical eosinophilia with primary complex and a severe attack of measles. In 6% hypoproteinemia was precipitated and the convalescence was prolonged with a ssociated diarrhoea. These secondary bacterial infections are doubtless due to 'the epithelial alteration (in the epithelium of the mouth and the respiratory and digestive tract) and to humo:ral and inununolozical disturbances. Among the clinical manifestations, apart from the prodromal symptoms, photophobia is quite marked and blotched, oedematous, weepy facies is very characteristic of measles. Cough is dry, incessant, and tiring. Postmeasles pigmentation is a constant feature (suggesting intracutaneous capillary haemorrhages) which invariably shows desquamation on face and trunk. Lastly, one has to take into cognizance the recently known problem that injection of an inactivated measles virus vaccine2 creates a predisposition to serious clinical symptoms in cases of subseauent natural infection. The pathogenesis of this phenomenon so far remains obscure. These and many other factoirs are reminders that measles deserves much more vigilant management today.-I am, etc., S. R. SAXENA


The OPUS digital repository publishes and preserves GSU's scholarly output. It also hosts journals, magazines, books, conference proceedings, theses, research data, and other university related publications. The OPUS digital repository publishes and preserves GSU's scholarly output. It also hosts journals, magazines, books, conference proceedings, theses, research data, and other university related publications.


waves of the quake. The earth under my feet was gyrating like a drunken dancer, back and forth, back and forth. "We're having an earthquake," I typed. Not waiting for his reply, I calmly walked over to stand in the doorframe of the AIDG office, like they used to recommend when I grew up in Southern California. People are no longer told to do this, however; I should have gotten under a heavy desk, against an interior wall, or gone outside, away from falling debris. But I was lucky and the swaying soon stopped. I wasn't at the epicenter, but in Cap-Haitien, Haiti's second-largest city, 85 miles away as the crow flies from Portau-Prince. I was working with our team there on the launch of our second annual business plan competition, Konkou Biznis Ayiti (http://konkoubiznisayiti.com/). We were just four days from show time, and I was working with a volunteer translator and a web designer to put the finishing touches on our website. I had no idea what the extent of the damage from the quake had been when I walked back to the Skype session some 25 minutes later, after checking in with other staff. "Check the water line right now!" my husband Pete, the founder of Appropriate Infrastructure Development Group (AIDG), had typed frantically.


Nanoscale glass milling with mild thermal annealing is proposed and shown to occur within a tri-material composite W profile optical fibre.


The local government is widely regarded as the foundation of the democratic structure. Its proximity to the citizens and their needs could provide an effective antidote to a growing sense of political alienation and weakness among citizens. The existence of immediate, more essential forms of participation and control and, more generally, the investigation of democratic institutions is particularly necessary. The role of local government is becoming increasingly important as a field of regional specialization and practice of solving social, economic and environmental problems. This project presents a systematic review of the local governance in four European countries. An effort will also be made to analyze the action of the historical heritage (traditions, legacies) of each country. Finally, there will be an attempt to investigate the factors that influenced the formation of the mechanisms and the reform initiatives and defined the particular approach of the local governance and the participatory processes in each country within the broader context of common socio-political and economic data.


An electronic device having a protection barrier laminate having a first first barrier layer and second barrier layer of the second amorphous carbon modification of amorphous carbon modification, the protective barrier stack, corresponding thickness and composition single of compared to one barrier layer, a higher density, with better adhesion and greater flexibility.


We aimed to investigate the immunophenotype, differential diagnosis, and clinicopathological characteristics of signet‐ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) derived from gastric foveolar epithelium.


Background Radiation pneumonitis (RP) is the primary dose-limiting toxicity associated with radiotherapy. This study aimed to observe the effects of renin-angiotensin system inhibitors in Chinese patients with lung cancer who received thoracic radiation. Methods Patients with lung cancer who received thoracic radiation at a total dose of ≥45 Gray between October 2017 and December 2022 were enrolled in this study. We retrospectively evaluated the factors influencing grade 2 or higher RP. Results A total of 320 patients were enrolled in this study; 62 patients were identified as angiotensin receptor blockers or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor users. Additionally, 99 patients (30.9%) had grade 2 or higher RP, and the incidence in the renin-angiotensin system inhibitor group was 17.7% (11 out of 62 patients). Patients in the renin-angiotensin system inhibitors (RASi) group were older and had a higher percentage of males, lower percentage of ECOG score 0, higher percentage of hypertension, and higher percentage of adenocarcinoma than those in the non-RASi group. ECOG score [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.69, p = 0.009], history of smoking (HR = 1.76, p = 0.049), mean dose (HR = 3.63, p = 0.01), and RASi (HR = 0.3, p = 0.003) were independent predictive factors for RP. All subgroups benefited from RASi. Conclusion This study showed that oral RASi administration has the potential to mitigate the incidence of grade 2 or higher RP in patients with lung cancer undergoing thoracic radiotherapy. To validate and further substantiate these findings, additional prospective research is warranted.


We perform a validity test of a long-term replenishment contract model proposed by previous research. The model is unique in that...


The paper presents a case of a social welfare organization, which had to be viable dealing with conflicting objectives in a complex environment. Complexity was due to multiple views about the organization, (Commercial & Welfare), Shareholders vs. a stakeholders (Government, Tribals, Employees etc.), performance measures, (profit, cost, price) etc. These concerns are not distinct but closely inter-related, which leads to the complex environment. The organization was set up by the Government "for the socio-economic upliftment of the Tribals serving around 3 million tribal's, It was to facilitate primarily 3 objectives: (a) ensure payment of remunerative prices for Forest Produce collected by the Tribals by eliminating the middlemen and private traders who are indulging in unfair trade practices, (b) ensure availability of Essential Commodities to tribals (c) provide support to tribals in their Agricultural activities through extending credit facilities. This led to creation of two subsystems within a single organization creating losses for it. In order to meet the welfare requirements, the commercial aspects were comprised. This led to losses for the welfare organization. This paper presents the use of the cybernetic model to reflect the conflict and provide a direction for resolving this conflict.


This paper deals with the signs of the (real) coefficients of a power series k(x) = Z,,=o k,x, which is the quotient of the two power series q(x)= Z,=0 q^xv and p(x) pvx". Questions of this type have been previously treated by Kaluza (1928) and Szego (1926) in the special case of q(x) = 1. Their significance for inclusion theorems for Norlund means was shown by Hardy (1949), ?4.5. By consideration of a general power series q(x) instead of q(x) = 1 it is possible to include the known results2 of this subject in a single theorem (?1.1). Moreover the method of proof used allows us to establish a second type of theorem using simpler conditions (?1.2). For this second type of theorem the introduction of a general q(x) is essential for applications, because the results are still trivial for q(x) = 1. There are two different principles to generalize. Thereby the second kind of theorem becomes also applicable in the case of q(x) = 1 (??2.1, 2.2, 2.4). The statements now obtained can even be used conversely for a second proof of the theorems first obtained (?2.3). The results of this paper are, as in the book of Hardy, fundamentally for application to inclusion of Norlund means and related questions. These applications will be discussed in a following paper Some new inclusion theorems for Ndrlund means. Also some concrete examples for the general theorems on distribution of signs will be found there.