Laser-induced removal of organic contaminants, such as grease and wax, on Cr substrate surfaces was studied. The laser cleaning efficiency was analyzed by an optical microscope and an Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES). It was found that the contaminants in the irradiated area can be effectively removed by pulsed laser irradiation and cleaning efficiency can be reached to 80% above under a certain cleaning condition without damage. The damage threshold of Cr substrates was obtained by numerical simulation, which is in good consistency with the experimental threshold.


The purpose of this research was to examine the productivity of cucumber grown under different types of soils and fertilizer amounts in sheltered ground of SouthEastern Kazakhstan. The composition of soils, the types and amounts of mineral fertilizers are of great importance for the growth and productivity of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.), which is widely cultivated in greenhouses of Kazakhstan. Types, amounts and combinations of fertilizers, the frequency of their application under greenhouse cucumber are regulated depending on the phenological phase of crop growth and development for balanced plant nutrition. And the research results showed rather high effectiveness of the studied soils. The cucumber plants, grown in the natural soil, were significantly superior to the plants, grown in the artificial substrate, by biometric indicators.


The TDE-85/MeTHPA epoxy resin modified by polyurethane was prepared with polyurethane prepolymer(PUP,formulated by PPG and TDI),chain-extended reagent(1,4-BDO) and crosslink agent(TMP).The curing reaction mechanism and kinetics characters of the modified resin were discussed by DSC and infrared spectrum analysis.The investigation on curing reaction mechanism indicates that polymer networkⅠwas obtained by the curing reaction between TDE-85 and MeTHPA,and polymer network Ⅱ was obtained by the chain-extended and crosslinking reaction of 1,4-BDO,TMP,and PUP,meanwhile,the graft chemical bond is formed between polymer networkⅠ and polymer network Ⅱ.The investigation on kinetics shows that the apparent activation energy of curing reaction decreased obviously with PU addition,and the activation energy of the resin dropped from 83.14 kJ/mol to 67.91 kJ/mol with PU modification.


Government should strengthen the guidance of polict,transform its own functions and enterprises should create property right system,make a great effort to develop technology,positively take in advanced management experiences and form the mixed force of government and enterprises to give full play to regional economic advantage and industry group advantage in creating the "world factory" of advantageous enterprises and products.


The aglycones of anthocyanidin dyes were previously reported to form carbinol pseudobase, cis-chalcone, and trans-chalcone due to the basic levels. The further investigations of ground and excited state properties of the dyes were characterized using density functional theory with PCM(UFF)/B3LYP/6-31+G(d,p) level in the basic solutions. However, to the best of our knowledge, the theoretical investigation of their potential photosensitizers has never been reported before. In this paper, the theoretical photovoltaic properties sensitized by dyes have been successfully investigated including the electron injections, the ground and excited state oxidation potentials, the estimated open circuit voltages, and the light harvesting efficiencies. The results prove that the electronic properties represented by dyes' LUMO-HOMO levels will affect to the photovoltaic performances. Cis-chalcone dye is the best anthocyanidin aglycone dye with the electron injection spontaneity of −1.208 eV, the theoretical open circuit ...


The utility model discloses a machine head of a plastic extruding machine, which comprises a machine head body. A die sleeve is fixed at the front part of the machine head body through a gland nut; a material path seat is arranged at the rear part of the machine head body; the material path seat is in embedded with the machine head body; a cable core seat is arranged in the material path seat; a cable core cavity is arranged inside the cable core seat; the machine head body and the die sleeve form the outer wall of a material path cavity; the material path seat and the cable core seat form the inner wall of the material path cavity; a feed opening is formed on the machine head body; the feed opening is communicated with the material path cavity; the material path cavity adopts a tapered cavity with a conical head in the front; a cable outlet is formed at the front end of the material path cavity; a tapered cable core cavity with a conical head in the front is formed in the interior of the cable core seat; a cable core export channel is formed at the front end of the cable core cavity; and the cable core export channel faces to the cable outlet directly. Because the tapered material path cavity is adopted at the front end, the utility model can ensure that the molten material has the characteristics of impulse uniformity, pressure equalization, flow equalization; the die matching is accurate; the pattern drawing is convenient; and the product quality is improved.


A search for neutral Higgs bosons produced in association with b-quark(s) and decaying into a pair of b-quarks is performed with the CMS detector at LHC. The Higgs boson signal is expected to emerge as an excess in the mass spectrum of two b-tagged jets. Dedicated triggers with on-line b-tagging in fully hadronic events were developed specifically for this kind of analysis. Limits on the cross section times branching fractions are derived model independently. The result was interpreted in the Minimal Supersymmetric Model (MSSM). Upper limits at $tan\beta$ are derived as a function of MA, the mass of the Higgs boson A. In the analysis presented here data taken in 2011 at 7 TeV are used corresponding to a total luminosity of $ L = 2.7 - 4.0 fb^{-1} $ for low and medium Higgs boson masses, respectively.


The effects of mode shape and inter blade phase angle(IBPA) on aeroelasticity stability of forward and backward swept blades were investigated through numerical flutter analysis and comparison based on the energy method.Results show that,for the first three vibration modes,aerodynamic modal damping ratio(AMDR) of forward swept blades corresponding to the coupling mode has the highest value of 0.801%,and that of backward swept blades corresponding to the coupling mode has the lowest value of 0.248%.IBPA has significant effects on AMDR for two kinds of swept blades.AMDR corresponding to forward travelling wave is lower than that corresponding to backward travelling wave for forward swept blades vibration in the 1st flapping mode at the same IBPA,while it is contrary for the backward swept blades;forward swept blades have better aeroelasticity than backward swept ones at arbitrary IBPA when blades vibrate in the 1st flapping mode.


Summary Increased levels of plasma pro insulin were found in two sub jects who developed hypoglycemia during an oral glucose tolerance test. Sixty minutes after glucose ingestion, pro insulin comprised more than 50% of the tota] immunoreac tive substance. Repeat glucose tolerance tests in these in dividuals did not result in hypoglycemia, and proinsulin le vels were not increased. These results suggest possible inter relationship between hyperproinsulinemia and hypoglycemia in these su bjects.


ABSTRACT The divergent outcomes in respect of political integration of the several crises that the EU has confronted during the last decade present a challenge for most 'grand theories' of European integration. There has been more political disintegration than some of the historically most influential, 'optimistic' theories would have anticipated, but less than more recently-developed and more 'pessimistic' theories, notably postfunctionalism, would have expected. Compared with these contrasting theories, a hegemonic-stability-theoretical approach to the EU's crises provides a more convincing explanation of recent patterns of political integration and disintegration.


Abstract : This issue of the Naval Law Review contains the following articles: "Responding to Transnational Terrorism under the Jus Ad Bellum: A Normative Framework," by Michael N. Schmitt; "A Comfortable Sofa: The Need for an Equitable Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction Agreement with Iraq," by Lieutenant Commander Ian S. Wexler, JAGC, USN; "Mayfield, FISA, and the Fourth Amendment," by Lieutenant Commander Trevor Rush, JAGC, USN; "Uncharted Waters: The Expansion of State Regulatory Authority Over Federal Activities and Migratory Resources under the Coastal Zone Management Act," by Lieutenant Commander Joseph Romero, JAGC, USN; "The Continued Health Care Benefit Program: The Department of Defense's Guarantee of Lifetime Health Care to All Former Military Spouses," by Lieutenant (junior grade) Jessica Lynn Pyle, JAGC, USN; "Out of Sight, Out of Mind? A Case for Long Range Identification and Tracking of Vessels on the High Seas," by Lieutenant Commander Jason M. Krajewski, USCG; "The Use of Force in Hostage Rescue Missions," by Lieutenant Commander Joseph J. Eldred, JAGC, USN; "Ensuring 'Fair Winds and Following Seas': A Proposal for a Sino-American Incident at Sea Agreement," by Ensign Michael Hughes, JAGC, USN. This issue also includes two book reviews. "Red Rogue: The Persistent Challenge of North Korea," (2007) by Bruce E. Bechtol, Jr. is reviewed by Major Stephen F. Keane, USMC. "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq," (2006) by Thomas E. Ricks, is reviewed by Major Jennifer B. Bottoms, JA, USA.


Background—Although an in-hospital cardiac arrest is common, little is known about readmission patterns and an inpatient resource use among survivors of an in-hospital cardiac arrest. Methods and Results—Within a large national registry, we examined long-term inpatient use among 6972 adults aged ≥65 years who survived an in-hospital cardiac arrest. We examined 30-day and 1-year readmission rates and inpatient costs, overall and by patient demographics, hospital disposition (discharge destination), and neurological status at discharge. The mean age was 75.8±7.0 years, 56% were men, and 12% were black. There were a total of 2005 readmissions during the first 30 days (cumulative incidence rate, 35 readmissions/100 patients; 95% confidence interval, 33–37) and 8751 readmissions at 1 year (cumulative incidence rate, 185 readmissions/100 patients; 95% confidence interval, 177–190). Overall, mean inpatient costs were $7741±$2323 at 30 days and $18 629±$9411 at 1 year. Thirty-day inpatient costs were higher in patients of younger age (≥85 years, $6052 [reference]; 75–84 years, $7444 [adjusted cost ratio, 1.23; 1.06–1.42; 65–74 years, $8291 [adjusted cost ratio, 1.37; 1.19–1.59; both P<0.001) and black race (whites, $7413; blacks, $9044; adjusted cost ratio, 1.22; 1.05–1.42; P<0.001), as well as those discharged with severe neurological disability or to skilled nursing or rehabilitation facilities. These differences in resource use persisted at 1 year and were largely because of higher readmission rates. Conclusions—Survivors of an in-hospital cardiac arrest have frequent readmissions and high follow-up inpatient costs. Readmissions and inpatient costs were higher in certain subgroups, including patients of younger age and black race.


Mini-course on separable algebras giving for Turkish students at the Dokuz Eylul University in Izmir (Turkey) as part of the LLP/Erasmus Agreement.


There weren't too much innovation in the form,mode,technology application and integration of MOOCs.However,the emergence of great wave of MOOCs,launched by agroup of world top elite universities and its rapid spreading globally in a short period of time were surely no accident.Understanding the conceptions and motivations as well as its driving force and motive power behind it,we might find the right choice to establish a Chinese MOOCs system.However,the Chinese MOOCs system shouldn't make a fresh start, without the engagement of the open universities and TV universities aiming at pursuing education equity.


Introduction: Migrant is a vulnerable population. They face several barriers in accessing health services. The immigration status presents various challenges for maternity services utilization. So this study was conducted (1) to estimate proportion of women utilizing full ANC package and to find out reasons for its nonutilization (2) to estimate the proportion of institutional deliveries and reasons for home deliveries. Methods: A cross-sectional community based study was conducted among migrant women in reproductive age group in an urban slum. The sample size was 120. Multistage simple random sampling was done. Results: Maximum numbers of migrants (71.7%) were from Uttar Pradesh. Sixty two percent married before the age of 18 years. Full ANC package was received by only 18% migrants. Proportion of home deliveries was 12%, and all were conducted by Untrained Dai. Lack of transport facility and availability of Dai (local birth attendant) were the reasons mentioned for home delivery. For nonutilization of full ANC package, far location of health center (30%); it is not necessary (25.8%); and family did not allow them to visit health center (21.8%) were the reasons mentioned. Religion and type of family were significantly associated with nonutilization of full ANC package. Conclusion: The present study revealed low utilization of ANC services and high proportion of home deliveries among the migrant women even after availability of health facilities for providing ANC care and to conduct deliveries in urban area.


Since P2P systems have become popular in the late nineties, simulation of these systems has always been a preferable method of performance evaluation. Simulations facilitate the development and evaluation of new protocols and mechanisms, while enabling a comparison of existing solutions. In this paper, we present PeerfactSim.KOM, a discrete-event P2P simulator that is suitable for a wide range of varying scenarios in the area of P2P. It consists of a layered architecture, provides a broad selection of P2P protocols for the modeled layers, and eases the implementation of new components through its modular design. In addition, the simulator provides helpful tools to configure and evaluate a simulation scenario.


The Binary Matrices of the new codes obtained in "New Extremal Binary Self-dual codes of Length 66 as Extensions of self-dual codes over R_k", by Suat Karadeniz and Bahattin Yildiz.


We examined whether the novel point mutation from GCC (Ala) to GAC (Asp) at codon 664 in exon 11 of RET proto‐oncogene, which we had found in two small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) cell lines, existed in genomic DNA of tumor tissues of the two SCLC patients from whom these SCLC cell lines were derived. Sequence analysis revealed that point mutation identical to that of the SCLC cell lines was present in amplified alleles of single‐strand conformational variants in genomic DNA of the tumor tissues, whereas it was not detected in genomic DNA of non‐tumor tissues of the patients. These results indicate that this mutation had initially occurred in the SCLC patients and was of somatic origin.


Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) has been developed to be applied for a strengthening of the deteriorated structures. In the form of a sheet, the FRP may be applied for the strengthening of the structures by bonding it to the concrete surface. Glass composed FRP (GFRP) sheet is most commonly used due to its relatively lower cost compared to the other FRP materials. GFRP sheet is applied externally by bonding it on the concrete surface. The strengthened structures should be monitored periodically to ensure the health of the strengthened structures. Regarding the development of monitoring system of the strengthened structure, it is important to study the delamination phenomenon of the bonded GFRP. Therefore the delamination mechanism is important to be clarified. Many studies have been done to investigate the bonding characteristics of GFRP sheet under direct tensile loading. However, the studies on the bonding characteristics of GFRP sheet on the strengthened beams due to flexural loadings are still limited. A series of concrete beams strengthened with GFRP sheet on extreme tension surface were prepared. The beam specimens ware loaded under four-point bending test gradually up to the ultimate capacity. Results indicated that prior to final delamination, a local delamination occurred which was indicated by the suddenly decreasing of an applied load. The delamination of the GFRP sheet may be initiated by the flexural cracks occurred on the beams.


This paper introduces a three-dimensional light field display system, which is composed of a high-speed projector, a directional scattering mirror, a circular stainless-steel bearing plate, a rotating shaft and a high-speed micro motor. The system reduces information redundancy and computational complexity by reconstructing the light intensity distribution of the observed object, thus generating a real three-dimensional suspended image. The experimental results show that the suspension three-dimensional image can be generated by properly adjusting the projection rate of the image and the rotation speed of the rotating mirror (i.e. the motor speed). The clarity and accuracy of a three-dimension display depending on the number of slices selected, meaning that the more slices can be projected per minute, the finer the three-dimension display. Finally, this study provides the basic parameter matching, which shows the feasibility of developing a real light field 3D display system with stable performance, strong portability, easy implementation, and low cost. In short, naked-eye 3D allows the observer to view objects from any angle and direction, without the need for any auxiliary tools (such as glasses, helmets, etc.).


The characteristics of pore-fractures are the key petrophysical properties used to assess and evaluate coalbed methane (CBM) reservoirs and include pore types, structure types, porosity/percentage, and pore-fracture space properties. To study the storage and seepage capability of a CBM reservoir, based on 18 coal samples with the maximum vitrinite reflectance (Ro,max) in the range of 1.06–3.04%, we used the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method and fractal analysis to investigate the effect of coalification on the characteristics of pore-fractures. First, the pore-fracture space in a coal reservoir includes irreducible fluid space and moveable fluid space. We built up the moveable fluid NMR fractal based on the saturated/irreducible fluid NMR fractals. Saturated fluid fractal (Dw), irreducible fluid fractal (Dir), and moveable fluid fractal (DM) have the following relationship: DM > Dir > DW. Additionally, Dir has a huge fluctuating value area with the maximum vitrinite reflectance (Ro,max) varying betw...


The aim of the study was to explore levels of doctor–patient concordance during the making of decisions regarding HIV treatment switching and stopping in relation to patient health‐related outcomes.


TheNot4 RING E3 ligase is a subunit of the evolutionarily conserved Ccr4-Not complex.Originally identified in yeast bymutations that increase transcription, it was subsequently defined as an ubiquitin ligase. Substrates for this ligase were characterized in yeast and in metazoans. Interestingly, some substrates for this ligase are targeted for polyubiquitination and degradation, while others instead are stable monoubiquitinated proteins. The former are mostly involved in transcription, while the latter are a ribosomal protein and a ribosome-associated chaperone. Consistently, Not4 and all other subunits of the Ccr4-Not complex are present in translating ribosomes. An important function for Not4 in cotranslational quality control has emerged. In the absence of Not4, the total level of polysomes is reduced. In addition, translationally arrested polypeptides, aggregated proteins, and polyubiquitinated proteins accumulate. Its role in quality control is likely to be related on one hand to its importance for the functional assembly of the proteasome and on the other hand to its association with the RNA degradation machines. [...] COLLART, Martine. The Not4 RING E3 Ligase: A Relevant Player in Cotranslational Quality Control. ISRN Molecular Biology, 2013, vol. 2013, p. 1-19 DOI : 10.1155/2013/548359


We present an example of mind-body interaction through the psychophysiology of chronic stress. We show the dynamic pattern of effects on the mind and body associated with chronic stress response and recognize how the mind coordinates the body systems to sustain internal equilibrium for optimal function. In fact many other bodily illnesses are caused by an interaction of mental and physical subtleties. It is important to note that these psychophysiological disorders bring actual physical damage. This review provides a clear direction in understanding how the mind controls the stress response, facilitates positive change, and improves the ability to cope with stress that can be the key to
successful healing for overall physical and mental health.


The paper proposes an unsupervised color image segmentation method based on Markov Random Field (MRF). The method involves intensity Euclidean Distance and spatial position information of the pixels in the neighborhood potential function of MRF. Therefore, the traditional potential function of MRF segmentation method is improved. Transforms the segmentation to a Maximum A Posteriori (MAP) problem which is solved by the Iterative Conditional Model (ICM). Uses the Fuzzy C-means to initialize the classification in the rang of specified class number. The optimal class number was chosen according to Minimum Message Length (MML) criterion to complete an unsupervised segmentation. In the experiments, synthetic and real images are used in the procedure and the results show that the proposed method is more effective than the classical methods.


In this work a study was conducted on the defects produced in the crystalline bcc iron structure due to stacking defaults in the structure itself. The objective of this work is to analyze the dust diffraction patterns as consequence of the introduction of the aforementioned defects through the (110) direction. All calculations were made with the DIFFaX simulation program. The deformation or imperfection is introduced by displacement in the position of the layers. The results show that the introduction of this type of defect modifies the structure as the amount of imperfection introduced increases. The alteration of the structure results in a local transformation of a cubic packing net centered in the body of an hexagonal net of compact packing.


This article analyzes the political support for social insurance, providing micro-foundations of how rational workers demand social protection. Existing studies have focused on the importance of income inequality in the form of redistributive and income effects. Yet they have largely ignored the protective effect stemming from the distribution of risks within society. Using unemployment insurance, I argue that the political demand for unemployment insurance depends on the distribution of risk as well as income in a society. A multiplicative interaction model is employed to test the joint effects of income and risk inequality on replacement rates of unemployment insurance. The empirical evidence shows that: 1) the risk of losing one's job differs significantly across the economic sectors in which people are employed, 2) the impact of risk inequality is positive unless there is excessively high income inequality, and 3) the relationship between income inequality and unemployment benefits is also conditional upon risk inequality.


Objective: To see the clinical presentation of thyroglossal cysts and sinuses.
Methods: Observational type of Cross sectional study. Department of ENT & Head-Neck Surgery in Sher-E-Bangla Medical College Hospital, Barishal from September 2014 to February 2015. All patients attended in the Department of ENT and Head Neck Surgery in Sher-E-Bangla Medical College Hospital, Serum TSH, USG of thyroid swelling and FNAC were done for diagnoses and for evaluation.
Results: Thyroglossal cysts and sinuses were found in 23(63.9%) and 13(36.1%) cases respectively. The mean age of presentation was found 16.6±11.3 years in cysts group and 15.5±7.2 years in sinus group. Regarding the site of cysts 4(17.4%) cases was suprahyoid, 11(47.8%) infrahyoid and 8(34.8%) at the level of hyoid. Regarding the site of sinus 1(7.7%) case was suprahyoid, 9(69.2%) infrahyoid and 3(23.1%) at the level of hyoid. All the patients had normal thyroid gland in both group, all of them had normal serum TSH level. FNAC was done in all cyst patients and shows normal cystic lesion with no malignancy. But in sinus patients only one FNAC was done and reported as cystic lesion.
Conclusion: Thyroglossal cysts and sinuses were more common in 2nd decade and male predominant. Majority of the cysts are Infrahyoid and on the right side of midline and majority of sinuses are Infrahyoid and on the right side. Development of sinuses is due to operation following abscess formation in majority of cases.
Bangladesh J Otorhinolaryngol 2022; 28(1): 7-15


The article examines the possibility of greater cooperation within the Benelux structure. What might the opportunities and consequences of maximizing the synergies of cooperation between Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands be ? In particular the article examines closer Benelux cooperation between the numerous European and international institutions. In addition the possibility of a single Benelux diplomatic service and a joint army is discussed. Finally the future position of the Benelux institutions are the topic of this study. Seeing the present problems with the working of the European Union, more integration of the three Benelux countries can be a solution in a divided Europe. Can more Benelux integration gives an upgrade of political power for the low countries ?


Numerous researches have scrutinized the role of suppliers regarding product innovations made by original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). But until now, barely one supplier-involvement model published refers to the question as to whether the level to which suppliers are involved into the OEMs' product development processes has an impact on the products' level of innovation. To close this gap, this paper presents a model, illustrating which factors suppliers' involvement in development processes for highly innovative products depends on. One objective is to initiate a discussion, if and what kind of correlation exists between the level of supplier involvement, the point of time when suppliers are integrated, and the products' level of innovation. Furthermore, the paper has the intention to provide guidance for managers who have to decide, when and to which level, vertical cooperation can lead to successful results regarding the development of innovative products.


Error correction codes (ECCs) are commonly used in computer systems to protect information from errors. For example, single error correction (SEC) codes are frequently used for memory protection. Due to continuous technology scaling, soft errors on registers have become a major concern, and ECCs are required to protect them. Nevertheless, using an ECC increases delay, area and power consumption. In this way, ECCs are traditionally designed focusing on minimizing the number of redundant bits added. This is important in memories, as these bits are added to each word in the whole memory. However, this fact is less important in registers, where minimizing the encoding and decoding delay can be more interesting. This paper proposes a method to develop codes with 1-gate delay encoders and 4-gate delay decoders, independently of the word length. These codes have been designed to correct single errors only in data bits to reduce the overhead.


(1927). The Administration of Tartar Emetic by Various Routes. Annals of Tropical Medicine & Parasitology: Vol. 21, No. 2, pp. 171-178.


I once accepted the medical model which viewed me as mentally ill, a predicament I would wrestle with for the remainder of my life. The medical model interpreted me as broken and my doctors would try to keep me from falling apart, but there was no real hope for me. I was labeled a "schizophrenic" and soon believed that I might as well stop denying this label and do what the doctors told me. At the time, I felt that I must try to fit in with the "normal" world while hoping to save myself from being further branded as "noncompliant."


Embodiments of the present invention provide a service chain management method and device, which can implement unified management of aggregated VASs, i.e., performing management operations such as go-online, go-offline, and update on the aggregated VASs, and solve the problem in the prior art that unified management of the aggregated VASs cannot be implemented. Specifically, an NFVO receives a management operation instruction message sent from a manager, wherein the management operation instruction message carries a service template, the service template comprises information required for describing a management operation performed on a plurality of VASs included in the aggregated VASs, and various services provided by the plurality of VASs included in the aggregated VASs are associated with each other; the NFVO instructs a virtual network function manager (VNFM) to enable, on the basis of the service template, the plurality of VASs included in the aggregated VASs to go online. The management operation instruction message may be a go-online operation instruction message, or a go-offline operation instruction message, or an update operation instruction message, etc.


In this article, we are interested in the method of evaluating the performances of tracking techniques and how to get an accurate and robust tracking. An evaluation technique is applied on three tracking techniques based on the CamShift approach. The results of each technique on several image sequences are evaluated and compared in terms of tracking error, tracking robustness and computational cost.


Readers may obtain from this book an overview of German–Central American relations, the main points of which can be summarized briefly. Germany had a significant presence in the Central American republics since the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Well before Germany's unification, they figured in German public discourse as potential areas for colonization, trade, investment, and performance of the rituals of great-power politics. First the Prussian state and then the Reich displayed a restrained concern for Central America, and engaged in competition with Britain, France, and the United States to advance the interests of German businesses and settlers. German commerce with the region rose at times to not-insignificant levels, especially when measured in terms of the total trade of individual Central American countries. Landowners, businesspeople, and professionals of German extraction have had a significant effect on the cultural and social histories of Guatemala and Costa Rica. However, at no time has Central America been of vital economic importance to Germany or at the forefront of German policy. In general, at least between the 1870s and 1929, German governments were unwilling to challenge U.S. hegemony in the area.


We tested the effect of biochar application on growth of planted jack pine on a sandy soil in northern Minnesota. Biochar was applied in combination with compost and with or without manual irrigation in a factorial design to isolate possible effects associated with nutrient or water availability. There were no differences among treatments in seedling annual diameter or height growth after four years. Watering increased mean needle mass indicating the treatment was somewhat effective at increasing water availability and seedling performance. Watering increased foliage Mg and K concentration and content, possibly indicating that these elements are limiting to jack pine growth on sandy soils. Biochar-only application decreased foliage Ca concentration relative to controls, likely due to increased nutrient immobilization when biochar is applied without a nutrient source. These findings and others from the region highlight that biochar does not increase planted jack pine seedling survival or growth on sandy soils.


The invention reverse connection protection LED converter as a circuit on an input AC power source to which the converted output constant-voltage circuit, the DC voltage to a DC voltage through a high-speed alternating switching operation output converted into an AC voltage of a square wave inverter section and the square-wave in the AC voltage to the transformer LED converter circuit including a driving converted to a DC voltage output for for driving at least one LED lamp, the LED lamp and the positive (positive) connection and a negative (negative) wire connecting portions to be wired by connecting .; In the case where the connection portion (Open), or the driving DC voltage for less than a first threshold value, to download the reference voltage supplied to the inverter to the first voltage reference is lower than the current normally to the primary winding the transformer portion of claim by a first current to flow over-voltage detector for protecting the entire circuit including the LED lamp; Feedback control unit for the operation to detect the voltage through the current sensing resistance after the lamp lighting the LED, and maintain a constant current by controlling the inverter unit switching frequency when the operating voltage detected by said at least a second threshold value; And reverse connection detection section for adding the winding for the reverse connection detected by the secondary winding the transformer unit and, when a third voltage higher than the threshold value to the coil for the reverse connection detection is detecting the reverse connection state, on-time the operation of the inverter section It includes. Accordingly, the present invention can be applied to an inverter driving IC of the stable half-bridge suitable to direct current voltage and direct current can be maintained and the current, LED lighting industries, suitable to drive the LED lamp to maximize the efficiency of the LED converter, LED Kern you can perform a protection against overvoltage or overcurrent of the turbo circuit outputs, to prevent the LED lamp and LED converter circuits such as, LED lamps and LED converter circuit when the station wiring street lights, security lights, and ceiling damage reliability can be greatly improved.


The Mutual Climatic Range (MCR) method of paleoclimate reconstruction uses the climatic parameters associated with the modern range of species to produce climate envelopes for taxa found in fossil ...


ix Acknowledgements x Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Literature Review 7 2.1 Studying Health and Illness 7 2.2 Studying Women's Experiences of Illness 9 2.3 Studying Illness Communities 13 2.4 Breast Cancer: Diagnosis, Prognosis and Standard Treatments 15 2.5 Breast Cancer: Confronting Uncertainty 18 2.6 Breast Cancer Social Movement: Creating an Illness Community 20 2.7 Breast Cancer and the Self 23 2.8 Examining Women's Experiences of Breast Cancer 26 2.9 Conceptual Framework: Balancing Domination and Resistance 30 2.9.1 Foucault's Governmentality 32 2.9.2 Relational Autonomy 39 2.10 Ethical Commitments 42 Chapter 3: Methodology 45 3.1 Research Questions 45 3.2 Approaching Qualitative Health Research 46 3.3 Overview of Methods 49 3.3.1 Recruitment and Participants 49 3.3.2 Consent Processes 51 3.4 Data Generation Methods 51 3.4.1 Interviews 52


Spindle motion is an important motion of NC machines,and different conditions require different control modes.This paper discusses applications and control method of the commonly used two spindle control modes of 840D CNC system,and the time series relationship of spindle shift and simple malfunction disposal of spindle shift.


A novel launcher design for heating and current drive of fusion plasmas with lower hybrid waves was proposed. It uses a concept promising resistance to situations expected in the ITER advanced scenarios: the passive-active multijunction (PAM). To study its RF stability against changes in plasma loading, a code was developed, requiring visualization of multidimensional computationally generated data. Images from an application to the PAM under construction for Tore Supra illustrate the importance of visualization techniques and tools.


To train students'innovative spirits and practical abilities,improve the experimental teaching level and oper-ation efficiency in higher education,this article presented the content and operating mode of opening laboratory,ana-lysed the principal questions and key issues in opening experiment teaching,summarized the practical experiences and effectiveness in opening laboratory.


We explore the relationship among the magnetic ordering in real space, the resulting spin texture on the Fermi surface, and the related superconducting gap structure in non-collinear antiferromagnetic metals without spin-orbit coupling. Via a perturbative approach, we show that a non-collinear magnetic ordering in a metal can generate a momentum-dependent spin texture on its Fermi surface, even in the absence of spin-orbit coupling, if the metal has more than three sublattices in its magnetic unit cell. Thus, our theory naturally extends the idea of altermagnetism to non-collinear spin structures. When superconductivity is developed in a magnetic metal, as the gap-opening condition is strongly constrained by the spin texture, the nodal structure of the superconducting state is also enforced by the magnetism-induced spin texture. Taking the non-collinear antiferromagnet on the kagome lattice as a representative example, we demonstrate how the Fermi surface spin texture induced by noncollinear antiferromagnetism naturally leads to odd-parity spin-triplet superconductivity with nontrivial topological properties.


An end-to-end supervised learning method was developed to classify transmission line faults in a two-year field-recorded dataset that includes synchronized measurements of three-phase voltages recorded by 38 phasor measurement units (PMUs) sparsely located in the US Western Grid interconnection. Statistical analysis was performed to extract features from this large dataset to train the support vector machine (SVM), random forest (RF), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) classifiers. The training further leverages a simulated dataset from a synthetic grid with 12 PMUs to increase the number of types of faults infre-quently seen in the field-recorded dataset. Training the classification models with the combined dataset re-sulted in a classification accuracy of 98.58%. This is a significant improvement over 86.87% to 87.17% accuracy obtained by relying on the field-recorded dataset alone.


This essay proposes a model of film adaptation as arrangement using three films based on Cornell Woolrich texts, The Window (1949), Rear Window (1954), and The Bride Wore Black (1968). Using Roland Barthes and other theorists, the essay considers the text as a plurality that traverses multiple works. Not only are versions in dialogue with the source material and with each other, but individual texts – the so-called originals – are themselves intertextual and thus plural. In thinking through the 'stereographic plurality' of texts and all the intertexts and influences that comprise both source and versions, the essay argues for an understanding of adaptation as an activity that is porous, mediated, and dynamic.


Theoretical aspects of design and development of information and educational environment in the system of training of masters in physical culture and sport. The purpose of the article is specification of the notions and analysis of theoretical aspects of elaboration and functioning of informational and educational environment (IEE) in the system of training of future masters in physical education and sports (PE and Sports) under conditions of a developed informational society on the example of IEE of National University of Physical Education and Sport of Ukraine (NUPESU). Results. Essence and specific features of IEE in the system of training of future masters in PE and Sports have been revealed and described. IEE of a higher educational establishment oriented on physical culture defines informational flow of educational orientation, in which there is circulation of specific information of a pedagogical character, producers and consumers of which are subjects of the system of training of future masters in PE and Sports united with the help of network, remote, and cloud technologies with purpose of masters' complete realization of their potential and selection of individual educational trajectory. It has been revealed that IEE of a higher educational establishment has informational, educational, and research levels. Content, organizational, and technological components have been distinguished in the structure of IEE. Content and technological component of IEE of a higher educational establishment has been shown in the system of training of future masters in PE and Sports based on IEE of NUPESU.


In the mid-1990's the BC government established the Commercial Backcountry Interim Policy, in order to regulate BC's emerging and rapidly growing commercial recreation (CR) industry. This research identifies the resulting tenure and property rights issues related to the long-term economic development of CR on BC's Crown lands. Specifically, it identifies weaknesses in BC's current CR tenure rights and determines ways in which government can improve the strength and security of such rights. To accomplish these goals, the research employs a comparative analysis of tenure and property rights granted to BC's CR industry relative to those for other Crown landdependent resource industries in BC, as well as CR businesses operating in external jurisdictions. This is followed by a survey and interviews, which assess the impacts of property right security on CR operators. Based on findings emanating from these two investigative phases, policy options for increasing security and certainty are provided. DEDICATION To my family and wife, who have continued to encourage, believe in and support me. To be surrounded by such supportive individuals, I am truly blessed. I love you all! ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank Peter Williams for his support and guidance. That this work would have not been possible without him is an understatement. Thankyou for such a challenging and rewarding experience. I would also like to thank Tom Gunton and Murray Rutherford. Much of what I learned from each of them during my two years in REM shaped this study. Murray's guidance from the initial stages through to completion was invaluable. Finally, I would like to thank BC's commercial recreation operators. In particular, Brian Gum, Dave Butler, Tim McGrady, and Jim DeHart for their support, guidance, and access to the resources that made this study possible. TABLE OF CONTENTS .. Approval 11 ... Abstract 111 Dedication iv Acknowledgements v Table of


Consumers expect efficient of power which is obtained from high quality output voltage. It is achieved by reducing the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) by using the filters. This paper presents a comparison of Total Harmonic Distortion using different multilevel inverters in a Hybrid Renewable Energy Generation System (HREGS) connected to energy storage system considering the controller in both time and frequency domain. The proposed controller provides excellent transient and steady state performance than that of the existing one. The Multilevel Inverter (MLI's) are efficient than the ordinary single level inverter. The MLI produce output which is nearly sinusoidal as a result the harmonic content will be reduced and the efficiency will be better. IndexTerms Total Harmonic Distortion (THD), Multilevel Inverter (MLI's), Hybrid Renewable Energy Generation System (HREGS)


Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome (OWRS), also known as Hereditary Hemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT) is a rare, autosomal dominant, dysplastic vascular disorder that usually presents with subtle symptoms, causing frequent delays in diagnosis that lead to many complications, with arteriovenous malformations as the responsible for the highest morbidity and mortality. We present a case of a 51 year old female with history of multiple episodes of epistaxis that presents to the ED with severe headache and shortly thereafter, loss of consciousness. Workup included a CT scan of brain that demonstrated subarachnoid hemorrhage and an Angiogram, that depicted and anterior communicating artery aneurysm. Patient underwent endovascular treatment without complications and other findings included multiple nasal mucosal telangiectasias, left occipital dural arteriovenous Fistula and multiple pulmonary arteriovenous malformations.  Diagnosis of HHT was confirmed by the Curazao criteria. Three month later after discharge from hospital she came back to the ED with severe hemoptysis and dyspnea. She died shortly that day without time for surgical treatment.


Introduction Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a devastating thoracic malignancy with constantly rising incidence over the past decades. Currently, the therapeutic management has shifted from single therapy approaches to multimodality treatment strategies including chemotherapy, radical surgery, and radiation. The combination of cisplatin with pemetrexed is the standard first-line systemic therapy. The recently published phase 3 MAPS study demonstrated that the addition of bevacizumab, a VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) neutralizing antibody, to chemotherapy significantly prolongs patients' overall survival (OS). However, the survival benefit achieved with antiangiogenic drugs is modest (can be measured only in a few months). The limited success achieved with these drugs is due in large part to therapy resistance, although the mechanisms of tumor vascularization and resistance against antiangiogenic drugs are poorly understood. The spread of malignant cells to lymph nodes (LNs) is a common event and LN metastasis is a key prognostic factor in various malignancies, including MPM. However, little is known about the lymphangiogenic process in human MPM and the relationship of its lymphatic network to LN metastasis and prognosis.


The present invention can be reduced, footprint, and to allow the manufacturing cost is reduced by as much as possible shorten the cycle time for the defect inspection, and more particularly a glass substrate according to the test equipment and test method for a flat panel display device and simplify the product a check for a new structure of the flat panel display so that intended to provide the equipment and test methods. Inspection equipment for a flat panel display apparatus according to the present invention for this purpose, the base frame forming the body; Transport section that is provided along the top of the base frame, the transport side to the other from one side of the base frame with the glass substrate; Automatic checking that by photographing the glass substrate conveyed by the conveying unit checks whether the failure of the glass substrate in that the recorded data; And mounted to either side of the base frame, the entire surface of the glass substrate conveyed by the conveying section visual inspection to check the glass substrate visual (目視) at an angle toward the front side: characterized by a contain configured It shall be. According to this invention such, it is possible to obtain a reduction and shortening of the cycle time of the footprint. Inspection equipment for a flat panel display device, reflected illumination, transmitted illumination, mounting stage


The construction of low-altitude flight service system is the basis to promote the development of the navigation industry and the necessary condition to ensure the "two wings fly together" of transport aviation and general aviation. At this stage, the construction of our flight service guarantee system is relatively lagging behind and cannot meet the urgent need of opening low-altitude airspace. This paper first introduces the basic concepts and related policies of the low-altitude flight service guarantee system, analyses the current situation of the low-altitude flight service guarantee system construction in China, and puts forward the requirements and design ideas of the low-altitude flight service guarantee system construction. Next, it analyses the operation management process of low-altitude flight service and summarizes the key technologies of low-altitude flight service support. Finally, a low-altitude flight service support information platform is innovatively designed. This paper studies and improves the theory of low-altitude flight service guarantee system construction, and provides some support for China's low-altitude airspace opening.


Clozapine is the second-generation antipsychotic which is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of refractory schizophrenia. Clozapine is unfortunately associated with number of adverse effects, one of the chief concerns is agranulocytosis and occasionally leukocytosis, i.e. elevation of white blood cell count. In some cases, the leukocytosis may be persistent. We report the case of a 65-year-old patient diagnosed with schizophrenia, who also fulfilled the criteria of treatment-resistant schizophrenia, treated with clozapine as patient experienced leukocytosis.


In the ethic crisis of the 20th century,the English writers inherited and displayed the ethic tradition in literature of the writers in the 19th century.In the constantly changing new situation,they used various ethic philosophies to study the value of life,which promoted the change and development of the ethic topic in literature.The phenomenon shows that the ethic topic has been an important content for the English writers to seek for the spiritual value.


Yam bean is one of tubers group that has many benefits because of its chemical constituents named inulin. Yam bean are produced in several regions in Indonesia such as Tegal, Bogor, Prembun, and Madura. In this research, inulin determination in yam bean tuber from Gresik East Java as one of yam bean production center, performed to obtain the plant source in Indonesia which is potential to produce inulin. Inulin determination was conducted using TLC Densitometry method that has been validated. Based on a standard curve that meets the requirements of linearity (r=0,997; Vxo=3,847%; Xp=355,407ng), the results showed that levels of inulin in yam bean tuber derived from Gresik was 12,322%±1,733% and mean recovery was 100,08% ± 1,142%. This result meet the requirements for the actual analyte concentration ≥10%: coefficient of variation is <1,9% and mean recovery in the range of 98%-102%.

Keywords: inulin, yam bean tuber, Gresik East Java, TLC Densitometry


Electric Vehicles (EVs) are considered among one of the 'clean' energy technologies in the transportation sector because the vehicles themselves do not generate combustion emissions. However, the substantial environmental footprint associated with the materials needed to create these technologies (extraction, manufacturing, and solid waste at end of life) calls into question their 'clean' label. In addition, their increasing demand adds to the existing supply risk (SR) through the requirement of critical materials. To address this, the purpose of this study is to establish a design model for electric traction motors, which are used in EVs, that will address the SR issues early in the design stage. The design model incorporates a genetic algorithm with the following objectives: minimum motor mass, minimum energy consumption, and minimum SR-equivalent. The SR-equivalent objective prioritizes the minimization of materials with high SR. Using the case study of a surface-mounted permanent magnet synchronous motor, results show how each objective is related to each other and to the parameters chosen as variables. Further analysis shows the benefits of minimizing for SR-equivalent of required materials. Future work is needed to improve the design model in terms of other important metrics such as minimizing environmental impact and cost.


A hierarchical learning control framework for an aerial manipulation system is proposed. Firstly, the mechanical design of aerial manipulation system is introduced and analyzed, and the kinematics and the dynamics based on Newton-Euler equation are modeled. Secondly, the framework of hierarchical learning for this system is presented, in which flight platform and manipulator are controlled by different controller respectively. The RBF (Radial Basis Function) neural networks are employed to estimate parameters and control. The Simulation and experiment demonstrate that the methods proposed effective and advanced.


The widely shared expectation among Vietnam specialists that Vietnam would be no exception to the global trend of democratization in the 1990s turned out to be a mere speculation. Despite the introduction of a market economy and the following economic development, the hegemonic communist party of Vietnam is still in power. This article challenges the existing approaches of democratization and proposes instead an analysis on people`s perception of rights. From a dialectical point of view, this article contends that the best barometer of democratization and the ensuing consolidation process is the gap or contradiction between the official concept of rights sanctioned by the state and people`s perception of rights. In this perspective, Ho Chi Minh`s thought on freedom and rights along with the constitutional codes on rights are analyzed in a chronological order. The result is that the official concept of rights has recently been liberalized, turning back to the liberal spirit held by Uncle Ho in the early years of revolutionary struggle. For people`s perception of rights, a survey was conducted on workers and college students in Vietnam. The survey result shows that their perception of rights has also been expanded but not to the extent to which a serious contradiction between the official concept of rights and their perception of rights is to emerge. It seems that therefore a dramatic democratization is not very likely to near future. Nevertheless, the survey yielded a promising finding that students are likely to resist the state encroachment on their rights.


Biomass is the only renewable carbon source that can compete with fossil energy sources in terms of production of materials, chemicals and fuels. Biomass can be transformed into charcoal, liquid an ...


Small amplitude dynamic viscoelastic properties of apple butter, mustard, tub margarine, and mayonnaise are compared with their respective properties in steady shear flow in the range of shear rates and frequencies of 0.1-100 sec−1 using a Rheometrics Mechanical Spectrometer. Comparison of dynamic and steady viscosities shows that dynamic viscosities (η*) are much larger than steady viscosities (η). Consequently the Cox-Merz rule is not obeyed. Moreover the obvious nonlinearity suggests that shift-factor type relationships are not obeyed either. The in-phase (η') component of the dynamic viscosity shows similar behavior when compared to the steady viscosity (η).

Comparison of G′/ω2 and Ψ1 also suggests that any of the results predicted by classical theories of viscoelasticity are not obeyed. G'/ω2 is always much larger than Ψ1 and the relationship between these two material functions is nonlinear.


Even " dialetheists " almost invariably accept it, though they also accept its negation. But if you don't accept it, I invite you to substitute another example that you do accept, perhaps For every sentence, if it is true then its double negation is true, and modify the following discussion accordingly. 2 We can indeed extend this to object languages that are not fragments of the metalanguage, either by giving an autonomous theory of those languages or via translation. The issue of whether there is a significant philosophical difference between the autonomous approach and the translational is important to the topic of this volume, but beyond the scope of the present paper. 1. Introduction. As Quine (1970, Ch. 1) and many others have pointed out, one of the main purposes of the notion of truth is to allow us to formulate generalizations that would otherwise be inexpressible. A simple example of such a generalization is


Based upon current experience with large PMM systems being deployed in North America, North Africa and the Gulf the authors review the factors which should be considered when designing PMM systems for various types of reservoir monitoring applications. Using specific examples of PMM systems designed to monitor heavy oil production is North America, CO2 sequestration in North Africa, and production optimization in Saudi Arabia the key factors influencing the design and operational characteristics of cost effective PMM systems are reviewed. The paper concludes with a review of the features which will be incorporated in different types of PMM systems in the near future.


A public commitment to the work ethic and work requirements in public assistanceprograms is nothing new. Beginning with the parish workhouses of Elizabethan England, the history of welfare reform reveals the inextricably intertwined themes of rendering humane public assistance to the needy, concern that assistance without work requirements fosters dependency, and attempts to define the limits of public obligation and to control the public purse. The vocabulary progresses through time—the tramps and vagrants of one period are the homeless of another, the deserving poor metamorphose into the truly needy, and solutions like apprenticeship yield to ones called job training. The vocabulary changes, but the inherent political and economic dilemmas of welfare stay much the same. Those dilemmas are rooted in the political and economic traditions of the Anglo-American brand ofcapitalist democracy. Alexis de Tocqueville (1983, p. 108) brilliantly illustrated the nature of the problem in describing the England of the 1830s: In a country where the majority is ill-clothed, ill-housed, ill-fed, who thinks of giving clean clothes, healthy food, comfortable quarters to the poor?The mt~orityofthe English, having all these things, regard their absence as a terrible misfortune; society believes itself bound to come to the aid of those who lack them. . .. In England, the average standard of living a man can hope for in the course of his life is higher than in any other country oftheworld. This greatly facilitates the extension of pauperism in that kingdom.


Plants to blossom indoors, and to blossom preferably at Christmas time, were chosen for gifts. After looking at flower catalogues, we decided that freesias and jonquils were best suited to our purpose. The children filled low four-inch bulbpots with sandy loam from a field near the school, first putting in a small stone or two for drainage. Each child planted in his pot five of the kind of bulb he preferred. To make the gift a more complete one, we decided that bowls of clay should be made to hold the pots and plants. The following reading-lessons, which were first written on the board by the teacher as the children told each step of the process, give an account of the work. These reading-lessons, with a kodak picture olf the bowls and plants, and two workingplans of the bowls, made by each child for his use in the clayroom, were tied between stiff paper covers, as a book to accompany the gift.


Drug interactions are said to occur when the pharmacological activity of drug is altered by the concomitant use of another drug or by the presence of food, drink or environmental chemicals . the drug whose activity is affected by such an interaction is called object drug .the agent which precipitates such an interaction is referred to as the precipitant drug interactions are generally quantitative where by the intensity of effect is changed can increase or decrease and seldom quantitative. An enhanced International Journal of Pharma Research and Health Sciences


Pharmacy's 'graveyard zone', the Schedule 3 (S3) or Pharmacist-Only Medicines, may come alive with professional and commercial opportunities if moves across industry and pharmacy are successful in reinvigorating recommendation and purchase from this category of medicines.


The effect of alkaline hydrothermal pre‐treatment for anaerobic digestion of mechanically‐sorted municipal solid waste (MSW) and source‐sorted waste was studied. Waste was hydrothermally pre‐treated in dilute alkali solution. Hydrolysis product was incubated in 500 ml saline bottle to determine methane potential (MP) under mesospheric anaerobic conditions. Optimum reaction condition obtained in the study is 170 °C at the dose of 4 g NaOH/100 g solid for one hour. Soluble COD was 13936 mg/L and methane yield was 164 ml/g VS for 6 days incubation at optimum conditions. More than 50% biogas increase was achieved over the control, and methane conversion ratio on carbon basis was enhanced to 30.6%. The digestion period was less than 6 days when pre‐treatment temperature was above 130 °C. The organic part of sorted waste is mainly constituted of kitchen garbage and leaf. Model kitchen garbage was completely liquidized at 130 °C for one hour and the methane yield was 276 ml/g VS. Addition of alkali enhance hydro...


The present study is designed to investigate the overall situation of the metacognitive strategies employed in reading by foreign language learners. The subjects of this study were 160 non-English major freshmen from Wuhan Institute of Technology. Data were collected through the questionnaire, and analyzed in SPSS 16.0. Descriptive analysis were employed to do the data analysis. The paper aims to answer the following questions: 1. whether the students are proficient at using metacognitive strategies in English as a second language reading? 2. Which metacognitive strategies are used more often? The results showed that students demonstrate different proficiency of the use of metacognitive strategies in reading practice. The planning strategies are the most frequently used.


Hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) is a potentially lifesaving and, for certain diseases, the only curative treatment. Patients undergoing HSCT are under stress and often experience anxiety and depression. Symptomatic treatment of distress and anxiety often involves benzodiazepines. This study describes how benzodiazepine use affects length of stay and 30-day emergency department visits in cancer patients hospitalized to receive an allogeneic or autologous HSCT. Abstract Objectives This study assesses the impact of benzodiazepine (BNZ) use on length of stay (LOS) and 30-day emergency department (ED) visits after hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT). Methods Adult patients (18 years and older) who underwent an allogeneic or an autologous HSCT from 2015 to 2018 at the study site were included. Five multivariable models were used for both allogeneic and autologous HSCT: BNZ-naïve status, diazepam equivalent daily dosage (DEDD; 0 vs any), DEDD (excluding 0), ED visits, and LOS. Results BNZ-naïve autologous HSCT recipients were less likely to use any BNZs in the hospital (odds ratio [OR] 0.07, P < 0.001). If prescribed BNZs, then they used a lesser amount (incidence rate ratio 0.39, P < 0.001). BNZ-naïve autologous HSCT recipients were less likely to experience a 30-day ED visit (OR 0.17, P = 0.009). BNZ-naïve allogeneic HSCT recipients were also less likely to use any BNZ than previous users (OR 0.11, P = 0.014). Patient characteristics influenced BNZ naïvety, DEDD usage, LOS for autologous patients, and BNZ naïvety and DEDD for allogeneic patients. Conclusions BNZ use resulted in increased 30-day ED visits after autologous HSCT. BNZ-naïve recipients were less likely to use BNZs during hospital stays; if they required BNZs, then it was in lower dosages.


. Citro R, Previtali M, Bovelli D, et al. Chronobiological patterns of onset of Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy: a multicenter Italian study. J Am Coll Cardiol 2009;54:180–1. . Manfredini R, Citro R, Previtali M, et al. The summer preference in the occurrence of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is independent of age. J Am Geriatr Soc 2009;57:1509–11. . Hertting K, Krause K, Härle T, Boczor S, Reimers J, Kucj KH. Transient left ventricular apical ballooning in a community hospital in Germany. Int J Cardiol 2006;112:282–8. . Regnante RA, Zuzek RW, Weinser SB, et al. Clinical characteristics and four-year outcomes of patients in the Rhode Island Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy Registry. Am J Cardiol 2009;103:105–9. . Kurisu S, Inoue I, Kawagoe T, et al. Circadian variation in the occurrence of tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy: comparison with acute myocardial infarction. Int J Cardiol 2007;115:270–1. . Akashi YJ, Goldstein DS, Barbaro G, et al. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Circulation 2008;118:2754–62. . Madhavan M, Borlaug BA, Lerman A, Rihal CS, Prasad A. Stress hormone and circulating biomarker profile of apical ballooning syndrome (Takotsubo cardiomyopathy): insights into the clinical significance of B-type natriuretic peptide and troponin levels. Heart 2009;95: 1436–41. . Abraham J, Mudd JO, Kapur NK, Klein K, Champion HC, Wittstein IS. Stress cardiomyopathy after intravenous administration of catecholamines and beta-receptor agonists. J Am Coll Cardiol 2009; 53:1320–5.


BACKGROUND: As per the wide advancements in dentistry, many procedures have been discovered for root canal irrigation. Among these recent advancements, photon-induced photon acoustic streaming is the most advanced and more successful than other methods. In this method, Erbium-doped yttrium aluminium, a garnet laser, is used at sub ablative power levels. Here PIPs are only used at coronal one-third of the teeth. AIM : To study the effect of photon-induced photoacoustic streaming in root canal irrigation method. METHODS: A literature search was performed using PubMed, PubMed Central, Europe PMC, Spie digital library using MeSH term photon-induced photoacoustic streaming and root canal irrigation. Of 281 articles screened, 23 full-text articles were assessed for eligibility, and four were taken for the qualitative analysis. The review was made according to the PRISMA guidelines. In addition, four randomised controlled trials were included for the review process. RESULTS: The photon-induced photoacoustic streaming was compared with traditional irrigation techniques, which showed that this procedure is more effective and less time-consuming. CONCLUSION: These photon-induced photoacoustic streaming lasers are more effective, more of a bloodless procedure and less time-consuming.


This paper presents a new method of output feedback eigenstructure assignment. A new, reduced orthogonality condition is derived which is less restrictive on the design degrees of freedom than others in the literature. From this a novel, general formulation for the gain matrix is admitted which utilizes a two stage design process. In the first stage, a subset of desired eigenvectors is assigned, either left or right. In the second stage, a dual set is assigned which adheres to the necessary and sufficient conditions for output feedback eigenstructure assignment proved earlier in the paper. A numerical example is presented to illustrate the whole procedure.


With NCEP/NCAR reanalyzed data,the method of composite analysis was used to investigate the evolution of tropical circulation associated with the South China Sea summer monsoon(SCSSM) onset.The composite shows that the wind fields of troposphere and lower stratosphere over South Asia and Southeast Asia present obvious changes.It also indicates that the evolvement of a pair of cyclones over topical Indian Ocean can be regarded as an influencing factor of SCSSM onset.This couple of vortexes in troposphere,quasi-symmetric with respect to the equator,is born from a easterly perturbation before the monsoon onset.The northern vortex can finally develop into Indian-Burma trough,which causes the eastward spread of south-westerly wind,the eastward motion of Pacific high as well as the monsoon onset.Different from the variation of circulation in lower troposphere,that of upper troposphere and stratosphere shows its global-scale characteristic.


Get to grips with 3D printing and learn to model designs using BlenderAbout This BookFrom the author who brought you the first practical look at 3D printing with 3D Printing BlueprintsGet a comprehensive coverage of the prototyping techniques you need to know to start printing your own 3D designsRekindle your mathematical genius to design personalized objects for complex puzzlesWho This Book Is ForIf you're new to the world of 3D printing, this is the book for you. Some basic knowledge of Blender and geometry would be helpful, but is not necessary. What You Will LearnGet to know about the different types of 3D printers and their limitationsSee how Y, H, and T shapes illustrate different ideas of successful 3D design for home 3D printersSet up and configure Blender to model a file for 3D printingUnderstand material characteristics, printing specifications, tolerances, and design tipsWork through the techniques of editing complex meshes, smoothing, combining shapes, and exporting them into STL files for printingBreak down complex geometries into multiple simple shapes and model them in layers using BlenderDesign, manipulate, and export 3D models for 3D printing with BlenderMaster the art of creating meshes, scaling, subdivision, and adding detail with the Boolean modifier as well as sculpting a custom shapeCut a model into small pieces and understand how to design complex interlocking joints that form a part of a jigsaw puzzleIn Detail3D printing has revolutionized the way that global industries conceptualize and design products for mass consumption. Considered as the next trillion-dollar business, every industry is in the race to equip its personnel with techniques to prototype and simplify complex manufacturing process. This book will take you through some simple to complex and effective principles of designing 3D printed objects using Blender. There is a comprehensive coverage of projects such as a 3D print-ready octopus pencil holder, which will teach you how to add basic geometric shapes, and use techniques such as extruding and subdividing to transform these shapes into complex meshes. Furthermore, you'll learn to use various techniques to derive measurements for an object, model these objects using Blender, organize the parts into layers, and later combine them to create the desired object with the help of a 3D printable SD card holder ring design project. The final project will help you master the techniques of designing simple to complex puzzles models for 3D printing. Through the course of the book, we'll explore various robust sculpting methods supported by Blender to create objects. You'll move, rotate, and scale the object, and manipulate the view. You'll edit objects with actions such as bends or curves, similar to drawing or building up a clay structure of different shapes and sizes. By the end of the book, you will have gained thorough practical hands-on experience to be able to create a real-world 3D printable object of your choice. Style and approach This is a hands-on guide to the world of 3D printing. With the help of simple to complex projects, you'll learn various techniques to design 3D printable objects using Blender.


Guided by Fairclough's three-dimensional conception of discourse,especially based on the context theory in Halliday's systemic-functional grammar,within the framework of appraisal theory,the paper attempts to do the positive discourse analysis(PDA) of a news report(27th/0907) on the Iran nuclear issue from the New York Times from the constructive perspective,aiming to reveal America's new attitude towards Iran—a sharper new sanction but no plan for a military attack.


In order to improve the survival rate of stem cells in therapy after large-scale culture and transplantation into patients, a stem cell culture system simulating continuous fluctuating pressure in vivo was proposed in this paper. The system analogs the human pulse signals by regularly regulating the internal pressure. It provides blood pressure training for the large-scale culture of stem cells in vitro, which can improve the survival rate after stem cell transplantation, so as to elevate the success rate of cell therapy, and finally provide direction for the development of new culture instrument.


One kind of learning model that can improve students understanding is cooperative learning with Cooperative Script (CS) model. CS requires students to do the activities by themselves. It means that students find some concepts or able to solve the problem by themselves, so it can improve students understanding.
The aims of this research are : (1) to know the application of CS model in operasi suku aljabar at SMP Muhammadiyah 06 Dau, (2) to know the learning outcomes of eighth grade students at SMP Muhammadiyah 06 Dau after applying the CS model, (3) to know the students response of eighth grade students at SMP Muhammadiyah 06 Dau after applying the CS model.
The results of this study indicate that the implementation of cooperative learning with CS model can improve students learning outcomes on VIII-B class at SMP Muhammadiyah 06 Dau. It is indicated by a classical thoroughness which has increased from 53.33% in the first cycle, to 80% on the second cycle, whereas the students' responses can be seen that 13% of students in CS learning is in the high category, while 60% of students medium category, and 27% of students included in the low category.
Keywords: improve learning outcomes, cooperative script


The use of networks allows the representation of a variety of important engineering problems. The treatment of a particular class of network applications, the Process Synthesis problem, is exposed in this paper. Process Synthesis seeks to develop systematically process owsheets that convert raw materials into desired products. In recent years, the optimization approach to process synthesis has shown promise in tackling this challenge. It requires the development of a network of interconnected units, the process superstructure, that represents the alternative process owsheets. The mathematical model-ing of the superstructure has a mixed set of binary and continuous variables and results in a mixed-integer optimization model. Due to the nonlinearity of chemical models, these problems are generally classiied as Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) problems. A number of local optimization algorithms for MINLP problems are outlined in this paper: Generalized Benders Decomposition (GBD), Outer Approximation (OA), Generalized Cross Decomposition (GCD), Extended Cutting Plane (ECP), Branch and Bound (BB), and Feasibility Approach (FA), with particular emphasis on the Generalized Benders Decomposition. Recent developments for the global optimization of nonconvex MINLPs are then introduced. In particular, two branch-and-bound approaches are discussed: the Special structure Mixed Integer Nonlinear BB (SMIN-BB), where the binary variables should participate linearly or in mixed-bilinear terms, and the General structure Mixed Integer Nonlinear BB (GMIN-BB), where the continuous relaxation of the binary variables must lead to a twice-diierentiable problem. Both algorithms are based on the BB global optimization algorithm for nonconvex continuous problems. Once some of the theoretical issues behind local and global optimization algorithms for MINLPs have been exposed, attention is directed to their practical use. The algorithmic framework MINOPT is discussed as a computational tool for the solution of process synthesis problems. It is an implementation of a number of local optimization algorithms for the solution of MINLPs. The synthesis problem for a heat exchanger network is then presented to demonstrate the application of some local MINLP algorithms and the global optimization SMIN-BB algorithm.


Policy Recommendations Once a peace-settlement for Syria is found, the most difficult task ahead will not be the economic and political reconstruction of the nation, but first and foremost, the reorganization of the Syrian society that must go hand in hand with the evolution of a new civil identity. This policy brief argues that the EU as an external actor can only assert an indirect influence on the emergence of a civil society in Syria via supporting the processes of modernization and transitional justice. The EU however could have a direct effect on a re-definition of values in a future Syrian state via the promotion of civil societal norms amongst the Syrian refugees currently hosted in its member states.


It promised a better world but almost every ill the UN Convention on Children set out to remedy has grown worse


Information-seeking conversation systems are increasingly popular in real-world applications, especially for e-commerce companies. To retrieve appropriate responses for users, it is necessary to compute the matching degrees between candidate responses and users' queries with historical dialogue utterances. As the contexts are usually much longer than responses, it is thus necessary to expand the responses (usually short) with richer information. Recent studies on pseudo-relevance feedback (PRF) have demonstrated its effectiveness in query expansion for search engines, hence we consider expanding response using PRF information. However, existing PRF approaches are either based on heuristic rules or require heavy manual labeling, which are not suitable for solving our task. To alleviate this problem, we treat the PRF selection for response expansion as a learning task and propose a reinforced learning method that can be trained in an end-to-end manner without any human annotations. More specifically, we propose a reinforced selector to extract useful PRF terms to enhance response candidates and a BERT-based response ranker to rank the PRF-enhanced responses. The performance of the ranker serves as a reward to guide the selector to extract useful PRF terms, which boosts the overall task performance. Extensive experiments on both standard benchmarks and commercial datasets prove the superiority of our reinforced PRF term selector compared with other potential soft or hard selection methods. Both case studies and quantitative analysis show that our model is capable of selecting meaningful PRF terms to expand response candidates and also achieving the best results compared with all baselines on a variety of evaluation metrics. We have also deployed our method on online production in an e-commerce company, which shows a significant improvement over the existing online ranking system.


Searching for a way to understand the songs of Rabindranath Tagore that reflects their centrality in his creative work and goes deep, as it were, into his creative nervous system underlies this essay. Both the lyrics and the music of Tagore's songs [Rabindra-sangit] were composed by him and thus are intimately bound together. For appreciating the distinctive qualities of the songs a four-fold classification - based on characteristics of the four parts of a typical song in the Rabindra-sangit corpus - is proposed and sketched. There are also suggestions (and an appeal for higher performance standards) as to why, if he were alive today, Tagore might feel that his songs are being misinterpreted and misunderstood - but need not be in future.


These research activities consist of high-resolution inverse Raman spectroscopy (IRS) and resonant wave-mixing spectroscopy to support the development of nonlinear-optical techniques for temperature and concentration measurements in combustion research. Objectives of this work include development of spectral models of important molecular species needed to perform coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) measurements and the investigation of new nonlinear-optical processes as potential diagnostic techniques. Some of the techniques being investigated include frequency-degenerate and nearly frequency-degenerate resonant four-wave-mixing (DFWM and NDFWM), and resonant multi-wave mixing (RMWM).


The purpose of the study was to provide the pipeline for processing of publicly available unprocessed data on gene expression via integration and differential gene expression analysis. Data collection from open gene expression databases, normalization and integration into a single expression matrix in accordance with metadata and determination of differentially expressed genes were fulfilled. To demonstrate all stages of data processing and integrative analysis, there were used the data from gene expression in the human placenta from the first and second trimesters of normal pregnancy. The source code for the integrative analysis was written in the R programming language and publicly available as a repository on GitHub. Four clusters of functionally enriched differentially expressed genes were identified for the human placenta in the interval between the first and second trimester of pregnancy. Immune processes, developmental processes, vasculogenesis and angiogenesis, signaling and the processes associated with zinc ions varied in the considered interval between the first and second trimester of placental development. The proposed sequence of actions for integrative analysis could be applied to any data obtained by microarray technology.


Rosai – Dorfman disease is a disorder of histiocytic proliferation that can affect almost every organ. Skin may be involved in about 10% cases, but only 3% of patients have skin lesions exclusively. Patients with CRDD usually are healthy, without leading constitutional or other symptoms. Etiology of this disease is unclear, but it might be triggered by an infectious agent such as Herpesvirus 6 and Epstein-Barr virus, there is also predisposition to autoimmune diseases, hematological malignancies. In our case patient was diagnosed with Borrelia burgdorferi infection. Any known association between this infection and Rosai – Dorfman disease was not described before. The disease may manifest in any age group. The differential diagnosis includes Langerhans cell histiocytosis, metastasis, Hodgkin's lymphoma and other diseases. Disease usually resolves spontaneously over a period of months to years. Treatment should be administered in nonresponsive or multiple relapsing cases. Also, it is very important to take into consideration the patient's expectations and aesthetic appearance before making a treatment decision. Various treatment options are described, including surgical excision, cryotherapy, corticosteroids, antibiotics, Methotrexate, Dapsone. In our case, we used CO2 laser treatment successfully. To our knowledge, this is only the second case where CRDD lesions were treated successfully with CO2 laser.


Visual cryptography scheme (VCS) is a kind of secret-sharing scheme which allows the encryption of a secret image into n shares that are distributed to n participants. The beauty of such a scheme is that, the decryption of the secret image requires neither the knowledge of cryptography nor complex computation. Colour visual cryptography becomes an interesting research topic after the formal introduction of visual cryptography by Naor and Shamir in 1995. The authors propose a colour (k, n)-VCS under the visual cryptography model of Naor and Shamir with no pixel expansion, and a colour (k, n)-extended visual cryptography scheme ((k, n)-EVCS) under the visual cryptography model of Naor and Shamir with pixel expansion the same as that of its corresponding black and white (k, n)-EVCS. Furthermore, the authors propose a black and white (k, n)-VCS and a black and white (k, n)-EVCS under the visual cryptography model of Tuyls. Based on the black and white schemes, the authors propose a colour (k, n)-VCS and a colour (k, n)-EVCS under the same visual cryptography model, of which the pixel expansions are the same as that of their corresponding black and white (k, n)-VCS and (k, n)-EVCS, respectively. The authors also give the experimental results of the proposed schemes, and compare the proposed scheme with known schemes in the literature.


Disclosed herein are an organic light emitting display device having reduced power consumption and improved efficiency and service life, and a method for manufacturing the same. The organic light emitting display device includes first to third sub-pixels for displaying different colors, each of the subpixels of the first to third sub-pixel comprises a first electrode (102) and a second electrode (104) on a substrate (101), wherein the electrodes facing each other ; an emission layer (110) formed between the first electrode (102) and the second electrode (104); is formed a multi-layer hole transport layer (114) interposed between the first electrode (102) and the emission layer (110) to be in contact with the first electrode (102) and the emission layer (110); and an electron transport layer (116) formed between the second electrode (104) and the emission layer (110), wherein the multi-layer hole transport layer (114) of at least one of the first through third sub-pixels: an at least two-layered first hole transport layer (114a) formed from a perforated host (H) and a p-type dopant (D) with a doping concentration of 1% to 10%; and a second hole transport layer (114b) which is formed from the hole host (H).


【Objective】 To summary diagnosis and treatment of bronchial foreign body by fibrobrochoscopy. 【Methods】 108 bronchial foreign body cases diagnosed and treated by fibrobrochoscopy were retrospective ana-lyzed. 【Results】Among the 108 cases, 73 had respiratory inhalation foreign bodies, among which 43 were removed by fibrobrochoscopy, 21 by hard brochoscopy, 9 by hard brochoscopy and fibrobrochoscopy. 35 endogenous foreign bodies were removed by fibrobrochoscopy successfully. 【Conclusion】Fibrobronchoscopy is an effective method not only to diagnose, but also to treat bronchial foreign body with the help of a special tool.


The effects of high pressure microfluidization (DHPM) treatment on solubility, foaming ability and foam stability, emulsifying ability and stability, and apparent viscosity of whey protein solution were investigated. After DHPM treatment, the solubility and the foaming ability were increased by 90.8% and 38.3%, respectively, and the foam stability and the emulsifying stability were 15.5 and 7.85 times higher than before DHPM treatment. When the pressure was 120 MPa, the solubility and the emulsifying ability and stability tended to be stable. When the pressure was kept constant, whey protein solution became obviously shear-thinning at high shear rate. When the shear rate was 168.75 s-1, the apparent viscosity tended to be constant.


Abstract Studies were performed with the isolated, in situ guinea pig gallbladder to determine the effects of gallbladder injury on absorption of organic onions. Spontaneous cholelithiasis with chronic cholecystitis was accompanied by a decrease in absorption of all compounds studied. Spontaneous acute cholecystitis caused markedly increased absorption of taurocholate, sulfobromophthalein, and iodipamide but did not affect absorption of unconjugated bilirubin. Mucosal injury, ranging from epithelial flattening to acute mucosal inflammation to hemorrhagic mucosal necrosis, was produced experimentally by solutions of pure bile salts. The grade of injury, increased with time of exposure and bile salt concentration, was more severe with unconjugated than conjugated bile salts and was diminished by addition of bilirubin to the bile salt solution. The mucosal inflammatory lesion, which resembled spontaneous acute cholecystitis, similarly markedly increased absorption of taurocholate but left bilirubin absorption unchanged. Mucosal damage by bile salts and a consequent selective increase in bile salt absorption might play a role in the pathogenesis of cholesterol gallstones.


ABSTRACT A number of studies have shown an association of pathogens with caveolae. To this date, however, there are no studies showing a role for caveolin-1 in modulating immune responses against pathogens. Interestingly, expression of caveolin-1 has been shown to occur in a regulated manner in immune cells in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Here, we sought to determine the role of caveolin-1 (Cav-1) expression in Salmonella pathogenesis. Cav-1−/− mice displayed a significant decrease in survival when challenged with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Spleen and tissue burdens were significantly higher in Cav-1−/− mice. However, infection of Cav-1−/− macrophages with serovar Typhimurium did not result in differences in bacterial invasion. In addition, Cav-1−/− mice displayed increased production of inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, and nitric oxide. Regardless of this, Cav-1−/− mice were unable to control the systemic infection of Salmonella. The increased chemokine production in Cav-1−/− mice resulted in greater infiltration of neutrophils into granulomas but did not alter the number of granulomas present. This was accompanied by increased necrosis in the liver. However, Cav-1−/− macrophages displayed increased inflammatory responses and increased nitric oxide production in vitro in response to Salmonella LPS. These results show that caveolin-1 plays a key role in regulating anti-inflammatory responses in macrophages. Taken together, these data suggest that the increased production of toxic mediators from macrophages lacking caveolin-1 is likely to be responsible for the marked susceptibility of caveolin-1-deficient mice to S. enterica serovar Typhimurium.


Abstract : The discrete (referred as modes) and continuous spectra of finite-width, parallel-plate simulator fields are investigated. Formulas suitable for numerical calculation are obtained for both the transverse-magnetic (TM) and transverse-electric (TE) fields. Numerical results for the propagation constants and the field distributions of the higher order TM modes are presented. It is found that in the working volume of the parallel-plate simulator some of the higher-order TM modes resemble those of a closed waveguide, and the field of the continuous spectrum decays at least as z-2 for waves propagating along the z-direction.


The invention discloses an overlook-based detection and counting system and an overlook-based detection and counting method for pedestrians. The system comprise a camera unit, a detection unit, a training unit and a judging and counting unit, wherein the camera unit is arranged at the upper end of the top of a gateway and is used for shooting the pedestrians who pass through the gateway; and the detection unit comprises a square target frame setting module, a sliding detection window (a square frame) image gradient acquisition module, an image any pixel point gradient direction value acquisition module, a subblock pixel gradient direction counting module, a subblock uniformization module and a gradient direction information in-series superposition module. According to the system and the method, the problem of occlusion between targets is solved, so that the accuracy of detection can be improved.


Let $\Delta$ be a smooth reflexive polytope in dimension 3 and $f$ be a tropical polynomial whose Newton polytope is the polar dual of $\Delta$. One can construct a $2$-sphere $B$ equipped with an integral affine structure with singularities by contracting the tropical K3 hypersurface defined by $f$. We write the complement of the singularity as $\iota \colon B_0 \hookrightarrow B$, and the local system of integral tangent vectors on $B_0$ as $\mathcal{T}_\mathbb{Z}$. Let further $Y$ be an anti-canonical hypersurface of the toric variety associated with the normal fan of $\Delta$, and $\operatorname{Pic} (Y)_\mathrm{amb}$ be the sublattice of the Picard group of $Y$ coming from the ambient space. In this article, we give a primitive embedding $\operatorname{Pic} (Y)_\mathrm{amb} \hookrightarrow H^1(B, \iota_\ast \mathcal{T}_\mathbb{Z})$ that preserves the pairing, and compute the radiance obstruction of $B$, which sits in the subspace generated by the image of $\operatorname{Pic} (Y)_\mathrm{amb}$.


This training was motivated by the low TPACK ability of elementary school teachers in the mathematics learning process. The purpose of this activity is to improve the TPACK ability of elementary school teachers in learning mathematics. The implementation method is by carrying out training activities in Cluster II, Pauh District, Padang City, involving 30 elementary school teachers. The results of the activity stated that there was an increase in the TPACK ability of elementary school teachers in learning mathematics. The implications of this activity can be used as a reference in developing the TPACK abilities of elementary school teachers.


The Heihe River Basin (HRB), located on the northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, is the second-largest inland river basin in China, with an area of 140,000 km2. The HRB is a coupling area of the westerlies, the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau monsoon and the Southeast monsoon circulation system, and is a relatively independent land-surface water-circulating system. The refined characteristics of moisture recycling over the HRB was described by using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model for a long-term simulation, and the "finer box model" for calculating the net water-vapor flux. The following conclusions were drawn from the results of this study: (1) The water vapor of the HRB was dominantly transported by the wind from the west and from the north, and the west one was much larger than the north one. The net vapor transported by the west wind was positive, and by the north wind was negative. (2) The precipitation over the HRB was triggered mainly by the vapor from the west, which arose from the lower vertical layer to higher one during transporting from west to east. The vapor from the north sank from a higher layer to a lower one, and crossed the south edge of the HRB. (3) The moisture-recycling ratio of evapotranspiration to precipitation over the HRB was much higher than the other regions, which may be due to the strong land–atmosphere interaction in the arid inland river basin.


This paper describes a new power electronics toolbox SimuPec designed to be used with Matlab/Simulink from the Math Works Inc. The paper emphasis two features of SimuPec in the Simulink environment namely: 1) Modeling of nonlinear components, 2) Circuit partitioning and decoupling. Modeling of nonlinear components with SimuPec can be realized directly. SimuPec automatically linearize the complete electric circuit about the operating point. Circuit partitioning and decoupling could be applied to simulate large complex power electronics system using many small subsystems. This technique allows significant speed improvement compared to modeling the complete power electronics system in one S-function block. In addition it makes the system easy formulate and program in parallel processing environment.


The pressure to enhance both effectiveness and efficiency of drugs and drug development is growing. One option is to actively consult and include patients,1 being the end users, through the different stages of drug development chain, from discovery to market introduction.

Patient involvement is receiving increasing support as it can improve …


At times, however, readers may long for additional discussion of the broader implications of these cases. For example, the cases seem to challenge the familiar narrative of an increasingly ineluctable binary binding whiteness to freedom and blackness to slavery during the antebellum era. Family Bonds suggests that free blacks' ability to claim rights waxed and waned, sometimes in response to prominent developments like Nat Turner's revolt but also according to the vicissitudes of neighborhood feuds and deaths. The book provides a strong foundation for future investigations into the complex relationship between race and slavery. While many of the Virginians who populate Family Bonds succeeded in using law to insulate themselves against the state's most racist policies, for most enslaved Virginians racism and the laws of slavery worked seamlessly in ensuring their bondage. Scholars exploring the relationship between these two realities and the people who inhabited them might provide additional insight into the abolitionist politics of black Virginians. While the book makes the case that political ideology decisively shaped white Virginians' attitudes toward the rights of free people of color, future scholars might consider whether these cases provide new insight into the political thought of black Virginians as well. Building upon extraordinary archival research, Family Bonds does invaluable work in particularizing and concretizing meanings of freedom within a slave society. It should be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of law and slavery in the American South. Catherine Jones


Sensibilization of Tm ions by Cr ions is today the usual operating scheme of the lamp-pumped Tm laser. High concentration of Tm ions results in efficient Cr→Tm energy transfer and in cross-relaxation of absorbed energy quanta, resulting in term in double quantum efficiency of absorbed energy conversion. At the same time, high concentration of the activator and the three-level lasing lead to the high energy threshold, limiting thus the pulse repetition rate. High energy threshold, accompanied by the low intensity of the Tm ion absorption band at the wavelength of AlGaAs laser diode emission prevents also the use of Y3Al5O12:Tm crystals in lasers with the transverse diode pumping.