We present an elementary proof of the existence of an eigenvalue for an endomorphism of a complex vector space and we derive the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra as a corollary of this existence. We also present new proofs for the corresponding results for endomorphisms of real vector spaces.


The service sector in the developed world has experienced considerable growth over the past two decades. The UK has been no exception. However, many academics have argued this development has not been accompanied by a proportionate growth in services branding literature. This paper looks to add to B2B services branding literature via the case study organisation Concise Demolition (CD). (Please note this name is purely hypothetical so as to respect the commercial privacy of the case organisation.)

The paper develops an understanding of how CD can take a more balanced approach to brand positioning which gives explicit consideration to both internal and external audiences views. In the case of this paper, this relates to incorporating target customers requirements (external audience) and its managers perception of customers requirements (internal audience) into its brand positioning. The goal is to identify requirements that are perceived as important by both customers and managers. Aggregated requirements are then articulated as brand values which in their turn shape organisational behaviour to support the overall positioning. The logic being that positioning which incorporates customer requirements should increase the chances of the brand resonating with these customers and; by involving managers in the brand process, commitment to delivering brand promises should be greater. The engagement of employees in the services branding process is critical given the pivotal role employees play at service brands.

Key findings indicate that requirements do not always lend themselves to being neatly articulated as values. This results in the need for the researcher to iteratively create umbrella categories as values which requirements fall under. Positioning based around people gained both internal and external support. Several unexpected findings materialised. These relate to mixed support for the relationship metaphor in its source domain of B2B markets, the strong emotional connection CD managers had to the organisations logo and the variable meaning of specific words such as 'innovation' and 'sustainability'.

Concluding remarks highlight how this paper enriches both academics and practitioners understanding of the services branding process. The fact this paper has not developed a theory per se is outlined as a limitation of this paper and a call for more B2B services branding research is made so as to add to this areas body of knowledge.


The results of studying and assessment of the impact of climate change on the groundwater in the Mekong delta have indicated that the exploitation of quaternary aquifers is not enough to solve the task of water supply in the region. Therefore, in the exploitation plan of groundwater in the Mekong Delta, the greatest prospects are bound with Pliocene aquifers. So, by using of carbon radioactive isotope to determine the age and forming conditions of groundwater in the middle Pliocene aquifer in the Mekong Delta, the important information for planning exploitation and zoning of areas subject to restrained exploitation of groundwater is retrieved. The determination of the age with the use of carbon radioactive isotope study in the complex with the geostatistical interpolation techniques allowed creation age map of middle-Pliocene aquifer with high accuracy nad determination the recharge area on the north-east of the Mekong delta (South-Eastern area). From the recharge area, groundwater flows in the south-west direction at a flow velocity of 8 m/year and discharges into the sea (Siam Golf and Eastern sea). It is the first time by using geostatistical interpolation «cokriging» of two parameters (age - key parameter and depth of sampling - extra parameter). The tasks to improve the accuracy of specialized maps in Vietnam have been solved. The age map has been made with the correlation parameter 0,9, that justifies the high efficiency of the studies. Furthermore, results of the correlation between age and concentration chlorine of groundwater in the middle-Pliocene aquifer (n22) allowed making a suggestion, that formation of mineralized water is a result of mixing of meteoric water with the sedimentation waters of initial sea genesis, which were formed during Flandrian transgression which began about 21000 years ago and ended 4200 years ago.


Volcanic eruptions on the deep sea floor have traditionally been assumed to be non-explosive as the high-pressure environment should greatly inhibit steam-driven explosions. Nevertheless, occasional evidence both from (generally slow-) spreading axes and intraplate seamounts has hinted at explosive activity at large water depths. Here we present evidence from a submarine field of volcanic cones and pit craters called Charles Darwin Volcanic Field located at about 3600 m depth on the lower southwestern slope of the Cape Verdean Island of Santo Antao. We examined two of these submarine volcanic edifices (Tambor and Kola), each featuring a pit crater of 1 km diameter, using photogrammetric reconstructions derived from ROV-based imaging followed by 3D quantification using a novel remote sensing workflow, aided by sampling. The measured and calculated parameters of physical volcanology derived from the 3D model allow us, for the first time, to make quantitative statements about volcanic processes on the deep seafloor similar to those generated from land-based field observations. Tambor cone, which is 2500 m wide and 250 m high, consists of dense, probably monogenetic medium to coarse-grained volcaniclastic and pyroclastic rocks that are highly fragmented, probably as a result of thermal and viscous granulation upon contact with seawater during several consecutive cycles of activity. Tangential joints in the outcrops indicate subsidence of the crater floor after primary emplacement. Kola crater, which is 1000 m wide and 160 m deep, appears to have been excavated in the surrounding seafloor and shows stepwise sagging features interpreted as ring fractures on the inner flanks. Lithologically, it is made up of a complicated succession of highly fragmented deposits, including spheroidal juvenile lapilli, likely formed by spray granulation. It resembles a maar-type deposit found on land. The eruption apparently entrained blocks of MORB-type gabbroic country rocks with diameters of up to 20 cm, probably abraded by fluidization within the vent, that were laterally transported for hundreds of meters through water. In spite of the great depth, both edifices feature dense but highly fragmented volcanic deposits with an unexpected combination of large clast sizes and wide clast dispersal. This suggests an energetic eruptive environment, which may have similarities with that seen in pyroclastic eruptions on land.


Introduction In recent literatures dealing with optimisation of prosthetic alignment in total hip arthroplasty (THA), the concept of combined anteversion (CA), sum of acetabular anteversion (AV) and femoral antetorsion (AT), has been addressed. We have been using an image-free THA navigation system?OrthoPilot THAPro?to achieve improved overall alignment with both stem and cup. In the use of this system, we have used the stem-first procedure so-called CA technique. In this technique, the femur was prepared first with the target angle corresponding to the native femoral AT and the cup AV was decided considering CA calculated with the formula of Widmer (37.3°= cup AV + 0.7 stem AT). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of CA by using CA technique with image-free navigated THA. Methods Fifty hips underwent primary THA using OrthoPilot THApro with CA technique. In CA technique, the femur was prepared first and the target angle of AT value was basically determined by for the individual native femoral AT angle. After the femur was prepared, the cup AV was decided based on the formula of Widmer. All included patients underwent postoperative CT examination, and the prosthetic alignment was assessed using the 3D-Template system (Zed Hip, LEXI). Results In the assessment of accuracy of the navigation systems in 50 consecutive THA9s, comparison of intraoperative navigation value and postoperative CT evaluation indicated that the absolute discrepancy of cup AV, and stem AT was 4.5° ± 3.5°and 5.9° ± 4.3° respectively. In the assessment of the cup AV with postoperative CT evaluation, the measured values averaged 20.7° ± 6.2° while AT values averaged 20.9° ± 10.6°. Distribution of AT values showed large SD. By contrast, the average Widmer9s CA values (cup AV + 0.7 stem AT) were 35.2° ± 5.7°. In the assessment of overall alignment, the Widmer9s CA values were within 37° ± 5° in 40 hips and 37° ± 10° in 46 hips. Conclusion The present study proposed that the confirming stem AT prior to cup placement could be important to achieve appropriate CA value. CA technique with image-free navigated THA could achieve accurate and consistent control of CA value.


After analyzing some related documentary information on the Chinese curling,this article summa- rizes the current populariztion status and research development of Chinese curling and indicates that the Chinese curling development trend and shortage.It offers a reference for the curling to be well popularized and to increase in ahletical level in China.


Complex topography and varied soil of hill-land pastures create microsite conditions that support an array of floristic associations and herbage production patterns. This complicates management for forage and livestock production because the seasonal distribution and quantity of forage vary. Our objective was to determine herbage production and floristic composition of a hill pasture as a function of site characteristics and canopy management. An existing 3-ha hill pasture watershed was oversown with white clover (Trifolium repens L.) and orchard-grass (Dactylis glomerata L.) and fertilized with reactive phosphate (PO 4 ) rock (PR). Replicated plots on each of four sites were clipped once (stockpiled), twice (hay harvest), or three times (long rotation) annually. Site had a significant impact on cumulative herbage production, whereas the influence of clipping was mixed. The least (1.9 Mg ha -1 ) amount of herbage production in a given season occurred on a northeast (NE)-facing site and the greatest (4.6 Mg ha -1 ) in a natural drainage area (ND) traversing the pasture. Herbage production increased by about 80% with overseeding and PR, but the relative ranking of production among sites stayed the same. Botanical composition was also strongly influenced by site, with velvetgrass (Holcus lanatus L.) predominating in ND and red fescue (Festuca rubra L.) occurring primarily on the NE site. The stockpiled treatments became dominated by grasses and weeds 4 yr after treatments were imposed, regardless of site, and were similar to the least productive site (NE-facing) in the pasture. Our results suggest that application of amendments to the more productive portions of a site are likely to have greater return.


An experimental dial-a-bus service has been running in harlow since August 1974. It connects the residential neighbourhood of old harlow to a number of destinations in harlow new town between the hours of 07.00 and 23.30. After six months the service was carrying over 4000 passengers per week at an average load factor of 50 per cent. Lack of A telephone had not proved a significant deterrent to using the service. About 75 per cent of passengers were booking journeys and/or receiving doorstep service. Survey results are given that indicate the purposes for which journeys were made and the mode that would have been used if dial-a-bus were not available. The experimental results are found to compare well with predictions made using a conventional modal choice model. The cost of the experimental service is found4.86 per bus hour and the gross revenue covers about 30 per cent of this cost. It is estimated that a non-experimental service could cost found3.9 per bus hour and achieve revenue to cover 60-70 per cent of its cost. (a) for the covering abstract of the conference see IRRD abstract no. 220828. /TRRL/


How to be have as a statisfying servant? As soon as you are the orderly of learning type, will meet the needs of learning type society , study professional knowledge and the basic knowledges such as marxism-leninism, legal policy and modern science and technology carefully; 2 the orderly who will do the type of public servant , train with great efforts serve people good thought and good style; 3 the orderly who will do innovation type , develop innovation spirit , raise innovation method and summarizs innovation experience.


Objective:To study the characteristics of neonatal calf retinal cell communications and cell junctions of photoreceptor cells. Methods:Photoreceptor cells were obtained from 24 sheats of neonatal calf retinas, and studied with transmission electron mi-croscopy(TEM) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM). Results:Diameter of photoreceptor cell was about 3-5μm. Near the distal end of outer nuclear layer, photoreceptor cells were connected by bundles of fibers, and near the outer plexiform layer, by reticular fibers with a diameter of 0.3-0.6μm.The convergence-like connection was found among some photoreceptor cells in which diameters of stem fibers and branch fibers were 0.65 - 0.75μm and 0.25 - 0. 5μm respectively. Photoreceptor cells were communicated with conduct cells via gap junctions,among which some gap junctions were typical with 3-5nm interspace, but others were immature. Conclusion: Photoreceptor cell from neonatal calf possesses the abilities of differentiation and functional reconstruction, and is suitable for donor of retinal transplantation.


This study examines the factors that can facilitate navigation pattern forinexperienced users of mobile applications for the creation of a mobilegraphical interface. In this study, the navigation i ...


A copper powder, has been developed for the manufacture of electrical brushes. The higher surface area and lower apparent density of the powder give improved green and sintered strength, maintain a copper matrix in the brush at higher graphite content, and result in higher electrical conductivity. Low-noise microbearings made from a new prealloyed bronze premix, exhibit a uniform alpha bronze grain structure, fine pore size, and close dimensional tolerances


Recent results obtained using the data sample of 23.6 fb^-1 collected on the Y(5S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric energy e+ e- collider are discussed. Measurements of several B_s^0 decay branching fractions are reported. Studies of the Y(5S) decays to the channels with B^+ and B^0 mesons or bottomonium states are discussed.


Security from intruders in data mining and machine learning have been important area of research during the last few years. Today malicious attack is serious security threat. These malicious executables are created at the rate of thousands every year and create serious security problems. Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is used to Access unauthorized and malicious attacks over the network. Data mining techniques that can be applied to IDS to detect normal and abnormal behavior patterns. Intrusion detection systems analyzes network activities and identify suspicious activity in the network to improve accuracy and security and detect anomalies attacks. Data mining provide a way to analyze, classify, clean and eliminate the large amount of network data through intrusion detection system. Several privacy and security techniques and algorithms have been proposed recently. In this paper we provide techniques of research problem and achievements in the field of security of big data using anomaly based IDS. Intrusion detection is a software application for detecting and monitoring the network activities and protect from unknown and suspicious access of device.


The present study investigated whether drying and desiccation substantially increase the biologically available phosphorus (P) in riverbed sediments from a dry subtropical river. Sequential extraction and batch equilibrium experiments were undertaken on sediments with contrasting organic matter content, percentage fines and P content. The response of sediments to drying differed predominately as a result of drying time rather than as a result of the different physiochemical properties and total P content of the sediments. For both in situ and laboratory drying, major changes in P speciationoccurredinthesurface-layersediment(0-2cm)whereNH4Cl-P(looselysorbedP)washigherinpartiallydried and desiccated sediments than in wet sediments. Conversely, NaOH-nrP (labile organic and poly-P) was significantly lower (Po0.05) in partially dried and desiccated sediments than in wet sediments, suggesting that a substantial transformation from a relatively unavailable organic form to a readily available inorganic form of P had occurred with drying.Theequilibriumphosphateconcentration(EPC0),whichisameasureofthepotentialforsedimentstofunctionasa source or a sink of phosphate (PO4� ), was higher in sediments desiccated in situ and in the laboratory than in submerged and partially dried sediments. Together with the speciation results, the higher EPC0 indicates that the potential for sediments to release P during the next flow event is substantially increased as a result of desiccation. The lower EPC0 in partiallydriedsedimentssuggestedthatthedegreeofdryingmaybeanimportantfactorintermsofthelong-termpotential for sediments to act as a source or a sink of PO4� after rewetting. The results from the present study have important implications because natural or anthropogenic processes which lead to riverbed drying may increase the flux of bioavailable P from bed sediments when flow returns.


Petrography : NWA049 contains basaltic clasts in a fine-grained clastic matrix. The clasts we have observed display an ophitic texture and are predominantly composed of plagioclase (about An95) and unequilibrated pigeonite with preserved zoning (core:Fs64Wo6En30 ; rim : Fs38Wo7En55). The pyroxene crystals contain fayalitic olivine (Fa72) on grain boundaries, in thin veins (about 10 microns thick) or in granules. In some areas, intergrowths of plagioclasesilica-fayalitic olivine were observed. The matrix is composed mainly of angular fragments of pigeonite (which contains sometimes olivine granules), and plagioclase. Fractures are filled by terrestrial carbonates. NWA049 resembles Yamato 75011, an Antarctic polymict eucrite.


Objective. The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between postprandial blood glucose and first‐phase insulin response and, furthermore, to assess whether the intravenous glucagon stimulation test can be used as a predictor for increased postprandial glucose in patients with recently diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Material and methods. Twenty patients with diet‐treated type 2 diabetes, diagnosed within the past 5 years, were included. In random order, on three different days, the patients underwent: 1) a standardized meal tolerance test, 2) an intravenous glucose tolerance test, and 3) an intravenous glucagon stimulation test. The postprandial blood glucose response was defined as the incremental area under the blood glucose curve 0–240 min after the meal. Results. The first‐phase insulin response at an intravenous glucose stimulation test was significantly correlated to the postprandial blood glucose increment (R2 = 0.21, p<0.05) and the maximal increment in plasma glucose concentration (R2 = 0.40, p<0.01) during the meal tolerance test. However, the incremental C‐peptide value at 6 min in response to intravenous glucagon stimulation did not correlate to the postprandial blood glucose increment (R2 = 0.09, p = 0.14). Conclusion. Impaired first‐phase insulin response is a significant predictor of the increase in postprandial blood glucose in patients with type 2 diabetes in near normal metabolic control, whereas beta‐cell function, assessed by glucagon stimulation test, is not.


OBJECTIVE:To compare the efficiency and pharmacoeconomic cost of mosapride, cisapride, clebopride and domperidone in the treatment of functional dyspepsia. METHODS:272 cases of functional dyspepsia were randomly divided into 4 groups:group A(mosapride 5mg, tid, po);group B(cisapride 10mg, tid, po);group C(clebopride 0.68mg,tid po) and group D(domperidone 10mg, tid,po). The course of treatment was 4 weeks. They were evaluated by cost-effectiveness analysis of pharmacoeconomics. RESULTS: The cost-effectiveness ratio of mosapride, cisapride, clebopride and domperidone for the treatment of functional dyspepsia was 1.05,2.24,1.49 and 0.85, respectively. CONCLUSION: Treatment project in group A will get best result.


ing procedures ; and second, the very meagre training which potential teachers of reading receive in pres ently existing teacher training pro grams (2). This totally inadequate preparation for an extremely diffi cult and complicated teaching role would seem to make it mandatory that highly effective in-service train ing programs be developed to fill this very obvious need. The common for mat of in-service training has proved, however, to be totally inadequate to meet the needs of teachers and school


The neural stem cells have become a promising cell source for transplant therapeusis because of their pluripotency in vivo and in vitro. It brings hope for therapy of the central injuries and neural degenerative diseases. The key problem is the differentiation of neural stem cells, which is the hot spot and tough problem of this field. Recently there are many research reports on the functions of BMP2 (bone morphogenetic protein 2, an important cytokine of TGF-beta super family) on the neural development. It has been confirmed that BMP2 has complex regulatory roles in the differentiation of neural stem cells. Here we review the research of the functions of BMP2 on the differentiation of neural stem cell recently.


Burkina Faso is a landlocked country, which struggles to meet the international development standards. The country knows a "mining boom" since 2008 with more than 600 exploitation permits with many environmental, social, cultural issues due to the limit of the actual mining local code that was established since 2015. The majority of mining companies found in the country exploit most of all gold as the main ore. Sustainable Development requires a country to utilize rationally its natural resources while having on mind that next generations should also meet theirs. This study showed that even the Burkina Faso legal context of Sustainable Development suffers of the lack of applicable texts that could help in preserving the integrity of the population and the territory. Hence, this study requires that the local government should reconsider its mining exploitation code in order to reach a responsible sustainability. IAMGOLD Essakane is an example of an industrial mining company located in Burkina Faso since 2009. The current study showed that, the Essakane mining company proposes many ways to reach sustainability in its exploitation.


A common practice among farmers of Frailesca, Chiapas, Mexico, is purchasing corn certificated seed for one year and selecting from their own crop the seed...


This study examined the miscibility and mechanical properties of melt‐mixed poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly (trimethylene terephthalate) (PTT), and PLA/PTT blend with 5–10 phr of methyl methacrylate‐butadiene‐styrene copolymer (MBS). The isothermal crystallization kinetics of the PTT blends were analyzed by using the Avrami equation. The Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and scanning electron microscope results indicated that the miscibility of the PLA/PTT blends was improved by adding 5–10 phr of MBS. Although PLA, with the addition of 10 phr of MBS, had lower tensile strength at yield and higher breaking elongation and impact strength than pure PLA, no improvement in these mechanical properties could be observed in PLA/PTT blends. This result is explained by assuming that the crystallization of PTT at the interface favors the disentanglement of MBS from the PTT domain. J. VINYL ADDIT. TECHNOL., 2011. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers


In line with the increasing number of high speed train (HST) commuters and their demand for mobile data, railways operators expore means of providing high speed onboard wireless access. The data from all train cars are sent to a gateway terminal mounted at the roof of the train and an efficient backhaul solution is required to connect the train to the nearest base station. In this paper, we propose the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with free space optical (FSO) communication terminal to provide backhauling for HSTs. We present a composite fading model for UAV-to-HST channel where both atmospheric turbulence and pointing errors due to position/orientation deviation are considered. Based on the derived fading model, we present closed form expressions for the bit error and outage probability. We further investigate the effect of several parameters such as beam divergence angle, displacement deviation variance, coverage distance and UAV operation altitude on system performance.


Surgical resection of colorectal metastases confined to the liver is currently accepted as a standard therapeutic approach. Reported of hepatectomy for colorectal metastases with intent to cure demonstrate a 5-year survival rate of approximately 33 per cent. In patients who develop recurrent disease, the recurrence is limited to the liver in 40-60 per cent4. With improving surgical technique and a better understanding of intrahepatic vascular anatomy, the complication rate associated with liver resection has fallen dramatically in the past 10 years. This improved surgical outcome has in turn led to the consideration of repeat resection of recurrent (perhaps more accurately described as persistent) hepatic colorectal metastases after hepatectomy. This evolution in thmking is reflected by the fact that in two reviewP of hepatic resection for colorectal metastases, written in the late 1980s, repeat resection for colorectal metastases is not even mentioned. In the past few years, however, there has been a proliferation of reports7-I3 of small series of patients from single institutions undergoing repeat hepatic resection for recurrent metastases. Hepatic recurrence after liver resection is still an uncommon indication for further resection and is performed in only 7-10 per cent of patients undergoing initial re~ection~.'~. This low proportion suggests a s imcant selection process, either surgical or natural, and so a comparison of survival data between patients with recurrent disease who undergo repeat resection and those who do not is difficult. The mere fact of recurrence of metastatic disease in the liver suggests that these patients are in a higher risk group than seemed apparent initially. On the other hand, the fact that recurrence is confined to the liver may place these patients in a lower risk group than those with extrahepatic recurrence, and support a policy of more aggressive therapy. There is no alternative to resection that offers a chance of cure, althou cryoablative surgery is currently being investigated and may have some promise$ficertainly there are long-term survivors after repeat resection; G a t h et all2 reported disease-free survival for up to 67 months after repeat hepatectomy. The ideal criteria for selection of patients for repeat resection are not clear. It seems reasonable that patients must at least meet the same criteria as for the initial resection, with the primary site of malignancy controlled, no extrahepatic disease and with metastases in the liver confined to a surgically resectable region. It is also worthy of note that, in the series reported by Stone et aL9, disease recurred in all patients .undergoing repeat resection for more than one recurrent metastasis. Furthermore, recurrence after repeat hepatectomy, as after initial hepatectomy, generally occurs within the first 12 months of repeat resection, suggesting that the metastases were present at the time of repeat operation. Some authors recommend delaying repeat resection when more than one lesion is present to allow time for unsuspected metastases to declare themselves, but there are no reliable data to support or contradict this recommendation'. Repeat hepatectomy may be more difficult than initial resection for several reasons. Mobilization and exposure of the liver is awkward when the previously resected edge adheres to adjacent structures. Frequently the plane of dissection must be subcapsular or may involve excision of the adjacent diaphragm, abdominal wall or contiguous organs. Previous dissection of the portal pedicles and retrohepatic vena cava can make mobilization and vascular control difficult. After hepatic regeneration the intrahepatic vascular anatomy is changed and external landmarks may not be available to guide the plane of dissection. Intraoperative ultrasonography is, therefore, essential. Additionally the liver parenchyma may become more friable or fibrotic after regeneration or chem~therapy'~. Although repeat resection is technically more challenging than primary hepatectomy, it can sti l l be performed with relatively low morbidity and mortality


The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) polarimetric effects on the propagation of radio occultations (ROs) are studied here. Polarimetric ROs have been suggested as a technique to detect heavy rain events using opportunity signals from GNSS satellites. The systematic effects that hinder the isolation of the precipitation information are described and their significance and separability are assessed. A method that relies on the received phase difference between polarizations is presented. A dual-frequency extension is capable to completely separate the hydrometeor information from the other effects, including the ionospheric influence.


Abstract Background: Auricular keloids that occur after ear piercing or other traumas can challenge surgeons as recurrence is frequent; there has been no consensus about the best management protocol. Surgical excision combined with perioperative corticosteroid injections is frequently used as first-line therapy, but recurrent auricular keloids are usually shifted to a combination of radiotherapy and surgical excision. Objectives: The objective is to evaluate the rate of recurrence when recurrent auricular keloids are treated with surgical excision with perioperative corticosteroid injections. Materials and Methods: Between February 2017 and January 2020, 41 patients (52 auricles) with recurrent auricular keloids were treated by extralesional keloid excision combined with five corticosteroid steroid injections (two preoperative, one intraoperative, and two postoperative doses). Recurrence was recorded if the surgical scar showed hypertrophy or started to rise above the level of the margins. Results: The mean postoperative follow-up was 13.04 months (ranging from 6 to 24 months). Recurrence was recorded in five auricles (9.6%) during the follow-up period. Conclusion: Perioperative corticosteroid injections combined with surgical excision of auricular keloids are still a valid option in recurrent cases, and it is a useful choice when radiotherapy facilities are limited.


Objective: To discuss hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage patients with minimally invasive surgery,and its observation and analysis of the clinical effects of the treatment. Methods: In our hospital 100 cases of hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage patients were randomized in numerical method,each group of 50 cases; Control group: patients using conventional craniotomy; experimental groups: patients with minimally invasive surgery treatment. Results: After treatment,the effective rate of the treatment group was signifi-cantly higher than 84. 0%,98. 0%,while the experimental group were operative time and blood loss and complication rate was signifi-cantly higher than the control group,the difference is remarkable,with statistics significance (P0. 05). Conclusion: In clinical prac-tice,patients with hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage with minimally invasive surgery,could effectively improve the patient's symp-toms,and promote the patient's recovery,shorter hospitalization time,and trauma caused to the patient,resulting in fewer complications, with security,etc.,to promote worthy of clinical and applied.


This case of Hansen's disease reminds clinicians of all ages and era that leprosy is not a disease of the past as such a systematized multidisplinary approach and timely referral to specialists should be followed when evaluating any patient with chronic dermatoses of unknown cause.Early diagnosis of leprosy coupled with prompt treatment with Multi Drug Therapy (MDT) are the most important steps in preventing permanent debilitating deformity and disability.


Treatment of different 3α-hydroxy-5β-steroids with lead tetraacetate leads to the formation of 3α, 9-oxido derivatives in yields that are strongly dependent on the nature of ring C. The significance of these reactions with regard to the mechanism of the lead tetraacetate oxidation of monohydric alcohols is discussed.


Laboratory Safety: Welcome Aboard! Why has The Science Teacher initiated a new safety column? Walk into a typical science classroom today and you are likely to see the teacher conducting a demonstration or students doing hands-on laboratory work. This key instructional strategy has been re-embraced since the advent of the National Science Education Standards, state science curriculum reforms, and No Child Left Behind legislation. In the mix of these initiatives is a major retirement surge. Teachers with many years of skill and knowledge in laboratory work are coming of age to leave the profession. In addition, a myriad of schools need renovations or new construction resulting from overcrowded conditions and outdated laboratory facilities. Safety in the science laboratory and field work is all the more important as a result of these events and changes. The mission of this column is to address the "in-the-trenches" safety issues and help teachers successfully maneuver through these revolutionary and evolutionary times in science education. OSHA Laboratory Standard: The locomotive driving safety! Where does a science teacher or supervisor start to ensure that laboratory work is conducted with safety in mind? Federal government legislation from 1990 is the major force in helping to establish a safe working environment in academic laboratories for teachers and students. This legislation is based on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Occupational Exposure to Hazardous Chemicals in Laboratories, otherwise known as the Science Laboratory Standard for employees working in laboratories. All school employees protected under Federal OSHA or similar state plans are covered by the 1986 Hazard Communication Standard or HazCom/Right to Know law (29 CFR 1910.1200). However, as of 1990, because of the dangers and uniqueness inherent in laboratory work, employers under Federal OSHA or similar state plans are required to cover laboratory workers, specifically, (including science teachers) with the OSHA Laboratory Standard, 29 CFR 1910.1450 Subpart Z. Moving on the right track! The OSHA Laboratory Standard is performance based. OSHA provides the basic outline requirements and then each employer (e.g., Board of Education) writes a plan tailored to their independent needs. For example, plans may vary from district to district relative to differing standard operating procedures, but all plans must contain standard operating procedures. Three important components of the Standard include the development of a Chemical Hygiene Plan (CHP), the appointment of a Chemical Hygiene Officer (CHO), and employee training. The written CHP must be developed to protect employees from hazards associated with chemicals in the laboratory. Although generic plans are available, each plan must be unique to address the specific needs of individual workplaces. The employer is responsible for developing and enforcing the plan. The Standard also requires that the employer appoint a CHO to develop and implement the CHP. The CHO position is an appointment under the OSHA standard as opposed to a required new hiring. The CHP itinerary OSHA requires the CHP be composed of the following minimum parts: * Standard operating procedures (SOPs): What are the standards for laboratory operation that all employees are required to follow? For example, what is the protocol for testing showers/ eyewash stations in laboratories? SOPs should be rooted in standards, codes, or other professional expectations. * Criteria to determine and implement control measures to reduce employee exposure: What type of engineering controls (e.g., eyewash stations), use of Personal Protective Equipment (e.g., chemical splash goggles), and hygiene practices (hand washing) are required? * Requirement that fume hoods and other engineering controls are functioning properly and within specific measures: Is there a preventive maintenance program in place that fosters optimal performance of engineering controls? …


The objective of this study was to investigate a high-yielding cultural approach by analyzing the number of fruit-nodes, boll setting distribution, boll weight and lint yield in two transgenic hybrids of bollworm resistant cotton (Zhongmian 29 and Lumian 15) under different planting densities, strategies of nitrogen potassium applications. The experiments were conducted at Yangzhou University Farm, and other cotton production area of Jiangsu Province, China during the 2001 and 2002 growing seasons. Four planting densities (2.25, 3.0, 3.75 and 4.5×104 plant·ha -1) in 2001, and two combination treatments of nitrogen application and planting density, three strategies of nitrogen and potassium fertilizer supply in 2002 were designed. The results showed that the higher yield for the transgenic hybrids could be easily achieved when the planting density ranged from 30 000 to 37 500 plant·ha -1 (Table 3, Table 4), in which the number of fruit-nodes was about 3 million·ha -1, boll setting rate exceeded 35% (Table 1). It suggested that the high yield cultural approach of the transgenic hybrids was to maintain optimum planting density and fruit-nodes in the population, and to make the cotton individual plant strong in development, and higher in boll setting rate. Thus the high lint yield can be expected.


The agglutinability of red blood cells from patients with various hematologic disorders was compared with that of erythrocytes from normal persons by quantitative hemagglutination in the ABH blood group system. Red blood cells from six patients with hypoplastic anemia or metastatic marrow disease as well as normal reticulocytes (five experiments) were less agglutinable than normal mature cells. Erythrocytes from one patient with lymphoma and an acquired hemolytic anemia showed enhanced agglutinability. Our data suggest that changes in erythrocyte reactivity may be more common than suspected, although usually undetected by less sensitive methods.


Based on existing structures of multi-path transmission model for power line and taking the measured data of practical low voltage power line carrier communication within the range form 0.5MHz to 20MHz as samples,the improved particle swarm optimization(PSO) is applied to the multi-parameter identification of channel model for low voltage carrier communication.By means of adaptively changing the inertia weight the searching efficiency is improved,meanwhile,by use of simulated annealing algorithm and adjusting the annealing temperature adaptively,the shortcoming of easy to occur premature convergence in basic PSO is overcome.The parameter identification results of 4-channel and 18-channel models show that by use of the improved PSO the convergence speed is faster than by genetic algorithm(GA) and the time for the identification is saved,the fitting accuracy is improved as well as the dispersivity of parameters is overcome.The more number of paths being taken,the better the fitting result will be.


Extracted from text ... 130 African Security Review 15.3 Institute for Security Studies
America unbound - the Bush
revolution in foreign policy*
Ivo H Daalder & James M Lindsay
* John Wiley & Sons, New Jersey, revised and updated 2005 edition, ISBN 139780471741503,
259 pages, paperback.
This great book on George W Bush, the 43rd US president, is a comprehensive revision
of the original edition that the Brookings Institution Press fi rst published in October
2003. It is well written, easily readable and succinct, provides extensive analysis and
does not lose the reader in American domestic political trivia. Apart from updates to
the ..


The main aim of our project is to safeguard the crops from harm caused by animal on slope areas yet by divert the animal. Animal sightation system is intended to detect the presence of animal and provide a warning , during this project we tend to used PIR sensors to sight the movement of the animal and send signal to the controller .It diverts the animal by manufacturing sound signal in additional, this signal is transmitted to GSM associate which provides an response to farmers and forest department straightaway.


The current that is induced in infinitely long, finitely conducting parallel wires over a finitely conducting plane earth from an incident electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is investigated. Frequency-domain expressions for this current are derived. Time domain results are obtained for the case of two wires at the same height above the earth for several wire spacings and ground parameters. It is shown that the coupling between the wires reduces the induced current compared to the current in a single wire. The low-angle case ( theta =6 degrees ) gives much larger currents than the broadside case ( theta =90 degrees ), but the induced current becomes zero when theta =0 degrees (where theta is the grazing angle). The maximum current was <8 kA for all cases; this maximum current occurs for theta between 5 degrees and 9 degrees .<<ETX>>


The article reviews the Armenian pension system, particularly, funded pension system, its history and necessity of implementation. At the same time, international practices of countries such as Peru and Chile which have undertaken a private pension system are being introduced. Moreover, the authors draw a comparisons between "private" and "state" pensions, considering possible alternatives to the private system. The article includes a brief overview of how funded pension system works, as well as the figures for assets under management for pension funds and their allocation.


The Effelsberg 100 m radio telescope has been used over a period of 5.5 yr to monitor the flux densities of 40 extragalactic radio sources. In this paper we study the long-term variability characteristics over timescales of several months of the quasar PKS 0528+134 at several wavelengths. It shows that the 6 cm light curve of the source hints at a time-asymmetric behavior as could be expected from an asymmetric source structure. The wavelength dependence of the degree of variability does not meet the predictions of the interstellar scintillation theory. Furthermore, variations of the spectral indices (α) follow the shock models. We conclude that the variations in PKS 0528+134 are probably intrinsic, and several intrinsic models are briefly discussed to interpret the observed variability properties.


The state of art analysis of available published data allowed to determine the features of the roadside ecosystems formation and the possibility of further development of biodiversity conservation measures. In Ukraine and around the world, road infrastructure is an important economic and social object that has a negative impact on the environment. This takes place due to environmental pollution, fragmentation of habitats, biodiversity loss, etc. At the same time, on the roadsides the stations (microhabitats) are being formed. They can be a barrier to motor vehicle pollution and provide available shelters for living organisms. Road operation usually affects the structure of roadside vegetation. There is an increase in the number of of annual plant species and a decrease in perennials. Favourable conditions are also created for the spread of heliophytes and xerophytes. Roads are a source of chemical pollution that affects all components of roadside ecosystems. The amount of pollutants is mainly dependent on the traffic intensity and road width. The creation of roadside forest plantations significantly reduces the negative impact of vehicles. Wood plantations contribute to better carbon deposition, which is an integral part of many vehicle pollutants, and create a barrier for pollutants coming far from roads. Forest belt can also be a refuge for many species of animals and combine fragmented habitats around. Because plants and small animals at roadside stations are bound to their localities, they are able to accumulate much amount of ecotoxicants, especially heavy metals, which should be taken into account when conducting local business. For the living of animals in roadside stations, the characteristics of specific confined plant community, microclimate and landform are quite important. Due to the linearity and long distances, roadsides provide migration ways for many species. The developed roadside habitats may be the refugia for not only common, but for rare animals. We should conclude that further research of the environmental benefits of roadside ecosystems in the Steppe zone of Ukraine would allow developing effective measures for roadside management in the frames of nature conservation.


Trends in changes of water storage in upper soil layers were analyzed. The observations were carried out from 2002 to 2016 hydrological year in a small forest catchment in the district of Siemianice Forest Experimental Farm (LZD). The samples were taken from the upper soil layer of profiles located in different forest habitats, both at the beginning and at the end of hydrological half-years. Water storage was evaluated separately for two layers at the depths of 0–15 cm and 15–100 cm. Changes in water storage determined using the Mann-Kendall test were found to indicate multi-year trends. Results of the study are inconclusive. There were no statistically significant long-term trends in water storage changes in soil profiles in moist mixed broadleaved and coniferous forest and also in the soil profiles of fresh habitats. However, it is worth noting that statistically significant downward trends of water storage in two soil profiles located in ash alder swamp forest and moist broadleaved forest were observed. To some degree, they can be accounted for by long-term downward trends of groundwater levels in the area.

http://www.jeeng.net/pdf-76219-15475?filename=Water Storage Changes in.pdf


To improve the student engagement not only the appeal of curriculum revolution,but also the reflection of learning democracy.Student's answering and thinking in the classroom teaching are the main student engagements.This study design the teaching experiment to explore how the student engagement affects students' study results in mathematics classroom.The results of experimental study indicated the students' learning effect will be promoted through reducing the quantity,increasing the quality of question and adding the thinking chances.


Color space is the mathematical representation of a set of colors. A large amount of color spaces have been proposed for different purposes. But the RGB color space is a basic and widely used color space, and other color spaces are usually defined by transformation of the RGB color space. This paper focuses on the application of Other color spaces in images by transforming the RGB color space. Also a statistical analysis of the sensitivity and consistency behavior of objective image quality measures are performed. So that resulting the image qualities can be decided that which Color space is better without the interference of RGB


The new medical technologies used in human reproduction have opened the way to some ethical conflicts to whom one must find solutions. In order to put these activities under ethical control, and less under the scientific medical one, it should be suggested a debate linked to the attitude one has to have against such medical manoeuvres, the manipulated embryos and the children re-sulted by the procreation process medically assisted. In the present article, the deontologic obligations of the physician (the team) as for advising, consenting, confidentiality, the observing of the ethical rules recommended for each phase are presented. There are analysed the legal aspects regarding the filiation, contracts, legitimity, etc. It is at the same time presented the atti-tude of the civil society about these technologies. As concerning the embryos' rights, the authors insist on their defining and on the significance of recognizing the rights of human beings resulted from the medical technologies and debate the fate of supernumerary embryos. It is underlined the fact that, given the temptation of eugeny, a regulation has to be adopted concerning not only the ethical aspect, but the legal one, as well, so that the embryos' rights be observed.


This work is about the way Community Police philosophy is internalized in the students of the current Bachelor of Police Science Security and Public Order. The study was based on surveys as well as on a research carried out at Academia de Policia Militar do Barro Branco. Their results show the necessity of complementing the information students receive in classroom with social and community actions. Concerning the way this complementation may be effected, the theoretical fundaments were based on higher education social responsibility, aiming to identify theoretical and practical support which offer possible changes that can provide students with a contact with the community they are inserted in, allowing them to  have community partnership. Such contact intends to submit the student to problem situations (social and moral conflicts) which will contribute with the edifications of a moral personality and the interiorization of the Community Police philosophy.


Method and apparatus for controlling a hybrid electric vehicle, the method comprising: determining whether a coasting state is satisfied, and whether a current gear stage is greater than or equal to a predetermined speed step S100, determining whether a brake pedal is depressed when the coasting condition is satisfied, and the current speed step is greater than or equal to the predetermined gear step S120, determining whether a deceleration of the hybrid electric vehicle is lower than a predetermined deceleration when the brake pedal is depressed S130, connecting a transition gear with a output shaft when the deceleration of the hybrid electric vehicle is lower than the predetermined delay S140 to determine if there is before stopping a switching condition satisfied by a current gear ratio to a target gear step S150, and locking of a shifting clutch, when the switching condition is satisfied before stopping S160 ,


Iodine-123 metaiodobenzylguanidine ((123)I-MIBG) can be considered an indicator of pulmonary endothelial cell function. Serial (123)I-MIBG images of the chest were acquired in a patient with high altitude pulmonary edema (HAPE). The initial evaluation was performed 7 days after admission. The lung to upper mediastinum ratios (LMRs) of (123)I-MIBG uptake were 1.33 (for the right lung) and 1.12 (for the left lung). The second examination of (123)I-MIBG lung uptake, which was performed 2 months later, showed LMRs of 1.39 (right lung) and 1.33 (left lung). We speculated that the decreased lung uptake of (123)I-MIBG at the early recovery stage could reflect an impairment in pulmonary endothelial cell metabolic function in the development of HAPE.


The purpose of this paper is to design and implement mobile telemedicine system applications for telediagnosis using Multimedia Message Service MMS technology. The development process consists of two components, namely client-side and server-side applications. On the client-side, adapted compression and splitting techniques are used to perform mobile multimedia computing and to enhance the capability of MMS technology in message delivery. On the server-side, merging and decompressing techniques as well as mobile telemedicine applications are developed and implemented which are required for telediagnosis. The proposed techniques on the client and server sides ensure that the quality of data is preserved which is critical for accomplishing the diagnosis process. The experimental results show that the proposed framework can be used to develop a practical mobile telemedicine system.


Without diminishing the importance and significance of mobilization efforts in support of academic workers who hold part-time contracts, we want in this paper to make a strategic intervention into this struggle by shifting the focus from academic workers to academic work, and by extending the notion of precarity from contingent academic work to academic work as a whole. Two strategic implications follow. First, strategies undertaken thus far have focused on improving the pay and working conditions of academic workers who hold part-time/contract positions. These include recent efforts to advocate that full-time teaching-only positions be created for these workers as a means of providing improved benefits and the promise of continuing employment. Second, pursuing strategies that locate precarity in the experiences of only one class of academic worker misses an opportunity to mobilize a larger community of people to challenge the underlying processes that continually produce and reproduce precarity as a feature of all academic work. We are not claiming that precarity bestows the same conditions and consequences on all academic workers. Rather, we are claiming that most academics, in varying ways and to varying degrees, are increasingly subject to precarity and that strategies that focus on the precarity affecting only one segment of academic workers have the danger of exacerbating, rather than alleviating, their precarious position. We begin by locating precarity in the context of a profound reorganization of academic work that has taken place over the past four decades along with, and as part of, the unfolding of corporatization.


There is a wide gap between today's actually working vacuum cleaning robots and the robot butlers hailed by the popular press since the early 20th century. Robotics research it seems has still not managed to put right its perceived image in the eye of the general public and is too often still chasing cheap headlines rather than solid science. In this paper we will take a critical look at some aspects of current advanced robotics research and its presentation to the general public.


This paper is shedding light on the significance and functions of some of the Arabic alphabets. An Arabic letter is found to play an effective role in expressing the speaker or the writer's target meaning. Our concern here is with the letter [kha - خ], phonetically transcribed as /X/.The discussion in this essay will focus on one strange phenomenon; that this letter is playing a unique role in Arabic. It is found to be associated with almost all the ugly words and dirty jobs in the Arabic language. Its work is similar to the function of the dustbin, where all the house garbage is collected. From 285 root words begins with this letter, it is found that 85% of the words are carrying negative connotative or denotative meanings. To the best of the researchers' knowledge – there is no similar letter found to play the same role, in any other language as this letter [ خ], does in Arabic. With this result the researchers can showhow rich and lively this language is. The Arabic language has great potentials to maintain survival, shoulder to shoulder, with other living languages of the world. It is also expected to play - with some efforts from its speakers and its linguists - an effective role in the recent human history.


The leading method for studying radiation transport and interaction continues to be the use of Monte Carlo simulations. However, it requires the geometry be provided in a unique manner, without providing robust or user-friendly tools. One often has to "manually" translate a shape of a target into the Monte Carlo codes; it is very difficult to create the actual detailed geometry. The neutron transport software has been programed on GEANT4 framework, it simulates the ignition process of neutron. It is necessary for high accuracy calculation results to create an actual pulse reactor model. A more efficient way is to make use of available CAD geometry data for Monte Carlo simulations. The neutron transport program uses the GDML file for importing geometry, but CAD systems use the Boundary representation (BREP) to define solids and use special file format for data exchange. So this requires a suitable interface between CAD systems and MC codes which achieved data exchange from CAD data into a representation appropriate for MC codes. The author presents the application of the interface program for the automatic generation of the pulse reactor model for the MC code. The pulse reactor is transfered to the neutorn transport program successfully.


The study of the influence of high hydrostatic pressure on abrasive wear of hard alloy materials has been done using a custom-made setup allowing testing of abrasive wear of materials under hydrostatic pressures of up to 250 atm. It has been confirmed that high hydrostatic pressure has a significant effect on the wear rate of studied materials. By increasing the hydrostatic pressure from atmospheric conditions to 200 atm, for materials with a high content of chromium the wear rate has been increased 7 times, while for materials based on tungsten carbide the wear rate has been is increased twice. It has been established that the main damage to surfaces of materials is due to delamination and spalling of hard particles.


Completing a thesis is probably the most demanding tasks for graduate students in all fields of study. This is particularly true of language students who conduct a research study in English. In a thesis supervisory role, I have witnessed challenges confronting novice researchers in all stages of thesis preparation, from initially proposing a research topic to finally reporting the results. In this presentation, I focus on the latter problem: how to properly report findings of a scientific study. This includes three broad suggestions of ensuring a comprehensive coverage of major outcomes, displaying findings in graphic forms, and highlighting the results. Graduate students need coaching on all aspects, firstly, how to present a complete picture, then how to transform findings into tables and figures, and how to sequence each piece of information. The guidelines will enormously upgrade the quality of overall thesis reporting as they not only improve comprehension and retention of the findings but also make the thesis clear, cohesive as well as coherent.


Power amplifier is necessary component in wireless communications. Power amplifier (PA) being an important element of the transmitter, greatly affects both efficiency and linearity. Different active devices can be used in power amplifier architecture. In this paper a 3.5 GHz power amplifier has been designed using Cree CGH40010F. The amplifier provided a Power Added Efficiency of 57.5128 %, with a gain of 11.283dB and output power of 39.283dBm.


ABSTRACT- Sign language is a language that does not utilize voice in communicating, but utilizes manual communication, body language, and lip motion. Currently, the desire to communicate with people with hearing impairment is still hampered by the lack of general knowledge about sign language, while the media to learn sign language still uses a thick dictionary that can be said to be less practical in its users. The Android-Based Gesture Language Learning App has been able to provide basic knowledge to vocabulary in learning sign language. From the results of acceptance tests that have been done, the response of the respondents recorded a percentage of 60% said that the application has been able to provide basic knowledge in the process of sign language learning. Another 20% said that the application has been very capable, while the remaining 20% said that the application has been quite able to provide basic knowledge to the vocabulary in the process of learning sign language. With the creation of this Android Based Gadget Learning Approach, it has the advantage of making it easier for users to learn two sign languages of Indonesia, both SIBI and BISINDO sign language systems.


In the current intensified competitive market, analyzing customers meticulously and implementing customer relationship management accordingly are the main reasons behind the success of breakthrough companies. One of the main constraints and deficiencies of sales and trade marketing departments in terms of sales development in FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) industry is that they don't know which customer segments to target and how to deal with each one. In this study we discuss how these departments can gather customer data and how they can analyze these data to gain useful customer insights. We provide an overview of customer segmentation based on RFM method and customer lifetime value (CLV). The results would be useful for sales, trade marketing and marketing decision-makings in all industries specially the active companies in FMCG industry.


This paper describes the development of CU2C, a dual-condition Cantonese speech database for speaker recognition research. It is a task-oriented database. The speech contents include Hong Kong ID numbers, Cantonese digit strings and sentences. They enable the development of speaker recognition systems for various applications. CU2C is special in that it contains parallel data collected under different acoustic conditions, i.e. public fixed-line telephone channel and wideband desktop microphone. These data are useful for the study of channel effects in speaker recognition. A total of 84 target speakers and 23 impostors were recorded. Each speaker has 18 sessions of recordings, which were collected over 4 – 9 months. Results of preliminary evaluation show that the baseline performance attained with CU2C is comparable to those with similar databases of other languages.


Ocean waves generate acoustic modes in a wide range of acoustic frequencies. Also, energetic acoustic–gravity waves appear as a result of seismic activity in the seabed [1,2]. In this contribution, a coupled mode model for acoustic-gravity waves, propagating in layered waveguides is presented. This analysis, extends previous work for acoustic waves in inhomogeneous ocean environment [3]. The coupled mode system is derived by means of a variational principle and a local mode series expansion, obtained by utilizing variable cross-section eigenfunction systems. These eigenfunction systems are defined through the solution of eigenvalue problems formulated along the waveguide. A crucial factor is the inclusion of additional modes accounting for the effects of spatialy varying boundaries and interfaces. This enhancement provides an implicit summation for the slowly convergent part of the local-mode series. In that manner, the remaining part of the series becomes rapidly convergent, increasing substantialy the efficiency of the method. Finally, the coupled-mode system is numerically solved by hp-FEM on the horizontal plane. Particular aspects of the method include (a) high order Lagrange Finite Element Methods for the solution of local vertical eigenvalue problems in the case of multilayered waveguides, (b) Gauss type quadrature for the computation of the coupled-mode system coefficients and (c) high order Lagrange Finite Elements, with modal amplitudes as nodal degrees of freedom, for the discretization of the horizontal system. The above aspects makes the present method quite efficient for long range propagation in extended waveguides, such as the ones found in geophysical applications, e.g. ocean basins, as only few modes are needed for the accurate representation of the unknown fields.


Objective:To study the effect of combination of Mongolian,traditional Chinese and Western medicine treating chronic prostatitis combined with sexual dysfunction.Methods:Systematically analyzing and summarizing the clinical data of 50 cases of this disease.Results:The clinical symptoms of 50 cases of this disease diagnosed and treated with the combination of Mongolian,traditional Chinese and Western medicine improved or disappeared.Conclusion:The combination of Mongolian,traditional Chinese and Western medicine is one of the effective therapeutic methods treating chronic prostatitis combined with sexual dysfunction.


This project presents an adaptive blind wavelet-based watermarking scheme using tree mutual differences (ABW-TMD). This watermarking scheme was innovated for image in wireless sensor network. by using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) to hide watermark in frequency domain. The ABW-TMD scheme proves its robust in wireless sensor network, specially according to packet loss ratio parameter


This study explored the feasibility of using a first-person narrative style for video description of an animated comedy, Odd Job Jack. It found that viewers who are blind find the first-person style more engaging, entertaining, and preferable but less trustworthy than the more conventional third-person description style.


A numerical model has been developed to study groundwater dynamics along a forest-marsh interface in North Inlet, South Carolina, USA. The model is being calibrated against extensive water table observations collected along three study transects. Approximately 300 piezometers have been installed along these transects, and water level measurements have been collected at 12 min intervals from subsets of these piezometers for the past 2 years. Modelling challenges are introduced by the spatially and temporally varying forces acting upon the aquifer. A two-dimensional profile model of one of the transects is presented. A parameter optimization technique based on the GaussNewton method and the sensitivity-equation sensitivity approach was implemented and used to evaluate the inverse problem. The optimization procedure gave superior calibration results and provides parameter sensitivity and correlation information. The impact of the dynamic nature of the system on parameter sensitivity and correlation is discussed.


High tension electrical burns are a rare but devastating form of injury. The objective of this case report is to bring to the fore the severity of this rare form of injury and highlight the benefits of active surgical management of such a condition.A 36-yr-old male had sustained 21% high-voltage electrical injury in agricultural field due to contact with high tension wire 32 hrs before his presentation, with Burns involving left face ,neck ,thighs, hands and trunk. He received primary medical care at local Hospital before being brought to our Hospital.He was treated with I V fluids, antibiotics and had blood investigations showing rasied Bilirubin.MR Angiogram was done which showed flow in Superficial temporal artery and Facial arteries upto Mandibular level only suggestive of Vascular compromise.CT Brain and Ultrasound abdomen were normal and LFT showed improvement .Surgical intervention was planned to prevent the life threatening risk of Carotid blow out. Surgical debridement of avascular tissues with a Pectoralis Major Myocutaneous flap was done on the 6 th day of admission. Post operatively patient had lagophthalmus and bells phenomena.He did not have any keratitis or Corneal Ulcer.Flap settled well with an area of Mastoid exposed . Patient is taking normal oral diet Discussion And Conclusion: Injuries caused by exposure to 1,000 volts or greater are defined high-tension electrical burns.High-tension wires can carry up to 100,000 voltsDespite the devastating nature of this type of electrical injury, all hope is not lost. Prompt appropriate resuscitation as well as early surgical debridement with skin and soft tissue cover would save lives of most of these patients by preventing risk of Carotid blowout. Keywords: High-voltage electrical injury , Superficial temporal artery, Sternocleidomastoid, Pectoralis Major Myocutaneous flap


The legal and technical status of Radio-Frequency Inter feren ce Regulations for consumer products are review ed for countries that have such regulations. The paper analyzes the form ulation of in terference l im its on the basis of natural noise and ITU/CCIR treaties; review s the status of certif ication system s; tabulates the national, regional, and international regulations; and looks at the regulations planned for the European Econom ic Com m unity, Sp ecific data for the legal status of EMI regulations, the pertinent references, and their source are presented.


We propose a new full reference video quality assessment algorithm (FR VQA) - the motion compensated structural similarity index (MC-SSIM). MC-SSIM evaluates spatial quality as well as quality along temporal trajectories. Its computationally simplicity makes it a prime choice for practical implementation. In this paper we describe the algorithm and evaluate its performance on a publicly available VQA dataset. We demonstrate that MC-SSIM correlates well with human perception of quality. We also explore its relationship to the human visual system and describe how a simple and efficient implementation of MC-SSIM can be realized.


In August 2002, Mr Cheney declared that "armed with an arsenal of these weapons of terror, and seated atop 10 per cent of the world's oil reserves, Saddam Hussein could then be expected to seek domination of the entire Middle East, take control of a great portion of the world's energy supplies, directly threaten America's friends through the region and subject the United States or any other nation to nuclear blackmail".


Preface to the Fourth Edition Introduction: The Analysis of International Organizations: An Overview The Past and the Present International Organizations as Historical Phenomena The Predisposition Towards International Organization International Organization and Administration Universal International Organizations as Practical Necessities The Devolution of the Territorial State The Present and the Future International Organizations and the Changing Face of War International Organizational Interactions Decision-Making: Muddling Through in Search of Global Governance International Organizations and the Management of Cooperation Appendix: Official Classification of the UN System Appendix: Excerpts from the UN Charter Appendix: IOs by Type (1995-1996) and IOs by Year and Type (1909-1992) Bibliographical References Index


I quite like this time of year. The roads that have been abnormally quiet are filling up as children return to school. There is an autumn nip in the air but the days are still sunny. Lots of people, including myself, have been on holiday and are back at work feeling refreshed. I have a feeling of optimism as during the first week I am back at work I gradually piece together what has been going on in the world of maternity services. Then I pick up the Saturday morning paper and read an edited extract from a new book by the feminist author Naomi Wolf Misconceptions: Truth, Lies and The Unexpected On The Journey To Motherhood.


This paper demonstrates the implementation of the Personal Information Gathering System (PIGS) for information gathering. This system is intended for several specially-designed drones, a mobile phone, a base station, and a router. Traditionally in combat situations, humans must risk themselves to gain information and identify potential threats. The PIGS system ensures users gain comprehensive information autonomously, while safe from threats. The operator can use the mobile device to remotely command the drones to obtain information, explore different regions, and perform other information-gathering-related tasks. With 802.11ac Wi-Fi and a lightweight computer vision model, PIGS allows the operator to interface with the drones through high-level commands and receive visual information with optional computer vision analysis. The proposed system offers a safer and more efficient way to gather information in dangerous environments.


Spontaneous Adrenal Haemorrhage (SAH) is a rare condition in which there is haemorrhage in the adrenal gland without any adrenal tumour or history of trauma. It presents as severe flank pain with or without shock depending on the amount of haemorrhage. The initial investigation of choice is ultrasound and the diagnosis can be confirmed by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging We report the case of a pregnant female, presenting with left flank pain and high blood pressure, in the late third trimester. Ultrasonography revealed intra-uterine fetal demise with a large left suprarenal mass. Subsequent imaging by computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a heterogeneous left adrenal mass with imaging features suggestive of haemorrhage. The patient delivered spontaneously and her blood pressure returned to normal spontaneously. She was explained about the entity as well as the risks and benefits of surgery for this condition. She did not want to undergo surgery and decided to be on regular follow-up. We repeated the ultrasound every 2 weeks, which showed no increase in the size of the lesion. The patient was asked to continue monthly follow-up for 3 months followed by 3-monthly follow-up by ultrasonography. This case reiterates the fact that obstetricians should keep a highindex of suspicion for this rare condition after ruling out more common causes of flank pain in pregnancy, and should suspect SAH especially if there is associated severe anemia or shock. The knowledge of this rare entity can help in correct diagnosis and early appropriate treatment.


On Monday 9 July 2007, Bettina Arndt, well known writer and contributor to 'Arndt's Story: the life of an Australian economist', addressed The Sydney Institute to recall something of her remarkable parents, Heinz and Ruth Arndt, and the intellectual life they created in Australia.


Objective To investigate the effect of Atorvastatin on myocardium ischemia/reperfusion injury in hypercholesterolemic rabbits.Methods Twenty-four New Zealand white rabbits were fed with high-cholesterol diet for 8 weeks, and then randomly divided into three groups:Ischemia/reperfusion(I/R) group;Ischemia/reperfusion with Atorvastatin treatment(ATV+I/R) group;Sham group.Myocardial ischemia/reperfusion models were built through ligating the left anterior descending(LAD) of rabbits in vivo.The plasma levels of lipid, TNF-alpha, CK-MB and LDH were measured in each group.The ultrastructure of the myocardial cells by electron microscope was observed and the myocardial infarct size was detected in each group.TNF-α mRNA expression in myocardium was evaluated by semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction.Results The total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol level were found to be decreased in ATV+I/R group compared to I/R and sham group individually(P 0.01).The plasma levels of CK-MB, LDH, TNF-alpha significantly decreased in ATV+I/R group compared to I/R group after reperfusion(P 0.01).The myocardial infarct size was significantly smaller in ATV+I/R group compared to I/R group(P 0.05);Atorvastatin could reduce significantly myocardial injury after reperfusion.The mRNA level of TNF-alpha in myocardium was lower in ATV+I/R group compared to I/R group(P 0.05), and there was no significant difference between ATV+I/R and sham group.Conclusion sThe long-term Atorvastatin treatment can lighten the severity of myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury in hypercholesterolemic rabbits, which may be related to its hypolipidemic and anti-inflammatory effects.


In this paper I investigate the epistemic implications of a recent theory of religious cognition that draws on predictive coding. The theory argues that certain experiences are heavily shaped by a subject's prior (religious) beliefs and thereby makes religious believers prone to detect invisible agents. The theory is an update of older theories of religious cognition but departs from them in crucial ways. I will assess the epistemic implications by reformulating existing arguments based on other (older) theories of religious cognition.


Objectives : To verify the processing effects of traditional operation include heating and quenching in vinegar, we studied phase changes and variation in concentration of poisionous metals caused by different conditions during processing of pyrite. Method : Pyrite was processed at temperatures up to and through as many as 5 processing cycles. And toxic metal extraction test in water was carried out from the processed pyrites on the assumption that pyrite medicines with the lowest toxic metal content would be most desirable. Results : Increasing temperature and quenching in vinegar promoted phase change of pyrite to hematite, reduction of toxic metals in pyrite and their concentrations in the extraction solutions. The relationship between variations in extracted elements and the number of processing cycles at the same processing temperature were not clear. Conclusions : Traditional processing operations is very effective to reduce the toxicity of pyrite medicine, and it should be processed at the highest possible temperature, at least higher than , in order to diminish highly toxic metals such as As, Pb. Co and Ni.


Abstract Scholars and practitioners have argued convincingly that there exists a distinct South Korean national style in negotiation. However, recent Free Trade Agreement negotiations between the U.S. and ROK confirm that under certain conditions, national style can be less relevant and quite possibly irrelevant.


Supramolecular assemblies based on various functionalized hexa-cata-hexabenzocoronenes, hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronenes, coronenes, cyclodextrins, and pillarenes are discussed. It is anticipated that these assemblies will be viable candidates for photodynamic therapy.


Raising crop yields to levels that satisfy future demand requires technology, management and incentives of the kind of good public investments and trade, institutional and price policies can create. "Technology" itself can further be divided into two broad categories, namely breeding (the development of new crop cultivars) and crop management (covering aspects of agronomy, crop nutrition and protection) (Fischer, 2014). Oftentimes, the interplay of both categories has contributed to historical yield gains, such as when advancements in nitrogen fertilizer production combined with breeding for dwarf cereals led to the green revolution or, more recently, when herbicide resistance breeding was combined with the development of cheap, non-selective herbicides (Evans, 1998). Both categories are thus believed to continue contributing to future yield gains. However, in developed countries, the bigger contribution is expected to arise from breeding efforts as agronomic approaches themselves are believed to be almost optimized, at least in terms of output productivity (Fischer, 2014). For instance, Edgerton et al. (2009) anticipate an impact of breeding of 90% on future yield gains in US corn growing systems (Figure 2). In developing countries, the contribution is believed to be smaller, but still at around 50%, depending on crop and setting. Moreover, seed technology has been shown to be more scalable than agronomy it is more readily taken by farmers up than changes in management techniques (Fischer, 2014). Thus plant breeding will continue to be a major driver of future yield growth in both developed and developing agricultural systems and thus needs the appropriate public and private support to deliver results.


The petrophysical formation evaluation (CPI) with rock physics analysis (AVO) was established in this study used for tight gas reservoirs in carbonate formation. The gas productions in low porosity carbonate rocks were often affected by fractures, and this effect may lead to possibly result in difficulties in the stages of formation evaluations and rock physics analysis. The conventional well-log data have been used to detect fractures presence qualitatively in this study based on a petrophysical pre-processing. Using FMI images log and core photo images to combine with the conventional logs, we built a bridge to link gas reservoirs in carbonate rocks for fracture identification with calibration quantitatively.If logging corrections and fracture detection have been completed, the application of formation evaluation (CPI) can be carried out to perform rock physics analysis(AVO). In AVO modelling, further geophysical information can be provided such as lithology, gas presence, synthetic seismic gathers and rock elastic properties. For implementations, a gather difference may be observed from AVO response based on gas. The X-plots of Poisson Ratio-Vp ratio with Lambda-Mu were powerful to identify gas zones in order to achieve the objective of gas identification for carbonate reservoirs.


O This open access article is distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0) and is freely available online at: http://le.uwpress.org S Appendix materials are freely available at http://le.uwpress.org and via the links in the electronic version of this article. 302 ABSTRACT A novel discrete choice experiment (DCE) design allows testing of substitution effects based on the framing of, and distances to, substitute sites. The same ecosystem services and biodiversity provided at different sites are valued independently in single-site DCEs and simultaneously in a multiple-site DCE, using an identical experimental design. Site-specific utility functions are estimated with and without controlling for spatial preference heterogeneity. Framing choices as alternative projects at single or multiple sites significantly influences substitutability between sites, choice behavior, and welfare estimates. Distance decay displays significant heterogeneity in different directions from the valued sites and between urban and rural areas. (JEL Q51)


This article aimed firstly to delineate the expressive formulas of conversation (FEC) compared to other subtypes of pragmatic phraseology, highlighting their main characteristics. Then, we outline a simple typology of FEC, based on two criteria: discursive and pragmatic. Finally, we propose the translation of a group of FEC while comparing the structure of formulas in French and their equivalence in Arabic.


The present invention provides a composition comprising at least the following components: A) The first ethylene as a first composition comprising an inter-polymer, 0.91 g / cc density of less, and 6.0 to 20.0 g / having a melt index (I2) of 10 min, the first composition; B) optionally, at least one kind of filler, which can be excited by an alternating electromagnetic field in more than 10 MHz frequency; C) a flame retardant of at least one member selected from: i) 1 ratio or more by weight of 30.0 to 50.0 wt%, based on the composition of the -halogen, inorganic flame retardant compound; or ii) based on the weight of the composition is 8.0 to 30.0 wt% of one or more halogen-containing flame retardant compound; And D) at least one kind of polar polymer.


The current pandemic closed schools worldwide, tasking teachers to engage learners remotely without time to prepare. This study focuses on a professional development webinar series for English language teachers worldwide. Access to geographically dispersed English language teachers created an opportunity to gain international perspectives on teachers' challenges, perceptions, and needs related to transitioning to remote, online teaching. We found webinars were an effective way to provide just-in-time professional development for teachers globally, particularly about engaging students, providing feedback, developing online presence, and creating activities specific for online learning environments. The main challenges teachers reported facing were keeping their students engaged and progressing in the learning activities; unequal student access to technology and the internet; and learning and troubleshooting technology. At the same time, learning new technology and online resources was also what teachers most frequently reported enjoying about remote teaching.


This chapter contains 37 questions that encompass all of the important areas of dermatology, with detailed explanations. The questions in this chapter will test your knowledge of the skin problems that are frequently encountered in non-specialist clinical practice. Other more rare skin disorders are also covered, either because they are potentially life-threatening or because they are a sign of systemic disease. The questions are designed to improve your ability to recognize the morphology and distribution of cutaneous physical signs. Unique to this series, questions are rated by difficulty and are cross-referenced to the eleventh edition of Oxford Handbook of Clinical Specialties to track revision progress and revise effectively.


The results of 7 nearly full-scale specimens with upper moderate and higher shear-compression ratio among the series tests of seismic behavior on the interior joints (V_j/f_cb_jh_j≤0.20) in reinforced concrete plane frame are introduced. The main conclusions are as the following: 1) The frame joints with upper moderate shear-compression ratio (V_(jh)/f_(c)b_(j)h_(j)=0.20~0.28) designed according to the shock-resistant and shear-resistant design method for 9 degree seismic zonation in the code of P.R. China have enough ductility, and the inelastic dissipating ability of the joint combination can be accepted; 2) In the core area of joints, the level stirrups have important confinement to the diagonal concretes which are alternatively compressed, and that confinement will increase with the augment of the inelastic deformation of joints; 3) Although the increase of axial load ratio will bring advantages to the bond and slip of the beam bars through the joints to some extent, when shear-compression ratio is larger than 0.25, the decrease of the displacement ductility of joints before shear failure caused by the increase of axial load ratio will become more and more obvious with the augment of shear-compression ratio. Therefore, the increase of axial load ratio will result in greater and greater disadvantages for the key factor of controlling the shock-resistant performance of joints.


Considering the elastic object in the spherical coordinates,not accounting body weight,with the basic equation of elastodynamics this paper resolved the dynamic response subjected to simple harmonic load into instant response induced by free vibration and steady-state vibration induced by simple harmonic load which both satisfied the Bessel equation according to the characteristic of that vibration model can be superposed.By solving the Bessel equation,superposed the solutions to free vibration and the vibration induced by simple harmonic load,the analytical solutions to variables of displacement、stress、strain about elastodynamics problem were obtained.


Background: Homocysteine is an small amino acid, containing sulfur that if increased causing various complications, such as cardiovascular diseases are heart. Objective: The relationship between homocysteine and age, sex, underlying disease, cigarette consumption was determined. Materials and Methods: In this cross - sectional study, 94 patients with chronic arterial disease were studied. Data on age, sex, Chronic disease (diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia), smoking status were collected from all patients. Information collected by questionnaires were entered into SPSS software And using descriptive and inferential statistics (t-test and chi-square) were analyzed. Results: In this study, 31 (33) women and 63 (67) were male with a mean age of 69 years were enrolled. 16 of patients with lower homocysteine levels ( 10). The results showed that homocysteine levels in persons with high blood pressure, chronic disease, smoking, male gender and age above 40 years were above 10 and was a significant difference with Control group (p <0.05). Conclusion: Homocysteine levels was Above 10 in patients with hypertension, Chronic disease, smokers, older age and in men.


As to the issue that it is difficult to develop a vehicle with good comprehensive performance by the traditional single-objective method,a rigid flexible coupling multi-body dynamics model is built for a full vehicle,and the multi-objective genetic algorithm is used to perform optimization considering ride comfort,driving safety and handling stability,which are characterized by vertical acceleration of vehicle body,standard deviation of front / rear wheel load and yaw rate overshoot respectively. After optimization,a Pareto set is obtained and an optimal solution is chosen from it. The solution can improve several performances, which shows that the method is effective for full vehicle dynamics performance optimization.


In this paper we concern about implementing nonlinear Fuzzy controller which regulates the modulation index of voltage source converter (VSC),which is used in an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) application, to control Volt/Var in the grid. The UPS controls the voltage at the point of common coupling (PCC). A LC filter is linked at the output of the VSC to eliminate switching harmonics. In the fuzzy controller the value of modulation index of VSC, is determined from a fuzzy 0r ef rule-base defined on PCC voltage error(e=V -V ) of the point of common coupling. The proposed fuzzy controller is designed using simple control rule-base and the most natural membership functions. The comparative performances of the proposed fuzzy controller and the conventional PI controller, have been investigated through wide range of operating condition such as harmonics, unbalancing and voltage sag/swell. From the simulation studies it has been found out that the performance of the proposed fuzzy controller is better than that obtained by the conventional PI controller. phase, and an unbalanced filters output voltage (v ) was happened. The VSI topology to supply three and single phase AC loads, require a neutral connection to feed each phase voltage independently, as shown in Fig. 1. Voltage unbalance can interrupt or even damage some three-phase loads. For instance, under unbalanced voltage, three-phase current of the induction machine can be highly distorted and current in one phase can be higher than the nominal value. In addition, over-voltages will damage the insulation of a stator winding. These can shorten the motor's life. Thus, international standards prohibit too high voltage unbalances. So regulation sinusoidal voltages have gained substantial attention over the last few years. In addition, the concern for global warming has seen considerable evolvement in the distributed generation (DG) technology in the recent time. An uninterruptible power supply (UPS) can give solution for the power quality problem such as harmonics, unbalancing, voltage sag/swell, while supplying clean power from DGs simultaneously. Generally UPSs are used to provide low distortion, battery back up to computers, regulated sinusoidal voltages to critical loads such as data-processing, communication, and medical electronics systems. UPSs can be off-line type in which they remain unemployed until power outage occurs and start supplying power subsequently. The on-line type UPS continuously powers the protected load from its reserve while synchronously resupplying the reserve by drawing power from the utility supply. In this paper, the application of the UPS has been extended. It is assumed that the UPS is fed by a distributed generator. The DG can be a PV stack or fuel cell stack or battery which supplies the dc bus of the voltage source converter (VSC) connecting the UPS to the ac network, and assumed that the UPS is connected at the point of common coupling (PCC) of the utility and a major load center. A PWM inverter is used to supply the load, a LC low-pass filter must be used to eliminate the switching frequency component of output voltage harmonics. The cut off frequency of this filter is set 500Hz and the switching frequency of this PWM inverter is set 1kHz. The model of this PWM inverter with L-C filter is shown in Fig3.


This paper investigates output–employment relationships across different employment statuses and formal versus informal employment divisions for Turkey. Even if we fail to find a long-run relationship between aggregate output and total employment, there are long-run relationships between the aggregate output with all of the formal employment statuses. A further investigation for short-run relationships reveals no statistically significant relationships between aggregate output and total employment and between aggregate output and casual employment but there is a significant short-run relationship between aggregate output and total regular employment. Thus, a sustainable economic growth policy should aim to create formal and regular employment.


Interest in the different diagnostic groups of the mentally retarded started in the 19th century, but this made little contribution toward better treatment and care. Medical interest was mainly focused on the prevention of mental retardation. It was not until the 1950's and 60's that interest in research in the care and treatment of these persons intensified. The next step, study of the interaction between handicapped persons and the environment is the key to a better understanding of how to plan for work with the handicapped. New members of the therapeutic team (e. g., psychologists, and sociologists) will take over (Edgerton, 1984) if medical groups, especially psychiatrists, do not become more aware of the importance of the interaction between the handicapped and the environment.


Procalcitonin (PCT) has shown some interest in infection diagnosis, early risk stratification and antibiotic therapy guidance.1-5 Yet, no international consensus has guided its use until very recently for antibiotic (AB) stewardship (ABS),6 making the prognosis indication of PCT unsupported. Lack of clarity regarding clinical algorithms applied in the emergency department (ED) has confused its prescription, questioned its utility and raised cost-effectiveness issues.7 To assess professional practices regarding PCT prescriptions, an observational retrospective study was conducted from 1st January to 31st December 2018, in the adult ED of a university hospital (Reims, France). Clinical contexts of PCT prescriptions were identified, prognosis interest of PCT was estimated, emergency physician's ABS regarding PCT rates was assessed and health cost and potential savings were estimated. The study was performed in accordance with the Helsinki declaration. Over one year, 1711 PCT assays were prescribed and 1635 patients were included (after exclusion of duplicates, patients under 18 years or with relevant missing data), with mean age 61.4 years (SD: 21.5) and 51.1% male. The principal diagnosis was not an infectious disease in 36.7% of cases, and 68.9% of patients were hospitalised following ED visit (Table 1). Bronchopulmonary infection sites lead to higher ICU admission and in-hospital death rates than other infection sites. Vital signs cut-offs were more often exceeded in patients admitted in ICU or dying in hospital. Initial PCT and lactate levels were higher for both outcomes. PCT and lactate showed comparable area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) for each outcome (AUCPCT = 0.74 and AUCLactate = 0.70 for in-hospital mortality; AUCPCT and AUCLactate = 0.68 for ICU admission), systematically lower in patients of 65 years and more. The discriminative ability of PCT and lactate in ICU admission was lost in patients with systolic blood pressure ≤ 100 mm Hg, mean arterial pressure < 65 mm Hg, pulse oximetry < 90% or Glasgow coma scale < 15. For in-hospital mortality, mean arterial pressure < 65 mm Hg lost the discriminative ability of PCT, and pulse oximetry <90% lost the discriminative ability of lactate. To address the potential utility of PCT for ABS, AB prescriptions prior to and during ED visits were analysed and stratified by PCT rate (Figure 1). A mismatch between PCT levels and ABS (low PCT/ AB continuation or initiation—high PCT/AB discontinuation or no initiation) was found in 40.8% of patients. During the year 2018, 11725 PCT assays have been run in our hospital, with 1711 (14.6%) prescribed by the ED (52 000 ED visits per year). The health cost associated with PCT prescriptions from the ED was estimated to be 34 220 € (40 650 USD). Since 600 patients of the cohort were not infected (no international consensus recommends the PCT for patients whose principal diagnosis is not infectious), and 245 others had no AB after PCT measurement, whereas the PCT rate was ≥0.25, 51.7% PCT assays may not be justified. In conclusion, PCT prescriptions in the ED are numerous, often unjustified and of limited utility.


Through assessment, lecturers convey to students what is expected from them. It is also a powerful tool which lecturers can use to shape students' approach to study. Regular assessment is particularly important as it leads to continuous studying throughout the semester. Although this is highly desirable for mathematics subjects, regular assessment is difficult to implement because the time needed for its design and marking may not be an affordable option for the already scarcely resourced teaching departments. This paper presents an example of a computer-based weekly assessment scheme introduced in a mathematics subject with the primary aim being to stimulate students regular study habits. The paper describes the implementation of the scheme to replace the mid-semester test, and its positive and negative aspects; it also includes an evaluation from the students and staff involved.