Real-time full-body tracking in VR is important for providing realistic experiences, especially for applications such as training, education, and social VR. The Microsoft Kinect v2 sensor can provide skeleton data for a user in real-time, however, due to occlusion issues and front/back ambiguity errors, one Kinect is not always reliable enough for the correct capture of 360-degree movements. In this paper, we present work to provide robust, real-time tracking using multiple Kinect v2 cameras. An adaptive data fusion method is described that constructs a high-quality 3D skeleton which can be used to drive a VR avatar regardless of the user's orientation. We compare three different approaches to fusing the data from the three Kinects, and compare against ground truth using an OptiTrack system. A static pose and a dynamic movement were captured to compare errors of each joint using the three fusion algorithms. Our results show that an adaptive weighting adjustment fusion method for combining skeleton data from the three Kinects according to the current facing direction performed best in terms of joint error.


The Third Plenary Session of the party's 17 have made a significant decision on rural reform and development,and it provides a theoretical basis and policyly guarantee for the building of new socialist rural areas and achieving new victories in the all-round well-off society.It can be said that its ideas of reform develops newly socialism theory with Chinese characteristics,and embodies the essential requirements of socialism.This article briefly discusses timeness and needness to promote rural reform mainly from the essence of socialism.


【Objective】 A simple and fast method was investigated for quantitative detection of phage host.【Method】 The T4 suspension of 4.4×109 pfu/mL and the T4-host E.coli suspension of known CFU were mixed by 1∶9(V/V) to make a simulated sample.It was immediately incubated at 37 ℃ with 150 r/min for 5min to complete infection.Then the substances smaller than 0.22 μm,including free T4s,were separated by supercentrifugation and millipore filtration.Meanwhile,the particulates,including infected E.colis,were trapped in the syringe filter.After the E.colis lysed,the progeny T4s were eluted out from the filter by SM buffer to get derivative sample.Then progeny T4s were quantitated by plaque counting,and the quantitative relationship between the numbers of the alive T4-host E.colis in the simulated sample and the progeny T4s in the derivative sample was analyzed.【Result】 The logarithm of the progeny T4 number was linear correlated with the logarithm of the T4 host number,shown as an equation of linear regression.The slope rate and the intercept of the equation depended on the tested E.coli strain and the experimental conditions.【Conclusion】 Transforming the sample with the method mentioned above,and relying on the progeny T4 number in the derivative sample and the linear relationship,the alive T4-host E.coli in the sample can be fast enumerated.


PURPOSE: To easily interlock a graphical object. CONSTITUTION: A device for moving a graphical object is provided with a display which displays plural graphical objects according to a display priority order, and a device for moving the displayed graphical objects in response to a user input. The display priority order is changed in response to the user input so that the moved graphical object can be displayed under one part of the second displayed graphical object. Moreover, a method for moving the graphical object is provided with a step for displaying the plural graphical objects on a display according to the display priority order, and step for moving the displayed graphical objects in response to the user input. The display priority order is changed in response to the user input so that the moved graphical object can be displayed under one of the second displayed graphical object. COPYRIGHT: (C)1995,JPO


We present a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) survey of extended [OIII] emission for a sample of 60 Seyfert galaxies (22 Seyfert 1's and 38 Seyfert 2's), selected based on their far infrared properties. The observations for 42 of these galaxies were done in a snapshot survey with WFPC2. The remaining 18 were obtained from the HST archive, most of which were observed with the same configuration. These observations cover 68% of the objects in the sample defined by Kinney et al. (2000), and create a valuable dataset for the study of the Narrow Line Region (NLR) properties of Seyfert galaxies. In this paper, we present the details of the observations, reductions, and measurements. We also discuss the extended structure of individual sources, and the relation of this emission to the radio and host galaxy morphology. We also address how representative the subsample of [O III]-imaged galaxies is of the entire sample, and possible selection effects that may affect this comparison of the properties of Seyfert 1 and Seyfert 2 galaxies. Subject headings: galaxies:active – galaxies:Seyfert – galaxies:structure – galaxies:emission lines – galaxies:nuclei – surveys


Master equation is a powerful tool for studying McKean-Vlasov dynamics where the distribution of the state process enters the coefficients directly, with particular applications including mean field games and stochastic control problems with partial information. In this paper we propose an intrinsic notion of viscosity solution for master equations and establish its wellposedness. In particular we prove the comparison principle in some special cases, which seems new in the literature. Our main innovation is to restrict the involved measures to certain set of semimartingale measures which satisfies the desired compactness. As one important example, we study the HJB master equation associated with the control problems for McKean-Vlasov SDEs. Due to practical considerations, we consider closed-loop controls. It turns out that the regularity of the value function becomes much more involved in this framework than the counterpart in the standard control problems. Finally, we build the whole theory in the path dependent setting, which is often seen in applications. The main result in this part is an extension of Dupire [13]'s functional Itô formula. This Itô formula requires a special structure of the Wasserstein derivatives, which was originally due to Lions [24] in the state dependent case. We provided an elementary proof for this well known result in the short note [29], and the same arguments work in the path dependent setting.


The invention relates to the chemistry of high molecular-weight polymers in the composition of additives which are used in the pipeline transport of petroleum and petroleum products. A method for producing a suspension-type drag-reducing agent in a single stage on the basis of super-high-molecular-weight poly-alpha-olefins. In said method, higher alpha olefins are polymerized in a medium of fluorinated organic compounds on a titanium-magnesium catalyst with the addition of an electron-donor modifier, the medium of fluorinated organic compounds is subsequently replaced with a dispersion medium containing an anticaking agent and being comprised of higher aliphatic alcohols, glycols, mono- and di-substituted simple esters thereof and mixtures thereof. Synthesis is performed at a set ratio of system components. The drag-reducing agent contains, in mass%: poly-alpha-olefin (a mixture of poly-alpha-olefins) 10-40; dispersion medium 48-89.9; anticaking agent 0.1-12.


Abstract : A mathematical model of optical and infrared wave propagation in scattering media is derived from Maxwell's equations. It allows for the calculation of the irradiance profiles of the forward- and the backward propagating beams which result from the interaction of a coherent beam with a scattering medium. The method accounts for all orders of scattering and is applicable to inhomogeneous media. The range of validity is limited by the condition that the fractional volume occupied by the particles to the 1/4-th power must be much smaller than unity. (Canada).


This report provides a description of the history and current program provisions of this country's social insurance, health care, and income-support programs. It has been published intermittently since the 1960's and biennially since 1987. Preparation of "Social Security Programs in the United States" was coordinated by Jack Schmulowitz, Office of Research and Statistics, Social Security Administration (SSA). In the acknowledgements listed below, staff are with the Office of Research and Statistics unless otherwise noted. Appreciation is expressed to the many persons who participated in the preparation of this compilation:


This article examines the changing governance structures in the South African agri-food sector. Changing legislative and market conditions forced agribusiness managers to rethink their governance structures to ensure the competitiveness of the agri-food sector. They had to adapt to the new structures in a relatively short time. Three case studies of different levels of coordination between firms are presented. The analysis indicates a move away from spot markets to managed coordination structures in response to the deregulation of South African agricultural policy.


This review addresses the structure and phase formation mechanisms of self‐propagating high‐temperature synthesis (SHS) of single‐phase complex carbides Ta–Ti/Zr/Hf–C, as well as the consolidation of synthesized carbides by various sintering methods. Properties of the synthesized and consolidated complex carbides are described, and unique advantages of SHS method for the synthesis of ultra‐high temperature complex single‐phase carbides are highlighted.


The new challenge in the current column involves a counting computation. The counting may be performed in several ways. We are asking for an elegant recursive way. One of the challenges in formulating a recursive solution is the selection of an illuminating perspective, which yields an elegant and simple-to-see point of view. This is what we are asking here. Following the presentation of the new challenge, we display the solution of the previous challenge. Our solution is developed gradually, in stages, while carefully examining diverse cases, of gradual complexity. The solution process involves invariant specifications, and demonstrates cases of don't care elements.


It is now almost three years since the first roadside Crash Cushion was introduced to a British road, at Lancaster Circus in Birmingham in October 1987. Since that date a further nine cushions have been installed, including five more in Birmingham. Collision evidence suggests that in some cases the cushions have prevented serious injury or even death. However, some people still believe that the devices are simply a North American gimmick, with little or no relevance for British highway conditions. This paper seeks to address this issue by examining some of the factors involved in the development of this project in Great Britain. The paper also describes a methodology for site ranking and concludes with an assertion that crash cushions should be used at specific locations to reduce the extent of injury in some frontal collisions.


On behalf of the organizing committee of the IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Services (ICPS 2008), we are pleased to welcome you to Sorrento, Italy.

This is the 5th ICPS and it has become one of the premier conferences to bring together researchers from all over the world to meet, discuss and collaborate to bring about our collective vision of a Pervasive Computing reality.

Our aim is to create systems and tools that are ubiquitously and unobtrusively embedded into our very environment. To achieve this we require systems combining connectivity, intuitiveness, effortlessness and reliability bringing us many exciting research challenges. This vision of pervasive systems has brought about a paradigm shift in computer science, as well as other areas of research such as electronic engineering, building architecture, bio-engineering and even the arts. This inter-disciplinary effort has reemphasised older topics in the area of autonomy, ad hoc networking, user-interfacing, security etc and bring a focus to new topics such as context-awareness, self-management, smart objects, smart spaces and energy efficiency. We hope you agree that ICPS 08 reflects this vibrancy.

ICPS 2008 is sponsored by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Applied Computing (SIGAPP) and Consorizio Interuniversitario Nazionale per L'Informatica. The proceedings, published by the ACM, constitute the 17 full papers, 8 short papers, 4 workshops, demo and poster sessions all presented by people from over 17 countries world wide. There continues to be a strong body of research focusing on Middleware support for pervasive and mobile computing. Here we see Service Oriented Architectures amongst others, handling decentralisation and heterogeneity of not only sensor devices but the more recent advances in actuator technology. The very nature of a pervasive computing brings issues of trust and engagement to the fore and these are covered in the Security services and Mobile Computing sections. In particular we examine data management and routing for these devices and how we would handle multiple identities in ubiquity. Environments & algorithms for pervasive application development presents two sessions including the areas of location and context-awareness from the point of view of transport navigation, multi-sensor systems, as well as smart museum and home spaces. We also see context-awareness and adaptivity for improved performance in the Middleware support and Wireless & Sensor Networks section. Finally, our Pervasive computing and Management session encompasses context uncertainty and fault detection.


Power supply is the most critical unit in an airplane. A defect in a power supply might lead to a crash. Therefore, it is very useful and important to monitor the status of the airplane's power supply during flight. This paper presents a real-time evaluation system constructed by a central process unit for processing and detecting defects and several remote units for acquiring parameters. Because of the huge amount of data acquired, a combination of Ethernet and time division multiplexing technique has been applied for constructing a 2.5Gbps synchronous data transportation network for the system.


Use Taiping coal mines second horizontal (+1100m~+900 m level ) 1#, 3# and 5# coal seam in Panzhihua Baoding as the research object, apply the problem solving nonlinear large deformation finite difference method (FLAC), to research the steep multi-seam mining of pressure distribution and characteristics of fracture zone. The results show that: (1)During the course of three coal mining extraction, the stress of goaf surrounding rocks will be changed. (2)When the nearby coal is mining, the coal pillar come into being stress concentration near the area. when the mining work continues, the goaf will have an effect on the protection pillar, which is similar to the "liberate". the effect of coal pillar and stress concentration nearby will be eased; (3)After the coal mining, plastic failure has occurred over the protection pillar, forming a water guide channel. Research results can be as a reference for similar steep seam mining.


In this supplemental material, we first provide an additional procedure in our algorithm that effectively deals with the singular matrices. Next, we briefly show the scaling aspect of our algorithm. Then, we show the accuracy results for two additional cognitive tests. Lastly, we demonstrate how we rotate the " knob " to see the global change of the brain connectivity with an interactive visualization provided as an html script (index.html). In the paper, we have been assuming that H in (16) derived from the newly represented constraint is nonsingular, allowing us to perform inversions in the subsequent steps. However, even if the initial H is nonsingular, we cannot guarantee to maintain its nonsingularity throughout the iterations. Thus, we now relax that assumption in the previous procedures to consider singular H in the subproblems.


Shape Grammars, invented by Stiny and Gips (1972) have shown to be powerful rule-based design systems. They have well developed mathematical foundation that provides formal mechanism for their computer implementations. Gips (1999) classifies possible computer tools that implement Shape Grammars in four groups: 1-Generation, 2-Parsing, 3-Inference and 4-Computer-aided design tools for Shape Grammars. Several tools for Shape Grammars have been developed such as Shaper2D (McGill, 2002), GEdit (Tapia, 1999), and 3DShaper (Wang and Duarte, 2002). These applications explore two-dimensional and threedimensional Shape Grammars and are powerful tools for learning its' fundamental concepts. Most of these tools have been used for education. However, their use in the design practice has been limited. The fourth type of tools would assist (users) designers creating a Shape Grammar by providing sophisticated functions. This type of an application would be a plug-in for a computer-aided design software that would use Shape Grammars to help the designer (Gips, 1999). AutoGrammar (Celani, 2001), developed as plug-in under a common CAD software is of such kind that is used in design workshops as an auxiliray design tool. This paper describes a new Shape Grammar tool, QShaper (QS) developed within a common visualization software as a scripted utility. QS is using Shape Grammars to help designers explore computationally generated rule-based design variations. It functions both as an experimental tool for practical use, and an educational platform for explaining the basic mechanics of Shape Grammars. QS is not claiming to be a complete solution for the specific design paradigm. Therefore, it is open to add-ons or changes in its structure.


Wireless sensor networks have traditionally been used for military purposes but now its usage has widened in different areas of life including medical terms which are called wireless body area network (WBAN). WBAN is playing a vital role in every aspect of medical science for monitoring the continuous health of patients' body without hindering the normal physiological activities in human body. All physiological data like a heartbeat, blood pressure and body temperature can be collected and then transferred to the data servers for further monitoring through WBAN. In this paper we will discuss about WBAN and some MAC protocols that has been designed to improve energy efficiency in WBAN


Using the method of quantum of mechanics, the functional mechanism of treatment of ILIB is analyzed. It is believed that the C-C bond in the structure of cholesterol of the red cell will be divided, the rate of cholesterol of red cell / phosphorus fat of film will be reduced, and the fluidity and the capacity of red cell's distortion will be improved, so as to improve the micro-circulation and oxygenic supply for organization. The clinic data of ILIB treatment for 25 cases of brain block support the above opinion.


Software is intended to enable and support organisations, in order for them to function effectively and efficiently, towards achieving their strategic objectives. Hence, its deployment is critically vital to the focal actors (managers and sponsors). Software deployment involves two primary components, technology and non-technology actors. Both actors offer vital contributions to software deployment from different perspectives. Unfortunately, there has been more focus on the technological actors over the years. This could be attributed to why the same types of challenges, such as disjoint between development and implementation, persist. This chapter holistically examines the roles of non-technology actors in the deployment of software in organisations. The Actor-Network Theory (ANT) provides a lens in the analysis of the empirical data.


The steam injection schedule best suited for dimensionally stabilizing a flake mat is one in which steam treatment is initiated before the press is closed and is continued at least until the mat attains target thickness. Experiments showed that resinless mats treated with 20 sec of steam at 600 kPa had maximum thickness swelling of 205% compared to 350% for resinless mats pressed in a conventional fashion. Reductions in thickness swelling were proportional to steam duration and pressure. Mats treated with 20 sec of steam at 1,950 kPa had only one-tenth the thickness swelling measured in conventionally pressed mats. We believe that reduction of thickness swelling is dependent on a number of factors, including plasticization of the wood, "lignin" flow, and molecular changes in the wood structure.


Political leaders, especially while out of office, frequently proclaim their intention to tax away large wealth holdings. A recent example is the 1972 presidential campaign, in which a leading contender for the presidency at one time proposed a 100 percent tax on estates of $500,000 or more. The first task of this article is to survey literature which shows that, despite a long history of ostensibly redistributive wealth and income taxation in the United States, the ownership of wealth has not become more equal, at least not in the last quarter century. Indeed, although the data are open to different interpretations, it appears that in recent years inequality may have been growing. We propose a tax program which would, if implemented, make the ownership of wealth more equal while maintaining the basic institutions of a market economy. A tax which completely levels the distribution of wealth or even significantly reduces the current inequality is certain to be very disruptive to the market economy. The desire to accumulate is the mainspring of a capitalist economy, and one cannot prevent accumulation without doing away with the capitalist system. The government,


A novel scheme for a phase-shifterless phased array antenna has been proposed and its beam pattern has been investigated. The beam is found to be steered from 0/spl deg/ to 180/spl deg/ simply by tuning the oscillation frequency of the master oscillator. Since, it is a phase-shifterless array, the cost of the proposed array is considerably reduced.


Using the finite element technique, a numerical method is devloped so that one may obtain the propagation characteristics of optical waves along guiding structures whose cores may be of arbitrary cross‐sectional shape and whose material media may be inhomogeneous in more than one transverse direction. Several specific examples are given and the results are compared with those obtained by other exact or approximate methods. Very close agreement was found. The method developed here can easily be applied to many important problems dealing with practical optical fiber or integrated optical waveguides whose cross‐sectional index of refraction distribution may be quite arbitrary.


Over the last few years, the films of Catherine Breillat have run the gauntlet of critical reaction, from condemnation as pornography dressed up as art cinema, to acclaim for the audacity required and displayed by her uncompromising depictions of sex acts and female sexuality. Breillat has become a well-known cindaste and novelist (some of her films are translations of her own novels to the screen), but has been less credited as a theorist, despite the philosophical character of interviews such as "The Absolute Opacity of Intimacy" and texts such as the preface to the screenplay of Romance (1999).' She states in the latter, for example, that what she holds dear is "making a moral cinema," but that morality in cinema is to be found not in the morality of the acts filmed, but in the moral dimension of the director's regard [look].2 Breillat's contribution to feminist philosophy has been recognized, however, in a recent essay by Anne Gillain: "In effect, what Breillat advocates is a symbolic reappropriation of a feminine realm that for centuries has been dissected by the imaginary of men."3 In this essay, I want to draw out the philosophical implications of Breillat's depictions of sexualities and sex acts in order to set out the female


Life cycle assessment is an effective tool in assessing the environmental performance of product or process or service. Life cycle assessment is a "cradle-to-grave" approach for assessing industrial systems. It means that assessment starts from the extraction of raw material from the ground and end at a point where final waste or used product is returned to the ground; therefore cradle-to-grave approach avoids 'problem shifting'. Global warming is a serious and far-reaching challenge facing us. Global temperature is increasing and human activities are the primary cause. The food industry is one of the world's largest industrial sectors and hence, a large consumer of energy which leads to environmental pollution. It is, thus, essential to evaluate the environmental impact and the utilization of resources in food production and distribution systems for sustainable consumption. The review involves the identification of best available practice in establishing a database for the life cycle inventory phase, and a list of environmental impact categories and accompanying factors to address these impact categories.


Nearly one in three children under age five in the Philippines is stunted, a key marker of undernutrition. This rate is high for the country's level of income. This paper provides the first detailed multivariate analysis of potential drivers of stunting in the Philippines, using data from the 2015 National Nutrition Survey. Potential drivers are analyzed individually and grouped in major categories. The analysis finds that stunting between 24-60 months is principally associated with suboptimal prenatal conditions and inadequate food security and diversity. If the results are given a causal interpretation, they imply that if all Filipino newborns had adequate prenatal conditions, the fraction stunted at age 24-60 months would fall by 20 percent. Similarly, providing adequate food security and diversity to all Filipino children would reduce stunting by 22 percent. Other factors -- including access to water, sanitation, and environmental conditions -- have less strong associations with stunting. The results point to a series of policy priorities to reduce stunting: supporting the nutrition and health of expectant mothers, ensuring access to contraception to reduce adolescent pregnancy, and ensuring that children consume a variety of healthy foods, including protein-dense foods such as milk, meat, and eggs.


Up to now, there exist a quite wide temperature interval between 70 or 80 and 150 °C with no sufficiently reliable experimental data of mean activity coefficients for aqueous NaOH as well as KOH solutions. In order to fill this gap, it was tried to derive suitable correlation equations for this quantity in dependence on the molality (for NaOH in the range mNaOH = 2-25 mol kg-1, for KOH in the range mKOH = 2-18 mol kg-1) and temperature (in the range 0-200 °C for both kinds of solutions) on the basis of the available data of this quantity and with the use of the previously derived correlation equations for the water activity in aqueous solutions of NaOH and KOH under the same conditions. The comparison between the calculated and experimental data was discussed.


Background: Human adipose-derived stem cells (hADSCs) are stem cells with the potential to differentiate in multiple directions. MiR-204-5p is poorly expressed during osteogenic differentiation of hADSCs, and its specific regulatory mechanism remains unclear. Here, we aimed to explore the function and possible molecular mechanism of miR-204-5p involved in the osteogenic differentiation of hADSCs. Methods: The expression pattern of miR-204-5p, Runx2, Alkaline phosphatase (ALP), Osteocalcin (OCN), and Forkhead box C1(FOXC1) and growth differentiation factor 7(GDF7) in hADSCs during osteogenesis were detected by qRT-PCR. Then, ALP and alizarin red staining (ARS) were used to detect the activity of osteoblasts and mineral deposition. Western blot was conducted to confirm the protein levels. The regulation relationship among miR-204-5p, FOXC1 and GDF7 was verified by double luciferase activity and CHIP experiment.Results: First, miR-204-5p expression was down-regulated and overexpressed miR-204-5p suppressed the osteogenic differentiation. Furthermore, the levels of FOXC1 and GDF7 were decreased in the miR-204-5p mimics group, which indicate that overexpressed miR-204-5p would suppress the expression of FOXC1 and GDF7 through binding the 3'UTR region each. Overexpression of FOXC1 or GDF7 could improve the inhibition of osteogenic differentiation of hADSCs induced by the miR-204-5p mimics. Moreover, FOXC1 could bind to the promoter of miR-204-5p and GDF7, promote the deacetylation of miR-204-5p and reduced the expression of miR-204-5p, thus promoting the expression of GDF7 during osteogenic differentiation. GDF7 could induce hADSCs osteogenesis differentiation by activating the AKT and P38 signaling pathways. Conclusions: Our results demonstrated that miR-204-5p/FOXC1/GDF7 axis regulates osteogenic differentiation of hADSCs via the AKT and p38 signaling pathways. This study further understood the regulatory mechanism of hADSCs differentiation balance from the perspective of miRNAs regulation.


This study aims to determine the effect of job satisfaction and work motivation partially and simultaneously on the performance of bureau staff at the Raden Intan State Islamic University (UIN) Lampung. The research method used is an associative quantitative approach, the population in this study is the staff of the Raden Intan Lampung State Islamic University (UIN) bureau with a total sample of 83 people, while data collection is done by distributing questionnaires to 83 respondents and then analyzed using validity tests. , reliability test, classical assumption test, regression test, coefficient, determination, correlation, and hypothesis testing (t test and f test). The results showed that job satisfaction (X1) had a positive and significant effect on the performance of Raden Intan's employees (UIN) during the Covid-19 pandemic in Bandar Lampung where the value of tcount > ttable was 18,587 > 1,990 with a significance value < 0.05, meaning that the variable satisfaction work has a partial effect on employee performance. Work motivation (X2) does not have a positive influence on employee performance (Y) Raden Intan State Islamic University (UIN) Lampung where the value of tcount < ttable is -0.856 <1.990 with a significance value of > 0.05, meaning that the work motivation variable partially affects employee performance. . Job satisfaction (X1) and work motivation (X2) simultaneously have a positive and significant effect on employee performance (Y) Raden Intan Lampung State Islamic University (UIN) where the fcount > ftable is 170.623 > 3.11 with a significance value < 0, 05 means that the variables of job satisfaction and work motivation have a simultaneous effect on employee performance.


Scientists have long been trying to understand the workings of the brain by measuring electrical neural activity. The invention of the micro-electrode array (MEA), or neural probe, was a great step improving neuroscientists' capabilities of recording neural activity. Neural probes allow for repeatable and customizable sizing and spacing of electrodes that is out of reach of wire electrodes. This, combined with improvements in recording hardware, on-probe electronics, and action potential detection algorithms, has brought great advancements in the fields of neuroscience and brain-machine interfaces. The original neural probes were fabricated using silicon, due to the technology available at the inception of neural probes. However, many researchers have fabricated neural probes out of various combinations of materials. The most popular materials seem to be silicon-based materials and polymers such as polyimide, SU-8, and Parylene C. One material of particular interest, due to its combination of advantageous chemical and mechanical properties, is polycrystalline diamond. Diamond is a good material for neural probes because it has a high Young's modulus (~10 Pa), it has good biocompatibility, it is resistant to fouling, and it is chemically inert. The main obstacle to developing diamond-based neural probes is that diamond's beneficial properties also make it difficult to micromachine, making it difficult to develop processes for probe fabrication. One major problem with diamond probe fabrication is that diamond is incompatible with many materials, due to the high temperatures involved in depositing diamond. However, because diamond has a large band gap (~5.5 eV), it is a good candidate for single material MEMS (SMM). SMM devices use only one material for their structural material, insulators, semiconductors, and conductors. This is accomplished by selectively doping the material (diamond) to create different electrical properties for different parts of the structure. By using the SMM process to fabricate neural probes, many of the problems with incompatible materials are resolved. However, SMM fabrication has its own set of issues associated with it. The goal of this work is to develop a process to fabricate single-material diamond neural probes, fabricate the neural probes, and test the neural probes. A process for fabrication of single-material diamond has been presented and details on the fabrication of the probes has been provided. Furthermore, these singlematerial diamond neural probes have been used for in-vivo electrical neural recordings and in-vitro electrochemical detection. The electrical recordings were also analyzed using a continuous wavelet transform method in order to improve action potential detection. A comparison is also made between silicon-based neural probes, diamond-based neural probes, and single-material-diamond neural probes. This work marks the first time that SMM neural probes have been fabricated and tested, the first time that a functional SMM device was tested, and the first time that a SMM device was used in vivo. Journal Publications: Aslam, D. M., A. Abu-Ageel, M. Alfatlawi, M. W. Varney, C. M. Thompson, and S. K. Aslam. "Passive Maple-seed Robotic Fliers for Education, Research and Entrepreneurship." Journal of Education and Training Studies 2, no. 2 (2014): 206-216. Varney, M. W., A. Janoudi, D. M. Aslam, and D. Graham. "Building young engineers: TASEM for third graders in Woodcreek Magnet Elementary School." IEEE Transactions on Education 55, no. 1 (2012): 78. Varney, M. W., D. M. Aslam, A. Janoudi, H.-Y. Chan, and D. H. Wang. "Polycrystalline-diamond MEMS biosensors including neural microelectrode-arrays." Biosensors 1, no. 3 (2011): 118-133. Conference Proceedings: Parraga-Ramirez, P., M. Varney, E. Tarkleson, N. Mueller, P. Akbari, and J. Piechna. "Development of a Wave Disk Engine Experimental Facility." In 48th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit. 2012. Cao, Z., M. Varney, and D. Aslam. "Single-material MEMS using polycrystalline diamond." In Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), 2010 IEEE 23rd International Conference on, pp. 51-54. IEEE, 2010. Varney, M., Z. Cao, and D. M. Aslam. "All-diamond micro-electrode arrays for neural recordings and diamond electrochemistry." In 2010 IEEE 5th International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems, pp. 1116-1119. 2010. Chan, H. Y., M. Varney, S. Hatch, and D. M. Aslam. "Implantable polycrystalline diamond neural probe for in vivo and in vitro physiological recording." In Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems Conference, 2009. TRANSDUCERS 2009. International, pp. 1202-1205. IEEE, 2009. Chan, H.-Y., M. Varney, D. M. Aslam, and K. D. Wise. "Fabrication and characterization of all-diamond microprobes for electrochemical analysis." In Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular Systems, 2008. NEMS 2008. 3rd IEEE International Conference on, pp. 532-535. IEEE, 2008.


Unemployment has always been a problem in Mali, as it is today. Using the actual data from the "World Data Atlas" data source, this study aims to perform a series of forecasting operations using some of the accepted univariate forecasting models in literature and a set of heuristic ones, so as to see which one will hold less error percentage, and thus give the best estimate on how the future numbers might look like. The results enable a comparison of univariate and heuristic techniques.


[Objective] The aim was to investigate the effects of plant growth regulators on contents of reduced sugar and starch in Solanum tuberosum L. [Method] A potato cultivar the contents of reduced sugar and starch in potato leaves,stolons and tubers in a field experiment. [Result] DTA-6 treatment could significantly reduce the contents of starch and reduced sugar in potato stolons in the period of 100-110 d after seeding,and it could also reduce the content of reduced sugar in tubers,but there is an opposite result in leaves in the same period,significantly. S3307 could extremely significantly increase the content of starch,and can promote the transfer of starch in stolons,in addition,it also could reduce the content of reduced sugar in tubers,and extremely significantly increase the content of starch in leaves at the 110 d after seeding. Moreover,there is a similar effect between SODM and S3307. [Conclusion] The research results are significant for understanding mechanisms of plant growth regulators and promoting application of plant growth regulator in potato.


The aims of this research were to increase the activities and study result of student by cooperative learning tipe group investigation. The method of the research was Classroom Action Research. The instrument of data collection used observation sheet and test. Technique of data analysis used  qualitative and quantitative analysis. The result showed that the student activities in cycle I "Moderately Active" to be "Active" in cycle II. Percentage of the study result in cycle I  86,11% to be 100% in cycle II.   Tujuan penelitian ini untuk meningkatkan aktivitas dan hasil belajar siswa melalui model cooperative learning tipe group investigation . Metode penelitian ini adalah Tindakan Kelas. Alat pengumpul data menggunakan lembar observasi dan tes. Teknik analisis data menggunakan analisis kualitatif dan kuantitatif. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan, aktivitas siswa siklus I "Cukup Aktif" menjadi "Aktif" pada siklus II. Persentase ketuntasan belajar pada siklus I sebesar 86,11%, menjadi 100% di siklus II.   Kata kunci: aktivitas siswa, cooperative learning tipe group investigation, hasil  belajar


Based on practical engineering of the highway bridge in the south of Qicun village,the pedestal design,the calculation of foundation base bearing capacity and the construction technology of the prestressed box girder.


With the further development of economic globalization and the formal entry into World Trade organization,the intellectual property right protection in our country is confronted with great pressures and challenges, and crimes deriving from intellectual property right has become a sharp problem,which affects our market economy construction,scientific and technological development. In the light of this,and under the new situations, it is becoming especially essential to find and accept the defects in our intellectual property right protection, and construct new frameworks for the protection, in order to effectively prevent and crack down the crimes committed in intellectual property right.


In this study, an attempt has been made to investigate the strength enhancement of steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) through the compressive, flexural and splitting tensile strengths. For this purpose, steel fibres with hooked-end type, having aspect ratio (l/d) of 80 was used in the mix. In order to determine its mechanical properties, tests on cubes (all sides equal to 150mm), cylinders (150mm dia. x 300mm height) and beam prisms (150x150x750 mm) was carried out. The amount of steel fibres in the concrete mix was based on the volume fraction, vf of 0, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00, 1.25, 1.50 and 1.75% (0, 19, 37, 56, 75, 93, 112 and 131kg/m 3 ). The results indicate that the compressive strength of SFRC is not influenced by a steel fibre contribution. Nevertheless, the steel fibre is highly enhanced the flexural and splitting tensile strength of SFRC. An optimum range of volume fraction was also suggested in this study where 1.00 ≤ vf ≤ 1.50.


MO calculations by the INDO method were performed for the H/sub 3/O free radical and some of its water complexes. Calculations on the corresponding H/sub 3/O/sup +/ ion complexes were included for comparison. It was found that the H/ sub 3/O radical is stable against bond dissociation to H/sub 2/O and H, but unlike the ion it is destabilized by the surrounding water complexes. (auth)


The coronavirus pandemic has created an educational crisis without precedent, posed new challenges, and highlighted the need for digital skills empowerment among teachers along with the use of technology-based approaches to support the delivery of education and ensure the future of learning. As a return to normality is far from over, the implementation of novel training approaches for teacher training is more imperative than ever. In this context, this paper presents the VRTEACHER project that aims to promote the use of digital technologies and innovative and open pedagogies as part of teachers' training methodology. The vision of the project is to empower teacher's skills (such as empathy, perspective-taking, self-efficacy, adaptability, etc.) and readiness related to class management in crisis situations, through Virtual Reality (VR) immersive and experiential training approaches that reflect real-life scenarios and situations. The aim and challenge of the project are not just to adapt the training provided to the digital era and connect it with new technologies but to build a holistic new approach to teacher training through the use of VR.


The results of studies on the effect of presowing application of different norms of nonlitter liquid swine dung in soft spring wheat Albidum 188 cultivation are submitted. According to calculations conducted the author recommends that the above dung should be used in spring wheat cultivation in the norm of 7-14 tons per hectare.


Research on implementation of proper drug storage system had been done at Puskesmas (public health center) Rawat Inap Sidomulyo Pekanbaru. This research was conducted by observational method using descriptive design study. Data was collected by filling in the check list sheet based on the observations and free guided interviews. The sample in this study was the person in charge (pharmacist) of drug storage and the warehouse at Puskesmas Rawat Inap Sidomulyo Pekanbaru. The result obtained showed that most of drug storage condition at Puskesmas Rawat Inap Sidomulyo Pekanbaru has fulfilled the requirement accordance to Depkes RI 2008 and 2010, which were 80% of drug warehouse condition in good category, 100% of drug storage in very good category and 100% of inventory drug stock in very good category.


Property right is a legal as well as an economic concept. Under the law framework, the ownership of scenery resources cannot restrain and spur the use of sceneries from the point of property rights. On the premise that the ownership does not change, an analysis of separation of scenery property rights indicates:resource management authorities can refuse to provide operatioual right. When the agents select operational right, selecting operators; deciding transfer price and formulating restricting contracts are the key link of changing property rights. They may affect the use of scenery resources.


This report represents the results of a historical cohort analysis of 3,360 males and 864 females who had a gastric resection or gastroenterostomy for benign disease between 1900 and 1969. Within the period 1970 to 1988 the cohort was cross‐checked with the data files at the Cancer Registry of Norway to identify the patients in whom cancer had been diagnosed. When analyzed according to cancer sites, increased risk was recorded for the oropharynx, stomach, colon, pancreas, liver, biliary tract, larynx, lungs, urinary bladder and non‐melanomatous cancers of the skin In males. In females, increased risk was only observed for the oropharynx, but was close to a statistically significant level also for cancer of the stomach. A lower number of tumors of the central nervous system than expected was observed in both males and females. The increased risk of cancer of the lungs, larynx and urinary bladder in males can be regarded as evidence of the high prevalence of smokers in the cohort. We suggest that die increased risk of cancer of digestive organs Is mainly related to life‐style factors, particularly tobacco‐specific nitrosamlnes whose effect Is enhanced by surgical sequelae.


"This report covers the sixth of a series of investigations in which various lateral control devices are compared with particular reference to their effectiveness at high angles of attack. The present report deals with flap-type ailerons hinged about axes having an angle with respect to the leading and trailing edges of the wing. Tests were made on four different skewed ailerons, including two different angles of skew and two sizes of ailerons" (p. 81).


The article deals with the geometrical modeling of spatial deflections of parts and assemblies. For each type of location and form of tolerances it describes the procedure to construct a corresponding configuration space, by whose point it is possible to derive various positions of the marked reference frame and/or altered coefficients of quadratic forms of this surface within a specified tolerance, and therefore, to obtain a fully described position of the surface in a three-dimension space.


Based on the systematic teaching process in universities,this study establishes a talent training-program which coordinates the development of knowledge,ability and quality.The basic principle and overall plan of practice teaching program are established,and the concrete design and demonstration of practical teaching program are analyzed.The authors also provide implementation suggestion and necessary training files of the program.The purpose of this study is to provide a reference for developing the practice training and planning the laboratory construction.


Studies on planting dates and stage of harvesting in ashwagandha were conducted at the Agricultural College Farm, Raichur on medium deep black soil during kharif season of 2007-08 to know the optimum date of planting and stage of harvesting. The results showed that planting on II Fortnight (F. N.) of July recorded the highest plant height (29.97 cm), number of leaves (33.76), leaf area (30.64 dm2/plant) and leaf area index (15.12), and were on par with I F. N. of August. Planting on II F. N. of July recorded the highest dry matter production (37.58 g/plant) and its distribution in leaves (8.21 g/ plant), stem (11.60 g/plant) and reproductive parts (16.46 g/plant). Among stages of harvesting, the crop harvested at 100% flowering stage recorded the highest number of leaves (30.85), leaf area (30.08 dm2/plant), leaf area index (13.64), dry matter accumulation in leaves (9.51 g/plant) and also these were on par with 50% flowering stage. However, the crop harvested at maturity stage recorded significantly higher plant height (31.64 cm), dry matter production (37.33 g/plant) and its distribution in stem (12.52 g/plant) and reproductive parts (20.48 g/plant) and also these were on par with berry ripening stage. Planting on II F. N. of July produced maximum fresh (1737 kg/ha) and dry (819 kg/ha) root yield of ashwagandha closely followed by I F. N. of August planting (1706 and 810 kg/ha). Among different stages of harvesting, maximum fresh (1714 kg/ha) and dry root yield (873 kg/ha) was observed when the crop was harvested at maturity stage which was on par with berry ripening stage (1695 and 823 kg/ha, respectively).


The article addresses the causes of development of self-employment in contemporary Russian rural areas, discusses the challenges the future and present self-employed rural residents face and determines the ways of development of self-employment. It also presents measures for further improvement of the policies encouraging rural self-employment.


In the Porgera valley of highlands Papua New Guinea, burial practices have undergone rapid transformations with the coming of Christianity in the 1960s and large-scale mining development in the 1990s. In this article, I examine the changes in mortuary practices and situate these novel practices in theories about the production of space to explore conflicts over land in an era of resource development. Graves, which shifted from remote rain forest lands to the edges of roads and public spaces, now serve as visual public reminders of past conflicts and killings in the development context. The promises of development were supposed to increase social mobility in Porgera, but conflicts constrain mobility in complex ways highlighting the tensions between development, social space and conflict in Porgera.


—For hyperspectral image (HSI) classification tasks, obtaining sufficient labeled samples is usually difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. To address the aforementioned issue, by transferring the labeled sample information of a relevant source domain to the unlabeled target domain, an HSI classifica- tion method based on the domain adversarial broad adaptation network (DABAN) is proposed. First, the bottleneck adaptation module composed of a bottleneck layer and a domain adaptation layer is constructed and introduced to the domain adversarial neural network; thus, the domain adversarial adaptation network (DAAN) is designed. By simultaneously performing domain adversarial learning, reducing both the marginal distribution difference and second-order statistic difference between two domains, the distributions of the source and target domains are aligned. Then, the conditional distribution adaptation reg- ularization term based on the maximum mean discrepancy is embedded into a broad learning system to obtain the conditional adaptation broad network (CABN). On the one hand, CABN can perform the class-level distribution adaptation on the domain- invariant features extracted by DAAN. On the other hand, the representation ability of the domain-invariant features expanded by CABN can be further enhanced. Experimental results on ten real hyperspectral data pairs show that, compared with the existing mainstream methods, DABAN can effectively utilize relevant source-domain information to assist in improving the classification accuracy of the target domain.


Electric Power Engineering at Tampere University of Technology (TUT) has an active project on reducing extremely low frequency electromagnetic compatibility disturbances. This paper describes a laboratory that is being built up for studying this subject. The laboratory consists of two sections, one dealing with magnetic fields and the other with harmonics. In the first section, that is already constructed, there will be concentrated study on measuring disturbances caused by magnetic fields. The other section is still under construction. In that section of the laboratory a small industrial network will be constructed. With the network different phenomena and disturbances connected to harmonics in industrial networks will be studied. The laboratory can also be used for teaching on these subjects.


Parmenides , one of the greatest and most influential Greek thinkers, is not mentioned in Plato?s earlier dialogues. His name appears only in four dialogues: Symposium, Parmenides, Theaetetus, and Sophist . In order to judge how much Plato owes to Parmenides and in what way he reacts to this great philosopher, this chapter focuses on the Sophist . For this is the main dialogue to tackle the philosophy of Parmenides?the project postponed in the Theaetetus . This chapter discusses the various contexts in the Sophist where the name of Parmenides appears. It examines Denis O?Brien?s interpretation of Plato?s reaction to Parmenides concerning what is not. The chapter presents the author's arguments against O?Brien?s criticisms, first by focusing on the key text, secondly by reconsidering Plato?s strategy, and finally in respect of philosophical interpretation. Keywords: Denis O?Brien; Parmenides; Plato; Sophist; Symposium; Theaetetus


This paper discusses the implementation of an adaptive acoustic echo canceler for a hands-free cellular phone operating on a fading channel. The adaptive lattice structure, which is particularly known for faster convergence relative to the conventional tapped-delay-line (TDL) structure, is used in the initialization stage. After convergence, the lattice coefficients are converted into the coefficients for the TDL structure which can accommodate a larger number of taps in real-time operation due to its computational simplicity. The conversion method of the TDL coefficients from the lattice coefficients is derived and the DSP56001 assembly code for the lattice and TDL structure is included, as well as simulation results and the schematic diagram for the hardware implementation.


To have really good quality vision, it is essential for both eyes to see well. By having two good eyes, not only do we have a spare should injury or disease affect the function of one eye later in life, but we also get more information about the world about us. When the eyes work together as a pair, this is referred to as having binocular vision.


In New York City (NYC), construction workers face daily risks of severe injury and death on the job. Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that construction workers make up only 5% of NYC's total workforce, but account for 27% of work-related injury fatalities. Construction workers often work at elevated heights and with heavy equipment and materials. Many construction workers are employed on a short-term basis and may frequently change job sites and work activities, encountering unfamiliar settings, job duties and equipment. An ongoing shortage of skilled construction labor—combined with NYC's construction boom—may further increase injury risks. Contractors sometimes rely on untrained laborers or smaller crews to complete building projects on timelines expected of larger, more experienced crews.


The resistance loss of transportation was studied and the influences of buoyancy layout,mineral content and elastic modulus of flexible hose were investigated based on three-dimensional finite element model of fluid-solid interaction by MSC.MARC/MENTAT software.The numerical results show that the resistance losses increase with the increase of mineral content Cv and velocity of internal fluid v and decrease with the increase of elastic modulus E of flexible hose.The buoyancy layout and the velocity of internal fluid have greater impacts on the resistance losses than the elastic modulus of flexible hose.In order to reduce the resistance losses and improve the efficiency of the deep-ocean mining,Cv and v must be restricted in a suitable range (e.g.10%-25% and 2.5-4 m/s).Effective buoyancy layout (such as Scheme C and D) should be adopted and the suitable material of moderate E should be used for the flexible hose in deep-ocean mining.


One of the most exciting aspects of the ADHA Annual Session is the presentation of research posters by our current members and student members. This year was no exception. In this issue of the Journal of Dental Hygiene you will find 23 abstracts that were presented by our researchers in dental hygiene. For many years, those of us involved in oral health research have been pushing for investigations that will increase our visibility and promote the National Dental Hygiene Research Agenda. All professional groups have their own body of knowledge so for dental hygiene to be considered a true profession, we too, must have our own research. The research poster session at ADHA is one platform for displaying our research.


omputer engineering curricula have evolveddramatically over the past 20 years. Theearly focus was on computer architectureand CPU design. In the 1990s, attentionshifted to systems built around highly inte-grated microcontrollers. By 2000, the software forthese embedded systems assumed a more importantrole, and embedded operating systems provided high-level design abstractions. More recently, wirelesscommunication capabilities have greatly expandedthe embedded applications space, leading to new sys-tem paradigms such as sensor networks. Educational excellence requires exposing studentsto the current edge of research. To ensure that stu-dent projects are along the same trajectory that theindustry is traveling, educators must continuallyintroduce emerging techniques, practices, and appli-cations into the curriculum.At the University of Washington's Department ofComputer Science & Engineering (UW CSE), wehave integrated the emerging field of wireless sen-sor networks into our undergraduate computerengineering curriculum. While many graduate-levelclasses focus on sensor networks,


Author(s): Rivers, Andrew M; Rees, Heather; Calanchini, Jimmy; Sherman, Jeff | Abstract: This issue's target article by Payne, Vuletich, and Lundberg (PVaL) does exactly what one should, presenting an argument that is thought-provoking and that challenges current orthodoxy. It also addresses an issue that has increasingly confounded attitudes researchers in recent years. The construct of "implicit bias" was initially conceptualized as a latent construct that exists within persons, relatively resistant to situational influences. A plethora of theoretical models converge on the notion that implicit biases, including intergroup biases, are representations that are stored in memory (e.g., Devine,1989; Fazio, Jackson, Dunton, a Williams, 1995; Gawronski a Bodenhausen, 2006; Greenwald et al., 2002; Wilson, Lindsay, a Schooler, 2000). Although some perspectives emphasize the role of culture in contributing to implicit measures of bias, even these perspectives rely on the learning and storage of mental representations (Olson a Fazio, 2004).


Quadrature mirror filters have an outstanding relevance in the implementation of filter banks for dividing the speech signal into frequency bands and for reconstructing it from these subbands. An analytical formula is given, which allows one to optimize the design of the basic low-pass FIR filter by means of a straight nonlinear minimization procedure.


This thesis address optimization problems related to the design of lP (Internet Protocol) networks. One of the most commonly used IGP's (Interior Gateway Protocols) in telecommunication networks is ...


The article examines approaches to training future chemistry teachers to use web technologies for visual modeling of students, which are proposed to be used in the methodology of teaching chemistry to students to explain physico-chemical phenomena that are quite difficult to understand, in which verbal description becomes ineffective. The tasks that orient the consideration of visualization in the process of teaching chemistry in connection with the web-technology of learning in the direction of optimal consideration of psychological and neurophysiological regularities of perception, thinking and memory are revealed. The specifics and main content components of visual-model teaching of chemistry as a factor of the integral pedagogical process of the professional training of the future teacher are determined. It is proposed for the future chemistry teacher to form such a competence as a mutual transition from a non-verbal sign-symbolic record of a chemical object (concepts, formulas, laws, etc.) to a verbal (adequate) description.The specifics of the educational activity for the development of chemical knowledge and the specifics of the process of receiving information and its development by students are revealed. The need to optimize the volume of perception and information flow, the significance of the content of information through a certain sign system, and the use of its coding means has been established. The conditions for the optimal transmission of educational information, the importance of web-technologies of learning are revealed: a clear statement of the purpose of communicating new material; justification of the form and means of its communication; assessment of the ability to perceive information regarding its volume, content accessibility; didactic and psychological preparation of students to perceive information in order to transform it into knowledge.
Keywords: preparation; future teachers; chemistry; learning; web technologies; visual-model learning; visualization; symbols; schemes; models; students.


The invention discloses a gas extinguishment controller which is suitable for a wind generation set. The gas extinguishment controller comprises a core control device and eight loop devices, wherein each loop device comprises a data processing module, a feedback information input module, an instruction output module, a panel instruction receiving module, a communication module and corresponding port defence modules, wherein the feedback information input modules, the instruction output modules, the panel instruction receiving modules and the communication modules are respectively connected with the corresponding port defence modules, and the port defence modules are used for carrying out port defence on input-output signals of the loop devices. Due to the adoption of the technical scheme of the invention, the gas extinguishment controller provided by the invention has the advantages that the safety factor of the whole fan is improved, the space of a cabinet body is saved, an electro magnetic compatibility property is not influenced, and a condition that the controller can normally operate in the fan is guaranteed.


In the article the features of transformation (disturbance) of forest ecosystems as a result of anthropogenic and natural factors are considered. The total forest coverage of the Amur region with anthropogenic factors for more than 60 years which have made the deepest changes in forest cover is shown here. The main objective is to give up-to-date understanding of forests disturbance, to show the dynamics of forest development by shifts/succession types and assess the level of transformation of forest resources (the level of threat and degree of forest cover damage).


The welfare state is a pervasive and controversial aspect of contemporary society. Samuel Mencher provides a historical and philosophical background on the growth of welfare policy through its sources, concepts, and specific programs. He covers a period from the English Poor Law of the sixteenth century through contemporary times-viewing changing attitudes toward poverty, new concepts on the nature of man and the influence of scientific thought-and also discusses mercantilism, laissez-faire, utilitarianism, liberalism, socialism, romanticism, social Darwinism, and modern capitalism as major influences on the growth of economic security policy.


In this paper, we extend the well-known multiprojection method for solving the second kind of weakly singular Volterra integral equations. We apply this method based on the collocation projection and develop a fully discretized version using appropriate quadrature rules. This method has a superconvergence property that the classic collocation method lacks. Although the new approach results in a significant increase in computational cost, when performing the related matrix-matrix products in parallel the computational time can be reduced. We provide a rigorous mathematical discussion about error analysis of this method. Finally, we present some numerical examples to confirm our theoretical results.


Introduction Abnormal uterine bleeding is a common gynecological presentation, accounting for atleast 20% of all new outpatient visits. It has been recognized that thyroid dysfunction may have profound effects on the female reproductive system. Both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism are associated with a variety of changes, including delayed onset of puberty anovulatory cycles, and abnormally high fetal wastage. Hence,this study was conducted to know the thyroid status of the patient with abnormal uterine bleeding. Aim & Objective: 1. To estimate the Prevalence & association of subclinical hypothyroidism among women presenting with abnormal uterine bleeding.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in 250 patients with abnormal uterine bleeding in a tertiary care hospital. Data was collected using a questionnaire which includes patients prole ,the pattern of abnormal uterine bleeding, and thyroid prole. Settings and Design: This study was done in a MGM medical college indore & myh hospital in Madhya Pradesh. Results: Out of 250 patients presenting with AUB, 163 (71.6%) were euthyroid, 20 (3.6%) were overt hypothyroid, and 10 (0.5%) was hyperthyroidism and 57 ( 24.2%) were subclinical hypothyroidsim. the mean levels of the thyroid-stimulating hormone were 4.28 ± 2.76 mIU/L. The mean triiodothyronine and thyroxine were 132.6 ± 34.90 and 9.81 ± 3.60, respectively The most common symptom abnormal uterine bleeding was menorrhagia 74 (29.8%), followed by polymenorrhoea 53 (21.4%), hypomenorrhoea 32 (12.9%) , intermenstrual bleeding 31(12.5%), acyclicalbleeding 6 (2.8%) and oligomenorrhea 3 (1.2%). The maximum number of patients was between 41-50 years with the mean age of 41years. Conclusion: There is signicant association between subclinical hypothyroidism and abnormal uterine bleeding The prevalence of subclinical hypothyroidism in the study group was 24.2% It is suggested that women with early onset menorrhagia and oligomenorrhea with or without symptoms & signs attributable to thyroid dysfunction should be offered thyroid function testing to detect subclinical stage Early detection by selective screening and specic pharmacotherapy for subclinical thyroid disease early in the course of the disease will prove to be a superior alternative to surgical treatments like hysterectomy


This overview is focused on the on-line coupling of pressurized liquid extraction (PLE), microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and sonication-assisted extraction (SAE) with liquid and gas chromatography for the analysis of solid agricultural and food samples. In addition, head-space techniques and direct thermal extraction are discussed.


The paper presents an analysis of the Czechoslovak stabilization and transformation policies through the first quarter of 1992. It documents the success of the government in (a) extinguishing the inflationary pressures brought about by the sudden liberalization of about 85% of all prices in January 1991 and (b) stimulating rapid development of the small-scale private sector. The paper also analyzes the causes and extent of the 1990-92 recession, which turned out to be more severe than was officially expected. The analysis concludes by pointing out that the impressive stabilization exercise has thus far been accompanied by only limited enterprise restructuring. The success of the transition hence depends very much on the outcome of the massive privatization of large enterprises.


Electric field-induced phase transitions in [110] c -oriented BaTiO 3 single crystals were studied by macroscopic electrical measurements in the temperature range from 20 (cid:2) C to 50 (cid:2) C. Discontinuous, hysteretic jumps in the polarization and strain were observed, indicating a tetragonal $ orthorhombic phase transition. The critical electric field to induce the transition was found to shift to higher values with increasing temperature. The Landau-Devonshire theory was used to analyze the observed electric field-induced T $ O phase transitions. V C 2012 American Institute of Physics .


This paper considers a single supplier and a single retailer and studies the problem of supply chain coordination with buy back contract.It can be coordinated with buy back contract under some setting.But in practice,the unexpected event will inevitably lead to a number of factors disruptions in the supply chain system.The influence of the fluctuations of the retail price and the cost of suppliers due to disruptions is analyzed,this coordination may be broken off by an emergent event.In this paper,an optimal strategy for supply chain to the disruptions is given and the adjusted buy back contracts which have anti disruption ability can achieve supply chain coordination.Finally,an application example is given.


According to the discussion of resource-constrained project scheduling problem constraint conditions, process implementation mode function expression and the relationship between process duration and process cost, the Multi-process Cross-operation Acceleration Measures(MCAM)model is built whose objective is the project duration-cost optimization.Then the feasible project schedule based on some engineering example can be achieved by solving this model with Ant Colony Algorithm(ACA)containing elite strategy and serial schedule generation scheme. The results prove that this calculation method for MCAM is reasonable and efficient compared with other method.


Anhydrous hydrazine reacted with sulfinic esters under mild reaction conditions to give disulfides, which were in turn, upon prolonged heating, reduced by hydrazine to mercaptans. Aromatic thiolsulfonates and sulfonyl chlorides were also reduced by hydrazine, whereas aromatic sulfoxides and sulfinic acids were not reduced under comparable reaction conditions. A mixture of hydrazine with a sulfinic ester or another of the reducible sulfur compounds described above can hydrogenate carbon-carbon double bonds and triple bonds. A mechanism involving the intermediate formation of diimide is proposed.


Introduction Provocative discography is an imaging-guided procedure in which a contrast agent is injected into the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc. It provides both anatomical and functional information about a disc suspected to be diseased. Following intradiscal contrast injection, disc morphology is usually assessed on radiographs or computed tomography (CT), or both. The functional evaluation consists of pain provocation and careful assessment of the patient's response to pain.


Recent knowledge extraction methods are moving towards ternary and higher-arity relations to capture more information about binary facts. An example is to include the time, the location, and the duration of a specific fact. These relations can be even more complex to extract in advanced domains such as news, where events typically come with different facets including reasons, consequences, purposes, involved parties, and related events. The main challenge consists in first finding the set of facets related to each fact, and second tagging those facets to the relevant category. In this paper, we tackle the above problems by proposing StuffIE, a fine-grained information extraction approach which is facet-centric. We exploit the Stanford dependency parsing enhanced by lexical databases such as WordNet to extract nested triple relations. Then, we exploit the syntactical dependencies to semantically tag facets using distant learning based on Oxford dictionary. We have tested the accuracy of the extracted facets and their semantic tags using DUC'04 dataset. The results show the high accuracy and coverage of our approach with respect to ClausIE, OLLIE, SEMAFOR SRL and Illinois SRL.


A structure of a compact ultra-wideband monopole antenna has been presented. The antenna consists of a microstrip-fed rectangle radiator as well as a ground plane with a rectangle slit and an L-shaped stub. The critical factor in achieving a small size is a careful design procedure involving numerical optimisation of all geometry parameters of the antenna aiming at explicit size reduction while maintaining acceptable electrical performance. The final design exhibits dimensions of only 9.45 × 18.5 mm and a footprint of 175 mm
 2
. Experimental validation and comparisons with competitive designs are also provided.


The SPRAT conference series at NASA Glenn Research Center has devoted a workshop to the topic of thin-film solar cell technology and potential aerospace applications. With the advent of aerospace applications requiring very-high, mass, specific power, there has been a renewed interest in thin film materials and solar cells. Aerospace applications such as station-keeping for high-altitude airships, space solar power, lunar and planetary surface power, and solar electric propulsion would be enhanced or enabled by the development of flexible, very-high, mass specific power thin film arrays. To initiate discussion, a series of questions were asked of the attendees. These questions, three generated by the group, and the attendees comments follow.


The present invention relates to adhesive compositions and their applications. Specifically, the present adhesive compositions disclosed herein comprise two or more different propylene having a comonomer content - based copolymer.


A robust algorithm in the form of a 3-D dynamic system is introduced to identify the frequency, the in-phase component, the orthogonal component, and the amplitude of a sinusoidal signal with unknown frequency. The condition for asymptotically convergent property of the dynamic system is analyzed sequentially by time scale change, variable transformation, slow integral manifold, averaging method, Lyapunov stability theorem, and stability theory of Mathieu equation. The robustness is embodied in two aspects: 1) the actual values of both frequency and amplitude slightly influence the convergent property and 2) two design parameters have independent effects on performance of both frequency identification and amplitude identification, respectively. Simulation results verify the validity.


Objective:To investigate the relevance between acute coronary syndrome(ACS) and the level of matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9) . Method:There are 85 coronary heart diseases(CHD)patients diagnosised by CAG including 54 ACS patients, 27 SAP patients,and 24 non-CAD patients are excluded by CAG as the control group and 58 ACS patients are separated into 22 AMI and 36 UAP patients.Every sample's serum MMP-9 level is detected by ELISA method.Result:Before CAG,the concentration of MMP-9 in ACS, SAP, AMI, UAP and control group is ( 26.85± 6.25) μg/L, ( 17.35± 7.12)μg/L, ( 32.56± 6.55)μg/L, ( 24.78± 5.76) μg/L, ( 16.83± 5.92)μg/L reseparately.There are remarkable statistics difference among AMI、UAP and SAP group,and so is it between AMI and UAP group,but there is no remarkable statistics difference between SAP group and control group.There is obvious correlation among the level of serum MMP-9 and the CRP level, WBC number, pathologic coronaries' score、pathologic stenosis' s degree.but there is no obvious correlation between the level of MMP-9 and the pathologic coronaries' number the level of cTnI, CK-MB, TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C and the number of platelet.After PTCA,the level of MMP-9 is higher than that before PTCA.Conclution:The concentration of MMP-9 in ACS patients are higher obviously,and they are related to the stability of coronary plaque;MMP-9 contribute to type the CHD and could be the important monitering matkers for CHD in clinic practices.


study of Chinese medicine became the entree for the understanding of early Chinese thinking. Dr Unschuld has paid particular attention to the understanding of the concepts of yin yang and the five phases in his scholarly work Medicine in China. He studies the development of Chinese medical ideas in association with political, economic and intellectual changes in China. The book covers 2,500 years of the history of Chinese medicine within a socio-economic and socio-ideological context. The facts are presented chronologically and given linguistic and etymological analysis. The book gives a clear account of the development of the concepts which influenced the course of Chinese medicine, including ideas from Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christian dogma, Marxism and even capitalism. The author underplays the importance of the early Chinese attitude to death, which in fact had a profound influence on the later growth of Taoism, Confucianism and Chinese medicine. Also, there is insufficient emphasis given to the importance of the Chinese concept of Chi, which is the foundation of Chinese medicine. For those who are interested in this aspect, Dr Unschuld's work may be read in conjunction with M. Loewe's Chinese Ideas of Life and Death and J. Needham and G. D. Lu's Physiological Alchemy in Science and Civilisation in China, Vol V, Part 5. Nevertheless, the book can be strongly recommended to those who are interested in people, ideas and culture, and those who are concerned with Chinese medicine in particular.


Images typically contain smooth regions, which are easily compressed by linear transforms, and high activity regions (edges, textures), which are harder to compress. To compress the first kind, we use a "zero" encoder that has infinite context, very low capacity, and which adapts very quickly to the content. For the second, we use an "interpolation" encoder, based on neural networks, which has high capacity, a finite-size context, and is trained off-line. The two encoders can be used separately or in combination. The zero-encoder surpasses JPEG2000 by 3.5% in overall compression, even though it is less efficient in high activity regions. Thanks to off-line training, the interpolation-encoder predicts high activity regions well, so it also matches the performance of JPEG2000, even though it does not use an arithmetic encoder and is less efficient in low activity regions. In both cases it is surprising that we match the state-of-the-art in image compression without using adaptive arithmetic encoding.


The paper describes the building-up process of a large size rotary jet slip-casting pile by quick pore-forming in bulky iron slag layer and in river bank's floated pebble bed.Also,it introduces a new method to utilize local materials,such as taking iron slag to be the coarse aggregates of retaining wall's building block and the filling materials of wall body.This method can not only avoid the outward transportation of a great deal of concrete aggregates,but also help to expand the capacity of slag yard thus offering a new example for the development and utilization of iron slag.


In this paper we present our numerical study on short-time critical dynamics for the q-state random-bond Potts model with self-dual quenched disorders. By exploring the universal power-law scaling behavior, the results of magnetic exponent η and dynamic exponent z are estimated for the q=3 and q=8 cases with two specific disorder distribution functions. Our Monte Carlo simulations show evidence that the results of magnetic exponent η are independent of distribution forms, which verifies the existence of universality for the general quenched random-bond models numerically.


In order to overcome difficulties in the description of the two-electron continuum problem, we develop a finite element method to treat two-electron escape processes. Two-electron photoejection cross sections are obtained for helium and H{sup {minus}} at photon energies in the range of 79{endash}460 and 14.4{endash}110eV. The H{sup {minus}} double detachment calculations are apparently the first nonperturbative quantum results in this energy range since the pioneering work of Broad and Reinhardt in 1976. Our branching ratio between single and double detachment of H{sup {minus}} peaks at a value 25{percent}{endash}40{percent} higher than the results from that early study. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}


This chapter discusses essential elements of an economic analysis regarding the socio-economic implications of intellectual property (IP). The aim is to help scholars from various disciplines interested in the economic reasoning behind IP for creative industries to recognize logically consistent and well-rounded assessments or to develop them themselves. The chapter covers: (1) a general introduction to the economic perspective on IP; (2) the application of economic theory to address the implications of unauthorized use and copyright protection; (3) empirical evidence on the effects of copyright protection on rights holder revenues and innovation as well as alternatives to copyright to help finance creativity; (4) key topics in the relatively extensive economic literature on patents and how it may inform research on IP in creative industries. It also (5) points out new issues regarding IP in creative industries in the context of digitization.


J P Introduction: Advances in primary prophylaxis have resulted in improved outcomes for patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA; i.e., hemoglobin SSand Sβ-thalassemia). Standard prophylactic measures include a first pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) and transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) at age 2 years. Though efficacious, evidence suggests that delivery of these interventions is suboptimal. This study reports adherence to these measures and examines concordance across various data sources, using Registry and Surveillance for Hemoglobinopathies project data.


Assessment of locomotor modes in fossil taxa must often be made on the basis of heavily fragmented postcranial material. Previous authors have used quantitative methods to determine locomotor function from whole postcranial elements. The goals of this project were to assess the ability of element shape to discern between locomotor modes through landmark analysis, and to apply the results to assessment of fossils. Results suggest that element shape is a good predictor of function, but that different elements have different predictive capacities for each locomotor mode. Additionally, a relationship between size and shape exists that appears to drive morphological differentiation in the group. Finally, data from the extant sample were applied to fossil material of the extinct Plio-Pleistocene taxon Trigonictis. The results suggest that the locomotor mode of Trigonictis was generalized and probably an intermediate between the half-bound locomotion found in weasels and ferrets and the scansorial locomotion of martens and fishers. © 2007 The Linnean Society of London, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2007, 150, 895–914.


The lack of persistence of infused T cells is a principal limitation of adoptive immunotherapy in man. Interleukin (IL)‐15 can sustain memory T cell expansion when presented in complex with IL‐15Rα (15Rα/15). We developed a novel in‐vitro system for generation of stable 15Rα/15 complexes. Immunologically quantifiable amounts of IL‐15 were obtained when both IL‐15Rα and IL‐15 genes were co‐transduced in NIH 3T3 fibroblast‐based artificial antigen‐presenting cells expressing human leucocyte antigen (HLA) A:0201, β2 microglobulin, CD80, CD58 and CD54 [A2‐artificial antigen presenting cell (AAPC)] and a murine pro‐B cell line (Baf‐3) (A2‐AAPC15Rα/15and Baf‐315Rα/15). Transduction of cells with IL‐15 alone resulted in only transient expression of IL‐15, with minimal amounts of immunologically detectable IL‐15. In comparison, cells transduced with IL‐15Rα alone (A2‐AAPCRα) demonstrated stable expression of IL‐15Rα; however, when loaded with soluble IL‐15 (sIL‐15), these cells sequestered 15Rα/15 intracellularly and also demonstrated minimal amounts of IL‐15. Human T cells stimulated in vitro against a viral antigen (CMVpp65) in the presence of 15Rα/15 generated superior yields of high‐avidity CMVpp65 epitope‐specific T cells [cytomegalovirus‐cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CMV‐CTLs)] responding to ≤ 10− 13 M peptide concentrations, and lysing targets cells at lower effector : target ratios (1 : 10 and 1 : 100), where sIL‐15, sIL‐2 or sIL‐7 CMV‐CTLs demonstrated minimal or no activity. Both soluble and surface presented 15Rα/15, but not sIL‐15, sustained in‐vitro expansion of CD62L+ and CCR7+ central memory phenotype CMV‐CTLs (TCM). 15Rα/15 complexes represent a potent adjuvant for augmenting the efficacy of adoptive immunotherapy. Such cell‐bound or soluble 15Rα/15 complexes could be developed for use in combination immunotherapy approaches.


Concrete decontamination from organics, metals, and radionuclides requires removal of up to one inch of the surface layer. The Electro- Hydraulic Scabbling (EHS) technique has been developed within a 3- phase program. A prototype 8 kW EHS unit was designed and assembled in Phase II. This system was tested initially by scabbling noncontaminated concrete, and later at the DOE Fernald site where a concrete floor containing uranium was decontaminated. In the latter test, the unit operated without problems and reduced the counts per minute by more than 90%. Currently in Phase III, a larger 30 kW unit has been assembled and prepared for testing/demonstration.


In October 1999, amid a bit of pomp and pageantry, negotiating panels of the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP). and the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) opened "formal peace talks" at the Da 'wah Center in Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, only about ten kilometers away from the MILF's headquarters, Camp Abubakar. Among those who graced the occasion were Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado, Presidential Adviser on Flagship Projects Robert Aventajado, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Manuel Yan, MILF Vice-chairman for Political Affairs Ghazali Jaafar, MILF Vice-chairman for Internal Affairs Aleem Abdul Aziz Mimbantas and MILF Vice-chairman for Information Mohagher Iqbal, and a number of representatives from the diplomatic community. The two sides had actually been engaged in peace negotiations since 1996, just a few weeks before the signing of the September 1996 peace agreement between the government and the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), but these had been regarded as merely "exploratory" and "informal" in nature. One of the results of this exploratory talks had been an agreement for general cessation of hostilities, signed in July 1997. Despite the ceasefire agreement, armed hostilities between government and MILF forces broke out time and again. Somehow, up until the formal talks, the ceasefire always managed to be restored. The scale of fighting, however, appeared to be getting bigger each time.

https://tsukuba.repo.nii.ac.jp/record/32472/files/Back to War in Mindanao.pdf


With the rapid rise of China's economy and the deployment of the Belt and Road Initiative, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), one of the main components of Chinese culture, has become an important aspect of foreign exchange. Therefore, recent research has focused on how to effectively spread TCM culture internationally and improve TCM acceptance. Australia is currently a representative region with decent TCM development. Taking TCM development in Australia as a starting point, this article analyzes the challenges in TCM development, discusses countermeasures to address these issues, and provides recommendations for improving the international development and dissemination of TCM.


The objective of this study was to characterize tomato fruits from 59 accessions of a tomato plant from the Germplasm Collection of the Department of Plant Engineering of Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), regarding physical, physicochemical and morphoagronomic characteristics. Four varieties and one hybrid were used as standards. Mature fruits harvested in cultivation under organic cultivation from October 2010 to March 2011, in Seropedica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, were used. A completely randomized design with three replications and 10 fruits per plot was adopted. Two physical characteristics (longitudinal and equatorial diameter); one physicochemical (total soluble solid content – SST) and five morphoagronomic (coloration, fruit shape, shape of upper and lower parts of the fruit and number of locules) were evaluated. Data were submitted to analysis variance and grouping by the Scott-Knott test (p 10.0°Brix, in addition to 23 accessions with °Brix > 8.0. Color fruits (ENAS 1008, ENAS, 1010, ENAS 1015, ENAS 1017, ENAS 1029, ENAS 1215) and differentiated formats (ENAS 1013, ENAS 1043, ENAS 1040, ENAS 1077, ENAS 1012) were identified. Due to the beauty and uniqueness, several of these are very promising and interesting to fill niche markets, especially of organic products.


The explosive growth of multimedia contents has made hashing an indispensable component in image retrieval. In particular, learning-based hashing has recently shown great promising with the advance of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). However, the existing hashing methods are mostly tuned for classification. Learning hash functions for retrieval tasks, especially for instance-level retrieval, still faces many challenges. Considering the difficulty in obtaining labeled datasets for image retrieval task in large scale, we propose a novel CNN-based unsupervised hashing method, namely Unsupervised Triplet Hashing (UTH). The unsupervised hashing network is designed based on the following three principles: 1) maximizing the discrimination among image representations; 2) minimizing the quantization loss between the original real-valued feature descriptors and the learned hash codes; 3) maximizing the information entropy for the learned hash codes to improve their representation ability. Extensive experiments on CIFAR-10, MNIST and In-shop datasets have shown that UTH outperforms several state-of-the-art unsupervised hashing methods in terms of retrieval accuracy.


Prairie, Y. T., and 1. KalM. 1988. Particulate phosphorus dynamics in headwater streams. Can. 1. Fish Aquat. Sci. 45: 21&21§. We examined the dynamics of particulate phosphorus (PP) in seven headwater streams sf southern Quebec draining catchments differing in size, extent of forest cover, and stream channel gradient. The extent sf forest cover can be used to predict average [$PI, The magnitude of the temporal fluctuations (variance) in [PP] was strongly related to mean levels. While most streams showed positive relationships between discharge and [$PI in rain events, inverse relations were observed in two streams and possibly the result of the rapid exhaustion of PP- Inverse relationships were also seen in these two streams for samples collected outside rain events. We present a model based on channel gradient and extent of forest cover to predict the slope coefficient of [PPIaischarge relationships and also the occurrence of very rapid exhaustion. We then extend this model to include the influence of precipitation history and catchment size on [P9 in headwater streams. This model accounted for 60% of the variation of the pooled observations from all seven streams and is comparable in predictive power with streamspecific models published elsewhere in the literature. kes auteurs ont examink la dynamique du phosphore particulaire (PP) dans sept cours d'eau d'amont du sud du Quebec drainant des bassins versants de supedicie, de csuvert forestier et de gradient variables. L'importance


Spectrophotometric scans of Beta Lyrae over the wavelength range from 1100 to 3700 A are analyzed which were obtained at different times with different resolutions by the OAO 2 satellite and from the ground. A model atmosphere with normal H and He abundances, an electron temperature of 11,000 K, and log g of 3.0 is found to fit the visual region of the spectrum well but to be a poor representation in the Balmer continuum. It is shown that a large complex emission feature dominates the spectrum from about 1700 to 2200 A, that there is a very pronounced strengthening of the spectrum just shortward of the 1550-A C IV feature at phase 0.69, and that the overall level of the spectrum shortward of 1400 A is quite high in comparison with the broad emission feature. A model is discussed in which the light from a disk-shaped secondary is highly concentrated toward the polar regions.


An outdoor wrestling program was held at the Fremont, Ohio, Speedway. Fremont native "Dandy" Don Miller throws Ali Baba against the ropes.


The present invention relates to a water-in-oil type emulsified foundation cosmetic composition comprises one inulin stearate, etc. with excellent relates to a cosmetic composition and, more particularly emulsion stability is excellent in feeling, spreadability, adhesion, and makeup durability. The invention comprises an oil-phase ingredients, including the silicone oil, there is provided a water-in-oil type emulsified foundation cosmetic composition containing inulin stearate days in an oil gelling agent of the silicone oil as an active ingredient. Water-in-oil type emulsion cosmetic foundation composition of the present invention is very excellent emulsion stability, such as a solid light while feeling, spreadability, adhesion, and durability.


Anaemia is a condition in which either the number of red blood cells or their oxygen-carrying capacity is insufficient to meet physiologic needs, which vary by age, sex, altitude, smoking and pregnancy status. The global estimate of childhood anaemia indicates that 293.1 million children are anaemic, and 28.5% of these children reside in sub-Sahara Africa. Also, anaemia is a significant public health problem with a high age standardised death rate of 11.18 per 100,000 in Zambia. We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 392 anaemic children aged one year to 14 years. The study was conducted at the Childrens Hospital, University Teaching Hospitals, which is a third-level referral Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia. The aim was to determine the most common type of anaemia, its severity, and the most affected age groups among children aged 1-14 years. Out of 392 participants, 219 (56%) were female. Maximum haemoglobin recorded was 10.9g/dl, a minimum of 2.0 g/dl, a mean of 7.8g/dl and a standard deviation of 1.86g/dl. 200 (51%) participants had severe anaemia, and 192 (49%) had moderate anaemia with none having mild anaemia. Microcytic hypochromic anaemia was the commonest (60%), followed by normochromic normocytic anaemia (26%) and the least was macrocytic anaemia in 14% of the participants. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the difference in mean haemoglobin concentration between age groups was not significant, F (7.94) = 0.83, p > 0.57. A Chi-squared test was used to determine the relationship between anaemia types (microcytic, hypochromic) and age groups. The interaction was not significant (Chi-Square (1) = 1.28, p-value = 0.73. Microcytic hypochromic anaemia was the most prevalent and all age groups were equally affected. We recommend the countrys National Food and Nutrition Commission to revisit the Zambian National Strategy and Plan of Action for the Prevention and Control of Vitamin A Deficiency and Anaemia of 1999 to 2004 and implement the measures stated in the strategic plan.


The present study was designed according to the Operation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) Guideline 423 to determine acute oral toxicity of 5-Flurouracil. The Wister albino rats were divided into five groups. Group I served as normal control. Group II to V gavaged with 5-FU At dose rate of 5mg/kg, 50mg/kg, 300 mg/kg and 2000mg/kg. Body weight was measured and blood samples were collected on day 0, 7 and 14 and analysed for various biochemical parameters. Necropsied rats were subjected for histopathology. LD50 cut off value of 5Flurouracil was found to be around 200 mg/kg. There was significant (P< 0.001) decrease in the body weight of group III and IV compared to the normal control and significant (P< 0.001) increase in the ALT, AST, BUN and serum creatinine value of group III and IV compared to the normal control. Histopathological examination of intestine showed villus atropy and inflammatory cell infiltration. Liver and kidney showed degenerative and hemorrhagic changes.


This needs assessment was produced by Liverpool Public Health Observatory (LPHO) and commissioned by the Merseyside PCTs. The factors that contribute to positive and negative emotional health amongst children and young people are explored under six priority area headings, developed by the Children's Society. These include having 'the conditions to learn and develop' and 'a safe and suitable home environment'. The needs assessment seeks to paint a picture of need across Merseyside. A summary of the report is also available.