Background: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a chronic complication of diabetes mellitus (DM) that is associated with a negative impact on emotional wellbeing and poor quality of life. There is dearth of current data on the lifestyle correlates of ED in subjects with type 2 diabetes both locally and globally. Objective: To determine the association between ED, tobacco use (snuff use and cigarette Original Research Article Ezeude et al.; JAMMR, 32(23): 7-17, 2020; Article no.JAMMR.62695 8 smoking) and alcohol consumption in type 2 DM patients attending the diabetes outpatient clinic of Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital, Nnewi in South-Eastern Nigeria. Materials and Methods: This was a cross sectional hospital-based study comprising 124 male type 2 diabetic subjects. Data collection was done with a researcher designed study proforma. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) and the abbreviated version of Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT-C) questionnaires were used for the diagnosis of anxiety/depression, erectile dysfunction and obtaining the alcohol history respectively. History of tobacco use was obtained and cigarette smoking estimated in pack years. Subjects who had anxiety, depression or hypogonadism were excluded from the study. Statistical analysis was done using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 20. P value of ˂ 0.05 is considered significant. Results: A total of 124 patients were studied. The prevalence rate of ED among the subjects was 48.4%. No significant associations were found between erectile dysfunction and tobacco use (Cigarette smoking and Snuff use) (P = 0.814, OR = 0.904, 95% C.I = 0.389 – 2.101) (P = 0.762, OR = 0.867, 95% C.I = 0.344 – 2.15) and alcohol consumption (P = 0.389, OR = 0.670, 95% C.I = 0.269 – 1.667) respectively. Conclusions: There was no significant association between ED and tobacco use and alcohol consumption in subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Similarly, no significant association was found between ED, pack years of cigarette smoking and the grades of alcohol consumption in the subjects. The subjects' diet, medications and the social/religious stigma attached to the use of these substances in our setting could have influenced our findings.


A new species,Sinocyclocheilus yaolanensis Zhou,Li et Hou,sp.nov,is described in this paper.Holotype No.2006100060,with a total length of 154.04 mm and a standard length of 124.52 mm,was collected in October,2006 from a subterranean river in Yaolan Village of Libo County in Guizhou Province(E 107°55′3.5″,N 25°18′41.9″).Paratype specimen No.2006100057,with a total length of 128.70 mm and a standard length of 101.80 mm,was collected as the holotype at the same time and at the site.Description: D,iii-8;A,ii-5;P,i-15-16;V,ii-8.Branched caudal fin rays 9,lateral line scales 52(20-21)/(10-11)54.Gill-raker 12~14.Pharyngeal teeth 3 rows,2.3.4/4.3.2.Diagnosis: The new species is similar to S.donglanensis and S.altishoulderus,but differs from the two latters in:(1)The lateral line scales are larger than that of body scales: Vs lateral scales equals body scales of the two analogical species.And the lateral line scales of the new species is 52(20-21)/(10-11)54,vs 44(14-17)/(9-11)52 and 54(14-17)/(9-11)58.(2) Gill-rakers 12~14,vs 10~12 and 0~12 and 4~5.(3) The pharyngeal teeth 3 rows,2.3.4/4.3.2 are different with 2.3.5/5.3.2 of S.altishoulderus.(4) The new species is distributed in Liujiang River,vs S.donglanensis and A.altishoulderus which are distributed in Youjiang River and a branch of the Hongshuihe River.All specimens are kept in the Specimen Museum of the College of Life Sciences,Guizhou Normal University.


This paper presents the results of experimental measurements of the sea surface parameters during the ship expedition to the Gorky reservoir in the Nizhny Novgorod region in October 2016. The measurements were carried out using underwater sonar at low angles of incidence. The method is based on the analysis of spectral and energy characteristics of the reflected acoustic waves at underwater surface waves observation. A feature of this method is the simultaneous use of multiple antennas with different radiation patterns. The variance of slopes of surface waves was determined using the original algorithm based on the analysis of the Doppler spectrum shift of backscattered radiation measured using two antennas with different antenna patterns. The vertical velocity variance of the water surface was determined using the previously proposed algorithm based on the measurement of the Doppler spectrum width of the backscattered radiation. The accuracy of the retrieval algorithms in the experiment was controlled using synchronous measurements by Froude buoy. As a result, for the first time experimentally confirmed the possibilities to retrieve the variance of slopes using the measurements of the Doppler spectrum shift.


In this final thesis possibilities and methods of interactive display for high-resolution images were described. Through theoretical part different possible versions of solutions have been given, but also insights into existing applications were provided as an example of using exisiting technologies. Using carefully selected technology and with the use of Microsoft's framework ASP.NET MVC (Model-View-Controller) a web application that allows you to view high-resolution images is developed. At the end of the final thesis there are given the results, achievements and performance analysis of the implementation and any necessary part of web applications is described.


Sensor networks [1] contain large amount of sensor nodes that collect some kind of data, for example a temperature or an air pressure, from the environment. Even though both wireless ad hoc networks and sensors networks communicate wirelessly, they are quite different from each other. The amount of nodes in sensor networks can be several orders of magnitude higher than in ad hoc networks. Sensor nodes are usually quite small, and they have very limited battery power. Their batteries are often not replaceable or rechargeable. Finally, sensor nodes may lack an unique identifier like an IP address that is always present in ad hoc networks.


The increasing number of resistant bacteria is a major threat worldwide, leading to the search for new antibiotic agents. One of the leading strategies is the use of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), cationic and hydrophobic innate immune defense peptides. A major target of AMPs is the bacterial membrane. Notably, accumulating data suggest that AMPs can activate the two-component systems (TCSs) of Gram-negative bacteria. These include PhoP-PhoQ (PhoPQ) and PmrA-PmrB (PmrAB), responsible for remodeling of the bacterial cell surface. To better understand this mechanism, we utilized bacteria deficient either in one system alone or in both and biophysical tools including fluorescence spectroscopy, single-cell atomic force microscopy, electron microscopy, and mass spectrometry (MoskowitzS. M.;Antimicrob. Agents Chemother.2012, 56, 1019−103022106224; ChengH. Y.;J. Biomed. Sci.2010, 17, 6020653976). Our data suggested that the two systems have opposing effects on the properties of Salmonella enterica. The knockout of PhoPQ made the bacteria more susceptible to AMPs by making the surface less rigid, more polarized, and permeable with a slightly more negatively charged cell wall. In addition, the periplasmic space is thinner. In contrast, the knockout of PmrAB did not affect its susceptibility, while it made the bacterial outer layer very rigid, less polarized, and less permeable than the other two mutants, with a negatively charged cell wall similar to the WT. Overall, the data suggest that the coexistence of systems with opposing effects on the biophysical properties of the bacteria contribute to their membrane flexibility, which, on the one hand, is important to accommodate changing environments and, on the other hand, may inhibit the development of meaningful resistance to AMPs.


Louisiana's vast stands of virgin cypress timber, the ~ largest in the United States, enabled her to lead the nation in cypress lumber production during the first two decades of the twentieth century.' Those were the days of giant trees , giant mills, and giant lumbermen. Although cypress is known as the "wood eternal," its industrial lumbering phase lasted only a brief time before the virgin stands were consumed. As cypress timber disappeared from the state, so did many of the big lumbermen. A man of long tenure in the business, and something of an exception, was Frank B. Williams, often cited as the "largest and wealthiest" of the cypress operators.2 Williams headed an empire that was unique in several ways. It was a closed, family operation, with no public stockholders, and it kept all of its


There are two main contributions in this paper: Firstly, by analyzing the frequency domain features and Mel domain features, we can identify footstep events and non-footstep events. Secondly, we compared the two footstep sound signals of the same person in frequency domain under different experimental conditions, finding that almost all of their peak frequencies and trough frequencies in the main frequency band are respectively corresponding one-to-one. However for the two different people, even under the same experimental conditions, it is difficult to have the same peak frequencies and trough frequencies in the main frequency band of their footstep sound signals. Therefore, this feature of footstep sound signals can be used to identify different people.


Assessing the trust between users in a trust social network (TSN) isa critical issue in many applications, e.g., film recommendation,spam detection, and online lending. Despite of various trust assessment methods, a challenge remaining to existing solutions is how to accurately determine the factors that affect trust propagation and trust fusion within a TSN. To address this challenge, we propose the NeuralWalk algorithm to cope with trust factor estimation and trust relation prediction problems simultaneously. NeuralWalk employs a neural network, named WalkNet, to model single-hop trust propagation and fusion in a TSN. By treating original trust relations in a TSN as labeled samples, WalkNet is able to learn the parameters that will be used for trust computation/assessment. Unlike traditional solutions, WalkNet is able to accurately predict unknown trust relations in an inductive manner. Based on WalkNet, NeuralWalk iteratively assesses the unknown multi-hop trust relations among users via the obtained single-hop trust computation rules. Experiments on two real-world TSN datasets indicate that NeuralWalk significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art solutions.


Elevating the malar fat pad is a critical step in rejuvenating the midface. This could be effectively performed by open face lifts, limited incisions, or by the use of the endoscope. In endoscopic midface lifts, suturing the malar fat pad is technically difficult and only small bite are possible. Alternatively, percutaneous sutures were demonstrated by many authors to lift the malar fat pad without dissection. The technique was suitable for young patients with minimal midface aging. Combining the endoscopic technique with the percutaneous suture lift would thus offer the advantages of treating cases with advanced midface aging, and the strong anchoring of the malar fat pad. In the current study, the combined technique was used in 16 cases with stable 4.9mm. mean elevation of the malar fat pad over a 12 months period. No additional morbidity were documented from combining both techniques of midface rejuvenation.


Numerical methods for solving simplified rough surface scattering problems "exactly" provide new insights into the rough surface scattering problem. Exact solutions for 1‐D surfaces with the pressure release (Dirichlet) boundary condition are found with integral equation and Monte Carlo techniques. These studies provide a better understanding of the validity of the two basic approximations used in rough surface scattering: the Kirchhoff approximation and first‐order perturbation theory. From this work, a resolution can be given for the difference in the Kirchhoff and first‐order perturbation theory predictions at small surface heights and at very small surface slopes, where both approximations have generally been considered valid. Studies with the Kirchhoff approximation show that shadowing corrections based on geometric optics lead to inaccurate predictions. This work indicates the need for tractable multiple scattering theory for low grazing angle applications. Comparisons with exact results show that "...


To test an assumed mean vector, and to test the equality of two mean vectors, robust statistics are developed which have exactly the same form as the Hotelling T2 statistics. These statistics are shown to have remarkable type I error robustness and power.


Li-rich vapor transportation equilibration(VTE) effects on the surface refractive index of congruent MgO∶LiNbO3 crystals were investigated.The results showed that the influence of VTE on the surface ordinary index no was remarkable in both the variation tendency against VTE duration and the amplitude changes of the index.The surface extraordinary index ne showed VTE effects similar to that of no but with smaller amplitude.


Altering incubation temperature during embryogenesis has an impact on chicken embryo growth, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are not understood; the present study was performed to address these changes. Broiler eggs were incubated at low (36.8°C), control (37.8°C), and high (38.8°C) temperatures between Embryonic Day (ED) 7 and 10 or ED 10 and 13, which cover critical periods of embryonic myogenesis. The embryos were then dissected immediately after treatment on ED 10 or 13 to assess body, liver, and heart weights as well as to analyze breast and leg muscle fibers for their mitochondrial respiratory activity (MRA). Breast muscle samples were additionally used to evaluate the activity of enzymes involved in energy metabolism and cell‐cycle progression. ED‐10 embryos incubated at 38.8°C showed elevated weights (body, liver, and heart), MRA, and activities of lactate dehydrogenase and cytochrome oxidase compared to the ED‐10 embryos incubated at 36.8°C. Similarly, the ED‐13 embryos incubated at 38.8°C showed elevated body weight, MRA, and activities of glycogen phosphorylase, phosphofructokinase, and cytochrome oxidase compared to their 36.8°C counterparts. Embryos incubated at the normal temperature (37.8°C), however, showed variable differences from those incubated at 38.8°C versus 36.8°C. Cell‐cycle enzyme activities were not impacted by the different temperature treatments. Thus, an increase or decrease in the incubation temperature during embryonic broiler myogenesis results in altered embryo activity, muscle energy metabolism, and activity‐dependent muscle growth. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 83: 71–78, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


This study compares the predictive skills of some commonly used prediction schemes to estimate dates of onset of rainfall in various climatic regions of West Africa. Specifically, the abilities of seven different schemes, which are relatively easy to apply on a large scale, were compared from 1980 to 2014 over the three major climatic regions (Forest, Guinea and Sudan-Sahel savannah) of Nigeria. Three of them are dependent on rainfall data (ogive, daily rainfall probability and Walter-Olaniran methods); three on rain-evapotranspiration relation (Benoit, Anyadike, Kowal and Knabe) and one dependent on equivalent potential temperature (Theta-E). The prediction schemes demonstrated that the onset dates were much earlier (from Julian day 061 to 084) in the south than (146 to 162) Original Research Article Matthew et al.; JGEESI, 9(1): 1-15, 2017; Article no.JGEESI.31043 2 the north. The results also showed that the onset dates varied slightly (by ±6 days) from east to west within the same climatic zone. Their performances varied across the stations and zones. However, they generally performed adequately well in the Savannah than the Forest. Particularly, Walter-Olaniran and ogive methods performed best in the Sudan-Sahel with predictive skills of less than ±7 days of actual date of onset. The study concludes that foremost criterion for a choice of any prediction scheme is the ability of the scheme for estimating rainfall onset over a region of interest.


Attempts by various continental workers to mechanize and facilitate compilation o f Braun- Blanquet phytosociological tables from raw data are shortly reviewed and a new apparatus for this purpose is described. The apparatus consists o f a table with aluminium channels in which different headed rivets can be placed, symbolizing cover-abundance values. With this apparatus phytosociological tables can be compiled in two stages.


At a time when technology enables more information than ever before to be disseminated faster then ever before, and markets and organisational goalposts rapidly change, there is increasing dependence on networks to meet both strategic and personal needs. This paper explores how to overcome common individual and organisational barriers to networking. It examines the personal and strategic drivers for networking, before studying the practical steps organisations can take to: — prepare their culture for networking — promote the skills needed — give employees practical tools to identify and develop networks.


AbstractVisual inspection is the primary means of ensuring the safety and functionality of in-service bridges in the United States and owners spend considerable resources on such inspections. While...


A system is described which uses two microprocessors to receive label data and control a high-power laser/deflector unit to generate permanent labels on the surfaces of shipping containers. The CAMS unit is capable of generating 19 line labels with as many as 35 characters per line on fiberboard, wood, or suitably coated substrates in less than thirty seconds. The labeled area may range in size from 12" X 12" to 4" X 4".


With the improvement of people's living standards and the highly progress of urban construction, the management of domestic waste has become increasingly important. To a large extent, the treatment and utilization of domestic waste depends on the physical and chemical composition of the separated waste. However, there is an insufficient research on the characteristics of community waste after mandatory classification. To fulfil the existing research gap, a community that has started with waste separation was chosen for waste generation and separation. Three ways including weighed by community residents, weighed by community cleaners and weighed by automatic electronic scale were conducted in the present study. From households, food waste contained the biggest component, 49%, while the residual waste counted for 32% and the residuals were recyclable waste. When weighed by cleaners, the average amount of separated household food waste was on the range of 0.07-0.23 kg/d/person. In addition, an automatic electronic scale was invented to realize real-time weighing, and the quality waste bin, the peak weight as well as the concentration time for separation were recorded. When compared to the generation of food waste, 6% to 56% of household food waste was separated. In addition, physical and chemical components were conducted for conducting further analysis. The results demonstrate that food waste contains a high purity with a percentage of 98.76%.


An experimental study was conducted to assess effects of odour attractants on catch size of Glossina pallidipes Austen and Glossina fuscipes fuscipes Newsteed at Sor Hydroelectric station around Sor River, West Ethiopia. Various doses of acetone, octenol and cow urine were used as odour attractants with monopyramidal traps. Three 5x5 Latin squares method was used making a total of 15 replicates. Acetone released at dose rate of 150mg/hr and 500mg/hr with 0.5mg/hr octenol and 1000mg/hr cow urine were found to be most effective in increasing catch size of Glossina pallidipes Austen by up to 11.26-12.54 times. Acetone released at dose rate of 2000mg/hr in combination with 0.5mg/hr octenol increased the catch only up to 4.07 times but cow urine alone produced increases in catch size by 2.54 times. In the trial performed for Glossina fuscipes fuscipes Newstead, 0.5mg/hr octenol, 500mg/hr acetone and 1000mg/hr cow urine were used alone and in combination, the catch number of samples from baited and unbaited (control) traps differed slightly. There were no significant repellent or attraction effect as the efficiencies were at roughly the no odour level. In conclusion, cow urine (1000mg/hr) with octenol (0.5mg/hr) and acetone (150 and 500mg/hr) was considered to be a potentially useful combination of baits for Glossina pallidipes Austen control and sampling. However, further study should be conducted on behavior and baites used to attract Glossina fuscipes fuscipes Newstead in the study area.


Septic arthritis of the hip in infancy and early childhood can result in severe sequelae in the form of dislocation of the hip, and growth disturbance with limb-length discrepancy. This is a report of 4 cases with sequelae of the septic arthritis. They were treated at other medical centers, and referred to our hospital because of limp and limb-length discrepancy. There were 3 boys and 1 girl. All underwent femoral distraction lengthening with the Orthofix system after acetabuloplasty or femoral osteotomy in order to acquire adequate coverage of the femoral head. The age at limb-lengthening ranged from 9 to 15 years, with an average follow-up of 4 years. The overall lengthening achieved ranged from 2.3 to 4cm, with the healing index from 35.8 to 46.5 days/cm. All hips remained stable, but considerable precautions against articular cartilage damage on the hip joint during limb-lengthening seemed to be important.


In the complex industrial environment, data missing situation is often occurred in the process of data acquisition and transition. The major contribution of the paper is the proposal of a deep bidirectional echo state network (DBESN) framework for time series prediction with such incomplete dataset. Instead of data imputation methodology, a bidirectional fusion reservoir is here designed to extract the deep bidirectional feature along with forward and backward time scales, based on which a deep autoencoder echo state network (DAESN) and a deep bidirectional state echo state network (DBSESN) are constructed for the incomplete output and input samples, respectively. As for such two networks, a bidirectional echo state network (BESN) is proposed for connecting them to constitute the DBESN framework for prediction. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, one synthetic time series as well as two real-world industrial datasets are employed to conduct the comparative experiments. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms other comparative ones at various missing rates.


Method corresponding to the optical blood monitoring system and which, during the analysis, avoiding the need to obtain accurate intensity values of the light impinging on the measured blood layer. The system operates as the thickness of the blood layer is determined substantially at least two optical measurement through the blood layer system are identical except for different points. Due to the equivalence of these systems, based only on two measurement thickness and of these known blood layer, as can calculate the volume absorption coefficient of blood, these two measurements are compared. Measurements trusted various blood parameters, thereby, be determined without requiring particular the calibration phase. .FIELD 6


To investigate effects of two anticoccidial drugs on growth performance and intestinal mucosa in experimental coccidiosis, broiler chicks challenged/medicated by oocytes of Eimeria/Clopidol and Amprolium + Ethopabate. There were negative effects on growth performance in chickens infected/medicated by these drugs. Most morphometric parameters of intestine were decreased in infected or medicated groups compared to negative control (P<0.05). Duodenal villus height in infected/unmedicated group and villus surface area in all infected groups were lowest between infected or medicated groups (P<0.05). Duodenal villus width was also decreased in all medicated groups compared to negative control, but this decreasing was only significant in infected / medicated groups. Jejunal villus height, width and surface area in infected/unmedicated group were lowest as compared to other uninfected / medicated groups (P<0.05). Ileal villus height in infected/unmedicated group were lowest as compared to all medicated groups. In infected/medicated groups, ileal villus surface area was significantly lower than uninfected/medicated groups. There were no significant differences between Clopidoland Amprolium + Ethopabate-medicated groups in intestinal morphometric assessment. It is concluded that Clopidol and Amprolium + Ethopabate have adverse effects on chicken performance and intestinal morphology especially villus dimensions and absorptive surface during control or prevention of coccidiosis.


The ability to statistically compare the performance of two computer detection (CD) or computer-aided detection (CAD) algorithms is fundamental for the development and evaluation of medical image analysis tools. Automated detection tools for medical imaging are commonly characterized using free-response receiver operating characteristic (FROC) methods. However, few statistical tools are currently available to estimate statistical significance when comparing two FROC performance curves. In this study, we introduce a permutation and a bootstrap resampling method for the nonparametric estimation of statistical significance of performance metrics when comparing two FROC curves. We then provide an initial validation of the proposed methods using an area under the FROC performance metric and a simulation model for creating CD algorithm prompts. Validation is based on a comparison of the Type I error rate produced by two statistically identical CD algorithms. The results of 104 Monte Carlo trials show that both the permutation and bootstrap methods produced excellent estimates of the expected Type I error rate


Objective To explore the efficacy of Z350 nano composite resin in the repair of front teeth defects. Methods 186 patients (248 tooth body defects) were randomly divided into 3 groups. Filtek ESPE 3M Z350 general-purpose uano composite resin, Z250 composite resin, or spectrum TPH light-cured resin were used for treatment. Then one-year satisfaction and clinical efficacy were assessed. Results Satisfaction was slightly higher in group A than in groups B and C (P>0.05), but the difference was not statistically significant. One year after the repair, the efficacy of satisfaction was greater in group A than in group B (P 0.05), but the difference was not significant. Conclusions 3M ESPE Fihek Z350 general-purpose nano composite resin for front teeth defect repair is materials and is worth popularizing. It has better intensity and beauty for teeth repair.

Key words:
Front teeth defect; Z350 nano composite resin; Z250 composite resin; SpectrumTPH; Front teeth repair; , Efficacy evaluation


Abstract— Indentation hardness of tablet surfaces has been used to determine the consolidation mechanisms of the lactose‐based excipients Fast Flo Lactose, Ludipress, Cellactose and Tablettose. The Leuenberger equation has been modified to obtain values of compressibility and compactability by using a value of compactability obtained from a tablet at maximum applied force and by substituting deformation resistance by relative deformation resistance. Also, parameters obtained from plots of the Heckel tablet‐indie and ejected‐tablet methods were calculated in order to establish the comparative consolidation mechanisms in the lactose‐based excipients under study. The possibility of using the absolute value of the difference between upper and lower surface hardnesses of the tablets made on an eccentric press is suggested as an alternative method to determine the comparative consolidation mechanisms of different substances.


In order to find out the advantage and disadvantage of every kind of psychological measurement tables, this paper emphasizes the comparisons study on results of college students' psychological status by means of Cartel's 16PF personality factors measurement table and SCL-90 self-evaluated symptom measurement table, and further checks and improves the psychological measurement tool, provides more scientific and exact methods and means for college students' psychological health measurement,finally, builds up scientific psychological health education model and operation system.


Long-term measurements (up to ~ 6 years) of pressures in sealed-off borehole intervals located at depths between roughly 420 and 530 m in the 130 m thick Callovo-Oxfordien (C-O) formation at the Andra URL (Bure, eastern France) show trends towards apparently stable values exceeding expected groundwater heads by several tens of meters. These observations need to be explained in order to properly model water and solute transport for feasibility studies of a potential underground storage facility for radioactive waste. Anomalous over(and under) pressures in a variety of geological contexts are reported in the literature, and osmotic phenomena-based interpretations have been proposed by a significant number of authors. Virtually all of the theoretical models proposed consider that the clay-rock acts as a semipermeable membrane separating the solution compartment having the anomalous pressure from a solution having a reference composition and pressure. In all cases, corresponding water activities are calculated based on dissolved species concentrations, even when the model considers the clay-rock pore-space and pore solution as one of the 'compartments'. Interpretation of the observed C-O overpressure data using such type models leads to the conclusion that the clay-rock must be a highly efficient semi-permeable membrane, blocking most solute movement while letting water molecules pass. This result is in contradiction with known solute diffusion characteristics for this rock measured under realistic porewater compositions. The conceptual model presented in this communication resolves this inconsistency, while retaining osmosis as the underlying phenomena for over-pressure generation. The basic difference is consideration of other processes affecting, and fixing, water activity in a clay-rock volume, in particular interfacial phenomena (effects of exchangeable cations, water structuring...) and mineral solubility controls. Taking these additional phenomena into account results in a local water activity which is principally determined in the C-O clay-rock by the physical-chemical characteristics of the wetted mineral surfaces. The predicted over-pressure therefore varies mostly as a function of formation mineralogy and is relatively insensitive to variations in uncontrolled solute concentrations. The analogy can be extended to swelling pressures in bentonite-based engineered barrier materials. Reactive transport models for deep radioactive waste disposal


Lubricant condition monitoring has been widely applied for equipment diagnostics and prognostics under condition-based maintenance (CBM). The main purposes of using lubricant are to fulfil requirement of machinery performance and indicate health status of equipment, which imply that the condition of lubricant can not only be used to predict future performance but also diagnose mechanical failures. However, there is deficiency of functional knowledge in existing lubricant information analysis methods, hence the results are usually hard to be interpreted as effective maintenance decisions. This paper presents an approach based on multilevel flow modeling (MFM) to represent the lubricant functions and establish function structure of mechanical equipment that can clearly show the relationship between lubricant and the other components in a functional perspective. The causal feature of MFM allows to utilize a function model to diagnose the possible causes of abnormal lubricant condition and predict further influences. The approach is demonstrated by a hydrodynamic bearing system.


The rapid change of trading values from tangible assets to Intelectual Property has put both businesses and academia in a race to acquire and protect the rights to exploit such property. This is mainly accomplished in the form of patent issuing by the governments, being time consuming and complicated due to the vast amount of documents that need to be analyzed in order to assert the novelty or validity of a patent application. Patent information retrieval research is thus growing quickly to support document analysis across multiple domains and information systems. One of the big challenges in patent analysis is the identification of the elements of innovation (concepts, processes, materials) and the relations between them, in the patent text. This paper presents a method for extracting semantic information from patent claims by using semantic annotations on phrasal structures, abstracting domain ontology information and outputting ontology-friendly structures to achieve generalization. An extraction system built upon the method is briefly evaluated on a document sample from INPI, the Brazilian patent office, a challenging information source.


The present invention provides a method for manufacturing a solar cell module and because of a problem of thermal stress can be reduced. The solar cell module (1) includes a solar cell (10), a wiring member (11) and the adhesive layer (12). A wiring member (11) disposed on the surface of the solar cell (10). An adhesive layer (12) disposed between the surface of the wiring member (11) and a solar cell (10). An adhesive layer (12) comprises a resin. Longitudinal direction of the adhesive layer (12) along a wiring member (11) having a wide portion (12a) and a narrow portion (12b). Surface of the solar cell module (1) having a wiring member (11) and the solar cell (10) at least on the outside of the narrow portion (12b) of the region without interposing an adhesive layer (12) and opposite.


[Objective] To study the status of vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) and moesin expression in cervical cancer malignant progression and to investigate the modulatory effect of VEGF-C on moesin expression. [Methods] Cervical cancer samples in different pathological stages were taken from patients and cervical cancer HeLa cells were cultured. The expression level of VEGF-C and moesin in sample tissues and cultured cells were detected by Western blot. [Results] The expression levels of VEGF-C and moesin from sample tissues were gradually increased in parallel with the malignant progression of cervical cancer. Compared with control (normal cervix), the magnitude of increase of VEGF-C, moesin as well as phospho-moesin protein expression in CIN were 45% ± 9%, 63% ± 12%, and 74% ± 16% (P 0.05), respectively. In cervical squamous carcinoma at stage I, they were increased by a magnitude of 94% ± 18%, 104% ± 27%, and 123% ± 30% (P 0.01), respectively. These proteins were more highly expressed in cervical squamous carcinoma at stage II, with the enhancement of 186% ± 24%, 246% ± 37%, and 194% ± 28% (P 0.001) respectively compared to control. In cultured cervical cancer HeLa cells, treatment with VEGF-C (100 μg/L) for 24 h enhances the moesin expression and phosphorylation, which is inhibited by VEGF-C monoclonal antibody. [Conclusions] The expression level of VEGF-C and moesin protein are tightly relative to cervical cancer malignant progression. VEGF-C may play the important role in cervical cancer progression through upregulation of moesin expression and phosphorylation.


This paper describes a spinal infection in an adult male skeleton from Ist century AD necropolis in Rome. Pathological alterations of the lower thoracic vertebrae, including bone destruction and fusion, suggest tuberculous spondylitis as the most probable diagnosis. The rarity of healing infections, as well as the non-diagnostic appearance of the lesions, have prompted this note. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This chapter covers physiology and blood pressure in the pregnant patient, followed by hypertensive disorders in pregnancy. This includes pre-existing hypertension, and hypertension induced by pregnancy. It also describes the background, investigations, management, and counselling of pre-eclampsia, HELLP syndrome, and eclampsia. Postnatal management is also covered, and the uses of antihypertensives in the pregnant patient are indicated, along with contraindications and possible side effects.


We study regular Dirichlet forms on locally compact Hausdorff spaces X in the framework of the theory of commutative Banach algebras. We prove that, suitably normed, the Dirichlet algebra B e = C 0 (X) ∩ F e of continuous functions vanishing at infinity in the extended domain F e of a Dirichlet form (E, F) is a semisimple Banach algebra. This implies that two strongly local Dirichlet forms (E 1 , F 1 ), (E 2 , F 2 ) are quasi-equivalent (that is, c-1 E 1 ≤E 2 ≤ c E 1 for some c > 0) if and only if they have the same domain. We describe the ideal structure of B e , showing that the algebraic K-theory K * (B e ) of the Dirichlet algebra B e is isomorphic to the topological K-theory K*(X). This allows the construction of Dirichlet structures on (sections of) finite-dimensional, locally trivial vector bundles over X.


This article examines recent trends and developments in an increasingly popular HR practice--incentive pay programs. In addition to highlighting major developments in recent empirical studies, this article also synthesizes recent research pertaining to general guidelines or strategies for design, implementation, and the utilization of incentive pay programs. Counter arguments pointing out potential pitfalls and precautions will also be discussed. The article concludes by offering some recommendations for future research.


Based on the feedback of Laboratory equipments' after-sales service of PE institute of colleges and universities in Zhejiang province,this article gives a preliminary analysis of After-sales service satisfaction in the process of laboratory equipments' purchase and use,and the main reason for the supply shortages in after-sales service.The insufficient equipment suppliers should improve service initiative,deepen the customer management,balance the contradiction between the service costs and customer service demand,emphasis on high-end equipments' technical support and service improvement to improve the service quality and customer satisfaction.


The invention brings forward a microbial fertilizer and its preparation method. The preparation method comprises the following steps: 1) 20-40 parts by weight of domestic sludge and 0.1-0.2 part of fermented culture are mixed uniformly; 2) the above uniformly-mixed fermented culture undergoes aerobic fermentation; 3) the above fermented material undergoes granulation; and 4) particles obtained by granulation undergo drying and cooling processes and then are mixed with 0.15-0.25 part by weight of biological probiotics, so as to obtain the microbial fertilizer. According to the invention, the problem that sludge pollution is caused, soil structure is damaged and biodiversity in nature and ecosystem stability are reduced in the prior art is solved.


In the paper, a technique which uses Bezier curve and makes mathematical model of impeller vane of centrifugal pumps is provided. The model is applied in CAD of centrifugal pumps.


Corresponding author, E-mail address: firstname.lastname@example.com Received: 19.07.2017 Accepted: 03.09.2017 Abstract In this paper, the optimal operation of pumping stations was determined using a genetic algorithm so that the minimum energy cost. The schedule for the operation of the water pump system can be a significant savings in the cost of energy to be achieved. Determine the optimum pump operation schedule an optimization model -simulation-based genetic algorithm was developed. The model integrates GA optimizer and EPANET hydraulic network solver in MATLAB. The proposed model is applied to find the optimal pump operation schedule of Dogonbadan water conveyance system from Kowsar Dam in an ordinary day of the year. The comparison of optimal schedule with ordinary operation strategy shows 26.8 percent reduction in total energy cost. This


Mono(isopropyl maleate oyloxyl) diisopropoxyl dysprosium(DM) was synthesized by the reaction of dysprosium isopropoxide with maleic anhydride. Dy containing polymer(PDM) was obtained by the solution polymerization of DM using 2,2′ azobisisobutyronitrile(AIBN) as an initiator. The kinetic study on the polymerization shows that the polymerization of DM exhibits high apparent activation energy(96 3 kJ·mol -1 ), indicating that the activity of DM is low for polymerization. The kinetic equation of polymerization can be expressed as R p= k p c DM 1.23 c AIBN 0.82 . The polymeric solid material shows excellent heat stability and strong characteristic fluorescence of Dy 3+ , 4F 9/2 → 6H 15/2 and 4 F 9/2 → 6H 13/2 .


Energy harvesting has opened up new ways to power low energy electronics without any need for batteries. The most advanced types of harvesters are piezoelectric, electrostatic and electromagnetic which use kinetic energy in form of vibrations. Electromagnetic harvesters (EHs) are efficient, less costly and offer huge design flexibility. As such, in this paper some analytical and experimental studies on maximum average harvestable power (Pave) from typical design of EH using the popular coupling architecture (a cylindrical magnet oscillating in a copper coil) have been carried out. The effect of frequency of excitation and electrical (ζe ) and mechanical damping ratios (ζm) on Pave obtained from an EH has been investigated. For this purpose, an EH using NdFeB (neodymium magnet) magnet oscillating in a copper coil has been designed and developed. An experimental test set up has developed which comprises of (i) a cam-follower type drive mechanism to simulate a vibration source with variable amplitude and frequency of base excitation, (ii) a spring-mass system with an EH system in parallel with the spring to provide the relative motion between the magnet and the copper coil, (iii) the attendant instrumentation comprising of ultrasonic sensor to sense the displacements of base and mass, motor drive speed measurement and an open source platform (ARDUINO) with programmable circuit board and software and data acquisition system. Using the developed experimental set up, (i)frequency response curve for vibrating system with EH has been obtained from which equivalent electrical damping ζe has been determined using half power point method, and (ii)the values of relative displacements of magnet and coil, at various excitation frequencies have been recorded. Using the analytical expression for the Pave of SDOF EH has been determined both at resonance and off resonance conditions, for three different values of ζe namely ζe = ζm, ζe = 5ζm, and ζe = 10ζm. It is observed that the maximum Pave is obtained for condition ζe = ζm. As the value of ζe increases, the Pave increases, at resonant frequency and considerable power is made available at off-resonance frequencies. It is concluded that ζe should be increased to enhance the maximum average harvestable power from EH and vibrating system should be so designed to have ζm, as small as possible.


century credit s]]•Bcienfiy the decisive role played at that time by the country's native peoples. The success ofEuropean colonizers, traders, and missionaries depended to a greater degree than most of them cared to admit on their ability to understand and accommodate themselves not only to native customs but also to a network of political and economic relationships that was not of their own making. Traders and missionaries often were forced to treat Algonkians and Iroquoians as their equals and sometimes they had to acknowledge that the Indians had the upper hand. If the Europeans were astonished and revolted by many of the customs of these Indians (often, however, no more barbarous than their own), they also admired their political and economic sagacity. • Indeed, one Jesuit was of the opinion that the Huron were more intelligent than the rural inhabitants of his own country. •' If the missionary orfur trader felt compelled to understand


This study aims to explore ethical concepts based on the translation of Asaṅga's work on Śīlapaṭala (Chapter on Ethics) from the Bodhisattvabhūmi (Bodhisattva Stage) with regard to their applicability to laity, which in this case is modern leadership. Ethics of bodhisattva has two key aspects: the essence of ethics (svabhāvaśīla) and complete ethics (sarvaśīla), which comprises three kinds of ethics- the ethics of the vow (saṃvaraśīla), the ethics of collecting wholesome factors (kuśala-dharma-saṃgrāhaka-śīla), and the ethics of benefiting sentient beings (sattva-ārtha-kriyāśīla). The ethical concepts of bodhisattvas are found to be comprehensive since the three kinds of complete ethics cover attributes, behaviors, values, and the congruence between these qualities of bodhisattvas. This notion contributes to moral leadership theories in terms of the integration and the specification of key attributes to be possessed by modern ethical leaders, i.e., wisdom, skillful means, virtue, and self-restraint; all of these have altruism as the basis. The three kinds of complete ethics also indicate a continuous process to be practiced by bodhisattva aspirants and the same notion is applicable for modern leadership. Modern leaders can procure and preserve own ethics with self-restraint, build and develop virtuous behaviors in their daily lives, while helping to develop ethical values and virtuous behaviors of their followers for the latter's benefits.


In the case of R v T (2010), the Court of Appeal for England and Wales rejected the testimony of an expert who had used likelihood ratios to assess the probative value of shoe-print evidence. Because likelihood ratios are widely used in forensic science, and their use has been actively promoted by leaders in the field (Association of Forensic Science Providers, 2009; Cook et al., 1998; Evett, 1998; Robertson and Vignaux, 1995), the court's opinion has understandably caused consternation in the forensic science community (Berger et al. 2011; Robertson et al. 2011; Redmayne et al. 2011). Recognizing the importance of the issues involved, the editors of Law, Probability and Risk have devoted this issue to articles commenting on the case. At the invitation of Editor Colin Aitken, it is my privilege and honour to review and respond to those articles. In the interest of full disclosure, I will say at the outset that I think R v T is an inept judicial opinion that creates bad law. The opinion went awry because the justices who wrote it misunderstood a key aspect of the evidence they were evaluating. The justices sought to achieve laudable goals, but their misunderstanding of basic principles of inductive logic, and particularly Bayes' theorem, led them to exclude a type of expert evidence that, in general, is helpful and appropriate in favour of an alternative type of expert of evidence that is fundamentally inconsistent with the goals the court sought to achieve. The case has already received severe criticism1 and will inevitably come to be seen for what it is — a judicial blunder.


The phenomenon of street children has increased, included in the city of Pekanbaru. Street children should be able to adjust themselves in social environment to get satisfaction of the need, but away from social deviation. The aims of this study was to describe street children's ability to socialize with effective the social environment and healthy so as to obtain satisfaction in getting their needs. The approach used in this study was a phenomenological qualitative study using interviews (in- depth interview) and observation (participant) as data collection technique. The finding of this study indicated that the street children who become informant, through many stages was able to make adjustment in social environment around them. It could be seen from the acceptance of school environment, growing confidence in him and informant was able to establish a relationship and work together although sometimes happen misunderstanding between them. Satisfaction of self and job made the informant felt good with what they faced. Social adjustment of street children influenced by acceptance of social environment of family, friends at work, friends at school, community itself and themselves related to the status of street children and jobs. Keywords : Social adjustment, street children, late childhood.


Objective To explore the intervention effect of astragalus membranaceus decoction on insulin resistance in patients with acute cerebral infarction.Methods A total of 100 patients with acute cerebral infarction treated in our hospital were randomly divided into observation group and control group with 50 in each,two groups of patients were given conventional western medicine treatment for 14 days of a course,on the basis of which the observation group combined TCM treatment with Astragalus membranaceus decoction,the clinical curative effect and the changes of fasting serum insulin(FINS),fasting plasma glucose(FPG) and insulin sensitive index(SI) were compared before and after treatment.Results Total effective rate was 90% and 40% in observation group and control group respectively,the comparison between groups was no statistical significance(P 0.05); differences of curative syndromes and total effective rate were significant,with 54%,98% in observation group,and 26%,50% in the control(P 0.05); FINS,FPG and ISI in observation group were superior to control group with statistically significance after treatment(P 0.05).Conclusion Astragalus membranaceus decoction can effectively improve insulin resistance in patients with cerebral infarction,plays a prominent positive effect on the prognosis of patients.


In recent years, physicists and applied mathematicians have developed new techniques to study a wide variety of complex systems, including social networks. Here we apply this theory to study networks of characters appearing in different mythologies, with special focus on the Irish epic Táin Bó Cúailnge, a tale which reflects the importance of Rathcroghan as a royal Celtic site. We determine a number of mathematical characteristics of the social network underlying the society depicted in the narrative. This allows us to make quantitative comparisons to other networks, some real, some fictitious and some mythological. In this manner, we introduce a new way to analyze old material and to develop new perspectives which may help shed mathematical light on the society underlying The Táin.


Clinical assessment scales, such as the Glasgow coma scale, are a core part of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). However, fully representing them in an OWL ontology is challenging: In particular, the determination of a score from patient's observations and clinical findings requires forms of aggregation and addition which are either tedious in OWL 2 or merely impractical due to combinatorial explosion. To solve this problem, we propose to separate the representation of the structure and content of an assessment scale from its enactment with the former being captured in OWL 2 and the latter being determined by a SPARQL query. The paper reports the results of a systematic review of 104 well-established clinical assessment scales along with the performance of the SPARQL queries proposed when executed with the query engine ARQ for Jena over HL7 CDA level three documents.


One of the leading tendencies in the development of the telecommunication systems is the concept for open systems in the sense of OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) Reference Model recommended by ISO and CCITT (ITU-T) [1, 2]. According to OSI model each open system, an element of the network, is a hierarchical structure of subsystems (N-subsystems), N=1 upto 7, including one or more objects (N-Entity). The sets of subsystems of equal rank (N) form independent functional layers (N-layers): an application, a presentation, a session, a transport, a network, a data-link and a physical one. The functions executed at each layer (N-functions) are specified, as well as the services (N-Services, N-Facility), supplied for the upper N+1 layer. The interconnection of the systems in the network, regarded as logical connection (N-connection), is realized by the corresponding layer protocols (N-Protocols) and the real data exchange is done at a physical level. The model is independent on the existing company standards of the different producers of devices and is appropriate for the modelling of a wide range of applied processes and protocols in OSI sense. In OSI-structured networks the including of a new network and of internetwork services and protocols does not require any alteration in the network architecture already built. The description of the applied processes and the design of the protocols demand some formal tools, enabling the design, analysis, emulation and software realization of the system specifications. The Z.100 recommendations of CCITT [3] contain a principal possibility for the application of the Specification and Description Language (SDL) in the solution of similar problems. A specific characteristics of the language are the two forms of description: a textual one  SDL/PR (PR-Phrase Representation) and a graphical one SDL/GR (GR-Graphics Representation) which have a common semantic model. This feature is a prerequisite for the building of software tools for the automatic design of information systems. БЪЛГАРСКА АКАДЕМИЯ НА НАУКИТЕ . BULGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


NDI- tin compound forms a NDI- rylene compound reacts with rylene compound. These rylene compounds can be a perylene compound. NDI- rylene compounds may be used in organic electronic devices, including a field effect transistor.


It has not been known with certainty that the haddock produces underwater sounds of biological significance, though various authors have suggested the possibility. Descriptions are given of sounds (grunts and rasp-like noises) produced in particular behavioural contexts by haddock maintained in tanks, and of sounds recorded at sea and attributed to haddock. Oscillograms and a spectrogram of these sounds are given. It is suggested that the sounds are involved in aggression and self-defence. The sound-producing mechanism is described.


The invention relates to a reheating vortex combined-type heat engine. A group of multistage vortex superchargers are respectively connected in series between the reciprocating internal combustion engine and the combustion chamber of the heating engine, between the combustion chamber and a high-pressure turbine and between the high-pressure turbine and a low-pressure turbine. A wedge-shaped regulation and control device is respectively arranged on the vortex superchargers, a combustion chamber air inlet channel and a combustion chamber air outlet channel. A high-pressure turbine shaft and a low-pressure turbine shaft are in differential connection with the output shaft of the reciprocating internal combustion engine through two-stage differential couplers, and one of the shafts outputs motive power. Under the vortex effect, superposition effect of potential flow, pump-up non-return effect of moving vane cascades and critical effect of a Laval nozzle, the combustion chamber realizes combustion heat absorption and flash evaporation mixing heat exchange in the variable state of constant continuous flow, and the vortex superchargers, the combustion chamber and a vortex air discharging device are dynamically compressed by internal energy of media so that a medium pressure is higher than a pressure ratio corresponding to an average heat absorbing temperature. Thus, deep enthalpy drop is realized in the turbines, the efficiency of the heat engine reaches a higher level, and the environmental pollution is less. The heat engine is applied to places, such as vehicles, ships, distributed power stations or mobile power stations.


transition by time-dependent density functional theory calculations. Potential energy surfacesof both the ground and electronically excited states were obtained employing quantum chemical calculations.It was suggested that the dissociation of OH from propiolic acid excited at 212 nm should take place along theS


This paper discusses some issues concerning the idea of taking equation-based simulation models (EBM) as formal, mathematical specifications of agent-based models (ABM) for Social Simulation. The paper tries to identify some of the benefits that such point of view could bring to the development of ABM, as well as some of the preliminary problems that an ABM developer has to face, in order to guarantee the credibility of his model. The paper first identifies the benefit of the EBM support for the formal verification of the correction of the ABM, given the correction of the EBM. Then, it identifies a preliminary set of crucial implementation details that are not covered by EBM specifications, and that the simulation developer has to define to make the ABM operational, under the constraint of keeping the ABM model compatible with the EBM. In particular, the two issues of the local vs. global scope of the agents' perceptions and of the degree of personalization of the agents are identified as crucial ones. Some preliminary concepts are proposed to help to solve those two problems.


Reason for Decision That the public be excluded from the meeting before discussion takes place on the item relating to Minute 36 in view of the nature of the business to be transacted, if the public were present there would be a disclosure to them of exempt information within the meaning of Part VA of the Local Government Act 1972, relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information).


AbstractGenetic algorithms (GAs) can be the tool of choice especially for optimizing combinatorial and complex problems in transport and infrastructure systems such as traffic signal control, pavement rehabilitation and design, and transit service scheduling. This paper presents an overview of different techniques to improve performance of GAs, with particular emphasis on parallel GAs (PGAs). Results are presented from applications of a simple GA (SGA) and a migration PGAs on a traffic control problem, a benchmark GA–difficult, and benchmark GA–easy problem. For all problems, savings in computation resources were realized when PGA was used. Advantages of PGAs are more pronounced for complex and difficult (deceptive) problems. On a difficult problem tested in this research, a PGA with four subpopulations was 7 times more efficient than a serial one, and a PGA with eight subpopulations was more than 18 times more efficient. With smaller and less complex problems, the impact of parallelism is less dramatic w...


The non-existence of triangular arbitrage in an efficient foreign exchange markets is widely believed. In this paper, we deploy a forecasting model to predict foreign exchange rates and apply the triangular arbitrage model to evaluate the possibility of an arbitrage opportunity. Surprisingly, we substantiate the existence of triangular arbitrage opportunities in the exchange rate forecasting market even with transaction costs. This also implies the inefficiency of the market and potential market threats of profit-seeking investors. In our experiments, neural network based model with back-propagation (BP-NN) is used for exchange rate forecasting.


[Objective] The purpose was to seek for the enrichment and distribution law of cadmium(Cd2+) in Zizania latifolia plant.[Method] With single-harvested variety Jiangshujiao and double-harvested variety Fenghongzao of Z.latifolia as tested materials,the stress treatment of adding 100 mg/L Cd2+ in soil was used and the Cd2+ accumulation amounts in the leaf,shortened stem and root of Z.latifolia on 7th day after the stress treatment were determined.[Result] As the time of Cd2+ stress treatment increased,the Cd2+ accumulation amounts in the leaf,shortened stem and root of the Z.latifolia varieties showed increasing trend;the Cd2+ accumulation amounts in different vegetative organs of Z.latifolia showed to be root shortened stem leaf and Cd2+ accumulation amount in Fenghongzao was higher than that in Jiangshujiao among varieties.On the 7th day of Cd2+ stress treatment,the enrichment coefficients on Cd2+ in various Z.latifolia organs showed to be root shortened stem leaf and that in Fenghongzao were higher than that in Jiangshujiao among varieties,indicating that the adsorption and accumulation capacities of Fenghongzao on Cd2+ were stronger than that of Jiangshujiao.[Conclusion] Under Cd2+ stress,the capacities of adsorption and accumulation on Cd2+ in various vegetative organs had significant difference among Z.latifolia varieties.


Wind-sand flow were observed and researched on no-cover moving sand dune, Nitraria tangutorum smoothness gravel sandy land, Nitraria tangutorum dune, Haloxylon ammodendron woodland, wheat straw checkerboard, nylon sand barrier and clay fence belt of Minqin oasis external. The results showed that 0-50cm sand transport rate Q (g·cm-1·min-1) and wind velocity v(m·s-1)on the no-cover moving sand dune and Nitraria tangutorum smoothness gravel sandy land followed with curve Q=avb.Their distribution at the top of sand dune was bigger than that in central and at the bottom. The annual total wind-sand flow flux of Nitraria tangutorum dune at the bottom of leeward slope was more than that of windward slope and the top, particularly the coverage of Nitraria tangutorum had singnificant impact on it. The effect of prevention showed that nylon sand barrier was more effective than wheat straw checkerboard and clay fence belt. With the increasing of porosity in Haloxylon ammodendron woodland ,the sand flow flux augments as the polynomial Q=1 992L2-6 522.7L+5 914.3(R2=0.976 7) or as an exponential function Q=412.38e0.7877L(R2=0.912 7).The determination of annual total wind-sand flow flux showed that no-cover moving sand dune is the most,then Nitraria tangutorum smoothness gravel sandy land,then Haloxylon ammodendron forest and then Nitraria tangutorum dune, clay fence belt was the least.


Adhoc network is a network without centralized administration in which different users can communicate and ex-change information. Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) is a self configuring self organizing collection of mobile ad-hoc nodes with no fixed infrastructure. The node is free to move and the network topology changes rapidly. As the nodes in Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) have limited battery so power is always an issue in MANET. Power failure of node in MANET not only affects the node itself but also affects its ability to forward the data packet to the next hop and thus reduce the lifetime of network. In order to maximize the lifetime of the network energy consumption of each node must be controlled. This paper survey different energy related metrics used in Routing and some power aware routing protocols


Important modifications to the reactivity of metallic nickel highly dispersed on various oxide supports have been observed. These vary according to the acidity of the support and the presence of Ce3+ additives. The loss or attenuation of hydrogen chemisorption properties and catalytic activity in butane hydrogenolysis seems to be correlated to the acidity of the support, which leads to a total or partial coverage of the metallic surface during the reduction process by hydrogen, which remains strongly chemisorbed up to high temperatures.The presence of Ce3+ additives causes an increase in the catalytic activity in the CO/H2 reaction and a significant shift of the selectivities in favour of the formation of heavier hydrocarbons from both the hydrogenation of CO and the hydrogenolysis of butane.These results are discussed in terms of strong metal–support interactions and concomitant modifications of the electronic environment of the metal.


We have studied the effect of several structurally related mansonones on the cytotoxicity of plant and bacterial toxins in Vero and BER‐40, a brefeldin A‐resistant mutant of Vero cells. Mansonone‐D (MD), a sesquiterpenoid ortho‐naphthoquinone, inhibited the cytotoxicity of ricin, modeccin, Pseudomonas toxin, and diphtheria toxin in Vero cells to different extents. The inhibition of ricin cytotoxicity was dose dependent and reversed upon removal of the drug. Protection of ricin cytotoxicity was also observed in the presence of cycloheximide, indicating that de novo protein synthesis is not required for the protective effect. Although MD inhibited the degradation and excretion of ricin, the binding and internalization of ricin was not affected. In contrast, MD strongly reduced the specific binding of diphtheria toxin in Vero cells. Fluorescence microscopic studies show that MD treatment dramatically alters the morphology of the Golgi apparatus in Vero cells. The kinetic studies reveal that the protection of ricin cytotoxicity is the consequence of decreased toxin translocation to the cytosol in MD‐treated cells. The reactive ortho‐quinone moiety of MD is important for the protective effect as thespesone, a para‐naphthoquinone with a heterocyclic ring structure identical to that of MD, did not inhibit the cytotoxicity of toxins. Thespone, a dehydromansonone‐D, lacking two hydrogens from the heterocyclic dihydrofuran ring of MD, inhibited the cytotoxicity of ricin, but was albeit less potent than MD. Neither mansonone‐E nor mansonone‐H with reactive ortho‐quinone moiety, but with a different heterocyclic structure, had any effect on the cytotoxicity of ricin indicating that the protective effect of MD is specifically related to the overall structure of the metabolite. J. Cell. Physiol. 176:40–49, 1998. Published 1998 Wiley‐Liss, Inc. This article was prepared by a group of United States government employees and non‐United States government employees, and as such is subject to 17 U.S.C. Sec. 105.


Through the application of SOA technologies and smart client technology Hebei Financial Supervision Systemt is designed and realized.It is solved that the key enterprises in Hebei Province′s financial monthly data collection,summary statistics,analysis of financial indicators of business functions.It is realized that business data pooling and sharing,the XML Web Services Service-Oriented Architecture and the deployment of financial business software with ClickOnce.Dynamic loading mechanism,automatic updates,safety certification and offline use are realized.The seamless integration of XML Web Services,business software enables users are enjoyded by the C/S application.The perfect user experience do not worry about no firewall issues.


The early results of total ankle arthroplasty were marred by inferior implant designs and uncertain surgical techniques1. These are the major reasons why so many foot and ankle surgeons were, and are today, reluctant to select arthroplasty over ankle arthrodesis. Today, proponents of total ankle arthroplasty have refined their surgical techniques, and improved implant designs have reduced formerly catastrophic failure rates. As the practice of total ankle arthroplasty matures, however, it faces the same hurdles seen during the development of other total joint arthroplasties: an increasing attention to epidemiological and risk factors associated with the surgery. Of particular concern among the complications of any joint replacement procedure such as total ankle arthroplasty is the risk of infection, which inevitably leads to implant failure and poor patient outcomes.

While we know that implant-associated infections are a major concern in total ankle arthroplasty, as the authors of the present study explain, we do not know as much about the risk factors in total ankle arthroplasty as we do about those in other implant procedures. We do not really have …


Shchepakin, Denis, Doctorate of Philosophy, Spring 2019 Mathematics Applications of Asymptotic Methods: Analyzing Mathematical Models in Neuroscience and Describing Fast Dynamics of a Trajectory in the Vicinity of a Chaotic Attractor. Committee Chair: Leonid Kalachev, Ph.D. The current dissertation focuses on two unrelated subjects: modeling in Neuroscience applications and Chaos Theory. Neurons are units of the nervous system that receive, conduct, and transmit information to each other and target tissue via electrical signaling. One of the mechanisms of the signal transduction is through signaling molecules called neurotransmitters. Glutamate is the predominant excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian and human central nervous system. However, the mechanism of regulation and sensation of the glutamate via glutamate receptors and transporters is not completely understood. We discuss currently existing models of glutamate receptors and transporters, and their main problem: the overparameterization with respect to the existing experimental data. Although this issue prevents statistical reliable parameter estimate, numerous authors still attempt to use them for these means using incorrect methodology. We are able to reduce the existing models under certain assumptions, that are achieved in experiments, designed specifically for this purpose. This approach allows us to avoid the overparameterization issue and for the first time obtained statistically reliable parameter estimates. Chaotic systems do not allow for conventional methods of parameter estimation and had been considered to be an ill–posed problem. Recently a novel promising methodology was proposed. Here we discuss some further development of the technique that brings it closer to practical use.


Abstract Fixture design contributes highly to manufacturing safety and quality. Computer aided fixture design (CAFD) facilitates more cost effective and efficient workholder design. However, heuristic and case-based approaches are still common. This paper addresses CAFD using the computational geometry approach. The correctness of a fixture design will be determined through vector-theoretic immobilization checking of the fixture points (i.e. location and clamping points) proposed. Details of the translational and rotational immobilization checking theory are explained, which are also applicable to general three-dimensional shapes. In real life, perfect geometry does not exist. As contemporary CAFD systems cannot cater for non-ideal geometry satisfactorily, the paper also develops an interval analysis scheme for toleranced immobilization checks. A real-life case study is presented to demonstrate the procedure.


Aiming at the calibration of in-service strain sensing systems for structural health monitoring (SHM), a technical framework is proposed. A calibration method adapting to complex in-situ conditions is presented which defines the calibration prototype composed of measured variable, excitation source, reference system and sensing system. By analysing the operating procedure of the prototype, two measurement models are deduced for instantaneous and intermediate error analysis respectively. To discover the effects of the ambient temperature on the calibration process, the experiments are conducted using a temperature test chamber, and then the qualitative analysis and quantitative estimation are performed. The results show that: (a) With the variation of temperature, the responses of both resistance strain gauges (RSS) and fiber optic strain sensors (FOS) change significantly; (b) The relative strain deviations between the sensing system (SS) and the reference sensing system (RS) within −10 °C–50 °C fluctuate in a narrow range, for example 0.015–0.023 for RSS and 0.382–0.404 for FOS in this study, respectively; (c) The range of the deviations between SS and RS that is affected by temperature can be estimated with the proposed method, for example, 4.61 μϵ for RSS and 18.2 μϵ for FOS, respectively, with a confidence level of 95%.


In this work, we apply the theoretically convergent entropic mirror descent algorithm (EMDA) to the maximization of the list mode maximum likelihood objective function for time-of-flight (TOF) positron emission tomography (PET) image reconstruction. The algorithm also has a theoretically convergent ordered subsets implementation and is readily generalizable to priors. Here we demonstrate the algorithm on simulated TOF PET data and exhibit the improvement in initial convergence rate of the ordered subsets variant. We additionally demonstrate that the algorithm can be adapted to minimize the list mode likelihood with a total variation (TV) penalty term.


ABSTRACT Students of economics may have heard of that economics, especially the kind of mainstream neoclassical economics taught in most universities on earth today, is an imitation of physical science in some fundamental fashion. However, few economists would imagine that economics can be as effective as physical science, not even in the remote future. China's Chang'e 4 mission to the far side of the Moon provides a golden opportunity for economists to explore this fascinating possibility from the aspect of astrodynamics. This article, inspired by thoughts of Justin Yifu Lin and Angang Hu among others regarding China's economic reform, demonstrates that physics explaining the Three-Body Problem of classical mechanics may as well be understood as guiding principles when dealing with issues in development economics. Several aspects of 'Washington consensus' are examined in relation to the concerns raised by Chinese scholars. The study concludes that neoliberal interpretations of modern economics are basically inconsistent with the neoclassical framework outlined in standard economics textbooks.


Proterozoic magmatic rocks are seldom reported in the southwestern margin of the North China craton,but the K-feldspar granite porphyry and altered diabase distributing along the Liupan fault belt in the Tiemahe section in Baojiashan of Longxian County in southwestern margin of the North China Craton are formed in Early Proterozoic. The K-feldspar granite porphyry is characterized by rich potassium( Na2 O / K2 O = 1. 66 ~ 3. 36),Calc-alkaline and metaluminous to weakly peraluminous( A / CNK = 0. 85 ~ 1. 18) series. It shows a LREE enrichment pattern,a obvious differentiation between LREE and HREE( LREE / HREE = 4. 08 ~ 12. 03) and significantly negative Eu anomalies( δEu = 0. 50 ~ 0. 53). The trace element geochemistry is characterized by enrichment of large ion lithophile elements K,Rb,Ba,Th and depletion of high strength field elements Nb,Ta,Ti,Hf; P and Sr depleted extremely. The K-feldspar granite porphyry has higher ratios of Rb / Sr and Ga / Al,and exhibits characteristics of A-type granitic rocks. Zircon U-Pb LA-ICP-MS ages of two samples of the granite porphyry are 1814 ± 12 Ma and 1781 ± 12 Ma respectively. According to regional geological data,the Southwestern Margin of North China Plate in Paleoprotozoic is under the strongly extensional setting and probably related to the Helan aulacogen's southwards.


ABSTRACT As a venerable institution of ancestor veneration, ancestral halls remained buildings reserved for the gentry class before the Ming dynasty, and became vehicles for transmitting a form of elitism within a privileged circle. Hence, owning ancestral halls was also deemed a manifestation of political and social status. However, among the commoner class in the Huizhou region in the Ming, numerous localized kinship organizations emerged: lineages. People were gathering strength in the communal living maintained by generations, but at the same time, they also generated a demand for common ancestor veneration to maintain lineage relationship stability. By the mid-Ming, with the surge of ancestral hall construction by lineages, the exclusive privilege of the elites for ancestral halls was broken. In Huizhou, a unique sacrificial culture with the ancestral halls as the carrier appeared. In the subsequent period of rapid economic growth, an influential new group emerged within the lineages: merchants whose increasing involvement in constructive activities allowed the ancestral hall construction to bloom, reflecting the rising status of merchants in this period. This paper focuses on such a Huizhou kinship organization, the Huang lineage, and describes the history of their ancestral hall construction in detail.


The Undergraduate Ambassador Scheme (UAS) is now a well established project across many UK Universities. In this scheme undergraduate students in science, engineering, and mathematics go into local schools to learn from and assist teachers as part of credit bearing studies for their degree. UAS has a central office that can provide significant help to universities to set up and run such a scheme, though each university is responsible for its own implementation. This article aims to give an overview of the Undergraduate Ambassador Scheme, its implementation in physics at St Andrews in session 20078, and the issues and benefits that we have observed in this first year of operation.


Microstructural and texture development with thermomechanical processing was performed through a combination of cold-rolling and annealing, in MA956 plate consisting of a layered and inhomogeneous microstructure. The alloy contained in mass percent, 20 Cr, 0.02C, 4.8 Al, 0.4 Ti, 0.4 Y 2 O 3 , and the balance iron. The starting material was as-hot-rolled plate, 9.7 mm thick. The as-hot-rolled plate was subjected to 40%, 60%, and 80% cold-rolling reduction and subsequently annealed at 1 000 ° C, 1 200 ° C, and 1 380 ° C. Assessment of microstructural and texture developments before and after cold-rolling and annealing was performed using light optical microscopy (LOM), Vickers hardness testing, and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Locally introduced misorientations by cold-rolling in each region were evaluated by Kernel Average Misorientation (KAM) maps. The as-hot-rolled condition contained a layered and inhomogeneous microstructure consisting of thin and coarse elongated grains, and aggregated regions which consisted of fine grains and sub-grains with {100} <011> texture. The microstructure of the 40% cold-rolled condition contained deformation bands, and the 60% and 80% cold-rolled conditions also contained highly deformed regions with intersecting deformation bands. The magnitude of KAM angles varied through the thickness depending on the initial microstructures. Recrystallization occurred in regions where high KAM angles were dense after annealing, and nucleation sites were fine elongated grain regions, deformation bands, and highly deformed regions. The shape and size of the recrystallized grains varied depending on the nucleation sites.


This study examines two models of halal tourism which test the influence of halal tourism factors (involving halal attributes and availability of halal services) and national image (involving national characteristics and destination image) on behavioral intention, collecting empirical data from the Muslim community in Korea. Data was collected from (N=230) respondents through face-to-face questionnaire survey. The results showed that halal tourism factors and national image had a positive significant correlation with behavioral intention. Hierarchical Linear Regression analysis indicated that halal tourism factors model had a less significant contributory factor on behavioral intention, and national image model had a major significant contributory factor in the behavioral intention of Muslims. This study contributes that national characteristics and destination image have an influence on the Muslim community's behavioral intention. This empirical evidence shows that Korea builds a positive image as a tourist destination rather than a Muslim-friendly destination among Muslims. This could be a reference for the government, tourist marketers, and stakeholders in enhancing the adoption of halal attributes and catering halal services to draw Muslim tourists to promote halal-friendly tourism.


As a kid I used to spend Saturdays avoiding finding out that day's football match scores so I could feel the suspense when watching the highlights on Match of the Day, five hours after the final whistles had been blown. Last night's blunder by ITV sport reminds us how much has changed since then, and how the premium on live events has increased.


gate the effects of Cloninger's temperament traits on prognosis at a 3-year follow-up in patients hospitalized for acute coronary syndrome (ACS). The study protocol was described in details in a recent paper examining the effects of anhedonia in the same sample [8] . The study subjects were consecutive patients with suspected ACS admitted to the cardiac/coronary intensive care unit of Montereau Fault-Yonne general hospital in France. When considered appropriate by the staff, the patients were invited to participate in a 3-year follow-up survey that included psychiatric assessment at initial admission. The patients were eligible for inclusion if they had either acute myocardial infarction with or without ST segment elevation or unstable angina. The patients completed the French version of the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ) 1–4 days after admission. They provided written informed consent to participate and the study was approved by the hospital research ethics committee. Two hundred and ninety-six patients (226 males, 70 females) completed the TPQ. The patients were aged between 26.4 and 96.2 years [mean = 67.8, standard deviation (SD) = 13.4]. Eleven potential covariates were taken into account: 2 demographic variables (age and gender), 7 medical factors: current tobacco use, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hypercholesterolemia, obesity, previous and family history of ACS and left ventricular hypertrophy diagnosed by echocardiography, and 2 psychometric variables: anhedonia and depression respectively rated by the revised Physical Anhedonia Scale (PAS) and the Depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD-D). The score ranges of the PAS and HAD-D are respectively 0–61 and 0–21. The independent variables were the TPQ subscores. The TPQ is a 100-item true-false questionnaire divided into 3 subscales rating NS, HA and RD. The ranges of the subscale scores are respectively 0–34, 0–34 and 0–30. The French version of this scale, which has been shown to have satisfactory validity and reliability, was used in this study [9] . The total score for NS, HA and RD was used in statistical analyses. The psychometric characteristics of the study participants are summarized in table 1 . Moreover, to explore the predictive power of high NS, HA or RD, 2 cutoff scores were used for each subscale to classify the subjects into 'high TPQ subscale' or 'low TPQ subscale'. The cutoff scores corresponded to 1 and 2 SD above the mean of the corresponding TPQ subscale calculated in the sample, respectively. The 2 dependent variables selected for the current study were severe cardiac events and clinical events. Severe cardiac events comprised death and myocardial infarction. Clinical events comprised severe cardiac events (death and myocardial infarction) and nonsevere clinical events including recurrence of ACS, hospital readmission and onset or deterioration of heart failure. The patients included in the study were interviewed by a physician (M.L) who collected demographic and medical history information. All subjects were reinterviewed by phone every 6 months for 3 years to obtain information about readmissions and vital status. Additional cardiac data were extracted from hospital charts. The Recent studies have reported an association between either Cloninger's temperament traits and atherosclerosis [1] or between these temperaments and coronary heart disease risk factors of the metabolic cardiovascular syndrome (insulin resistance syndrome) [2] . However, Cloninger's model contributed to autonomic cardiac control, a potential mediating mechanism between these temperaments and coronary heart disease risk [3] . Cloninger's model of temperament consists of 3 temperament traits: novelty seeking (NS), harm avoidance (HA) and reward dependence (RD) [4] . According to Cloninger's model [4] , NS reflects behavioral activation, HA reflects behavioral inhibition, and RD reflects behavioral maintenance. High-NS subjects are characterized by impulsivity, exploratory excitability, wastefulness and disorderliness, whereas high-HA subjects are cautious, fearful, and prone to anxiety, fatigue and inhibition. High-RD subjects are empathic, sentimental and sensitive to social cues. NS and HA have been previously associated with biological and behavioral risk factors for CHD, but the findings have been somewhat mixed. In a study [2] using a sample of 190 healthy, young adult men divided into 4 temperament groups by cluster analysis, subjects characterized by a high level of RD, an average level of NS and a low level of HA had a high level of physiological CHD risk factors. In another study [3] examining the associations between Cloninger's temperament traits and autonomic cardiac regulation in a resting situation in 2 large samples of healthy men and women, the authors reported that a high HA level was associated with lower vagal control and higher resting heart rate, an autonomic nervous system profile reflecting higher CHD risk. In contrast, NS showed positive associations with indices of parasympathetic control activity and lower heart rate, reflecting a lower CHD risk. The results concerning RD are also conflicting. One study reported that higher RD was associated with lower blood pressure and nonsmoking status in women [5] . Cloninger's temperament traits could be a risk factor for cardiac events and personality traits such as hostility and type D behavior have been previously associated with cardiac events [6, 7] . To our knowledge, no study has explored the potential predictive power of Cloninger's temperament traits on CHD events and CHD progression. The aim of this study was therefore to investiPublished online: January 4, 2011


This paper discusses results of different types of curing in hot weather environments on the compressive strength of concrete made with portland cement and complementary cementitious materials (CCM) such as natural pozzolans, fly ash, silica fume, and granulated blast furnace slag. In all concrete mixtures, a superplasticizing admixture was used. Nine series of concrete mixtures were made. Five different methods of curing were used. Adequate compressive strength development can be obtained using CCM, but very good curing is necessary. Membrane curing was less effective at later ages, mainly when fly ash was used. There exists an optimum amount of fly ash to obtain maximum compressive strength at later ages.


Measurement of tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane buffers and blood samples was used to compare the following commercial pH instruments: Corning Models 160 and 165, Instrumentation Laboratory, Inc. Model 313, and Radiometer Models E5021 and BMS 3MK2. These comparisons uncovered a systematic bias of 0.02 pH units in Instrumentation Laboratory, Inc. electrodes manufactured before April 1973. Other factors found to affect analytical results were the temperature of the saturated KCl salt bridge and reference electrode, the design of the temperature-control system, and the buffer used to standardize the instruments.


I felt this time last night that I must be a little brash to talk to a group of fellows like yourselves who are so deeply enmeshed in the immediate technical aspects of mining and mineral exploration and development which has so much become the keynote to the level of success that has been occurring in Australia in the last 5-10 years, and from which we can only hope that much more success will accrue than has been our good fortune to date.


Human action recognition from video clips has received increasing attention in recent years. This paper proposes a simple yet effective method for the problem of action recognition. The method aims to encode human actions using the quantized vocabulary of averaged silhouettes that are derived from space-time windowed shapes and implicitly capture local temporal motion as well as global body shape. Experimental results on the publicly available Weizmann dataset have demonstrated that, despite its simplicity, our method is effective for recognizing actions, and is comparable to other state-of-the-art methods.


This study has investigated the influence of ERM framework implementation and Board Equitym Ownership on the performance of financial intuitions in Nigeria. One hundred and sixty three institutions constitute the sample of the study. We collected the data from chief risk officers, chief financial officers and other top level managers of the sampled organisations.The study utilized PLS-SEM path modelling with the help of SmartPLS 2.0 software to test the research framework.The results of the analysis indicated that ERM framework implementation and board equity ownership have a significant positive effects on the financial and non-financial performance of financial institutions in Nigeria.The study recommended the need for business firms to deploy more resources to ensure efficient operations of ERM initiatives in their organisations.Regulatory agencies need to ensure full implementation of ERM across all financial institutions regardless of the size of the firm to actualize its full benefits.The implication of the findings is that financial institutions and other regulatory agencies need to focus on both financial and non-financial performance indicators in their risk management policy..


Resistivity increase in nano-level Cu wires is becoming a critical issue for high speed ULSIs. We have established the new manufacturing process utilizing very high-purity 9N electrolyte and optimized additives to control nano-structures of Cu wires, and we realized Cu wires with resistivity 50% lower than that of wires made by a conventional process. We also have ascertained the reason for getting very low resistivity Cu wires by STEM analyses and first-principle simulation.


Seed-filling duration has generally shown a positive association with seed yield in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], but results have been inconsistent among studies. Four phenotypic recurrent selection programs were completed, increased flowering-period duration (FPD) vs. increased seed-filling duration (SFD) and long vs. short reproductive-period duration (RPD), with the objective of investigating the effects of these modifications on seed development and seed yield. Selection for average physiological maturity (R7) maintained R7 maturities among populations (.)


This study aims to (1) determine the macroscopic fungal species found on Mount Betung Pesawaran and (2) determine the diversity index of the macroscopic fungi found on Mount Betung Pesawaran. (3) knowing the benefits of research results in the form of encyclopedia learning resources. The research was conducted with a qualitative approach, the research used was descriptive. The sampling technique of macroscopic mushrooms was carried out using the roaming method (exploration), the quadratic method, and purposive sampling. The results of macroscopic mushroom research conducted at Gunung Betung Pesawaran found 4 orders with 19 species, the orders found were the order Auriculariales (Auricularia auricular), the order Polyporales (Trametes pubescens, Trichaptum abietinum, Earliella scabrosa, Ganoderma boninense, Trametes gibbosa, Ganoderma aplanatum, Pycnoporus cinnabarinus, Ganoderma lucidium, Polyporus arcularius) of the order Agaricales (Sarcoscypha coccinea, Marasmius siccus, Coprinellus disseminates, Gymnopilus luteofolius, Oudemansiella mucida, Xylaria polymorpha, Schizophyllum commune, Clitocybe nebularis) and the order Russulales (Stereum hirsutum).


Introduction: Diabetes is a relatively common ill-health condition in Iran with a rather high burden. It is not only a chronic devastating disease which causes high rates of death directly, but also a strong risk factor for some other common chronic conditions. Currently little is known about the prevalence of diabetes in Isfahan, Iran. This research determined the prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus and its relationship with sociodemographic factors, such as gender, urbanization, education and marital status in the Iranian population.

Methods: A total of 637 men and women aged above 60 years were recruited by using a cluster-stratified sampling method from Isfahan province, center of Iran. Using an interviewer administrated questionnaire, demographical data including gender, urbanization, education and marital status data was collected. Associations of type 2 diabetes mellitus and other variables were tested for significance.

Results: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus (defined as existence of diabetes mellitus symptoms together with fasting blood sugar equal to or more than 126 mg/dL) was 18.6 percent; 12.3 percent and 21.9 percent, in men and women, respectively (P- value 0.05).

Conclusion: The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is related to some sociodemographical factors within the Iranian population. Thus the preventive strategies should be based on the affective factors. The urbanization of the population with the migration of people from rural to urban areas may account in part for the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus in Iran. Although the prevalence of diabetes mellitus does not differ between men and women in the world, it is more prevalent among women in Iranian population, and this might be due to different lifestyle pattern in Iranian women.
We would also like to acknowledge the national elite foundation that supported us attending the congress.


M&y, D.. The t '47 system as a development system for concurrent programs: 6,1 'q, Theoretical Computer Science 94 (1992) 31 l-334. The development of programs is an activity that can be based on mathematical principles and on logical framework. This short paper contains rules allowing to derive concurrent programs with respect to a given programming language. These rules are built from more elementary rules. A short example is given. In some way, we identify concurrent programs with proofs. Our system _t"P is a reformulation of the framework proposed by Chandy and Misra (1988) but our reformulation is oriented towards a development framework in a forma1 way.


M A ARY LIVES in an apart ment building that has a big sign posted, "No pets allowed." Most of the V people in the building don't have children. Mary would like to take care of some pets for friends who are going away for the summer. Her friends have a dog, a cat, a bird, four goldfish, and two gerbils. Should Mary offer to keep any of these animals for her friends? Would it make a difference if the animals in question were large or small, noisy or quiet, messy or neat? What if the animals were part of a school science experiment? Could she keep just one animal for just a few days for just one vacationing friend? If Mary were blind, could she keep a dog with her at all times? How might a group of thirdor fourth graders respond to Mary's dilemma? What would they say to the questions it raises? How can a teacher integrate a dis cussion of Mary's problem into the cur riculum?


The construction industry has an important role in the economic development of the country, especially developing countries. However, along with the increase in the construction sector, work accidents in the construction sector also increased. This accident has a negative impact on
 the project, such as loss of life, material, time, and others. The risk of workplace accidents can be prevented through a well-designed safety management system. The prevention of the workplace accidents can be done by identifying potential hazards that occur in each activity contained in
 the work breakdown structure (WBS). Identification of potential hazards is needed to be planned well so that the construction companies can take the best preventive action against any potential hazards that exist in each activity of the construction projects, so the safety performance can
 be improved. After the potential hazards have been identified, then the preventive actions are taken to control the hazards to minimize the safety risk rate. The implementation of safety programs requires costs. But there is no separate budget in this sector that make the implementation of
 the safety management is still not optimal. Thus, the financing of the safety management system was taken from the project budget, which led to a reduction in the profits of construction companies. This study aims to develop the cost of safety management system based on work breakdown structure
 on the building lower structure work. The results of this study are the standardized WBS of the lower structure of buildings, potential hazard sources in the lower structure of the building construction projects, the preventive action to each potential hazards in each activity, and finding
 the safety cost components based on work breakdown structure with the aim of improving the quality of the occupational health and safety management system and reducing work accidents in the building construction projects.