Objective: To investigate the influence of conjugested estrogen therapy of 9~10 successive weeks on cardiovascular function in postmenopausal women.Methods: The cardiovascular hemodynamic parameters were measured in 22 cases of postmenopausal women before and after conjugested estrogen therapy. Every parameter was evaluated by t test.Results: Conjugested estrogens therapy significantly decreased left ventricular end systolic volume(ESV),and increased left ventricular ejection fraction(EF) and fraction shortening(FS). Left ventricular diastolic function has no significant change pre-and post-therapy. The minimum blood velocity of left internal carotid artery,left middle cerebral artery and central retinal artery in diastolic cycle of cardio-cycle increased while pulse and resistance index decreased.Conclusion: Conjugested estrogens significantly improves heart and vascular function in postmenopausal women.


Viewpoints depend on one^s present horizons. As an individual botanist, without aid of questionnaires, I bring to your attention what to me are some significant viewpoints along the research front. I confess sharing Byron T. Shawls (1961) prediction, ^Recent events suggest that great discoveries in biology are imminent.^ And with certain reservations, I too like to think, ^The high promise of the life sciences is that the biological nature of life itself may be discovered and defined. Man must learn to use biological knowledge to plan his own destiny. His future depends on it.^ I have selected seven viewpoints and will present them, without order of priority, in an ^unnatural^ sequence. This may prevent me from lingering in one area of inquiry overlong of this somnolent day after Thanksgiving.


Bayesian decision theory has been applied generally to the problem of data sampling for static decision problems in which time is not a variable, although time may be implicitly considered. In this analysis, bayesian decision theory is extended to dynamic systems. In static systems, successive samples tend to reduce decision-making uneertainty in an absolute sense. However, in dynamic systems, uncertainty grows as a function of time between samples. Continuous or periodic sampling of data is necessary to hold uncertainty down to an acceptable level. The basic issue is the length of the sampling interval. To provide a focus for the analysis, we have selected a particular class of decision problems, namely, the production planning and control problem. Our development starts with .a simple production control problem such as a process control system. We then extend our analysis to the production planning and control problem in which the production-inventory system is designed to satisfy sales demand for the product. We use modern control theory as the vehicle for the analysis and develop our sampling concepts around bayesian decision theory. 2. The production control problem Simon, in his book Models oj Man (1957), was one of the first to recognize the potential of control theory for modelling production control. He modelled an abstract production-decision system as a simple feedbaek control system designed to maintain the inventory of finished goods at some arbitrary reference level. The purpose of the control system was to counteract disturbances to the inventory, i.e. the sales of finished goods. The problem presented here is similar, although simplified somewhat to allow the application of optimal control models.


Myasthenia gravis (MG) is a relatively rare autoimmune disorder in which antibodies form against acetylcholine (Ach) nicotinic postsynaptic receptors at the neuromuscular junction of skeletal muscles. The usual initial complaint is a muscle weakness but can also present as respiratory failure, as in our case. MG is treated with medications such as Acetylcholine-esterase (AChE) inhibitors or immunosuppresants and, in selected cases, thymectomy. Here, we present a case of 32 year old women with MG, who presented with an unexplained respiratory failure. She was stabilized with mechanical ventilation and subsequently treated with immunoglobins and thymectomy. Asian Journal of Medical Sciences Vol.7(5) 2016 100-102


THE DIELECTRIC-LOSS and power-factor method of testing insulation has been in use by many operating companies for almost 20 years for determining when new equipment meets minimum requirements for insulation and to keep equipment in use in good operating condition through adequate maintenance. The equipment for making dielectric-loss and power-factor tests consists of means for supplying a-c potential to insulation and meters, from the readings of which the power factor of the current through the insulation may be determined. This test will detect moisture, dirt, carbon deposits, carbonization of wood and other organic material, corrosion of bushing leads due to corona, and almost all insulation defects. The test is not a destructive test since voltages below operating voltage generally are used. The test sets are sufficiently rugged for field use and can be transported easily. Highly technical personnel are not required to make tests and analyze the results, but test engineers must have common sense, intelligence, and thorough knowledge of the apparatus being tested.


Acknowledgments Guide to Acronyms Introduction: Dengue in the Landscape Part One: Infrastructure Chapter 1: City of Emergencies Chapter 2: Patrons, Clients, and Parasites Part Two: Bodies Chapter 3: Householding and Evangelical Ecology Chapter 4: Mosquitos, Madres, y Moradores Part Three: Knowledge Chapter 5: Stories of Surveillance and Participation Chapter 6: Dengue Season in the City of Emergencies Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index


We examine the effect of government ownership and its associated institutional incentives on firms' earnings quality using a sample of Chinese firms during the transitional economy between 1998 and 2005 when state-owned and non-state-owned firms were traded in the stock exchanges. We find that, in China, state-owned firms exhibit a lower earnings quality property than non-state-owned firms. Particularly, state-owned firms have more earnings smoothing, more frequently managed earnings toward target, less frequent timely recognition of losses, and less value relevance, relative to non-state-owned firms. We also find that state-owned firms have significantly higher discretionary current accruals than non-state-owned firms. We conclude that the Chinese government, through its controlling ownership of state-owned firms, creates incentives and regulatory backing for self-serving purposes that negatively influence these listed firms' financial reporting.


The advent of new solutions in the agricultural, ecological, and medical fields has created excitement in each of these broad research interest areas around the world. Yet, when the potential beneficiaries of these solutions are in emerging markets, the solutions can often fail to reach these targets. Drawing on experience and research in the medical/ pharmaceutical, agriculture, and other industries the authors share insights on the importance and nature of architecting and managing change. Too often, external factors such as bureaucratic regulatory challenges, local business threats/ perceptions, inadequate media relations, and channel pathway incoherence can get in the way of the success of breakthrough thinking and new solutions. Using examples from experience, a strong case for proactively architecting change with new solutions will help society as well as the funding for future research. More research and applied practice must be done to both understand this critical dynamic as well as advance the impact of scientific discovery. Keywords—Managing Change, Emerging Markets, New


How Shall a Generation Know Its Story: The Edgar Bowers Conference and Exhibition April 11, 2003, UCLA Edgar Bowers and England by Dick Davis Anyone familiar with Edgar's poetry is aware that there is a recognizable break between the publication of Living Together, (1973), and For Louis Pasteur, (1989). We are not only talking about quite a considerable period of time (sixteen years) in which Edgar published no new collection, but there is also to some extent a break in style and subject matter between these two volumes. The relatively prolonged silence before the appearance of For Louis Pasteur can in fact be extended backwards for a few years, as Living Together is basically his first two volumes bound as one, with a handful of poems omitted, and it contains only six new poems, only one of which is of a substantial length. It seems then generally true to say that after the publication of The Astronomers (1965) Edgar entered on a relatively barren period as a poet, the end of which was signaled by the appearance of For Louis Pasteur over twenty years later. What enabled him to emerge from this barren patch, and to produce a volume that was startlingly more relaxed and personal in tone than his often lapidary and Parnassian earlier work? There cannot be a simple answer to the complicated question of why a poet writes as he does when he does, or of why he falls silent when he does. But it has been suggested by a number of people who knew Edgar well that one factor that helped him to emerge from this long poetic silence, and I emphasize it is only one factor, was his becoming friends with a group of younger British poets, who frankly admired his work more than they admired that of almost any of his contemporaries, and who, when they met him, frankly admired him as a person, and were happy to count themselves among his friends. There comes a moment in a poet's life – in my own much more modest way I find I've reached it myself – when the admiration of the young is more gratifyingly sweet to the soul, and more productive of that minimal confidence a poet needs to be able to work well, than all the plaudits of one's masters and contemporaries. Here I find I am on tricky ground, because I and a few of my friends are the British poets in question. For this reason, when it was suggested to me that I speak on this topic today I at first flatly refused to do so, as I was sure my talking about such a subject could only seem self-serving. I was persuaded to do so however, as it was felt that a brief account of Edgar's connections with a younger generation of poets from across the Atlantic, and the apparently salutary effect that this had on his ability to write once again, might be of interest. Nevertheless I am still aware of the awkwardness of the situation, and I apologize for its unavoidable pushing of my own very minor role in Edgar's life into the foreground for a moment. The poets in question are myself, Robert Wells, Clive Wilmer, and Michael Vince. All four of us went up to King's College, Cambridge in the 1960's, where we all read English under Tony Tanner, though Robert Wells started out by reading Classics. We became friends as undergraduates, or shortly after going down, and have remained friends since that time. Edgar has written poems about three of us: I am the subject of "On Dick Davis's Reading, California State University, Los Angeles", Clive is the subject of "On Clive Wilmer's Visit to the Wildfowl Refuge", Rob is the subject of "On


Abstract This study numerically investigated the flow return system performances of two-stage high pressure fans. The parameters include inflow angle, length, exit width of vaneless diffuser and the blade number of deswirl vane. This study used the tested impeller to verify the accuracy of numerical calculations, with good consistency. The analytic results showed that the overall pressure loss of impeller and flow return system is effectively reduced when the inflow angle of vaneless diffuser is 15° and tangential to wheel velocity ratio is 0.46. A vaneless diffuser was required and its length referred to the maximum outer diameter of the volute casing. The performance of a contracted-wall vaneless diffuser was not improved over that of a parallel-wall one. The suggested number of blades in a deswirl vane was 12. The downstream affects the upstream in several areas inside the flow return system, thus, the flow return system must be calculated integrally.


The article is based on the analysis of current approaches to management, regulatory and legal framework of education, shows ways to identify organizational and pedagogical conditions for effective management of educational systems. It is noted that the basis for efficient management of educational systems that target the installation of the Russian education system and the selected management approaches to managing the organization as a whole.


Most existing optimization methods for analog circuits focus on the accuracy of their performance modeling techniques, which results in complicated and non-intuitive models such as high order polynomials or high rank matrices. These models may give designers good estimates on circuit performance, but not sufficient insight into the circuit behavior, as "black-box" optimization approaches often lead to pathological cases. In addition, having high-order polynomial terms will also cause problems related to over-fitting. In this paper a new approach of systematically selecting critical polynomial terms for any given equation is proposed. Utilizing random forests, this approach examines the importance of each polynomial term in a model, and removes terms according to the current and target fit values of the model. The results of applying this approach to a folded differential-in-differential-out amplifier and a two-stage differential-in-differential-out amplifier with common-mode feedback show that the sizes of performance models can be reduced without sacrificing modeling accuracy. Such a complexity reduction will provide a better insight into the trends and behavioral characteristics of the circuit under optimization.


The fatigue damage evolution of a thermo-mechanically graded material is investigated within the framework of an ongoing collaborative research center (SFB/TR TRR 30). The first results are presented which deal with the fatigue behavior of a flange shaft. The base material is a CrV-alloyed heat treatable steel in an engineering condition. The steel has a nearly fully pearlitic microstructure in the initial state, i.e. in an annealed condition. A martensite phase is formed in parts of the flange rod in the course of the thermo-mechanical treatment. The fatigue behavior of the different regions and their damage mechanisms leading to failure are identified. A procedure of determining the lifetime of the flange shaft is presented.


SUMMARY A prospective study was carried out to investigate acquired colour-vision deficits in diabetics using an automated, compnter-controU ed, cathode-ray-tube based test of chromatic contrast. Chromatic-contra st thresholds estimates were measured along both a red/ green (constant S-cone) confusion axis and a tritan (constant MIL-cone) confusion axis for 305 eyes of 305 diabetics. The diabetic data were partitioned into groups based on a clinical categorisation of retinopathy. The diabetic data were compared with both age matched and 'lens-equated' control data obtained from a bank of 347 normal subjects. Further analysis of differences between diabetic-status groups was performed. Associations between chromatic contrast threshold estimates and age, duration of disease, and severity of both macular oedema and ischaemia were investigated. The diabetic group was found to have significantly reduced chromatic-contras t threshold esti mates when compared with normal controls, even in the absence of retinopathy. This reduction in chromatic contrast was predominantly tritanopic in nature. Inter estingly, no reduction in red/green chromatic-contrast threshold estimate was found in diabetics without retinopathy. The tritan deficit seen in diabetics without retinopathy was strongly correlated with duration of disease, but when adjustments were made to account for the effects of duration-depende nt lens yellowing, the tritan deficit was no longer apparent. A correlation between both the severity of macular oedema and severity of ischaemia with chromatic-contras t loss was established. Acquired reductions in both red/green and tritan chromatic-contrast threshold estimates seen in diabetics are strongly correlated with the severity of retinopathy. The results provide evidence that the specific tritan deficits seen in diabetics can be explained by the effects of lens yellowing rather than by selective


Salmonella Enteritidis is still a major cause of human food borne infections and can be associated with the consumption of meat and chicken eggs. It is the world's most common cause of salmonellosis in part because it has the ability to colonize the oviduct and contaminate eggs. It was shown that when stored at room temperature, S. Enteritidis bacteria can multiply extensively in contaminated eggs. Using the in vivo expression technology, it was shown that the rfbH gene, involved in lipopolysaccharide O‐antigen synthesis, is transcriptionally induced during growth in whole eggs at room temperature. A S. Enteritidis ΔrfbH strain was unable to multiply in eggs at room temperature and did not survive in egg white at 42°C. The attenuation was most likely caused by an increased susceptibility of the ΔrfbH mutant to yet undefined antibacterial components of the egg albumen.


Overview of speech presented at the Belfast Ladies' Association meeting arguing the speaker's belief that art, culture and religion had their origins in Africa. (Includes MP3 audio file.)


Objective:To explore the short-term result and clinical application of ceramic-on-metal total hip arthroplasty and evaluate its safety and efficacy.Methods:From February 2007 to January 2009,31 hips in 26 patients(11 males and 15 females,ranging in age from 41 to 75 years,with an average of 54.5 years)were treated with ceramic-on-metal total hip arthroplasty,including 14 case of osteonecrosis(ON),4 cases of osteoarthritis(OA),3 cases of fresh femoral neck fracture,3 cases of congenital hip dysplasia(CDH),and 2 cases of rheumatoid arthritis(RA).X-ray examination was done before and after the operation in all patients,meanwhile,hip function and Harris hip score were performed to evaluate the clinical effect.Results:All the incisions healed well and there were no complications.All patients obtained follow-up and the average time was 10.5 months(9~12 months).X-ray examination showed thatthe positions of the prostheses were normal,and hip function was largely improved,with Harris score significantly increased.Conclusion:Ceramic-on-metal total hip arthroplasty has the characteristics of minimum deformation of acetabular cup,low wearing,large range of motion and few dislocations.It offers a new and valuable technique for treatment of ON,OA,femoral neck fracture,CHD and RA with the higher requirement of movement after the operation.


This paper introduces the types of gray information resources,and in the light of the problems existing in copyright protection of gray information resources,advances some concrete measures.


To address the difficult technology problem on volume & weight measurement of powder heaps, the author designed a measurement method based on 3D laser scanning to catch point cloud on the surface of the heap, proposed the volume & weight algorithm and an improved Delaunay triangulation algorithm, developed the computer hardware system, control software and web application programs, and realized 3D laser scanning, 3D reconstruction, the volume & weight computing, and remote access to the result data.


This paper deals with built-in folded dipole antenna (BFDA) and the built-in folded monopole antenna (BFMA) have been introduced and analyzed. Those antennas have folded dipole and monopole element, respectively. They can be built in a small volume and placed very close to the rectangular ground plane (GP), which represents a shielding plate used in the handset unit. A folded loop is essentially a two-wire transmission line, folded at about a quarter-wavelength to foam an equivalent half-wave folded dipole, and yet appears as a one-wavelength loop antenna, from which the antenna is referred to as a folded loop. In this paper, the parameters related to the feed structure are optimized in order to obtain a wider bandwidth for the BFDA system, and the fundamental performances are analyzed in both theoretically and experimentally.


AbstractThis paper summarizes the successful use of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-10 (GOES-10) and -12 (GOES-12), mainly beyond their retirement as operational satellites in the United States, in support of meteorological activities in South America (SA). These satellites were maneuvered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to approximately 60°W, enabling other countries in Central and South America to benefit from their ongoing measurements. The extended usefulness of GOES-10 and -12 was only possible as a result of a new image geolocalization system developed by NOAA for correcting image distortions and evaluated in collaboration with the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research. The extension allowed GOES-10 and -12 to monitor SA for an additional 7 years proving the efficiency of this navigation capability implemented for the first time in the GOES series well beyond the expected satellites' lifetime. Such successful capability is incorporated in the...


Tao Yuanming,the famous poet in the Eastern Jin Dynasty,is the initiator of the idyll.He advocated the nature,persevered the crude hut,expressed feelings in the rural area.Though the poem draws materials in ordinary daily life,it contains the extraordinary and refined philosophy of life.The language of Tao Yuanming's idyll poems is honest and natural,and the ideal condition is pulling out vulgar.And the unique aesthetic style of scene combining truth in his idyll poems opens up a new world for the poem development of China.


The Guidelines for the Assessment of Dents on Welds describes a method for evaluating the serviceability of pipeline girth welds affected by otherwise plain, shallow indentations that are free to reround under pressure. The user makes a cumulative fatigue damage assessment, considering the effects of dent size, weld quality, and the severity of the pipeline operating pressure spectrum. An accompanying diskette provides a rainflow cycle-counting algorithm for use in evaluating the operating pressure spectrum, along with other spreadsheet tools to facilitate the analysis. The serviceability is established by an estimate of the pressure-fatigue life of the weld-dent combination. Examples are presented. Field inspection and repair issues are also discussed.


Dichloropropanol is mostly determined by gas chromatography(GC) or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC/MS).This review presented the results of the ability verification program for determining dichloropropanol in soy sauce organized by Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People's Republic of China(CNCA)and analyzed the influential factors of the result such as standard substances,sample processing,operating conditions of instruments,data processing,etc.


This paper analyses the role of Human Resource Management practices on Organizational Performance and Employee Retention. Human Resource Management Practices play an important role in retaining an organization's employee and also in increasing organizational performance. In this study a conceptual mode is developed and this conceptual model is supported by several researchers. There is a lot of research on HR Practices now-a-days. Though there is little research in HR Practices regarding Pakistan but now it's emerging also in Pakistan. Key Words: HR Practices, Employee Retention, organizational performance, Pakistan


Review(s) of: Lost in translation: The English language and the catholic mass, by Gerald O'Collins, with John Wilkins (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press Academic, 2017), pp. 122, paperback, $29.95.


This article reports surprising accomplishments of teachers who, despite overwhelming obstacles, are creating new learning opportunities for their students and are taking advantage of electronic technologies to support those innovations. Prior research has found that certain conditions should exist in a school for teachers to pursue professional development so they can implement useful applications of technologies in their classrooms. Examples of these conditions include administrative leadership, shared vision, opportunities for reflection and collaboration, a long-term professional development plan, and other supportive conditions. However, in many schools those desired conditions do not exist and there are formidable obstacles to creating those conditions. This report summarizes some of the findings of a research project conducted over a period of two and a half years with about 100 teachers in a pre-k-12 school complex that is part of a large, hierarchical school system. Teachers having a common vision fo r innovative practices worked in small teams to plan, implement, and evaluate new practices in their classrooms and school community. In this article some aspects of these innovations are described. Essential elements of the strategies Vanguard for Learning used for professional development are described and factors contributing to the teachers' ability to make such dramatic accomplishments "against the odds" are described. Ways in which these strategies can be adapted in other school settings are suggested. Context Teachers are being asked to learn new methods of teaching, while at the same time are facing even greater challenges of rapidly increasing technological changes and greater diversity in the classroom... [given such challenges] relatively few teachers (20%) report feeling well prepared to integrate educational technology into classroom instruction. (US Department of Education, 1999a). The importance of teacher development with respect to technology is recognized by many. The US federal government has created initiatives and funding opportunities for local education agencies to implement "continuous professional development for teachers, administrators, and other individuals to further the use of technology in the classroom, library, or learning settings in the community." (US Department of Education, 1999b). Over the past fifteen years or so, educators, researchers, and technologists have documented principles that serve as a foundation for successful professional development practices. (Loucks-Horsley, Hewson, Love, & Stiles, 1998; Becker, 1999; Coley, Cradler, & Engel, 1997; Means & Olson, 1995; Brand, 1998; National Foundation for the Improvement of Education (NFIE), 1996; NFIE, 1998; Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), 1995; CEO Forum on Education & Technology, 1999; Coughlin & Lemke, 1999). The research reported in this article corroborates many factors that have been found by oth ers to be important in teachers' professional development and successful implementation of new pedagogies and technologies in the classroom. This study is, in addition, very sobering with respect to the difficulty or perhaps impossibility of creating those desired and essential conditions in a large school system. Structural, cultural, and political characteristics of a school system may be such that it is unlikely to resolve fundamental obstacles in the near term, despite valiant efforts of some administrators. This study provides a theory of action and evidence of dramatic successes achieved through short-term strategies that can be adapted for use in other school communities. SCHOOL SYSTEM CONTEXT: DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE EDUCATION ACTIVITY (DODEA) The DoDEA is comprised of the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) and the Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools (DDESS). DoDDS serves dependents of US military and civilian employees in foreign countries. …


The aim of this present article is to improve an effective model for analyzing the mechanical properties of hybrid smart composites in a fully coupled magneto-electro-elastic field. To this end, a three-dimensional micromechanical model is established by employing the displacement continuity, electric potential continuity, and magnetic potential continuity among adjacent sub-cells in a representative volume element. The numerical results of the effective elastic constants for three-dimensional smart composites, as well as continuous fiber-reinforced composites, are validated by the finite element method. On this basis, the micromechanical theory is employed at each integration point along lamina thickness for establishing the model of smart composite laminates. The numerical results revealed that the mechanical properties of piezoelectric–piezomagnetic hybrid smart composites are closely dependent on working temperature, and the internal force tends to be decreased with the raising of working temperature.


Android is most popular due to its victim. When upload & download any apk file in android then with there are some of malicious activity are operated with android. However, for gets a security of android application, some proposals are performed. Some technologies are like to using cloud computing and data mining concepts. Mobsafe is the way that performs the methodology regarding with Cloudbroid is a mobile application proposed for cloudStack which provides user friendly interface on a mobile phone. Mobsafe is also gives us faamac i.e. forensic analysis of android mobile applications using cloud computing and K-Means algorithm for selective sort of malevolent android applications. We targeted for achieve mobile application security in android mobile.


Objective To explore the possibility of expression for human transforming growth factor beta1(hTGF-β1) in transfected human adipose-derived stem cells(ADSCs) by adeno-hTGF-β1 . Methods An adenovirus expression vector for hTGF-β1 was applied to infect ADSCs after encapsulation and proliferation in 293 cells. Seventy two hours after transfection,RT-PCR was used to determine the hTGF-β1 mRNA expression,immunocytochemistry was employed to detect the hTGF-β1 protein in the transfected ADSCs,and ELISA was adopted to quantify the amount of hTGF-β1 protein in the cultural medium from transfected ADSCs . Results Seventy two hours after transfection,hTGF-β1 mRNA was effectively expressed in ADSCs,the massive hTGF-β1 expression was found in cytoplasm of ADSCs infected with adeno-hTGF-β1 by immunocytochemistry,hTGF-β1 gene transfection resulted in about 3.85-fold increases of hTGF-β1 protein secretion( 0.05) by ELASA analysis. Conclusion ADSCs can express and secret hTGF-β1 protein after hTGF-β1 gene transfection,which is a foundation for the application of hTGF-β1 gene-transfected ADSCs in the cartilage tissue engineering.


Abstract Background The clinical behaviors and cytogenetics of solitary uterine leiomyomas (SUL) and multiple uterine leiomyomas (MUL) vary. Our previous study demonstrated that miR-146b-5p played important roles in the development of SUL and MUL. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can participate in the pathogenesis of several diseases by regulating microRNAs; however, their roles in regulating miR-146b-5b and in the pathology of leiomyomas are unclear. Methods Pair-matched uterine leiomyoma and adjacent normal myometrium tissue samples were collected from 37 patients with leiomyomas, including 15 with SUL and 22 with MUL. Six paired samples were used for lncRNAs microarray analysis. Targeted lncRNAs were selected by bioinformatics analysis, and were verified by qRT-PCR and a dual-luciferase reporter assay.Growth curve analysis and qRT-PCR were used to evaluate the effect of silencing the lncRNA lnc-AL445665.1-4 on cell proliferation and miR-146b-5p expression, respectively. Results Fifty-five of the selected lncRNAs were predicted to target miR-146b-5p. Four lncRNAs were selected after Venn diagram analysis showing common dysregulation in the three groups. Lnc-AL445665.1-4 was selected for further exploration. qRT-PCR showed that lnc-AL445665.1-4 expression was significantly up-regulated in MUL compared with SUL in an additional 12 and 19 paired SUL-normal and MUL-normal samples, respectively. The dual-luciferase reporter assaydemonstrated the presence of binding sites on lnc-AL445665.1 for miR-146b-5p. Silencing lnc-AL445665.1-4 not only inhibited cell proliferation but also negatively regulated the expression of miR-146b-5p. Conclusions Our results suggest that lnc-AL445665.1-4 may be involved in the development of MUL by interacting with miR-146b-5p. Lnc-AL445665.1-4 could be a novel target for genetic therapy or serve as a biomarker for predicting the recurrence of MUL in patients that have undergone myomectomy. Legal entity responsible for the study Zhengyu Li and E. Yang. Funding Has not received any funding. All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.


One disease presents as electrical jolts that sporadically seize the brain, the other as forgetfulness and disorientation that progressively worsen. "At first pass, you'd think they are different universes," said Helen Scharfman, Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, Orangeburg, New York, in a symposium on epilepsy and Alzheimer disease (AD) at the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) annual meeting held 17–21 October 2009 in Chicago. In the past two years, however, a closer look at these two conditions has revealed some fundamental similarities. "In both diseases, neuronal activity has gone awry in timing and synchronization," Scharfman told the assembly of epilepsy and AD researchers. The symposium's four presentations, as well as several posters on the topic, gave attendees plenty to chew on – highlighting links in electrophysiology, epidemiology, and animal models of the two diseases. "We believe there is some compelling clinical and experimental evidence suggesting that there could be an overlap between epilepsy and dementia, and that there could be a fruitful ground for collaboration for investigators in these areas," said symposium organizer Lennart Mucke of the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease in San Francisco, California. Mucke and colleagues provided the spark for this interface when they teamed up with epileptologist Jeffrey Noebels of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, to reveal epileptiform activity in an AD mouse model [1]. These abnormal discharges escape casual observation but readily showed up in electroencephalography (EEG) recordings done on freely moving J20 mice. "This confirmed our suspicion that, against what people expected, amyloid-β (Aβ) wasn't shutting the network down," Mucke told the SfN audience. Instead, Aβ was inducing peaks of overexcitation, which then trigger suppressive mechanisms, he suggested. "The system flips and flops between these states, resulting in an imbalance between overexcitation and inhibitory pathways in memory centers that we predict are key components of AD pathophysiology," Mucke said. His laboratory then asked whether this network instability affects adult neurogenesis. Using retrovirus to label newborn neurons in the dentate gyrus of J20 mice, the researchers followed the cells' morphological and functional development from birth. The newborn granule cells seemed to develop on a fast track in the early stages, but later their maturation slowed down as compared to wild-type granule cells, Mucke reported. His team was able to restore normal neurogenesis by either blocking GABAergic signaling early on or inhibiting calcineurin at later stages [2]. In addition to demonstrating that the network instability in AD mice has functional consequences, Mucke noted that his laboratory has found sodium channel abnormalities in J20 inhibitory interneurons. These findings, currently under review, could help reconcile the conundrum that Aβ,which is thought to dampen synaptic activity [3], can in fact make networks hyperactive. If inhibitory interneurons are impaired, the end result is network disinhibition, Mucke told the Alzheimer


A multi-scale modeling framework (MMF), which replaces the conventional cloud parameterizations with a cloud-resolving model (CRM) in each grid column of a GCM, constitutes a new and promising approach. The MMF can provide for global coverage and two-way interactions between the CRMs and their parent GCM. The GCM allows global coverage and the CRM allows explicit simulation of cloud processes and their interactions with radiation and surface processes. A new MMF has been developed that is based the Goddard finite volume GCM (fvGCM) and the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) model. This Goddard MMF produces many features that are similar to another MMF that was developed at Colorado State University (CSU), such as an improved .surface precipitation pattern, better cloudiness, improved diurnal variability over both oceans and continents, and a stronger, propagating Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO) compared to their parent GCMs using conventional cloud parameterizations. Both MMFs also produce a precipitation bias in the western Pacific during Northern Hemisphere summer. However, there are also notable differences between two MMFs. For example, the CSU MMF simulates less rainfall over land than its parent GCM. This is why the CSU MMF simulated less overall global rainfall than its parent GCM. The Goddard MMF overestimates global rainfall because of its oceanic component. Some critical issues associated with the Goddard MMF are presented in this paper.


A metamaterial (MTM)-based thin planar lens antenna is proposed for spatial beamforming and multibeam massive multiple-input multiple-output systems. The antenna consists of a planar lens and a linear array of receive/transmit elements. To lower the insertion and reflection loss, the lens is formed by the two-layered ultrathin MTM-based surface separated with air and fed by substrate integrated waveguide-fed stacked-patch antennas. The effects of the focal-to-diameter ( $f/D$ ) on the power distribution of the lens are investigated to work out a design method. A planar lens antenna fed with seven elements is, for example, designed to operate at 28-GHz bands. The measured results show that the proposed antenna can achieve a scanning coverage of ±27° with a gain tolerance of 3.7 dB and a maximum gain of 24.2 dBi with an aperture efficiency of 24.5% over the operating bandwidth of 26.6–29 GHz. The lens antenna also features the advantages of compact size, low cost, lightweight, simple feeding network, and easy integration with other circuits for the next generation mobile communication and radar systems.


and clues regarding histogenesis. Neurosurgery 2004; 54: 753–8. 7. Kowalski RJ, Prayson RA, Mayberg MR. Pituicytoma. Ann Diagn Pathol 2004; 8: 290–4. 8. Takei H, Goodman JC, Tanaka S, et al. Pituicytoma incidentally found at autopsy. Pathol Int 2005; 55: 745–9. 9. Shah B, Lipper MH, Laws ER, et al. Posterior pituitary astrocytoma: a rare tumor of the neurohypophysis: a case report. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2005; 26: 1858–61. 10. Nakasu Y, Nakasu S, Saito A, et al. Pituicytoma. Two case reports. Neurol Med Chir (Tokyo) 2006; 46: 152–6. 11. Benveniste RJ, Purohit D, Byun H. Pituicytoma presenting with spontaneous hemorrhage. Pituitary 2006; 9: 53–8. 12. Gibbs WN, Monuki ES, Linskey ME et al. Pituicytoma: diagnostic features on selective carotid angiography and MR imaging. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 2006; 27: 1639–42.


A tieing device in the form of a wire element preferably made of spring steel consists of a straight piece of wire with an elbow and two hooks facing in opposite directions. The wire element is simple and inexpensive to manufacture and furthermore simple to apply. An apparatus for fitting the wire elements uses a particular oblique placement of a wire element magazine and two plungers, one of which displaces the wire element sideways and the other subsequently pushes one hook under one of the reinforcing rods.


Ahenfelter, O. C. and R. J. LaLonde (eds.) (1996) The Economics of Training, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Becker, G. S. (1962) 'Investment in human capital: A theoretical analysis', Journal of Political Economy, 70: 9-49. Becker, G. S. (1964) Human Capital, New York: National Bureau of Economic Research. Winterton, J. and R. Winterton (1994) Collective Bargaining and Consultation over Continuing Vocational Training, Sheffield: Employment Department RM.7.


Abstract : Although most members of the military services are well-served by regulation garment sizes, a small percentage of men and women require custom-made clothing. Measurements of individuals requiring these garments are currently recorded on written forms, and sent to the Special Measurement Office of the Defense Supply Center-Philadelphia (DSC-P) where they are processed. Problems inherent in the use of written forms can result in failure to deliver uniforms in a timely fashion and the need for costly returns and replacements. This report describes a portion of the research invested in the development of an electronic order form (EOF) that would greatly expedite the design, manufacture, and delivery of special measurement clothing. The activity described here concerns itself chiefly with the development of editing algorithms designed to produce complete and accurate information on the electronic form. Other work briefly outlined here includes checking the accuracy of measurement instructions and development of a scaled-down version of the order form (EOF Lite) for use on individual personal computers.


The peculiarities of tungsten whisker growth by the diffusion-dislocation and vapour-liquid-solid mechanisms are studied. The model accounts for the basic physical causes of whisker growth in halogen lamps observed in experiments. The simulation by the Monte Carlo technique takes into account local supersaturation fluctuations, caused by certain impurities, their frequency of appearance and their duration. The role of impurities in each of the growth mechanisms is shown and proved by the morphology of whiskers obtained in experiments.

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Objective: Variants of esophageal carcinoma such as sarcomatoid carcinoma and neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) of esophagus are rare presentations. This is a retrospective case series of 11 cases of carcinoma esophagus with atypical pathological presentation. Materials and Methods: The study period was from March 2016 to January 2019. Survival was estimated using Kaplan–Meier survival analysis method and comparison between groups made using log-rank test. P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant at 95% confidence interval. Results: Eleven patients were included in the study, of which eight patients were of NEC of esophagus and three patients of sarcomatoid carcinoma of esophagus. The mean age of patients was 52.27 years. The overall survival at the end of the study was 0% as all patients in study were dead, overall median survival was 4.5 months. Patients who received palliative chemotherapy had median survival of 3 months, with palliative radiotherapy survival was 5 months. Treatment with chemotherapy + radiotherapy had median survival of 6 months and 2 months of median survival with supportive care. Conclusion: Esophageal NECs are rare and have aggressive presentation as seen in our study, all of our patients presented in advanced stage and multimodality treatment confers a better survival. Sarcomatoid carcinoma of esophagus usually presents at early stage and has better prognosis when compared to squamous cell carcinoma of esophagus, our patients presented at an advanced stage. Adequate pre-operative stabilization, multimodality treatment is a key for better outcome. Further large sample studies are needed to find out optimal treatment modalities.


Vietnam's mining industry has a long history with mines distributed throughout the country. Ithas contributed significantly to national economic growth. However, it also causes negative impacts onthe environment, thereby affecting sustainable development and mineral resource management.Therefore, mineral resource management is one of the most critical tasks of state management. The factorsthat directly affect this issue are the institutional system and state management tools by the law. Stateinstitutions are an essential tool to regulate behaviors and establish social orders and disciplines in allfields, including mineral resources management. This article presents the current law on managing andexploiting mineral resources to provide orientations and solutions to improve the state institution on theseactivities in Vietnam. Based on clarifying the theory of state institutions and analyzing the current legaldocument systems in Viet Nam, the paper emphasizes the role of appraisal in improving the quality oflegal documents and perfecting state institutions.


AIDS, a new lethal communicable disease syndrome, has rapidly developed into a world-wide pandemic affecting some I38 countries, including fortythree in Africa. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which causes AIDS is transmitted from infected persons by sexual contact, blood, and vertically from mother to foetus. In Central Africa, where infection occurs primarily as a result of heterosexual intercourse with an infected partner, women tend to predominate among both HIV-infected (seropositive) persons and identified AIDS cases.1 Eight to thirty per cent of sexually active adults in some cities were reported to be HIV-infected in 1988. Although infection is not confined to special risk groups, rates are higher in selected subsets of the population particularly prostitutes, their clients, and others with multiple sexual partners. Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), especially those with open sores, increase chances of HIV infection. Other endemic diseases that are known to activate or weaken the immune system may result in increased susceptibility to HIV infection or to disease in exposed persons. Since most of those infected will eventually progress to fatal disease, the future health and survival of millions are compromised. In Kinshasa, a city of more than three million inhabitants, those already infected may number as many as 150 ooo. Estimated as affecting eight to ten percent of adults in 1986, infection is growing at more than one percent a year. AIDS deaths will not only strain health resources and add to economic hardship;


The purpose of this descriptive study is to perform macroscopical and microscopical evaluations in 23 canine colon, among one and five years, who arrived to Clinica Veterinaria de Proteccion Animal Ecuador. The clinical examination was performed, and they were without solids and liquid for 24 hours. Dogs with fecal material need one or more enemas. The equipment was a flexible video endoscope: Videopath Welchallyn Vlx-100. The mucosa was evaluated and 4 – 5 samples were taken to be analyzed. The results showed that the 60,86% (n=14/23) of the dogs were mongrel dogs and 39,13% (n=9/23) were purebred dogs. The 69,56% (n=16/23) of dogs were females and 30,43% (n=7/23) were males. Macroscopically endoscopic findings included the 95,65% (n=22/23) in which there were not changes in mucosa, and one case 4,35% (n=1/23) in which mucosa was inflamed and friable. Microscopically the results showed that the 30,43 % (n=7/23) has a mild crypt hyperplasia, the 34,78% (n=8/23) had dilatation and light distortion of crypts. The 56,52% (n=13/23) had mild fibrosis and atrophy and the 13,04% (n=3/23) had moderate, the 39,13% (n=9/23) had a slight amount of lymphocytes and plasma cells in lamina propria and the 4,35% (n=1/23) of dogs had moderate amount, only the 4,35% (n=1/23) had mild increase of eosinophil, being a eosinophilic colitis. There were no changes in neutrophils and acrophages amount. As a conclusion, the exam results showed that 52,17% (n=12/23) dogs had a mild focal lymphoplasmocytic colitis, being the most affected dogs of one year 17,49% (n=4/7) and two years old13,05% (n=3/6).


Recently, deep learning has developed rapidly and contributed in many fields like the classification in radar and sonar applications. In some special fields like the underwater acoustic signals, the dataset for training may be scarce due to the reason of security or other restrictions, which affects the performance of the deep learning methods as those need a big dataset to ensure high accuracy. Furthermore, the original dataset is in some formats like audio, which makes those methods difficult to capture features, especially in insufficient sample case because of the interference. This paper presents a novel framework that applies the LOFAR spectrum for preprocessing to retain key features and utilises improved Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) for the expansion of samples to improve the performance classification. Traditional convolutional GANs generate high-resolution details as a function of only spatially local points in lower-resolution feature maps. In our method, details can be generated using cues from all feature locations. Moreover, the discriminator can check that highly detailed features in distant portions of the image are consistent with each other. The experimental results show that the generated samples have high quality, which can significantly improve the classification accuracy of the neural models.


Foreword by David MarcPart I Post 9/11, Post Modern, or Just Post Network? 1 The State of Satire, the Satire of State Jonathan Gray, Jeffrey P. Jones, and Ethan Thompson 2 With All Due RespectJeffrey P. Jones 3 Tracing the "Fake" Candidate in American Television ComedyHeather Osborne-ThompsonPart II Fake News, Real Funny 4 And Now ... the News? Mimesis and the Real in The Daily ShowAmber Day 5 Jon Stewart and The Daily ShowJoanne Morreale 6 Stephen Colbert's Parody of the Postmodern Geoffrey BaymPart III Building in the Critical Rubble 7 Throwing Out the Welcome Mat: Public Figures as Guests and Victims in TV SatireJonathan Gray 8 Speaking "Truth" to Power? Television Satire, Rick Mercer Report, and the Politics of Place and SpaceSerra Tinic 9 Why Mitt Romney Won't Debate a Snowman Henry JenkinsPart IV Shock and Guffaw 10 Good Demo, Bad Taste Ethan Thompson 11 In the Wake of "The Nigger Pixie"Bambi Haggins 12 Of Niggas and CitizenAvi SantoAbout the Contributors Index


Multiple forms of aspartate transaminase from cytosol of pig heart (alpha, beta and psi) were incubated in 0.05 M acetate buffer, pH 5.0 at 4 degrees within 5 and 8 months. Gradual accumulation of denaturated forms was observed on incubation of alpha- and beta-forms; these forms possessed higher mobility in polyacrylamide gel disc electrophoresis and decreased enzymatic activity as compared with the native forms. Multiple forms, produced during ageing of alpha-form, were separated by chromatography on CM-cellulose. Chromatographic resolution of the forms, their activity and spectral properties suggest that they are not identical with the native isoenzymes found in the cell.


Finding the stationary states of a free energy functional is an essential topic in multicomponent material systems. In this paper, we propose a class of efficient numerical algorithms to fast compute the stationary states of multicomponent phase field crystal model. Our approach formulates the problem as solving a constrained non-convex minimization problem. By using the block structure of multicomponent systems, we propose an adaptive block Bregman proximal gradient algorithm that updates each order parameter alternatively. The updating block can be chosen in a deterministic or random manner. The convergence property of the proposed algorithm is established without the requirement of global Lipschitz constant. The numerical results on computing stationary periodic crystals and quasicrystals in the multicomponent coupled-mode Swift-Hohenberg model have shown the significant acceleration over many existing methods.


The aim of the studies carried out in the years 2008–2010 was to determine the effect of tillage methods (traditional and simplified) and nurturing chemical (using herbicides and mixtures of herbicides; Command 480 EC – 0.25 l/ha, Butoxone M 400 SL – 3.0 l/ha, Fusilade Forte 150 EC – 1.5 l/ha) on weed infestation and yield of pea cultivar Merlin. Used in the experiment method of tillage and herbicides, and their mixtures had a positive effect and decreased air-dry weight of weeds and at the same time increased the yield and weight of a thousand seeds of pea.


The relationship between temperature and O^(18) content relative to that for a Cretaceous belemnite of the Pee Dee formation previously reported (Epstein, Buchsbaum, Lowenstam, and Urey, 1951) has been re-determined using modified procedures for removing organic matter from shells, and is found to be
t(°C) = 16.5 - 4.3δ + 0.14δ^2
where δ is the difference in per mil of the O^(18) to O^(16) ratio between the sample and reference gas. The new relationship agrees with that determined by McCrea (1950) for inorganically precipitated calcium carbonate. Carbonate-carbon dioxide exchange experiments were done to determine the direct and indirect effects of organic matter in the shell on the mass spectrometer analyses.


Neurons have long cytoplasmic extensions, the axons, which in vertebrates such as man or whales may reach a length of several meters. How these extensions develop, how materials pass from the cell body to the periphery, and how one cell recognizes another are central questions in neurobiology. Electron-microscope studies of the axon reveal an array of filamentous networks. These filaments can be divided into three major groups according to their diameter: microtubules (25 nm), microfilaments (5-6 nm), and neurofilaments, also known as 10-nm filaments [49, 122, 124, 127, 134, 1541. Long slender mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and small vesicles are also present in the axon [154]. The morphological identification of the structural elements of the axon raises questions about their functions in the formation and maintenance of the axonal shape.


Catastrophic disruption is a possible outcome of high-speed collisions in the solar system. The critical energy density Q* (impact energy/mass of the target), which is taken to mark the onset of catastrophic disruption, occurs when the largest intact fragment post-impact is 50% of the original target mass. Studies of Q* usually suppose the target body is a solid, rigid object. However, what if the body has a rigid shell and a hollow interior? Here, hollow ice spheres (a diameter of 19–20 cm with an ice thickness of 2.5–3.6 cm) were impacted at speeds up to ∼5 km s−1. Catastrophic disruption occurred at Q* ∼ 25.5 ± 0.5 J kg−1, greater than that for similar size solid, or water-filled ice spheres (16–18 J kg−1). However, while the Q* value has increased, the actual impact energy associated with the new value of Q* has not, and the change in Q* arises due to the lower mass of the hollow target bodies.


Objective To investigate the effect of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase(PI3K) inhibitor wortmannin on migration and invasion of human thyroid follicular carcinoma cell line CGTHW-1 and its mechanism.Methods MTT colorimetric assay was used to select the optimal concentration and time of giving wortmannin.CGTHW-1 cells used in present study were divided into control group and experimental group(cultured in the medium with or without blood serum).Cells of experimental group were treated with wortmannin,and that of control group were given no treatment.The migration and invasion ability of CGTHW-1 cells was detected by scratch test and Transwell chamber assay respectively.Microfilament fluorescence staining with fluorescein isothiocyanate(FITC)-labeled phalloidin was performed to observe the morphologic changes in CGTHW-1 cells.The expressions of Rac1 protein and mRNA in CGTHW-1 cells were examined by immunocytochemistry staining and semiquantitative RT-PCR.Results When CGTHW-1 cells were cultured in serum medium,the migrating speed of the cells slowed down,and the number of cells passing through the Transwell chamber reduced significantly after being treated with wortmannin in experimental group(13.8±3.03) than in control group(41.6±6.95,P0.01).The expression of protein and mRNA of Rac1 was significantly down-regulated in CGTHW-1 cells after wortmannin treatment(P0.05).However,when cells were cultured in serum-free medium,no significant difference was found in the migration and invasion ability between the two groups(P0.05).Conclusions Wortmannin can effectively depress the migration and invasion of human thyroid follicular carcinoma cells,and the depression effect may be due to cytoskeleton rearrangement induced by inhibiting the expression of Rac1(the downstream molecule of PI3K).PI3K and Rac1 are probably potential targets for human thyroid cancer treatment,which may provide a theoretical evidence for the drug treatment of thyroid cancer.


This is to certify that the thesis entitled "A STUDY ON ORGANISATIONAL ROLE STRESS AND ITS IMPACT ON JOB PERFORMANCE OF EMPLOYEES OF IT COMPANIES IN BANGALORE" submitted to Periyar University, Salem 636 011 in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Commerce is a record of original and independent research work done by G.A.SUDERSHAN during the period of study (2006 2012) in the Department of Commerce, Sri Sarada College for Women (Autonomous), Salem 636 016 under my supervision and guidance and the thesis has not previously formed the basis for the award of any other Degree/Diploma/Associateship/Fellowship or other similar title to any candidate in any University.


In 1933 two cases of influenzal meningitis were presented by one of us (E. L. N.) before the Philadelphia Pediatric Society. 1 One resulted in complete cure; the other showed at autopsy a brain almost entirely devoid of exudate. We believed that death occurred in the second case either because of edema of the brain from serum shock or from pressure changes following cisternal drainage. Both these patients were treated with serum, the first with serum of Dr. Dorothy Wilkes Weiss, 2 obtained from Parke Davis & Co., the second largely with serum obtained from Dr. Margaret Pittman 3 of the Rockefeller Institute. Two further cases of influenzal meningitis are here presented. We believe that they will be of interest because they were consecutive cases with prompt recovery; further, they presented features of interest, particularly the boy aged 5 years, who had an attack of paroxysmal tachycardia. REPORT OF CASES


Thank you for reading essential portuguese grammar. As you may know, people have search hundreds times for their favorite novels like this essential portuguese grammar, but end up in harmful downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they are facing with some infectious virus inside their computer. essential portuguese grammar is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can download it instantly. Our digital library hosts in multiple countries, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Kindly say, the essential portuguese grammar is universally compatible with any devices to read.


Despite that CMC has anionic charges as well as pulp fibers, CMC can be adsorbed onto pulp fibers. The CMC adsorption ratio varies, depending on the degree of substitution (DS) of CMC and electrical conductivity of pulp slurries. Because the CMC adsorption introduces new anionic sites onto pulp fiber surfaces, efficiency of wet end additives and the resultant paper properties can be improved. In order to understand the CMC adsorption behavior in terms of CMC molecular conformations in aqueous solutions, the SEC-MALS (sizeexclusion chromatography equipped with a multi-angle laser light scattering detector) method was applied to three CMC samples with different DS values. The effects of DS of CMC and electrical conductivity (electrolyte concentration) of aqueous solutions on CMC molecular conformations were investigated. The relation between molecular mass and radius of gyration of CMC obtained by the SEC-MALS analysis revealed that CMC molecules tended to have compressed conformations or to form aggregates in aqueous solutions with decreasing the DS and increasing the electrical conductivity. These conditions are consistent with those where CMC molecules are preferably adsorbed on pulp fibers. Moreover, it was found that CMC molecules had high affinity to each other to form aggregates under such conditions. The obtained results in the fundamental analyses of CMC are explainable for our success in the application of the CMC addition at the wet end in practical papermaking process.


Accurate measurement,fast response and easy to carry are the characteristics of the gas detector.Internet of things technology promotes the further development of the gas detector.Taken ATmega8 microcontroller as the core device,the electrochemical gas-sensitive element as the sensor and OCM12864-9 graphics dot-matrix LCD module as a display device,the measurement circuit and data processing program are designed,and the multi-function handheld harmful gas detector is made,which has a good result in the field measurement.


Instrumented indentation technique at micro-scales has become more popular to determine mechanical properties of materials like hardness, modulus of elasticity, and yield strength. It is introduced as a method that finds the stress-strain curve, instead of the traditional tensile test. Furthermore, it gives a possibility to determine the mechanical properties for small specimens and material under operation in the field. Several researchers have attempted to evaluate this method experimentally and to investigate the factors affecting it by using a different shape of indenters, and different types of materials. In the same regard, this research work is conducted to evaluate this method experimentally and by finite element simulation methods. Two types of industrially significant steels were selected; they are namely ASTM516-G70, AISI1010 steel; and two shapes of indenters, blunt and sharp (Spherical, and Vickers) were used. The finite element simulation has been performed by ABAQUS simulation program, and its results were then compared with the experimental test results obtained from Nanovea instrumented indentation test machine. The results obtained have demonstrated good agreement between the experimental and the finite element simulation results within 5 % difference for young's module, and 7.7 % for yield strength whereas excellent agreement is observed in the elastic region and the beginning of the plastic region for the engineering stress-strain curve. Finally, it is to be emphasized that the obtained results are more applicable for the tested materials, and further research is recommended to accommodate other materials as well and to confirm the generality of this method.


Introduction: Digitalis Investigation Group (DIG) trial showed that digoxin did not reduce overall mortality but reduced hospitalization for worsening heart failure (HF). There are limited data on ...


In this article we study two classical linear water wave problems, i) normal modes of infinite straight channels of bounded constant cross-section, and ii) trapped longitudinal modes in domains with unbounded constant cross-section. Both problems can be stated using linearized free surface potential flow theory, and our goal is to compare known analytic solutions in the literature to numerical solutions obtained using an ad-hoc but simple approximation of the non-local Dirichlet-Neumann operator for linear waves proposed in [vargas2016whitham]. To study normal modes in channels with bounded cross-section we consider special symmetric triangular cross-sections, namely symmetric triangles with sides inclined at $45^{\circ}$ and $60^{\circ}$ to the vertical, and compare modes obtained using the non-local Dirichlet-Neumann operator to known semi-exact analytic expressions by Lamb [lamb1932hydrodynamics], Macdonald [macdonald1893waves] , Greenhill [greenhill1887wave], Packham [packham1980small], and Groves [groves1994hamiltonian]. These geometries have slopping beach boundaries that should in principle limit the applicability of our approximate Dirichlet-Neumann operator. We nevertheless see that the operator gives remarkably close results for even modes, while for odd modes we have some discrepancies near the boundary. For trapped longitudinal modes in domains with an infinite cross-section we consider a piecewise constant depth profile and compare modes computed with the nonlocal operator modes to known analytic solutions of linearized shallow water theory by Miles [miles1972wave], Lin, Juang and Tsay [lin2001anomalous], see also [mei2005theory]. This is a problem of significant geophysical interest, and the proposed model is shows to give quantitatively similar results for the lowest trapped modes.


Recent congestion control research has focused on purpose-built algorithms designed for the special needs of specific applications. Often, limited testing before deploying a CCA results in unforeseen and hard-to-debug performance issues due to the complex ways a CCA interacts with other existing CCAs and diverse network environments. We present CC-Fuzz, an automated framework that uses genetic search algorithms to generate adversarial network traces and traffic patterns for stress-testing CCAs. Initial results include CC-Fuzz automatically finding a bug in BBR that causes it to stall permanently, and automatically discovering the well-known low-rate TCP attack, among other things.


In an influential article, Alesina and Drazen (1991) model delay of stabilization as the result of a struggle between political groups supporting reform plans with different distributional implications. In this paper we show that ex ante asymmetries in the costs of delay for the groups will reduce the probability of conflict and will lead to a shorter expected delay. Accurate common information about the cost of delay may lead to no delay at all. In an asymmetric conflict, a wider divergence in the distributional implications of reform will reduce the probability of conflict but will lead to a longer expected delay.


Electronic Meeting Systems (EMS) facilitate group meetings by providing automated support for communicating, decison-making, and consensus-building. This paper presents an approach for building EMS through a quantitative description of two well-known approaches: Electronic Brainstorming and the Nominal Group Technique. A DEVS-Scheme simulation of these two tools provides an additional conceptual foundation for the construction of EMS tools.


Environmental protection agencies strictly regulate the presence of PAHs in air, water, soil, industrial, and food because this group of chemicals varies in structure and toxicity. The analysis of drinking water for the presence of PAHs is important as coal tar is normally used to protect distribution pipes from corrosion and therefore can be considered the main source of PAHs in drinking water. Different maximum concentration limits are set by local regulatory agencies.1,2 Authors Manuela Bergna, Giulia Riccardino


Abstract : In order to better understand the effect of stressed-oxidation, the performance of woven Sylramic-iBN fiber-reinforced slurry cast melt-infiltrated (MI) composites were tested in creep and fatigue under non-oxidizing conditions. Initially creep and fatigue tests were performed at 1204 deg C in an argon atmosphere; however, it was observed that sufficient oxidizing species existed in the environment to degrade the composites in a manner similar to air environments. Therefore, creep and fatigue tests were performed at 1204 deg C in a vacuum environment which showed no evidence of oxidation and superior properties to composites subjected to stressed-oxidation conditions. The mechanical results and microscopy of the vacuum and argon are compared to the behavior of these composites tested in air. It was found that the stress rupture properties of the vacuum-tested composites could be predicted from single fiber creep rupture data assuming reasonable values for the Weibull modulus.


The ethanol extract of the dried ripe fruit of Foeniculum vulgare (500 mg/kg) was tested for diuretic, analgesic, antipyretic, antimicrobial, cytotoxic activities and its effect on bile secretion in rats. Also, the acute toxicity after 0.5, 1 and 3 g/kg was investigated in mice. The extract showed diuretic, analgesic, antipyretic activities and it enhanced bile secretion. As an antimicrobial agent, the extract inhibited the growth of Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis and showed a marked mitodepressive effect. At a dose of 3 g/kg, it caused piloerection and it depressed locomotor activity but caused no deaths when administered acutely to mice.


Governments and advocates tend to argue that immigration promotes trade between sending and host countries to the benefit of both. The scholarly literature is rather more circumspect. In the present study the authors find that migrants from Italy have made a major contribution to Australia's post-WWII immigration intake, particularly in the 1950s and 1960s. But the data on bilateral trade between the two countries suggest that, while trade has grown, immigration has had a minimal effect. Rather it appears that trade between the two countries has grown in response to general economic growth and to the exigencies of supply and demand.


Declining per capita food production and soil fertility depletion are threatening the livelihoods of many small-holder farmers in East Africa, including Uganda. High demand for food due to the increase in population has necessitated the need to improve crop yields where synthetically manufactured fertiliser use in the production system is often scarce and expensive. Cattle manure provides essential plant nutrients (mainly nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium) and is available locally; however, there is little information in Uganda on soil fertility status, the most effective rates of cattle manure, methods of application, crop requirements for specific nutrients and limiting factors to crop production. A survey was conducted on selected small-holder farmers in Uganda, in the central districts (Kampala and Wakiso) in January 2010 to identify socio-economic factors influencing the use of fertiliser and the current level of soil fertility as constraints that were most limiting to plant production. It was apparent from the survey and soil sampling that soil physicochemical values varied greatly amongst the soils and sites investigated. Unfortunately, in many situations the application of fertilisers being used didn't target specific nutrients most limiting to crop production. The main findings from the soil survey will be presented in this paper and subsequent field research and nitrogen modelling that has been conducted to better assist farmers in Uganda improve crop productivity through more effective fertiliser practice.


In this paper, to realize the pressure stability control of high-pressure oil pipe, the dynamic differential equation of fuel oil inlet and outlet is established based on the theory of mass conservation. According to the change of the pressure in the high-pressure tubing, an optimization model is established to achieve precise control of the working time of each part of the high-pressure oil pipe.


ln the future helvetic alpine realm representative of the northem Tethyan margin, the Late Barremian is characterized by the onset in the deposition of Urgonian-type, predominantly photozoan, shallow-water platform carbonates (lower Schrattenkalk member). During the earliest Aptian, the development of the Urgonian carbonate platform was perturbed by an increase in detrital input leading to the deposition of the so-called "Lower Orbitolina Beds", which were recently baptized as Rawil Member. This member includes a shallow-water, marland sand-bearing succession containing wood fragments. These sediments are dominated by heterozoan carbonates.


Philippus Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493–1541), who adopted the name Paracelsus, was born in Einsiedeln, Switzerland. Although he studied medicine, there is no evidence that he ever obtained a medical degree.

Paracelsus lived in a time of extraordinary intellectual turmoil, during the late stages of the Italian Renaissance and at the time of the Reformation. He was widely exposed to humanist thought, which put emphasis on classical education and the knowledge of ancient Greek texts. In Florence, Marcilio Ficino (1433–1499) had translated Plato into Latin. He had also translated the Corpus Hermeticum, an Egyptian text dating back to fourth century BCE. Ficino believed in the link between the Corpus, Plato's philosophy, and the Christian revelation, and postulated the idea of a spirit unifying macrocosm and microcosm, nature and human beings. There were extensive exchanges between the Italians and northern European thinkers, such as Erasmus of Rotterdam. Then in 1517, Martin Luther sparked a theological revolution. Politics and religion became intertwined with the budding new science.

Paracelsus was an eccentric, wandering scholar who achieved wide medical fame. He traveled extensively to such places as Jerusalem, Moscow, Constantinople, Algiers, and Scandinavia. The aim of his travels was to gather "hidden knowledge," which he sought both at universities and by exploring local folk medicine. He was involved in alchemy and the …


On the morning of Sunday, 25 November 2007, Brisbane lord mayor Campbell Newman woke with the prerogative, if not perhaps the immediate inclination, to make what only a few months before would have sounded like the most improbable of political boasts: that of being the most senior liberal office-holder in the land. The previous night in Sydney, before a packed ballroom that would quickly empty out, John Howard conceded that the era bearing his name had finally come to an end. Not long after, Kevin Rudd bounded into a function room at Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium knowing that the Labor ascendancy was complete, with his party in charge not only in Canberra but also in every state and territory. Just a few bus stops away, Brisbane City Hall - an Italianate building with a campanile-style clock tower that 'can-do' Campbell was determined to restore to its original glory - remained the Liberals' most imposing bastion.


This year the University of Wisconsin-Madison design team studied surface operations for a Mars base. Specifically, research was conducted concerning the possibilities for a Mars Rover Sample Return mission. This year's focus was on the development of a system that would accomplish the primary tasks of the rover, to gather and return samples. All the aspects of this complex and challenging task were investigated. In order to achieve a complete system devices were designed for every stage from sample acquisition to processing and final storage.


Objective To study the effects of diabetic autonomic neuropathy on the early renal injury.Methods Thirty early diabetic patients were divided into group A(normal UAE) and B group(higher UAE) according to urinary albumin excretion(UAE).The cardiac autonomic function was tested by 24-hour electrocardiogram analysis of heart rate variability(HRV).Results PNN50, rMSSD in HRV time domain and nocturnal high frequency(HF) in HRV frequency domain showed more significant decrease in group B than in group A,and HF which reflects cardiac vagus function decreased more greatly.Conclusion The damage of vagus function in diabetic patients may be related to early renal injury.


[Objective]The aim was to explore the effects of low night temperature treatment on sucrose synthesis ability of tomato leaves in seedling stage.[Method]Effects of low night temperature of 6 ℃(15 ℃ as control) on the sucrose synthesis ability of tomato leaves were studied after 1,3,5,7 d of treatment.[Result]The contents of fructose,glucose and sucrose in tomato leaves were higher than control at 6:00 during the treatment of low night temperature,but in contrast at 11:00.The contents of fructose,glucose and sucrose in tomato leaves of low night temperature treatment and control group at 6:00 were lower than that at 11:00.The content of starch in tomato leaves was higher than control at 6:00 and 11:00 during the treatment.And the activities of sugar metabolism enzymes of tomato were changed by the treatment of low night temperature.The activities of acid invertase(AI) and neutral invertase(NI) were higher than those of control,while the activities of sucrose synthase(SS) and sucrose phosphate synthase(SPS) were lower than control at 6:00 and 11:00 during the treatment.The activity of all the enzymes at 11:00 of low night temperature treatment plants treated for 1,3,5,7 d was higher than that at 6:00.Compared to 6:00,the invertase activity of the control plant decreased,while the synthetase activity increased.The activity of sucrose synthase(SS) was decreased for treated plants,and the increase amount of sucrose content in leaves was lower than that of control at 11:00 during the treatment,indicating that the sucrose synthesis ability of tomato leaves was decreased by the treatment of low night temperature.[Conclusion]The results in this study had provided theoretical basis for the environmental control of high-yield cultivation of tomato.


While the twentieth century was dominated by advances in controlling electrical currents through the charge of the electron, aka electronics, the rapid developments since 1988 have lead to a control of currents through the spin of the electron, i.e., spintronics. The groundwork for this field comes from studies on metallic alloys and multilayers started in the early 1960s. Due to parallel developments in the growth of semiconductor heterostructures, e.g., molecular beam epitaxy, work on metallic layers rapidly advanced in the late 1970s and early 1980s. By 1988 groups lead by Fert and Grünberg were able to grow metallic multilayers which displayed the sought after effect; a small magnetic field was able to dramatically change the electric resistance of the structures. This led to an immediate explosion in activity in this area; so much so that the materials which display this effect were incorporated in the read-heads of hard disk drives of computers by 1997. I will focus on developments in three distinct time periods. The first was from 1988 to 1995 which was dominated by metallic multilayers which displayed giant magnetoresistance (GMR), the second from 1995 to 2000 when reproducible magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) were studied for their tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR), and the third period from 2000 to 2005 in which the ideas of Berger and Slonczewski were realized on the back action of currents on the magnetic background of the materials doing the conducting, i.e., current induced magnetization switching (CIMS). The contributions of Peter Weinberger to these developments illustrate the broad range of his activities in spintronics, this field which is barely twenty years old.


Elucidation of the mechanical interaction between an erythrocyte and an endothelial cell is an important issue that may lead to clarification of mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases and development of new treatments. In order to clarify the interaction, frictional characteristics of erythrocytes moving on various plates have been measured using an inclined centrifuge microscope. The objective of this study was to clarify the mechanical interaction between an erythrocyte moving in medium subject to inclined centrifugal force and endothelial cells on a plate. Three-dimensional (3D) analysis was performed with contact force models between an erythrocyte and glycocalyx on the surface of endothelial cells and two-dimensional (2D) analysis was conducted using a lubrication theory for compressible porous media and a simple erythrocyte model. In the 3D analysis, two contact force models were adopted in which shear stresses acting on the bottom surface of an erythrocyte varied proportional or inversely proportional to the distance to the base plate. As a result, the experimental frictional characteristics for an endothelia-cultured plate were properly reproduced by the inverse proportion model. In the 2D analysis using the lubrication theory, the result without the porous media qualitatively agreed with those of the experiment for the plain and material-coated plates and that of the 3D analysis without contact force models, whereas the result with the porous media was qualitatively different from those of the experiment and the 3D analysis.


The Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan City Group,which is undergoing the national "two-type society" experiment,and the "3+5 model",which is also in operation,do not have Chenzhou included.It is for Chenzhou both a challenge as well as an opportunity for its development.Without the development of the "two-city" construction,it can be hard for Chenzhou to realize its strategic targets of "becoming the most open city in Hunan" and the "central city between the borders of Hunan,Guangdong and Jiangxi provinces".The major means of the "two-city" construction lies in scientific breakthroughs.The significant target of the "twocity" construction is to create a city that is appropriate and comfortable to live in,the presupposition of which is to make good scheming of the "two-city" construction.To create a highly civilized city and the "two-type" social life is the major carrier to get the "two-city" construction highly elevated in quality.


In this study we present a complex analysis of the monetary policy transmission mechanism in Poland. We find that this mechanism is quite stable, although the relative strength of its channels has been changing. In particular, the decline in the role of the exchange channel over the recent years has been accompanied by the growing role of credit (and the credit channel) and the growing anticipation of economicagents. In connection with the latter, in the assessment of the economic impact of the monetary policy, not only decisions in the scope of short-term interest rates but also central bank communication should be taken into account.


By the turn of the twentieth century the absence of codified law governing private economic transactions was a key target of foreign and Chinese critiques of the imperial legal system. Expectations ran high that China's first legal transplant, the 1904 Company Law, would lead to unprecedented public investment in large-scale industrial projects. Their disappointment, and the continued dominance of small business in the Chinese marketplace, has been attributed to factors ranging from Chinese cultural aversion to impersonal investment to shortcomings in the law itself. This study shifts our attention to the indigenous practices that company law was meant to supplant, examining the diverse sources of Chinese shareholding practices and the rich menu of options they provided investors. Most importantly, it argues that by the late imperial period shares were well-established as abstract income producing assets that could be bought and sold, creating the possibility of partnership relationships that could be both impersonal and long-lived despite the absence in China of a formal company law. That this tradition did not lead to the emergence of an analogue to the corporation in the West raises new questions about the demand for such entities and the role of transplantation in suppressing indigenous solutions to business problems.


For nearly two decades monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) have been successfully used in the immunohistochemical characterization of tumors. Nevertheless, trials to extend the application of mAbs to tumor immunoszintigraphy and tumor therapy are still sparse and far from being a routine procedure. In the following some of the problems and solutions in the application of mAbs in experimental and clinical neuro-oncology are delineated and the perspectives of mAb tumor-targeting are discussed. Antibodies have been applied to central nervous system tumors predominantly in gliomas, 50 ' 3% of which are primarily malignant with median survival of 11 months in glioblastomas. In these tumors neurosurgery is limited to a palliative maneuvre, additional treatments like irradiation and chemotherapy prolong survival only by months. The diffuse growth of gliomas demands for an adjuvant therapy which selectively detects and destroys glioma cells that have migrated far away from the original tumor site.


The year 2000 would continue to be remembered in the history of Nigeria as the era of poverty and hunger reduction strategies ever adopted since independence in 1960. Since the Millennium Declaration, it provided an opportunity to focus on the eight MDGs objectives as important pillars of the country's development agenda at the federal, state and local government levels. The eight goals are aimed at achieving the following by 2015: to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; to achieve universal primary education; to promote gender equality; to reduce child mortality;to improve maternal health; to combat HIV&AIDS, malaria and other diseases; to ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development. Today, there is growing evidence that these objectives are far from being achieved, with less than a year to the target date. This paper seeks to examine the policy directions of Nigeria towards the MDGs within the nexus of corruption and poverty as impediments to the realization of MDGs objectives. The research relied primarily on the secondary sources of information. The findings revealed that poverty and corruption are impediments to the realization of the MDGs in northern Nigeria and Nigeria as a whole. It is observed that,without genuine poverty reduction as well as good governance, Nigeria cannot attain rapid and sustainable development. It was recommended among others that unless concerted efforts are made by the Northern state governments and until the chains of catastrophic corruptions are broken, the target deadline of 2015 of the MDGs will continue to elude the North and will thus remain a mirage.


The last decade has seen a renaissance in spatial modeling. Increased computational power and the greater availability of spatial data have aided in the creation of new modeling techniques for studying and predicting the growth of cities and urban areas. Cellular automata is one modeling technique that has become widely used and cited in the literature; yet there are still some very basic questions that need to be answered with regards to the use of these models, specifically relating to the spatial resolution during calibration and how it can impact model forecasts. Using the SLEUTH urban growth model ( Clarke et al. 1997 ), urban growth for San Joaquin County (CA) is projected using three different spatial grains, based on four calibration routines, and the spatial differences between the model outputs are examined. Model outputs show that calibration at finer scaled data results in different parameter sets, and forecasting of urban growth in areas that was not captured through the use of more coarse data.


This work describes an efficient in‐line extraction‐preconcentration unit coupled to the electrophoretic capillary based on a liquid‐phase microextraction (LPME) process, which can be directly assembled to the cartridge of the commercial CE equipment. The unit permits analyte extraction, preconcentration and electrophoretic separation to be automatically performed in the commercial CE equipment without the need for additional hardware or software. This new approach was usefully used for the separation and determination of nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs in human urine permitting at least to analyze 30 consecutive real samples. The LODs were lower than 2 μg/L and the reproducibility, expressed as RSD, was 3.1% for the same unit and only 4.8% between different units.


This research paper aims to analyze the impact that cinema or movie recording can cause to a certain site. It is believed that the film O Cangaceiro (1997) has had a positive impact on the increasing number of visitors in Venturosa (PE) after its recording. Due to the fact that the movie fairly represents the local cultural aspects and because Venturosa - PE is a small town, but strongly enhances local legends.The research was held in 2014. This analysis was based on exploratory field work, which included the author's observation and some interviews. To conclude, it is presented the gatherings of the performed analysis and the issue which was the base to this research.


Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is known to be sexually transmitted since 1980s1. The presence of other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are now recognised to facilitate both the acquisition and transmission of Hlyn,3,4. Strategies developed by World Health Organization (WHO) Global Program on Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) to prevent sexual transmission focus on three linked components: condom promotion and distribution, change in sexual behaviour (delaying onset of intercourse by adolescents, avoidance of high risk sexual practices and partner number reduction) and control of STDs.


Best Disease (BD), also known as Best Vitelliform Macular Dystrophy (BVMD), represents an inherited autosomal dominant macular dystrophy with a juvenile age of onset [1]. It is a phenotypically heterogeneous, bilateral condition that affects the retina and Retinal Pigment Epithelium (RPE) caused by pathogenic variants in the BEST1 gene located on chromosome 11q12-13 [2,3]. Typical fundus findings in BD are egg yolk-like, round or oval, lesions seen in the macula, and affected eyes may demonstrate various clinical stages, ranging from the previtelliform stage to Choroidal Neovascularization (CNV) [4]. The macular appearance in all stages is deceptive, as most patients maintain relatively good visual acuity throughout the course of the disease. Patients commonly experience visual compromise in early adulthood, although the age of onset can range from childhood to late adulthood [3] and most patients with BD maintain good vision in at least one eye. The presence of subretinal fluid or CNV has been associated with a poorer visual prognosis [4]. In this case report, we describe a patient with clinical features suggestive of Best disease. We discuss the differential diagnosis and we present the multimodal imaging of the retina used for both the diagnosis and follow up. We also report a genetic study that demonstrates more evidence on a novel genetic variant in the BEST1 gene. The same genetic mutation has been recently reported as a novel variant in a single patient with BVMD [5].


In recent years, developing countries like Nigeria have been experiencing a nutritional transition
in food choices from the typical starchy (mainly carbohydrate diets) to the fast food pattern and as a result of this, the dietary habits of young adults like university students have been affected. Thus, overweight and obesity are increasingly being observed among the young adults. This study assessed the prevalence of obesity on a sample of students from the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State, Nigeria.
A total of 400 FUNAAB students, aged 16-30 years were chosen at random from three colleges which are; COLMAS, COLFHEC, and COLNAS. Three departments were chosen from COLMAS which are; accounting, economics and banking and finance, two departments were chosen from COLFHEC which are; Food Service and Tourismand Food Science and Technology while only one department was chosen from COLNAS which is; physics.Structured questionnaires were used to collect information about the subjects' relevant demographic and socio-economic data, anthropometric data and dietary habits.
208male students (52.0%) and 192 female students (48.0%) made up the sample. More students tookin-between meals (74.8%) while 25.2% of the students do not takein-between meals, almost all the students skip meals (74.8%) especially breakfast and lunch accounting for 48.2% and 47.9% of the population while 47.9% do not skip meals. Larger percentage (31.8%) of the sample relaxes after school while others engage in others things like training, working, reading etc. Almost all the respondents do not take alcohol (90.2%), also 75.8% engage in exercise, 57.2% take breakfast before going to school while 42.8% do not take breakfast before going to school and 52.9% of the respondents eat twice in a day.
Based on BMI classification, the prevalence of overweight was more common among male students compared to females (8.2% and 5.2% respectively), the prevalence of obesity was more common among female students compared to male (2% and 0.5% respectively). One-third of the female respondents and 5% of the male respondents had very high waist-hip ratio which means that they are prone to obesity.
In conclusion, the results revealed that majority of the students were of normal nutritional status, and that age was the most potent predictor of obesity, followed by gender while monthly allowances did not significantly predict obesity.


Experiments involving hardware performance counters would ideally have deterministic results when run in strictly controlled environments. In practice counters that should be deterministic (such as retired instructions) show variation from run to run on the x86 64 architecture. This causes difficulties when undertaking certain performance-counter related tasks, such as simulator validation and performance analysis. These variations also impede software-based deterministic thread-interleaving, useful for debugging and tuning multi-threaded workloads on modern CMP systems. We investigate a variety of x86 64 implementations (including DBI tools) and discover the sources of variations from expected count totals. The largest impact on retired instruction totals is due to the inclusion of hardware interrupt counts. This is difficult to compensate for, limiting the utility of the counters. In addition, counts generated by specific instructions can be counted differently across implementations, leading to cross-machine variations in aggregate counts. We briefly investigate ARM, IA64, POWER and SPARC systems and find that on these platforms the counts do not include hardware interrupts. Non-deterministic limitations to counter use may be a particular feature of the x86 64 architecture. We also apply our methodology to larger programs and find that run-to-run variation can be minimized, but it is difficult to determine known "good" reference counts for


Two cases of isolated superior mesenteric artery dissection diagnosed by contrast enhanced 64 slice CT are reported. In both, the dissection was seen extending along the entire length of the artery with one of them showing partially thrombosed false lumen. One case was associated with dissection of left renal artery with consequent renal infarcts. Although superior mesenteric artery dissection is a rare phenomenon, it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of abdominal angina. CASE REPORT CASE 1 A forty six year old male presented with sudden onset of epigastric pain which did not subside with usual medical therapy. Patient was a regular user of alcoholic drinks. He was not a diabetic or hypertensive. Ultrasound examination of the abdomen was noncontributory. Blood investigations revealed a normal total and differential blood counts, mildly elevated ESR of 15 mm after one hour. Serum amylase levels were within normal limits. Serum lipase levels were not obtained. Technique: CT scan of the abdomen was performed using a Siemens Somatom Sensation Cardiac 64 scanner after oral and intravenous contrast administration. The plain scan was obtained from the level of domes of diaphragm to the inferior margin of symphysis pubis. Subsequently oral contrast was prepared by mixing 30 ml of Gastroscan +M (Combination of Diatrizoate Meglumine and Diatrizoate Sodium Solution) with 2 litres of plain water. Patient was asked to drink one glass of oral contrast every 15 minutes over a period of two hours. The contrast used for intravenous injection was Iohexol-a water soluble non ionic contrast media (contains 300mg of I2 /ml). 80 ml of Iohexol was injected intravenously followed by 30 ml of normal saline chase through a 18 G IV cannula, using a dual headed pressure injector at the flow rate of 3 ml/sec. Arterial and venous phase images (120 kvp and 180 mAs) were obtained after a delay of 20 and 40 seconds in cranio-caudal and caudo-cranial direction respectively. 2mm thickness axial images with 2 mm reconstruction interval were obtained both in the arterial and venous phase. Sagittal and coronal multiplanar reconstructions (MPR) of 3mm thickness with 3mm reconstruction interval were obtained using raw data images acquired in the arterial phase. Findings: The study revealed dissection of the SMA, starting 1.5 cm from the ostium and extending along the entire length of the artery till its terminal branches. (Fig. 1-3). No thrombus was seen. There was minimal ischemic bowel thickening involving …


Territorial belonging and territorial attractiveness are elements of strategic relevance for development at various levels. Therefore, territorial identity is relevant for building the social capital so useful during the processes of development and territorial planning. The concern about territorial identity and development is part of the same trend that occurred in the academic and political environment after the 1990s, when it became obvious that there was a strong connection between these and environmental, social and economic well-being. This special issue hosts the results of original empirical and theoretical scientific research on territorial identity and its relation to sustainable development.


One of the major weaknesses of international law has been the absence of centrally organized machinery to enforce breaches of the law, as well as institutionalized sanctions against suchbreaches. This situation inspired misgivings "in the breasts of legal theorists", and gave rise to the question whether international law was really law. Hobbes, and Pufendorf, gave a negative answer to the question; and during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Austin, s and his followers, who regard sanction as an indispensable element of a legal norm, adopted the same attitude.