The main reason for the moderate success of parallel computing has been the lack of a bridging and unifying model for parallel computation the way the von Neumann model has been for sequential computing. The introduction of the Bulk-Synchronous Parallel (BSP) model of computation by L.G. Valiant comes to address these limitations of parallel computing. In this paper we present our experiences in implementing BSP algorithms on an IBM SP2 system at the Oxford University Computing Laboratory. We designed and implemented several fundamental algorithms by using the Oxford BSP library. These algorithms include string searching, deterministic and randomized sorting , all-furthest-neighbor, three-dimensional convex hull, randomized selection, broadcast and parallel-preex. We conclude that the IBM SP2 machine can be modeled as an ideal BSP computer capable of supporting scalable and portable algorithms that can be eeciently realized within the predicted performance.


This paper discusses robust function approximation when the Takagi -Sugeno type model is used for the consequent part of fuzzy rules. With this model , the parameters of the linear equation that d efines the output value of the fuzzy rule are determined by the least-squares method . Therefore, if the training data include outliers , the method fails to determine the parameter values correctly. T o overcome this problem we use the least-median-of-squares method . Among the original training data set, we randomly select training data more than the number of parameters , and determine the parameter values using the least-squares method. We repeat this many times and determine the parameters with the smallest median of squared errors. We compare the proposed method with the least-squares method and the conventional least-median-of -squares method using the data generated by the Mackey-Glass differential equation .


Short placements can provide an important and meaningful experience of politics in action forstudents who are unable to benefit from the generally lengthy placements currently on offer.This article is based on the findings of the three-year HEFCE-funded project The Scholarship ofEngagement for Politics and explores the potential of short, local, research-based placements,which are embedded in modules, supported by online journaling and effectively assessed, to enrichstudents' understanding of politics and enhance their employability.


The present invention relates to a fuel injection control method for driving Ta, Ta downhill driving mode operating step; Ta running mode holding step; The method comprising supplying fuel in accordance with the number of revolutions of the engine; If the fuel cut speed than the running speed of the vehicle is set, the step of interrupting the fuel supply; If speed than the running speed of the vehicle set comprising: operating a second brake; And when it is determined that the running state of the vehicle corresponds to the driving mode Ta off condition corresponds to the disconnect condition further comprising: releasing the Ta-drive mode; and a. Bogota travel, downhill, fuel cut


Metonymy is a cognitive process in which one conceptual entity as the vehicle provides mental access to another conceptual entity,the target,with the same idealized cognitive model.This paper explains the features of metonymy and studies its pragmatic cognition using the theory of Space Mapping and Conceptual Integration pointed out by Fauconnier.Pragmatic cognition to metonymy is a kind of conceptual integration from the angle of space mapping,an active and creative activity of cognition.


A bioethical vision is exposed on the personal condition of the human embryo, based on its ontological reality. The human condition of the individual is affirmed as intrinsically worthy, noble, from the very beginning of its existence or biographical wandering as a zygote. Furthermore, in a critical way, a discussion is set out about some utilitarian-materialistic ideas used to deny the personal condition of the human embryo through the assignation of "extrinsic" and arbitrary criteria for dignity: age, development period, as well as the will of the mother or third parties, clinical, anatomic or physiological conditions, legislative decisions, and other kind of determinations. Likewise, attention is drawn on how in the current medical obstetric practice the ontological aspects of the individual condition of every human being as a person are being denied due to pressures of utilitarian nature. There is an "explicit" as well as a "tacit" negation of the personal reality of the unborn. It is affirmed that respect owed to the human being as a person since its very beginning - as deserved by any born/grown member of the human species - is due to reasons of "intrinsic" nature that are inherent to each particular individual condition, with no discrimination whatsoever, within the concept of the "teleological autonomy" of the human embryo.


Significance
 This came as Emirati-backed forces continued their advance towards Yemen's Marib city. On January 17 and 24, the Huthis launched major long-range missile and drone attacks on the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which intercepted most of the projectiles but still suffered three deaths.

 Impacts
 Israel's National Day event at the Dubai Expo on January 31 could be an attractive Huthi target.
 An open-ended pattern of missile and drone attacks, even if ineffective, would damage Dubai's economy in particular.
 UAE-backed forces have the military capacity to advance further against the Huthis, securing Marib city.


In recent years,along with the constant development and perfection of market economic system,the influence of accounting information on economic and social life has gradually improved.However,the subsequent and prevalent accounting information distortion has greatly weakened the accounting function in economic management,seriously destroyed the order of the market economy,induced a variety of economic crimes,and damaged the interests of each side of social public including administrators,investors,creditors,etc.It proposes to control accounting information distortion through carrying out appointed accountant system,"second reformation" of limited partnership firm,supervising the accounting book,and perfecting the civil compensation system,so as to improve the quality of accounting information and achieve the purpose of reality,reliability,timeliness and completeness.


BACKGROUND: Neuropsychiatric Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (NPSLE) is one of the clinical manifestations affecting the brain in SLE, which the most frequent condition was cognitive dysfunction (CD). CD has a negative impact on the quality of life of SLE patients and causes impaired social function and reduced work productivity. Previous studies regarding correlation between cognitive dysfunction with disease activity, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and C-reactive protein (CRP) showed various results.
AIM: The purpose of this study was to assess the correlation of CD using MoCA- INA score with disease activity (SLEDAI-2K score), ESR and CRP in SLE patients.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was applied in this research. The subjects of this research were SLE patients measured by MoCA-INA score, SLEDAI-2K score, ESR, and CRP. Spearman rank correlation test was applied in this study to assess the relationship of the variables.
RESULT: The study subjects consisted of 53 women diagnosed with SLE with an average age of 34 years old. 49.1 % of the subjects had high school education background. There was a moderate significant correlation between MoCA-INA score and ESR (r= -0.408, p=0.002) and also to CRP (r= -0.314 p=0.022). There was no significant correlation of disease activity and MoCA-INA score (r = -0.086 p = 0.539).
CONCLUSION: The low levels of ESR and CRP were associated with CD in SLE patients.
KEYWORDS: cognitive dysfunction, c-reactive protein, disease activity, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, systemic lupus erythematosus.


Microbiomics goes meta: Scientists are using the DNA of all the microbes in entire ecosystems to sequence and identify new bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Read the Feature (Full-Text HTML) Read the Feature (PDF) Read New Products (PDF)


Ambient systems sense their environment. Doing this, a lot of context related data is gathered and provided to other application systems. This data could be used to support and tailor knowledge and learning processes directly to the individual's context. Unfortunately, the concept of context is very broad and reaches beyond typical factors like location or time. With regard to integrated business, knowledge and learning processes additional context drivers must to be taken into account, e.g., the current business process determines the context in particular. In this paper we analyse various scenarios in three surgery clinics identifying a set of domain-specific factors that directly lead to process-oriented context requirements needed by a user-centred Ambient Learning and Knowledge Environment.


We have developed an application which blurs the distinction between static and dynamic imagery in a stereoscopic omnidirectional browser. A "cinemagraph" is a living picture, interpolating between a still photo and a video. A stereo omnidirectional camera can capture stereographic contents. Combining such functionality yields a photospherical cinemagraph. Runtime control of activation fields allows selective alternation between frozen and animated scene elements. Narrowcasting, a user interface idiom for selective activation, is used to alternate between static and moving imagery) . Presentation includes stereoscopic display (binocular channels) and spatial sound. CCS Concepts • Human-centered computing → Graphical user interfaces; Auditory feedback;


Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthropathies (SpA) are chronic rheumatic diseases that can progress to disability if left uncontrolled. Biologic therapies can induce remission in patients with inadequate response or intolerance to conventional synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (csDMARDs). Due to the safety and economic concern, updated treatment recommendations now consider biologics discontinuation in patients with persistent remission. However, available data are still limited.To evaluate the biologics effectivenss, drug survival, rate of discontinuation in real-life practice and to identify predictors of biologics discontinuation due to remission in RA and SpA.A total of 87 patients with RA and 49 patients with SpA, starting biologics between January 2005 and October 2020, were recruited from the Rheumatic Disease Prior Authorization (RDPA) registry of Siriraj hospital. Baseline data were recorded. Time-dependent rates in achieving remission were calculated. Cumulative probability of biologics discontinuation and predictive factors of drug discontinuation due to remission were analyzed.The biologics used in RA patients were Etanercept (49.4%), Rituximab (44.8%), and Infliximab (5.7%). The 1- and 5- year remission rates were 8.5% and 23.9%, respectively. Drug survival rates were 33.6% for Etanercept, 40.7% for Rituximab, and 36% for Infliximab at five years. The main reasons for drug discontinuation were disease remission (32.1%), inadequate response (32.1%), and side effects (15.1%). Rituximab had the highest discontinuation rate due to remission (56.4%). There was no predictive factor for biologics discontinuation due to remission.SpA patients were treated with Etanercept (83.6%) and Infliximab (16.4%). The 1- and 5- year remission rates were 67.4% and 66.7%, respectively. Drug survival rates were 50.3% for Etanercept and 0% for Infliximab at five years. Biologics withdrawal due to side effects occurred in 16%, inadequate response in 10%, and disease remission in 10% of patients. The predictive factor for biologics discontinuation due to remission was disease duration < 5 years (Hazard ratio 6.92, 95%CI 1.10, 43.29)Biologic therapies are effective in patients with active RA and SpA despite csDMARDs treatment. The highest drug survival rates are Rituximab in RA and Etanercept in SpA. Infliximab has the shortest drug retention rate in SpA. Drug discontinuation due to remission is more successful in RA patients, particularly in the Rituximab group. The best predictor for biologics discontinuation due to remission in SpA is the disease duration of fewer than five years.Table 1.Effectiveness, Drug Survival and Causes of Biologic Discontinuation in RA and SpARA % (87 cases)BiologicsTotal % (N)5-year Remission rate %5-year Drug survival rate %Discontinuation % (N 53 cases)Total %(53)RemissionInadequate responseSide effectNon-adherence/ ReferDeathEtanercept49.4 (43)23.933.650.9(27)14.8(4)44.4(12)22.2(6)11.1(3)7.4(2)*Infliximab5.7 (5)365.7 (3)0(0)33.3(1)33.3(1)33.3(1)(0)Rituximab44.8 (39)40.743.4 (23)56.5(13)17.4(4)4.3(1)13.0(3)8.7(2)SpA %(49 cases)BiologicsTotal % (N)5-year Remission rate %Drug survival rate%Discontinuation % (N 23 cases)Total % (23)RemissionInadequate responseSide effectNon-adherence/ ReferDeathEtanercept83.6 (41)66.750.378.3(18)22.2(4)22.2(4)33.3(6)22.2(4)0(0)Infliximab16.4 (8)021.7 (5)20(1)20(1)40(2)20(1)0(0)*Cause of death: sudden cardiac death (1), intraabdominal infection (1)Cause of death: pneumonia (1), Lung cancer (1)None declared


In infrastructure as a service (IaaS), the edge computing paradigm proposes the network node distribution of storage and computing resources to ensure swift access throughout a fog environment. The edge platform landscape fragmentation requires flexible and scalable approaches. Based on the above, the most recent works highlight lightweight virtualization, the process of making any hardware shares its resources with other applications without impacting on performance issues. In this sense, this chapter conveys current concepts, techniques and open challenges of lightweight virtualization for edge computing.


We report that 2,3-dihydro-1,2,4-triazines (1) readily behave as 2π systems in cycloadditions when treated with reactive 4μ systems such as benzonitrile N-4-nitrophenylimide (2)


In this paper, a new robust digital image watermarking algorithm which was based on singular value decomposition (SVD) and discrete wavelet transform (DWT) was proposed and simulated for protecting real property rights. A gray scale logo image, rather than a randomly generated Gaussian noise type watermark, was used as a watermark. Its embedding algorithm hid a watermark LL sub-band blocks in the low–low (LL) and high-high (HH) sub-bands of a target non-overlapping block of the host image by modifying singular values on SVD version of these blocks. A semi-blind watermark extraction was designed to estimate the original coefficients. Experimental results showed that the proposed scheme made significant improvements in terms of both transparency and robustness and was superior to the existing methods which were considered in this paper.


This paper points out that strengthening the moral cultivation is an important topic in service for readers, and probes into how to strengthen the personal moral cultivation.


PURPOSE: A method, a system, and a recording medium for using the user terminal characteristic based multimedia are provided to freely use the multimedia by rendering the contents to a display terminal under a multimedia environment using various user terminals. CONSTITUTION: A user information terminal(300) transfers the contents metadata selected and generated by a user to the terminal wanting to use the multimedia contents through the network. A display terminal(200) parses the transferred contents metadata, transmits the parsed metadata to a contents server(100), and displays the adapted contents by receiving and decoding the adapted multimedia data as the response to the transmission. The contents server generates the adapted contents by adapting the original contents based on the transmitted metadata, and transmits it through the network.


In this study, the energy absorption characteristics of steel end-capped conical tubes, perforated in various states, under quasi-static axial loading have been studied both experimentally and numerically. In the experimental section, steel alloy was identified after making the ready cones. In order to determine the mechanical properties, dumbbell-shaped samples cut by wire-cut from the cones and tensile test was performed, then the stress-strain curves were obtained for them. The conical structures were simulated using finite element software LS-Dyna and the results were compared with data from experimental tests. There was good agreement between experimental and numerical results. In this paper, 48 various states were investigated and collapse features were extracted and compared. These 48 states include three angles for cone edge, four thicknesses and four different modes in terms of number of holes, so in this way mechanical behavior of perforated steel end-capped conical absorber in various states were studied. Studies show that increasing the number of holes in the absorber's body reduces the maximum force and leads to an increase in crush force efficiency. According to the results, perforated conical absorbers are a good alternative for the same samples with no holes.


The development of renewable energy tends to introduce uncertainty into power system operation. An obvious example is wind power, which in many systems now plays an important role in the overall generation mix. Since wind speed correlation tends to have a significant impact on the operation of power systems, a method of simulating correlated wind speed in different wind farms for modeling is of importance. This paper proposes using an extended Latin hypercube sampling algorithm to simulate correlated wind speeds for different wind farms when solving probabilistic power flow problems. The proposed method employs rank numbers of the sampling points to generate correlated wind speed samples of different wind farms, which avoids generat ing negative wind speed values in transforming uncorrelate d samples to correlated samples, thus improving sampling accuracy. Simulation results using test systems show that the proposed method is effective, simple and easy to be applied to other correlated renewable energy state sampling problems. The illustrations also show the necessity of taking wi nd speed correlations into consideration in probabilistic power flow.


In the billiard room of the Raday mansion in Pecel fragments of wall painting were discovered in 1954. They claim attention not only on account of their good artistic quality but also because when the coat of paint peeled off from the ceiling, the sinopia of the fresco applied with red and black colours – a truly rare sight – was revealed. The artist of the frescoes was Johann Nepomuk Schopf, whom the writer Ferenc Kazinczy also saw working in Pecel, as his travel diary reveals. The Prague-born artist was the scion of a family of artists and first worked in his father Johann Adam's fresco painting workshop, but autonomous works of his are already known from the 1760s. In the early '70s he was in Vienna from where he came to Hungary to paint altar pictures for the cathedral in Temesvar, before he received a commission from Bishop Adam Patachich to decorate the cathedral and episcopal palace of Nagyvarad (1773–1776). Particularly the latter shows kindred traits to the decoration of the billiard room in Pece...


Nanometer ferric oxide was prepared by the hydrolysis of [Fe(EDTA)]- in the alkaline solution. And cation surface active agent was added into the reaction liquid to prevent the agglomeration of the micro- particle. The product was characterized by XRD,TGA,TEM,SEM and Laser Scatter.The influence conditions on the size of a-Fe2O3 particles,such as the concentration of FeCl3,EDTA,the temperature of reaction,were discussed


Index-3 augmented Lagrangian formulations with projections of velocities and accelerations represent an efficient and robust method to carry out the forward-dynamics simulation of multibody systems modeled in dependent coordinates. Existing formalisms, however, were only established for holonomic systems, for which the expression of the constraints at the position-level is known. In this work, an extension of the original algorithms for nonholonomic systems is introduced. Moreover, projections of velocities and accelerations have two side effects: they modify the kinetic energy of the system and they contribute to the constraint reaction forces. Although the effects of the projections on the energy have been studied by several authors, their role in the calculation of the reaction forces has not been described so far. In this work, expressions to determine the constraint reactions from the Lagrange multipliers of the dynamic equations and the Lagrange multipliers of the velocity and acceleration projections are introduced. Simulation results show that the proposed strategy can be used to expand the capabilities of index-3 augmented Lagrangian algorithms, making them able to deal with nonholonomic constraints and provide correct reaction efforts.


Inheritance together with virtual functions in C++ provides programmers much polymorphism, an important facility of object-oriented design and programming. However, they can hardly be applied to enrich a family of classes (including the base classes and their derived classes) with some common features. Multiple inheritance and virtual base classes are usually hired to solve such a problem, or templates can also be employed for the same purpose. Unfortunately, these approaches are unnatural and costly. Moreover, virtual base classes deflect from the concept of dynamic binding behind virtual functions and therefore complicate the incomplete virtuality in C++. In this paper, we demonstrate that truly virtual base classes can be utilized to solve the problem effectively and efficiently, and can be used to express explicitly what virtual base classes do implicitly in a more flexible and lucid way. In addition, they along with virtual data members can provide further polymorphism and a type-safe and efficient alternative to constrained genericity and multiple inheritance in some cases, and hence facilitate the design and implementation of extensible and portable software, especially libraries of classes.


In recent years,the problem of urban waterlogging is getting serious with the frequent occurrence of "municipal sea".Based on the city rainfall,Urban Waterlogging Monitoring and Warning System can integrate rainfall monitoring information with weather forecast information into the simulation model,to achieve a combination of hydrology and meteorology.This system predicts the feature data of unban waterlogging disaster,improves the forecasting accuracy of precipitation,and provides a scientific basis for the development of disaster prevention and mitigation.This article has analyzed the application of GIS and RS in city flood control and described the Urban Waterlogging Monitoring and Warning System.


Knowledge management is a concept that continues to draw a lot of interest. It is the process of sharing knowledge within an organisation to achieve better performance. It can be utilised by all organisations, many of which may not even be aware they are using the concept nor of its links with Quality management. By implementing an effective KM system increased organisational performance and ultimately a competitive advantage can be obtained - both of which correlate to the philosophy of Quality. This paper raises issues about the relationship between the gathering, storing and sharing of knowledge and the philosophy of continuous improvement with the facilitation of teamwork. It concludes by attempting to encourage further debate and research into the area by suggesting that Knowledge Management may be well the 'catalyst' for the resurgence of Quality Management.


This study was planned to evaluate the quality of prescribing for chronic conditions in the outpatient setting of primary, secondary and tertiary level health care facilities in the western part of India with the help of PQI tool. This tool has been developed by Hassan et al. in 2010. The PQI tool is a comprehensive tool covering multidimensional criteria of prescribing process. It has been validated and claimed to be reliable by the developers. (8). As there is no study reporting use of this tool, this prospective, cross sectional study was planned to assess prescribing quality at primary, secondary and tertiary health care facilities using PQI tool and its reliability in Indian setting. The study was carried out at seven different health care facilities near Anand town in Gujarat state of India, which included four Primary Health Centers (PHC), two Secondary Health Center (SHC) facilities including one Community Health Center and one District Civil Hospital and one Tertiary Health Center (THC) a teaching hospital. Primary Health care facilities include primary health centers of villages Changa, Dabhov, Karamsad and Bandhani. The secondary health care facilities selected were Community health center at Mehlav and Civil hospital at Petlad. Shree Krishna Hospital affiliated to Pramukhswami Medical College at Karamsad was selected as Tertiary care health facility of Anand District in Gujarat state.


According to the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of Davis (1989) , the attitude is one of the factors of acceptance technology's use. We present the results of a survey carried out on two samples of teachers at the university in Algeria having respectively followed two different trainings on the pedagogical use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). The results show that the components of the training device can act positively on this attitude.


A blood component separation apparatus which is provided with a centrifugal separator and a container for receiving a prescribed blood component centrifugally separated and with which multiple blood collection cycles for collecting the prescribed blood component separated are conducted, including a calculation means for calculating a predicted extracorporeal circulating volume on the basis of a corrected hematocrit value obtained by correcting a measured hematocrit value determined with a blood cell counter. Further, the calculation means calculates a correction value, which is to be used in the correction, on the basis of: predicted extracorporeal circulating volume data in the multiple nearest preceding collection operations; and collected blood volume data observed in the first cycle of the multiple nearest preceding collection operations.


Numerous language campaigns in Denmark have tried to regulate the written language use of public employees, and the focus has generally been on certain pieces of 'good advice', such as 'avoid passives'. However, the effect of these recommendations on the receivers of administrative texts produced by public employees has never been assessed empirically in any satisfactory way. This article presents a method to investigate the effect (or lack thereof) of passives on readers' comprehension of and attitudes towards letters from the public sector. In a between-subject design, two groups of 10 participants read the same letters in two versions: a version with many passives and a version without passives. The results suggest that passives have no effect on the degree of comprehension of the letters, and only a limited effect on the readers' attitudes towards the text, with perceived 'personalness' as an exception. The results also show that people without higher education have a lower degree of comprehension of the letters than people who have attended higher education. The article is concluded by an assessment of the experimental design and a discussion of factors that might influence the results, such as the type of passive used, the context and subject matter of the texts. We argue that the method is valid and can be used to establish an empirical basis from which it is possible to provide advice on language use that takes the receiver's perspective into consideration. In particular, we argue that the recommendation commonly found in language campaigns that passives should be avoided is not a particularly relevant piece of advice, or at least one that needs to be presented in a considerably more nuanced way than it usually is.


The computerization of patient records is viewed not only as a factor in making real-time patient care easier, but also as an aid in measuring quality performance. In the eyes of some, the computerization of patient records, ultimately leading to the establishment of the electronic health record (EHR) as industry standard, has the potential of dramatically improving the delivery of health care services. Taking the steps toward the EHR can require a great commitment of resources on the part of the health care enterprise.


This study aims to analyze the effect of brand identity and brand image on brand satisfaction and brand loyalty of silverqueen chocolate products in Samarinda City. A quantitative approach using path analysis processed with IBM SPSS 23 software and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with IBM AMOS 5 software. A total of 132 respondents who had consumed Silverqueen chocolate in Samarinda were the samples in this study. The measurement scale uses a Likert scale with a score of 1 - 5. In the beginning, validity and reliability tests are carried out on the research instrument, then estimation tests and structural model fit tests are conducted. The results showed that brand identity and brand image had a significant  effect on brand satisfaction and had no significant effect on brand loyalty. Likewise, brand satisfaction has no significant effect on brand loyalty. The results of this study state that brand variables that affect brand satisfaction will not automatically encourage brand loyalty.


A methanol extract of Zanthoxylium piperitum (MZP) Leaves relaxed vascular smooth muscle in rats. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to define the mechanism of the MZP‐induced vascular relaxation in rat thoracic aorta. Among the four solvent partitions of MZP, n‐butanol (BZP) and water extract (WZP) of Zanthoxylium piperitum Leaves induced relaxation of the phenylephrine‐precontracted rat aorta in a dose‐dependent manner, respectively, and its effects were both abolished by the removal of functional endothelium. Pretreatment of the endothelium‐intact aortic tissues with NG‐nitro‐L‐arginine methyl ester (L‐NAME) and 1H‐[1,2,4]‐oxadiazole‐[4,3‐α]‐quinoxalin‐1‐one (ODQ) inhibited the relaxation induced by BZP and WZP, respectively. On the other hand, vascular relaxation induced by BZP or WZP were not blocked by several inhibitors including indomethacin, atropine, propranolol, tetraethylammonium (TEA), glibenclamide, verapamil, and diltiazem, respectively. In addition, phenylephrine or epinephrine‐induced aortic contraction was also blocked by treated with BZP and WZP, respectively. These results suggest that BZP and WZP dilate vascular smooth muscle via endothelium‐dependent nitric oxide/cGMP signaling pathway.


Tempeh gembus is one of vegetable protein sources which are made from tofu waste. Some Indonesian are still underestimating tempeh gembus because of its source— tofu waste—which is judged for having no nutritional value. Therefore, further processing is necessary to give an additional value by adding bromelain enzyme which made tempeh gembus's protein easier to be digested and absorbed by human's body. The objectives of this research are to get the best bromelain enzyme concentration and incubation period in production of the best tempeh gembus. The experimental design for this research was randomized block design with 2 factors. Factor I consist of 3 levels—enzyme concentration 100, 300 and 500 ppm—and factor II consist of 3 levels—incubation period with enzyme of 2, 4, and 6 hours—with 3 times replications.The best treatment of tempeh gembus from chemical and organoleptic parameters was obtained by using enzyme concentration of 500 ppm and 6 hours of incubation period, with observed parameters moisture content 74.78%, pH 6.66, soluble protein 0.57%, and N-amino 0.13%.


Coal gangue is the waste created in the coal mining process and can be utilised as a coarse aggregate in construction projects to solve the environmental problems it causes. To study the mechanical properties of steel fibre reinforced coal gangue concrete (SFCGC) columns under eccentric compression, two natural aggregate concrete (NAC) columns and eight SFCGC columns were designed and fabricated for eccentric compression loading tests. The variables involved in the tests include gangue substitution rate (0%, 30%, 50%, 70%), steel fibre volume content (SFVC) (0%, 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%), and eccentricity (0.25, 0.5). The experimental work and theoretical analysis were used to investigate the failure mode, cracking, and ultimate bearing capacity of SFCGC columns. The effects of various variation parameters on the longitudinal strain, concrete strain, transverse displacement, crack width, and bearing capacity were analysed in detail. The digital image correlation (DIC) technique was used to compare with the conventional observation and to analyse the cracking trend of the specimens. The testing results revealed that the damage pattern of SFCGC columns under eccentric compression was similar to that of NAC columns. The eccentricity significantly affected the damage pattern (or bearing capacity) of SFCGC columns. The effect of the coal gangue replacement rate on the lateral displacement corresponding to the ultimate load can be neglected under the same eccentricity. The incorporation of steel fibres effectively inhibited the development of cracks in the columns, with an average increase in crack load and ultimate load of 7.36% and 17.1%. The equations were also established to determine the crack width and bearing capacity of the studied SFCGC columns, and the theoretical predictions agreed with the experimental results.


We regard a path as a train moving on a graph. A graph G is called n-transferable if any path of length n can be moved to any other such path by several steps. We will show that every planar graph with minimum degree at least three is at most 10 transferable.


Five parks or reserves of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are recognized as World Heritage Sites (WHS). In intense cooperation with the World Heritage Center of UNESCO and a number of conservation organizations (NGOs) and together with the Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), a network of Belgian research institutions has been built. The aim of the research project is to create an incorporated spatial information system of the WHS including topographic, environmental and socio-economic data and to produce up-to-date base maps of the five sites which are indispensable for managing and monitoring activities. Supplementary, zones with severe conservation problems, like the massive deforestation in the southern part of Virunga National Park in 2004, are monitored and the regeneration progress of earlier deforestation is mapped using remote sensing techniques. Another important aim is to organize capacity building activities in DRC. 1. THE CARTOGRAPHY IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO During the last thirty years cartographic production of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has quasi stagnated. On a 1 : 200 000 scale territorial maps (Carte Territoire) exist next to topographical maps per square degree (Degre Carre) (fig. 1). We distinguish two categories in the territorial maps, namely a series mainly produced before 1950, schematic and of low to very low accuracy and a later produced series equivalent to the topographical maps but delimited according to administrative boundaries instead of square degrees. The same two categories are found within the topographical maps per square degree. The series produced before the surveys by aerial photography, before the 1950's, are lower in quality, detail and in amount of data than the maps which are produced based on aerial photos between 1950 and 1965. Other partial coverages of the country exists in different styles and quality, based on aerial photographs on a scale of 1 : 50 000, all produced before 1970. The lack of recent and high qualitative cartography urged from new initiatives. DRC has five national parks or reserves that are part of UNESCO's World Heritage List but sadly are also inscribed on the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger. No recent cartography of these sites exists, however this is urgently needed to ensure a sustainable management of the parks. Therefore the SYGIAP project (Systeme de Gestion d'Information pour les Aires Protegees) was set up for or by ICCN (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature) in close cooperation with UNESCO. The project aims to develop a geographic information system (GIS) and to produce base maps of the five Congolese World Heritage Sites. Fig. 1: Topographical maps per square degree (Degre Carre): N2/29 Gombari 2. SYGIAP (SYSTEME DE GESTION D'INFORMATION POUR LES AIRES PROTEGEES) The SYGIAP project, co-financed by Belgian Federal Science Policy, is an integral project with as global purpose the set up of a management frame of the existing cartographic information of the five Congolese World Heritage Sites (WHS) and the production of base maps which will be able to provide support for fieldwork and for the management of the sites. The project is carried out for the Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN)), in close cooperation with the World Heritage Center of UNESCO and with the support and assistance of many partners under which several NGO's. The five Congolese WHS that were in need of recent cartographic information are Okapi Wildlife Reserve, Garamba National Park, Virunga National Park, KahuziBiega National Park and Salonga National park. The first four are located in the eastern part of the DRC and Salonga National Park is located in the centre of the country. Hereafter, a brief description of each site is given. 2.1. The five Congolese World Heritage Sites The Okapi Wildlife Reserve has been created on Mai 2nd 1992 under the statute of 'Total Wildlife Reserve' (Reserve naturelle totale) and was added to the List of World Heritage in 1996 and inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1997 because armed conflicts, poaching and illegal mining threatened the park (WHC UNESCO). The total area of almost 14 000 km2 is covered by four main forest types: swamp forest, mixed forest with a crown height of 3040m and a heterogeneous canopy with frequent emergent trees, Mbau forest dominated by Gilbertiodendron dewevrei and secondary forest generally occurring in areas that have been deforested (Hart, T., WCMC, 1985). The altitude varies between 500m en 1200m. As the name already revealed, the Okapi Wildlife Reserve is the sanctuary for the okapi (Okapia johnstoni) (fig. 3), but houses also big mammals like elephants (Loxodona africana cyclotis) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes schweinurthii), and more than three hundred bird species (Sidle and Lawson, 1986). The Ituri Forest also has one of the highest numbers of duiker species in Africa. Garamba National Park has been instituted on March 17th 1938 under the legal statute of 'National Park'and was inscribed on the list of World Heritage is 1980. The inscription on the List of World Heritage in Danger took place in 1996 following the killing of three park rangers and the poaching of two white rhinoceroses (WHC UNESCO). On a surface of about 5 000 km2, the park presents a vast undulating plateau broken up by inselbergs (granite formations) and large swamp depressions (WCMC). It has an abundant hydrographic network with the Aka, Dungu and Garamba as main rivers. The height varies from 710m to 1060m above sea level. The area of savannah, grassland and woodland, intermingled with gallery forests protects four large mammals: elephants, giraffes, hippopotamuses and white rhinoceroses, of which at time of writing only eight individuals remain (Davis et al., 1994 and Debonnet, G. pers. comm, 2005). Virunga National Park was founded in 1925 by the Belgian Colonists. The park was primarily set up for scientific research, which is very exceptional in Africa. In addition to scientific research, the aim was also to protect the mountain gorilla and the hippopotamus. Because of its outstanding conservation value, the park became a World Heritage Site in 1979. Fifteen years later, the World Heritage Committee decided to add the site to the List of World Heritage Sites in Danger. This decision was taken because of several threats to the park including poaching, unsustainable harvesting and settlement from Rwandan refugees in and around the park (Verbeken, J. et al 2004). With its area of around 8 000 km2 and mountains up to 5 100 m in the Rwenzori range, the park comprises an exceptional diversity of habitats counting bamboo and equatorial forest, swamps, steppes, snowfields, lava plains and wooded savannahs. Many wild animals occur in the park: elephants, hippopotamuses, buffalos, numerous antelopes, lions, chimpanzees, many birds and of course the mountain gorilla Gorilla gorilla berengei, of which in 2005 only about 670 remain (Gray, M., pers. comm. 2005). Kahuzi-Biega National Park is declared a national park on November 30th 1970 and inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1980. Serious apprehension that parts of the park had been deforested and that many poaching activities had been reported, as well as war and public conflicts destroying the park, allowed the World Heritage Committee to inscribe the site on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 1997 (WHC UNESCO). The park has a total area of 6 000 km2 with altitudes reaching from 600 m to 3 300 m (Mount Kahuzi). Seven different vegetation types can be distinguished: equatorial rain forest, mountain rain forest, high-altitude rain forest, swamp forest, bamboo forest, sub-alpine heather and swamp and peat bog (Steinhauer-Burkart et al., 1995). Mammals living in the park include the eastern lowland gorilla Gorilla gorilla graueri (fig. 2), chimpanzees, elephants, many antelopes and duikers (Wilson and Catsis, 1990). Fig. 2: The eastern lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla graueri) Fig. 3: The okapi (Okapia johnstoni) Salonga National Park has been created on November 30th 1970 and was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in 1984. Because of collapse in civil order and severe poaching the site was added to the list of World Heritage in Danger in 1999 (WHC UNESCO). The park consists of two sectors of approximately equal size separated by about 45 km with a total area of 36 000 km2. It is the largest tropical rainforest reserve in the world. The main vegetation type is equatorial forest with as main forest types swamps, riverine and dry-land forest. Grassland vegetation occurs in the northern sector and comprises not more than 0.5% of the total park area. Salonga National Park is the habitat of many native endangered species like the dwarf chimpanzee, the Zaire peacock and the African slender-snouted crocodile and also for the hippopotamus, leopard, duiker, okapi, buffalo and water civet (WCMC).


Every investment requires the right decision because this decision will affect investment results in the future. People's access to financial products and services that continue to increase and are so easily available does not have a positive impact, especially on the younger generation if they do not have good financial understanding and management. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of financial literacy and financial behavior on investment decisions of students majoring in Accounting FEB Bina Bangsa University. The research method used is a quantitative method using a questionnaire using a judgment sampling technique which was distributed to 62 respondents. The data analysis technique used is multiple regression test, t test and F test using SPSS Software Version 25. The results of this study show that financial literacy has a significant positive effect on investment decisions. The higher a person's financial literacy knowledge, it will affect investment decisions. The results of this study also found that student financial behavior has a significant positive effect on investment decisions. The higher the financial behavior such as the management of financial planning and financial irregularities, the easier it will be for someone to invest


By using fuzzy rule inference,this paper establishes an evaluation system of the regional coordinative development including the linguistic variable,the membership function,the fuzzy rule base,the fuzzy inference and the de-fuzzifier and so on,and considering a lot of indeterminate information existing in the evaluation and making the quantization of experts' experiences,obtains the level of the regional coordinative development,and illustrates the application of this system with some calculating examples.


To investigate nursing students' hand hygiene knowledge and to analyze factors that influence the performance of hand hygiene.A questionnaire of hand hygiene was made to survey the knowledge of hand hygiene among 253 nursing students who had been in clinic practice for three months.Then,hand hygiene-related factors were analyzed.The average score of nursing students' hand hygiene knowledge was 18.76±2.01(total score of 21) and the percentage of nursing students who got good or excellent score was 96.4%.Actually,they practiced hand hygiene well.There was no significant difference of score among different students.The important factors influencing the performance of hand hygiene were:cleaning agents and disinfectants that may cause dry skin(78%),no enough cleaning agents beside the pool(68%),hand washing without supervision(64.4%) and too busy in daily work(61.2%).The nursing students were found to have great hand hygiene knowledge and performed as well.However,appropriate measures should still be taken to improve the compliance of hand hygiene in order to reduce the occurrence of hospital infection.


To dynamic characteristic analysis of hydraulic bending roll system, we designed the model about electro-hydraulic servo pressure control system. Then dynamic characteristics of the system was analyzed in both frequency field and time field and some suggestions were given to improve this system.


III All-Russian conference «Elaboration experience of region sociocultural portrait» have taken place at Kursk state university on 25–28 September 2007. More than 50 scientists and government managers from 18 Russian regions have participated in this conference. They have discussed actual problems of region social and cultural development.


Saturated hydroxy fatty acids make up a class of underexplored lipids with potentially interesting biological activities. We report a succinct and general synthetic route to saturated hydroxy fatty acids hydroxylated at position 6 or higher, and exemplify this with the synthesis of hydroxylauric acids. All regioisomers of hydroxylauric acids were tested on free fatty acid receptors FFA1, FFA4 and GPR84. The results show that the introduction of a hydroxy group and its position have a high impact on receptor activity.


Abstract:Polyphemus is the subject of four poems printed in A Fénix Renascida: three are burlesque and only one is written in earnest, the F´bula de Polifemo e Galateia of Jernimo Baa (c. 1620–1688). While other poets distance themselves parodically from Gngora's original of c. 1614, Baa follows him extremely closely, matching his number of stanzas and often translating him word for word, as José Ares Montes showed in his Gngora y la poesa portuguesa del s. XVII (1956). This article examines the various ways in which Baa engages with Gngora's text and seeks to situate Baa's poem in the network of references, which includes Ovid's original, contemporary erudition as evidenced by the seventeenth-century commentators on Ovid and on Gngora, and Baa's own wit.


Aiming at the difficulty of Hg0 removal from flue gas with its indissolubility in water,a series of studies on the characteristics of elemental mercury( Hg0) catalytic oxidation removal from simulated flue gas were carried out with a laboratory-scale fixed-bed reactor using the MnOx/Al2O3 catalysts prepared by the wet impregnation method.The effects of precursor,MnO x content,calcination temperature,reaction temperature and flue gas compositions on the removal of Hg0 were also investigated. The characteristics of the catalysts were analyzed using the method of nitrogen adsorption / desorption,scanning electron microscope( SEM),and X-ray diffraction( XRD). The result shows that the catalyst prepared with manganese nitrate exhibits a higher Hg0 removal efficiency than the catalyst prepared with manganese acetate. The main active component of the MnOx/Al2O3 catalyst is MnO2,and the surface morphology and species form of MnOx are the main factors for getting an excellent Hg0 removal efficiency. The mercury removal results indicate that at low MnO x content,the precursor shows great impact on mercury removal,while the difference of Hg0 capture efficiency gradually decreases with the increase of MnO x loading. For the MnOx/Al2O3 catalyst,the optimal reaction temperature and calcination temperature are 150 ℃ and 400 ℃,respectively. The oxygen from the flue gas,which replenishes the lattice oxygen of the catalyst consumed,can promote the catalytic oxidation of Hg0. To some extent,the NO,SO2 and H2O displays inhibitory effects on Hg0removal. The influence of SO2 is the highest,followed by H2O and NO.


Objective Screen for the best buffer solution to improve the stability of the povidone-iodine gel.Method The influences of non-buffer and different buffers(phosphate buffer solution and Citrate buffer solution)on the stability of povidone-iodine gel were investigated by accelerated tests at 30 ℃and 40 ℃.Result After 6 months of accelerated tests,each of the parameters of povidone-iodine gel Ⅴ with Citrate buffer solution(0.2 mol/L) is eligible,the others are not eligible with the sharp decrease in pH values and the content of available iodine.Conclusion Citrate buffer solution is the best solution for the preparation of povidone-iodine gel and the solution is helpful to improve the stability of the gel.


Though the term 'science fiction' was coined somewhat later, the early twentieth century saw an enormous rise in an interest in technological tales set in the near future, mirroring a general awareness of the growing importance of science. Hans Dominik was one of the most prolific – and successful – German authors of this kind of popular literature. According to estimates millions of copies of his books have been sold, making Dominik's work an interesting case study illustrating the sorts of ideas about science that German-speaking audiences entertained. Being a trained engineer and a public relations officer by profession, Dominik drew heavily on scientific topics that were headline news at the time and yet he also managed to create something new on the basis of these. One of the methods he employed was the use of religious motifs and topoi. Dominik magnified the relevance of scientific enterprises and depicted the consequences of science – or scientific misconduct, rather – as the beginning of a catastrophe, or even an apocalypse. By the same token, Dominik often introduced the figure of the scientist as a protagonist who would save the world. Thus Dominik was able to draw the attention of a large audience to concepts of the use of atomic energy or nuclear weapons – to name only two – and their creative or destructive potential, decades before such devices were technically feasible.


Patients on steroid replacement therapy are at an increased risk of cardiovascular complications owing to the fact that disruptions in the cortisol diurnal rhythm may affect the blood pressure (BP) profile.

Aim: To evaluate the circadian BP profiles of patients with secondary adrenal insufficiency (SAI) and congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) on steroid replacement therapy and to compare BP profiles of patients receiving hydrocortisone (HC) in different dosing schedules.

Methods: The study included 33 patients: 15 SAI and 18 CAH (mean age 13.2 years 95CI 11.3-15.1). There were no patients with previously diagnosed overt hypertension. Patients with SAI received a mean of 7.39 mg/m2 of HC in 3 daily doses (in the morning (M) 50%, in the afternoon (A) 25%, in the evening (E) 25%), CAH patients 17.9 mg/m2 of HC in the following dosing schedules: 5 patients in 3 equal doses, 7 patients received M: 40% A: 40% E: 20%, the remaining 6 patients had the same dosing schedule as patients with SAI. Fludrocortisone (FC) was given to 13 patients with CAH in 2 equal daily doses. The total dose of HC/FC as well as the dosing schedule of HC was adjusted individually based on clinical and biochemical outcomes. Standard 24-hour BP monitoring (ABPM) was performed using an Ambulatory BP Monitor (Space labs 90217, USA).

Results: The majority of the patients (almost 70% SAI, 80% CAH) presented with an abnormal 24-hour BP profile. There were no significant differences in ABPM results between SAI and CAH patients, and no differences between CAH patients treated with and without FC. There was no correlation between HC and FC doses [mg/m2] and ABPM results except that mean night SBP values increased with greater HC doses (r=0.51, p<0.05). Among the CAH group the highest percentage of abnormal ABPM results was observed in patients who received HC in doses: M: 50% A: 25% and E: 25%, the most favorable BP profile was observed in patients with dosing schedule: M: 40%, A: 40%, E: 20%.However there were no significant differences between patients with different treatment protocols, the results suggest that observed disruptions of the BP profile could be related to the HC dosing schedule.

Conclusions: The incidence of abnormal BP profiles in patients on steroid replacement therapy due to SAI and CAH without overt hypertension is high. The disruptions of the BP profiles are not associated with the dose of HC or FC. The abnormal BP profiles in patients with SAI or CAH may be related to the HC dosing schedule. 24-hour ABPM seems to be a useful, non-invasive and safe method for the monitoring of HC and FC replacement therapy in patients with adrenal insufficiency. Further investigations in the larger groups of patients are needed.


The Orenburg swell is a structure of the second order that complicates the north part of the Sol'-Iletsa projection of the crystalline basement. It is located in the zone of junction of the Volzhsko-Kama anticlize with the Peri-Caspian synclize and Cis-Ural downwarp. This swell is well expressed on the sub-salt Lower Permian and Upper and Middle Carboniferous, where a giant gas condensate field has been found. Halogen sediments of the Iren horizon of the Kungur stage serve as the impermeable cover for the field. The structure of the Upper Permian has developed as a result of salt tectonics. Detailed correlation of the salt-bearing strata and of the inter-salt anhydrites by means of geophysical logging has established the presence in the section of the Iren horizon here of thirteen strata of salt, which combine into ten cycles of halogen deposition. Three of the cycles (third, seventh, and tenth) are markers because they show clearly expressed gamma logging anomalies at the base of each. rests on a clearly expressed sub-salt structure that has a mosaic pattern. In individual there is a sharp in total thickness of the in other sectors there is sharp decrease. to plastic salt stratum. the and south flanks of the sub-salt of salt the do not exceed 5-10 sq few several hundred the of the Orenburg swell


This paper presents a novel mixture-of-experts framework for pedestrian classification with partial occlusion handling. The framework involves a set of component-based expert classifiers trained on features derived from intensity, depth and motion. To handle partial occlusion, we compute expert weights that are related to the degree of visibility of the associated component. This degree of visibility is determined by examining occlusion boundaries, i.e. discontinuities in depth and motion. Occlusion-dependent component weights allow to focus the combined decision of the mixture-of-experts classifier on the unoccluded body parts. In experiments on extensive real-world data sets, with both partially occluded and non-occluded pedestrians, we obtain significant performance boosts over state-of-the-art approaches by up to a factor of four in reduction of false positives at constant detection rates. The dataset is made public for benchmarking purposes.


Abstract Purpose To assess the safety of drug-eluting beads transarterial chemoembolization (DEB-TACE) for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in patients with transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS). Materials and Methods Records of patients with a patent TIPS who underwent DEB-TACE for inoperable HCC from 2005 to 2014 at two institutions were reviewed. Patient demographics, number of procedures, extent of embolization (lobar vs. segmental), 30-day mortality, and postprocedure adverse events classified based on Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE V4.03) were recorded. Results From the total of 10 patients included (6 male, average age: 59), 3 were classified as Child A and 7 as B. Tumor Barcelona clinic liver cancer (BCLC) stage was A in three patients, B in six, and C in one. Patients underwent doxorubicin DEB-TACE with a median dose of 100 mg (range: 50–100). Number of TACE procedures per patient ranged from 1 to 4 (median: 1). Three (30%) patients experienced toxicity grade 2 or higher immediately following the procedure. One patient had grade 3 toxicity of aspartate transaminase (AST), alanine transaminase (ALT), and bilirubin. Three patients had extended hospital stays beyond 48 hours due to adverse events, including edema, acute pancreatitis, and a hepatic abscess discovered a week after the procedure. All 10 patients were alive and discharged from the hospital at 30 days after the procedure. Conclusion DEB-TACE can be well tolerated by patients with a patent TIPS, given adequate liver function. Lobar DEB-TACE is associated with higher risk of complications.


Using temperature as the main state basis for sorting the LiFePO4 battery can solve the problem of insufficient response to the internal working state of the cell. By tracking and monitoring the status of each cell inside the module, which can reflect the consistency of the complex system after large-capacity grouping. Here, the dynamic temperature change of the LiFePO4 battery is detected, the temperature rise and the temperature rise rate are compared. The corresponding temperature rise rate of the old cell were significantly higher than the new cell. The temperature difference can be used to judge the consistency of the single cells in the battery module.


Intermittent power load independent of the present invention is a photovoltaic system, comprising a solar cell module, a controller, a battery, an inverter and the AC load intermittently, the controller is further connected with a wind speed sensor, a temperature and humidity sensor and solar pyranometers. Performance prediction method of the present invention comprises: a) calculating the temperature of the panel; b) calculate the saturation current; c) obtaining photocurrent; D) obtaining a diode characteristic factor; E) of the output current of the panel determined.... ; F) obtaining a battery duty cycle;.. g) obtaining a battery resistance; H) find an open circuit voltage;. i) obtains the terminal voltage;. j) demand power loss;. k) output power is obtained;. l .) required input power; m) required current of the inverter;. n-) establishing load model;. O) performance prediction. The photovoltaic system of the present invention and performance prediction methods, without purchasing physical circuit can be constructed of a photovoltaic system guest reliable and objective evaluation, until a match with each other, to avoid the waste of resources, it has a significant beneficial effect, to promote ease of application.


It is not at all usual for an item by a non-medical practitioner, or more general academic contributor, to be seen in a specialist medical journal. The present writer, who accepts the compliment in being asked to submit a viewpoint, has a background in law that has long intersected with mental health issues. This has arisen for example as a practitioner involved in court cases where insanity or automatism were presented as defences to crimes; as a judge, the same again, but also having been involved with the detention of persons in mental healthcare; and then as a member of a judicial parole board dealing with prisoners with mental health difficulties who were seeking possible release into the community upon completion of sentence. A decade spent as a working ombudsman brought to attention a number of claims of maladministration in hospitals where mental healthcare was provided. Subsequently I chaired a confidential forum to enable former inpatients of psychiatric hospitals to describe their experiences. Most recently, I led the efforts of a mental health trust delivering community-based care. My viewpoint is therefore that of a lay outsider looking in, but that of one with some considerable exposure to mental health facilities and and processes. To that is to be added a long-held admiration for practitioners and workers in the field. We live in a world where one in four people will experience some kind of mental health condition in their lifetime. The well-known quartet of dementia, schizophrenia, depression, and addiction form a preponderance of this, whichever part of the world may be involved. Despite similarities of affliction in every country, there are many differences apparent—in nomenclature of the laws, methods of treatment, and societal attitudes towards those with mental issues. Work to level playing fields for patients is going on in a number of quarters. The matter for attention in this article is the ability of people to vote in elections when they might be affected by mental health problems. Despite voting being a key human right, the international score sheet exhibits very low pick up on this issue, putting to one side for a moment differences in terminology applied to mental illness—insanity, weakness of mind, and so forth. One third of all countries deny people with any mental health problems the right to vote. Just over 10% of countries have no restriction in this regard. The international community says, through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, that everyone has certain basic rights, and through the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on Rights of Persons with Disabilities, that everyone has the right to vote (including those with mental health problems); however, this right is not generally made available. This all exposes a huge discrepancy and presents a challenge to all those with an interest in seeing equity and justice prevailing, a little more than at present. It does not seem to be an adequate answer that the matter needs to be considered by the United Nations afresh when there is no will to advance that. The view offered by this article is to suggest a way forward that has its foundation in the present positioning of doctors and patients. To explain this, there is of course the primary doctor–patient relationship, where two people are involved often in a quasi-contractual sense. If a legal process is involved, a doctor seeking a judicial order calling for non-consensual detention is cast in the role of a prosecutor, which coincidentally makes it difficult for a therapeutic relationship to be restored. There is then the role of the medical practitioner as a functionary of a country's health system, generally as an employee. In order to achieve change on a demographic scale for the benefit of patients, say for standardised, or even complementary, definitions of mental disorder, or securing a right to vote, it will be necessary for the doctor and the medical profession to consider adopting another dimension—that of being advocates for patients, in addition to the more traditional roles.


Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a tumor marker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, we sometimes encounter patients with persistently elevated serum AFP in whom HCC is not detected. Whether the elevation of AFP is an indicator of the presence of HCC or an indicator of a high potential for hepatocarcinogenesis is not clear. Here, we describe the clinical course of a patient with persistently elevated AFP. A 65-year-old woman had been diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C virus infection in 1991 and has since been followed up every 2 months at the Department of Gastroenterology, Ogaki Municipal Hospital. Her serum AFP remained normal (<20 ng/dL) between 1991 and 2004, but it was elevated to >400 ng/dL on December 2004. The elevation persisted thereafter, fluctuating between 400 ng/dL and 1000 ng/dL despite the constant mild elevation of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity and the lack of elevation of Lens culinaris agglutinin A-reactive fraction of AFP and desgamma-carboxy prothrombin. In January 2005, she underwent angiography and angiography-assisted computed tomography (CT) (i.e. CT during arterial portography [CTAP] and CT during hepatic arteriography [CTHA]), which are one of the most sensitive modalities for detecting hepatic tumor. No liver tumor, however, was detected during this examination. A hepatic mass lesion was detected during a routine outpatient ultrasonography in February 2006. The patient's serum AFP at that time was 970.4 ng/dL. She again underwent angiographic examination of the liver. Four small liver nodules (<2.0 cm in diameter) were found as attenuated areas during CTAP, and partially increased attenuation was detected within three of the four attenuated areas (arrows, Fig. 1a1–a3). In contrast, during CTHA, three minute enhanced areas were found that corresponded to three of the areas of increased attenuation found during CTAP (arrows, Fig. 1b1–b3). One tumor lacked an enhanced area on the CTHA. Ultrasonography-guided fine-needle biopsy of the tumors revealed four well-differentiated HCC, within one of which the component of moderate differentiation was observed. Her remnant liver function was Child–Pugh class B at diagnosis and each of the four tumors was treated by radiofrequency thermal ablation. Her serum AFP decreased to 290.8 ng/dL 1 month after the treatment. A decrease in portal venous flow and an increase in arterial blood flow are characteristics of typical HCC. However, an increase in arterial blood flow is absent in early-stage HCC, whereas a decrease in portal venous flow is present. In the nodule-in-nodule-type HCC, early-stage HCC contains a part with features of typical HCC within a tumor. Three of the four HCC we found in the present case were of this nodule-in-nodule-type HCC, and the other was an early-stage HCC. These HCC are unlikely to produce intrahepatic metastases and were therefore believed to develop simultaneously and independently and were considered a multicentric occurrence. Although AFP is the tumor marker that is used most widely for monitoring the development of HCC, AFP also increases in association with hepatocyte regeneration. AFP therefore does not always reflect the development of HCC. Because AFP elevation indicates enhanced liver regeneration as well as advanced liver fibrosis, however, it could also be a marker for a high risk of developing HCC and further multicentric ocurrence of HCC. Patients with persistent AFP elevation should therefore be monitored intensively for HCC, and careful imaging studies with sensitive methods for HCC should be required in order not to miss the development of HCC only, but also the multicentric occurrence of HCC.


Fig. 1. Structural features of Cc. (A) Ribbon representation of the solution NMR structure of human Cc (PDB code 1J3S). The five tyrosine residues are in green, the haem group is in orange, and the two axial ligands are in yellow. (B) 1D NMR spectra of the five oxidised monotyrosine mutants of human Cc in their non-nitrated or nitrated state. Each of the socalled h-Y46, h-Y48, h-Y67, h-Y74 and h-Y97 Cc mutants has all its tyrosine residues but one (just that giving its number to the mutant) replaced by phenylalanines. 1D NMR spectra of the wild-type form (h-WT) and of the mutant having all five tyrosines replaced by phenylalanines (h-Null) are also shown for comparative purposes. As a control, the 1D NMR spectrum of the h-Null mutant submitted to the nitration process (h-Null:N) is presented. (C) Amino acid sequence alignment of horse (Equus), human (Homo) and plant (Arabidopsis) Cc. Horse Cc contains four tyrosines, human Cc has five tyrosines, and plant Cc has six tyrosines. The four common tyrosine residues are coloured in blue, whereas the non-conserved tyrosines are in red.


Fabry disease is an inborn error of metabolism caused by the deficiency of αgalactosidase A. This protein is encoded by a gene mapped on the Xq21.33-Xq22 region, being an X-linked lysosomal storage disorder. It is a rare disease, with an estimated incidence of 1 case in each 40.000 males. Clinical features are caused by the accumulation of a glycosphingolipids, predominantly globotriaosylceramide. The accumulation of globotriaosylceramide leads to vascular complications and renal insufficiency, among other signs and symptoms. Despite being X-linked, Fabry disease can affect women, and has a great variability in clinical expression, which brings difficulty to the diagnosis and leads to underestimates of its prevalence. This study had the main objective of establishing the accuracy of the assay of αgalactosidase A activity in dried blood filter paper samples. This method, which could be used in screening for Fabry disease, was compared to the standard diagnostic method, the assay of α-galactosidase A activity in plasma samples. The secondary objective was to estimate, with this method, the prevalence of Fabry disease in a sample of Brazilian males patients receiving hemodyalisis. To evaluate the accuracy of the method, it was studied 22 patients with Fabry disease and 124 controls without Fabry disease. On the accuracy studies we observed a sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 90.3% (CI95%: 84.1 to 94.7%), positive predictive value of 64.7% (CI95%: 48.6 to 80.2%) and negative predictive value of 100%. On the study of prevalence of Fabry disease in male patients in hemodyalisis, we found three affected cases among 1712 patients investigated. The prevalence on this group of patients was estimated as 0.18% (CI95%: 0.05 a 0.48%) – almost 100 times the expected in the general population. From these results, we conclude that the assay of α-galactosidase A activity in dried blood filter paper has enough accuracy to be used in the screening of Fabry disease, including the screening of high-risk groups patients as the ones on hemodyalisis.


Background: Aesthetics is a primary consideration for patients seeking dental treatment. The size and shape of the maxillary anterior teeth have significant effects not only on the dental aesthetics, but also on the complete facial aesthetics of a person. To satisfy this expressed need, the "Golden Proportion" is a numerical value that is used as a rule in achieving dental aesthetics. In the last two decades, several studies have questioned the application of this rule in dentistry. Aim: The aim of this study is to evaluate the presence of "The Golden Proportion in the maxillary anterior teeth widths of clients visiting the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital's (KATH) Oral Health Directorate, Kumasi". Materials and methods: A total of 100 dentulous subjects comprised of 50 males and 50 females, with ages ranging between 18 and 37 years were chosen using convenience sampling. Their dental casts were evaluated for apparent width by digital calliper. Results: The results of the study were expressed in relation to gender and tooth laterality. The results revealed that the golden proportion existed in 14% and 20% for the left and right respectively between the central incisor and the lateral incisor for males, 12% and 16% respectively for the left and right sides of females, 8% and 20% for the left and right sides respectively for males between the lateral incisor and canine and 16% and 20% for the left and right respectively for females. Conclusion: Comparison of our results with the established golden value shows differences between 1.618 and from the range that was acquired from this study. The results suggest that the rule of the golden proportion should not be strictly applied when restoring anterior teeth of patients in the dental clinic.


The rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have created promising opportunities for automated auditing. Previous studies have proved that it is possible to apply AI and machine learning to repetitive audit tasks. This study is the first attempt to combine neuro-accounting and machine learning to establish an automatic decision-making system that can process information and make professional judgments in the same manner as specific auditors. Our research consists of two parts. First, we conduct two behavior experiments using an eye-tracking device to obtain auditors' information processing patterns and decision-making outcomes as the training and testing data for the AI model. Second, we construct and train three convolutional neural network (CNN) models: an information processing model, decision-making model, and simplified decision-making model. In the process, word2vec is used to transform the content of textual documents into mathematical word vectors. The results showed that the combination of an information processing model and decision-making model is better at simulating auditors' decisionmaking processes and outcomes. The simplified decision-making model, which skipped the information processing part, failed to predict auditors' professional judgments. This study opens the black box of auditors' decision-making processes and proves that information processing is a nonnegligible factor in decision-making. Moreover, we demonstrate that it is possible to use AI and machine learning in high-level audit tasks.


Over the past six decades, coastal wetlands in China have experienced rapid and extensive agricultural reclamation. In the context of saline conditions, long-term effect of cultivation after reclamation on soil chemical properties has not been well understood. We studied this issue using a case of approximately 60-years cultivation of a coastal saline marsh in Bohai Rim, northern China. The results showed that long-term reclamation significantly decreased soil organic carbon (SOC) (−42.2%) and total nitrogen (TN) (−25.8%) at surface layer (0–30 cm) as well as their stratification ratios (SRs) (0–5 cm:50–70 cm and 5–10 cm:50–70 cm). However, there was no significant change in total phosphorus (TP) as well as its SRs under cultivation. Cultivation markedly reduced ratios of SOC to TN, SOC to TP and TN to TP at surface layer (0–30 cm) and their SRs (0–5 cm:50–70 cm). After cultivation, electrical conductivity and salinity significantly decreased by 60.1% and 55.3% at 0–100 cm layer, respectively, suggesting a great desalinization. In contrast, soil pH at 20–70 cm horizons notably increased as an effect of reclamation. Cultivation also changed compositions of cations at 0–10 cm layer and anions at 5–100 cm layer, mainly decreasing the proportion of Na+, Cl− and SO4 2−. Furthermore, cultivation significantly reduced the sodium adsorption ratio and exchangeable sodium percentage in plow-layer (0–20 cm) but not residual sodium carbonate, suggesting a reduction in sodium harm.


The above epigraph is one of several that precede Melvin Dixon's acclaimed critical work Ride Out the Wilderness (vii). However, it is equally relevant to a discussion of Dixon's collection of poems Change of Territory, because the philosophical perspective of the collection urges difficult journeys. Change of Territory charts decisive moments in the poet/protagonist's journey from childhood to manhood and the genealogical tributaries that shape and inform his voice. Filling out the poet's "song" is a panoply of voices that range from the individual: enslaved African forefather, grandmother, mother, and father, to the collective: Teddy Wilson, James P. Johnson, Romare Bearden, and Ralph Ellison, artists who are a part of the history of the black expressive tradition. In the words of Paul Carter Harrison, " 'song' does not mean a tune or song per se but rather denotes the intrinsic value of heightened language" (xix). More generally, Dixon's concern with the performative dimension of black expressivity, which is so prominent in his critical works, is also apparent in this collection. Like Ride Out the Wilderness, Change of Territory is concerned with place and performance, with the ways in which black protagonists "enlarge their range of verbal invention by turning figures of the landscape into settings for the performance of identity" (Ride Out 7). In this collection, "words find an enduring echo in the places and performances that [the writer] has reached by riding out the various forms of oppression threatening to silence us all." Change of Territory, then, records the individual's response to the externally imposed boundaries of race, sex, and class, and to the way in which these "boundaries" have paradoxically transcended the more ephemeral limits of time and space. Underscoring the poet's in


We show tEat a Banach space E constructed by Hourgain-Delbaen in 1980 answers a question put by Feder in 1982 about spaces of conxpact oper- ators.


In terms of life form Salsola orientalis S.G. Gmel. is a semi-shrub; its height reaches 40–60 cm; in terms of ecology, it is a haloxerophyte, extremely resistant to salt stress, air, and soil droughts. Salsola orientalis is a highly nutritious forage plant containing up to 20% protein in the budding phase. High resistance to environmental stress and good forage value allow us to consider it as a promising plant – its introduction into culture allowed restoring the forage productivity of degraded pastures in the Central Asian desert. The features of growth and development of Salsola orientalis were studied for ecological and biological characteristics and the possibility of introducing it into culture. It was found that the laboratory germination of seeds of the wild-growing half-shrub Salsola orientalis was quite high – 20–60%; field germination was very low – 0.1–1.7%. The survival rate of seedlings in young plants depends on environmental conditions and plant density. Under conditions of the Central Asian desert the plants basically die in the first year, especially in the germination phase; in the second year we registered insignificant losses; in subsequent years the number of plants stabilized. Salsola orientalis was found to be a fast growing plant, forming a normal half-shrub in the first year of life. The high ecological stability of Salsola orientalis in combination with its deeply penetrating and powerfully developed root system ensures vigorous and rapid growth. Under conditions of the Central Asian desert Salsola orientalis yields 1.3–1.7 t/ha of dry fodder mass, which is 4–5 times higher than the fodder productivity of natural desert pastures.


During the past two decades the physiology and pharmacology of thermoregulation have been the subjects of a considerable volume of research and numerous books and reviews. The physiologic aspects have been reviewed in detail most recently by Cabanac (1). The effects of drugs on temperature regulation have been discussed at two symposia, which resulted in books containing the proceedings (2, 3), and a third symposium in this series was held in Banff in September 1976. In reviewing this prodigious development of knowledge of the subject, any demarcation of these reports into "pharmacologic" is somewhat arbitrary since in many cases drugs have been used as tools to elucidate physiologic mechanisms. With respect to the actions of drugs on central thermoregulatory mechanisms, many of the compounds studied affect the CNS by modifying the activity of the several neuronal pathways that impinge on the central thermostats or that mediate the effector responses controlling body temperature. The role of the putative neuro transmitters involved constitutes perhaps the most debatable topic in thermoregula tion (4). Because there has been no recent exhaustive review of this subject we restrict the present discussion to the role of these neuroamines and the effects of drugs on their activity in the CNS. A convenient model on which to base a discussion of the role of amines in thermoregulation is the neural net described by Carlson (5). He divided the system into afferent, central, and efferent components. Of these three components there is little or no evidence for a role of amines in the afferent sensory division. Conversely there is good evidence for a role of amines in the peripheral effector part of the neural net; its pharmacology is easy to analyze and is well understood. The central compo-


Abstract Seventy-three barley cultivars and selections have been evaluated in the first four seasons of a programme of regional testing by Crop Research Division, DSIR, at Palmerston North. Most were inferior in yield to the standard cultivar Zephyr, and have been eliminated from further testing. Only three cultivars, Georgie, Hassan, and Kuaka, were superior to Zephyr in yield. In a limited number of trials Ark Royal, Kaniere, Lara, Mata, and Manapou were marginally superior in yield and require more testing.


Static characteristics of the human finger are investigated using a planer musculoskeletal model of the finger. They are represented by mapping a muscle force vector to a manipulating force vector of the fingertip. Force manipulability of the fingertip is defined as a force manipulability set obtained from the mapping under the condition that the norm of the muscle force vector is not more than a unit value. The shapes of the sets are geometrically obtained and graphically represented in the simulation results. The simulation visually demonstrates the static characteristics of the finger.


Objective Investigate the preoperative visiting impact on vital signs of patients. Methods Separate 150 patients into experimental group and matched group in randomly and averagely,75 patients each group. The preoperative visiting mainly introduce detailed content about the operation. Observe the changes of the surgical patient's vital signs of the two groups. Results Compared with the matched group,there were significant differences in the vital preoperative signs of the experimental group( P 0. 05). Conclusion Preoperative visits can reduce the stress response,anxiety,fear and the fluctuations of vital signs. It's positive for the operating and anesthesia process.


Interference signals in the listening environment may exist masked by way of reproduction to listen to the desired signal environment, the interference signal masking threshold is determined and a desired signal associated with the identified environment may exist in the interference signal and the masking threshold is compared, and adjusted over time so as to be a desired signal masking threshold is increased to above the level of the interference signal.


Human tyrosine hydroxylase exists as four isoforms (hTH1–4), generated by alternative splicing of pre-mRNA, with tissue-specific distribution. Unphosphorylated hTH3 and hTH1 were produced in large amounts in Escherichia coli and purified to homogeneity. The phosphorylation sites were determined after labeling with [32P]phosphate in the presence of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) and calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaM-PKII). Ser40 was phosphorylated by PKA, and both Ser19and Ser40 were phosphorylated by CaM-PKII. The enzyme kinetics of hTH3 were determined in the presence of various concentrations of the natural co-substrate (6R)-tetrahydrobiopterin and compared with those of recombinant hTH1 (similar to rat TH). We show that, under initial velocity conditions, excess (6R)-tetrahydrobiopterin inhibits hTH3 and hTH1. The TH catalytic constants (k cat) were determined for each of the two isoenzymes: hTH3 is about five times more active than hTH1. Phosphorylation by CaM-PKII did not affect the kinetic parameters of hTH3. The classical activation of TH by PKA phosphorylation, demonstrated for hTH1, was not observed with hTH3. Furthermore, hTH3 escapes activity regulation by phosphorylation and is always more active than phosphorylated hTH1. The properties of the hTH3 enzyme may be relevant to diseases affecting dopaminergic cells.


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The properties of phytochrome have been measured by dual-wavelength spectropho-tometry in the cotyledons of the short-day plant Pharbitis nil Choisy cv. Violet, where it is known to play a role in flower induction. In plants de-etiolated by a single white light period (4 h or longer), destruction of the far-red absorbing form of phytochrome (Pfr) was twice as rapid as after 10 min red light. A small fraction of Pfr was stable. After de-etiolation by a period of white light (6 h or longer) the rapid decrease of Pfr during the first 30 min was accompanied by a rapid increase of the red absorbing form of phytochrome (Pfr). This rapid increase of Pfr is probably due to dark reversion. Long term synthesis of phytochrome was inhibited by the presence of Pfr. Phytochrome synthesised in darkness showed the etiolated-plant type characteristics and underwent rapid destruction upon photoconversion to Pfr. The stable Pfr identified here is possibly that pool of phytochrome associated with the long term promotive process in flower induction, and the rapidly reverting Pfr is that pool associated with the night break inhibition of flowering.


Biopolitical Screens: Image, Power, and the Neoliberal Brain By Pasi Valiaho MIT Press, 2014 186 pp./$35.00 (hb) [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In a remarkably succinct manner, Pasi Valiaho's Biopolitical Screens: Image, Power, and the Neoliberal Brain, draws together from myriad sources (ranging from art history and film theory to neuroscience, neoliberal economics, anthropology, video gaming, virtual reality technology, and counterinsurgency/military strategy) an increasing convergence in description of our "neoliberal" social and media environment. Valiaho also proposes, remaining within the purview of screen culture, artists' video installations as counter-examples to the reigning types of "biopolitics." Part of the broader scaffolding to this analysis is Michel Foucault's definition of "biopolitics" as the attempt, beginning toward the end of the eighteenth century, "to rationalize the problems posed to governmental practice by phenomena characteristic of a set of living be ings forming a population: health, hygiene, birthrate, life expectancy, race" (qtd. 18). Allied to this is Cilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari's "apparatus of capture" (qtd. 13)--the process of bringing bodies/ individuals in line with the requirements needed for the accumulation of capital at different points in its history. Key to Valiaho's work of synthesis is the fusion of these notions with the current vogue for foregrounding the study and mapping of the brain. Deleuze, for one, had already drawn attention to the neurology of the brain as a new, crucial ground of contestation before his death in 1995; its contemporary versions can constitute forms of self-validation, a kind of circular, self-fulfilling prophecy essential to the neoliberal system of domination. As philosopher Catherine Malabou has written, the brain is "the essential thing, the biological, the sensible, and critical locus of our time, through which pass, one way or another, the political evolutions and revolutions that began in the eighties and opened the twenty-first century" (qtd. 21). Just as the brain is understood to function in a nonlinear, nonhierarchical manner perpetually open to "self-modification," neoliberalism as a socioeconomic system "rests on a redistribution of centers and a major relaxation of hierarchies" (qtd. 21). Fortified by pervasive and convincing technologies of neuroimaging of the brain, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET), visualizations of "neural correlates" are produced that not only "read" current thoughts, perceptions, and actions, but also predict future ones. This capacity for programming the future banks on the notion neuroscientist Chris Frith describes when he says that "we are not aware of the action we are about to perform until the brain has made an unconscious choice about what that action should be (qtd. 23). This sort of "production of visual truths about who we are or should become within the current biopolitical apparatus," Valiaho writes, is "what characterizes the political ontology of neoliberalism ... the attempt to rule the whole world by joining together visuality and the anticipated future" (23-4). The logic of this "cerebral subject" feeds seamlessly into that of financial capitalism, with its preemptive risk management and derivatives, "where the future needs first to be successfully imagined before it can become reality" (24). This same anticipatory acting on the future, or "securitization against future disaster (24), is characteristic of the preemptive and perpetual wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, for the perceived continuity of the neoliberal economy and "way of life." So contemporary screen culture has "come to administer our temporal realities accordingly," hinging on "images that mediate possible future events as affective facts in the present" (24). Whether examining the rhythm of video games or the risks of stock speculation, "the politics of images today seems to be particularly concerned with the future anterior: something nonexistent, a mere imagination, which nonetheless is effective in triggering actions, provoking affects, and animating collectives, if not whole populations" (24-25). …


Threephase selfexcited inverters and active rectifiers containing an additional halfbridge are considered. The effects of classic pulsewidth modulation and the PWM with a passive phase on the main indicators of converters, such as harmonic composition of the inverter output voltage, power factor of an active rectifier, pulsations in the DC circuit, and switching losses in the power switches, are compared. A method for producing PWM with a passive phase is proposed, the use of which makes it possible to obtain additional reduction of switching losses.


The HemoCue β -glucose photometer (Angelholm, Sweden) was evaluated for use in monitoring blood glucose in both diabetic and nondiabetic patients undergoing open heart surgery. Because occasional discrepancies were noted in patients with low total proteins when the Reflotron (Boehringer Mannheim, Indianapolis, IN) was used for this purpose, the effects of protein and hematocrit on glucose results from both instruments were investigated and compared with plasma values from a Paramax 720 ZX (Baxter Healthcare, Irvine, CA). Linear-regression analysis of the HemoCue results (y) versus Paramax (x) yielded y = 0.956x + 0.35, r 2 = 0.980, with Sy/x = 0.57 mmol/L (10.3 mg/dL). Results from the Reflotron (y) versus Paramax (x) yielded y = 1.075x – 0.10, r 2 = 0.964, with Sy/x = 0.99 mmol/L(17.8 mg/dL). Bias plots of (HemoCue – Paramax) or (Reflotron – Paramax) versus glucose, hematocrit, or protein showed no effect of glucose on the results from either instrument and no effect of protein or hematocrit on the HemoCue findings. The Reflotron, however, showed a positive bias of up to 3.5 mmol/L (63 mg/dL) at protein concentrations between 30–40 g/L (3.0–4.0 g/dL) and a possible positive bias at low hematocrit levels.


Background Learning where people have met their sexual partners has previously been acknowledged as a way of identifying key locations that are functional to sexually transmitted infection transmission. Aims To gather local data on where patients diagnosed with chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, HIV, trichomonas and hepatitis B have met their partners. This is the first stage of an on-going project which aims to develop a more targeted health promotion intervention(s) for key locations in Bristol identified as being important for STI transmission. The ultimate aim is that this intervention(s) will contribute to a reduction in STI transmission rates and therefore STI prevalence(s) in Bristol. Method Patients were asked where they met their sexual partners during all health adviser partner notification interviews conducted in 2011. 2052 interviews were conducted and data were collected from 1257 patients. Results Across all patients, the most regularly cited meeting place was in a bar or club (29%) This was followed by "through friends/ old friends" (28%). 12% met their sexual contacts via the internet. The most common mode of meeting contacts in heterosexual patients was via friends (31%) while for gay men it was via the internet (36%). Discussion The data provides the names of key locations in Bristol and a number of internet sites that are important for transmission. These locations can now be targeted by health promotion and outreach work in order to contribute to a reduction in STI transmission and prevalence. Over a quarter of all sexual contacts were met via friends or they were a friend of the patient. It is likely that the perception of STI risk diminishes if a contact is known or if they share the same social network. As well as targeting locations and internet sites, further research is now needed to explore patient's perception of STI risk, alongside health promotion work that highlights potential misperceptions.


An A + T-rich repeated DNA sequence cloned from maxicircle DNA of Leishmania mexicana amazonensis was found to be conserved in the maxicircles of human-infective Leishmania species but totally absent from non-human-infective ones. Differences in the pattern of distribution of this repeated sequence in the maxicircles of each human-infective Leishmania species potentially allow the development of a sensitive probe to differentiate among these species.


Analysis of electromagnetic noise mitigation in a mixed signal board consisting of analog to digital convertor (ADC) and low noise amplifier (LNA) is presented. A new approach of mitigating the electromagnetic noise is proposed in the form of complementary split ring resonator (CSRR) loaded right handed (RH) transmission line as an alternative to EBG loaded large power planes. To analyze the effect of electromagnetic noise in mixed signal board, noise coupling power and noise figure at the output of LNA were measured for various periodic configurations (RH transmission line, alternating impedance electromagnetic bandgap (AIEBG), and CSRR loaded transmission line). The noise figure at the output of LNA is 11.5 dB, 2.9dB and 2.7 dB for RH transmission line, AIEBG based power plane and CSRR loaded RH transmission line respectively.


In mountainous areas with abundant groundwater and high water pressure, the design of waterproof and drainage is the most important part of the whole tunnel construction process. Improper treatment of groundwater will not only damage the local ecological environment, but also bring hidden danger to the safety of tunnel structure, especially in the ecologically fragile area. The tunnel project under construction in the East Tianshan Mountain is located in the high-altitude mountain area. The surface is the national forest protection area, and the vegetation is perennial. Once a large amount of groundwater is lost, the surface ecology will be damaged and hard to recover in a short time. In this paper, the existing design of mountain tunnel waterproof and drainage is summarized, and its advantages and disadvantages are analyzed. Based on the previous research, the concept of waterproof and drainage design suitable for the East Tianshan tunnel is proposed: "one block, two rows and Three Preventions". "One block" is a circle of grouting outside the tunnel to block most of the groundwater. "Two rows" is to set two layers of drainage pipe network between shotcrete and waterproof layer and between waterproof layer and lining. "Three proofing" is to use three layers of water proofing: shotcrete layer, special waterproof layer and lining concrete. Layers of fortification can minimize the interference to groundwater and ensure the safety of tunnel structure.


This paper describes our methods for Chinese word similarity computation based on automatically acquired knowledge on NLPCC-ICCPOL 2016 Task 3. All of the methods utilize off-the-shelf tools and data, which makes them easy to be replicated. We use Sogou corpus to train word vector for Chinese words and utilize Baidu to get Web page counts for word pairs. Both word vector and Web page counts can be acquired automatically. All of our methods don't utilize any dictionary and manual-annotated knowledge, which avoids the huge human labor. Among the four submitted results, three systems achieve a similar Spearman correlation coefficient (0.327 by word vector, 0.328 by word vector and PMI, 0.314 by word vector and Dice). Besides, when all the English letters are converted to lowercase, the best performance of our methods is improved, which is 0.372 by word vector and Dice. All of the comparative methods and experiments are described in the paper.