This article introduces Taiwan's ambitious 6-year transportation development plan to upgrade highways, railways, seaports, and airports, and build a sophisticated mass transit and high-speed rail system. It notes the opportunities this will bring to the international transportation engineering profession. The funding allocations for the development plan are noted, and the the details are given of the highway development, urban development, railway development, aviation development, and the port and harbor development segments of the plan. It is noted that the economic outlook for Taiwan in the last decade of the 20th century is optimistic, and the industrial nations of the west should not ignore the opportunities for participation in it.


There have always been a range of treatments for
mental illness. Evidence exists of ancient trepanning,
and through the ages other techniques have been used
such as blood letting, exorcism, confinement, dietary
interventions, environmental interventions, talking
therapies of various modalities, industrial therapies,
insulin comas, and ice baths among many others. In
the past the view was held that physicians were people
of such sober judgement and fine knowledge that 'all
remedies whatever are at the disposal of practitioners
to reject or employ them under the sole guidance of
their own judgment'. But in more recent times, for
reasons of efficacy and economics, there has been
greater concern with using treatments for which there
is the best evidence of a positive outcome.


This study describes the development of a 21-item, parent report measure for assessing the quality of life (QOL) of children with cancer. The Pediatric Oncology Quality of Life Scale (POQOLS) provides a total score and three factor scores that assess physical function and role restriction, emotional distress, and reaction to current medical treatment. Internal consistency reliabilities of the total scale and the three factors were high, as was interparent agreement. In addition, POQOLS scores demonstrated good concurrent and discriminant relationships with scores on measures of adjustment hypothesized to covary with the dimensions of QOL assessed


In the current paper, a kind of thyristor digital trigger circuit, based on 8-bit microcontroller unit, is designed. The circuit can be used to trigger the three-phase full-controlled-bridge rectifier circuits. It adopts single phase voltage as the synchronization signal; 6-channel trigger pulses from it are very symmetrical and the pulses can be shifted within a cycle of a sine wave from 0 degree to 180 degree. The circuit consists of a microcontroller unit, a keyboard, a LED display, synchronization shift phase module and trigger pulses output module and so on. Its structure is simple; its performance is high stable and reliable; its anti-interference ability is strong and its operation is easy. The hardware structure of the trigger circuit and its principle are the emphasis of this paper and especially the process of generating of the trigger pulses has a detailed description.


Along with the progress of satellite technology, satellites are becoming more and more powerful, making emerging technologies such as mist computing and edge computing considered in the future development of satellite networks. Satellite networks will use mist/edge computing to provide low-latency, highly reliable information transmission capabilities. However, despite much research in the area of satellite edge computing, there is still a lack of simulation tools with satellite edge computing environments. Here, we propose a satellite edge computing simulator-SatEdgeSim, which is an extension of PureEdgeSim and utilizes the effectiveness of it in simulating cloud, mist and edge computing environments to evaluate the satellite edge computing environment. Finally, we use SatEdgeSim to simulate the impact of different task deployment strategies in satellite edge computing scenarios. Simulation results show that SatEdgeSim is effective in satellite edge computing environment. Compared with the traditional task deployment strategy, the proposed deployment strategy designed in this paper can reduce delay and energy consumption, and improve the task success rate.


Currently, 10% of the domestic aircraft accidents and 9% of delays and cancellations were generated due to poor maintenance. Aircraft maintenance work is divided into works in material warehouse and in hangar. In material warehouse, the problem in aircraft maintenance work is occurred when the serial number of parts are identified and entered. In hangar, work order are duplicatively written. In addition, the maintenance information is not shared and then work order is wrong delivered. In this study, we analyzed the maintenance process and the informations that occurs in the material warehouse and hangar for large airline company to solve the problems. And serial numbers are replaced by QR code. And documented work order and manual are handled using the tablet PC. In conclusion, this paper studied smart work of maintenance process about tire parts. We expect to improve the inefficiency of identification of serial number and total maintenance time is reduced by real-time information sharing.


This research is a preliminary study on the speech acts of the slogans of national airlines (represented by Indonesian airlines) and the regional airlines (represented by ASEAN countries airlines). This research describes the classification of the speech act used in their slogans. The theory applied in this research is Searle's taxonomy which classifies into firstly, assertive (stating, suggesting, boasting, complaining, claiming, and reporting), secondly, directive (ordering, commanding, requesting, advising, and recommending), thirdly, commissive (promising, vowing, and offering),fourthly, expressive (thanking, congratulating, 'pardoning, blaming, praising, and condoling), and lastly, declaration (resigning, dismissing, christening, naming, excommunicating, appointing, and sentencing). The aims of this research are 1) to identify and describe the speech act of the national and regional airlines slogans, and 2) to find out the speech act commonly used in the national and regional airlines slogans. The result of the research shows that 1) the speech act of national airlines slogans are commissive 50%, assertive 35.7%, and directive 14.3% while the speech act of regional airlines slogansare assertive 70%, directive 17.5%, and commissive 12.5%, and 2) the speech act commonly used in the national airlines slogans is commissive while in the regional airlines slogans is assertive.


"Parenteral fluid therapy in pediatric patients" is the title of an article by Drs. W.A. Fisher and D.S. Motsay which appeared in the January 1953, issue of Postgraduate Medicine. The authors examine the various causes of dehydrational states in infants and children, discuss the diagnosis, and outline, in general terms, the rationale for the various fluids used in parental rehydration. They discuss at length the exact techniques of the three most used methods of fluid administration in that period - intravenous, subcutaneous, and intramedullary. Each of these approaches is discussed in detail, even to the point of needle gauge and anatomic location of needle insertion. Also considered are the potential complications of each of the methods used. The paper emphasized the fact that "parenteral fluid therapy, properly evaluated and judiciously carried out" can make the difference between success and failure in the therapy of the sick child.


This book is the culmination of a five year research project exploring online gamers and the cultures they engage with, both virtually in the many massively multiplayer games and virtual worlds online, and in the physical spaces they inhabit in various play spaces around the world. The primary research questions concerned social learning in such spaces, i.e. how do players learn from one another what they need to be successful, and what are the associated norms and practices for doing so? What sorts of peripheral skills are gained, and are they applicable to physical world contexts? Finally, what does participation in such spaces mean for individuals who may have lacked other mechanisms for social learning, and what impacts might such findings have on existing educational structures?


Kodama et al. (1) report the function of myocardin-related transcription factor B (MRTFB) in colorectal cancer (CRC). They perform whole transcriptome RNA sequencing in MRTFB small interference RNA knockdown primary human colon cells and find that spindle apparatus coiled-coil protein 1 (SPDL1) and melanoma cell adhesion molecule (MCAM) show different expression. Subsequently, they conduct gene knockout experiments to prove that the deletion of these two genes can aggravate CRC. Finally, they concluded that MRTFB suppresses CRC development by regulating SPDL1 and MCAM. We deeply agree with Kodama et al.'s views on …

[↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: tianyi.zang{at}hit.edu.cn or liangcheng{at}hrbmu.edu.cn.

 [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1


To enhance the low-temperature catalytic activity and stability of Ni/bentonite catalyst, Ni-Mn/bentonite catalyst was prepared by introducing Mn into Ni/bentonite catalyst and was used for CO2 methanation. The results indicated that the addition of Mn enhanced the interaction between the NiO and the bentonite carrier, increased the dispersion of the active component Ni and decreased the grain size of the active component Ni, increased the specific surface area and pore volume of the Ni/bentonite catalyst, and decreased the average pore size, which suppressed the aggregation of Ni particles grown during the CO2 methanation process. At the same time, the Mn addition increased the amount of oxygen vacancies on the Ni/bentonite catalyst surface, which promoted the activation of CO2 in the methanation reaction, increasing the low-temperature activity and stability of the Ni/bentonite catalyst. Under the reaction condition of atmospheric pressure, 270 °C, V(H2):V(CO2) = 4, and feed gas space velocity of 3600 mL·gcat−1·h−1, the CO2 conversion on the Ni-Mn/bentonite catalyst with 2wt% Mn was 85.2%, and the selectivity of CH4 was 99.8%. On the other hand, when Mn was not added, the CO2 conversion reached 84.7% and the reaction temperature only raised to 300 °C. During a 150-h stability test, the CO2 conversion of Ni-2wt%Mn/bentonite catalyst decreased by 2.2%, while the CO2 conversion of the Ni/bentonite catalyst decreased by 6.4%.


By combining the climate conditions of hot-summer and cold-winter zone, this paper has analyzed the characteristics for energy saving of windows and doors, and the approaches for energy-saving design are proposed in accordance with the functions of thermal insulation in summer, heat preservation in winter and lighting. Through the material of glass and window frame, it can provide reference to material selection for doors and windows, and various door & window energy-saving technologies are proposed, such as the structure and measures which can improve the thermal performance of window and the reasonable area ratio of window to wall.


Entrepreneurship, as the identity of the younger generation, can promise income as a form of business early on. Entrepreneurship in education is instilled through the curriculum and the spirit of student entrepreneurship. The purpose of this article is to reveal the relevance of education in entrepreneurship and successful entrepreneurship for the younger generation in Central Java. The method used is descriptive qualitative study with the interpretation of data using charts or graphs that reveal the interrelationships between variables. The subject of this research is the young generation of secondary schools. Qualitative data analysis is presented to show results. The result of this study is that entrepreneurship education has a relationship with the success of entrepreneurship for the younger generation in the Central Java region. This youth is evidenced by the indepth identification of the success of young entrepreneurs in school. The implication of this article for the field of entrepreneurship is the internalization of entrepreneurial knowledge for the younger generation can be done early through learning in schools so that this method can open new discourses for other studies that will reveal curriculum objectives specifically about long-term economic benefits. Keyword: Entrepreneurship Education, Entrepreneurial Success, Young Entrepreneurs


(1933). The Practical Value of Determining the Fertility of Whitefish Eggs. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society: Vol. 63, No. 1, pp. 144-150.


Background: Estrogen receptor (ER) is a crucial biomarker for subtyping breast cancer. The present study aimed to understand the influence of infiltrated immune cells to patients' outcome in estrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer.
 Methods: Gene expression profiles of three breast cancer cohorts downloaded from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) were used in this study. We utilized gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) to estimate the activities of immune cell infiltration based on 31 published immune gene sets. Each gene set was tested for ER+ associated prognostic value. GSEA was applied to identify biological functions associated with prognostic immune gene sets.
 Results: Nine subtypes of immune cells showed ER+ specific association with patient survival; seven of them formed two co-activation clusters, including: (I) activated CD4, CD8, effector memory CD4, and (II) regulatory T cell, dendritic cell, eosinophil, and mast cell, substantially representing innate and adaptive immunity. Among them, activated CD8 and mast cell were independent prognostic factors in multivariate Cox regression. Functional annotation analysis revealed their involvement in breast cancer subtyping, relapse, and metastasis.
 Conclusions: We devised a gene set analysis to comprehensively investigate the involvement of ER specific immune cell activities and prognosis in breast cancer. Our work provides hints of the interaction between infiltrated immune cells and activated oncogene in ER+ breast cancer and may contribute to the biological basis for the development of immunotherapy.


This paper sheds light on the transmission mechanism of loan-to-value (LTV) policy to financial stability by providing three findings from Hong Kong. First, there is evidence that LTV cap tightening since 2009 has dampened both borrowers' leverage and credit growth, and that lower leverage has played a major role in strengthening banks' resilience to property price shocks. Second, the effect on loan growth is found to be state-dependent due to loan market disequilibrium, with a much stronger impact on loan supply than on demand, suggesting that calibrating this tool to curb loan growth needs an accurate estimate of both loan demand and supply. Operationally, this could pose challenges for policymakers. Finally, we find evidence of low responsiveness of housing demand to caps on LTV ratios, which is suggestive of a weak direct pass-through of LTV policy to the property market. These findings together support the view that operationally it would be optimal for LTV policy to primarily target household leverage, and that there are limitations in using this instrument to stabilise credit growth and property prices.


Interference of two Laguerre-Gauss vortex beams carrying equal but opposite topological charge is studied theoretically.The change of the topological charge and the interference properties of Laguerre-Gauss vortex beams are explored experimentally.It is found that the topological charges can be easily detected by the Dove-prism method,which greatly reduce the detection error.It's also fond that the pattern will spin slowly.


Objective Study the curative effect and?prognosis on the upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Methods Analyze and discuss the clinical features of 23 patients with the upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Results Of the 23 patient samples, 16(accounting for 60.8%)were peptic ulcer diseases, 5(accounting for 21.7%) were gastric mucosal damages and the rest 2(accounting for 8.7%) were gastric cancers. 20 patients were under conservative treatments and 3 patients under operative treatments. Conclusion Use conservative treatments for the patients with upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage, while operative treatments are especially used early on for those gastric cancers with a large amount of bleeding


We present a summary of our work on wave packet motion on laser coupled molecular potential surfaces. These are described by a time dependent version of the Born-Oppenheimer theory. We look at pulse excitation, level crossings and interference phenomena. Our numerical results are compared with simple semi-classical models.


Abstract Although it is known that the temperature, moisture content, and movement of the fabric drying in dryer are constantly changing, little information is available for manufacturer to optimize the drying mode of the dryer by making full use of the time-variability and stage characteristics of drying process. The purpose of this study was to develop a saving-energy drying model for domestic dryer by utilizing this characteristic, and quantitatively assess their drying efficiency, performance change of fabric, environmental and economic impacts (CO2 eq. and utility cost). Results indicated the staged drying model consumed less electricity during tumble-drying by making full use of the temperature and humidity characteristics of each drying stage. Specially, comparing to the drying mode of single clockwise rotating and fixed-parameters (normal drying model of commercial dryer), the drying model of clockwise-counterclockwise alternatively rotating and staged-adjusting parameters saved up to 21.5% of electric energy and utility cost during lifetime drying of 1000 cycles. This study not only provides an objective assessment methodology that will be applied to quantitatively evaluate the environmental and economic impacts such as CO2 eq. and monetary utility cost of domestic dryer, but also provides information that is useful to consumers in their decision making for the purchase of dryer products.


As a fast attack craft with strong operation capability, the missile boat poses a major threat to surface combatants. In this paper,the current situation and characteristics of missile boat is analysed, the necessity to develop antiboat missile is presented, and finally its tactical application is discussed.


We study the relationship between the well-known Carleman's condition guaranteeing that a probability distribution is uniquely determined by its moments, and a recent, easily checkable condition on...


The present study revolves around the theme of cultural conflict in Joshi's novels especially The Foreigner and The Strange Case of Billy Biswas. His novels are specially woven in conflict – cultural and inner.  This paper is an endeavor to explore the cultural conflict and various problems of the modern man. Joshi's novels are relevant to contemporary age and talk about the degraded soul of the civilized people and their setting of money mindedness. Here Joshi illustrates the internal and external conflicts of the human. Joshi depicts the root cause of conflict and its solution also in his novels.


In this article, the co-authors tackle the problem of the social sense and mission of the projects developed by urban planners and architects. The co-authors address the key issue of the present-day architectonics, that is, the ability and willingness of urban designers to give consideration to the environment, or the local landscape, to assure the harmonious co-existence of the biosphere and the needs of the society in Smart city. The co-authors compare the spatial organization principles of eastern and western cultures; they also track the patterns of their implementation in the present-day architectonics. The co-authors provide the findings of the public opinion pollabout the urban environment layout. Students of the Moscow State University of Civil Engineering (Russia) acted as the respondents. The co-authors employed the findings of the document analysis and the opinion poll to develop recommendations for architects and urban designers in respect of social and ecological needs of urban residents.


The study explored the optimization of process variables for bioethanol production from steam exploded Pinus patula chipped wood residue (225°C, 0.5 SO2, 5min.) by Saccharomyces cerevisiae ATCC 96581. Bioethanol is one of the potential biofuels for replacing fossil fuels for the purpose of mitigating their environmental and economic impacts. The optimisation was evaluated using Response Surface Method through Central Composite Face-centred (CCF) design, which supports quadratic polynomial models by encoding 2 3 three levels of each factor (inocula, pH, and temperature) while keeping other factors (sugar, time and nutrients) constant. The CCF design contained a total number of 17 experiments in which the first eight rows were the corner experiments of the basic tube, the next six rows, were the so-called axial points, and the last three rows were the replicated centre-points. The response (ethanol) data were fitted to a Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) model. The statistical analysis of the model was performed through the analysis of variance (ANOVA). The optimizer analysis revealed temperature of 29.9 °C, an inoculum dose of 9.9 v/v, and pH of 5.1 as the optimal processing variables which yielded ethanol concentration of 16.51g/L while other factors were kept constant.


Abstract The paper discusses the asymptotic stability region of a discretization of a linear neutral delay differential equation x′(t) = ax(t - τ) + bx'(t - τ). We present necessary and sufficient conditions specifying this region and describe some of its properties.


"The Responsibility of Music Education to Music" was the sutbject of a much discussed address given by William Schuman at the 1956 St. Louis convention of the MENC. The address was printed in the Music Educators Journal; subsequently articles written by Theodore Normann and Parker LaBach extended the discussion.* Numerous letters and comments discussing one, two or all three of the articles have been received. Much as the Journal would like to give space to all, in the judgment of the Editorial Board, Miss Boyle's contribition merits place as the fourth voice in the sym, posium. Miss Boyle is Director of Mu, sic and conductor of the High School Synmphony Orchestra in the Pulblic Schools of Hempstead (Long Island), Nez York…. After the discussion of 'The Responsibility of Music Education to Music' by William Schuman in the June-July 1956 issue of MENC Journal," wrote Miss Boyle, "I am impelled to project some conclusions relative to the responsibility of school music to music from the viewpoint of the elementary and secondary school levels of the public schools in our country." The article, although accepted by the Editorial Board some time ago-prior to her recently announced appointment as a member of the Board, by the way-had to be held for this issue because of space limitations imposed by previously scheduled material. Mr. Normann's was of Music to Education," article, "The Responsibility published in the September-October 1956, MEJ. Mr. LaBach's article, "Why We Are Criticized: A Music Educator's Analysis," appeared in the NovemberDecember 1956 issue.


The increasing use of videoconferencing technology in legal proceedings has led to different configurations of video-mediated
 interpreting (VMI). Few studies have explored interpreter perceptions of VMI, each focusing on one country, configuration (e.g.,
 interpreter-assisted video links between courts and remote participants) and setting (e.g., immigration). The present study is the
 first that draws on multiple data sets, countries, settings and configurations to investigate interpreter perceptions of VMI. It
 compares perceptions in England with other countries, covering common configurations (e.g., court-prison video links, links to
 remote interpreters) and settings (e.g., police, court, immigration), and considers the sociopolitical context in which VMI has
 emerged. The aim is to gain systematic insights into factors shaping the interpreters' perceptions as a step toward improving
 VMI.


The experience of implementation of GIS and web technologies for regional agriculture of the Krasnoyarsk territory is considered. The experimental agricultural enterprise "Minino", located near the city of Krasnoyarsk, was chosen as a pilot project. For this agricultural enterprise, the comprehensive digital model using geographic information systems, remote sensing and web mapping data processing techniques and software is created. A geospatial database, which contains relevant and archival information about agricultural fields, varieties, crops, soil, particle size distribution, soil-forming rocks, terrain features, has been developed. A series of technological digital maps and cartograms have been created in which information on crop rotations and cultivated crops is concentrated. Archives of available multispectral satellite data of high spatial resolution on the considered territory are analyzed. As a result, a multi-layer electronic map of the agricultural enterprise was created, which contains all available information and can be used for modeling and forecasting crop yields, agricultural planning. The developed methods and software and technological solutions can become a methodological basis for a new generation of information and analytical systems and technologies to support management decisions in the agricultural sector.


A new Cu(ii) pyrazoledicarboxylate coordination polymer [Cu(Hpdc)(ImH)]n (1) (H3pdc = 3,4-pyrazoledicarboxylic acid; ImH = imidazole) has been hydrothermally synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetric analysis. In 1, the tetradentate Hpdc2- anion coordinated to three Cu(ii) ions in a μ3-κO: κN, O': κN' mode, forming a two-dimensional (2D) (4,4) network; the other ImH ligand acted as a terminal ligand. Cu(ii)-MOF 1 displayed high activity and selectivity in the base-free aerobic oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde combined with the green oxidant H2O2. The catalytic system of 1 could be reused for several cycles without any obvious decay of the catalytic efficiency.


The Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) continues to be a national leader in providing congestion and mobility information. The information produced by TTI is used to communicate the issues of urban mobility at all levels of government in the U.S. and by both industry and non‐industry professionals when discussing mobility topics. The transportation field continues to evolve with more technological advancements affecting travel on the roadways and the data collected. This project incorporates the speed data from some of these new technologies into the Urban Mobility Report (UMR) to ensure that the report remains the preeminent source on the subject. The 2009 Urban Mobility Report will utilize the current speed estimation methodology, but future reports may be able to incorporate some archived speed information in place of the current estimated speeds. With the fuel price increases of the past few years, an updated analysis of the effects of fuel price fluctuations on travel demand and congestion are being included in the UMR. TTI has developed a methodology for estimating the commodities that are flowing in trucks and the associated traffic delay throughout our nation's cities. However, at this time, it is unclear how to utilize this information in decision‐making. Some analysis is being performed to determine how to utilize this truck commodity flow information.


Singapore is a small island with a high per vices Tax. Planning began to develop an capita income, a technologically sophisticated integrated, computerized approach t() t"lX Singapore's population and infrastructure, and a welladministration, which was SooI) reorganized organized and effective revenue system. Yet on functional lines. Over the next eiglht years integrated, Singapore began its independent life in 1965 a completely new adcministrative svysti was as a low-income city-state with a revenue strucintroduced in a carefullv phased, thorouglih computerized ture and administration similar to those in planned fashion. many other former British colonies. MoreThis process has hacl impressi\e I estIl s. approach to tax over, Singapore has retained many fiscal feaAlthough the revenue authoritv's staff sie tures often considered archaic-such as has stayed constant, tax arrears have hetn administration has stamp duties and official assessment rather cut, property valuations haxe bee n kept cituthan self-assessment-and has introduced fisrent, staff turnover has fallen. auLditing has had impressive cal incentives that have facilitated evasion and improved, and public satisfactionl with tde complicated tax administration elsewhere. tax service has increased ma-rkedly. In (1 results Still, public finances have been extremely recent survey 95 percent of individual taxwell-managed, and the public sector has payers, 83 percent of corporate taxpave rs. played akey role both in Singapore's general and 93 percent of goods and services taxdevelopment and in directing that developpayers said they were satisfied with lIRAS sc ment into particular channels. vices, which they foun(d to be convenient as Over the past 10 years the government well as competently and com-teonslv has sought to modernize and computerize provided. Singapore. Tax administration was one area of public administration that clearly required What has Singapore done? modernization, By 1990 the Inland Revenue One of the first steps IRAS took wvas to Department was piling up larger amounts convert from a hard-copy filing svste in of uncollected revenue everyyear, had a staff to a paperless imaging system tllat allows turnover level almost three times that in the documents to be retrieve d in stantly from public service as a whole, and had the lownetworked terminals. This move madle est rating on public satisfaction of the entire administrative processes nmOtor effi cint public sector (Sia and Neo 1997). and freed staff from unproductive pap)erIn 1992 the Inland Revenue Authority of shuffling, permitting better taxpa er St rSingapore (IRAS) was created to adminisvice and more "back end" anditing. U'p to ter income and property taxes and a new 80 percent of assessments are inade autovalue added tax called the Goods and Sermatically for simple cases, and the time


Flow increasingly important of data in hospitals, medical imaging or outpatient now requires mandatory use software compression of signals and images, backup or for their transmission. In this paper, we are trying to find a solution to this problem by compression of EMG signals by 2D fractals. For this purpose, EMG signals are processed in dimension 2. Matrix of size MxN obtained is reorganized according to the correlation between the pixels and adds new. Then fractal processing by combined methods of Fisher and Jacquin are used for decorrelation. Finally, to increase compression ratio, Huffman coding is applied at the last stage of compression. With this method, we show that fractals can be used to compress EMG signals in order to solve the problem of storage and transmission of EMG signals using techniques dedicated to image compression. Our approach permits us to introduce new encoding parameters which are: 2D cutouts of EMG signal into blocks of pixels. The compression method of EMG signals by 2D fractal is based on a quadtree partitioning, increases compression ratio while minimizing the PRD (Percent Root Square Difference). The results are satisfactory and promising.


Regulations seeking to promote and protect 'Integrity in Sport' do not provide appropriate protection for- and encouragement to- athlete whistleblowers. Discuss this statement and consider any fundamental policy shift in the treatment of athlete whistle-blowers that would improve the promotion and protection of 'Integrity in Sport'.


The climate crisis caused by global warming has focused on the role of greenhouse gases (GHG), especially that of CO2, which is the predominant element of GHG. One of the current approaches toward reducing and limiting atmospheric carbon dioxide is through carbon capture and storage. The most commonly used techniques are absorption, adsorption and membrane-based carbon capture. This paper evaluates individual methods of CC currently in use and draws comparisons for the pros and cons. Furthermore, it assesses potential improvements for the future. The absorption method captures industrial carbon emissions due to its maturity and the possibility of retrofitting the technology into existing power plants. The adsorption method can operate through an extensive range of temperatures, which can be utilized in broader scenarios. Membrane technologies have the greatest potential for future development due to their low operational energy; however, further research is required to reduce capital costs and improve performance under certain conditions.


This paper develops a convergence model of the term structure of interest rates in the context of entering the EMU. Compared with the other models developed so far in this field, our model specification ensures convergence of the domestic short-term interest rates to the euro area ones. We achieve this convergence by stating that the spread between the domestic and euro short-term interest rates follows the Brownian bridge process. We also develop an econometric counterpart of the theoretical model. To address the problem of nonstationarity and nonlinearity of the model, the extended Kalman filter for coefficient estimation is applied.


Sera containing insulin antibodies from 20 insulin‐treated diabetic patients, sera containing insulin autoantibodies from 20 insulin‐naive non‐diabetic patients, and from 10 normal controls, were tested at 1:20 dilution in three different radioimmunoassays (RIA) and an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), using a highly purified human insulin ligand. The RIA using insulin radiolabelled at multiple sites detected insulin antibodies in 17/20 and insulin autoantibodies in 13/20 sera. The same RIA using A‐14‐monoiodinated insulin was sensitive to antibodies and autoantibodies in all the sera. The same RIA using sera after insulin extraction detected only 13/20 diabetic sera and 9/20 autoimmune sera as positive, owing to a substantial rise in non‐specific binding of the control sera. ELISA was sensitive to insulin antibodies and autoantibodies in every case. When binding curves for ELISA and the most sensitive RIA were compared using serial dilutions of four insulin antibody containing sera and four insulin autoantibody containing sera, antibody titres varied from 1.1 to 3.8 times higher in ELISA, and autoantibody titres from 10.6 to 28.6 times higher in ELISA. These studies indicate that ELISA is more sensitive than RIA to insulin antibodies, and in particular to insulin autoantibodies.


A new lanthanide citrate coordination polymer [Dy(citrate)(H2O)]n (1) was hydrothermally synthesized and structurally characterized by elemental analyses, single-crystal X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, photoluminescence spectrum, and magnetic measurements. The structure of 1 exhibits a 2D layer structure, in which the Dy2O2 dimer serves as the building block. The photoluminescence spectrum shows blue luminescence in the solid state at room temperature. Owing to the special frustration structure, unusual magnetic relaxation was found in compound 1. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2007)


Based on the incorporation of the structure and the distance of an amplitude grating, we put forward an equation to calculate the Fresnel diffractive field of the grating with an arbitrary opening ratio at any fractional Talbot distance. Because the transmissive function of a phase grating can be regarded as a linear combination of that of amplitude gratings, from above equation for calculating the Fresnel diffractive field of an amplitude grating, we present an analytical equation to calculate the Fresnel diffractive field of an arbitrary multiple phase grating. Using the analytical equation, we can conveniently study the fractional Talbot effect and its application of the arbitrary multiple phase grating. We give a new approach to analyze the Fresnel diffraction of a grating.


The present invention relates generally to the field of the solid immersion lens for optical applications of the high-resolution microscope. Lens of the present invention includes a plane (11) limited spherical sector by (1), and the object (2) having a nanometer dimension arranged in the plane of the focal position of the solid immersion lens. Layer impervious to light having a central opening (31) of nanometric dimensions centers are aligned with the focal point of the solid immersion lens (3) is, may be provided in a plane. The nano objects, may be a tube or thin line having a cylindrical shape. Lens of the present invention may be made using lithographic techniques. .FIELD 1


A method, device, and system to distribute code and data stores between volatile and non-volatile memory are described. In one embodiment, the method includes storing one or more static code segments of a software application in a phase change memory with switch (PCMS) device, storing one or more static data segments of the software application in the PCMS device, and storing one or more volatile data segments of the software application in a volatile memory device. The method then allocates an address mapping table with at least a first address pointer to point to each of the one or more static code segments, at least a second address pointer to point to each of the one or more static data segments, and at least a third address pointer to point to each of the one or more volatile data segments.


This paper presents an experiment conducted with the aim of investigating an effective method of Korean language pronunciation education for Chinese learners who are novices at learning Korean. The experiment was performed with two target groups using two different approaches as follows : the Direct Method, which implies solely repeat ing by learners after listening teacher's pronunciation, was applied to the first group. Whereas, the second group was taught using the Audiolingual Method, involving presenting the students with phonetic information, such as places of articulation, manners of articulation and so on, before practical pronunciation teaching. These two groups were taught during the same period of time and in the course of experiment their phoneme cognition was assessed through a "dictation" with identical questions. As a result, Direct Method through repetition proved to be a more effective way of teaching Korean pronunciation to Chinese learners.


Generally, the care of babies in day care is guided by household characteristics, improvisation and hygienist. We understand that this concept needs to be overcome. For this reason, the aim of this paper is to present some indications that we believe we can contribute to the work with babies in nurseries. In pursuit of this goal, we use as a research methodology that called literature. The results point on the dynamics of brain components, the importance of social relations and, particularly, to an understanding of the baby as being active in their relations. Finally, such indicative radically change the relationship that the teacher establishes with the baby in the nursery.


Recombinant E. coli strain was used to yield alkaline protease. The effects of components of medium and condition of incubation for the growth state of a recombinant strain including glucose concentration, peptone concentration, volume of salt solution, incubation time and agitation frequency on density of recombinant strain were optimized using one-factor-at-a-time experiment. The optimal components of medium were glucose concentration of 8 g/L, peptone concentration of 6 g/L and volume of salt solution 10 mL. And condition of incubation was obtained at agitation frequency of 210 r/min, keep it at 37°C for 32 h.


The combination of the two well known formal specification techniques CSP [Hoa85] for behaviouralaspects of systems and Object-Z (OZ) [Smi00] for data aspectsof systems into the specification language CSPOZ [Fis97] has already been subject of intense research. An important challenge, especially when trying to automatically or semi-automatically analyse such specifications, is their inherent complexity, which quickly goes beyond the scope of current analysis techniques such as model checking. In order to tackle this problem on a different level, we have applied the technique of program slicing[Tip95, HDZ00] to CSP-OZ specifications [Br ü04, BW05]. The basic idea is to reduce a given specification by eliminating some of its components in such a way that its semantics remains unchanged with respect to a specific verification property (theslicing criterion). The subsequent model checking can then work on an easier target: the specification slice. The reduction is based on a preceding analysis of the specification that is very similar to well known program analysis techniques [NNH05]. More specifically, it includes the construction of a specification dependence graph (SDG), which comprises – similar to a program dependence graph [HRB90] – all relevant kinds of dependencies between specification elements such as control or data dependencies. The present work aims at a further improvement of slicing by combining it with deductive verification techniques, applied to certain parts of CSP-OZ specifications. Based on these additional arguments, some control dependencies can be eliminated from the SDG. This can in consequence lead to smaller and more precise specification slices. Our main contribution here is to show, to which specification parts such deductive verification techniques can be applied and how the necessary arguments can be found and used to improve slicing.


Discussions of repatriation dominate the topic of human remains in museums. For the large portion of remains that are not subject to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990, however, concerns regarding how to curate, exhibit, and interpret them are paramount, especially when the remains are those of children. The contents of anthropological collections often reflect a shared past that may be uncomfortable to address, but was formative and valuable to the discipline. Understanding the motivations and circumstances that contributed to bringing human remains into museums, as well as the changing uses and interpretations of those remains over time, is an are important aspect of collections care and public engagement. This article examines a skeletal series of fetuses and children at the National Museum of Health and Medicine as a case study for uncovering and conveying to museum visitors the complex histories behind the acquisition, curation, and display of juvenile human remains. [Army Medical Museum, National Museum of Health and Medicine, juvenile human remains, exhibition, visitor studies, museum collecting, history of anthropology]


Frequency of gallstones, concentration of bile acids and cholesterol in bile, concentration of cholesterol in serum, and structure of the small intestinal mucosa were analyzed in male Syrian Golden hamsters fed a stone provoking fibre‐free diet with or without supplementation of brewer's spent grain (BSG), a concentrated barley fibre source from the by‐product of brewing. A significantly lower frequency of gallstones was found in the animals with 10% BSG dietary supplementation. Addition of 30% BSG after an initial 6‐week period with a fibre‐free, stone provoking diet seemed to dissolve previously formed gallstones. Total bile acid concentration was higher in bile from animals given a diet supplemented with 10% BSG. In addition, the cholesterol concentration in both serum and bile was lower in the 30% BSG supplemented group. Structurally, a 10% BSG supplementation decreased ileal epithelium height whereas a high supplementation (30%) of BSG induced a decrease in epithelial height both of jejunal and ileal mucosa. The results show that BSG has significant effects on the metabolism of bile acids and cholesterol as well as on the morphology of the small intestinal mucosa.


Eleven temperature‐sensitive mutants of adenovirus type 12, capable of forming plaques in human cells at 33 C but not at 39.5 C, were isolated from a stock of a wild‐type strain after treatment with either nitrous acid or hydroxyl‐amine. Complementation tests in doubly infected human cells permitted a tentative assignment of eight of these mutants to six complementation groups. Temperature‐shift experiments revealed that one mutant is affected early and most of the other mutants are affected late. Only the early mutant, H12ts505, was temperature sensitive in viral DNA replication. Infectious virions of all the mutants except H12ts505 and two of the late mutants produced at 33 C, appeared to be more heat labile than those of the wild type.


Suicide has emerged as one of the serious problems which should be eradicated from the society. People with suicidal thoughts restrict themselves by not expressing thoughts to the people around them. Studies have shown that people show more interest in expressing their thoughts over social media platforms. So, research has been conducted to identify people with suicidal ideation by analyzing the posts which they posted in social media platforms. Certain studies mined out new factors which influenced people to commit suicide, but those factors had certain drawbacks in it. This paper mainly focuses on overcoming those drawbacks in the factors. A new modified approach for extracting those risk factors is introduced as it can be used for future works related to suicidal ideation detection tasks. Statistical methods were imposed on the data to mine out the underlying characteristics of the features. K-Means++ clustering algorithm was implemented to extract the modified features. The modified features were given as an input for a testing classifier, and it attained an accuracy of 75.13%.


In this paper, we develop a master device for needle insertion-type interventional robotic system. In minimally invasive interventional therapy using long and flexible needles, realistic motion and force reflection of the needle must be guaranteed to a doctor in the teleoperation system for successful procedure. We analyze the motion and force information of the three doctors while they perform needle interventional therapy to a phantom tissue. On the basis of the data, the required full range of motion and reflective force for the master device is determined. A 6 DOF master device with needle-type handle is designed and developed to implement sufficient workspace and force by combining two delta robot-type mechanisms.


Additive manufactured porous SiC is a promising material applied in extreme conditions characterised by high temperatures, chemical corrosion, and irradiation etc. However, residual Si's existence deteriorates its performance and limits its application in harsh environments. In this study, B4C was introduced into the selective laser sintering process of SiC, and its effects on forming ability, pore parameters, microstructure, and phases were investigated. The results showed that when B4C was added, the processing window was enlarged. The minimum energy density was reduced from 457 J/cm2 to 214 J/cm2 when the content of B4C reached 15 wt%. Microstructure orientation was enhanced, and the residual silicon content was decreased from 38 at.% to about 8 at.%. Small pores were turned into large pores with the increase of B4C addition. The findings indicate that the addition of B4C increases the amount of liquid phase during the laser sintering process of silicon carbide, improving the SiC struts' density and reducing the residual silicon by reacting with it. Therefore, the addition of B4C will help improve the application performance of selected laser-sintered silicon carbide under extreme conditions.


1. A method of extracting energy in the electric circuit comprising a power source generating an electric current, the method comprising: connection to said circuit device for the selection of energy having a pair of input terminals and a pair of output terminals across a pair of input terminals,! dynamically adjusts the voltage drop across a pair of said input terminal,! collecting electrical energy which can be taken off at a regulated voltage drop of the electric current flowing through said pair of input terminals, and! supplying electrical energy to a selected pair of said output terminals. ! 2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the dynamic adjustment of the voltage drop across a pair of input terminals includes maintaining a constant voltage drop across the pair of input terminals when electrical current in the circuit varies with time. ! 3. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that it further comprises a connection to a pair of output terminals load, feeding of the selected energy. ! 4. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the supply of electrical energy to a selected pair of output terminals includes adjusting the voltage drop across a pair of output terminals of the device for energy selection using adjustable shunt regulator. ! 5. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the selection of electrical energy includes storing electrical energy in the energy store. ! 6. A method according to claim 5, characterized in that the energy store is a high-capacity capacitor. ! 7. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the connection devices for extracting energy to electrical circuit includes serially connected


Interline Power Flow Controller (IPFC) is one of series - series controlled Flexible Alternating Current Transmission System (FACTS) devices, which has the capability of controlling the power flow in multi transmission lines. In this paper, the effect of installing an IPFC in the system for contingency ranking has been given under single line outage condition. The contingency ranking is done based on the active power flow in the transmission line through the Active Power Performance Index (APPI). The severe transmission line has been ranked with and without incorporating IPFC in the system. IEEE-6 and IEEE-30 bus system has been considered for simulation purpose.


Alcohol related brain injury is associated with a change in thinking and memory abilities. It affects the way people learn and communicate. You can help people with alcohol related brain injury improve their communication skills by keeping the conversation focused and checking that they have understood what has been discussed.


This paper, presented as the annual law review lecture at the University of St. Thomas Law School, explores the moral obligations of investment bankers in light of the 2008 financial crisis. Topics such as disclosure to investors, the safety and soundness of investment banks, excessive risk taking, responsible use of derivative instruments, and banks' responsibility to the community and to the financial system as a whole are discussed as issues of personal responsibility for investment bankers rather than only as subject matter for regulation directed at banking institutions. The particular perspective discussed in depth is grounded in Christian social teaching but the paper also offers insights on how the moral responsibility of investment bankers can and should be approached from a range of religious and secular philosophical perspectives.


A novel approach for the parameter estimation of polynomial phase signals (PPSs) is proposed. Unlike the existing methods, the proposed method uses the spectrum phase (SP) rather than the traditional instantaneous phase (IP) for parameter estimation. First, we present an unwrapping procedure for the SP. Second, we derive a method that can convert the unwrapped SP into the IP and then perform polynomial regression on the IP to obtain the estimates of the parameters. Finally, we use the O'Shea refinement strategy to refine the estimates to achieve the Cramér-Rao lower bound. The simulation results show that the proposed technique has a lower signal-to-noise ratio threshold and is less complex than the existing methods for high-order PPSs.


Inclusions in diamonds enable us to sample deep regions of our Earth's mantle. Recent work on inclusions from the Kankan district in Guinea [Brenker et al., 2002; Stachel et al., 2000a, 2000b] shows that these diamonds originate from depths down to the transition zone and the lower mantle. Diamonds not only form chemically inert containers, but also they protect their inclusions from deformation during later exhumation. Thus, these inclusions provide the unique opportunity to study directly the mechanisms of deformation occurring in the deep mantle. A further task of our studies is to characterize features related to phase transitions, like antiphase domains, exsolution or twinning and to search for submicroscopic fluid inclusions or hydrous phases in order to test the hypothesis of an "ocean" in the transition zone.


Amorphous Ni50Mn38Co6In6 films of 20 μm in thickness are fabricated using dc magnetron sputtering technique. Ex situ annealing studies demonstrate the crystallization at elevated temperature, and the retention of L10 martensite at room temperature. In situ annealing inside a transmission electron microscope reveals the crystallization process as well as the transformation to B2 austenite at elevated temperatures. Differential scanning calorimetry studies show the crystallization activation energy of ∼239 kJ/mol, a reversible martensitic phase transformation temperature of ∼350 °C, and a hysteresis of ∼75 °C.


Using content analysis method based on word frequency analysis,this author makes a statistical analysis of research papers in competitive intelligence in China during 1998~2007.Especially,this article analyses and describes the Document growth,Bradford's Law,Lottka's Laws of competi-tive intelligence.


A high-speed and compact plasmonic organic racetrack modulator is shown to be orders of magnitude more robust against operating condition changes compared to resonant modulators based on the plasma dispersion effect while maintaining thermal tunability. Stable operation at 80°C is shown with no degradation. © 2022 Optica


careers of professionals and the challenges they encountered in establishing new societies and other institutions (Martin Franc's chapter on the Prague Academy of Sciences and Maciej Janowski's essay on the Polish situation are helpful in this regard). Several essays would have benefited from directly comparing the Tsarist and Habsburg Empires. Did the largely patrimonial and conservative Tsarist state serve as a brake on the development of science and education, in contrast to the Habsburg monarchy, one wonders? Science and Empire in Eastern Europe will be of great interest to world historians and to historians of empire, of Eurasia in the nineteenth century, and of science and technology. is welcome volume of first-rate, archivally based research is a stellar contribution to the history of science and empire.


Marine algae are regarded as a promising nutrients resource in future as they can be sustainably cultured without land and high investment. These macroalgae are now widely processed into food and beverages, fertilizers and animal feed. Furthermore, bioactive compounds such as polysaccharides and polyphenols in seaweeds have proven to have antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties that can be utilized in cosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals and pharmaceuticals.As a key procedure in seaweed production, the post-harvest process not only requires more laboured and energy but also affect the quality of the final product significantly. This paper reviewed all currentpost-harvest processes and technologies of seaweedand addressed potential post-harvest strategies for seaweed production. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Image enhancement is used to improve the visual quality of an image. This paper proposes an image enhancement technique, which is based on the clustering of pixels using Fuzzy C Means (FCM). The aim of this paper is to provide a system to process the input image in such a way that the resultant image is well suited for interpretation by the humans and also by machines. Initially, the given input image is preprocessed based on the Median filtering algorithm. It helps to remove the unwanted and noisy images on the input image, which helps to provide the enhanced image. After that, we extract the RGB colors from the preprocessed image based on the color image transformation. Then, the image is clustered separately as red channel, green channel and blue channel. Finally, the FCM technique is used to clustering the image. The resultant image is the enhanced image which highlights certain characteristics than the original image. The experimental results are compared with the existing OSGFB approach in terms of SNR, MSE, entropy, contrast, correlation, dissimilarity, homogeneity and PSNR. The proposed methods outperforms better and enhance image than the exiting OSGFB method.


Politics of Forgetting: New Zealand, Greece and Britain at War . By Martyn Brown. (Australian Scholarly Publishing, London/New York, 2018), pp.408, 21 figures, AU$49.95 (pb).

Examining triangular relationships between nation‐states has become a growing topic of interest in historical studies. Such a frame of analysis has typically centred on reciprocal communications shared between three states and the different spheres where past interactions have taken place. Martyn Brown's examination of the "multiple connections" shared between New Zealand, Greece, and Britain during the Second World War contributes to this trend (p.3). In the first detailed study of New Zealand's military engagements in Greece, he offers new insights into the nationalist dynamics of "official" war history and the loaded politics of war remembrance. Brown is interested in the question of "what has been forgotten in the process" of remembering war and sets out to right the wrongs of historical silencing (p.2). The book sets the story of New Zealand's military involvement in Greece and attempts to place military exchanges alongside the complicated politics of conflict, humanitarianism, and the role Britain had in demarcating the contours of the New Zealand‐Greek relationship. Drawing on a wide range of archival materials in New Zealand, Greece, Britain, and the United States, Brown is interested in what is ignored or deliberately left out in New Zealand's Official War History Project.


Background Patients affected by Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) show an increased risk of low bone mass, as a result of multi-systemic disorders including toxic drug, low vitamin D levels, use of glucocorticoids and physical inactivity. Trabecular Bone Score (TBS), is an index extracted from the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) images, that provides an indirect measurement (Score) of bone axial microarchitecture and allows to get information about bone quality.1,2 Objectives The aim of this investigation was to evaluate by TBS the bone quality in AR patients (high risk population) receiving vitamin D supplementation from at least 3 months (1000 IU/die). Methods 108 female patients (mean age 61±8 years) affected by RA and 60 age- matched controls (CNT) (mean age 64±11 years) were analysed in winter time. Bone Mineral Density (BMD, g/cm2) of the lumbar spine (L1-L4) was analysed using a DXA scan (GE, Lunar Prodigy). Lumbar spine TBS (TBS iNsight Medimaps) was derived for each spine DXA examination. All patients were evaluated for serum 25 hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) serum concentrations. Results RA patients showed lower 25(OH)D concentrations (18.4±1.3 ng/ml) than CNT (26.2±0.9 ng/ml; p<0.04) possibly due to low dosage and short treatment. Seventy-eight RA patients (80% of study population) presented a bone loss that was significant when compared to the control group (p<0.001). In particular, BMD was found significantly lower in RA patients compared with matched control group (respectively, Lumbar spine: 0.862±0.194 g/cm2 vs 1.240±0.932 g/cm2;Femoral neck: 0.668±0.141 g/cm2 vs 0.845±0.164 g/cm2; Ward: 0.486±0.221 g/cm2 vs 0.657±0.106 g/cm2; Trochanter: 0.598±0.231 g/cm2 vs 0.725±0.143 g/cm2; Total hip: 0.764±0.244 g/cm2 vs 1.033±0.161 g/cm2, all p<0.001). Likewise, lumbar spine TBS score was found significantly lower in RA patients when compared with CNT (0.904±0.148 vs 1.361±0.126, both p<0.001) Conclusions This study shows in RA patients a reduction of TBS values that seem placed side by side with reduced BMD values and in presence of serum 25(OH)D insufficiency. A more carefull analysis of the clinical status/treatments should let to better identify RA patients at higher risk of bone loss. Reference [1] . Cutolo M et al. Autoimmun Rev 2011:12;84–7,2. Avouac J, et al. Arthritis Care Res 2012;64:1871–8 Disclosure of Interest None declared


Used were mice selected for high body weight gain and control mice being the progeny of randomly mated parents. Within each group two subgroups were considered – kept on diet containing 10 and 16% crude protein. Intraperitoneal injections of 0.01 μg adrenaline per g body weight led to significant increase of triacylglycerols in both liver and kidney of selected mice kept on low-protein diet and in the liver of mice unselected kept on the same dietary protein level. After adrenaline injections the level of cholesterol increased significantly in the kidney of selected, and in the liver of unselected mice kept on diet with 16 and 10% protein as well as in the kidney of unselected mice kept on low-protein diet.


The article describes how the California Department of Transportation is expecting to repair the earthquake-damaged Los Angeles freeways within the year. In an effort to put traffic back on the roads as soon as possible, Caltrans is considering erecting temporary bridges on one side of the roadway while contractors build the permanent spans on the other. Designs for the repairs will use parts of the original drawings as the superstructures of the bridges will remain more or less the same. Column hinges and foundations will be designed to meet the latest seismic standards. Detours through existing roadways to circumvent two major structural failures at the northern end of Los Angeles are described. The designs of two replacement bridges on the Santa Monica Freeway are described. It is noted that short columns appear to be the weak link in many damaged structures, and that long columns survive ground motion better.


The research contribution is increasing in the field of autonomous spacecraft. The major role contributes to the navigation methods for spacecraft. The intended control design is required precision mirror rate sensor (PMRS) to maintain positioning and stability of the satellite. One major drawback of the PMRS resides in the lock in effect, by which the sensor is not capable of sensing the rotation at low inertial angular rates. In the proposed work due to the uniqueness, it is able to sense the rotation even at the low inertial angular rates. The frequency control loop has been designed, it generates the resonance frequency using dither motor. The frequency control loop of the PMRS, is developed using a 32 bit MICROBLAZE soft core processor along with PID algorithm and same is executed using Xilinx Spartan 6 FPGA.


We present new imaging and spectroscopic observations obtained with the Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE). Our 200 Å image shows high contrast (33%) and complete albedo reversal, i.e., contrast is reversed relative to the Moon in visible light. The high contrast at 200 Å suggests the potential of the EUV spectral region for surface compositional studies. The 600 Å image is surprisingly bland (<3% contrast). We derive surface reflectivities (geometric albedos) of individual surface regions for the first time with values of 0.11–0.15% at 200 Å, and 2.5% at 600 Å. Reflectivities derived from the medium‐ (MW) and long‐wavelength (LW) spectra (140–380 Å and 280–760 Å) show that lunar reflectivity decreases by a factor of approximately 60 over the 700 to 150 Å range. Our data further suggest that the Moon's brightness vs phase may behave differently than at longer wavelengths, and that surface fluorescence may contribute to the observed EUV brightness.


Background:
The emergence of a novel influenza A virus in 2009 and the rapid introduction of new pandemic vaccines prompted an analysis of the current state of the adverse events following immunization (AEFI) surveillance response in several provinces.


The japanese quarantine trade barrier had been analysized in details.The strategy how to break down those barriers for us based the related requirements of SPS Agreemant have been studied in order to promote the exports of our products.


Long term memory motion compensation (LTMC) is an approach to extend the temporal motion search range by using multiple decoded frames as reference frames. By employing multiple reference frames, LTMC reduces the residual frame energy significantly. However the computational complexity of motion estimation for LTMC increases significantly as well. Therefore reduction of the required computational complexity is one of the most challenging issues for LTMC. Also, if we locate motion search windows at fixed locations in a frame buffer for a given macro-block, it is highly possible that the oldest frames in a frame buffer do not contain matching blocks due to the reduced correlation between the current frame and the reference frames located further in the frame buffer. Therefore, if we can locate the motion search window at a good position adaptively in a frame buffer, we can enhance the gain performance of LTMS. In this paper, we propose a novel motion estimation algorithm for LTMC to reduce significantly the required computation complexity, and to enhance the performance of LTMC. For the proposed motion estimation algorithm, we introduce a directed search strategy. Also, we propose to employ hypothesis testing fast matching (HTFM) as a fast matching criterion. The goal of a directed search strategy is to let the location of the motion search windows change adaptively as the search proceeds to older frames in the frame buffer. The main benefit over standard, fixed window, approaches is that the algorithm can track larger motion and therefore, we can reduce the residual frame energy. In addition, because the directed search strategy keeps track of best matched blocks, we can reduce the computational complexity significantly by reducing the motion search window area in a frame buffer. Simulation results show that by employing the directed search with reduced motion search window, we can reduce the computational complexity approximately 30%-40%, and that by employing HTFM, we can reduce the computational complexity as additional 40%-50% as compared to the result of a full search algorithm which employs a non-directed search strategy for LTMC. The proposed algorithm provides particularly significant gains for video sequences which contain large motions. In the case of high motion sequences directed search also results in slight gains in PSNR over non-directed search.


Objective To investigate the chemical compositions from Bidens bipinnata L.Methods Bidens bipinnata L.was extracted with ethanol,separated and purified by silica gel-polyamide column chromatography,then,the chemical structures of products were identified by spectral analysis.Results Five compounds were obtained: isoquercitrin(Ⅰ),isookanin-7-O-β-D-glucoside(Ⅱ),maritimetin(Ⅲ),quercetin-7-O-β-D-glucoside(Ⅳ),D-mannitol(Ⅴ).Conclusion CompoundⅣandⅤare first isolated from this plant.


Pathological analysis of adobe (banco) constructed habitats in the city of N'Djamena in Chad shows that the most frequent defects observed are, among others, the abundant appearance of cracks, the erosion of external walls, water infiltration and subsidence. At different stages of identification for the choice of material (earth), brick production and its implementation, this work proposes simple and practical solutions to avoid the above mentioned defects resulting from traditional techniques. Thus, geotechnical tests are proposed to identify the right soil, rice bales must replace the straw for earth treatment and finally a foundation system (insulated sole - primer post - underbody wall - sill) of reinforced concrete must be constructed to ensure the stability of the structure.


"It is generally assumed that doctors take a professional view of suffering and that the process of professional insulation begins in their second year as medical students when they first start dissecting the human body …. Later, other factors are an aid to their self-protection. Doctors use a second, technical, entirely unemotional language …. Increasing specialization encourages an increasingly scientific view of illness. (In the eighteenth century and earlier the doctor was often thought of as a cynic: a cynic is by definition a man who assumes a scientific objectivity to which he has no claim.)"1 — A Fortunate Man, John Berger

"Torment, a canonical subject in art, is often represented in painting as a spectacle, something being watched (or ignored) by other people. The implication is: no, it cannot be stopped — and the mingling of inattentive with attentive onlookers underscores this" (page 42).2 — Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag

"We are all involved with humankind but we mostly do our best not to know it."3 — Recognizing suffering, Eric Cassell


AIM:To investigate the role of bcl-2 and bax expression in apoptosis of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells(PASMC) of rats induced by Na +/H + exchanger isoform-1(NHE-1) inhibition in vitro. METHODS:Intracellular Ca 2+ concentration ([Ca 2+ ]i) was measured using Fura-2/AM. The expression of bcl-2 and bax mRNA in cells were detected by sqRT-PCR, and the expression of Bcl-2 and Bax protein were examined immunohistochemically. RESULTS:The expression of bax mRNA and Bax protein and [Ca 2+ ]i in cells transfected with NHE-1 ribozyme gene increased significantly compared with those of cells transfected with pLXSN and nontransfected control. Meanwhile, the expression of bcl-2 mRNA and Bcl-2 protein in cells transfected with NHE-1 ribozyme gene decreased significantly. CONCLUSION:Apoptosis of pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells induced by inhibiting NHE-1 may have relevance to the increase in [Ca 2+ ]i and bax expression and the decrease in bcl-2 expression.


The SAC method is a semi-empirical method for analysing the emission lines of ions, having a complex spectrum, like Fe + . The method and the assumptions it makes, are discussed. Radiative transfer calculations are needed to check their ranges of validity.


AbstractThe value added tax (VAT), as an instrument of fiscal policy, might have an important role on economic growth. This study analyzes the impact of standard VAT rate on economic growth in five Central and Eastern European countries (CEE-5) (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania). Different types of panel data models (random effect model, dynamic panel and panel vector-autoregression) over 1995–2015 indicated a positive influence of VAT rate on economic growth. There is a bilateral Granger causality between economic growth and VAT rate. The Bayesian linear models indicate a positive effect of VAT rate on GDP rate only for Hungary. On short-run, the other countries register lower GDP rates when VAT rates increase. Some simulations of economic growth for 2016 and 2018 were made for each CEE-5 country under different assumptions regarding VAT rate values.


Although a rational diagnosis made by experts is feared by both managers and union delegates. it is extremely useful for sound job redesign especially if human engineering aspects are to be taken into account. This article presen ts three methodologies: - Two grids to rate QWL: . at industrial work stations (LEST) • . at clerical work stations (CLERICAL GRID). - ACTIF to guide the design process of EDP specialists. It compares these diagnostic methodologies with others (opinion surveys. etc.) and shows the advantages and disad vantages of each according to management's objectives.


Abstract Material from shallow cores drilled through the uplifted and truncated deposits near the Svalis Dome in the Barents Sea contains Lower and Middle Triassic palynomorphs and ammonoids. Eight miospore assemblage zones have been established in this paper, and six of them are calibrated by ammonoids: Svalis‐1 is dated by ammonoids of the late Griesbachian commune Zone. The assemblage is recovered from the Havert Formation overlying the Permian limestone. Svalis‐2 is dated by ammonoids to the late Smithian tardus Zone. The deposits belong to the lower and middle parts of Klappmyss Formation. The unit represents the transgressive systems tract of a Smithian‐early Spathian T‐R Sequence. Svalis‐3 is recorded from the youngest part of Klappmyss Formation which is missing age conclusive faunal evidence. The palynological assemblage is correlated as early Spathian in age. The deposits represent the regressive systems tract of the Smithian‐early Spathian T‐R Sequence. Svalis‐4 is recovered from rocks deposite...


R. W. MURRAY: We have a suggestion that singlet oxygen could be important in air pollution, and in particular, photochemical smog. A number of suggestions have been made as to how that singlet oxygen might be contributed to the atmosphere. We have had some estimates of how much we need to have present in order to worry about it, and we've also had some estimates of how much each of the various methods that have been suggested can produce. Does anyone on the panel now wish to make a statement on the two essential points here, as I see it. What kind of evidence do we have at this moment for singlet oxygen being in the atmosphere? How much of it is there? And if we don't have good evidence, how can we expect to get such evidence? Is there enough there for us to worry about? C. S. FOOTE: I could make a general statement about how one could establish that singlet oxygen is intermediate in certain reactions, and I think this technique is an important one. We've heard a lot about the difficulty of distinguishing singlet oxygen reactions, particularly with tetramethylethlene from radical reactions. I'd like to suggest that competitive inhibition, the kinetic technique that we used to demonstrate carotene quenching, for example, and DABCO quenching are extremely useful. What one does is to take something that you know reacts with singlet oxygen quite efficiently (it doesn't really matter if it undergoes other inefficient reactions as well) and show that the reaction which you suspect is a singlet oxygen reaction is inhibited, under conditions where the known acceptor is reacting with a large fraction of the oxygen. One has to consider the decay rate of the oxygen under the system. One has to run at a fairly high vapor pressure, I think, in order to trap a reasonable fraction of the singlet oxygen. One could then show that the reaction being studied was inhibited. You could do the same sort of kinetics that we did and plot the reciprocal of the vapor pressure of the substrates versus the reciprocal of the amount of product formed and the amount of substrate that disappears. The intercept of that plot is constant at different pressures of quencher and this, I think, is an unequivocal demonstration that the quencher is competing with the substrate in this reaction. R. H. KUMMLER: I think at the moment the scientific evidence does not really confirm that there are large concentrations, at least large enough to play dominant roles in the atmosphere. I think the evidence suggests very strongly that there is a good possibility that large concentrations-when I say large concentrations I mean something on the order of perhaps 100 to 1,000 times the oxygen atom concentration. I think there is a large amount of circumstantial evidence that we have heard this morning which suggests that the concentrations might be that high, but I don't think we've actually proven it yet. I think we can prove it fairly easily. We have suggested that we would like to go out into the atmosphre and measure the concentrations of singlet oxygen. 1 think we could do this fairly easily, using the 1.27 emission. The intrinsic germanium detector may not be as sensitive in the laboratory as EPR or as photoionization, but it does have the very great advantage that you can look at the emission from a large portion perhaps of a Pittstype reaction vessel, and that's a very large reaction vessel indeed. I think it can be done and we hope to do it soon.


Chronic gastritis is one of the most common pathologies, importance of which as a serious condition in clinical practice is significantly underestimated. This article presents the results of a study of the frequency of chronic gastritis among students of the medical faculty.


Abstract The unrolling of Egyptian mummies was a popular spectacle in mid-nineteenth-century Britain. In hospitals, theatres, homes and learned institutions mummified bodies, brought from Egypt as souvenirs or curiosities, were opened and examined in front of rapt audiences. The scientific study of mummies emerged within the contexts of early nineteenth-century Egyptomania, particularly following the decipherment of hieroglyphics in 1822, and the changing attitudes towards medicine, anatomy and the corpse that led to the 1832 Anatomy Act. The best-known mummy unroller of this period was the surgeon and antiquary Thomas Pettigrew, author of the highly respected History of Egyptian Mummies. By examining the locations, audiences and formats of some of Pettigrew's unrollings this paper outlines a historical geography of mummy studies within the intellectual worlds of nineteenth-century Britain, illuminating the patterns of authority, respectability, place and performance that Pettigrew and his colleagues navigated with varying degrees of success.


Stone matrix asphalt (SMA) mixtures have been used in the United States since 1991. In 1994, the Federal Highway Administration awarded a contract to the National Center for Asphalt Technology to determine the performance of SMA pavement. This report provides a summary of mix design and performance data obtained from 140 SMA projects. Data were collected on material and mixture properties, and performance was evaluated on the basis of several factors including rutting, cracking, raveling, and fat spots. In general, the SMA mixtures had good uniformity. There were no obvious signs of excessive coarse aggregate segregating from the mix. Some of the pavements inspected had some localized fat spots. Some of the SMA pavements had excellent longitudinal joints, some had satisfactory but not great joints, and a few had unsatisfactory joints. Very little cracking was found in the SMA mixtures. Approximately 90% of the pavements evaluated had less than 4 mm average rutting, and over 25% had no measurable rutting. Typically, the performance of the SMA mixtures had been excellent in very high traffic areas. It is concluded that SMA mixtures should continue to provide good performance in high volume traffic areas and that the extra cost for construction should be more than offset by the increased performance. Sidebars highlight SMA performance in Georgia and Missouri.


Summary: This paper first expatiates the primary actuality of credit risk in Chinese commercial bank, then it analyses the causes to these credit risk. Finally, in the basis of those analysis above, this paper puts forward some countermeasures to theses credit risk.


The young tiger beetle has flexible body and two tough pliers, it can capture and kill a bug in seconds. The paper present the design of a multi-actuator soft robot based on detailed morphological and kinematic investigations of young tiger beetle. 3D printing technology is used to fabricate the crawling, steering and occluding structures. Three actuators are designed to mimic complex movement of the young tiger beetle. Actuator one and actuator two are used to control the movement and turning, and actuator three is used to mimic the bite action. Experiments are carried out to verify the designed multi-actuator soft robot.


Aims:  To review 28 cases of human dirofilariasis reported in the last 30 years in the Old World and attributed, by their respective authors, to Dirofilaria immitis or a species of Dirofilaria other than D. repens.


Component-Based Software Engineering (CBSE) is widely accepted as new paradigms for building applications with reusable assets. Mismatch problems occur while integrating the assets and make a burden in CBSE. Therefore, a larger-grained reuse unit than a component such as a framework is required, and it consists of relevant components, connectors and domain-specific architecture. The benefits of frameworks over components are commonly known, however, the key elements and internal structure of framework has not been clearly defined. We believe most of the framework models proposed in recent works remain at conceptual level. In this paper, we propose a practical-level framework reference model, and define key elements of frameworks. The research goal is to precisely identify concrete elements of a framework, inter-connection of components within a framework, extended notion of connectors, and tailored meaning of architecture In a framework. Hence, the proposed framework can be practically implemented in common object-oriented languages and with middleware such as lava, J2EE, CORBA Component Model (CCM) and NET.


We show that in markets with adverse selection, when average quality is low and frictions are small, decentralized (bilateral) trade produces a greater surplus than predicted by the competitive model: under decentralized trade some high-quality units of the good trade whereas, due to the "lemons problem," only low-quality units trade in the competitive equilibrium. This suggests a reason why these markets are often decentralized. Remarkably, when the ßow of traders entering the market is stationary, payoffs are competitive as frictions vanish even though all qualities trade. ∗We gratefully acknowledge Þnancial support from the National Science Foundation, grant SBR9810481, and the Spanish Ministry of Education (DGES), grant SEC2001-0973. We thank the participants of the 2001 Southwest Economic Theory Conference, the 2001 Decentralization Conference, and the II ESF Exploratory Workshop on Bargaining for helpful comments. †Departamento de Economía, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, 28903 Getafe, Spain (firstname.lastname@example.com). ‡Department of Economics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong, and Department of Economics, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (firstname.lastname@example.com).


Coupled-channel effects are taken into account for the study of scalar form factors in semi-leptonic $D\to\pi\bar{\ell}\nu_\ell$ and $D\to \bar{K}\bar{\ell}\nu_\ell$ decays, by solving the Muskhelishvili-Omn\`es integral equations. As inputs, we employ the unitarized amplitudes taken from chiral effective theory for the region not far away from thresholds, while, at higher energies of the Goldstone bosons, proper asymptotic conditions are employed. Within Muskhelishvili-Omn\`es formalism, the scalar form factors are represented in terms of Omn\`es matrix multiplied by a vector of polynomials. We reduce the number of subtraction constants by matching to the scalar form factors derived in chiral perturbation theory up to next-to-leading order. The recent lattice QCD data by ETM collaboration for ${D\to\pi}$ and ${D\to\bar{K}}$ scalar form factors are simultaneously well described. The scalar form factors for $D\to\eta$, $D_s\to \bar{K}$ and $D_s\to \eta$ transitions are predicted in their whole kinematical regions. Using our fitting parameters, we also extract the following Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa elements: $|V_{cd}|=0.243(_{-12}^{+11})_{\rm sta.}({3})_{\rm sys.}(3)_{\rm exp.}$ and $|V_{cs}|=0.950(_{-40}^{+39})_{\rm sta.}(1)_{\rm sys.}(7)_{\rm exp.}$. The approach used in this work can be straightforwardly extended to the semileptonic $B$ decays.


Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a transformative technology that has revolutionized the care of patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis. Procedural TAVR volumes are now comparable with those for isolated surgical AVR and continued growth is expected with expanding numbers of patients meeting eligibility requirements. Randomized clinical trials of TAVR vs surgical AVR in low surgical risk patients are under way; planning for a trial of TAVR vs active surveillance in asymptomatic patients is in its late stages. Currently, there are more than 500 US TAVR hospitals, a more than 3-fold increase since 2012. The rational dispersion of this technology has been a consistent concern since it was first approved for commercial use. How should patient access to this life-changing procedure be balanced against the need to promote the highest-quality care and insure optimal outcomes? Strategies used to address this challenge have included linkage of site selection criteria to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reimbursement, US Food and Drug Administration indications for use labeling, institutional and operator requirements recommended by professional societies, and medical device company support. Participation in the Society of Thoracic Surgeons/American College of Cardiology Transcatheter Valve Therapy Registry (NCT01737528) is a requisite. The cumulative experience with TAVR is now robust enough to carefully examine not only survival and functional outcomes, but also the processes of care and measures of efficiency and quality that define best practices. It is inevitable that the conversation will turn to questions such as whether there are too many, too few, or just the right number of individual hospitals and whether alternative models of integrated care across hospitals should be considered, especially as the field of transcatheter therapies continues to evolve. There is an inverse association between TAVR hospital volume and in-hospital death, vascular complications, and bleeding.1 In this issue of JAMA Cardiology, Khera and colleagues2 describe an inverse association between TAVR hospital volumes and 30-day readmission rates. Despite the controversies surrounding the readmission rate metric, scrutiny of processes designed to optimize transitions of care should be promoted. Reports of this nature can inform policy discussions regarding dissemination of high-impact expensive technologies. Prior efforts to limit high-risk surgical procedures to higher-volume hospitals/operators were met with vigorous pushback.3 Nevertheless, there is widespread acknowledgment that a prospective, multistakeholder conversation regarding a health systems approach to treating patients with valve disease, much like that espoused by the Brain Attack Coalition for acute stroke,4 is necessary.


YHFT-QDSP is a multi-core processor and TraceDo is its on-chip trace system supporting multi-core and real-time debugging.The 2D-FFT algorithm is parallelized in YHFT-QDSP,and is analyzed and optimized with the TraceDo system.This case study shows TraceDo is able to help develop embedded multi-core programs efficiently.


The goal of most economic activities is to draw profit. While the problem of the allocation of profit usually does not arise in classical enterprises, this is one major challenge within collaborative networks. The reason is the multitude of involved enterprises. In this contribution a variety of approaches for allocating profit to the network participants are presented. Here the application in value-added process-specific configured manufacturing and production networks consisting of many independent very small, small and medium-sized enterprises is assumed. These approaches for profit allocation are based on both on two- and three-component-allocation-models which take into consideration the profit expectations of the network participants to a certain degree as well as the corresponding value-added shares and the number of participating enterprises in the networked value-added process. The variety of approaches delivers a toolset for the application if required.


Based on the field resistance surveys,the resistance of 142 soybean varieties to Xanthomonas campestris pv.glycines strain S1 was identified by spray method and friction method,respectively.The results showed that there were significant resistance differences.For the tested varieties,in which,24 high resistant varieties accounting for 16.9%of the total and 19 medium resistant varieties accounting for 13.4%were identified.The study also showed that the cultivars from Jiangsu,Beijing and northeast China were more resistant to Xanthomonas campestris pv.glycines than those from other regions.These varieties(lines) could be used in soybean resistance breeding.


Experimental and clinical psycho-neuro-endocrino-immunological (P-N-E-I) research which started ten years ago revealed the importance of P-N-E-I feedback for the onset, as well as the course and outcome of many diseases, in particular of those with multifactorial etiology, which are the most numerous ones. There is growing evidence that inspiring, raising and strengthening hope of complete recovery may have favorable effect on the course and outcome of many somatic diseases, even the most serious ones. In some cases the hope may lead to recovery, in other to prolonging someone's life, and in all cases it has favorable effect on the quality of life to which modern medicine pays more and more attention. Furthermore, there is an increase in the evidence that demoralization of patients, accompanied by helplessness and losing hope of recovery, has a negative effect on the course and the outcome of disease. We support the multidimensional therapy in which all the possibilities are to be used for counteracting demoralization, as well as for inspiring and raising hope of recovery, including the one based on the patients' irrational and spiritual needs.


We investigate the thermal convection in a fluid layer overlying an anisotropic porous medium with Oldroyd-B fluids in the paper. The linear stability analysis and the Chebyshev pseudo-spectral method are used to obtain the numerical results. We found that the neutral curves are bimodal at some depth ratios. The proper values of the permeability ratio and the thermal diffusivity ratio are found to lead to a stabilisation of the stationary convection and the oscillatory convection. And the variation of permeability ratio does not affect the bimodal nature of the neutral curves. In addition, the increase of the stress relaxation time has a destabilising effect on the oscillatory convection, but the strain retardation time has the opposite effect.


Interpretation is seen as a mental process working on the given information,braced up by the interpreter's cognition and language skills.With his full awareness of the important role that psychological cognition plays in the interpreter's comprehension,memory and logical analysis,the trainer should,correspondingly,organize his training in a variety of strategies and tactics for greater efficiency of the training course.


SUMMARY Chronic pain affects more than 30% of people worldwide and although mortality rates are highest for other pathologies, it is one of the main sources of human suffering and disability that profoundly impacts patients' quality of life. To date, opioids still represent the reference treatment for moderate to severe chronic pain, however their use is strongly limited by a plethora of unwanted side effects including analgesic tolerance and opioid induced hyperalgesia. In the last few years, numerous efforts have been made in order to develop new analgesic drugs characterized by reduced side effects and by a safer pharmacological profile. Molecules capable of modulating different downstream pathways, known as biased agonists, are one proposed strategy for the treatment of chronic pain due to their suggested ability to discriminate between analgesic and adverse effect. In this review, we discuss the pharmacological outcomes of opioid biased ligands by bringing together cellular results and the available data from clinical trials; in particular, we focus on biased µ-opioid receptor agonists given their therapeutic relevance.


A novel cooperative least mean square adaptation rule is proposed with application to fractionally spaced blind channel equalization schemes used in quadrature amplitude modulation data links. A novel cost function based on second-order statistics only of the received signal is defined and jointly used with another chosen among classical blind cost functions such as decision directed and other Bussgang-type ones. Numerical results show that severe misconvergence observed in classical blind equalization algorithms is drastically mitigated using the here described technique.


The ability of the human body to adapt to microgravity environments and to later readapt to a gravity environment was examined. Issues specifically relating to the effects of long duration space flight on the adaptation/readaptation process are discussed. The need for better health prediction techniques is stressed in order to be able to better anticipate crew health problems and to perform corrective actions. Several specific examples are discussed of latent diseases which could occur during a long duration space mission, even after having subjected the crew to thorough premission checkups. The need for learning how to prevent or ameliorate such problems as space adaptation syndrome, bone and muscle (and possibly tissue) atrophy, immune system atrophy, and heart arrythmias is also discussed. The implications of the age of the crew, the influence of an onboard low level gravity field, and drugs are briefly addressed as factors in the adaptation/readaptation process.


Inflammatory myositis are heterogenous group of diseases affecting skeletal muscles and multiple different organs1. Manual muscle testing (MMT) is the common tool used for assessment of muscle strength. Its limitations include poor sensitivity to change, floor/ceiling effect, and under representation of certain important muscle groups2. Functional index 2(FI-2) is an objective measure of dynamic repetitive muscle function at 11 proximal and distal muscle groups which correlates well with patient-reported physical function3. Since MMT8 is inadequate and FI-2 takes longer time to administer, several timed tests to assess muscle function, endurance and fatiguability like the 2- minute walk test (2MWT) or 30s raise from a chair test and 30s arm rise test are viable alternatives to be tested. Data looking at the performance of these tests are limited to small controlled studies.To study correlation of timed tests with MMT8 and FI-2 in assessing muscle strength, endurance at baseline and at 3 months of therapy.An observational cohort study, included 19 patients with polymyositis and dermatomyositis attending OPD and IPD service of tertiary center. Patients with nclusion body myositis, overlap myositis, chronic kidney disease, coexisting myocarditis, sepsis, malignancy, pregnancy were excluded. MMT8, FI-2 and Timed function tests were done at baseline and after 3 months.The study had 19 patients of which 6 were polymyositis and 13 were dermatomyositis. Male to female ratio was 1:2.1. Anti-cell antibody was positive in 16 patients. The mean MMT8 of the study group at baseline was 60.84±16.77 and after 3 months was 67.05±11.7. Out of 19 patients, all received prednisolone as induction agent followed by Methotrexate in 13, cyclophosphamide in 9, azathioprine in 5, Rituximab by one patient. Mean scores of 30s arm lift, 30s rise from chair test and 2 min walk test were 11.7±6.39,14±7.29,101.5± 46.48 respectively at baseline and 13.05±6.5,15.6±7.1,117.84±38.4 after 3 months.Table 1.Spearman Rho Correlation between timed function tests and MMT8, FI-2, patient and physician VASΔ 30s rise from chair testΔ 30s arm lift testΔ 2 min walk testΔ MMT80.3820.3370.724**Δ FI-2Hip flexion right0.3880.4130.314Hip flexion Left0.503*0.4160.422Neck flexion0.600**0.590**0.610**Shoulder flexion right0.1830.3000.239Shoulder flexion left0.3930.2220.207Shoulder abduction right0.2360.2220.348Shoulder abduction left0.1820.2360.273Step test right0.744**0.489*0.326Step test left0.8400.500*0.378Heel rise0.4420.2940.388Toe rise0.4460.2910.419Δ Physician VAS-0.508*-0.506**-0.215Δ Patient VAS-0.600**-0.597**-0.249Δ → change from baseline to 3 months *→ Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level **→ Correlation is significant at the 0.01 levelTimed function tests correlated well with MMT 8 and parameters with in FI-2. Thus these tests are good alternatives in assessing disease activity and response assessment in inflammatory myositis.[1]Selva-O'Callaghan A, Pinal-Fernandez I, Trallero-Araguás E, Milisenda JC, Grau-Junyent JM, Mammen AL. Classification and management of adult inflammatory myopathies. Lancet Neurol. 2018; 17:816–28.[2]Rider LG, Aggarwal R, Machado PM, Hogrel J-Y, Reed AM, Christopher-Stine L, et al. Update on outcome assessment in myositis. Nat. Rev. Rheumatol. 2018;14:303–18.[3]Alexanderson H, Broman L, TollbÄck A, Josefson A, Lundberg IE, StenstrÖm CH. Functional index-2: Validity and reliability of a disease-specific measure of impairment in patients with polymyositis and dermatomyositis. Arthritis Rheum. 2006;55:114–22.None declared