Products for space applications are traditionally costly and produced in small batches. Moreover, they must be able to withstand extreme environments and meet tough requirements when in operation, as the ability to maintain and repair them is limited. However, nowadays cost and lead time reduction are becoming important driving forces for space manufacturers. New technologies such as Additive manufacturing (AM) are attractive for space companies as they enable new product functionalities or lower production costs, fostering company capabilities and permanence in the market. However, the lack of knowledge and experience in AM hinders its implementation in highly regulated industries such as the space industry. In this thesis, a first approach of a model-based Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) design support is presented to facilitate the introduction of AM in components for space applications. The design support aims at redesigning components for AM, taking advantage of AM design freedom but considering AM limitations as well. Moreover, to address the needs of the space industry, relevant design trade-offs of space products, such as weight/cost reduction, component modularity or adaptability to market changes are included in the DfAM design support. The applicability of the design support has been demonstrated in the design of different space products (such as satellite antennas) and in the context of three different Swedish manufacturers of space components. A first validation of the design support and the redesigned space components was performed with industrial practitioners. The proposed design support was developed for the introduction of a new manufacturing technology in space components. As technologies for space applications advance at a fast pace, future research needs to be performed to adapt the design support to enable the introduction of technologies that are not manufacturing related. Moreover, as product development is often concerned with the introduction of multiple technologies in the same product/product family, the impact of technology interactions in product design is of interest and will be studied further.


Currently, research on wetlands is a rapidly developing field. To understand the state of wetland science in China, we used the term "wetland" ,"marsh", "swamp", "bog" and "mire" as the keywords to search in the ISI Web of Knowledge and the Chinese Journals Full-Text Database and collect Chinese and English literature on wetland written by Chinese researchers. These publications were analyzed with bibliometric methods by the distribution of the publication year, the author and organization distribution, the journal distribution, the research funds, the research regions and the subjects. The results indicate that core research groups working in the field of wetland science in China have already been formed, although the distribution of research groups was scattered across many institutions and universities. Dispersion and concentration coexisted in the journal distribution of Chinese and English publications—the majority of publications were clumped in a small number of journals, while a minority was scattered in a large number of journals. In China, there are two professional journals publishing papers on wetlands, Wetland Science and Wetland Science & Management. However, it is reasonable to launch an English language wetland journal in the country to enhance communication and cooperation. Research funds for wetland science have a wide array of sources. An important portion of the papers in Chinese was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and provincial foundations, while those in English were supported either by National Natural Science Foundation of China or international funds. Field studies in wetland science were mainly conducted in the regions with great valleys. Wetland hydrology, Wetland Biogeochemical process and Wetland protection and management are the main objects of those studies. With the development of economy, many environmental and resource issues have emerged due to the excessive use and subsequent destruction of wetland areas. Thus, enforcing the protection of wetlands is becoming increasingly popular.


Symptomatic relief remains out of reach for many who suffer chronic pruritis. Without drugs specifically approved to treat chronic itch, providers and patients rely on therapies with limited efficacy. Here's an update of two important clinical trials.


Neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease (NOMID), also known as chronic infantile neurologic cutaneous articular syndrome, is progressive, and 20% of patients die before reaching adulthood. An urticarial rash develops in the first 6 weeks of life. Other problems ensue: a characteristic bony overgrowth, predominantly of the knees, and central nervous system abnormalities, including aseptic meningitis, increased intracranial pressure, cerebral atrophy, seizures, optic-nerve atrophy or papilledema, mental retardation, and sensorineural hearing loss. Hepatosplenomegaly and short stature are also possible outcomes. Laboratory findings include leukocytosis, …


Fuel-speed curves (FSC) are used to account for the aggregate effects of congestion on fuel consumption in transportation scenario analysis. This paper presents plausible FSC for conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles and for advanced vehicles such as hybrid electric vehicles, fully electric vehicles (EVs), and fuel cell vehicles (FCVs) using a fuel consumption model with transient driving schedules and a set of 145 hypothetical vehicles. The FSC shapes show that advanced power train vehicles are expected to maintain fuel economy (FE) in congestion better than ICE vehicles, and FE can even improve for EV and FCV in freeway congestion. In order to implement these FSC for long-range scenario modeling, a bounded approach is presented which uses a single congestion sensitivity parameter. The results in this paper will assist analysis of the roles that vehicle technology and congestion mitigation can play in reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from motor vehicles.


In this research the implementation of Lean Manufacturing (LM) system with an
application of a set of lean tools in an automotive assembly area is exan1ined. The
study seeks to investigate how the lean tools could be applied and how the company
could benefit from the implementation. In order to collect data, the existing case study
area called MYVI assembly line was examined and the current Material and
Information Flow Charts (MIFC) was mapped. The purpose of mapping the present
MIFC is to highlight the hidden waste in the existing system such as waiting times,
transportation time and unwanted inventories. Based on this information, suitable lean
tools such as set-up time reduction, continuous flow process and standardized work
were identified and mapped accordingly in the future MIFC. The line balancing and
re-layout activities complement the total LM system establishment. Through
performance analysis, results from the implementation were measured and analysed
by comparing the lean metrics between the existing conditions against the improved
system. The performance of the improved system were then presented in the form of
productivity and cost saving. The findings revealed that the company managed to
increase their productivity and reduce the operational cost significantly after the LM
implementation. It can be concluded that a systematic approach is essential and
appropriate lean tools is crucial for the LM establishment process. Based on the
findings, it was recommended that the management replicate these activities in other
assembly areas or manufacturing areas in order to achieve full LM system company
wide.


Environmental risk assessment is the inevitable result of the development of China's environmental protection work and is an important basis for environmental management.The concept and the classification,the research progress,procedure and technique methods of environmental risk assessment were rewiewed in the article.According to the rule of "Technical guidelines for environmental risk assessment of construction project",the article discussed and demonstrated a case of pharmaceutical project in Hubei Province.Finally the environmental risk assessment problems in our country were analyzed and the prospects and suggestions were put forward.


It has recently been shown that relaxed spherically symmetric dark matter halos develop from the inside out, by permanently adapting their inner structure to the boundary conditions imposed by the current accretion rate. Such a growth allows one to infer the typical density profiles of halos. Here we follow the same approach to infer the typical spherically averaged profiles of the main structural and kinematic properties of triaxial, anisotropic, rotating halos. Specifically, we derive their density, spatial velocity dispersion, phase-space density, anisotropy and specific angular momentum profiles. The results obtained are in agreement with available data on these profiles from \nbody simulations.


We consider allocation of a resource to multiple interested users with a constraint that if the resource is allocated to user i, then it cannot be allocated simultaneously to a predefined set of users si. This scenario arises in many practical systems that include wireless networks and constrained queuing systems. It is known that the socially optimal strategy-proof mechanism is not only NP-hard, but it is also hard to approximate. This renders optimal mechanism computationally infeasible to use in practice. Here, we propose a computationally efficient mechanism and prove it to be strategy-proof. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we show that the social utility of the proposed scheme is close to that of the optimal. Further, we demonstrate how the proposed mechanism can be used for fair and efficient short-term spectrum allocation in resource-constrained large wireless networks.


AbstractBesides dams, technologies such as desalination, wastewater recycling and rainwater tanks are being employed in urban water supplies. From the fact that Australian water consumption is only 5–6% of annual run-off – as it is worldwide – the coming shortage is not of water, but of storage. New dam sites are becoming increasingly difficult to find and develop on land surfaces, so a paradigm shift is suggested: water storage may be located in seawater environments. The first generation of coastal storages has been successfully constructed in China, Singapore, Hong Kong and Korea. Their water quality problems have been essentially overcome with the second generation of coastal reservoirs which bypass or select against poor quality floodwaters. At a concept level, coastal reservoir technology is compared with other urban water supply technologies.


Background: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is a metabolic disorder with an impact on the reproductive, metabolic, and cardiovascular health disease of women. It affects approximately 5%-10% of women in the reproductive age groups. The disorder can be morphological polycystic ovaries or predominantly biochemical hyperandrogenism, a clinical hallmark of PCOS, which can cause inhibition of follicular development, micro cysts in the ovaries, anovulation, and menstrual changes. Aims and Objective: A Correlative Study of C3 in Women with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Materials and Methods: This was hospital based cross-sectional study carried out among PCOS was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Index Medical College Hospital, and Indore. This study was conducted from 1st January 2018 to 31st December 2019. A total of 260 subjects with age group between 15 to 45 years were divided into two group; cases (130) and controls (130). Results: Among a total of 260 cases, based on clinical and different biochemical parameters, 130 were diagnosis with PCOS and 130 were healthy women. The mean ±SD of various parameters among PCOS cases were; body mass index (BMI) 32.97±8.466, total cholesterol (TC) 188.42±31.126, triglyceride (TG) 134.43±50.01, high density lipoprotein (HDL) 36.29±9.55 TC/HDL ratio, 5.54±1.865 serum C3, 160.66±29.155 versus BMI 22.87±2.470, TC 155.42±26.333, TG 110.00±42.19, HDL 41.22±10.912, TC/HDL ratio 4.08±1.39, serum C3 127.48±35.60in healthy control. Conclusion: In this study, the role of inflammation and different biochemical markers were studied among PCOS cases. It was found that a majority of the PCOS patients were obese having insulin resistance. The levels of C3 as a marker of chronic low grade inflammation were higher in newly diagnosed PCOS as compared to the controls. The C3 values correlated well with various physiological and biochemical parameter.


Measurements of the decay of xenon and silver atoms with double K-shell vacancies (vacant K shell) were performed using a pair of germanium detectors and a three-parameter pulse-height analyzer. In xenon Kci hypersatellite shift and relative intensities of K hypersatellite and K satellite transitions were obtained. In silver the same quantities and also K B hypersatellite shif t , K a and Kf3 satellite shifts with Lspectator vacancy and iQ? satellite shift with Mand Nspectator vacancy were determined.


either precise or exhaustive, and they do not coincide. We are invited to consider gravitational fields, the North Pole, the Heaviside layer, the Common Law, shadows, rainbows, the Third Republic. "None of these things should be called a 'universal'; none has 'instances'; some [of the expressions just written down] require the definite article; yet none would naturally be called 'concrete'; and it is at least uncertain if any should be labelled 'particular'" (p. 206). In asking whether "abstract" words such as "17" or "appendicitis" designate anything, Quine is misusing the word "designate." "Only proper names, and perhaps some referring expressions, could correctly be said to designate or fail to do s o ; . . . the most important point to establish is t h a t . . . there are nouns and substantival expressions which neither do nor do not designate (not being proper names)" (p. 199). Quine has suggested that a person's willingness to perform the logical operations of existential quantification and of application may be used to test his " ontological commitment." If from "Appendicitis is painful" someone is prepared to infer, by existential quantification, "Something is painful" or, in symbols, "(3x)(x is painful)," he thereby, on Quine's view, commits himself to the assumption that there exists such an abstract entity as appendicitis, or that the word "appendicitis" designates such an entity. In the author's view, Quine here misunderstands how the word "something" is used in ordinary language. " 'Something' . . . is . . . a device for avoiding, perforce or deliberately, the use of a specific (or rather specifying) word or phrase; it is used, so to speak, to fill grammatical blanks without giving anything away or committing the user" (p. 205). The many distinct English readings of the existential quantifier are not synonymous. "Something is painful" and "There exists a thing such that it is painful" are two common but non-synonymous ways of rendering the formula "(3x)(x is painful)" in English. "If I say, secretively, that I am imagining something, I do not thereby evince belief in the existence of what I imagine" (p. 204). "It is . . . easy to express in orthodox logical symbols a quite innocent statement and to feel, on re-interpreting it, that one has hit on some curious metaphysical puzzle" (p. 199). A person's belief in appendicitis as an abstract entity is also, according to Quine, shown by his willingness to infer, by application, " . . . appendicitis . . . " from the assumed truth of " For all x , . . . x . . . . " From the point of view of the logic accepted by Quine, this test of ontological commitment is merely another aspect of the previous test. The author's critique of the application version of the test (pp. 207-208) seems to the reviewer to involve a number of confusions. (If we infer the "fantastic" expression "appendicitis = appendicitis" from "For all x, x = x," we might just as well infer "pink = pink," "if = if," etc. "If this is a test for designative use, then every expression designates" (p. 208).) The paper is somewhat loosely organized, and in addition to a critique of Quine's ontological views, it contains a number of other thoughts on "metaphysics in logic." When mathematical logicians philosophize, they do not always, in the author's opinion, pay enough attention to the complexity of ordinary language and its relations to logical symbolism. ANDERS WEDBERO


The prevalence of diabetes in Birmingham is 11% but it is 22% in hospital inpatients. Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham (QEHB) serves a multi-ethnic population with 6% Afro-Caribbean, 19% South Asian and 70% White European.
A clinical audit of 18,965 emergency admissions to QEHB showed that 5% were undiagnosed but had admission glucose in the 'diabetes' range and 16% were in the 'at risk' range. The proportion of Afro-Caribbeans (7%) and South Asians (8%) in the 'diabetes' range was higher than White Europeans (5%). Given the magnitude of the problem, this paper explores the issues concerning the use of reflex HbA1c testing in the UK for diagnosis of diabetes in hospital admissions. HbA1c testing is suitable for most patients but conditions affecting red blood cell turnover invalidate the results in a small number of people.
However, there are pertinent questions relating to the introduction of such testing in the NHS on a routine basis. Literature searches on a topical question 'Is hyperglycaemia identified during emergency admission/attendance acted upon?', were performed from 2016 to 2021 and 2016 to 2022. They identified 21 different, relevant, research papers - 5 from Australia, 9 from Europe including 4 from the UK, 5 from America and 1 each from Canada and Africa. These papers revealed an absence of established procedures for the management and follow-up of routinely detected hyperglycaemia using HbA1c when no previous diabetes diagnosis was recorded.
Further work is required to determine the role of reflex HbA1c testing for diagnosis of diabetes in admissions with hyperglycaemia, and the cost-effectiveness and role of point-of-care HbA1c testing.


The aim of this study was to a carry out a clinical and morphological assessment of the dorsal neck edge crossed Lusitan undergoing high intensity exercise in Barranco (Portugal) therefore seeks horses. We studied a total of 21 horses (14 geldings and 7 mares), aged 5-12 years, crossed Lusitan breed in Barranco, Portugal. The horses had been subjected to high-intensity exercise, time and the same conditions of feeding and management. Clinical examination as well as a morphological study was performed considering weight and body condition, and finally the cervical circumference was measured. Neither cervical lesions to inspection and palpation, and deformation of the dorsal edge of the neck in any of the cases studied were observed. Morphological study showed score 0 and 1 -. No horse under these categories. Rating. 2 - 12/21 (57 %) rating. 3-9/21 (43%). Rating 4 and 5.- No horse under these categories. Cervical perimeter, the average neck diameter was 91.82 cm, the average neck length was 85.76 cm and the weight was 388.19 kg. weight Statistical results versus the cervical neck circumference showed a correlation coefficient and 0.403 for grade score obese neck and body condition was 0.272. In conclusion, no lesions were observed consistent with the deformation of the dorsal edge of the neck in Lusitan horses crossed.


This paper proposes a goal programming approach to the warranty cost estimation problem. Past research on this topic has mostly dealt with a single objective—the minimization of the warranty reserve cost or the maximization of profit. A more realistic approach to warranty cost problems could, however, involve several goals, some of which might be conflicting to others. In this paper, three goals are prioritized. The goals considered are minimization of warranty reserve cost per unit, offering a minimum level of warranty time based on an allowable proportion of failures within the warranty period, and capturing a minimum specified market share of the product. An example is illustrated using the proposed formulation, and goal achievements are discussed.


We present numerical solutions for the following Stefan problems. The half-space z > 0 is initially filled with liquid at its fusion temperature. The boundary z = 0, taken to be the x axis, is maintained at a constant temperature, less than the fusion temperature, for x 0, the first problem considers the case of an insulated boundary, and the second problem considers the case of the boundary maintained at the fusion temperature. This gives rise to a solid-liquid interface curved in the (x, z) plane.


The utility model discloses an air guide plate guiding device equipment frock, including first mandrel, respectively be equipped with one and first mandrel vertically carousel at the both ends of first mandrel, be equipped with the positioning mechanism that a plurality of departments are used for fixed air guide plate gusset on first mandrel, positioning mechanism is including the tight baffle of clamp of fixing a position the baffle with be used for pressing from both sides tight air guide plate gusset. The beneficial effects of the utility model are that: through the position of adjustment location baffle and mounting hole of pressing from both sides tight baffle on first main shaft, realize the assembly requirements of covering on the air guide plate of different section size, different length, the long slab of L type location baffle fixes a position the gusset, and the long slab that presss from both sides tight baffle sets up the tight gusset of clamp with the long slab of fixing a position the baffle in opposite directions to through bolted connection, make and dismantle nimble convenience, at the covering in -process, accessible upset carousel comes upset equipment frock, need not the position of manual regulation equipment frock, has effectively avoided the fish tail to the aluminum product.


The tobacco leaf samples collected from 87 villages and towns in Wumeng tobacco-growing areas were determined,while the meteorological data of nearly 40 years were collected. Analyzing the major meteorological data in term of sunshine,temperature and rainfall,we identified the climatic characteristics of light-sweet flavor style of flue-cured tobaccos. The results showed that Wumeng tobacco-growing areas were provided with a relatively high altitude,an adequate sunshine duration and rainfall,while its average temprature was lower. Variabilities of optothermal indexs were weaker,but variation amplitudes of some rainfall indexs were bigger,which might be the key factor affecting the quality of Wumeng flue-cured tobaccos. According to the aroma scores,light-sweet flavor style of fluecured tobaccos in Wumeng tobacco-growing areas could be divided into three subtypes: typical lightsweet flavor style,light-sweet flavor style,and weak light-sweet flavor style,of which typical light-sweet flavor flue-cured tobaccos had good aroma quality including rich aroma volume,exquisite,soft and fruity smoke,less offensive and irritating odor,clean and comfortable aftertaste. With light-sweet flavor style enhancing,altitudes were higher and higher,heat indexes gradually reduced,and the differences of the heat indexes in different subtypes were highly significant. Typical light-sweet flavor tobacco-growing areas had the most sunshine durations during transplanting and vigorous growth periods and weak light-sweet flavor tobacco-growing areas had the minimum,while sunshine durations during the root extending period,maturing period and field period showed the contrary trend. In addition to the rainfall of mature period,other rainfall indexs among the three subtypes existed significant differences and with light-sweet flavor style enhancing,rainfall during growth and development period presented the increasing tendency.


Children begin to understand the world from birth, gradually recognizing their existence. On interaction with their surrounding environments, they begin to recognize themselves and gradually develop self-concepts. With the advancement in technology, smartphones have become an indispensable daily necessity. The age at which a child handles a smartphone is gradually decreasing. Many traditional toys are increasingly being replaced by smartphone games, which have become an essential part of children's lives. This study attempts to understand the impact of smartphone games on the development of children's self-concept. Using the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, a questionnaire survey was conducted among students of grades 3 and 4 in elementary school.


The research paid attention to some potential problems what are made from participants as they are discontented in the supervision of procedure about the design-build. So, the study tried to show some main investigative evaluation index to check the main direction and prevent the loss of the project. After checking the evaluation index, it divided them into the cost, the DB participants and DB system depended on the matters of administration. In addition, it introduced the checklist that is used the main evaluation index what is classified by the stages of the project on the point of view of system application.


Objective To study the effects of chemically modified small interfering RNA(siRNA)targeting tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2(TIMP-2)in rat liver fibrosis by common bile duct ligation.Methods Thirty male rats were randomly divided into five groups:a normal group(n=6),a sham-operated group(n=6),a model group(n=6),a control siRNA group and a siRNA group.After the 2-weeks common bile duct ligation and percutaneous superior mesenteric vein(SMV)retention catheter,a control siRNA group or a siRNA group was received a dosage of 0.05 mg.kg-1 control siRNA or siRNA via the SMV every three days for four weeks.All rats were sacrificed after six weeks to measure portal vein pressure(PVP).The pathological changes of liver tissues were detected by HE and Van Gieson staining.The levels of alanine aminotransferase(ALT),aspartate aminotransferase(AST)and hydroxyproline(Hyp)were measured.Expression of TIMP-2,collagen type I(COL I)and collagen type III(COL III)mRNA were evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR.Expression of TIMP-2,α-SMA and Desmin protein were analyzed by Western blotting.Results After treatment of chemically modified siRNA targeting TIMP-2,pathological changes in the siRNA group was markedly attenuated.The levels of PVP,ALT,AST and Hyp in the siRNA group were significantly lower than those in the model group.The mRNA expressions of TIMP-2,COL I and COL III in the siRNA group were decreased significantly higher than that in the model group.Western blotting showed the protein expression of TIMP-2 in the siRNA group was also decreased significantly higher than that in the model group.Furthermore,in the siRNA group,the decrease of α-SMA protein was more obvious than the decrease of Desmin protein although both α-SMA and Desmin protein decreased significantly higher than those in the model group.Conclusion Chemically modified siRNA targeting TIMP-2 inhibits hepatic fibrogenesis in bile-duct ligated rats and it may be a new strategy for gene therapy in liver fibrosis.


The problem of missing and broken periodicals is common in university libraries . In orderto solve this problem, efforts are made, such as the reinforcement of checkin and checkout procedures, the strengthening of education and influence by environment, the improvement of its facilities and the involvement of students' supervision. Hence, the numbers of missing and broken periodicals are greatly reduced.


The Catholics deem that he who sings once prays twice. To Very Rev. Msgr. Ezenduka (Late), it was he who sings well and meaningfully. As a great Igbo liturgical music composer, he composed over; eighty liturgical music colossally, for Catholics throughout the Igbo speaking dioceses of Nigeria, through which the devout lives of millions of people were transformed. The Vatican II (1962 1965) which carried enormous modifications in Divine Worship, including the sacred music concurred with Msgr. Ezenduka's priestly ordination in 1964. Consequently, he devoted his pastoral ministry to explore practical ways to contextualize and implement the conciliare declarations. This work is significant because it will expose his personality and showcases his original compositions which demonstrated how Igbo tonality, sensibility and rhythm could virtuously express the spirit of the liturgy and even enrich it as disparate to Igbo hymns that were adapted to western metrical tunes, while not respecting the native Igbo tonality, affronted the language.


Status can be a significant barrier to student success in a cooperative learning classroom. High-status students often attempt to dominate their groups, while lower-status students retreat and fail to engage. This results in an engagement and achievement gap between high and low-status students. This study attempts to determine if the implementation of Complex Instruction would create a more equitable learning environment and close the gaps created by differences in status. Complex Instruction strategies implemented include role training, assigning competence, group accountability, and group-worthy tasks. This mixed-methods study in two sixth grade math classes found a significant change in class culture through collection of surveys, group work artifacts, videotaped class sessions, and student interviews. Students expanded their definition of what it means to be "good at math" and found that previously low-status classmates were capable of critical contribution to group products. Positive student engagement in cooperative learning tasks was improved, and students used increasingly respectful and equitable learning cooperative learning strategies. This expands on previous research, showing positive impact of Complex Instruction on a primarily white, middle class


The extraction of soluble dietary fiber from pomelo peel is studied in the article.The optimum soluble dietary fiber extraction process is made through four single-factor experiments of temperature,pH,time and exracted materials and orthogonal experiments.Eperimental results show that:soluble dietary fiber for the optimum extraction temperature is 90℃,pH value is 2.0,time is 70 mins,and the amount of extract is 20 mL/g.Under these conditions,the extraction rate is 7.35%.


This study aims are to determine the improvement of mathematical problem solving skills with the application of math mobile learning media. The study was conducted in fourth grade of SD 1 PasuruhanKidul Kudus in the academic year 2018/2019 with the number of students 19.The research method used was the classroom action research method which lasted for two cycles, namely in cycle I and cycle II. Each cycle consists of planning, implementing, observing and reflecting. The independent variable in this study is math mobile learning media, while the dependent variable is the ability to solve math problems, student learning activities, and teacher teaching skills. Data collection techniques used in this study include observation, interviews, documentation and tests. This data analysis technique uses quantitative and qualitative data analysis.The results of this study indicate that the increase is, (1) The average mathematical problem solving ability of students with the percentage of classical completeness 68.42% (enough) in the first cycle to 94.73% (good) in the second cycle, (2) Activities student learning has increased with a value of 64.48 less (need guidance) in the first cycle and 76.72 (good) in the second cycle. (3) The percentage of teaching skills of teachers has increased by a percentage of 71% (enough) in the first cycle and 80.5% (good) in the second cycle. Based on the results of research carried out in class IV SD 1 PasuruhanKidul Kudus, it can be concluded that through math mobile learning media can improve the ability to solve mathematical problems in the surrounding material and flat area, student learning activities and teaching skills of teachers in teaching and learning.


The influence of physicochemical properties on the activity of soil-applied insecticides is discussed. Physical property-based rules are developed which allow prediction of the soil activity of an insecticide against the larvae of southern corn rootworm (Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi) from its topical potency, lipophilicity, and volatility. These rules, developed from measurements with 16 pyrethroids, predict the soil activity of non-pyrethroid insecticides within a 6-fold accuracy


In order to solve the problem of the insufficient reliability of diesel engine as the emergency power supply of pumped storage power station, a grid-connected/islanded control strategy of PV and battery storage systems as the emergency power supply of pumped storage power station is proposed. To begin with, the control strategies of different operation modes of the optical storage system are introduced. In the grid-connected operation mode, PQ control strategy is used to coordinate the output of PV and battery storage to meet the station power load demand. When faults occur in the grid, the PV and battery storage systems switch to islanded operation mode. At this time, the battery storage system adopts V / F control to maintain the stability of system voltage and frequency. The PV system still uses PQ control, and the two coordinate to supply power for the load. The time domain simulation model of PV and battery storage systems is established and the control strategy of the converter is simulated. The simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed grid-connected/islanded control strategy.


Abstract The article presents the concept of a digital edition of late-medieval mystical mosaic treatises. These widespread publication, which are usually labelled as 'pseudo-Eckhart', are characterised by an almost unfathomable fluctuation between the manuscripts. Until today, this variance has prevented the publication of any traditional book editions and complicated any critical evaluation. The intended edition focusses on Pfeiffer's treatise XI/2 ('Von der übervart der gotheit 2') as a test case. It will provide access to divergent versions of this treatise and enable modern readers to compare them on different textual levels.


Aquilaria beeeariana Van Teigh and Aquilaria mieroearpa Baill are both protected species found in Sarawak and indiscriminately harvested for gaharu. Anatomical studies of their young stems and petioles were conducted to find out their differences of their vessels, included phloem and vascular arrangement. This anatomy studies aimed to uncover the differences between the A. beeeariana and A. mieroearpa. Young saplings and leaves from each species were obtained from the UNIMAS green house. Part of twigs was taken from the young saplings and petioles of mature leaves were selected. The results showed that there are differences between A. beeeariana and A. mieroearpa in their anatomical characteristics of their vessels, included phloem and the arrangement of the vascular bundles in the petioles. However, with the anatomical characteristics that have been obtained can be done for further research is required to be conducted to support these new findings.


This journal issue addresses what we are calling "minor tech" making reference to Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's essay "Kafka: Toward a Minor Literature" (written in 1975). They propose the concept of minor literature as opposed to great or established literature — the use of a major language that subverts it from within. "Becoming-minitorian" in this sense — to use a related concept from A Thousand Plateaus — involves the recognition of particular instances of power and the ability of the repressed minority to gain some degree of autonomy of expression. For our purpose, this notion of the minor is a relative position to major (or big) tech.


Death commonly opens windows into taxpayers' lives and sheds light on items that were previously kept hidden or tightly guarded. This light sometimes reveals that the decedent failed to report income, took improper deductions, or held undisclosed assets -- factors that have historically contributed to the size of the "tax gap" -- the difference between what taxpayers owe in taxes and what they actually pay. This Article explores the implications of these postmortem discoveries for executors, who must administer the decedent's estate; estate beneficiaries, who are recipients of the estate's asset; and tax practitioners, who are called upon to lend technical assistance. Beyond describing the current state of affairs, this Article makes several policy recommendations designed to help close the tax gap and simplify this complex area of the law.


The invention discloses a high molecular material layer with water absorbability, and the high molecular material layer comprises a high molecular foaming framework and a high water-absorbing resin, wherein the high molecular foaming framework is prepared by adopting a physical or chemical foaming method and is provided with a mutually-through open pore structure; the specific pore volume is 5-200 mL/g and the aperture ratio is 50-100%; the high water-absorbing resin is adhered or embedded on the pore wall of the open pore structure; each cubic meter of the high molecular material layer contains 2-200 kg of the high water-absorbing resin; and the water retaining capacity of the high molecular material layer is not less than 5 g/g. By utilizing the scheme, the high water-absorbing resin is attached to the pore wall of the high molecular foaming framework in an adhering and embedding manner, so that the high water-absorbing resin is swollen to lock body fluid when the high water-absorbing resin is contacted with the body fluid. When a user walks, the high water-absorbing resin does not relatively displace in a sanitary product, so that the deformation of the sanitary product is reduced to the greatest extent and gel which absorbs the fluid is not clustered.


ABSTRACT The 40 life history, myological, and osteological characters that Tibbetts (1992) used in his study of the hemiramphids are evaluated for both saury genera (Cololabis and Scomberesox) to determine if the Scomberesocidae are more closely related to the Zenarchopteridae, to the needlefishes (Belonidae), or to the halfbeaks (Hemiramphidae) and flyingfishes (Exocoetidae). Data were analyzed using PAUP*, and eight equally parsimonious trees were found (70 steps, CI 0.814, RI 0.938). This analysis indicates that sauries are most closely related to needlefishes, supporting the historical concept of the superfamily Scomberesocoidea as a monophyletic assemblage. A caudal displacement of the origin of the retractor dorsalis muscle is a tentative additional synapomorphy for all four saury species. Zenarchopteridae is strongly supported as a valid family sister to the Scomberesocoidea (decay index = 19, bootstrap = 100). Resolution of the internal structure of the Belonidae and the Hemiramphidae requires the identification of additional characters and examination of a greater number of taxa.


The invention discloses a system and method for resource interaction between an intranet device and an external storage device. The method comprises the steps that a first intranet device obtains permission information of sent first resources in response to detected operation of sending the first resources of a home terminal to the external storage device and judges whether the first resources can be sent, and if the first resources can be sent, the first resources are converted into image information and the image information is sent to a first image display module; the first image display module receives and displays the image information; a first camera shooting module obtains and sends the displayed image information to a first processor; the first processor analyzes the image information into the first resources and sends the first resources to the external storage device; and a monitoring server monitors and records resource sending information of the first intranet device. The problem that monitoring cannot be performed timely and operation is complex when data interaction between the intranet device and the external storage device in the prior art is solved, complexity is reduced while data interaction is finished, and safety is improved.


The system BaTiO3-BaGeO3 has been investigated by DTA, metallographic and X-ray diffraction methods. A number of selected samples were also analysed on the electron probe micro-analyser. The system was found to be of the simple binary-eutectic type with partial solid solubility at both ends. The eutectic composition was established as 68 • 0.5 mol ~ BaGeO3 and its melting temperature as 1120 -F 5~ The solid solubility of BaGeO3 in BaTiO3 at 1120~ was found to be 1.8 mol ~ and that of BaTiO3 in BaGeO3 2.2 mol ~. Additions of BaGeO3 to BaTiO3 did not appear to cause any change in the temperature of the cubic to hexagonal inversion of BaTiO3 but the temperature of the tetragonal to cubic inversion was raised slightly with such additions. The transformation temperature of 1180~ for the lowto high-temperature form of BaGeO, was not affected by additions of BaTiO3


Yeas t s in fec t i ons have emerged dur ing the past two decades as important pathogens causing formidable morbidity and mortality in an increasingly diverse and progressively expanding population of immunocompromised patients. The therapeutic against yeast infections presents limitations: toxicity, high cost and resistance of fungal. The development of new antifungal agents becomes necessary. Therefore, bees products have been traditionally used as therapeutic agents and about half of the drugs that we use today are derived from natural sources. Honey has been used for its medicinal properties in many cultures since ancient times. The antimicrobial of honey have formed the basis of many applications including pharmaceuticals, alternative medicine and natural therapies[1-3]. Honey has been reported to contain about 600 substances and is considered as an important part of traditional medicine[4]. Several bioactive compounds have been identified in honey which contributed to its antimicrobial action[5]. Honey has antimicrobial effects, which are PEER REVIEW ABSTRACT


The steady increase of scientific knowledge makes it necessary to say how theological reflection relates to the findings of other disciplines.1 Too often, this necessity becomes an occasion either for piously insulating Christian theology from other disciplines or for too quickly abandoning Christian tradition in light of "new knowledge." The purpose of this essay is to question this either/or dilemma. My contention is that Christian theology is indissolubly united with the church's tradition and necessarily in conversation with other disciplines. Once this contention has been explored, it will be possible to make critical judgments about a number of contemporary proposals and to outline the conception of Christian theology on which my remarks are based.


Augustine of Hippo has long been recognized as an important figure in the history of rhetoric. Some scholars believe that without his influence, rhetoric, the central study in the Roman educational system, might not have survived into the Christian era. Certainly the fact that the most influential theologian of the time had been a professor of rhetoric meant that someone who really knew what was at stake came to guide the thought of his day. Disillusioned though he was with the rhetorical practice of his own time − the self serving rhetoric of display practised by the orators of the second sophistic period − Augustine yet knew what the value of rhetoric was. His famous defence of rhetoric in On Christian Doctrine 1 establishes the importance of the art of speech as central to the Christian cause. Neutral in itself, as Augustine believed, it could be used both for good and for evil: the refusal of Christian orators to use it would give the enemy − the servants of Evil − a dangerous advantage. Yet rhetoric, as it was reworked by Augustine to be consistent with Christian culture, was in many ways radically different from the old rhetoric of the classical era, as well as from


The invention relates to a biomaterial product based on sunflower seed shells and/or sunflower seed hulls. According to the invention, it is proposed that, instead of wood, bamboo or other wood-like fiber products, sunflower seed shells and/or sunflower seed hulls are used as starting material for the biomaterial products and for producing such products in order to thereby improve previous biomaterials, in particular also to make them more cost-effective and to improve their material properties.


The J=1..-->..0 and J=8..-->..7 rotational transitions of interstellar cyanodiacetylene have been observed in Sgr B2. These observations confirm the earlier detection of this heavy molecule, and provide further information on its excitation. The J=8..-->..7 line and the previously observed J=4..-->..3 line can be fitted to a thermal equilibrium model and give a total column density of 1.5 x 10/sup 14/ cm/sup -2/. The J=1..-->..0 transition is much stronger than expected from thermal equilibrium, and suggests maser action. (AIP)


The present invention is, for lithography applications, relates contact planarization method may be used to planarize the substrate surface having a shape density of irregularities extensive. These processes, for lithography applications, thermosetting, photocuring, and using a thermoplastic material to provide a generally planarized surface on the substrate surface of the irregularities. Additional film having a overall flatness and uniform thickness can be obtained on the planarized surface. The method according to these invention includes, in a series of suitable coatings required in certain applications, the bottom of the AR coating, photoresist, hard mask, as well as other organic and inorganic polymers, single layer, two-layer or, it can be used along with the multi-layer processing. More particularly, the present invention is used in a dual damascene process or by layer process in which a range of photolithography processes is greatly improved, making the entire planar surface. Furthermore, the present invention provides an imprint lithography, nanoimprint lithography, using a hot embossing lithography, and the stamping pattern transfer techniques to provide a generally planar surface for transferring a pattern.


The Nd 3+ ion doped in Nd∶YVO 4 crystal has a weak laser transition at 1.342 μm in addition to 1.064 μm stimulated transition. The laser at 1.342 μm can be frequency-doubled to obtain red light at 671 nm. In this paper, the analysis and the experiment of a Nd∶YVO 4 crystal pumped by 400-μm fiber-coupled diode array, type-Ⅰ critical phase matching and intra-cavity frequency-doubled LBO (LiB 3O 5) crystal, and red laser at output wavelength of 671 nm were performed. By using a short folded-cavity resonator, the thermal focal length of Nd∶YVO 4 crystal was calculated, and the parameters of laser cavity were selected by computer optimum design. At last, with incident pump power of 8 W, TEM 00 mode (transverse electromagnetic mode) red laser at 671 nm of 1.8W was obtained, with the optical conversion efficiency up to 22.5%.


The present invention relates to positively charged lipids prepared by linking salt forms of acidic amino acid with a variety of lengths of hydrocarbon chain, a process for preparing the lipids, and liposomes comprising the said positively charged lipids. Positively charged lipids of the invention can be practically applied for the preparation of liposomes for gene therapy, since they provide better characteristics than the conventional positively charged lipids in terms of gene delivery efficiency and biocompatibility.


Calcific tendinitis of the longus colli is an inflammatory disease caused by calcium hydroxyapatite crystal deposition in the longus colli tendon of the prevertebral space. It is also known as retropharyngeal calcific tendinitis or prevertebral tendinitis. The typical imaging characteristics of this entity are calcifications on the superior insertion of the longus colli tendons at the C1-2 level and fluid collection in the retropharyngeal space. However, we introduce a case of acute longus colli tendinitis without definite calcification deposition on image findings.


The pressure difference between perilymph and endolymph in guinea pigs with endolymphatic hydrops was investigated one month after surgical obstruction of the endolymphatic sac and duct.Pressures were measured with a servo-nulling system (WPI micropressure system model 900). A glass micropipette was inserted into the perilymphatic space through the round window membrane to measure the perilymphatic pressure, then the micropipette was inserted more deeply through the basilar membrane to measure the endolymphatic pressure.There was no significant pressure difference between the perilymph and the endolymph in guinea pigs with endolymphatic hydrops. Reissner's membrane may be distended very easily when the endolymphatic volume is increased, and it is not stiff enough to maintain the pressure difference between the perilymph and the endolymph.


Cardiovascular disease development is highly variable between patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH). Since current risk prediction methods fail to estimate the risk of individual patients, all patients are treated with high-intensity lipid-lowering medication like statins and PCSK9-inhibitors. To prevent overtreatment (with its associated costs and side effects) of patients with a low risk, reliable biomarkers are urgently needed. While studying atherosclerosis development in an FH porcine model, we discovered a specific LDL profile that was directly associated with the severity of atherosclerosis development.

 10 adult pigs with an LDLR mutation received a high-fat diet for 12 months. Atherosclerosis development in the three main coronary arteries was monitored with intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography at three time points. After sacrifice, tissue was harvested for detailed histological analysis of the coronary plaque composition. Size-exclusion chromatography (SEC, n=10) and LC-MSMS (n=4) were used to assess the plasma lipoprotein profile, and the sphingolipid content of LDL, relative to cholesterol.

 Imaging and histology revealed a marked difference in pigs that developed large, lumen intruding plaques (IVUS-based plaque burden 13–77%) within 9 months (n=5) and pigs (n=5) that only developed early lesions (IVUS-based plaque burden 8–34%), even after 12 months of follow-up. The plaques seen in the fast responding pigs possessed distinct characteristics of advanced disease (i.e. heavy macrophage infiltration, large lipid-rich necrotic cores, neovascularisation, micro- and macrocalcifications and intraplaque haemorrhage, see figure). In these fast responders, fibrous cap atheroma occupied 34% of the total artery.
 SEC revealed two distinct LDL subclasses: regular and "larger" LDL particles. Fast responding pigs with advanced atherosclerosis displayed a significantly higher ratio in cholesterol concentration of regular/'larger' LDL than slow responding pigs (1.7 (1.3–1.9) vs. 0.8 (0.6–1.2); (p=0.004), see figure). Compared to regular LDL, "larger" LDL contained relatively more sphingolipids in the fast responding than in the slow responding animals (regular LDL/'larger' LDL: S1P 0.5 (0.5–0.5) vs. 1.0 (0.8–1.2); Cer16:0 0.70 (0.67–0.73) vs. 1.04 (0.95–1.13); Cer18:0 0.60 (0.58–0.61) vs. 1.15 (1.13–1.16); Cer20:0 0.73 (0.73–0.74) vs. 0.94 (0.94–0.94)). "Larger" LDL particles and comparable sphingolipid ratios were also observed in FH patients. Cardiovascular data from our FH patient cohort, coupled to the LDL subclass distribution, will provide more insight into the potential of this novel biomarker.

 A distinct difference in LDL subclasses, including a new "larger" LDL particle, was found in fast versus slow responding FH animals. This finding can potentially be used to identify FH patients at the highest risk of CVD to avoid overtreatement of low risk patients.

 ERC- starter grant (grant agreement 310457)


A natural language processing (NLP) pipeline was developed to identify lumbar spine imaging findings associated with low back pain (LBP) in X-radiation (X-ray), computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reports. A total of 18,640 report datasets were randomly sampled (stratified by imaging modality) to obtain a balanced sample of 300 X-ray, 300 CT, and 300 MRI reports. A total of 23 radiologic findings potentially related to LBP were defined, and their presence was extracted from radiologic reports. In developing NLP pipelines, section and sentence segmentation from the radiology reports was performed using a rule-based method, including regular expression with negation detection. Datasets were randomly split into 80% for development and 20% for testing to evaluate the model's extraction performance. The performance of the NLP pipeline was evaluated by using recall, precision, accuracy, and the F1 score. In evaluating NLP model performances, four parameters—recall, precision, accuracy, and F1 score—were greater than 0.9 for all 23 radiologic findings. These four scores were 1.0 for 10 radiologic findings (listhesis, annular fissure, disc bulge, disc extrusion, disc protrusion, endplate edema or Type 1 Modic change, lateral recess stenosis, Schmorl's node, osteophyte, and any stenosis). In the seven potentially clinically important radiologic findings, the F1 score ranged from 0.9882 to 1.0. In this study, a rule-based NLP system identifying 23 findings related to LBP from X-ray, CT, and MRI reports was developed, and it presented good performance in regards to the four scoring parameters.


In today's combustion engine design a multitude of electronically influenced controlling parameters emerges. Accordingly, the quantity and complexity of control and regulation tasks assigned to the engine control unit arises. Moreover, a growing number of generally conflicting requirements have to be taken into account such as the reduction of fuel consumption with simultaneous consideration of best possible engine performance. Hence, the goal of development and calibration of an engine control unit is to provide optimized settings for the control variables of a specific working point in view of one objective function or even several objectives to be considered. Due to the vast complexity of this optimization task, conventional optimization approaches are inapplicable. Furthermore, due to the large search space, the verification of various possible solutions at the engine test bed is costly and not practicable. Thus, genetic algorithms can be a promising approach not supplying any further information on the system under optimization as evolutionary steps are based on a computable engine model rather than the real engine test bed. Here, the basic applicability of this approach is initially investigated by means of a particular engine model and a fixed working point. Different settings for genetic algorithms are evaluated for this task and the efficiency and scalability is discussed. Furthermore, the intermediate results collected during optimization can be used to derive a simplified engine model by identifying additional relations between variables. Finally, the results determined are verified on the real engine test bed.


This paper presents our attempt to model physiological transition effect on syllable F0 contour in order to improve lexical tone recognition performance for Mandarin Chinese. We suggested that a syllable F0 contour consists of three segments: onset course, tone nucleus and offset course. Among the three segments, only tone nucleus contains key features for tone recognition, and the other two result from physiological transition effect of human vocal cords. Therefore, the tone recognizer performance can be improved by only focusing on tone nuclei and discarding the other two segments. Segmentation of the three segments was achieved by our proposed method. Contextdependent tonal models, which are trained on tone nucleus features, were also introduced to model contextual tone coarticulation effects for tone recognition. Advantages of the proposed methods were proved through tone recognition experiments of continuous speech of Mandarin.


In advocating for CSR we shall start from the fact that there should be a policy on the company level according to which these companies have a responsibility that goes beyond a simple algorithm on profit. This concept is based on the responsibility towards people, society and environment that are affected by their activity. Beside the company's contribution to the society by creating work places, taxes and collateral economic effects, the company can develop products, services, production methods and business practices. In this context, CSR ensures the achievement of a strong connection between the private environment and the community, contributing at the same time to the sustainable development of the company. The CSR concept should be regarded as an integral part of the company, that should not hinder the proper activities conducted by that company, but to represent responsibility towards society.


The present study examined the effects of two subject variables (sex of subject and feminist attitudes) and two strategy variables (strategy aggressiveness and locus of responsibility for change) on the perceived effectiveness and desirability of four rape reduction strategies. Fifty-three females and 36 males served as subjects in a 24 factorial design. Although women rated all strategies as more effective and desirable than did men, attitude toward sex roles was a more pervasive determinants of patterns of perceived effectiveness and desirability than was subject sex. Generally, aggressive strategies were rated as more effective than nonaggressive strategies, and strategies placing the locus of responsibility for change on women were considered more effective than strategies requiring men and society to take action. Strategies that were consistent with sex-role stereotypes (women avoiding rape by passive behavior and men and society fighting rape by aggressive treatment of rapists) were seen as more effective than nonstereotypic strategies. Profeminists found the nonstereotypic strategies to be more desirable, however, and they also rated as relatively more desirable those strategies that placed responsibility for change on men and society. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of sex-role attitudes rather than subject sex differences in reducing rape.


Livestock production in San Andrés is subsistence, there are 2,223 pigs, in 205 farms. This technology generates serious contamination problems. The results of the dimensioning a biodigester are presented, with the BioDigestor© software, from swine manure, with the objective of observing the technical-economic feasibility for the implementation of this technology. The capacity of the biodigester allows the processing of 12.31 t/d of manure, generating 276 MWh/year of electrical energy through the operation of a generator engine that works with biogas. The dimensioning of the biodigester included the calculation of the volume of the feed tank, biodigester, discharge tank, biogas storage, sludge drying bed, collection and conduction systems, heating and biogas utilization. An economic study was carried out which allowed to conclude on the viability of the project. The total cost of the digester amounts to 723,986,263 COP, which is equivalent to 21,925 COP/kW installed.


System and method for facilitating user selection of an item is provided. The method of the present design may include determining a psychographic factors of the user, based on psychographic factors determined the user, and be categorized as belonging to the psychographic groups that have user and user psychographic groups based on it belongs that includes determining a preferred sequence of items of interest to the user, and providing a preferred arrangement of the items to the user.


Based on the theory of higher education and the basic principles of teaching methods of elicitation and the characteristics of the engineering graphics course,it has been regarded as a starting point for teaching activities to embody the leading role of teachers and stress on the principal part of students. The teaching methods for engineering graphics course are discussed.


In the eastern Canadian boreal forest, drainage of unproductive black spruce peatlands is an infrequently used silvicultural treatment. The sparse scientific literature concerning its influence on tree growth is, however, relatively positive about the possibility of using drainage to convert unproductive stands into productive ones. This study aimed to address this issue by assessing the individual tree growth and by estimating the future stand productivity on a drained black spruce peatland stand. Results showed larger mean annual post-drainage stump diameter increment with increasing ditch proximity but they also showed the lack of effect of the treatment at distances greater than 15 m from the ditch. Small-sized trees reacted more strongly to the treatment than larger ones. Estimated site productivity was also influenced by the ditch proximity. The presence of excavating mounds on only one side of the ditch greatly influenced tree growth and site productivity. Considering the obtained results, intensiv...


Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics of primary hepatic cancer(PHC)with portal vein tumor thrombi(PVTT).Methods Clinical data of 132 patients with PVTT in 300 patients with PHC were analysed retrospectively from 2001 to 2010.Age,sex,cirrhosis,HBsAg.tumor type,biochemical markers,alpha-fetoprotein(AFP),prothrombin time(PT) and other relevant factors and location of cancer embolus were summarized to study its relativity with PVTT.Results There were 132 patients(40.4%) with PVTT in 300 patients with PHC.The incidence of this disease was higher in age group of 40-60 years,diffuse type focus and ascites patients.There were the relevant risk factors such as extended PT,increase AFP,albumin(Alb) reduced and TBIL22.The predilection site of cancer embolus was main portal vein with the PVTT incidence of 68.9%.Conclusion PVC with PVTT occurs mostly in middle-aged men of ascites HBsAg positive and diffuse type focus with the basis of cirrhosis.The predilection site of cancer embolus was main portal vein.


The article analyzed the problem of child sexual violence in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. The methodology was qualitative based on analysis of documents (empirical studies, legislation and hemerography) and complemented with descriptive statistics. It is found that: legislation has been harmonized with national and international law, legal and applicability vacancies persist, bureaucratic processes, access to justice for victims, impunity and the absence of real statistics; the highest incidence is in the house and the school, being the principal aggressors of the family and teachers. The legal advance is the most significant, yet it does not recover the cultural diversity of the State. It is concluded that, in addition to a legal and cultural problem, constituting systemic, institutional and symbolic violence.


The development reason,production technique and product properties of waterpermeable plastic mulching film are presented.As a kind of microporous film,it has two application scopes:(1)it can be used to cover the fields so as to improve the environment of water,fortilizer,air and heat circulation in the soil,enhance the utilization ratio of small rainfall sources,raise the crop output about 20%;(2)it is used to freshen the preserved fruits and vegetables.The film can efficiently eliminate the harmful gases,such as CO2,to which the fruits and vegetables are highly sensitive.The film is suited to fresh date,green pepper and fresh beans etc.


Specialty pharmaceuticals make up a huge part of the current drug market, and their impact is only going to grow over the next few years.


The concept of project bundling—combining multiple projects into a single contract—continues to gain momentum. Unanswered questions from past studies include how to quantify project bundling benefits. This paper addresses the issue using a data-driven approach that involves initial comparisons of the unit average project costs of single and bundled projects, preliminary investigations of the potential influential variables of project cost, the development of project cost statistical models, and an analysis of past and possible future bundling strategies. The study found that the primary drivers of project cost include the project size (economies of scale), bundling strategy (economies of bundling), and bidding market conditions (economies of competition). It is also shown that the similarity between different project types in terms of their constituent pay items is an influential factor on project cost. The study confirmed that larger contracts yield economies of scale but may also lead to less competition (discouraging all but the largest firms from bidding). This finding suggests the existence of a contract-size threshold beyond which the unit project cost increases with increasing project cost. By analyzing past bundling strategies, the study identified the most frequent combinations of work categories in the past bundled contracts. The study also carried out scenario analyses using hypothetical bundling strategies applied to actual past projects and determined that bundling projects using a carefully designed strategy can yield significantly reduced overall contract costs.


Introduction. The relevance of pedagogical technologies is undeniable due to the progress in cybernetic pedagogy, information and educational technologies and many other scientific and pedagogical areas. The author examines the essence of the flipped learning process, which results in a teacher becoming an organizer of the educational process rather than a lecturer, and a student becoming a subject who independently designs their learning process rather than a passive listener. The purpose of the article is to determine the effectiveness of the Flipped Classroom technology in the educational process when teaching students with special educational needs. The methods. The author used the following research methods in this study: theoretical (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization) and empirical (observation, questionnaire methods). Research results. The results of the implementation of the Flipped Classroom technology in teaching students with special educational needs, identified in this study by a questionnaire, show an increase in the overall level of student loyalty to the educational process. Conclusion. The effectiveness of the application of this technology is aimed at developing the creative abilities of students, boosting their motivation, increasing the effectiveness of training, and improving cognitive functions such as attention, memory, thinking.


, 22 , 1463–1464 1463 At the EASD meeting in Athens in September 2005, the final results of the PROactive study were officially presented. This study is a large trial (about 5000 patients) which aimed to determine the effects of pioglitazone treatment on total mortality and cardiovascular events in type 2 diabetic patients [1]. The primary endpoint was a composite endpoint, including the following events: all cause mortality, nonfatal MI (including silent MI), stroke, major leg amputation, acute coronary syndrome, cardiac intervention, including coronary artery bypass graft or percutaneous coronary intervention, and peripheral revascularization. The secondary endpoints, predefined in the statistical analysis plan, were the following: 1, all cause mortality, nonfatal MI (including silent MI), stroke; 2, cardiovascular mortality; 3, individual components of the primary composite endpoint. Defining the various endpoints is very important for the evaluation of the study. The primary endpoint has not been reached ( P < 0.096), while secondary endpoint 1 was statistically significant ( P < 0.027). These data suggest, even with much caution, that while pioglitazone treatment is successful in reducing major cardiovascular acute events, it does not reduce the probability of undergoing a cardiovascular procedure. Interestingly, patients on pioglitazone therapy had lower HbA 1c , and plasma triglycerides and higher HDL than those taking placebo. In addition, even though LDL was higher, the LDL/HDL ratio was lower, as was systolic blood pressure. These data may suggest that the beneficial effect of pioglitazone is simply related to an improved metabolic profile. However, a multivariate analysis did not show that these changes in metabolic status had a significant impact on the outcome. This is a very important issue, because many of the beneficial effects of TDZs on cardiovascular risk profile have been related to their ancillary properties [2]. Unfortunately, no plasma samples have been stored, so we cannot investigate further this aspect. An approximate answer may come from the subgroups analysis, when groups with the same levels of HbA 1c , triglycerides, etc. on pioglitazone therapy or on placebo will be compared. Another interesting metabolic endpoint was the 50% reduction in progression to permanent insulin use. An optimistic interpretation may suggest that this outcome is related to the well recognised sparing effect of pioglitazone on betacells [3]. Although this conclusion may be true, unfortunately data on insulin sensitivity are not available and will not be in the future. In all these exciting positive aspects of the study the major concerns are linked, not surprisingly, to an increased incidence of two adverse events: heart failure and oedema. The development of oedema during TDZs therapy is well recognised and therefore not new. However, to have a higher incidence of heart failure using a compound which is claimed to reduce cardiovascular disability and mortality is certainly not intuitively logical. We need to know much more detail on this issue, for at least two reasons. First, the appearance of heart failure was not diagnosed by an adjudication committee, but simply reported by the physician involved in the study, and we know just how difficult it is to make the correct diagnosis of the heart failure. Second, a logical issue: it is difficult to believe that an increased incidence of heart failure can be accompanied by a reduction in cardiovascular mortality! We need more details and explanations from the researchers of the PROactive on this key issue. The PROactive study has been conducted in a very high risk population, type 2 diabetic patients who already had established macrovascular disease, and pioglitazone was added on top of their existing therapy. Therefore, the chance of achieving positive results was extremely hard. While waiting for a detailed subgroups analysis, these characteristics of the study and the results obtained, in any case, suggest that high risk diabetic patients can benefit from pioglitazone treatment. It will be particularly interesting to know what happened in the subgroups on statin therapy and in those already taking optimal secondary prevention therapy for cardiovascular disease. In conclusion, while we await much needed more detailed explanations, it really seems that an important new step has come in the therapy of diabetes and particularly of its cardiovascular complications. Correspondence to: Professor Antonio Ceriello, Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Gibbett Hill, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Blackwell Publishing, Ltd. Oxford, UK DME i betic Medic ne 0742-3071 2005 22 Misc llaneo s Spe ia rep rt PROactiv study: A. Ceriello PROactive Study: (r)evolution in the therapy of diabetes?


The invention provides a method for cultivating oil-tea shoots. The cultivation method includes processes such as seed selection, seed disinfection, vernalization, shoot cultivation, sandbed management and shoot growth. Seeds are first soaked in Chinese medicinal herb soup for guaranteeing the quick breeding of oil-tea. The method for cultivating the oil-tea shoots is high in bud ratio, quick in growth, strong in seedlings, high in survival ratio of grafting, free of disease and insect damage, environment-friendly in cultivation process, and free of pollution.


In a double-blind study, evaluations for changes in cervical hypersensitivity in 20 subjects were made at 30 and 60 days by a thermoelectric tooth stimulator and by a mechanical stimulating device. Ten of the subjects used Thermodent dentifrice for 60 days, whereas the other ten sub jects used placebo of Thermodent for 30 days and then the active dentifrice for 30 days. There were no significant altera tions o f cervical hypersensitivity to m e chanical or thermal stimuli after the use of Therm odent for 30 or 60 days.


In addition to other gram-negative bacteria identified as agents at high rates in hospital infections, P. aeruginosa is particularly important with its epidemiological and microbiological characteristics. In this study, infections developing due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa were discussed and increased antibiotic resistance in these bacterial infections and new therapeutic approaches were investigated.


Some programs in underground nuclear explosions are summarized insofar as they relate to the geographical sciences. It is shown that geological studies provide a more realistic picture of the environment around the explosion site and detailed refinements of the generalized picture of deformation and medium response. Various specific applications of geology to individual projects are discussed under the following topics: regional mapping; geology and properties of different media; ground-water studies; rock mechanics; techniques of in situ physical property measurements; indirect applications in seismology, mining, and cratering; and special studies of high-energy explosions, phase transformations by shock waves, Hawaiian volcanoes, useful chemical reactions, differential thermal analysis, and thermoluminescence. (M.C.G.)


Expression of the long form Leptin receptor mRNA in rat ovary were studied by use of hybridization in situ in 5 SD female rats. The results showed that long form Leptin receptor mRNA was mainly expressed in the corpus lateum cell and the grain cell around corpus lateum, primary follicles, growth follicles and mature follicles of rat ovary. The snuff color grains of ObRb mRNA were distributed densely in the corpus lateum cell, but no distribution in the other position.


Abstract The author examines the proposition that electronic journals provide enhanced value for their costs when compared to print subscriptions. At the journal, article, and use levels, the author reviews the pricing policies of two different journal publishers, one commercial and one nonprofit. He confirms and extends these findings using recently published research. Whereas much research remains to be undertaken on the basis of standards, and definitions must be agreed on, the existing, albeit imperfect, evidence indicates that both libraries and their readers benefit significantly from electronic journals in the areas of cost per use and convenience of delivery of scholarly and research literature. This proposition serves as a clarion call for more detailed research based on agreed-upon on standards. Serials Review 2003; 29:83–88.


An alternative interpretation of the reduction in the number of small, autonomous women's groups during the 1980s in Belgium. While the proliferation of women's groups in the 1970s firmly established the feminist movement in Belgium, the consolidation of many groups into larger political & patriarchal coalitions reflected feminist strategy to access resources normally not available to small, independent groups. This interpretation is informed by an analysis of the neocorporatist features of Belgian political processes, the dynamics of political opportunity structures, & their implications for resource mobilization. 1 Figure, 83 References. Adapted from the source document.


Introduction and objectives: New medical treatments implementation can be associated with improving outcomes but at a cost. With the rising prices of healthcare, implementation of a fixed budget for different specific diseases would place pressure on doctors to choose the treatment option which is most cost effective for an individual patient. This study aims to provide a user-friendly tool to identify the most cost-effective treatment option for different severities of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Methods: A set of health states were identified for BPH and utilities of each state were obtained from the published literature. These states were used to build a Markov chain with random transitions between states. The transition probabilities between states for a given intervention (surgery, pharmacotherapy or no intervention) were determined using mean changes in IPSS scores from the available literature as well as expert opinion. For each state, a utility value was associated and from these, disutility values were calculated (disutility = 1 utility). A cost was associated to each intervention in a particular state. Linear programming was used to compute the average cost at a given disutility threshold in the Markov decision model. Base-case analyses and simulation testing were performed. Cost analysis was performed using outcomes and adverse event data from the literature for each of the interventions and hospital costs from hospital administration. Results: A cost-effectiveness curve was created by varying the maximum allowed disutility values and determining the average cost (Fig. 2). In this way, a decision for each health state at a fixed disutility can be determined (see Table 4 for one particular disutility value). Conclusions: Our model provides a useful tool for doctors to determine the most cost-effective treatment option for patients with different severities of BPH. This model can be applied to other disease states within medicine. Further studies are needed to validate the model for real-life application.


Diabetes is a progressive and severe chronic metabolic disease. It is a major public health problem, responsible for a high morbidity and mortality rate in the world and in Morocco. Our study involves 50 patients with type 2 diabetes recruited at the Hay Ennahda II Extention III Non-Communicable Disease Medical Center in Rabat. This is a descriptive and analytical observational study, the purpose of which is to assess the quality of life of Moroccan type 2 diabetic patients by means of a generic questionnaire "SF-12" and a specific questionnaire for diabetes "Diabetes-39". The results showed that diabetes negatively affects the quality of life of diabetic patients and established that the factors associated with their quality of life are multiple: factors related to socio-demographic characteristics (gender, ethnicity and marital status), comorbidities (hypertension and dyslipidemia), related to the pathology itself (obesity) and its chronic degenerative complications (diabetic neuropathy and obliterative arteriopathy of the lower limbs). Unlike the literature, some socio-economic characteristics (age, level of education, professional activity), others related to diabetes (age of diabetes and glycemic control) and therapeutic management do not affect quality of life in our study, this can be explained by the size of our sample. This preliminary study is a pilot study that introduces the issue of the quality of life of people with diabetes in Rabat. It will be continued to obtain a larger sample, in order to better study the peculiarities of the Moroccan patients in this field.


Introduction The NOx storage and reduction catalyst (Lean NOx Trap, LNT) is used for abatement of NOx emissions from diesel and gasoline lean burn engines. While the NH3 dynamics during LNT regeneration are relatively well understood, much less attention has been paid to the dynamics of N2 and N2O. Ammonia appears at the reactor outlet in a single peak with certain delay that is determined by the breakthrough time of the reducing front [1]. On the other hand, both N2 and N2O exhibit double-peak dynamics with a primary peak immediately after the start of regeneration and a secondary peak after the switch back to lean conditions [2]. In this contribution, we summarize our recent investigation of N2O and N2 chemistry based on spatiotemporal resolution of reactions during lean/rich cycling experiments with a commercial LNT catalyst.


There are provided a system and method for controlling the driving mode of a hybrid vehicle. The method includes the setting of an internal combustion engine Einschaltschwellenwerts based on the SOC (state of charge; state of charge) of a battery, and calculating a compensation factor based on the speed of the vehicle and the road gradient by the controller. The controller is configured to take into account the compensation factor in the engine actuation threshold and to calculate a compensated engine Einschaltschwellenwerts. Additionally, the method includes comparing the force expected by the driver with the compensated engine actuation threshold and the starting of the engine by the controller if the expected force from the driver exceeds the compensated engine actuation threshold.


The real estate industry in China develop rapidly since 2000,the production value dimensions,industry population size,number of enterprises,total profit and the net assets all keep substantial growth,and there is a significant correlation among production value dimensions,industry population size,number of enterprises,total profit and the net assets.On the basis of constructing the index of comprehensive development level of real estate industry in China,the regional differences among provinces are measured.The results show that there is regional difference of the development level about Chinese real estate industry.The eastern polarization effect is still apparent,east region is lower,west is the lowest.In order to further study the comprehensive development level of real estate industry and its effect factors,the provincial panel data from 2001to 2010and the method of differential GMM regression are used to explain the function nature of effective factor.


The first cross-reaction between a terminal silylacetylene and two ketene molecules leading to 1,3-enynes bearing a carboxylic ester group via double insertion of ketenes is achieved using a cationic rhodium complex catalyst. This reaction is applicable for various symmetrical and unsymmetrical ketenes with good stereoselectivities.


Music is an art of time. It goes through and unfolds in time, but it could also distort a listener's feeling and cognition about time. However, compares to aspects such as harmony, counterpoint, rhythm and meter, theories and publications about musical time is not as many Among these works, Jonathan Donald Kramer(1942-2004)'s "The Time of Music" (Schirmer Books, 1988) can be considered as the first published book which is trying to categorize temporal structure of music based on listener's viewpoint, and constructed a complete theory. Therefore, this research begins with an introduction of Kramer's book, followed by the author's preliminary concepts and thoughts about musical time. Furthermore, it can be a basis for researching the time aesthetics of the works by contemporary Taiwanese composers.Because of the complexity of the book "The Time of Music", this research focuses mainly on the topics 'Time and Musical Time', 'The Perception of Musical Time' and 'Linearity and Nonlinearity' Except for the topic 'Time and Musical Time', the other two are essentially about Kramer's theories and opinions.


On page 342, good advice is given concerning standardization to give each principal component equal importance; unfortunately this is contradicted on p. 313. The treatment of presence-absence data on pp. 314-5 is unclear, and on p. 314 why can cos0 be recommended while the closely related correlation coefficient cannot? Classification is treated as by non-geographers, in a completely aspatial way, with no consideration of how contiguity or location might permit true regionalization. The strong point of this book is the emphasis on computational accuracy and efficiency, for example in matrix inversion. Implications of the general linear model are treated thoroughly, including a test for spatial autocorrelation. Here it might have been better to give simplified versions (with binary weighting, or based on a square grid) of the Cliff-Ord test, as used later in the text, before giving the full details. The mathematical requirements and degree of detail of this text severely limit its undergraduate use, but at graduate and research level its value is wider than claimed. Since the (physical geography) examples play a subordinate role to techniques, and 'extended case studies are not given', the book's audience should not be limited to physical geographers. It will be very valuable (even the examples are relevant) to geologists, and it should be made


Introduction: traumatic dislocation of the knee constitutes an unusual lesion in orthopedic pathology, the diagnosis of which is often missed. This is because it occurs in the context of multiple trauma patients, and failure to diagnose it may result in a potentially fatal outcome for the life-threatening compromise of the injured limb.Objective: to perform a literature review of literature on indications for the use of the external fixator in the acute knee dislocation at the emergency room that has been available in the last twenty years.Method: we conducted a systematized search by means of electronic search engines Cochrane, Lilacs, Scielo, Pubmed, Science direct and the Timbo portal. The search included 6495 articles and according to the criteria of inclusion and exclusion 14 studies were selected.Results: the review highlights that most articles found are level of evidence IV. The use of the external fixator in the emergency room as part of the temporary stabilization and initial handling of the condition would be indicated in the following clinical scenarios: multiple trauma patients, vascular lesion, exposed dislocation, joint instability, recurrent dislocation, fracture dislocation, lesions of the extensor apparatus, morbid obesity, splint or orthosis intolerance.Conclusion: systematization and the observation of protocols when it comes to the making of decisions enables the decrease of most complications associated to trauma pathologies. Actions must be geared to stabilizing patients first and to stabilize the knee joint. The external fixator is indicated for specific clinical scenarios. However, some of these indications are still a matter of debate.


In this paper, a smart control system for SPWM intermediate frequency inverter power is investigated.The system is based on the single chip computer PIC16F873 and waveforms generator SA838. ACDC SCR control circuit and DCAC invert circuit and protection circuit are presented in this paper. In addition, some measures of electromagnetic compatibility are presented.


Aims Because of its highly diverse flora and unique climate, Xishuangbanna tropical seasonal rain forest (XTSRF) is one of few areas in China characterized by well-protected primary forest types considered to be tropical rainforest. Compared with other rainforests around the world, XTSRF occurs at higher latitude and altitude. Our aim was to investigate variation of CO2 concentration at different time scales under this unique climate and special geographical situation and determine how environmental variables formed the temporal pattern of CO2 concentration.Methods CO2 concentration in XTSRF was measured continuously by infrared gas analyzers (Li-7500, Li-Cor, Lincoln, NE, USA) and recorded every 30 min with a data-logger (CR5000); meteorological variables were also measured and recorded. The static chamber method was used to measure soil respiration weekly. Leaf area index was measured in the middle of every month using a forest canopy analyzer (LAI-2000). Important findings The diurnal pattern of CO2 concentration above canopy (AC) was consistent through the year, with higher values at daytime and lower values at night due to photosynthesis uptake and respiration release, respectively. In contrast, near the forest floor (NF) diurnal patterns were bimodal in most months, with a second peak in late afternoon. Average variation of CO2 concentration in a year was larger at AC (622.8-686.5 mg·m-3) than at NF (659-700 mg·m-3). Difference of CO2 concentration between AC and NF was higher in the rainy season than in the dry season, with the largest value (-62.9 mg·m-3) in October and the smallest (-8.4 mg·m-3) in December. The "flushing" phenomenon in the early morning was primarily affected by stability of the atmospheric boundary layer. In long foggy days and under low wind velocities, forests in the valley had little air circulation, but local circulation resulted in sharp increases of CO2 concentration in the afternoon. CO2 concentration of NF and AC were dominated by soil respiration and canopy metabolism, respectively.


This work aimed to establish a suitability detection method for LC-MS grade acetonitrile solvent. As the standard substances,reserpine and caffeine were chosen for electrospray positive ionization( ESI+) indicators and p-nitrophenol was for electrospray negative ionization( ESI-) indicators. Quantitative standard substances were added to the undetermined LC-MS acetonitrile which was directly detected by mass spectrometry under the corresponding ionization mode. Experimental parameters such as sample voltage,injection rate,N2 flow rate and desolvation temperature were optimized. Under the optimized conditions,the imported and domestic LC-MS acetonitrile which contained quantitative standard substances were further detected. By comparing the signal strength and the number of impurity peaks in two spectra,the purity of the two reagents was determined. The established method can be applied to the suitability detection of LC-MS grade acetonitrile solvent. Besides,the purity of the domestic acetonitrile reagent is essentially the same as that of the import acetonitrile reagent,which can meet the needs of detection.


In Gothenburg approximately 300 accidents involving falling in public transportation vehicles are reported annually. This paper presents the work of investigating the problem situation as well as illustrating and communicating the user requirements through design concepts of tram and bus interior. In earlier projects initiated by the assigner a list of user requirement has been the final result. There has, however, been difficulties regarding transforming the requirements into solutions. Therefore, in this project, design concepts were developed in order to illustrate the requirements. This gave a more holistic and less traditional view of possible solutions to the problem.


Improvements in the drilling and blasting techniques used in the stopes of narrow reefs have caused the clearing of broken rock to become the major cause of delay in the achievement of a regular cyclic operation. This paper discusses the development of a scoop in accordance with a predetermined set of performance parameters. The test results obtained to date have shown that the basic objectives have been achieved within tolerable limits of variation.


A general method for synthesizing spatial linkages (derived in a previous paper [1]) is applied to the design of various types of binary links and combined link chains. Equations governing those special points and lines which define the link dimensions are derived. Types and order of loci of such special points and lines and the maximum number of design positions for each link are given. Numerical method for computing these special points and lines are discussed, and a numerical example is presented.


Small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) play a pivotal role in the economy of a country through job creation, development and dealing with the issue of unemployment, all of which affect the government and its citizens. Therefore, it is important that SMMEs operate efficiently and run their businesses effectively in order to grow within their respective sectors. The low rate of success amongst SMMEs in South Africa (SA) over the years indicates that there are factors hindering the efforts of the country's SMMEs from operating efficiently (Turton and Herrington 2012: 48). One of the factors is poor operational performance which is frequently quoted as a leading cause of failure amongst SMMEs within the manufacturing sector (Urban and Naidoo 2012: 146). Furthermore, the Economic Development and Growth in eThekwini (EDGE) (2013: 37-38) reveals that SMMEs within the textile and clothing manufacturing sector in the eThekwini district generally do not innovate and suffer from a lack of access to financial services. The study population was 94 small and micro enterprises (SMEs) in the textile and clothing manufacturing sector in the eThekwini district. The researcher could not find a data on medium enterprises as prospective participants in the study and obtained only 80 SMEs. A quantitative approach was used in the context of a census study. The study was descriptive and conclusive in nature. The results of the study indicate that SMEs apply innovative processes in their businesses and work at a favourable physical environment within eThekwini district. However, SMEs do not have sufficient access to government financial incentive schemes (GFIS) which could be a factor inhibiting their growth and development. Furthermore, despite the fact that many of the SMEs in the study agreed that assistance from government schemes can enhance their operational performance, almost half of them were not aware of relevant schemes. Therefore, it is important that the government, that is, the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) and Small Enterprise Development Agency (seda) and other relevant government agencies, reach out to as many of these SMEs as possible. This is an opportunity for the SA government to improve their efforts to create more jobs for SA citizens.


Human saliva is produced by the three major salivary glands (the parotid gland, submandibular gland, and sublingual glands) and minor salivary glands. It contains several hormones, antibodies, cytokines, proteins, enzymes, and antimicrobial constituents that act as biomarkers. It also contains variable amounts of gingival crevicular fluid (GCF), mucosal transudate, desquamated epithelial cells, bacteria, viruses, fungi, food debris, microorganisms, serum, and some blood derivatives. Saliva has simple collection methods (non-invasive), handling procedure, reliable sensitivity and specificity, good cooperation from patients, and the possibility to perform dynamic studies. Salivary analysis can determine various systemic diseases, metabolic disorders, and infections. Hence, it serves as a potential diagnostic and prognostic tool with widespread clinical and research applications in various fields of science and medicine.


The purpose of this study is to determine consumer behavior in these case attitudes, subjective norms, perception of control behavior, and buying interest of Mall customers, as well as to determine the effect of consumer behavior in these regard, subjective norms and perceptions of behavioral control on buying interest. This research uses descriptive and verification methods. The analytical method used is a method of multiple regression analysis, using primary data by distributing a series of questionnaires to department store visitors in Bandung. Samples were taken using simple random sampling with a sample of 90 people from the population of 870. This study found that attitudes, subjective norms and perception of behavioral control have a significant effect on purchase intentions both partially and simultaneously. Keywordsubjective norms, perceived behavior control,


The beam impedance and wakefield are quantities which describe the stability of charged particles in their trajectory within an accelerator. The stretched wire measurement technique is a method which estimates the beam impedance and wakefield. Definitions for the beam impedance, the wakefield, and the stretched wire measurement are presented. A pillbox resonator with circular beampipes is studied for its relatively simple profile and mode structure. Theoretical predictions and measurement data are presented for the interaction of various charged particle beams and center conductor geometries between the cavity and beampipe. Time domain predictions for the stretched wire measurement and wakefield are presented and are shown to be a linear interaction.


This study assessed the quality of life (QoL) and associated factors among a group of clients visiting ART clinics in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A multi-site cross-sectional study was conducted from 1 to 30 August 2020. Adults with HIV and who fulfilled the inclusion criteria were considered. A systematic random sampling technique with proportional size allocation was employed. Data were collected using a modified EQ-5D and EQ-VAS tool. The analysis was done using SPSS version 26. Non-parametric statistical analyses were done using Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal–Wallis and Spearman's correlation tests. A p-value ≤ 0.05 and 95% confidence level were considered for analysis. The majority of the clients were from health centres (58%), were 43 years old or less (54%), and were males (63%). Pain/discomfort and depression/anxiety were the most prominent dimensions in the age group above 43 years. The mean score of EQ-5D index values was 0.87 (SD 0.05; 95% CI 0.86–0.87) and that of EQ-VAS was 81 (SD 15; 95% CI 80–83). About 38% and 43% of the clients showed an altered health state of some degree in functional and current overall status respectively. Comorbidity, history of current substance use, facility type, social support and sleep disturbance showed a statistically significant association with both outcomes. A considerable proportion of clients have altered functional and overall health status, with pain/discomfort and depression/anxiety most affected. Inclusion of multidisciplinary treatments for HIV and the highlighting of psychosocial issues that are likely among this group are warranted.