Financial topics are rarely taught within traditional medical education.1 Consequently, many resident and fellow physicians have low financial literacy and significant deficits in financial preparedness.2 As a result, most physicians begin their careers without an understanding of basic, critical financial principles, such as retirement planning or investing. In addition, they are busy navigating the transition to a new independent practice and in many cases pursuing much of what was delayed during the previous 7 to 11 years of training.3 This lack of knowledge and time is a very common but unfortunate scenario for the newly minted physician. To that end, many new attending physicians often focus on work while buying expensive homes, acquiring luxury automobiles, and taking vacations as they give little thought to preparing for retirement. Confounding this problem is most physicians typically do not complete their training until their 30s. This additional postponement in saving for retirement results in significant consequences. Pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists are particularly disadvantaged compared with other physicians as their incomes are among the lowest of all medical specialties.4 To accumulate adequate retirement savings, most pediatricians must either start saving early in their careers, save a very large percentage of their income late in their careers, or delay retirement. Accordingly, it is especially important for all pediatricians and pediatric subspecialists to learn the basics of retirement planning and to implement a reasonable plan as soon as possible. The purpose of this commentary is to introduce evidence-based retirement planning with the hope that readers will develop and implement a reasonable retirement savings plan, while also engendering their own financial education beyond these introductory topics.


elements of which would have given him a much more effective vocabulary of analysis. The book is pervaded by a mania for highly abstract classification, a positively Germanic craze for footnoting even the inessential, and terribly constipated prose. The real value of the book lies in its introduction of the 'external' dimension to ethnic relations theory – that the foreign relations of states do in some cases constrain (although I doubt rarely 'determine') the adoption of policies towards the 'non-core' groups that usually inhabit its territory along, presumably, with a majority population understood (often erroneously) to be homogeneous and sharing the interests of the political elite. It would have greatly strengthened its own case if it had stuck to this and avoided the predicative fantasies that mar its logic. As a detailed case study of the Balkans it can be read with profit, but I would caution against reading it for its theoretical contributions. Additionally, it is timely in an unexpected sense: many of the events now taking place in the Ukraine and the Middle East have uncomfortable parallels with the situation that Mylonas describes for the pre-First World War Balkans. Having read it exactly on the anniversary of the outbreak of that war, it seems that the lessons of the Balkans are not so much in prediction as in learning from hindsight.


It introduced correlative technique and functions which have been realized,following general situation and significance about "Digital Management System for Guangzhou GuangYuan Expressway". With Digital Man-agement System for Guangzhou Guangyuan Expressway Based On GIS,It realizes the amalgamation of traffic information and map,and visual,intelligential,efficacious management,furthermore,can provide accurate and intuitive decision information for the people who work in the Guangyuan Expressway traffic management or-ganization or the transportation planning institution.


The effect of folate nutrition during gestation on the development of offspring's brain has been extensively studied, but that on the maternal brain remains mostly unknown. To investigate this, female Sprague‐Dawley rats were fed either folic acid supplemented (FS)‐ or deficient (FD)‐diet (8mg vs. 0mg folic acid/kg diet) from 2 weeks prior to the mating throughout the pregnancy and lactation period. At d20 of pregnancy and d21 of lactation, plasma folate levels and hepatic SAM/SAH ratios of the FD group were significantly lower than those of the FS group (p<0.001) with a concomitant change in the plasma homocysteine level (p<0.001). Plasma vitamin B12 level of the FD group was significantly lower than that of the FS group at d21 of lactation (p<0.01). At d20 of pregnancy, the MBP expression in the spinal cord, but not in cerebral cortex or hippocampus, was higher than that of pre‐pregnancy in all groups with a greater increase occurring in the FS group than the FD group. Plasma folate and vitamin B12 level was correlated with hepatic SAM/SAH ratio positively and with homocysteine negatively. The expression of MBP in the spinal cord, but not in cerebral cortex or hippocampus, was positively correlated with hepatic SAM/SAH ratio. These results indicate that the expression of MBP in the spinal cord of maternal rats is influenced by the hepatic SAM/SAH ratio and indirectly by dietary folic acid intake.


Tlie first case concerned a 4 year-old girl with typical lid anomalies, depressed zygomatic arches and partial bilateral deafness. In the second case, a 46 year-old woman showed lid anomalies, bilateral colobomas, flattened malar bones and a receding chin. A maternal uncle as well as his son were afflicted with similar conditions as the patient. Tlie case of a nine year-old boy described by Holm (1948), showing bilateral coloboma at the outer end of the lower lids with obliquely running and triangularly shaped lid fissures, gave evidence for the diagnosis of a mandibulo-facial syndrome. The cheek and the mandibular region of the left side were depressed. There existed also slightly deformed ears with small auditory canals together with complete deafness of the left ear and decreased hearing of the right. Finally, we are greatly indebted to Dr. L . Gayral, Toulouse, for his kind permission to make use of his description of a case, which he will present, together with Dr. Laboucarie at the SOC. d'O. N. 0. of Toulouse and with Dr. Bru and Dr. Paintendre at the SOC. de Radiologie of Paris. It concerns an 8 year-old boy with a typical fish-like physiognomy, absence of the fronto-nasal angle, obliquity of the palpebral fissures, hypoplasia of the malar bones and of the lower jaw, and with a considerable irregularity of implantation of the teeth. A hairy process extended on each side toward the preauricular region. There were no ear anomalies.


Evaluation of higher education is under way like a raging fire,and in view of the whole process it comes within the category of forming evaluation.It acts on the object evaluated through diagnoses,supervising and inspiring,hence enabling the subject and object in evaluation to gain wider and more comprehensive information,and significantly rendering their knowledge of how to employ various sorts of message to better their performance and promote their teaching and educating quality.Since collection of an opinion from evaluation or a conclusion itself should not be the purpose but the aim to upgrade teaching quality,it is for the object evaluated to utilize all sorts of information to make scientific decisions in the evaluation process, thus,to realize the guiding function of evaluation for which the educational evaluation strives.This paper makes preliminary investigation into the guiding function of educational evaluation and some approaches to its realization.


The explosion of wireless everything in recent years has placed a strain on the radio spectrum, and has led to the so-called 'spectrum crunch', where the spectrum is described as being nearly at capacity [1]. It is widely accepted that in reality this is not the case, as great numbers of 'allocated' bands are underutilized or not in use at all. In other words, the radio spectrum is not used as efficiently as it could be. Commonly, bands (containing many channels) are classified by spectrum regulators for a particular type of use, such as those for FM Radio, Digital TV and cellular services. If there are not enough Primary Users (PUs) to use all of the channels in these bands, they lie empty. Using new spectrum access techniques, these channels can be targeted for 5G and IoT applications. This work focuses on targeting the FM Radio band (88-108 MHz). Signals broadcast at these frequencies have excellent propagation characteristics, and are able to diffract around objects such as hills and human-made structures, and penetrate through buildings well. Recent studies [2] have shown that a significant portion of the 100 individual 200 kHz-wide FM Radio channels are unused at any given location.


This paper considers the needs of Polish managers in order to make recommendations for the design of training programmes. The experience of Polish managers is first considered through a comparison of theoretical and actual organizational situations. We find that, as a result of political competition, Polish managers should have developed some managerial skills. Exploratory research in managerial skills, based on Katz's (1955) model, is then reviewed, and we find that Polish managers do possess and use a wide range of skills. National business culture and the effects of relatively high power distance, thought to exist in Poland, on training are then discussed. Research into preferred learning styles, based on Honey and Mumford (1986), is then compared to research conducted in the UK, US and Canada; the preferred learning style of Polish managers is found to be contemplative. Based on these findings, specific recommendations are made for the content and delivery of managerial training programmes. Above all, trainers must be prepared to be flexible and to listen to what their trainees tell them is needed for management in the transition economy. A consultative rather than prescriptive approach is recommended.


The kids in Pasco, Washington, may not have exposure to the big city, but that didn't stop them from participating in the 2013 Future Cities Challenge. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) Software Engineer Cristina Marinovici mentored a team of middle school students from the Ellen Ochoa Middle School as they imagined, designed, and built cities of the future.


Economic growth has been steady across eastern Europe in recent times. Nevertheless, this is not being shared equitably with the workers that create that wealth. The lack of a living wage, the decline of collective bargaining and the violation and erosion of workers' rights, alongside the failure of governments to regulate the economy effectively, are each, in turn, creating despair and anger, and holding back further growth. Social protections for those not in work are woefully inadequate and leave many workers unprotected. Furthermore, countries in the region that have already acceded to the EU still demonstrate substantial disparities on these issues with the old EU member states, threatening the objective of upwards social convergence across the EU. Observing these injustices, this article calls for a fresh approach across eastern Europe which sees the economic and social benefits of various forms of social protection allowed to play their role in reducing poverty and wage inequalities. Consequently, ten countries from across the region have joined together to campaign under a single 'Fair Pay' banner.


In this paper, a mobile telexistence system that provides mutual embodiment of user's body in a remote place is discussed. A fully mobile slave robot was designed and developed to deliver visual and motion mapping with user's head and body. The user can access the robot remotely using a Head Mounted Display (HMD) and set of head trackers. This system addresses three main points that are as follows: User's body representation in a remote physical environment, preserving body ownership toward the user during teleoperation, and presenting user's body interactions and visuals into the remote side. These previous three points were addressed using virtual projection of user's body into the egocentric local view, and projecting body visuals remotely. This system is intended to be used for teleconferencing and remote social activities when no physical manipulation is required.


Abstract Objective: The aim of this study was to compare intraoperative and postoperative outcomes of two routes of salpingo-oophorectomy. Materials and Methods: Forty-two women undergoing vaginal hysterectomy were randomly assigned to 2 groups (1:1): group 1, laparoscopic oophorectomy with vaginal hysterectomy; or group 2, vaginal hysterectomy with vaginal oophorectomy. Outcome measures were operating time, blood loss, technical difficulty, intraoperative and postoperative complications, postoperative pain, and discharge time. Results: Vaginal oophorectomy was associated with a shorter operating time than laparoscopic oophorectomy at 37.06 ± 10.16 minutes (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 32.36–41.75) and 20.75 ± 5.56 minutes (95% CI: 18.31–23.18), p = 0.001, in groups 1 and 2, respectively. The mean operating time for hysterectomy was similar in both groups at 48.06 ± 10.709 minutes for group 1 and 49.25 ± 11.318 minutes for group 2, p = 0.746. No statistically significant difference was noted for bloo...


Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the epidemiological pattern of factors associated with ischemic stroke among patients under 50 years old. Methods: The present cross-sectional study was performed on 197 Stroke patients. Individuals with confirmed ischemic stroke based on of CT scan were included in the study. Demographic information included age, sex, history of smoking, place of residence, season of disease incidence, history of contraceptive use in women, history of hypertension, having high blood pressure at the onset of diabetes, hyperlipidemia, heart disease and patient weight. Finally, the collected data was analyzed using SPSS ver. 22. Results: The mean age of participants was 40.18 years. The mean weight, height, body mass index (BMI) were 79.83, 168.63, and 28.12, respectively. A total of 60.4% of the participants were male and 39.6% were female. Moreover, 66.9% were urban residents, 38.6% had complications in winter, 67% were smokers, and 50% used contraceptives. The history of hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and heart disease was seen in 69%, 49.7, 66%, and 73.6% of cases, respectively. Also, 53.8% of patients had high blood pressure upon admission. Conclusion: The present study showed that a history of heart disease and a history of hypertension in the past and nicotine use are very common in people with stroke. Considering the above mentioned epidemiological factors, it is recommended to prioritize the mentioned factors when identifying new cases


A small pixel is required to reduce CCD image sensor chip size for commercial application. However, the shrinkage of pixel size adversely affects such characteristics as smear noise, sensitivity and charge-handling capability. Furthermore, a conventional overlapping double-layer polysilicon (polySi) electrode is complicated and difficult to fabricate for CCD image sensors. For process step simplicity of the transfer electrodes, aiming at low cost sensors and the smear noise reduction, a single-layer metal-electrode CCD image sensor is introduced.


Irradiation of ultra-thin silicon carbide nanowires (SiC NWs) with low-energy ions was investigated with the molecular dynamics (MD) method. The energies of the incident Si and C ions varied from 0.2 to 5.0 keV. Simulation results show that the ion range predicted by the SRIM code is a little shorter than that obtained from the MD simulation when the incident energy is low and the implanted ions can form a peak-like distribution inside the NW. Compared with bulk material, the sputtering yield of the SiC NW is much higher as a result of the NW's larger surface-to-volume ratio, and for a high ion energy, the sputtering yields show a different dependence to the nuclear stopping power because the NW's limited volume stops the collision cascade from fully evolving. Moreover, the calculated short-range order values indicate that the amorphous degree for most irradiated samples is acceptable and repairable. For a high ion energy range, the SiC NW is more difficult to amorphize compared with bulk SiC. By carefully optimizing the implantation parameters, a desirable distribution of dopants can be achieved in the thin SiC NW while the irradiation damage is kept at an acceptable level.


Formation of mathematic competences of engineering and economy students are considered. Educational work techniques used for this purpose and their main characteristics are described. Parameters of quality of mathematic activities on the basis of which the level of digesting educational materials and the profile of problems a student is faced with are provided. The activity-based formula of digesting mathematic knowledge is justified; the determinant role of understanding ensuring adequate realization of the nature of mathematic objects, phenomena, processes and methods a specialist really needs for his/her future profession is presented.


This article reviews Veritas et subtilitas: Truth and Subtlety in the History of Philosophy. Essays in memory of Burkhard Mojsisch (1944–2015) € 110978-90-272-0068-6


Marketing agency is an important part of countryside agency organizations.Integrative building of agency service platform can collect scattering agencies to provide more perfect service,having great meaning for solving the problem of countryside,agriculture and farmer,and building a new socialist countryside.To promote the development of the agency organization,we should follow certain laws and build a platform with various forms of agency network as well as with many levels from state to rural areas.Therefore,government should strengthen support from making policies,and stress major work in capital,legislation,educational training and operation mechanism to gradually build a service platform for marketing agricultural products.


The invention discloses a compressive perceptual coding and decoding method and a system in a video sensor network, which can achieve high compression ratio and have a good reconstruction effect simultaneously. The method comprises the steps of performing a self-adaptation grouping for original video frames, performing compression perceptual coding measuring for the video frames acquired through the grouping, obtaining an observation vector matrix of each of video frame groups, and performing compressive perceptual decoding reconstruction for the observation vector matrix. Combining a compressive perceptual technique, the method and the system perform measuring, so that reconstruction performance is improved greatly.


Current-voltage-temperature (I-V-T) measurements of different metal-semiconductor diodes are carried out and the temperature dependence of the ideality factor and the Schottky barrier height of these diodes are studied using different approaches. Based on certain assumptions and previously proposed models, different diode parameters are extracted and their correlations show that the interface imperfection of a metal-semiconductor contact can contribute to these temperature dependences. Moreover, in this work, the Au/n-Si and Al/n-GaAs diodes are shown to have the most imperfect contact interface amongst the sample diodes.


At the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit held on November 15, 2020, Korea, China, Japan, Australia, New Zea-land and 10 ASEAN countries concluded and formally signed the agreement. The RCEP is called a "mega-FTA" because of its large scale involving 15 countries in Asia and the Oceania region, with the economies of RCEP-participating countries accounting for about 30% of the world's production, trade and population.The RCEP agreement includes chapters on trade in goods and services, investment, SPS, TBT, e-commerce, intellectual property rights, as well as SMEs and cooperation, covering the entire economic relationship. Especially, the RCEP rules of origin integrate the various origin standards into a unified system, and have regional cumulative rules so that goods and materials of a member country which are used in the production of another good or material is considered as worked or processed in the region). In addition, a self-certification of origin by exporters or producers was introduced. Improvement of these origin rules is expected to increase the utilization of RCEP by companies and promote the formation of regional value chains. The e-commerce chapter can be evaluated to reflect most recent trade rules, including provisions for promoting cross-border e-commerce, such as paperless trade, electronic authentication, and trade facilitation using electronic signatures, as well as provisions related to the location of computer facilities and cross-border transfer of data. In addition, the intellectual property chapter includes provisions on the protection of IP rights covering copyrights, trademarks, industrial designs, and patents.The biggest significance of the RCEP agreement is that the world's largest mega-FTA was concluded amid the spread of new protectionism, and in the midst of the global economic slump due to COVID-19, thus providing an opportunity for economic recovery through regional free trade and expansion of investment. Korea is expected to be able to expand new markets and strengthen economic cooperation in the ASEAN region through the RCEP.As for the entry into force of the RCEP, if at least six of the ASEAN signatories and three or more of the non-ASEAN signatories complete the domestic ratification procedure, the ratification agreement between the countries will enter into force 60 days later. So far, Singapore, China, Thailand and Japan have completed ratification. After completing the impact assessment by June, Korea is expected to be able to ratify it by the end of 2021 or early 2022.


In Latin America 96% of the cases of schistosomiasis occur in Brazil in low-socioeconomic status populations. The epidemiological characteristics and occurrence predictors of Schistosoma mansoni infection were determined in the Bananeiras community, located in Capistrano, a town in Ceará state, Brazil. Sanitary, environmental, socioeconomic, and behavioral data were collected using a semi-structured questionnaire. An investigation to assess S. mansoni infection was conducted using the Kato-Katz and Point-of-Care Circulating Cathodic Antigen (POC-CCA) methods. From the 258 subjects were analyzed, 54.3% (n=140) were women, median age 30 years. Thirty-three (12.8%) individuals were positive by either eggand/or CCA-positivity. The highest positivity rate was found in the 30-39 year old group. There was no piped water supply, sewage network or municipal refuse collection service. Most individuals were illiterate or had not finished elementary school (66.3%). About 29.1% of the families had a monthly income below one Brazilian minimum wage and 91.1% reported contact with natural water sources. We found an association between infection and age group of 20-40 years, illiteracy, household with 7 inhabitants or more, household with up to 3 rooms and an outhouse. Contrarily, being 40 years old or older and household with up to 6 inhabitants were not risk factors. Schistosomiasis remains a public health problem in this municipality, evidencing a strong association with low socioeconomic conditions and high vulnerability. These findings reinforce the importance of identifying the factors associated with the infection for more effective guidance in actions in control programs targeting schistosomiasis prevention and control.


AbstractPurification of solutions for recovery of metal values can be accomplished by several techniques. Three commonly used processes are solvent extraction, ion exchange and carbon adsorption. However, common to these techniques for purification and metals recovery is the problem of silica in the feed solution. Silica fouling of the three processes occurs due to the formation of polymeric species of silica in solution. These polymers cause stable emulsions in solvent extraction circuits and the sorption and blocking of pores in ion exchange resins and in activated carbon. Various examples of silica fouling and the mechanism, and the subsequent treatments necessary for maintaining efficient operation are described in this review of the problem.


This paper describes in detail the BSC Stormwater Drainage Computer Program and the BSC Longitudinal Sections Plotting Option which are mounted on the Control Data Australia Cybernet Services network. The authors demonstrate with a typical stormwater drainage scheme how the Program may be utilised to produce significant construction cost savings. They argue that the Program is a sophisticated design aid which should be used by those planners and designers who are looking to optimise their system costs. A complete design example is provided as an Appendix to enable clarification of points discussed throughout the paper. The authors conclude with a call for revision of current stormwater design procedures.


A lattice-based micromechanics approach is proposed to characterize the cracking performance of asphalt concrete. A random truss lattice model was introduced and investigated for simulating the following: (a) linear elastic and viscoelastic deformation of homogeneous materials in axial compression and shear loading experiments, (b) linear elastic deformation and the stress field in heterogeneous materials in an axial compression loading experiment, and (c) damage evolution in elastic solids under an indirect tensile test. The simulation results match well with the theoretical solutions and show excellent promise in predicting cracking patterns in the indirect tensile test. A brief discussion about ongoing work is also presented.


Recentadvances In methodology allowthe mass concentration of creatine klnase MB isoenzyme (CK-MB),and of lactate dehydrogenase isoenzyme 1 (LDI) to be determined quickly and easily as routine, emergency tests. We evaluated thesetests as diagnostic criteriaof penoperative myocardial infarction (PMI) aftercoronary bypass surgery. These tests were compared with the usualmeasurements of CK-MB actMty by immunolnhibition and Lbi by electrophoresis and with other biological markers of myocardial infarctionsuch as total CK, total LD, and aspartate aminotransferase. Sixty-one patients who underwent coronary bypass grafting were followed pre- and postoperatively by enzyme determinations and electrocardiography; a subgroup was monitored by myocardial scintigraphy. CK-MB mass appeared to be the best marker of PMIduring the first 48 h, although LD1 was the marker of choice from days 2 to 4. AddItIonal K.yphreees: enzyme mass and acSivitycompared immunoinhibition .


his paper addresses the link between the social component of corporate social responsibility and the market valuation of equities. Preceding results on this topic, to our knowledge, remain scarce and inconclusive. Using a rich and global dataset – Asset4 by Thomson Reuters – we find that social expenses are clearly value-adding. Moreover, all the social subsets are positively related to goodwill, even if those concerning human capital are revealed to be more significant. Social expenses therefore prove to be a social investment, creating value for both social stakeholders and shareholders. Based on the social subsets, we find that the expenses related to human capital are more value-adding for shareholders than those related to corporate reputation.


Purpose: no one technology can support all types of teaching and learning at a distance – the most effective approach is to combine a range of technologies. Using multiple technologies ensure that all learning styles are catered for and that significant opportunities for interaction between the learner and the tutor are provided. The general objective of the study was to institutional related on choice of technology for the development of instructional materials for distance education.
Methodology: The paper used a desk study review methodology where relevant empirical literature was reviewed to identify main themes and to extract knowledge gaps.
Findings: From the study findings, it is concluded that most of learner support services offered to distant learners were not good enough to support the learners effectively. Secondly, the students and the administrators were of the view that there were learner support services that were very vital to distant learners. Thirdly, the students and the administrators were of the general view and in agreement that the learner support services offered were necessary. However, since the students indicated that majority of the services on offer were poor across the institutions under the study, there is need to improve and make them better. Learning through experience influences the creation of new values which become attitudes that have a strong impact on teacher's behavior towards e-learning technology.
Recommendations: The study recommends that is a need availability of ICT infrastructure, the absence of inadequacy of which will totally hamper the idea of e-learning adoption in universities. There should be provision of computers and high bandwidth to enable the easy flow of classes online. If the high ICT infrastructure for e-learning is unavailable, the sequential use of predecessor distance learning technologies from correspondence courses to radio, TV, CD-ROM, Internet and World Wide Web is recommended. Such a sequential use of predecessor distance learning technologies is poised to leverage the experience into a significant use of learning


A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award
of Degree of Master of Business Administration in Corporate Management (MBA-
CM) of Mzumbe University


The aim of the present study is to investigate the potential role of L‐arginine or L‐citrulline in rats fed high‐fat and high‐cholesterol (HFC) diet. HFC feeding increased significantly serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activities, urea and all lipid profiles and decreased significantly serum high‐density lipoprotein‐cholesterol (HDL‐c) and non significantly serum nitric oxide levels. L‐arginine or L‐citrulline administration reversed the increase in serum AST and ALT activities, urea and all lipid profiles. These effects were associated with a concomitant increase in HDL‐c and nitric oxide levels. In general, rats fed HFC diet and orally treated with L‐arginine or L‐citrulline had higher relative percentage of 18 : 0, 20 : 0 and 22 : 6 and lower 16 : 0 fatty acids than rats fed HFC diet. Light and transmission electron microscopic findings of the thoracic aorta confirmed the biochemical results and demonstrated structural changes in the endothelial cells of the intimal layer, medial smooth muscle cells as well as in the adventitial layer in HFC fed‐animals. However, these findings indicate little structural alterations in animals supplemented with L‐arginine or L‐citrulline along with HFC feeding. In the present study, L‐arginine or L‐citrulline was effective hypocholesterolemic and hypolipidemic agents in rats. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


— Studies show that Intelligence Quotient (IQ) does not guarantee success in life. The discovery of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) addresses the issues related to people with high IQ, while motivation is an intrinsic factor that helps a person achieve optimal learning performance. This research aims to determine the effect of emotional intelligence on the music art learning performance mediated by motivation. The study was conducted using a survey method with path analysis techniques The research sample consisted of 148 students of State Senior High School I Sausapor, Tambrauw Regency in West Papua Province, Indonesia. The results showed that emotional intelligence significantly affected music learning performance, specifically by 60.1%. Also, learning motivation significantly mediated the effect of emotional intelligence on music art learning performance by 95.1%.). Music art is one of the lessons in schools that help understand a person's emotions. With this research, it is hoped that every school will be moved to cultivate the emotional intelligence of its students in order to get the right formula in building their learning motivation.


This article examines the extent to which program diversity has changed over time on prime time, broadcast network television. This issue is analyzed through the rubric of the financial interest and syndication rules, Federal Communications Commission regulations that were enacted to increase program diversity. Diversity is assessed using quantitative methodologies and concludes that although program diversity on prime time broadcast television has fluctuated over time, it is not significantly different today than it was in 1966. This is so even though the industry has become more consolidated. This article argues that it is the economic structure that makes broadcasters dependent on advertising revenue for support that leads producers to create programming that will generate large audiences. By definition, this leads to an undiversified television landscape.


1. Introduction 2. How the tension between intellectual property protection and antitrust laws is balanced 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Supremacy of antitrust laws 2.3 Supremacy of intellectual property laws 2.4 Theory based on the scope of exclusive rights 2.5 Intellectual property rights as property 2.6 Cost-benefit theories 3. External effects and balancing theories 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Balance between intellectual property rights, competition and external effects in network-based value chain 4. External effects theory applied 4.1 Relevance of addressee/impact combination 4.2 Relevance of chosen action 4.3 Intellectual property and effects of technical design 4.4 Relevance of totality of circumstances 5. Fragmentation problem 5.1 Fragmentation and success of new products 5.2 Fragmentation problem introduced 5.3 The problem of anticommons in the communications industry 6. External effects of intellectual property rights in technology adoption 6.1 Tipping of scale 6.2 Technology adoption re-examined: standardization 7. Conclusions


Recently the authors have proposed the metal jet technique which can make 3-dimensional micro structures made of metal drops. In this paper, solder jet was used to generate 2- and 3-dimensional electric circuit. Typical examples of 3-dimensional circuits are demonstrated and the electric resistivity and bonding strength between metal drops were measured. Further, some post processes are proposed to improve the resistivity of circuit made in the laboratory air.


Biological pellet formation was readily established in a laboratory-scale upflow anaerobic sludge bed (UASB) reactor treating a proteinaceous substrate, casein. Pellets were small (< 2mm), fragile and black. To obtain information on bed behaviour, the bed was divided and operated as a 2 in-series reactor system, the first reactor operating in a high and the second in a low hydrogen partial pressure state. The first reactor produced (virtually) all the pellets with a sludge yield of 0,26 mgVSS/mgCOD removed (COD removal 3 500 mg/l for influent COD 10 000 mg/Q. However, two thirds of the VSS generated was lost to the second reactor due to pellet break-up. Deamination generated ammonium in excess of nitrogen requirements for pellet formation, and generated sufficient alkalinity to buffer the minimum pH in the bed to — 6,2 without alkalinity supplemented in feed; maximum pH in bed ~ 7,6. With influent COD of 10 000 mg/f maximum loading was achieved at 65 kgCOD/m pelletised bed.d (without signs of failure), with soluble C O D removal 95 per cent of influent COD.


The synthesis and crystal structure of the complex [(glycylglycinato) (cytosine)copper(lI)], CuO4NsCsHll, are reported. The complex crystallizes as the dihydrate in the monoclinic system, space group P2~/n, with a= 10.695 (4), b= 8.077 (1), c-14.756 (7) ,~, fl=92.38 (3) °, Z=4, D,,= 1.78 (1), De= 1"78 gcm -a Intensities for 2951 symmetry-averaged reflections were collected in the 0-20 mode by counter methods. The structure was solved by standard heavy-atom Patterson and Fourier methods. Full-matrix leastsquares refinement has led to a final R value of 0.084. The final weighted R value and goodness-of-fit are 0.042 and 1.3, respectively. The primary coordination sphere about the copper is approximately square planar with the tridentate glycylglycine dianion and N(3) of cytosine occupying the four coordination sites. The copper also forms two weak, axial interactions with 0(2) of cytosine, one intramolecular, Cu. . .0 (2) 2.819 (3) ,~, and one intermolecular, Cu.--0(2) 2.713 (3) A. The crystal structure is dominated by columnar stacks of complcxcs about the twofold screw axis along b with intracolumn interactions via the weak Cu--. 0(2) intermolecular bond and hydrogen bonds of the type N(4) [cytosine]... 0(2) [cytosine] and N(10) [glycylglycine]...O(7) [glycylglycine]. The columns are directly linked by hydrogen bonds involving N(4) and N(1) of cytosine and 0(8) and 0(9) of glycyiglycine and further coupled by hydrogen bonds through the waters of crystallization.


A new method for getting periodic solutions for Piecewise Linear Oscillator is proposed. From the steady state responses, periodic solution for the oscillators can be derived by using pseudo feedback approach. It is shown that for some piecewise linear systems, periodic solution can be globaly represented by the form of superposition of steady response of linear system and periodic pseudo feedback responses. By comparing the results through the method with those of numerical simulations, the validity of the proposed method is confirmed.


Among heart failure patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs), monomorphic ventricular tachycardia (MMVT) failing antitachycardia pacing (ATP) and terminated by shock renders higher mortality as compared to MMVT terminated by ATP only. It is unknown if the higher mortality in ATP failure reflects decompensated heart failure.


【Objective】The aim of the experiment was to study the protective effects of exogenous chitosan on protective enzymes,antioxidant substances,osmotic adjustment material and membrane lipid peroxidation of pepper seedlings under water stress.【Method】The protective effects of exogenous chitosan at different concentrations(10,30,50,80 mg.L-1) on oxidative damage in leaves of pepper seedlings under water stress were investigated with peppers varieties 'Longjiao No.3','Longjiao No.2' and 'Zhongyan No.8' as materials.【Result】Under water stress,the activities of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase,proline content,malondialdehyde content and relative conductivity of pepper seedlings were significantly higher than that of control(P0.05),and the contents of glutathione and ascorbic acid were significantly lower than other treatments.The activities of superoxide dismutase and peroxidase,the relative conductivity,malondialdehyde and proline content apparently decreased,but the soluble proten contents and the contents of glutathione and ascorbic acid increased in treatments of different concentrations of chitosan compared with control.【Conclusion】Chitosan at 50 and 80 mg.L-1 increased the content of antioxidant substances,effectively prevented the accumulation of malondialdehyde and proline,mitigated the lipid peroxidation caused by water stress,and enhanced the plant's drought resistance.


With the question "What hath God wrought?" Samuel F. B. Morse signaled the beginning of a communications revolution that eventually altered the basis for gathering and relaying news. Until Morse demonstrated the practicability of the telegraph on May 24, 1844, most transmission of news depended on one or more modes of transportation. The mails, from which editors obtained most of their news before the invention of the telegraph, moved by foot, horse, boat, and rail.' Even in the face of instantaneous communication by telegraph, the comparatively primitive postal service continued to be of great value as a news relayer. The mails adapted to the technological challenge by finding a new niche in the larger, more complex communications system.2 For one striving to explain how technologies survive the challenge of competing innovations, the concept of a niche may prove to be an analytical tool with more than metaphorical value. Ecologists developed the theory of the niche to explain the dynamics of competition and coexistence among organisms in an environment with limited resources. Of special relevance here is the theory's power to explain how a changing environment affects populations in a community.


We present a hybrid direct and projective iterative algorithm for simulating hair. The algorithm is fast, stable, visually accurate, uses a comprehensive elasticity model with a well defined continuum limit. The low resolution simulation is a good predictor of higher resolution results which we attribute to our novel treatment of bending and twisting forces. Timesteps may be as large a single step for each frame of 24 Hz animation. The treatment of collisions is implicit and does not introduce any artificial strain or forces.


Research on performance of waste ceramics and ultra fine sand was carried on. And based on it, waste ceramics were crushed as recycled ceramic sand, and substituted for parts of ultra fine sand to make mortar. The feasibility, economic and social benefits of a combination of recycled ceramic sand and ultra fine sand was analyzed. The study provides us with a new solution for waste ceramics disposal and ultra fine sand usage.


All life stages of Pacific herring (Clupea pallasii) utilize much of southeastern Alaska (SEAK) waters as habitat. The beaches used for spawning are not continuous; some are repeatedly utilized, thus the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG) eventually began to manage herring in these areas as discrete stocks. However, available data do not identify definitive divisions among SEAK stocks, rather apparent geographic groupings were variable and often rather arbitrary. Limited tagging studies within SEAK demonstrate fish migrate and mix over most of the region but were not designed to demonstrate repeat spawning fidelity. Migration data from British Columbia, a region to the south of SEAK and reasonably similar in structure and climate, are used here to roughly predict repeat spawning fidelity at SEAK stock scales; these approximations suggest considerable mixing among stocks (59 to 84%), possibly explaining the lack of definitive differences among stocks and suggesting that SEAK herring are part of an interrelated metapopulation. Clearly more work remains to understand the relationships among SEAK herring stocks, such as more detailed genetic analysis and more detailed, spawn-oriented and seasonal tagging studies. Introduction Pacific herring in southeastern Alaska (SEAK) are managed as discrete stocks by the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG; Fig. 3.1). Management boundaries are based on major historic spawning areas. These boundaries are not contiguous, and how stocks outside them relate to identified stocks is unclear and unknown. Estimated stock areas range from about 100 to 1100 km (water only). Of these, the Sitka management area is the largest, Lynn Canal is second and Craig is third. In this chapter Lynn Canal herring are examined first, then herring throughout SEAK are examined to place Lynn Canal herring in context. Migration studies competed in British Columbia are used to roughly predict spawning fidelity within SEAK, a topic that has not been addressed by research in SEAK. For each of the variables considered (distribution, biomass, recruitment, size at age (a surrogate for growth rate), spawn timing, morphological variability, migration, and genetics) the question is asked, are there substantial differences among stocks, and if so do these differences form a cohesive pattern? The underlying goal is to determine if separately managed SEAK herring stocks are one population or metapopulation, or if they are sufficiently different to be considered separate populations. Herring spawning fidelity studies in British Columbia provide estimates of conditions in SEAK The spawning fidelity of Pacific herring has been extensively studied in British Columbia but not in SEAK. These fidelity estimates can reasonably be used to interpret conditions in SEAK. Located adjacently, both domains stretch along the north Pacific in the Gulf of Alaska, about 860 km (SEAK) to 900 km (British Columbia). Both are temperate rain forests bounded on the east by coastal mountains, ice fields and glaciers. Both have complex coastlines with many islands and fjords. Both domains may be partially or wholly in the same zoogeographic province (see Chapter 4 for a more complete discussion of this topic), although located further to the south, average water temperatures in British Columbia are likely warmer than those in SEAK


Three-phase four-leg inverters usually use space vector control strategy,but the space vector graph is difficult to understand.Coordinate transformation is needed for using this method,and the switching vector needs to be rooted.Although the space vector control method has the characteristic of higher voltage using rate,flexible control and higher efficiency,but the control is more complicated.This paper researches a PWM control strategy with zero sequence current injection.This control strategy achieves a decoupling control of the three-phase four-leg inverter,and be easy to control,understand and implement.Compared with the conventional sine wave modulation method,DC bus voltage utilization and imbalance load capacity are improved.A prototype of inverter is designed.The experimental results prove the correctness of the theoretical analysis.


W. Knapp, B. D6rken, P. Rleber, R.E. Schmidt, H. Stein, A.E.G.Kr. von dem Borne At the recently held 4th International Workshop and Conference on Human Leucocyte Differentiation Antigens agreement was reached (1) on 35 new CD clusters and subclusters. In addition, 7 previously established clusters were redefined. The following summary table should provide the reader with an up-to-date list of all presently accepted CD designations (2) and some basic information conceming the molecules defined by these antibodies. Detailed reports will be published separately (3), as will be a new database/evaluation programme (4) which should allow individual scientists to directly compare the specificities of new antibodies with the characteristics of all antibodies from the 3rd and 4th International Workshop


This paper analyzes the feasibility and performance of HSI systems for medical diagnosis as well as for food safety. Illness prevention and early disease detection are key elements for maintaining good health. Health care practitioners worldwide rely on innovative electronic devices to accurately identify disease. Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is an emerging technique that may provide a less invasive procedure than conventional diagnostic imaging. By analyzing reflected and fluorescent light applied to the human body, a HSI system serves as a diagnostic tool as well as a method for evaluating the effectiveness of applied therapies. The safe supply and production of food is also of paramount importance to public health illness prevention. Although this paper will focus on imaging and spectroscopy in food inspection procedures -- the detection of contaminated food sources -- to ensure food quality, HSI also shows promise in detecting pesticide levels in food production (agriculture.)


This communication deals with computations of input impedance of antennas in cold magnetoplasmas in nongyrotropic and quasi-stationary cases using the method of moments. The respective linear integro-differential equations for current (charge) distributions, obtained from the first principles, are solved numerically for certain parameters using the code developed by the author. The main attention is focused on specific magnetoplasma properties such as anisotropy and spatiotemporal dispersion that are especially important in the so-called resonant frequency range. The parameters of the algorithm and the results are discussed in the view of physics and computational mathematics.


Day-to-day maintenance of software systems is a grand challenge due to the fact that the runtime environment changes continuously and the application can behave completely differently because of that. Users of such systems want to run their application and do not want to worry about the mundane task of system management in the face of a failure. If such management scenarios come into existence, the user wants the runtime environment to handle those situations autonomically. The user is more concerned with timely execution of their computation and production of intended results. Without expert technical help, average users have extreme difficulty managing such failure scenarios. This paper investigates the usability of explanation based learning algorithm with inductive rules to provide adaptive management of user application in the face of faults. A distributed algorithm is proposed that collects runtime program traces and signatures and combines all distributed copies to derive the domain knowledge for the learning algorithm.


The effects of adenosine and sodium‐nitroprusside (SNP) on central and myocardial haemodynamies and metabolism were evaluated during fentanyl anaesthesia (100 μg kg‐1) in six patients with peripheral vascular disease. The investigation was performed during stable anaeshtesia, before scheduled abdominal aortic graft surgery. Adenosine and SNP were infused intravenously in random order over 20 min, leaving a 30‐min control period in between. The vasodilators were titrated in order to reduce mean arterial pressure by approximately 25%. Adenosine (90 20 μgkg‐1 min‐1) reduced mean arterial pressure from 10.9 0.3 to 8.4 0.4 kPa (82 3 to 63 3 mmHg), and SNP (0.7 0.1 μg kg‐1 min‐1) from 11.0 0.2 to 8.4 0.3 kPa (83 3 mmHg to 63 3 mmHg) during the hypotension period. Cardiac index remained unaffected during induced hypotension with both vasodilators, while heart rate increased during SNP infusion (8 3d̀) and remained unaffected with adenosine. Left ventricular stroke work index and myocardial oxygen consumption decreased during SNP infusion (33 3% and 17 5%, respectively), while these parameters were unchanged with adenosine. Adenosine hypotension increased coronary sinus flow 1–2 fold (128 26%), together with increased coronary sinus oxygen content (96 11%). In contrast, coronary sinus flow decreased during SNP hypotension (– 15 4%) with unaffected coronary sinus oxygen content. It is concluded that adenosine, in contrast to SNP, is associated with a hyperkinetic myocardial circulation.


Environmentally-friendly calcium sulphoaluminate clinkers were obtained from a mixture of aluminium dross, fluorgypsum, fly ash and CaCO₃ at temperatures within the range of 1100 to 1400 °C. After the heat treatments Ca₄Al₆O₁₂SO₄ was the main phase. Three different cements were prepared using the clinkers synthesized at 1250, 1350 and 1400 °C; the clinker powders were mixed with 20 wt% of hemihydrate. Cement pastes were prepared using a water/cement ratio (w/c), 0.4 followed by curing at 20 or 40 °C for periods of time ranging from 1 to 28 days. Most of the samples showed high compression strengths 40–47 MPa after 28 days, which were comparable to the strength of Portland cement. Ettringite was the main hydration product and its morphology consisted of acicular and hexagonal plates, which is typical of this phase.


The arguments to move to a more student-centred approach to learning are convincing (Pykett, 2009; Paludan, 2006). One concern raised about the implementation of personalised learning is that the relationships required to enhance learning are contrary to those in the traditional, teacher-centred curriculum. This paper proposes that relational agency within a personalised learning context enhances creativity, engagement, and effort in Visual Arts Studio classes. The findings in this case study, from a Junior Secondary College in central Victoria, Australia, clarify the nature of the relational agency in a Visual Arts Studio and lead to the claim that negotiated interactions between participants build each student's self-determination and confidence in their own abilities.


There are two kinds of structural relationship in the interior of linguistic association—the direct relationship and the indirect one. The association which has the indirect relationship in the interior is called the association with indirect relationship. And this association can be divided into association with simple relationship and association with compound relationship. The association is a simple one if it can be understood in only one way. While the association which can be understood in two or more than two ways is a compound one. The association with compound relationship can give the expression some special flavor.


Formation pressure is the most important factor in gas reservoir development,the lack of acknowledgement of formation pressure because the formation pressure test is more tedious and time-consuming would restrict the development effectiveness of gas reservoirs at some extent. Based on the dynamic data,the method of dynamic evaluation formation pressure is put forward by combining the numerical simulation methods and gas reservoir engineering related theory,establish a dynamic formation pressure evaluation equation,which takes into account the gas well production dynamic and the change law of pressure,can good response gas well production formation pressure variations. It is helpful for geological research and evaluation,dynamic analysis and provides the basis for the calculation of reserves. The application results show that the method is simple and easy to operate,and results are reliable.


Objective To explore the mechanisms of resistance to ischemic injury of neurons and inhibition for neuronal apoptosis after Recombinant AAV (rAAV)-AsnNOS or rAAV-AsiNOS transfection in vitro. Methods RecombinantAAV viral particles containing either AsnNOS or AsiNOS were transfected into the right basal ganglia areas of SD rats using stereotactic technology with infectious titer of 2×109/ml. Rats were divided into 4 groups: rAAV-AsnNOS, rAAV-AsiNOS, rAAV-LacZ, and control groups. FCM was applied to analyze the percentages of NT positive as well as the apoptotic cells. Semiquantitiative RT-PCR was conducted to determine the expression of nNOS, iNOS, p38 MAPK and Caspase-3 mRNA. Results There was no neuronal injury in the rats transfected with rAAV vectors. The percentages of NT positive neurons and apoptotic cells of rAAV-AsnNOS group were lower than those of controls. Similarly, the percentages of NT positive neurons and apoptotic cells of rAAV-AsiNOS group were lower than those of controls. RT-PCR showed that mRNA expressions of nNOS, iNOS, P38MAPK and Caspase-3 were significantly decreased in the rAAV-As nNOS group after 1~6h of ischemia and in the rAAV-As iNOS group after 24~72 h. Conclusions Recombinant AAV mediated transfection of me-AsnNOS or AsiNOS into rat brain can resist against ischemic injury. rAAV-AsnNOS and rAAV-AsiNOS inhibit expressions of nNOS, p38MAPK and Caspase-3 at the early and late stage of ischemia, respectively.


The artificial kidney of the Albany Hospital used in our experiments is a 1950 model built by Olson2 according to the design of Merrill and his associates (1, 2). In all in vitro studies 26 turns of 23/32" cellophane tubing were used, providing a dialytic surface area of 21,000 sq. cm. When various prepared solutions were used in place of blood for the purpose of analysing rates of exchange of solutes and water between "blood" and bath fluid, a reservoir of 10 liters of "blood" was placed in series with the artificial kidney. The volume of bath fluid at the onset of dialysis was 100 liters in all studies and was maintained at 1010 F. Essentially constant flow was maintained by adjusting the pump to a capacity for returning fluid to the reservoir which exceeded the actual "arterial" flow into the cellophane tubing while inflow was kept at a constant pressure head and regulated by an adjustable clamp. Chemical analysis was as follows: urea (3), creatinine (4), non-protein nitrogen (5), uric acid (6), glucose (7), sucrose (8), amino acids (9, 10), chloride (11), bicarbonate (12), water (13), phenol red by photoelectric colorimetry, and sodium and potassium by flame photometry. Inorganic phosphate, inorganic sulfate, calcium, and magnesium methods are noted in a previous article (14).


Slovak Pinzgau cattle belong to the low populous, endangered breeds. In our study we tested 53 healthy steers for the single nucleotide polymorphism T/C at the nucleotide position 878 of the bovine stearoyl-CoA desaturase gene (SCD1) together with the cholesterol metabolites (HDL-cholesterol, LDLcholesterol, total cholesterol). The group comprehends 33 extensive pastured and 20 corn-fattened animals. We revealed presence of the genetic equilibrium in the population (p=0.93), significant higher values of HDL-cholesterol (p=0.03) and total cholesterol (p=0.01), but not LDL-cholesterol in pastured steers and non-significant lower concentrations of cholesterol metabolites in A/A homozygotes for T878C SCD1 polymorphism carriers.


The covert action,sudden initiation and great danger,terror explosion raiding have attracted global attention because they are the most familiar and harmful modes in the terror activities.The case-hardened products and action theory of blast barrier and blast wall were introduced in detail,the strengthening measures of components in structures were summarized,and the terror explosion raiding-resistance engineering measures system was provided according to the recent research on building preventing and resisting explosion areas.


An integrated solar water heater was designed and built using local materials and labor. The system consists of 1 m x 1 m x 0.03 m rectangular tank. The total cost of the system is 125000 ID. The working principle of the unit is fairly simple. An absorbent surface absorbs solar radiation to heat water. The performance of the system was tested for four days in April during different atmospheric conditions. In three days, the water temperature reached 60 °C and higher in partly cloudy, sunny/showers, and sunny/clear sky conditions. However, on a dusty/cloudy day solar radiation was severely reduced keeping the highest water temperature slightly below 30 °C. The chronic shortage of power supply in Mosul, the abundant sunshine hours in winter and the reasonable cost of the system all serve as good reasons to acquire and install a solar water heater to meet household needs for hot water.


Discussion and authors' closure of paper 45–156 by P. L. Bellaschi and Edward Beck, published in AIEE TRANSACTIONS, 1945, November section, pages 759–63.


Films of SnOxFy and SnNxFy were made by reactive rf magnetron sputtering at rates up to on the order of magnitude 50 nm/min. They have refractive indices of on the order of magnitude 1.7 and are useful for antireflecting metal-oxide-coated substrates. Spectral optical data, showing the antireflection property, are given for SnOx/SnOxFy and SnOx/SnNxFy tandem layers.


This paper reviews Li Siguang(J.S.Lee)'s thought on earthquake prediction and emphasizes the great significance of the view of following China's own road to carry out geostress observation and research and investigation of the active tectonic systems proposed by Li Siguang.According to the practice and experience in the work relating to earthquake prediction over the past 40 years,the paper further elucidates the idea that in the new situation we should make new supplements and developments of the thought and method.It is suggested that in the future,while we should continued to undertake earthquake prediction practice and sum up the experience,we should strengthen the study of the seismogenic mechanism.In addition,some concrete suggestions about how to carry out this research work is put forward.


In order to explore the role of androgen receptor-like (AR-like) during spermatogenesis of termites, immunocytochemistry method was employed to locate AR-like of reproductives and workers of Reticulitermes aculabialis during the spermatogenesis. The results showed that the AR-like existed in the cytoplasm and the nucleus of primary spermatocyte in spermatogenesis in reproductives and workers, with a lower expression level in workers than that in reproductives. The results suggest that the expression of AR-like is associated with the meiosis of primary spermatocytes during spermatogenesis, and androgen and AR-like affected spermatogenesis by regulating the first meiosis of spermatocytes. Although the testes development of workers is restrained, workers have the same mechanism of hormonal regulation as the reproductives during spermatogenesis, so they are able to form sperms in their testes. These results provide new histological evidence that workers can differentiate into notenic reproductives according to the demand of the colony, even though the gonads of workers have degenerated.


Why bother with fully rigorous proofs when one can very quickly get semi-rigorous ones? Yes, yes, we know how to get a "rigorous" proof of the result stated in the title of this article. One way is the boring, human one, citing some heavy guns of theorems that already exist in the literature. We also know how to get a fully rigorous proof automatically, using the methods in this this http URL neat article (but it would be a little more complicated, since the probability generating polynomial is not "closed form" but satisfies a second-order recurrence gotten from the Zeilberger algorithm), otherwise the same method would work, alas, it is not yet implemented.
Instead, we chose to use the great Maple package this http URL">HISTABRUT(in fact, a very tiny part of it, procedure AlphaSeq), explained in this other this http URL">neat article, and get a semi-rigorous proof. We also needed the nice little Maple package this http URL">GuessRat, to do the guessing of rational functions.
Equipped with these two packages, Zeilberger wrote a short Maple program this http URL">SameSexMarriages that enabled the author to generate this paper.


Objective To discuss the prevention and the treatment of the complications of minimally invasive operation (Nuss procedure) for funnel chest.Methods Six hundred and thirteen children with funnel chest were treated by Nuss procedure from July 2002 to July 2008.Among them,55 patients were recurrent cases and 116 patients had other diseases.35 cases (5.71%) developed perioperative complications.Results Nuss procedure was completed in 613 patients.The operating times ranged from 25 to 300 minutes.The intraoperative blood loss was 1-200 ml.The intraoperative complications were developed in 10 cases (28.57%),including pericardium injury in 4 cases,heart injury in 1,liver injury by diaphragm penetrating in 2,intercostal muscle avulsion in 2,and intercostal vascular injury in 1.All of the intraoperative complications were found during the operations and had been dealed properlyThe postoperative complications were occurred in 25 cases (71.43%),including brackets shift in 3 cases,liquid pneumothorax in 4,and long-term chest pain in 5.The case of brackets shift,metal exclusion and drainage tube breaking,which are mentioned above,had recovered after surgery,and the others had been cured by conservative treatment.Conclusion Although the incidence of complications is higher but most of them are slight.Along with the understanding of the complications and the progress of technology,the complications could be greatly reduced.The minimally invasive surgery (Nuss procedure) has become the standard surgery of pectus excavatum.

Key words:
Pectus excavatum; Postoperative complications; Nuss procedure


The Declaration of Independence: A Global History David Armitage London, Harvard University Press, 2007 xi+300 pp., ISBN 13: 978-0-674-02282-9 (£17.95 hardback) The Declaration of Independence: A G...


The response of concrete up to complete failure in tension is represented in the load deformation relation. The characteristic parameters are the ultimate strength, stiffness in the ascending branch and the fracture energy. All these parameters depend on concrete composition and environmental conditions, as discussed in the previous chapters. The observed response of concrete at macro-level is determined by the damage initiation and damage accumulation mechanisms at meso- and micro-scale levels. The failure process is governed by (i) the stress condition, (ii) the mechanisms governing microcrack nucleation, propagation and obscuration of critical flaws, (iii) the ability to absorb energy in fracture, and (iv) the energy flow from the surrounding material into the fracture zone. In dynamics, all four conditions vary in time and depend on the loading rate. This chapter discusses the background and mechanisms of the rate-dependent behaviour of concrete, focusing on the effects of (i) inertia and limited cracking velocity at material level, (ii) concrete composition at meso-level, and (iii) moisture content and pore distribution. The available experimental data on dynamic strength and fracture energy are presented and related to response mechanisms for the different loading rate regimes. © 2013 Woodhead Publishing Limited All rights reserved.


The new sp. and its larva are described and illustrated from specimens collected in Mexico (states of San Luis Potosi and Veracruz), Belize (Toledo distr.) and Costa Rica (Heredia prov.). Holotype 6 and allotype 5 (in copula): Mexico, Veracruz state, Rio La Palma, 25 km N of Catemaco, 28-VIII-1988; deposited at UNAM, Mexico. The sp. is closely related to E. cannacrioides Calv. with which it was formerly confused. Adults of the former are larger than those of the latter. The larva is also easily distinguished from £ cannacrioides by its larger size and differences in the shape of the dorsal protuberances. Notes on biology and distribution are provided and the known larvae of the genus Elasmothemis Westfall are keyed.


D D Where the streets have no name, where the streets have no name, G We're still building then burning down love, burning down love. Bm A D And when I go there, I go there with you. It's all I can do. D Our love turns to rust. G We're beaten and blown by the wind, blown by the wind. D Oh and I see love, see our love turn to rust. G And we're beaten and blown by the wind, blown by the wind Bm A D Oh when I go there, I go there with you, it's all I can do.


The influence of crystal orientations on the phase diagrams, dielectric and piezoelectric properties of epitaxial BaTiO3 thin films has been investigated using an expanded nonlinear thermodynamic theory. The calculations reveal that crystal orientation has significant influence on the phase stability and phase transitions in the misfit strain-temperature phase diagrams. In particular, the (110) orientation leads to a lower symmetry and more complicated phase transition than the (111) orientation in BaTiO3 films. The increase of compressive strain will dramatically enhance the Curie temperature TC of (110)-oriented BaTiO3 films, which matches well with previous experimental data. The polarization components experience a great change across the boundaries of different phases at room temperature in both (110)- and (111)-oriented films, which leads to the huge dielectric and piezoelectric responses. A good agreement is found between the present thermodynamics calculation and previous first-principles calculations. Our work provides an insight into how to use crystal orientation, epitaxial strain and temperature to tune the structure and properties of ferroelectrics.


In this study, the propagation of guided waves in a 0.9m Aluminium Conductor Steel Reinforced (ACSR) cable was investigated employing two longitudinal piezoelectric transducers attached to the ends of the cable. Longitudinal L(0,1) and flexural F(1,1) modes were identified at 500 kHz via dispersion curves and the wavelet transform. Based on inter-wire coupling, a 3-D FEM analysis was performed using a simplified model comprised of two rods made of aluminium and steel. Artificial damage was made by gradually increasing cut depth, in the middle of the cable, from 1mm to 9mm. The attained experimental results suggest a mode conversion from F(1,1) to L(0,1) due to loosed friction contact among individual wires corroborating the results yielded by the FEM analysis.


This article analyzes the state of the consumer market in the modern realities of our country, examines the trends of its development depending on the implemented strategies of citizens' behavior in the conditions of economic crisis and the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. During this period, the demand for goods that restore and protect health increased, including a set of certain elements with which it is possible to restore and maintain human performance, a set of technical devices that are used for the treatment and prevention of various diseases, as well as products that do not contain genetically modified organisms. The influence of information technologies on the sphere of consumption in the current conditions is noted, the need to strengthen the work of e-commerce platforms, online e-commerce stores and services aimed at improving the efficiency of interaction of consumer market entities is revealed. The author's definitions of the consumer market concept, common in the scientific literature, are presented. Consumer market analysis plays an important role in the economy, which is reflected in domestic and foreign scientific publications devoted to optimizing the mechanisms of interaction between supply and demand of the consumer market, factors and models of economic security. A model and classification of consumer markets in the socio-economic system of the region is developed, a description of individual elements of the proposed structure is presented. The dynamics of wholesale trade development in Russia in the period before the coronavirus pandemic was analyzed in accordance with changes in social preferences and their impact on demand. The study revealed the results of the state of the consumer market in Russia, promising directions of its development.


Mathematical concept is the basic content in mathematics.This article describes?the characteristics of the Super Sketchpad,with cases of instructional design from the assimilation and conformation of concepts in teaching mathematical concepts.


It is standard practice to use benchmark datasets for comparing meaningfully the performance of a number of competing speaker identification systems. Generally, such datasets consist of speech recordings from different speakers made at a single point of time, typically in the same language. That is, the training and test sets both consist of speech recorded at the same point of time in the same language over the same recording channel. This is generally not the case in real-life applications. In this paper, we introduce a new database consisting of speech recordings of 105 speakers, made over four sessions, in two languages and simultaneously over two channels. This database provides scope for experimentation regarding loss in efficiency due to possible mismatch in language, channel and recording session. Results of experiments with MFCC-based GMM speaker models are presented to highlight the need of such benchmark datasets for identifying robust speaker identification systems.


The point of the article is to see whether the share of short-distance passenger traffic can be increased by improving the service offer. A survey was made of the choice of means of transport by families in a "Hamburg pilot study". The survey was designed to test two factors: the objective constraints and subjective appreciation. The appreciation is what determined the choice for or against short-distance public transport. The improvement in the level of services offered would only marginally increase the use made of public services.


—In Mobile Ad Hoc Networks with the wide area and high node density, the impacts on the network performance due to physical layer impairments over wireless interconnecting transmission paths are very serious. These effects are the cause of the decrease of the network performance. In this paper, we focused on investigating the routing techniques in mobile ad hoc networks taking into account the physical layer impairments. Thence, we proposed an improved route discovery algorithm for AODV protocol based on the cross-layer model in combination with the agent technology, namely QTA-AODV (Quality of Transmission using Agent in AODV). The objective of QTAAODV algorithm is to improve the quality of transmission of the data transmission routes, increase the network performance. The simulated results on OMNeT++ have shown that, compared with AODV algorithm, QTA-AODV can improve the signal to noise ratio of the routes, reduce from 20% to 35% of packet blocking probability. In addition, QTA-AODV algorithm also reduces the number of the control packets.


The topic of the presented study is interesting and relevant: fast flood models to allow for real-time urban flood forecasting. However, the presented manuscript has a few aspects that would benefit if improved and clarified: (1) There are other types of flood models in addition to the "2D hydrodynamic" and "1D static" models. What about "1D dynamic" models? (2) What is the novelty of Module 1 when compared to previously proposed methods (e.g. Maksimovic et al., 2009)? (3) Apparently, nothing is novel in Module II. As far I can understand, it uses ArcGIS and Arc-Malstrom methods to generate a 1D surface channel network. (4) In Module III, as the authors mention in lines 271-277, the proposed "new" method sounds as a new implementation a method previously developed (in Arc-Malstrom). (5) The proposed methodology could have C1 been tested in (a) different catchment(s) with (b) different type of rainfall events. This would test if the proposed methodology is valid for different contexts. (6) The proposed method is based on various parameters that need to be pre-defined (e.g. HRVratio = 15% and VLratio = 5%). It would be important to learn about what impact the values of these parameters may have in the final results (and if they should be different from catchment to catchment...). A sensitivity analysis would be required. Other comments: - It is unclear what "Optimised boundary" is. Description in Section 2.5 and Figure 7b are not sufficient. This definiotion is very important to understand the flood


This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction, Calculation of Deflections, The Contour Maps, The Prediction of the Deflections, Correlation with Field Data, Summary, Acknowledgments, References


The novel redox properties of HB(3-Butpz)3– are demonstrated by the isolation and structural characterisation of [In2I3{η3-HB(3-Butpz)2(5-Butpz)}(η1-5-ButpzH)] 1, a novel In–In bonded species, and Sn2(Ph)6 2, on reaction with InIII and SnIV, respectively.


Objective: To compare the presence and extension of attributes that are considered essentials and derived from Primary Health Care (PHC) in Health Care Units (HCU) localized in the eastern region of the city of Sao Paulo, that work under the optic of Family Health Strategy (FHS) and the ones that do not, called traditional units. Methods: All the physicians, nurses and dentists, hired by the PHC Santa Marcelina institution, who work in these HCU were invited to participate in the study. The data collection was realized by the use of PCATool. Results: The results indicate a better performance of the HCU with FHCS with respect to the PHC attributes such as longitudinality (p=0.0330), integrality (of services offered) (p=0.0011), community orientation (p=0.0017) and consequently in the essential score (0.0327) and in general (0.0098). The scores lead us to infer that the work process in the FHCS offers a better setting for the development of these attributes. Conclusion: It can thus be concluded that HCU with FHCS aggregate more quality to Primary Health Care.


Asparaginase (Aase) and corticosteroid (CS) used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children during the Induction and Late Intensification phases have adverse effects on coagulation and increase the incidence of thrombotic events. Aase and CS reduce both pro- and antithrombotic factors and most studies have evaluated the individual components of the coagulation system to infer the prothrombotic profile. However, global haemostatic potential of these children and its changes during treatment are poorly reported.

We aimed to characterize the global haemostatic phenotype of ALL patients during native Aase therapy, using a global haemostatic assay, the Calibrated Automated Thrombogram® (CAT) method of thrombin generation (TG) in B lineage ALL children treated according to the latest CLG-EORTC first-line protocol (a BFM derived protocol). CAT method was performed on platelets-poor plasma (PPP) at diagnosis (day 1), before each Aase infusion (8 during Induction and 4 during Late Intensification), and at distance of Aase infusion (during and after Interval Therapy and at start of Maintenance). TG was triggered using 1pM tissue factor (TF) and 4µM phospholipids (PL), with and without addition of thrombomodulin (TM). Endogenous Thrombin Potential (ETP) and Peak were monitored and the interquartile range was compared to the [2,5 – 97,5] percentile range of normal controls (NC) of the same range of age (n=28). Protein C activity (PC), free Protein S (PS), antithrombin (AT) and fibrinogen levels were also measured.

Results Thirty six children were included (20 boys and 16 girls). Their median age at diagnosis was 3.7 years (range 1-14). Twenty had pre-B ALL and 16 common ALL. Elevated ETP and Peak of TG in ALL patients above the 97,5 percentile of NC were noted at diagnosis and persisted during all the Induction phase. During Interval Therapy and later at start of Maintenance, ETP and Peak returned to values below 97.5 percentile of NC. During Late Intensification, ETP and Peak levels increased above the 97.5 percentile of NC. At all time points studied the variation of ETP and Peak levels were similar in the presence and absence of TM. PC, PS, AT and fibrinogen levels decreased during Induction phase with median PS level remaining within the 2.5-97.5 percentile of NC and median AT and PC levels reaching a value lower than the 2.5 percentile of NC at the time of the 7th and 8th Aase infusion respectively (day 32 and 35). Fibrinogen levels were below the 2.5 percentile of NC during Induction from day 15 to day 29. Among the 36 analyzed patients, 2 experienced 3 symptomatic thromboses. One sub-clavian thrombosis occurred during Induction on day 22 and 1 jugular vein thrombosis occurred in a second child after completion of Induction on day 50 (13 days after the 8thAase infusion). These 2 events were concurrent with a central venous catheter infection. The second patient also developed during Late Intensification a cerebral thrombosis in the longitudinal sinus. Concomitant to these three events, ETP and Peak values of these patients were above the P75 value of ALL patients sampled at the same time points compatible with a marked prothrombotic profile and a higher risk of thrombosis.

This study suggests that TG is a promising global assay to evaluate the hypercoagulable state in ALL children under treatment. TG reveals an increased thrombin potential which is present early at diagnosis, persists during Induction and reappears during Late Intensification. This observation is consistent with the high incidence of thrombotic events previously described during Induction and until 10 days after the last Aase infusion. TG profiles observed in patients who experienced thrombotic events suggest that this assay could be used as a predictive tool since their TG parameters were above P75 value of the ALL children tested. Further investigations are needed to address this issue.

Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


The study was conducted to know the factors influencing the extent of participation among 90 milch animal rearing beneficiaries in poverty alleviation programmes. The study revealed that social participation and farm power status were the important factors influencing the extent of participation.


This paper describes results of an incentivized experiment investigating biases that jointly imply logically inconsistent beliefs about random samples. We find that people think past streaks predict reversals, consistent with the gambler's fallacy, but more weakly than in previous experiments and calibrations. Consistent with "support theory," we find that eliciting beliefs about the union of two ranges of outcomes, relative to the two ranges separately, decreases the total probability assigned to those outcomes. When these effects are taken into account, our results suggest that—contrary to previous interpretations—participants' beliefs about sample sizes of 10 are approximately accurate. Yet we strongly confirm earlier findings of Non-Belief in the Law of Large Numbers: people vastly exaggerate the likelihood that 1,000-flip samples that would deviate substantially from 50% heads. Because responses to separate questions are logically inconsistent, our experiment rules out a number of alternative, rational interpretations of reported beliefs. JEL Classification: B49


In view of chemistry and chemical engineering, ecological and environmental harmfulness of engine application is related with reactants (fuel, lubricating oil, additive, catalysts,etc.) in three fictitious chemical reactors (combustion chemistry reactor, lubrication chemistry reactor and emission chemistry reactor) and their chemical reaction (radical reaction, tribochemical reaction and catalytic reaction). The green chemistry design of automotive engine aims at exploration of the chemical technique,based on the principles of green chemistry and the chemical reactor models of engine to reduce or eliminate the harmful substances produced in fictitious chemical reactors. As an important aspect of green engine design, the green chemical design of engine has its objective of green effect to obtain the chemical compatibility of materials, energy and environment of engine.


This study aimed to analyze the perceptions regarding street children and adolescente of coordinators of shelters for this specific group. It was a qualitativo research developed in the city of Goiania, Brazil. Data was obtained through semi-structured interviews and analyzed through lhe thematic modality of content analysis. The social actors involved in this reality view lhe social abandonment of childhood as a direct consequence of the Brazilian political and social context. They believe that the enforcement of the Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA) will be possible only when the social rights stipulated in the Brazilian Constitution are warranted.


Grasses lack the variety of plant architectures and secondary compounds found rn dicotyledons, but insect diversity is not reduced. This review characterizes special features of grasses and grasslands and presents analyses of their insect communities that focus on dif fere nces between annual and perennial grasses, small and long grass species, biotypes of diff erent habitat types, grasses grown from wild and commercial seeds, ectophages and endophages, and below- and aboveground herbivory. Insect food webs are aff ected by management of grasslands such as cutting, grazing, and burning, by successional age, by patchy mosaics in grasslands, and by insect mass outbreaks. Morphology and physi ology of grasses promote tolerance to both drought and herbivory. Direct and indirect eff ects of grazing of both mammals and insects have presumably been


Understanding the species distribution and richness along an environmental gradient helps identify hotspots and prioritize conservation efforts at landscape scale. This is more effective for the species that are indicators of environmental change, such as odonates. As the information about the distribution of this group of insects is scarce in Jammu & Kashmir, their documentation assumes a greater significance.  Here, we present a checklist of odonate species from 23 sites across diverse landscapes in subtropical, temperate, and alpine ecosystems over an elevational gradient of 3,700 m in Jammu division. We recorded 63 species from 39 genera and 11 families, four Anisoptera and seven Zygoptera. The most represented families were Libellulidae (15 genera & 29 species) and Coenagrionidae (five genera & 10 species). The preliminary surveys resulted in addition of 24 new species to the Odanata fauna of Jammu & Kashmir, including three new to the northwestern Himalaya. The study underlines that even opportunistic records are useful in understanding the distribution range and delineating the potential habitats of odonates. The study calls for intensive odonate surveys to better understand their distribution and ecology in hitherto less explored region in the northwestern Himalaya.


A 50-year-old woman presented with progressive visual disturbance, ataxia, and dementia. The cerebral cortex became atrophic, as the disease progressed, and electroencephalography showed periodic synchronous discharges. The patient's prion gene revealed a point mutation (232Met to Arg), and a diagnosis of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease was made. Iomazenil single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was performed to assess neuronal degeneration. Accumulation of the tracer in the late images was severely decreased diffusely spread throughout the cerebral cortex. Our experience with this case suggests that iomazenil SPECT is useful for detecting neuronal degeneration in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.


Bacterial consortium capable of growing and utilizing cyanide as a source of nitrogen were isolated from effluent of gold mining industry. The isolation was conducted using liquid enrichment medium with potassium cyanide and glucose as nitrogen and carbon source, respectively. These consortium could tolerate and were able to grow on KCN at concentration of up to 1000 ppm. Bacterial consortium LP3 were also able to degrade potassium cyanide and ammonium as product of the degradation. The degradation rate was 9,0μM per minute. The cyanide-degrading bacteria found in this consortium were identified as Bacillus, Corynebacterium, and Serratia.Keywords: potassium cyanide, nitrogen source, bacterial consortium LP3, degradation


Limited experimental results have been reported in the literature on the fatigue and ultimate static loading behavior of composite beams subjected to negative bending moment. This paper examines experimentally the behavior of composite steel-concrete beams. Eight composite specimens were tested to study the various aspects of composite beams under a negative bending moment, including the effects of repeated loading, shear connectors (studs and PBLs), rubber-latex mortar coating, and steel fiber-reinforced concrete (SFRC) on their structural performance. Load versus midspan deflection, crack formation and its developing process, slip distribution on the steel-slab interface, and the flexural strain results of shear connectors were measured and studied. The test results show that the initial cracking-level repeated load did not show obvious effects, while the stabilized cracking-level repeated load can reduce the rigidity and loading capacity of composite beams. The experimental results indicate that the plastic bending moment criteria in the current AASHTO load and resistance factor design specifications are typically conservative for composite beams under a negative bending moment. In addition, the effects of SFRC on crack width control and adhesion bonding effects of rubber latex on the steel-slab interface were confirmed in the testing.


In this paper, we study systems where a reader wants to authenticate and identify legitimate RFID tags. Such system needs thus to be correct (legitimate tags are accepted) and sound (fake tags are rejected). Moreover, an RFID tag in a privacy-preserving system should be anonymous and untraceable, except for the legitimate reader. We here present the first security model for RFID authentication/identification privacypreserving systems which is at the same time complete and easy to use. Our correctness property permits to take into account active adversaries. Our soundness property incorporates the case of adversaries realizing relay attacks. Finally, our privacy model includes adversaries with no restrictions on their interactions with the system and moreover takes into account the case of "future correlations". We next propose several constructions, based on the work from Vaudenay, proving that (i) our strongest property is at least as strong as those of Vaudenay and (ii) this property is reachable by efficient schemes. ⋆ This work has been partially financially supported by the European Commission through the ICT program under contract ICT-2007-216676 ECRYPT II, by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche under the RFID-AP project and by the Walloon Region Marshall plan through the 816922 Project SEE.


Middle-convex and varying ellipse piston is a kind of non-circular section part, and its processing can be achieved by using hard profile modelling method and CNC (Computerized Numerical Control) turning method. Presently, we use the high precision CNC turning method to machine piston, and use the voice coil linear motor with high frequency response to obtain the non-circular section profile, This paper presents the design method of all-digital-feedback linear servo motor, and constructs corresponding control system. In addition, the diamond tool is used to machine piston when finishing turning, and CNC technology is used to compensate the machining precision on-line, consequently, we can machine the piston with high precision requirement.


The weld heat affected zone is the zone within the base metal formed after being subjected to a thermal cycle due to welding; it is essentially only the base metal which has undergone a type of heat treatment. The only aspect which differs from common heat treatment is that the thermal cycle due to welding essentially becomes nonhomogeneous and is a heat treatment of short duration. For example, depending upon the distance from the welding heat source, the maximum temperature due to the heat cycle changes continuously and the material in the vicinity of the fusion line is heated to just below the melting point of steel material. In addition, the heating/cooling cycle is repeated a number of times during multi-layer welding. Furthermore, the cooling rate during the weld thermal cycle varies over an extensive range according to the welding process and conditions, so the heat affected zone so formed possesses a thoroughly diverse structure and properties, depending upon the welding process and conditions, even though welding is carried out with identical steel material. This article gives an outline of the variations in properties initiated in high tension steel heat affected zones from the metallurgical viewpoint.


This paper isolates and examines in some detail the role airport management should play in acquiring and maintaining adequate levels of airport landside capacity. Recognizing that technical standards are both pervasive and desirable, it postulates that, although certain technical standards exist for providing landside capacity increases, they should not be used without careful management supervision and judgment and may not be used at all. The paper proceeds to examine why a balance between airside and landside capacity is important and analyzes several specific managerial elements that should be brought to bear on each prospective capacity improvement. It shows the varying interrelations of the elements, discusses the importance of local managerial talent and judgment processes (particularly as they relate to weighting the management elements on a situational basis and the application of cost-effectiveness techniques), identifies the barriers that tend to inhibit greater managerial effectiveness, and examines the methods by which management inputs may be improved. Several areas of research are suggested. /Author/


Quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis is the precondition and basis for positional cloning of major genes underlying quantitative traits. Normality transformation of quantitative trait data using BoxCox formula has significant effect on QTL detection. In this paper,a case study on poplar is carried out to demonstrate the application of BoxCox formula for normality transformation and the effect of data distribution on QTL analysis. The results are as followings: QTL detection is significantly affected by the data distribution. Without normality transformation,some significant QTLs may be missed. Similar variation trends are observed on the heat plots of LOD scores and LOD peaks are found to appear in the same positions in the charts established by LOD scores derived before and after the normality transformation. On chromosome 4,3 LOD peaks appear at 40—60 cm,80—100 cm and 130—150 cm intervals respectively both before and after transformation. However,the corresponding LOD peaks are found to increase to the significant level after transformation. Especially, the increment of the first peak is about 3 folds higher than that before BoxCox transformation,which means a relatively strong QTL in the corresponding position. The same scenario is also observed on chromosome 8 in this study.


The usefulness and value of an information system is directly related to its perceived quality. Quality is multidimensional concept, and includes an object of interest, the viewpoint on that object ...


Thermoplastic elastomer-based fibers have many advantages including lightness, flexibility, resilience. Styrene-[ethylene-(ethylene-propylene)]-styrene (SEEPS) is a styrenic block copolymer based thermoplastic elastomer and it can be used for many applications with many functions as a matrix, compatibilizer, modifier or adhesive. It has good resistance to oxidizing agents, weathering, aging, and it can be used under various conditions. In this study, SEEPS block copolymer fibers were electrospun. This study is the first study about the electrospinning of SEEPS block copolymer in the literature. Various spinning solutions were used, and process was optimized by changing the electrospinning conditions. Fiber morphology was analyzed by an optical microscope and fiber diameter distribution histograms were drawn. In order to understand the effects of polymer concentration on electrospinning, viscosity of the spinning solutions was measured. Although electrospinning conditions were found to be critical in terms of spinnability, solution concentration and viscosity were the most significant factors for obtaining flexible SEEPS based fibrous nonwoven mats.


Systematic anterior pituitary function tests were performed in 53 patients with ruptured cerebral aneurysm, and the results were assessed for correlation with various clinical factors.<BR>   The subjects were 24 patients with aneurysm of the anterior communicati g artery, 14 with aneurysm of the internal carotid-posterior communicating artery, 7 with aneurysm of the middle cerebral artery, 3 with aneurysm of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery, 2 with aneurysm of the peripheral anterior cerebral artery, 2 with aneurysm of bifurcation of the internal carotid artery, and 1 with aneurysm of the superior cerebellar artery. In the radio-immunoassay, growth hormone and cortisol were determined during the insulin tolerance test (regular insulin, 0.15-0.20 U/kg), luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone under luteinizing hormone-releasing hor mone (100 μg), thyroid stimulating hormone and prolactin under thyrotropin-releasing hormone (500 μg). The impaired rate was calculated for each patient as the number of impaired anterior pituitary hormone secretions divided by the number of effectively examined anterior pituitary hor mones. The data were assessed statistically by a variance analysis for age, sex, clinical symptoms, disease stage at the test time, complications, and location of the aneurysm, and the impaired rate. The results were as follows. 1) Growth hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone, cortisol, luteinizing hormone, prolactin, and follicle stimulating hormone secretions were impaired in 52%, 45%, 23%, 15%, 11%, and 9% of the cases, respectively. 2) The case incidence of impaired anterior pituitary hormonal secretion was 77%, but its intensity was mild in most of the patients. 3) The im paired rate was significantly higher in patients with a high-grade or early-stage subarachnoid hemorrhage, complication such as hydrocephalus or angiospasm, and aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery.