Intrathecal administration drugs both in subarachnoid or epidural space are important methods for nociceptive pharmacology studies and clinical treatment. The mechanism of intrathecal analgesia concerns many factors. In addition to nonspecific axonal blockade by the local anesthetics, direct agonist such as opioids, amino butyric acid (GABA) receptor agonists, andα2-adrenergic agonists are important in intrathecal analgesia. Neostigamine relieve pain through inhibiting breakdown of accetylcholine in human and animal study. Recently studies suggest that N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists can prevent central sensitization caused by peripheral nociceptive stimulation and abolish the hypersensi-tiviry. However, intrathecal administration drugs have some side effects in clinic practice. This paper reviewed recent development in this method.


To the Editor.— Ever since Kersting and Helwig 1 noted pain caused by eccrine spiradenomas, the association has been firmly established for certain nonneural lesions. For neural lesions, the solitary glomus tumor had long earned a reputation for exquisite pain. Three painful subcutaneous neurolemomas in a patient with neurofibromatosis, 2 the traumatic neuroma arising in instances of disorganized nerve repair, 3 and examples of Morton's neuroma 4 further emphasize this symptom association with nerve lesions. During the past 50 years, data have been accumulating suggesting the surprising contention that synovial sarcomas may have a place in the spectrum of nerve tumors. Although a little less than half of these cancers are painful, 18.3% have pain before emergence of other signs and symptoms, 5 indicating that the tissue giving rise to the cancer must be in especially close proximity to the nerves. Gross continuity with nerves, histologic documentation of unmyelinated nerves


Intense transient electric (E) and magnetic (B) fields are produced in the high energy heavy-ion collisions. The electromagnetic fields produced in such high-energy heavy-ion collisions are proposed to give rise to a multitude of exciting phenomenon including the Chiral Magnetic Effect. We use a Monte Carlo (MC) Glauber model to calculate the electric and magnetic fields, more specifically their scalar product E · B, as a function of space-time on an event-by-event basis for the Au+Au collisions at √ sNN = 200 GeV for different centrality classes. We also calculate the same for the isobars Ruthenium and Zirconium at √ sNN = 200 GeV. In the QED sector E ·B acts as a source of Chiral Separation Effect, Chiral Magnetic Wave, etc., which are associated phenomena to the Chiral Magnetic Effect. We also study the relationships between the electromagnetic symmetry plane angle defined by E ·B (ψE.B) and the participant plane angle ψP defined from the participating nucleons for the second-fifth order harmonics.


The paper introduces the development survey of urban overall design of our country,explicating the definition and phase differentiation of urban design,explaining systematically and comprehensively the main contents and methods of urban overall design which are cooperated with urban master planning , pointing out the importance of making urban overall design a policy and a standard.


The research intends to investigate the energetic performances of Organic Rankine Cycles (ORCs) for the exploitation of the biomass resulting from agricultural residues. To this purpose, a parametric analysis has been carried out. Saturated and superheated conditions at the turbine inlet have been imposed and the effect of the internal regeneration on plant performances has been studied. The results highlight that ORC plants represent an interesting and sustainable solution for small-scale and decentralised power production. Moreover, the analysis shows the significant impact of the temperature and internal regeneration technique on the performances of the biomass power plants.


We prove that on compact Alexandrov spaces with curvature bounded below the gradient flow of the Dirichlet energy in the L 2 -space produces the same evolution as the gradient flow of the relative entropy in the L 2 Wasserstein space. This means that the heat flow is well defined by either one of the two gradient flows. Combining properties of these flows, we are able to deduce the Lipschitz continuity of the heat kernel as well as Bakry-´Emery gradient estimates and the Γ 2 -condition. Our identification is established by purely metric means, unlike preceding results relying on PDE techniques. Our approach generalizes to the case of heat flow with drift.


A new Modified Iterative Fourier Technique (MIFT) is proposed for the design of interleaved linear antenna arrays which operate at different frequencies with no grating lobes, low-sidelobe levels, and wide bandwidths. In view of the Fourier transform mapping between the element excitations and array factor of uniform linear antenna array, the spectrum of the array factor is first acquired with FFT and its energy distributions are investigated thoroughly. The relationship between the carrier frequency and the element excitation is obtained by the density-weighting theory. In the following steps, the element excitations of interleaved subarrays are carefully selected in an alternate manner, which ensures that similar patterns can be achieved for interleaved subarrays. The Peak Sidelobe Levels (PSLs) of the interleaved subarrays are further reduced by the iterative Fourier transform algorithm. Numerical simulation results show that favorable design of the interleaved linear antenna arrays with different carrier frequencies can be obtained by the proposed method with favorable pattern similarity, low PSL, and wide bandwidths.


A general theory for the acceleration of a charged particle by a coherent wave of arbitrary polarization, propagation angle, and phase velocity in the presence of a uniform and strong magnetic field is presented. It is shown that the Hamiltonian surfaces are topologically open for waves with parallel phase velocity, ω/k∥, equal to or larger than the speed of light. The trapping width is found to be a strong function of the index of refraction (N), and for N=1 the trapping width increases as a function of the harmonic number. Particular emphasis is put on waves with N∥ ≡ck∥/ ω=1, and it is demonstrated that the physics of such waves is the relativistic counterpart of the nonrelativistic particle acceleration by a perpendicularly propagating wave. It is found that even at small wave amplitudes particles can be accelerated coherently to very large energies (relativistic factor γ>8) in the presence of such waves. The autoresonance acceleration mechanism [Sov. Phys. JETP 16, 629 (1963); Phys. Rev. A 135, 381 (...


In recent years, the demand for green leafy vegetables is increasing. In order to satisfy this trend, the leafy crops are cultivated under high energetic inputs, especially high doses of nitrogen (N) fertilization that leads to a nitrate accumulation in leaves, sometimes overcoming the legal threshold set by the European Community for their commercialization. The nitrate in leaves can be dangerous for human health because in the human body it can be converted into nitrite, which can cause methemoglobinemia or create cancer-causing compounds. In order to overcome this problem, a correct N management is needed, especially using technical means which can improve the nitrogen use efficiency. In this study, we evaluated the possible effect of two important plant biostimulants on yield and quality traits (nitrate, antioxidants activity, carotenoids) of baby leafy lettuce, grown in a greenhouse with three levels of nitrogen input. Nitrogen doses were 0, 10 (sub-optimal) and 20 (optimal) kg ha -1 , N0, N10 and N20 respectively. The biostimulants were Ecklonia maxima seaweed extract (3 ml per liter) (named Bio 1), legume-derived protein hydrolysate (Bio 2) and non-treated control (Control). The treatments were distributed in a randomized complete-block design with three replications (3 N levels x 3 Biostimulant applications x 3 replications). Biostimulant applications of seaweed extracts and legume-derived protein hydrolysate improved yield and LAI: 13.4% and 12.0% increase over non treated plants, respectively. The highest yield was reached at 20 kg N ha -1 . Application of foliar biostimulants stimulated the antioxidant systems of plants, improved leaves color and increased chlorophyll and carotenoids content. The nitrate concentration in leaves was increased under higher levels of N fertilization, meeting the EC legal limit at N20 treatment in plants sprayed by E. maxima seaweed extract. Therefore, in our growth conditions, it seems possible to reduce nitrogen input at 10 kg N ha -1 , by applying additional applications of biostimulants to reduce the yield gap upon application of N20 treatment.


This paper has a twofold aim. On the one hand, it gives a general view of the tax returns to the Crown from each of the three Basque Provinces throughout the Ancient Regime, as well as highlighting the differences among them. On the other, it seeks to locate the origin of the Basque Provincial Treasuries precisely in those royal tax demands which, at the same time, marked the pace of their development throughout the XVII and XVIII centuries until a wider homogeneity was achieved in the following century.


Using data only on aggregate variable input use and land allocation, this paper suggests a methodology for allocating variable input use among crops and improvement of regional crop budget information. Two approaches for estimation of variable input allocations among production activities are examined. One relies on behavioral rules whereby input allocations follow accepted rules of thumb. The alternative approach is derived from profit maximization where input use responds instantaneously to changes in input and output prices. The behavioral rules dominate instantaneous response to prices in explaining the data analyzed in this paper and suggest the validity of a simple behavioral approach for developing enterprise budgets and cost of production estimates.


In this paper,basic concepts about transnational operation and its fiv e developing phases are discussed.Then an index system to measure and ap praise international operation of e nterprises is created dealing with d ifferent functional sides.Finally this paper appraises Haier as an example of a ca se,and finds some useful conclusion s.


The large marine propeller blade is deforms easily because of the cutting force in the process. In view of this situation, the distribution of support positions is researched. For the irregular shape of propeller blade, combine VC with ACIS and get the coordinates of the points on the space surface according to the points of the parameter interval. Optimize the distribution of support points using the method which combine the secondary development of ANSYS with Genetic Algorithms, and get reasonable support positions. By the combination of the above several ways, the optimization of support positions can be realized, and the target of reducing the deformation of propeller blades can be reached.


A study of the effects of a series of monovalent cations, Li + , Na + and K + , and a series of divalent cations, Mn 2+ , Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ , upon small aggregates of cells taken from the presumptive epidermis of Rana pipiens gastrulae revealed that these ions induce nerve and pigment cells (Barth, 1965). The effectiveness of both series of ions as inductors was similar to their effects on decreasing the electrophoretic mobility of DNA as determined by Ross & Scruggs (1964). When it was found that sucrose in glass-distilled water also would induce nerve and pigment cells the role of ions as inductors came under closer scrutiny. A study of the nature of the induction by sucrose revealed that a relatively high concentration of sodium ions was necessary in the culture medium used after sucrose treatment (Barth, 1966). If after sucrose treatment the cells were cultured in a medium containing a relatively low concentration of NaCl no induction occurred, and the cells differentiated into ciliated and mucus cells, as did untreated controls. One suggestion offered was that sucrose altered the cell surface and sodium ions penetrated and brought about the actual induction. In any case the dependence of the induction by sucrose upon sodium ions brought into question the nature of the induction by other substances such as LiCl. Does LiCl induce by itself or does it merely change the cell surface so that sodium ions can enter and effect the actual induction? In the experiments recorded below small aggregates of presumptive epidermis cells were treated for varying lengths of time with LiCl and then returned to relatively high and low concentrations of NaCl in our standard culture medium. A second question arises regarding the period of competence for induction of nerve and pigment cells. If the induction actually occurs after the LiCl is removed, then the competent period must be extended farther than revealed by the LiCl treatment.


In order to remove noise effectively and preserve key details,a more effective and adaptive diffusion denosing model was proposed.A new diffusion function was built based on the P-M model.The new diffusion function would be a constant when the gradient is low.After the gradient exceeds a certain threshold,the new diffusion function becomes a monotone descending function which reduces to zero at a certain gradient.The characteristic of the diffusion function makes the improved model smoothing faster in homogeneous area and stop in edge.The experiment results show that the performance of the improved model is better than the traditional methods.


The reconfigurable mesh (R-Mesh) has drawn much interest in recent years due, in part, to its ability to admit extremely fast algorithms for a large number of problems. The unrestricted R-Mesh creates a great variety of bus shapes that facilitate algorithm design and reduce running time. In this paper, we present a bus linearization procedure that transforms an arbitrary nonlinear bus configuration of an R-Mesh into an equivalent acyclic linear bus configuration implementable on a linear R-Mesh (LR-Mesh), a weaker version of the unrestricted R-Mesh. This procedure gives an algorithm designer the liberty of using buses of arbitrary shape, while automatically translating the algorithm to run on a simpler platform. We illustrate our bus linearization method through two important applications. The first leads to a faster scaling simulation for the unrestricted R-Mesh. This scaling simulation has an overhead of logN (smaller than the logPlogNP overhead of the previous fastest scaling simulation) and uses an exclusive write LR-Mesh as the simulating model; prior simulations needed concurrent write. The second application adapts algorithms designed for R-Meshes to run on models with pipelined optical buses.


In recent years, depletion of fossil fuel reserves and environmental challenges such as air and water pollution, global warming, and greenhouse-gas emissions have increased environmental concerns considerably. Subsequently, one of the most practical and useful solutions to decrease environmental pollutants is to deploy green purchasing and use of clean energies by organizations or even governments. Thus, construction of renewable-energy power plants and, consequently, green supplier selection for equipment of these plants have become increasingly more important. In this respect, this article presents a novel approach to assess and select green suppliers of a solar power plant. The proposed approach integrates Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process and VIKOR methodologies. The results demonstrate the efficiency of the suggested approach as a practical tool to assist managers and CEOs of electric power industry in assessing suppliers for their required equipment.


Oversea oil and gas development has been becoming one of the most important strategic tasks for Chinese petroleum companies,on the same time,the risks in oversea oil and gas business become more and more serious because of the changing polices,oppressive contracts provisions,undetermined geological conditions and operating circumstances in resource countries.This paper classifies the risk according to the risk-sources and demonstrates the risk recognition process from three different stages.By combining the method of NPV,and Monte-Carlo simulation,a new risk-benefit contingency analysis model is built,then a new kind of risk index is introduced.Based on the collected data from the actual blocks in Central Asia,the new model and risk index are applied in Central Asia.The results show that,most oil and gas blocks in Kazakhstan belong to low risk-low benefit projects,high risk-high benefit projects in Turkmenistan,and high risk-low benefit projects in Uzbekistan.


In the context of the interrelatedness of the general methodology of science and the methodology of ethnology and anthropology, on the one hand, and the subject of research of the anthropology of science and the anthropology of education, on the other, as exemplified by the current European and Serbian university reforms, the paper considers one of the fundamental consequences of globalization – the increasing need to compare things on a global level. Comparison often involves easily quantifiable. The increasingly popular, and politically increasingly relevant, world university rankings are a case in point. By highlighting the phenomenon of the reduction of comparison to competition and the rehabilitation of positivism, the paper explores the way in which the reduction of criteria for "quality control" and "determining the excellence" of institutions of higher education through their ranking leads to the possibly irreversible reconceptualization of the concept of higher education, i.e. of the parameters that define it. the reduction of phenomena to just a few features, preferably those that are


Electron emissivity of tungsten dispenser cathode has been remarkably increased only by improving the process technology. Improved process includes firing impregnants in an oxidizing atmosphere which contains CO2and finishing the emitting area clean by new 'physical and chemical' treantemts. The application of this process to the Ir coated dispenser cathode leads to electron emissivity of 39A/cm2(pulsed FSCL) at cathode temperature 1050°CB. Measured Richardson parameters\phi_{R}, A_{R}are 1 .06 eV and 0.155 A/cm2deg2, respectively. At the same time, the short acivation time and low evaporation are given by this process. Cathodes of this type are most suitable for high resolution camera tubes and microwave tubes.


The paper discusses a method that ensures the coordinated operation of two mobile robots, one of which is equipped with a multi-link manipulator and a vision system, and the second - auxiliary - only a vision system. At the same time, the task of remote control of the manipulator of the main mobile robot performing operations in the cramped conditions of the working area, when the objects of work are out of sight of its vision system, is solved. In this situation, the vision system of an auxiliary and more maneuverable mobile robot is used to monitor the objects of work when performing various operations with them. In addition, this vision system is able to change the spatial orientation by rotating about two mutually perpendicular axes. The mathematical apparatus proposed in the paper allows to take into account the different current spatial orientation of the base platforms of both mobile robots at the angles of roll, pitch and yaw in the absolute coordinate system. The results of the simulation confirmed the efficiency of the proposed method.


We report a series of preliminary results on the efficiency of tape-storage solutions that are relevant for large-scale experimental facilities such as the Nuclear Physics pillar of the Extreme Light Infrastructure (ELI-NP). Our investigations are focused on the efficiency of tape data access scenarios, in particular a comparison between the Linear Tape File System and native Linux tools, and the influence of data properties on reading efficiency.


TGFβ is a prime inducer of myofibroblast (MF) transition from various precursors. TAZ, a Hippo pathway‐regulated transcriptional coactivator has been shown to crosstalk with TGFβ signaling, primarily as a Smad3 nuclear retention factor. During our studies aimed at assessing the role of TAZ in fibrogenic phenotype shifts, we observed that TGFβ caused a substantial (»5‐fold) and fast (6 h) rise in TAZ protein level in two MF precursors, pericyte‐like (10T1/2) cells and renal fibroblasts. TGFβ increased TAZ in tubular epithelial cells as well, an effect that was strongly potentiated by cell contact uncoupling, a prerequisite for epithelial‐MF transition. Interrogating the underlying signaling in 10T1/2 cells, we found that the Smad3 inhibitor SIS3 failed to abolish TGFβ‐induced TAZ upregulation, whereas inhibition of Akt or p38 abrogated this effect. These findings imply that non‐canonical TGFβ pathways are central to the control of TAZ. While interference with TAZ‐degrading pathways (Casein Kinase δ/ε, GSK3β) increased TAZ expression with similar magnitude and kinetics as TGFβ, cycloheximide‐provoked TAZ degradation was not prevented by TGFβ. Instead, TGFβ increased TAZ mRNA. Since myocardin‐related transcription factor (MRTF) is a TGFβ‐regulated key inducer of MF transition, we treated cells with its inhibitor, CCG‐1423. The drug strongly suppressed TGFβ‐triggered TAZ expression and the concomitant induction of a TAZ‐dependent luciferase reporter. Thus, TGFβ enhances TAZ transcription in an Akt‐, p38‐ and MRTF‐dependent manner, signifying a hitherto under‐recognized TAZ regulatory mechanism with potentially key roles in the pathobiology of organ fibrosis.


A novel, dedicated and compact single photon ASET dedicated to pendant-breast nuclear medicine-based lesion imaging is developed. The prototype ASET system utilizes a compact gamma camera mounted on a support with variable radius-of-rotation, which is coupled to a polar goniometric cradle, all on an azimuthal vertical axis-of-rotation stage. The combination of radial, polar and azimuthal motions can achieve nearly any contiguous 3D acquisition orbit on an inverted hemispherical domain of the pendant breast reference frame. Tomographic resolution and volume sampling considerations were evaluated with cold rod and disk phantoms imaged with simple orbits, with the projection data reconstructed using an OSEM algorithm which accounts for the arbitrary Euler angles of the camera's vantage. With parallel-beam collimation, the 3.1 mm cold rods were visualized with the smallest radius-of-rotation; increasing polar tilt angle demonstrated insufficient sampling of the Orlov volume for the highly symmetric cold disk phantom, but can be ameliorated by the complex 3D orbits possible with the system. An uncompressed breast phantom containing Tc-99m and 0.6 and 1.0 cm diameter hot lesions was affixed to an anthropomorphic torso phantom with total activity concentration ratios for lesions: breast+body: cardiac+liver of 11:1:19. Despite insufficient sampling with simple orbits about the volume, as well as torso background contamination, the hot lesions were easily visualized on the uniform breast background, yielding signal-to-noise ratios and contrasts which were >9 times higher than for planar data; scatter correction further increased the SNR and contrast improvements. This new, compact, dedicated ASET imaging system has the potential of providing valuable, fully 3D, functional imaging information about small (<1 cm), otherwise indeterminate breast lesions as an adjunct to diagnostic mammography.


Abstract : Emerging applications in Defense and Security require sensors with state-of-the-art sensitivity and capabilities. Among these sensors, the imaging spectrometer is an instrument yielding a large amount of rich information about the measured scene. This powerful spectrometric tool is becoming more common in civil applications such as search and rescue, geological surveys, pollution monitoring, forest fire detection and monitoring and combustion studies. These sensors are now also emerging as indispensable assets for defence operations through the role they can play for troop protection against chemical attacks, detection of mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) and for the detection of camouflaged targets. Imaging spectrometers have unmatched capabilities to meet the requirements of these applications.


The article attempts to determine its socio-psychological essence through the analysis of the social form of psychological trauma, as well as to identify the psychological nature of the pathological neoplasms that have arisen as a result of it, the specificity of which largely determines the methods and technology of personalistic counseling. These neoplasms are both individual psychological, including the sphere of experiences, and socio-psychological, affecting the relationship of the victims. The integration of the dominant parasitic "Ego" into the depth of the victim's personality, up to the very first level of the primary trusting relationship between the all-powerful and loving mother and a helpless child, we called the introjection of the personifier. As a result of the analysis, we come to the need for a specific restructuring of the irrational relationships of the victim with two other participants in the traumatic situation: the beneficiary, who receives personal benefits from this situation, and the reference group of the victim, who is traumatically personified by him in the image of an impersonal social personifier. The main methods of victims' examination during the thirty years of counseling were: clinical conversation and projective methods of personality research.


A SIMPLE-C algorithm and Jones-Launder k-e two-equation turbulence model are used to simulate a two-dimensional jet impinging obliquely on a flat surface. Both the continuity and momentum equations for the unsteady state are cast into suitable finite difference equations. The pressure, velocity, turbulent kinetic energy and turbulent energy dissipation rate distributions are solved and show good agreement with various experimental data. The calculations show that the flow field structure of the jet impinging obliquely on a flat surface is strongly affected by the oblique impingement angle. The maximum pressure zone of the obliquely impinging jet flow field moves towards the left as the oblique impingement angle is decreased.


The invention provides a method, device and system for touch information feedback. The method comprises the following steps that a terminal acquires touch information of a touch device on a display screen of the terminal; the touch information is analyzed, and a control signal containing an execution instruction is generated; the control signal is sent to the touch device, and the touch device is made to feed back the touch information to a user. The method, device and system for the touch information feedback can provide the user with auditory feedback and tactile feedback, wherein the auditory feedback and the tactile feedback can reflect mode information and position information in touch changes; the method, device and system for the touch information feedback can improve touch experience, and has creativity and practicability.


Numerical ocean models, like other geoscientific models, are a strongly simplified representation of real oceans. They are used as tools to answer research questions about the real-world systems. Therefore, their thorough validation is essential to ensure that the conclusions drawn from the model experiment are valid in reality. We demonstrate a software which allows an interactive model validation through a web interface based on the R Shiny framework. At pre-defined stations, different kinds of plots can be rendered within a few seconds, according to the user's choice, allowing a live validation of different model parameters even in model simulations which are still running. This makes it different from validation approaches which generate a pre-defined set of plots after the calculations have finished and make it particularly useful for model tuning purposes. Observation data can be read in from text files or can be extracted from a database. Once set up, the validation tool requires no technical skills to use. It can be used for single- or multi-model validation and allows saving the generated plots as high-resolution images suitable for use in scientific publications. A Linux operating system is required for the Validator app, but via a virtual machine, the software can run on Windows or MacOS hosts as well. A Dockerfile is supplied which allows to test the software with example data without installation. Funding statement: This software was developed at the Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemunde (IOW) on institutional funding.


The invention concerns a cosmetic composition comprising, in a physiologically acceptable aqueous medium, a polysaccharide modified with hydrophobic chains; a polymer having sulphonic groups; a (meth)acrylic acid polymer, preferably crosslinked, and/or an oxyethylenated silicone surfactant. Application to caring for and making up keratin materials are also provided.


Cross correlation of fully diffuse wavefields averaged over time should converge to the Green's function; however, the ambient seismic field in the real Earth is not fully diffuse, which interferes with that convergence. We apply blind signal separation to reduce the effect of spurious non‐diffuse components on the cross‐correlation tensor of the ambient seismic field. We describe the diffuse component as having uncorrelated neighboring frequencies and equal intensity at all azimuths and an independent (i.e., statistically uncorrelated) non‐diffuse component arising from a spatially isolated point source for which neighboring frequencies are correlated. Under the assumption of linear independence of the spurious non‐diffuse wave outside the stationary phase zone and the constructive interference of noise waves within that zone, we can suppress the spurious non‐diffuse component from the noise interferometry. Our numerical simulations show good separation of one spurious non‐diffuse noise source component for either non‐diffuse Rayleigh or Love waves. We apply this separation to the Rayleigh wave component of the Green's function for 136 cross‐correlation pairs from 17 stations in Southern California. We perform beamforming over different frequency bands for the cross correlations before and after the separation and find that the reconstructed Rayleigh waves are more coherent. We also estimate the bias in Rayleigh wave phase velocity for each receiver pair due to the spurious non‐diffuse contribution.


This paper presents a metric for managing dynamically reconfigurable transport networks. In such networks, one physical set of transport links can be configured into many different logical networks, in order to meet uncertain and volatile traffic demands. Connectability is a figure of merit for capturing the composite routing efficiency and capacity utilization of a transport network. Connectability is mathematically inspired by existing metrics for reliability. Reliability concepts are adapted to quantify notions of efficiency in reconfigurable networks. The authors define connectability mathematically, and set out a procedure for its' calculation in a distributed real-time setting. The centralized version of this calculation has O(n log n) time complexity. A series of simulation studies are presented to illustrate the use of connectability in characterizing strategies for transport network reconfiguration. One strategy based on the isolated calculation of connectability at each node is shown to yield lower blocking and more efficient use of transport network resources than the other strategies tested. Finally, a short study of applying connectability to restoration in a national network demonstrates that there is a continuum along which restoration can be temporarily traded off against transport network management. >


. In this paper, we show that almost-direct products of (reduced) free groups admit (reduced) Magnus ordering. Besides the application is already used to to well known groups, we use the main result to give an ordering of some subgroups of the automorphism group of free groups and also to give an ordering of pure monomial braid groups.


The valve-side single-phase-to-ground (SPG) faults in the half-bridge modular multilevel converter (HB-MMC)-based bipolar high-voltage direct-current (HVdc) systems induce some special fault consequences: overvoltage on the submodule (SM) capacitors in converter upper arms and nonzero-crossing currents in the grid-side ac circuit breaker (ACCB). In this letter, a protection strategy based on converter-embedded double-thyristors is proposed to address these issues. The double-thyristors are installed in parallel with each SM in the lower arms of the converter. By triggering the double-thyristors, the SPG fault is converted into a three-phase short-circuit that ensures current zero-crossings in the grid-side ACCB. Moreover, as the voltages of converter ac buses are clamped by the ground through the triggered double-thyristors, the upper arm overvoltage is mitigated. The effectiveness of the proposed protection strategy has been verified in a bipolar HB-MMC HVdc link built in PSCAD/EMTDC.


Rhodium trichloride trihydrate and 2-methyl-allyl alcohol react to give [RhCl2(C8H15O2)]n which with 4-methylpyridine gives [RhCl2(C8H15O2)(4-methylpyridine)2]2, the structure of which has been determined by X-ray diffraction.


Respinomycins Al, A2, B, C and D were revealed to be novel anthracycline antibiotics with molecular formulae ofC51H72N2O20, C43H58N2O15, C35H43NO14, C36H45NO14 and C51H70N2O22, respectively. Their structures were determined by means of ^^H COSY, ^C^H COSYand HMBC spectra. The structure of the aglycone of respinomycins was unambiguously determined by LSPD experiments and NOESY. The commonskeleton of respinomycins is a new type and is distinguished from that of the nogalamycin group.


With stress documented beyond inherent levels in our initial research with Canadian teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic, this case study moves beyond the consideration of individual strategies to reduce burnout, toward an examination of situational approaches to support teachers during this time of disruptive change. Using the Areas of Worklife Model, we present an analysis of in-depth interviews andfocus groups with Canadian educational leaders on key transformational leadership approaches that were applied during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to observations about contextual factors which led to imbalance and adversity for teachers, insights were gained into leadership approaches which conversely increased balance and engagement resulting in overall enhanced teacher resilience.


An increasing number of researchers indicate that communications between doctors and patients signihcantly affect the process of treatment. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of the type of physicians' communication style on the patient's motivation to compliance with the medical recommendations following the end of hospitalization. Thirty hospitalized patients took part in the study. They were asked to fill out questionnaires measuring the following groups of variables: doctor - patient communication style, level of positive and negative affect experienced during hospitalization, level of confidence in physicians, the assessment of medical services quality, and level of motivation to compliance with doctors' recommendations after leaving hospital. Data were analyzed by means of correlation coefficient and regression analysis. The obtained results suggest that the level motivation to compliance with doctors' recommendations is correlated with two communication styles named as: (1) personal-nonmedical (r = 0,51; p < 0,01) and (2) personal-medical (r = 0,40; p < 0,05). Besides, the results indicated that the motivation to comply with the recommendations is importantly linked to factors such as: trusting doctors (r = 0,50; p < 0,01) and satisfaction with medical services (r = 0,45; p < 0,05). The regression analysis showed that the level of motivation to compliance with doctors' recommendations after leaving hospital depends on personal-nonmedical style of communication (5 = 0,51; t = 3,11; p < 0,01) in 25% (R2 = 0,26; F = 9,66; p < 0,01). The results suggest that patients' motivation to follow the doctors' recommendations is the highest when the physician communicates with them in the personal-nonmedical style. The research also demonstrated that physicians need to develop their communication skills, especially their nonmedical aspect.


Abstract The involvement of chronobiological mechanisms in the antidepressant response to such non-drug treatments as bright light, physical exercise and sleep deprivation still remain to be clarified. We compare the efficacy of several treatment strategies for seasonal and non-seasonal depression and discuss possible the contribution of chronobiological and psychological mechanisms in antidepressant response. The therapeutic effects were tested at the medical academic hospital near Novosibirsk (55 degrees North) in 138 subjects, either with winter depression or with non-seasonal depression or without depression (n = 41, 64 and 33, respectively). One-week monotreatments were either 2-hour 2500 lux cool-white incandescent light from 14:00 (n = 9, 9, 9, respectively) or 1-hour physical exercise from 13:00 (n = 9, 9, 9, respectively). One-week combined treatments included a night of total sleep deprivation followed by either 2-hour bright light from 14:00 (n = 8, 12, 0, respectively) or 1-hour physical exercise either under ordinary room light from 13:00 (n = 0, 12, 0, respectively) or under bright light from 12:00 (n = 5, 11, 0, respectively). The results indicate that, in subjects left without antidepressant treatment for a week (n = 10, 11, and 15, respectively), the 21-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score did not change significantly. The beneficial effects of total sleep deprivation were similar in seasonal and non-seasonal depression. The seasonals exhibited better response to bright light compared to non-seasonals. After sleep deprivation the substantial further improvements were produced by either lighting or exercising. Compared to the patients exercising under ordinary room light, the patients exercising under bright light did not gain an additional benefit. In general, winter depression was well-treated with either exercise or light, while the most promising treatment for non-seasonal depression was physical exercise combined with sleep deprivation. Bright light or physical exercise administered in the middle of the day were not less favorable compared to the treatments in the morning hours, although it is unlikely that they considerably challenged patient's chronobiology. It was concluded that the placebo effect would account for a large portion of clinical response to open non-pharmacological treatments. Therapeutic hops and visibility of such treatments would explain their high antidepressant efficacy in comparison with pharmacological trials applying a double blind cross-over design. In particular, the excellent response of patients with winter depression to light therapy might be related to their tendency to attribute a high symbolic value to bright light and associate their bad mood with a dark season.


Forming aligned arrays from bundled (rather than individualized) semiconducting carbon nanotubes can beneficially increase the density of nanotubes in the channel of field effect transistors (FETs). Here, we prepare aligned arrays of bundles at a density of 20 – 50 bundles μm-1 via tangential flow interfacial self-assembly and show that bundles can increase the transconductance of FETs when a strong gate is used. When encapsulated with an ion gel gate, the transconductance and saturated on-current increases as the diameter of the bundles increases. Devices tested at -0.6 V drain voltage using an ion gel gate achieve transconductance as high as 50 μS per bundle and 2000 μS μm-1 and on-state current as high as 1.7 mA μm-1. At low drain voltages the off-current also increases with bundling, but on/off ratios of ~105 are possible if the bundle size is limited to ~ 5 nm. Radio frequency devices with very strong gates may benefit from the increased device performance by using moderately bundled semiconducting carbon nanotube arrays.
 Figure Caption: Panel (a) has transfer curves from 4 devices each with ~42 CNTs-bundles μm-1 but with different median bundle heights. Devices with larger bundles have higher transconductance and saturated on-currents. Panel (b) shows the transconductance per bundle vs the median bundle height and shows the positive correlation between bundle size (height) and transconductance per bundle. Panel (c) is a rendering of a large bundle formed from polymer wrapped CNTs.

 Figure 1


The ability to validly measure campaign exposure is central to claims of public communication campaign effectiveness. Surprisingly, scholars have paid remarkably little attention to questions about the validity of various ways to measure campaign exposure. This paper begins to address this gap by outlining conceptual, empirical, and practical issues in developing valid measures of campaign exposure. First, I offer a brief definition of measurement validity and describe a variety of measurement options utilized in recent, large–scale health communication campaign evaluations. Next, I outline conceptual and empirical assumptions behind these various measurement strategies. I continue with a review of research that has applied validation criteria to specific measures of campaign exposure. I conclude by offering a series of guidelines for exposure measurement and validation practices based on the evidence to date, which I caveat by describing tensions and emergent issues that researchers will need to consider in future work.


Epoxy resins are widely applied in the automotive and electronic industries. However, pure epoxy resins are brittle and thus possess poor mechanical properties. Herein, we report a facile method for improving the impact-peel and adhesive strengths of epoxy resins via the incorporation of two di ff erent types of polyether amines (monoamine-based and diamine-based prepolymers). A comparative study was performed to investigate the potential advantages of incorporating a prepolymer into an epoxy resin matrix. It was discovered that the incorporation of a diamine prepolymer signi fi cantly improved the impact-peel strength of the epoxy resin system at low (-40 ° C) and room (23 ° C) temperatures. For 15wt% adhesive loading, the diamine prepolymer-based epoxy system demonstrated a 130% (low temperature) and 32% (room temperature) higher impact-peel strength than the monoamine prepolymer-based epoxy system. Moreover, the 15wt% diamine prepolymer-based epoxy system exhibited a signi fi cantly improved shear strength ( ~ 36 MPa) and T-peel strength (260N/25 mm) owing to the e ff ectively reduced crack propagation and cohesive interactions between the epoxy molecules. Our results suggest that the modi fi cation of epoxy resins with an appropriate amount of mono and diamine-functionalized elastomers provides a novel route for the development of highly e ffi cient adhesive materials for various applications.


Abstract. This study aims at 1. Producing a prop of fire extinguisher cutting to enhance the student's learning outcomes, 2. Analyzing the worthiness of the developed props in vocational university, 3. Analyzing the effectiveness of the developed props in a vocational university. This study refers to the research procedure of design and development by 4 D (Four D) consisting of, 1. Define, 2. Design, 3. Develop, 4. Disseminate.The data was analyzed using T-Test. The results showed that: 1. The K3 learning outcomes in vocational university did not meet the expectation; 2. Learning of fire extinguishers cutting props to enhance the students' learning outcomes were developed, and; 3. the developed of fire extinguishers cutting props was effective to enhance the students' learning outcomes. The results of the t-test showed that there was a significant difference between the learning outcomes with the props and the learning outcomes without the props. Keywords : Props, Cutting, Fire Extinguisher, Outcomes Learning


Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection has been associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). It is unclear whether HCV treatment affects risk of CVD among patients infected with HCV. We assessed the incidence and risk of CVD among insured patients with HCV infection and evaluated if HCV treatment was associated with reduced CVD risk.


OBJECTIVE
To study the relationship of mesorectum with fasciae and nerves in the pelvic cavity and to specify the proper planes of dissection in total mesorectal excision.

METHODS
Twenty-four pelvises (12 males and 12 females) harvested from cadavers were studied by dissection.

RESULTS
There were three planes surrounding the rectum as the visceral fascia, vesicohypogastric fascia and parietal fascia. The pelvic plexus and its branches situated between the visceral fascia and the vesicohypogastric fascia. Pelvic splanchnic nerves and hypogastric nerves were observed between the visceral fascia and the parietal fascia.

CONCLUSIONS
The posterior plane of total mesorectal excision lies between the visceral fascia and the parietal fascia. The lateral dissection should be conducted in a plane between the visceral fascia and the vesicohypogastric fascia. The proper planes for posterior and lateral resection can be identified by the hypogastric nerve and the pelvic plexus respectively.


The present study is the first to explore who among elderly clients elect to go into counseling and who does not. Analyses were conducted on 325 community and nursing home residents, aged 60 to 98, who were referred to a mental health center for counseling. Case records were reviewed to identify factors associated with attendance at an intake session. Only 19.1% of the older adults referred for counseling refused mental health services. Attendance was associated with nursing home residence, being female, emotion-based problems, and referral from physicians, self, home care services and visiting nurses. Age was not found to influence attendance; however, self-referrals were significantly younger than those who were referred by others. Community-resident elders who were referred by others were as likely to accept counseling as were the self-referrals.


In the processing of information aggregation, some data can only be expressed with linguistic value in a qualitatively way in that the objective things have their fuzziness and people have vague knowledge about the objective things. Aggregation operators are very important to the people when they process the linguistic value. The Ordered Weighted Aggregation (OWA) operator is the most common operator to aggregate the arguments that are the exact numerical values. However, the OWA operator has disadvantages of overlooking the importance of given argument itself and aggregating linguistic values directly. Inspired by OWA operators, scholars at home and abroad proposed some linguistic aggregation operator. The aim of this paper is to develop a new methodology for solving multiple attribute decision making problems in which the decision information is the fuzzy linguistic value. The methodology is based on the EWOA and LHA operators, and is straightforward without loss of information. At last, an illustrative example is given to prove the methodology is rationality‥


The purposes of this research were to 1) study sexual behavior and 2) factors related and affecting to sexual behavior of adolescents in vocational education college in Samutsongkram province. The study samples comprised of 274 vocational education students, year 1-3, Data collection was conducted by questionnaires developed by researcher. Percentage, mean, standard deviation, Chi-square test and Stepwise multiple regression analysis were employed. Major findings: Most of the samples were male (53.6%), average age 17.10 years (S.D. = 1.11), studied in second year, average expenses per month 1,607.70 baht (S.D. = 930.33), no saving of money (45.3%). ln aspect of factors affecting sexual behavior; we found that sex, education level, monthly income, sufficiently income, sex and contraceptive knowledge, sex attitude, family relationship, sex stimulations (drank alcohol, read erotic book, saw erotic film, watching erotic V.D.O.), contacted friend symbol (read erotic book, saw erotic film, watch erotic V.D.O. and having sexual intercourse. When we applied stepwise multiple regression analysis; we found that sex opinion, monthly income, sex and contraceptive knowledge could co-predict sexual behavior of the vocational education students in Samutsongkram province about 22.0%.


Understanding where people attention focuses is a challenging and extremely valuable task that can be solved using computer vision technologies. In this paper we address this problem on surveillance-like scenarios, where head and body imagery are usually low resolution. We propose a method to profile the attention of people moving in a known space. We exploit coarse gaze estimation and a novel model based on optical flow to improve attention prediction without the need of a tracker. Removing the tracker dependency makes the method applicable also on highly crowded scenarios. The proposed method is able to obtain comparable performance with respect to state of the art solutions in terms of Mean Average Angular Error (MAAE) on the TownCentre dataset. We also test our approach on the publicly available MuseumVisitors dataset showing an improvement both in terms of MAAE and in terms of accuracy in the estimation of visitors' profile.


This article was originally undertaken in order to attribute some new works to Andrea Camassei and to publish a number of documents concerning him, but the necessary research expanded it to a study of monograph proportions. A book on Camassei already exists. Published in 1880, it contains much useful information, especially that based on archives and sources in the artist's home town, Bevagna, but it is rare,1 has neither index nor plates, and is now out of date. Scattered later references in guidebooks for Bevagna and in studies of Roman seventeenth-century painting add little to Presenzini's monograph.2 Reluctant to write a book on the artist at this time, I think it useful nevertheless to publish the essential information on Camassei in the form of a short chronological survey of his career and a brief critical catalogue of his work, together with a number of new attributions. Both survey, and catalogue incorporate information from the documents, the most important of which are transcribed in an append...


Impact problems are often encountered in different branches of mechanics. They appear in robotics (robot-environment interaction), in physics of granular media, in biomechanics (heel-ground collisions in human gait), or in musical acoustics (hammer-string collisions), among others. Different approaches have been proposed to study and simulate impacts in rigid-body systems [1, 2]. They can be roughly classified into variable-configuration (VC) approaches and constantconfiguration (CC) ones. VC methods rely on compliant models to explore the interactions at the colliding points. In CC methods, conversely, the unavoidable deformation associated with impact is localized at the colliding points. As the time interval elapsed between the beginning and the end of the impact is very small (as compared to the time scale of non-impact dynamics), the system configuration is assumed to be constant throughout the collision interval. Single-point collisions are usually treated through Routh and Darboux methods. The most relevant feature of these methods is the use of the normal impulse as the integration variable (instead of time) to determine the velocity changes. This allows the determination of the velocity changes without using any particular compliant model but does not give any information about the value of the force at the collision point. Consequently, the detection of the collision end (which corresponds to a zero force value) has to be established through a plausible hypothesis concerning energy losses, usually formulated through a coefficient of restitution (COR). The aforementioned methods may not be applicable to multiple-point collisions [3]. In that case, the use of a compliant model is unavoidable. The constitutive laws allow the time integration of the equations of motion (simplified by the CC hypothesis) thus yielding the evolution of both velocities and normal forces at the collision points. The advantage of that integration is the easy detection of collisions end as a zero force state, thus avoiding the use of CORs (which may be energetically inconsistent). Two important features appear in multiple-point collisions, which are not possible in single-point ones. On one hand, redundancy may appear if the normal velocities of some colliding points are linearly related. On the other hand, in elastoplastic and inelastic impacts, unilateral constraints may appear, thus reducing the system's number of degrees of freedom. The present study proposes an efficient method to simulate smooth 3D multiple-point collisions in multibody systems to overcome those difficulties. The model is an extension of a previous version, restricted to the perfectly elastic case, able to account for the high sensitivity to initial conditions and for redundancy without assuming any particular collision sequence [4]. The main idea consisted of assuming a finite linear normal stiffness (high enough to assume constant configuration throughout the process) at each impact point and solving a vibrational problem. Two different time and space scales were used. At the macro scale, the overall system configuration was assumed to be constant. In this work, we present an extension that includes energy dissipation (with or without permanent indentation) associated with material deformation. It is introduced through a linear-by-part elastoplastic model consisting on two series bistiffness springs (Fig.1). The first one accounts for inelastic behavior (energy loss without permanent indentation, 0 1 ≤ μ with initial pure downwards translation. The mass is concentrated on half of the rod length. References [1] Stronge, W.J. Impact mechanics. Cambridge University Press, 2000. [2] Brogliato, B. Impacts in Mechanical Systems: Analysis and Modelling. Springer, 2000. [3] Ivanov, A.P. On multiple impact. J. Appl. Maths. Mechs. Vol. 59(3), pp. 887-902, 1995. [4] Barjau, A., Batlle, J.A. & Font-Llagunes, J.M. Combining vibrational linear-by-part dynamics and kinetic-based decoupling of the dynamics for multiple smooth impacts with redundancy, Multibody Syst. Dyn, Vol. 31, pp. 477-517, 2014.


By transforming the (p,q)(R)order and lower (p,q)(R)order of B-valued Dirichlet series into the research for the (p,q)(R)order and lower(p,q)(R)order of the Dirichlet series and combinig the corresponding results mentioned in the references,obtained the sufficient and necessary conditions of the (p,q)(R)order and lower (p,q)(R) order of Bvalued Dirichlet series.


We evaluate the folk wisdom that algorithmic decision rules trained on data produced by biased human decision-makers necessarily reflect this bias. We consider a setting where training labels are only generated if a biased decision-maker takes a particular action, and so "biased" training data arise due to discriminatory selection into the training data. In our baseline model, the more biased the decision-maker is against a group, the more the algorithmic decision rule favors that group. We refer to this phenomenon as "bias reversal." We then clarify the conditions that give rise to bias reversal. Whether a prediction algorithm reverses or inherits bias depends critically on how the decision-maker affects the training data as well as the label used in training. We illustrate our main theoretical results in a simulation study applied to the New York City Stop, Question and Frisk dataset.


We can look back on numerous successes and achievements during 2016. First, I, Jaco Pieterse (now in my capacity of Immediate Past President) want to thank all the members of SAIOH's Office, Council and the Management Board 2016, who worked together tirelessly in attaining these achievements. One of our main missions for 2016 was to revive the SAIOH Liaison Forum meetings; this was achieved with the aid and assistance of Claudina Nogueira, who did most of the groundwork.


The existing building stock is globally responsible for 17.5% of greenhouse gas emissions due to their operation to achieve occupant satisfaction, thus requiring a vast intervention. However, reducing building stock emissions and optimizing building energy performance cannot be considered independently by the users' well-being. The thermal comfort conditions and their monitoring represent a central issue that could optimize building energy usage while achieving good indoor environmental conditions. This document describes the first findings of ongoing research focused on the development of a building monitoring system, based on the integration of Building Information Modeling tools and sensor technology through Dynamo Visual Programming. Starting from the development of an Asset Information Model, which represents the virtual replica of a building that currently hosts the administrative offices of the municipality of Cagliari, the first step presented in this contribution shows a thermal comfort monitoring system, scalable and modular, that allows effective gathering and elaboration of data about comfort levels in each of the building's rooms. The system proves to be a helpful support for facility managers to control building thermal comfort conditions and HVAC systems to assure their best operative status or plan suitable interventions to achieve it.


A coffee-taste quick-frozen beef ball and a manufacturing method thereof. The coffee-taste quick-frozen beef ball is prepared from 20-25 parts of beef, 7-10 parts of streaky pork, 4-6 parts of coffee powder, 2-3 parts of lotus leaf powder, 0.1-0.15 part of black tea powder, 1-1.5 parts of pawpaw, 0.6-1 part of sweet potato, 0.5-0.8 part of fructus amomi, 0.4-0.7 part of chicken's gizzard membrane, 0.4-0.6 part of poria cocos, 0.6-0.9 part of kiwi fruits, 0.3-0.5 part of chive, and 0.2-0.4 part of beef extract. The invention provides a manufacturing method of quick-frozen beef balls, which comprises the following steps of beating, beef mincing, ball preparation and the like by a machine; the method both reduces labor intensity and ensures the quality of beef balls; the beef balls are quite chewy and elastic; the addition of coffee powder ensures the traditional taste and also adds coffee taste of the beef balls; the added pawpaw, sweet potato, fructus amomi, and chicken's gizzard membrane have effects of regulating intestines and stomach, which provides the beef ball of the invention with health care effect.


Three-dimensional physical model and numerical model are established according to the two nozzle structures,and the κ-e turbulence model is selected to establish mathematical model,the SIMPEC arithmetic is used for simulation.The results reflect that the cavitating nozzle has the maximum velocity value in the cylindrical section,and the negative pressure is favorable for the cavitations bubble to exist in the cylindrical section because of the intensely shearing action between nozzle and surrounding medium.The cavitating effect of angle-pipe nozzle is superior to organ-pipe nozzle under the specific parameter(the cylindrical section diameter d = 1 mm,the cylindrical section length S = 3 mm,the diffuser angle section L = 8 mm,the diffuser angle θ = 30°).


Introduction: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder characterized by elevated blood glucose levels. Chronic complications of DM affect coronary circulation, peripheral vascularization, and blood vessels of the brain. Decrease in peripheral vascularization increases the risk of tissue ischemia and weakens functional status, therefore it is necessary to control blood glucose levels. Islam teaches to its believers to control their diet, where diet is one of the four pillars of diabetes management. Methodology: this is analytic descriptive research with cross sectional methods in 67 respondents taken by consecutive sampling technique. Results: There was a significant correlation within blood glucose control and decreased peripheral vascularization in DM patients (p-value 0.010). Discussion: need further research regarding nursing intervention to control blood glucose.


Leisure is an ancient dream of humanity.The etymology study of the word "leisure" can be traced back to the pre-Qin Dynasty,ancient Greece and ancient Rome.In pre-Qin Chinese,"rest" means people leaning against wood to alleviate fatigue;people enjoy the "leisure" in the "rest" state,purifying the mind.In the West,the word "leisure" is first derived from the ancient Greek "σχολη",which mainly refers to learning,education,discussion and other activities.The English word "leisure" comes from the ancient Latin word "licēre",which means the legal and the allowed.The meaning of the modern English word "leisure" should be a combination of the ancient Latin "licēre" and the ancient Greek "σχολη".Whether in the pre-Qin Dynasty or ancient Greece and ancient Rome,"leisure" is not vulgar activities.Instead,it reflects a life paradigm which goes with regularity,morality and happiness.


There is disclosed a method in which the water
absorption of the porous cell structure is measured as the
standard for setting the carrying conditions of the
catalyst component in advance, when allowing the porous
cell structure for use as a catalyst carrier to carry the
catalyst component and forming a catalyst layer by a wash
coating process. In the present method, an amount of a
particulate material sticking to a surface of a partition
wall constituting a cell of the porous cell structure and
the surfaces of pores in the partition wall is regarded as
the water absorption of the porous cell structure to
measure the sticking amount.


Three construction schemes are explored,in which main activities are examined.Compared to the first scheme (8 day cycle),the durations of installation and concreting are shortened in the second scheme (6 day cycle)due to use of semi slab.On the basis of the 6 day cycle,towe crane is increased in the third scheme (4 day cycle).In addition,the effect on labour demands is investigated.It shows that innovative technology is conducive to decreasing labour demands.


From the working environment and community nuisance aspects, the sound levels in power plants are high enough to warrant noise control measures. In many cases they are required by law. Since retrofit measures are often expensive, inconvenient, and sometimes impractical, noise control features should be incorporated in the initial design. Features such as topography of the plant site, general arrangement of equipment and plant architecture could be effectively used for control of noise in addition to specifying low noise machinery.


According to the analyzing of natural disaster of ecological public-welfare forests and dynamic mechanism,risk management of natural disaster in ecological public-welfare forests needs to accept a certain level of risk,and reduce the total marginal cost to a lowest standard is the management objective,which is integrated risk management.Analysis have been conducted from the aspects of effectives risk aversion,extensive risk transfer and capacity-building for disaster reduction on it.


an accentuation of the distance between the governmental sphere and the less resourceful parts of civic society? And what is the role of the public bureaucracy in post-industrial societies compared to its functions in developing societies?


This paper deals with the issues of managing state property owned by the treasury, and analyzes the main trends in property acquisition by and withdrawal from the treasury, as well as some quantitative results achieved as a result of the government policy implemented in 2011–2014, its prospects and limitations.


A finite elemcnt-Helmholtz integral hybrid method has been developed to calculate the electro-acoustic performance of a finite length cylindrical transducer immersed in water. The numerical study concerned with electrical impedances and beam patterns of the transducer is presented. Experimental data are shown to support the numerical study.


Many people know that English is international language and has an important role in our society. People cannot interact with the other people in the other countries, if they cannot speak in English well. It makes people take English into account for the learning. Therefore, some people take English course to realize it.
Vocabulary mastery has an important role in the process of achieving language skill (reading, speaking, listening, and writing). The more vocabulary students have, the easier students develop the sentences. It means that learner who lacks of vocabulary will easily get stressed because he or she faces difficulties in the learning process. Thus, from various points of view, vocabulary can be seen as a priority area in language learning process.
The aim of this study is to describe the implementation of teaching vocabulary through reading anecdote text to enrich students vocabulary mastery, to understand whether reading anecdote texts can improve students vocabulary mastery and to understand the students responses after getting the material.
The design in this research is CAR (Classroom Action Research). The researcher conducted three cycles in three meetings. The subject of this research is the student of the tenth grade at MA al Huda Bogo, which consists of 20 students. The writer chooses anecdote text to make students interest and get their attention in learning process. Moreover, the researcher used instruments to collect the data they are observation checklist, questionnaire, and test.


It doesn't matter if you are American or Chinese. Everyone wants good health care. The CEO for Jiahui Health in Shanghai describes the private health system's creation of a closed-end digital and i...


A transistor rf-power source and its matching to the gas discharge that excites a CO{sub 2} waveguide laser are described. Results of an experimental study of a specimen source with an rf pump power of 150 W at 80-100 MHz are presented. 5 refs., 3 figs.


Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the major cause of mortality worldwide and is defined as an elevated level of atherogenic cholesterol and low levels of HDL cholesterol. However, very few studies have been conducted in India on the association of blood lipid profile with age and diet. The study aims to estimate lipid parameters in the blood of CAD patients aged 40-70 years on different diets. Lipid parameters were analyzed by enzymatic method on EM-200 fully automated Biochemistry analyzer. The data obtained showed that the majority of patients who suffered from CAD were between the age group of 51-60 years. Patients with CAD had altered lipid profiles, with higher levels of serum TGs, total cholesterol and low levels of HDL. Vegetarians have been found to have reduced lipid risk factors for coronary heart disease compared to patients on a mixed diet. Keywords: age, cholesterol, coronary artery disease, dietary components, HDL, triglycerides


We are developing a multi-wavelength laser for the two-step laser time-of-flight mass-spectrometer (L2MS). The L2MS is designed to detect hydrocarbons in organically-doped analog minerals, including cryogenic Ocean World-relevant ices and mixtures for future astrobiology missions.


Nowadays, medium- and high-power applications make use of silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs, and many times their parallelization is necessary. Unfortunately, this requirement causes an inevitable current unbalance between power devices, affecting the performance of power switches. Over the last decade, numerous studies have been conducted, proposing various techniques with the capability of mitigating current unbalance for a number of discrete parallel SiC MOSFETs. However, the realization of most methods requires knowledge of the technical characteristics of power devices, adding extra cost to the system, since screening is a time-consuming and costly process. This necessity reduces the possibilities of such a technique being implemented in power electronics applications, preventing the exploitation of the exceptional features of SiC MOSFETs. In addition, most of these techniques can suppress only the current unbalance, which occurs during turn-on and turn-off transitions. In this paper, an active auto-suppression current unbalance technique is proposed, requiring no device screening. The active method is a closed-loop system capable of sensing and eliminating the entire current unbalance between parallel SiC MOSFETs automatically, actively, and independently of the cause. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed technique.


Background Cricoid pressure has been used for 43 years to prevent regurgitation of gastric content during induction of anesthesia. Recent studies have emphasized using more moderate force so as not to deteriorate ventilation or endotracheal intubation. This study was undertaken to assess the current practice and knowledge of cricoid pressure among anesthesia personnel in Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital. Methods Fifty-six subjects from the Anesthetic Department in Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital were asked to apply and maintain cricoid pressure for 60s, with their dominant and then non-dominant hands in a laryngeal model during simulated intravenous induction of anesthesia. Where and how pressure was applied as well as force used by each subject was recorded together with information on individual experience and knowledge of the technique. Results There were no significant changes in the force applied over time, and no significant difference in force between dominant (median 37 N; 1 st to 3 rd quantile 26-50 N) and nondominant (36; 26; 50 N) hands, female and male subjects or physicians, nurses, and assistant nurses. Force exceeded 60 N at least once in 21% of the subjects. More than two thirds (69%) of the subjects had not heard of any recommended level of force to be applied. Forty percent of anesthesiologists were unaware of any contraindication. Conclusion More specific education and training should be mandatory to improve clinical use of cricoid pressure and possibly increase patient safety. Simulates allowing cricoid pressure to be carried out and evaluated in a standardized manner should therefore be incorporated into future training programs and airway management courses. Chiang Mai Med Bull 2005;44(3):107-113.


Steganography is an art of hiding the existence of data that is it hides the secret message in the digital cover medium. This paper introduces an improved algorithm that uses pixel value indicator technique for the concealment of the secret message in most significant bits (MSBs) of the cover image. Here, Green channel serves as a pixel value indicator for hiding the secret message in 5th and 6th bits of Blue channel or Red channel of RGB cover image. If Green channel has even number of 1's, Blue channel is used for embedding the secret message otherwise Red channel is used for the embedding process. The experimental results of the proposed method are obtained using MATLAB R2017a. The experimental results obtained show that the stego-image formed is of great quality having high PSNR value and it provides good security and in distinguishability.


High energy electrons and positrons from annihilating dark matter can imprint unique angular anisotropies on the diffuse gamma-ray flux by inverse Compton scattering off the interstellar radiation field. We develop a numerical tool to compute gamma-ray emission from such electrons and positrons produced in the smooth host halo and in substructure halos with masses down to 10^(-6)M_sun. We show that the angular power spectrum from inverse Compton scattering is exponentially suppressed below an angular scale determined by the diffusion length of electrons and positrons. We also find that the total flux and the shape of the angular power spectrum depends sensitively on the spatial distribution of subhalos in the Milky Way. Finally, the contribution from the smooth host halo component to the gamma-ray mean intensity is negligibly small compared to subhalos.


Abstract The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is upsetting human well-being and the economy around the globe. Scientists have been trying some antiviral drugs to control the disease and transmission of the 2019-nCoV in vitro. Two of these compounds are Favipiravir (T–705) and Ribavirin. Topological index also known as connectivity index, is a molecular descriptor which is calculated based on the molecular graph of a chemical compound. Topological indices are used to predict different biological and physicochemical properties of chemical compounds. In this article, various significant topological degree-based indices and the M-polynomials are investigated for the Favipiravir(T–705) and Ribavirin. The results obtained may aid in the designing of new medicine for the treatment and prevention of COVID-19 and other diseases.


This paper investigates how to improve the communication performance of galvanic coupling Intra-Body Communication (IBC). Towards this objective, an in vivo measurement is firstly carried out to obtain the channel characteristics of human body in the frequency range from 100 Hz to 1 MHz. Severe gain variation and phase non-linearity are observed in the frequency response lower than frequency of 200 kHz. Then pulse shaping and channel equalization are introduced for QPSK and 16QAM modulation systems to eliminate the channel impairments in both simulations and experiments. The results show that root raised cosine pulses can significantly reduce Bit Error Rate (BER). Furthermore, the channel equalization improves BER 1-10% for QPSK, and more than 20% for 16QAM. The results indicate pulse shaping and channel equalization are effective ways for BER reduction, which are very important for the design of IBC system.


The rigid body displacement mathematical model is a Lie group of the special Euclidean group SE (3). This article is about the Lie algebra se (3) group. The standard exponential map from se (3) onto SE (3) is a natural parameterization of these displacements. In technical applications, a crucial problem is the vector minimal parameterization of manifold SE (3). This paper presents a unitary variant of a general class of such vector parameterizations. In recent years, dual algebra has become a comprehensive framework for analyzing and computing the characteristics of rigid-body movements and displacements. Based on higher-order fractional Cayley transforms for dual quaternions, higher-order Rodrigues dual vectors and multiple vectorial parameters (extended by rotational cases) were computed. For the rigid body movement description, a dual tangent operator (for any vectorial minimal parameterization) was computed. This paper presents a unitary method for the initial value problem of the dual kinematic equation.


Pacitan is an administrative area in East Java. in this Regency there is a historical site of the struggle of General Soedirman. Guerrilla struggle during the physical revolution in Indonesia, in the period 1945-1949. These historical sites are in the form of open houses and monuments. one of the guerrilla sites used as a scheme in this study is a halfway house in Wonokarto. Its location in the hills is one of the geographical potentials that support it as a source of historical learning. The method in this research is collaboration, namely history and qualitative. The results of this study are historical learning model schemes with the use of Guerilla historical sites in Wonokarto.


Colibactin is a natural product made by numerous strains of E. coli that harbor the pks genomic island. The deletion of one of the genes within the pks island, the peptidase clbP, has been found to disrupt the maturation of colibactin, thus promoting the accumulation in the periplasmic space of numerous biosynthesis intermediates, some of which have been characterized chemically. To date, no one has reported the effect of such an accumulation of intermediates on the cellular morphology of the producing E. coli bacterium. In this report, we describe the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of numerous clinical isolates of E. coli harboring the pks island, collected from Puerto Rico hospitals. We have observed that the wild type isolates that harbor the pks island display lesions on the bacterial envelope surface. These lesions are absent in isolates lacking the pks island. To determine whether this phenotype is associated with colibactin production, we deleted the clbP gene from the extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli strain IHE3034, thus disrupting its ability to make colibactin. The wild-type IHE3034 displayed a spherical shape with no envelope lesions, and was practically indistinguishable from the ΔclbP deletion mutant. To our knowledge, this work provides the first SEM images of a pks deletion mutant. Importance The pks genomic island has been linked to the promotion of DNA damage and colorectal cancer, through the production of genotoxic compound colibactin in some strains of E. coli. While much is known about the mechanism of colibactin toxicity once it enters the mammalian cell, the prior steps leading to colibactin secretion or translocation from the bacterial cell, remain unclear. Here, we report high-resolution electron microscopy images of E. coli IHE3034 strain, a known colibactin producer, and a deletion mutant that is known to accumulate colibactin intermediates. The images reveal a predominantly spherical morphology that is unaffected by the accumulation of colibactin precursors and intermediates.


Optimal synthesis of a 3-DOF 4 limbs planar parallel mechanism with actuated redundancy is studied. The kinematics equation of the mechanism is developed and the topology of the mecha-nism is classified. The kinematics and force properties of the mechanisms according to the topologies are compared. Furthermore, a global optimizing formulation is derived from the condition number that is a local index usually used to scaling the manipulability isotropy quantitatively. The optimiza-tion is solved by genetic algorithm. The numerical results show that the topology of the mechanisms can influence the kinematics and force property considerably, and the manipulation dexterity of the mechanisms can be improved distinctly by the given formulations and the suggested optimization algorithm.


At least four source impedances are required to characterize the noise parameters of a two‐port network. The accuracy of the noise parameters depends on the configuration of the employed source impedances (pattern). The configuration of a specified pattern, generated generally by an impedance tuner, changes with frequency, and as such, the accuracy is usually degraded in a wideband characterization. To realize a low‐error wideband noise characterization, the present article thoroughly investigates the method of choosing a four‐source impedance pattern. A Monte Carlo simulation‐based approach is proposed to obtain the desired impedance patterns. The measurement and simulation results show that the noise parameters are accurately extracted when an impedance pattern is configured by a source impedance located near the center of the Smith chart and three other impedances located as close to the edge as possible with interphase separations of at least 45°. While the interphase separations remain unchanged, the impedance pattern rotation around the center of the Smith chart does not affect the accuracy of the extracted noise parameters, as demonstrated analytically here. The resultant impedance pattern realizes a wideband characterization from f0 to 3.5f0 without using an impedance tuner. The obtained accuracy is comparable to methods employing a redundant number of source impedances.


In commenting on our article, "Uncertain Benefits Estimates for Reductions in Fine Particle Concentrations,"(1) Fann, Lamson, Anenberg, and Hubbell(2) argue that the central premise—that the Agency has done too little to respond to the 2002 National Research Council (NRC) Report(3)—is not supported by the historical record. Our article focused on the steps that EPA has taken to improve its estimation and characterization of health benefits and uncertainty since 2002, not in the abstract, but against the benchmark of the standard for quantitative uncertainty analysis called for by the NRC more than 10 years ago. Fann et al. supply no evidence to support their claim that we understated EPA's limited progress toward meeting that standard. EPAs uncertainty analysis in its recent regulatory impact analyses (RIAs)—including the recent final RIA for the PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS)(4)—is largely unchanged from the approach reviewed and critiqued by the 2002 NRC Report and cannot be seen as evidence of adequate progress towards the standard of that report. EPA's recent RIAs provide two primary estimates of mortality benefits using two recent epidemiological studies based on data from the American Cancer Society and the Six City Study. These primary estimates include confidence intervals based on a Monte Carlo analysis using distributions reflecting the standard errors for the PM-mortality concentration–response (C–R) relationships from the two epidemiological studies and a distribution for the valuation of a reduction in the risk of premature mortality. These RIAs acknowledge—consistent with the critique of


To study the effects of particle motion mechanism and size distribution on fractal dimension of dust cake structure,the process of aerosol particles deposition in fibrous filtration medium was simulated on basis of Diffusion-Limited Aggregation(DLA)improving model.In this study,effects of inertia movement and diffusion movement on particles deposition would be considered.In the mean while,ratio of inertia movement to diffusion movement was defined as Pe number.The results show that surface curve of dust cake becomes irregular with Pe reducing and fractal dimension of dust cake surface increased with Pe increasing.The more greater particles dispersion,the more greater dust cake porosity,the more uneven the distribution.The porosity,formed by Polydisperse dust particles,is less than that formed by monodisperse particles.Stronger particle diffusion movement,more uniform the dust cakes was.


In March, the snow; and restlessnessBlack gaunt trees swaying without grace; Wind crying news of persons and places. Snow swells streams and still the wind cries down long yellow fields and wet brown hills and the long roadsHow are they, the old friends; what do tl1ey say, what do, what thinkToday without Yesterday or Tomorrow is gone; Now, one past; and TomorrowTomorrow has always come. In March the wind came crying down the long roads a whisper of a song a whisper of a laugh bright threads of a broken pattern caught in the windYesterday cries down the long road to Tomorrow. In March we listen to the wind.


A Novel Zero Current 5witcing(ZC5) Pulse Width Modulation(PWM) boost converter for reducing two rectifiers reverse recovery related losses is proposed
The switches of the proposed converter are operating to work alternatively turn-on and turn-off with soft switching(ZV5, ZC5) condition. The reverse recovery related switching losses and EMI problems of the proposed converter eliminates the reverse recovery current of the freewheeling diode (D, D1) by adding the resonant inductor Lr, in series with the switch 52
The voltage and current stresses of the components are similar to those in its conventional hard switching counterpats. As mentioned above, the characteristics are verified through experimental results.


With the mining natural resources,resource advantages becomes weaker,because of the lack of human capital,the continuing industries in resource-based city is difficult to develop in future.Continuous developing is the very urgent and realistic issue in resource-based city.This paper analyses existing problems on human capital in resource-based city;then elaborates the interaction mechanism among natural resources,human capital investment and continue development in resource-based city;lastly,puts forward measures on human capital investment in resource-based city.


Philanthropy and religious idealism loomed high in the inception of Georgia. Doctor Thomas Bray, once Commissary of the Lord Bishop of London in Maryland, the motivating factor in the founding of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, the patron of parochial lending libraries for the colonies, and the ardent advocate of the education of the negro slave, had in his latter years associated himself with General James Edward Oglethorpe. The two had found a common interest in the need of prison reform; there is much reason to believe that Oglethorpe's concern over the hardships of the debtor prisoners was the result of his conferences with Doctor Bray. At any rate, when Doctor Bray received a legacy for the education of the Negroes in the colonies, Oglethorpe was one of the group later incorporated as the "Associates of Doctor Bray." There were several prominent Anglican clergymen among the trustees, as well as laymen of wealth and position. The original Associates did not constitute a colonising society; their objects were the founding of parochial libraries in England and the plantations and the Christian education of the Negro. When the colonisation of Georgia was undertaken, the enlarged group of Associates of Doctor Bray formed the nucleus of the Georgia Board of Trustees. The Associates included some eight individuals who never served as trustees of the new colony; but no one of the Board as first named was chosen from outside that composite charitable society. "At the head of its membership were three of the original group of Associates. There were fourteen members of Parliament, all of whom but Digby (and possibly Lowther) had served on at least the revised committee on the gaols, though three of the least active were omitted from the trust.


To the Editor: In Nigeria, from February 2006 through July 2008, outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) subtype H5N1 virus infection in poultry negatively affected animal and public health as well as the agricultural sector and trade. These outbreaks were caused by viruses belonging to genetic clades 2.2 and 2.2.1 (1). In January 2015, seven years after disappearance of the virus, clinical signs of HPAI (swollen head and wattles, hemorrhagic shank and feet) and increased mortality rates were observed among backyard poultry in Kano and in a live bird market in Lagos State, Nigeria. The virus was isolated from 2 samples independently collected from the poultry farm (parenchymatous tissues) and the market (tracheal swab), and H5 subtype virus was identified by reverse transcription PCR. The samples were adsorbed onto 2 Flinders Technology Associates cards (GE Healthcare Life Sciences, Little Chalfont, UK), which were sent to the World Organisation for Animal Health/Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza in Italy for subtype confirmation and genetic characterization. Influenza A(H5N1) virus was detected in both samples, and sequencing of the hemagglutinin (HA) gene showed that the viruses possessed the molecular markers for HPAI viruses with a multibasic amino acid cleavage site motif (PQRERRRKR*G).

The complete genome of the virus from backyard poultry was successfully sequenced from the genetic material extracted from the Flinders Technology Associates cards by using an Illumina MiSeq platform (2) and was submitted to the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data database (http://platform.gisaid.org/) under accession nos. EPI556504 and EPI567299–EPI567305. Maximum-likelihood trees were estimated for all 8 gene segments by using the best-fit general time reversible plus invariant sites plus gamma 4 model of nucleotide substitution with PhyML (3). The topology of the phylogenetic tree of the HA gene demonstrated that the H5N1 virus from Nigeria (A/chicken/Nigeria/15VIR339-2/2015) falls within genetic clade 22.214.171.124c (Figure, panel A). In particular, the HA gene sequence clustered with H5 viruses collected in China in 2013 and with an H5N1 virus (A/Alberta/01/2014) isolated from a Canada resident who had returned from China (similarity 99.3%–99.5%) (4).

The remaining 7 genes were closely related to genes of A/Alberta/01/2014(H5N1), although the 2 viruses differed by 32 aa (Technical Appendix). Just as for the virus from Canada (4), 7 of 8 gene segments of the virus from Nigeria clustered with HPAI A(H5N1) virus circulating in Vietnam and China, while the polymerase basic 2 gene segment (Figure, panel B) resulted from reassortment with viruses circulating in the same Asian countries but belonged to the H9N2 subtype. Differing from the strain from Canada (only 2 aa mutations compared with the 220.127.116.11c candidate vaccine strain; 5), the strain from Nigeria possesses 6 aa differences: 3 in HA1 and 3 in HA2 (Technical Appendix). The effect of these mutations on the antigenic relatedness of these strains should be further explored.

Figure

Maximum likelihood phylogenetic trees of the A) hemagglutinin and B) polymerase basic 2 gene segments of highly pathogenic avian influenza A(H5N1) virus from poultry in Nigeria, 2015 (in red). Bootstrap values (100 replicates) >60 are shown at ...

Molecular characterization demonstrated that the polymerase basic 2 sequence contains glutamic acid at position 627, establishing the lack of a well-known mammalian adaptation motif (6). Mutations associated with increased virulence in mice have been observed in the nonstructural protein 1 (P42S, D87E, L98F, I101M, and the 80–84 deletion) and in the matrix 1 proteins (N30D, T215A). In addition, the substitutions D94N, S133A, S155N (H5 numbering) associated with increased binding to α-2,6 sialic acid have been identified in the HA protein. However, most of these substitutions are present in the H5N1 virus sequences from Asia included in our phylogenetic analyses, suggesting that they may be common among the HPAI H5 virus subtype. Mutations associated with resistance to antiviral drugs have not been detected (7).

The results obtained from whole-genome analysis provide evidence that a novel clade of the A(H5N1) virus, specifically clade 188.8.131.52c, has reached Nigeria. Although ascertaining how and exactly when this has happened is difficult, it seems most likely that the virus entered the country in December 2014, as evidenced by unverified accounts of increased poultry deaths in some live bird markets in Lagos, after the birds had been moved from the north (Kano) to the south during the festive season. The identification of genetic clustering between the strains from Nigeria analyzed here and the HPAI A(H5N1) viruses originally identified in Asia suggests an unknown epidemiologic link between these regions, probably associated with human activities, migratory bird movements, or both.

Considering that this virus is an intersubtype reassortant and has already caused infection in humans, we believe that complete characterization of the strain in terms of virulence and host range is of high priority. Furthermore, because the reemergence of subtype H5N1 virus was followed by epidemiologic amplification (≈265 outbreaks in 18 states as of February 2015; T. Joannis, pers. comm., 2015) for which virus genetic characterization is not yet available, local veterinary and public health services and international organizations should take necessary measures to identify critical control points and stop circulation of this virus.

Technical Appendix. Amino acid comparison of avian influenza viruses and sequences from the Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data database.

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It can play an important role in improving the effectiveness of teaching to strengthen teaching design of ideological and political teaching in higher vocational colleges.In the design,we should take people-oriented as a starting point,exerting students' activities as the basic requirements,training students' ability as the core.Based on the design of teaching aim,teaching strategies and teaching evaluation,we also need to focus on class lead in,case optimization,topic selection,curricular design,in and after-school activities,etc.


A process for providing a thermally homogeneous flow of molten glass comprises introducing a stratified liquid layer of non-volatile evaporation resistant materials having density smaller than that of the molten glass, onto the surface of the molten glass contained within a feeding section of a forehearth.


The article deals with the features of the linguistic situation and issues of teaching the Russian language in the Republic of Abkhazia. The article is based on the conclusions made at a workshop in Abkhazia on November 21–25, 2011.


IN RUSSIAN LANGUAGE CULTURE: LEXICOGRAPHIC AS-PECT Irina Viktorovna POPOVICHEVA, Tambov State University named after G.R. Derzhavina, Tambov, Russian Federa-tion, Candidate of Philology, Associate Professor of Russian Language Department, e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com The problem of describing of semantics of linguistic signs is seen as central at referring to the interpretation of human conceptual knowledge about the world. The article investigates the semantic components of word


The use of immunotherapy to treat recurrent/metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck has become a popular research topic in recent years, and many clinical trials have been carried out.


This paper presents the results of effects of boronizing process of AISI 321 austenitic stainless steel on its electrochemical corrosion resistance. The steel samples were boronized at a temperature of 900 ◦C for 6 h. In this process, a mixture powder (B4C, SiC, borax), alumina (Al2O3) and potassium fluoroborate (KBF4) was used. The evaluation of the corrosion resistance of boronized stainless steel was carried out by using the so-called progressive thinning method, consisting in determination of polarisation characteristics on increasingly-deeper situated regions of the top layer. This method made it possible to determine changes in particular corrosion parameters read out from potentiodynamic polarisation curves, thus enabling the depth profiles of these parameters. Potentiodynamic polarization tests were carried out in an 0.5 M sulphate solution acidified to pH = 2.0. It is shown that unlike unmodified steel, the boron-rich outer layer does not passivate but undergoes fast dissolution both in activeand transpassive regions in the corrosion solution.


The study objective was to test a standardized social network analysis (SNA) design which would be useful in increasing significantly the level of more effective method (MEM) practices in Region VI (Western Visayas Philippines). Immediate project objectives were divided into 3 phases: to conduct in-depth interviews of 36 purposively selected full time outreach workers (FTOWs) in Phase I to obtain information on the effective procedures employed by the FTOWs in utilizing the SNA; to identify and randomly assign to an experimental group or a control group the 20 lowest performing districts and to assess prevalence of MEM use; and to interview the 70 sample Barangay Service Point (BSP) areas 70 FTOWs and 10 District Population Officers (DPOs) about their experiences -- procedures reactions problems and recommendations -- in employing the standardized SNA procedure. 2 hypotheses were tested: the use of standardized SNA will result in a significant increase in the rate of MEM use; and the use of the SNA will significantly increase the overall contraceptive prevalence rate. The experimental pretest-posttest control group design was used. Qualitative findings revealed that training of DPOs FTOWs and BSPOs on the SNA process were conducted before actual field implementation. The FTOWs and the DPOs unanimously recognized the value of their training but they could hardly recall the SNA procedure that they were taught. A delay in the BSPO training consequently delayed other SNA activities. The training which was intended to teach the BSPOs about the SNA process merely focused on the completing of forms. Prior to the intervention the enumerated MEM prevalence rate in the experimental BSPs was 20.1%; it was 22.4% by the time of the posttest enumeration. The increase was not much different from the POPCOM target of increasing MEM prevalence nationwide by 2 percentage points per year. In contrast with the control area where the MEM prevalence rate decreased by nearly 2 percentage points the moderate increase in the experimental area takes on more significance. The raw service statistics indicate a less pronounced effect. The enumeration findings fail to support the hypothesis that the intervention had a net positive effect on overall prevalence. Although overall prevalence increased by 2.7 percentage points in the experimental area it increased by 3.5 percentage points in the control area. It is concluded that the success of social networking as an approach in increasing and improving the practice of family planning in Western Visayas is uncertain. There were factors other than the SNA which were strongly suspected to have worked independently of each other or collectively to effect the minimal gains in MEM use in the experimental areas.


This paper starts from the present development of mobile e-commerce at the era of 3G in China,and bases on the studying of security issues of mobile e-commerce in China,it explores the causes leading the problems in technology,market and so on,further analyses the harms and damages of the problems,finally puts forward some coping strategies.


The article «Drug-induced liver injury in children with tuberculosis» describes data on the prevalence of drug-induced liver injury during TB therapy in children, recommendations for the diagnosis and the results of a randomized controlled trial of efficacy therapy with ursodeoxycholic acid of the drug-induced liver injury in children.