Influence of Prenatal Surveillance on Maternal and Perinatal Prognosis: A Prospective Study over 6 Months at the Maternity Ward of the Owendo University Hospital (Gabon)

Introduction: The occurrence of pregnancy in women is a risky situation. Prenatal care is necessary, which is not often the case in our context. Aim: To analyze the influence of antenatal surveillance on maternal and perinatal prognosis. Patients and Method: Preliminary longitudinal and analytical survey at the Owendo University Hospital (OHU) over 6 months. It focused on prenatal surveillance. The study population consisted of parturients who gave birth within 24 hours and we studied sociodemographic characteristics, variables related to antenatal contact, those of delivery as well as maternal and newborn outcomes. Results: 2485 deliveries were recorded and 1300 patients were retained according to the inclusion criteria. No prenatal contact (ANC0) was performed in 93 (7.15%), insufficient (ANCI) in 943 patients (72.5%), and sufficient (ANCS) in 264 patients (20.30%). Patients with low school level were significantly found when the NPC was not performed or insufficient and the same was true for the group of patients who were not employed and those who were single (p < 0.005). The caesarean section rate and perinatal mortality are high in this case. Conclusion: The quality of prenatal contact is insufficient in our context. The absence or inadequacy of the latter has a strong negative impact on maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality.

Effect of Low Temperature and Sparse Light Conditions on Cold Tolerance of Different Rice Lines at Seedling Stage

Low temperature and sparse light in early spring is one of the factors causing reduction for rice production. So it is important to develop cold tolerance cultivars. In the present study, cold tolerance characters of 36 parents and 423 rice lines from 68 hybrid groups were investigated at seedling stage under low tempera- ture and sparse light conditions in field. There were 10 parent accessions with strong cold tolerance of level 1. Among them, 3 were common wild rice accessions; 4 were japonica rice cultivars; 2 were indica rice; 1 was offspring from hybrid be- tween indica and japonica.There were 33 lines with strong cold tolerance of level 1 from the hybrid groups of common wild rice,and 15 from the hybrid groups of IRBB5, and only 3 from the hybrid groups of BPHR96. There were abundant cold tolerance resources in rice germplasm. It was feasible to develop cold tolerance cul- tivars from the hybrids among common wild rice, japonica cultivars and indica culti- vars.

Studies on the Avoidance of Cultural Conflicts from the Aspect of Relationship between Non-verbal Communication and Culture

Nowadays,communication with foreign people isbecoming closer.While,misunderstandings occur frequently inthis process.The main purpose of this essay is to offer some pro-posals on the problem of misunderstandings and conflicts in inter-cultural communication from the aspect of relationship betweenculture and non-verbal communication.

Design of Eco-friendly Ultra-high Performance Concrete with Supplementary Cementitious Materials and Coarse Aggregate

Aiming to investigate the mix design of eco-friendly UHPC with supplementary cementitious materials and coarser aggregates, we comprehensively studied the workability, microstructure, porosity, compressive strength, flexural strength, and Young’s modulus of UHPC. Relationship between compressive strength and Young’s modulus was obtained eventually. It is found that the compressive strength, flexural strength, and Young’s modulus of UHPC increase by 19.01%, 10.81%, and 5.99%, respectively, when 40 wt% cement is replaced with supplementary cementitious materials. The relationship between compressive strength and Young’s modulus of UHPC is an exponential form.

A journey towards shared governance: status and prospects for collaborative management in the protected areas of Bangladesh

Establishment of Protected Areas （PAs）, in the face of rapid deforestation, forest degradation and climate change has been one of the key efforts in conservation of biodiversity worldwide in recent times. While Bangladesh has gained a degree of prominence in the world for its successful social forestry programs, the concept of collaborative pro- tected area management is rather new in the country, initiated in 2004 by the Bangladesh Forest Department in five PAs with financial assistance from USAID. Based on empirical evidence from three of the pilot PAs, we examined the achievements and associated challenges and prospects for co-management. Our fieldwork revealed a number of challenges faced by co-management institutions： （1） institutions were dominated by the elite group, overshadowing the voice of the community people; （2） mutual trust and collective performance are key to good governance but had not taken root in the PAs; （3） encroachment onto forest land and subsequent conversion to agriculture remained a serious problem that discouraged forest-dependent people from participating actively in co-management initiatives; （4） legal provisions （including acts, rules and policies） were not clearly and adequately disseminated and understood at the community level; （5） there remained a degree of ambiguity regarding the roles and responsibilities of forest department （FD） and co-management committees （CMC） in field operations, and this was not enhancing transparency and accountability of the overall initiative; （6） the long-term sustainability of co-management institutions was another major concern, as the local intuitional structure was still in a nascent stage, and provisioning of resources （either internally or externally） remained somewhat uncertain. We offer recommendations for improve- ment.

SPEECH ENHANCEMENT BASED ON SECOND ORDER ARCHITECTURE AND INFORMATION MAXIMIZATION THEORY

Based on the idea of adaptive noise cancellation (ANC), a second order architecture is proposed for speech enhancement. According as the Information Maximization theory, the corresponding gradient descend algorithm is proposed. With real speech signals in the simulation, the new algorithm demonstrates its good performance in speech enhancement. The main advantage of the new architecture is that clean speech signals can be got with less distortion.

基于Afford ance的认知错觉性设计研究

随着生活水平的不断提高,人们在基本的物质需求得到满足后,越来越重视这些"物"之本身品质和情感体验的追求。本文通过对Afford ance和认知错觉性概念理论的梳理,阐述信息社会背景下基于Afford ance的认知错觉性设计的开发意义,进而分析该类设计的两种分类途径,最后整理得出将Afford ance和认知错觉性这两种看似相互矛盾的概念融合应用于高科技化产品设计之中的方法、思路。

Impact of EBG Structures' Positions on the Performance of an EBG Antenna

Six circularly polarized patch antennas with electromagnetic band gap（EBG）arranged at different locations were studied.These EBG antennas were compared in terms of impedance bandwidth,axial ratio（AR）bandwidth and radiation patterns.When the EBG cells were placed closer to the edge of the substrate,the EBG antenna had a larger front radiation and a narrower bandwidth.Integrating the EBG cells closer to the center of the patch resulted in a wider impedance bandwidth,a wider axial ratio bandwidth and a decreased front gain.

Attendance and Utilization of Antenatal Care (ANC) Services: Multi-Center Study in Upcountry Areas of Uganda

Introduction: Globally every year 529,000 maternal deaths occur, 99% of this in developing coun-tries. Uganda has high maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality ratios, typical of many countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Recent findings reveal maternal mortality ratio of 435:100,000 live births and neonatal mortality rate of 29 deaths per 1000 live births in Uganda;these still remain a challenge. Women in rural areas of Uganda are two times less likely to attend ANC than the urban women. Most women in Uganda have registered late ANC attendance, averagely at 5.5 months of pregnancy and do not complete the required four visits. The inadequate utilization of ANC is greatly contributing to persisting high rates of maternal and neonatal mortality in Uganda. This study was set to identify the factors associated with late booking and inadequate utilization of Antenatal Care services in upcountry areas of Uganda. Method: Cross-sectional study design with mixed methods of interviewer administered questionnaires, focus group discussions and key informant interviews. Data was entered using Epidata and analyzed using Stata into frequency tables using actual tallies and percentages. Ethical approval was sought from SOM-REC MakCHS under approval number “#REC REF 2012-117” before conducting the study. Results: A total of four hundred one were enrolled with the majority being in the age group 20 - 24 years (mean age, 25.87 ± 6.26). Health workers played a great role (72.04%), followed by the media (15.46%) and friends (12.50%) in creating awareness about ANC. A significant number of respondents went to TBAs with reasons such as “near and accessible”, “my husband decided”, and “they are the only people I know”. 37.63% of the respondents considered getting an antenatal Card as an importance of ANC. 71 (19.67%) respondents gave a wrong opinion (late) on booking time with reasons like demands at work, no problems during pregnancy, advised by friends, just to get a card, long distance and others didn’t know. Almost half of the respondents never knew the recommended number of visits. Religion, occupation, level of education, and parity were found to influence place of ANC attendance, number of ANC visits and booking time. Husbands were necessary to provide financial support, accompany their wives ANC clinic, and ensure that they complete the visits. But their response was poor due to: fear of routine investigations and constrained economically. Conclusion: The study findings show the actual rural setting of ANC services attendance and utilization. Much sensitization has to be done specifically in these rural areas to empower pregnant women and their husbands as to improve ANC attendance and utilization.

In vivo percutaneous reflectance spectroscopy of fatty liver development in rats suggests that the elevation of the scattering power is an early indicator of hepatic steatosis

This study assessed whether there was a scat tering spectral mar ker quantifiable by reflectance measurements that could indicate early development of hepatic steatosis in rats for potential applications to pre procurement organ evaluation.Sixteen rats were fed a methionine choline-deficient(MCD)diet and eight rats were fed a normal diet.Direct assessment of the liver parenchyma of rats in vivo was performed by percut aneous reflect ance spectroscopy using a single fiber probe at the beginning of diet-intake and arbitrary post-diet-intake times up to 11 weeks to render longitudinal comparison.Histological sampling of the liver over the duration of diet adm inistration was performed on two MCD diet treated rats and one control rat eutha-nized after reflectance spectroscopy measurement.The images of hematoxylin/eosin-stained liver specimens were analyzed morphometrically to evahuate the lipid size changes associated with the level of steatosis.The MCD-diet-treated group(n=16)had mild steatosis in seven rats,moderate in three rats,severe in six rats,and no other significant pathology.No control rats(n=8)developed hepatic steatosis.Among the parameters retrieved from per-SfS,only the scat tering power(can be either positive or negative)appeared to be statist ically diferent between MCD-treated and control livers.The scattering power for the 16 MCD-diet-treated livers at the time of euthanasia and presenting various levels of steatosis was 033±0.21,in comparison to 0.036±0.25 of the eight control livers(p=0.0189).When evaluated at days 12 and 13 combined,the scattering power of the 16 MCD-diet-treated livers was 032±0.17,in comparison to 0.10±0.11 of the eight control livers(p=0.0017).All of four MCD-treated livers harvested at days 12 and 13 presented mild steatosis with sub-micron size lipid droplets,even though none of the MCD-treated livers were sonogr aphically remarkable for fatty changes.The elevation of the scattering power may be a valuable marker indicating early hepatic steatosis before the steatosis is sonographically detectable.

DOX-CONJUGATED HIGH-QUALITY AgZnInS QDs FOR REVERSAL OF MULTIDRUG RESISTANCE

The synthesis of water-soluble quantum dots(QDs)has recently received extensive attention dueto noninvasive detection of biological information in living subjects.In this paper,high-qualitywater-soluble(cadmium-free)quaternary AgZnlnS QDs have been successfully synthesized usinga green synthetic route.The as-prepared QDs exhibit tunable photoluminescence(PL)emissionbetween 521 and 658 nm.Secondly,multidrug resistance(MDR)is a major impedinent to theeffective cancer chemot herapy,DOx,a widely used antit umor drug was modified on the surfaceof the QDs in this study.It,therefore,ignificantly enhanced the cytotoxicity of DX to MDRcancer cells as the QDs could bring the DoX to nucleus.

Apartheid and Resistance in South Africa 1948-1969

The paper discusses the historical establishment of the apartheid system in South Africa since 1948 and the resistance struggle of Africans against its racial policies until the year 1969. The first part of the paper deals with the origins of white domination in South Africa, going back to mid-seventeenth century with the Dutch aggression against African tribes all the way through to the twentieth century and the appearance of the main political parties behind the ideology of apartheid. The second part of the paper focuses on the internal opposition to the segregationist state created by the whites in South Africa. Opponents came from different circles： intellectuals, politicians, churchmen, civil servants, lawyers, doctors, etc. But the most prominent opponent of Apartheid was the Africa National Congress （ANC） which was founded in 1912. The third and final part analyses the international struggle against apartheid in the United Nations forums. This opposition took first the form of political and diplomatic actions against the racial system of South Africa, and then was materialized by economic sanctions which revealed to be the most susceptible to affect seriously the apartheid regime.

Influence of Velocity Overshoot Effect on High Frequency Perform- ance of AlGaAs / GaAs HBT's

The semiclassical transport equations are used to study the high frequency performance of AlGaAs / GaAs HBTs. Electron velocity overshoot effect and its influence on the cut off frequency characteristics of AlGaAs / GaAs HBTs with different collector design parameters are analyzed and discussed.

Hardware implementation of adaptive filter for noise cancellation using TMS320C6713

Daily, we experience the effects of audio noise, which contaminates the original information bearing signal with noise from its surrounding environment. This paper focuses on real-time hardware implementation of multi-tap adaptive noise cancellation （ANC） system by using the least mean square （LMS） algorithm on TMS320C6713 to remove undesired noise from a received signal for various audio related applications. Three different experiments are carried out by considering different audio inputs to test the efficiency of the designed ANC system. The ＇C＇ code implementation of LMS algorithm is introduced and simulated in code composer studio （CCS）, then realized on the digital signal processor （DSP） C6713. The 300 Hz, 500 Hz, 800 Hz, 1 kHz and 3 kHz of tone signals and male speech signal are used as the reference inputs to trace the noise of signal until it is eliminated. The performance of ANC system is studied in terms of convergence speed, order of the filter and signal-to-noise ratio （SNR）. The experimentam results demonstrate that the designed system shows a consider- able improvement in SNR.

Global glance

Lynas selects Kalgoorlie for new cracking&leaching plant Lynas Corporation Limited(ASX:LYC,OTC:LYSDY)("Lynas")announced that Kalgoorlie,Western Australia,has been selected as the location for its new cracking and leaching plant,creating new jobs and a first step in establishing a critical minerals hub in the Goldfields region.

High-performance wall-climbingrobot for inspection and maintenance

A wall-climbing robot that can continuously work on many types of wall surfaces has been developed. This robot based on low-vacuum adsorption principle consists of a locomotion mecha- nism, a sealing device, a fluid machine and a detecting system. The adsorption force is analyzed in details and its influencing factors are given. The robot prototype, which has the features of high ad- hesion efficiency, light body in weight, small size in structure and good capability in payload, is test- ed in outdoor and indoor environments. Through the experiments, the influences of the impeller slit and the seal clearance are discussed. In addition, the robot functions such as adsorption perform- ance, locomotion performance and wall adaptability are tested by experiments. The experiments have verified that the robot not only can climb on many types of wall surfaces, but also has outstand- ing locomotion ability and payload capacity.

传奇迭新,与S俱进--全新梅赛德斯-AMG C 63 S E PERFORMANCE

五十多年前,秉承‘与吾为伍’的精神,AMG的创始者打造了扬名赛道的品牌开山之作--‘红猪’300 SEL 6.8 AMG。眼下正值AMG品牌诞生55周年,全新梅赛德斯-AMG C 63 S E PERFORMANCE又将在现代汽车市场的舞台上,凭借混动技术打造的卓越性能,为用户提供优秀驾乘体验,再塑性能豪华的新标杆。

MONTBLANC 深入冰川 溯源冒险精神

2023年3月14日至16日,MONTBLANC万宝龙携2023年腕表力作来到中国西南之巅的云南明永冰川,开启了一场全新的探索之旅。万宝龙全球首席执行官柏瑞麒(Nicolas Baretzki)和腕表部门董事总经理Laurent Lecamp虽然未能亲赴现场,却也通过云端连线的方式分享了品牌的新年展望以及卓越的高级制表传统和革新理念。