Profiling floats equipped with bio-optical sensors well complement ship-based and satellite ocean color measurements by providing highly-resolved time-series data on the vertical structure of biogeochemical processes in oceanic waters. This is the first study to employ an autonomous profiling (APEX) float in the Gulf of Mexico for measuring spatiotemporal variability in bio-optics and hydrograp...

PURPOSE To assess the role of preserved bovine parietal peritoneum as a material for hernia repair in a rat ventral hernia model. METHODS An abdominal wall defect (15mm x 25mm) was created in Wistar male rats (n=40). Control animals (n=20) had the polypropylene (PP) mesh sutured into the defect, whereas bovine preserved peritoneum (BPP) was used in experimental group (n=20). After 7 and 28 da...

BACKGROUND Amniotic fluid (AF) is one of the major determinants of fetal biophysical profile and can predict pregnancy outcome. Abnormal value of amniotic fluid index (AFI) may indicate fetal and maternal disorders. PURPOSE To establish reference standards for AFI for this population after 28 weeks of pregnancy and evaluate the relationship between AFI, the estimated fetal weight (EFWT), and ...

We consider the problem of simulation preorder/equivalence between innnite-state processes and nite-state ones. We prove that simulation preorder (in both directions) and simulation equivalence are intractable between all major classes of innnite-state systems and nite-state ones. This result is obtained by showing that the problem whether a BPA (or BPP) process simulates a nite-state one is PS...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to compare the biophysical profile parameters (BPP), especially amniotic fluid index (AFI), before and after administration of corticosteroids (dexamethasone and betamethasone) and these two groups with each other. MATERIALS AND METHODS This double-blind clinical trial study was done on 70 patients for 28-34 weeks women having at least one preterm labor in...

In this paper, we consider ZKIPs for promise problems. A promise problem is a pair of predicates (Q;R). A Turning machine T solves the promise problem (Q;R) if, for every x satisfying Q(x), machine T halts and it answers \yes" i R(x). When :Q(x), we do not care what T does. First, we de ne \promised BPP" which is a promise problem version of BPP. Then, we prove that a promise problem (Q;R) has ...

Since the Bin Packing Problem (BPP) is one of the main NP-hard problems, a lot of approximation algorithms have been suggested for it. It has been proven that the best algorithm for BPP has the approximation ratio of and the time order of ( ), unless = . In the current paper, a linear approximation algorithm is presented. The suggested algorithm not only has the best possible theoretical factor...

AIMS Bacteremic pneumococcal pneumonia (BPP) is a severe condition. To evaluate seasonal distribution, mortality, serotype frequencies, antimicrobial susceptibility, and different severity scores among patients with BPP. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients were identified by laboratory data and restricted to adulthood. Standard methods were used for serotyping and antimicrobial susceptibility. Risk...

We consider the problem of deciding bisimilarity between a BPA process and a BPP process. This problem is known to be decidable, but no complexity bound has been provided so far. Our aim is to clarify the precise complexity and some related questions. In this short submission we present some preliminary results in this direction. In particular we present a necessary and sufficient condition for...