Mini Max Wallpaper

Mini Max company formulated a problem for the automatic calculation of the number of wallpaper rolls necessary for decorating a room with wallpaper. The final goal is the development of a web-based calculator open for use to both Mini Max staff and the general public. We propose an approach for reducing the studied problem to the one-dimensional cutting-stock problem. We show this in details for the case of plain wallpapers as well as for the case of patterned wallpapers with straight match. The one-dimensional cutting-stock problem can be formulated as a linear integer programming problem. We develop an approach for calculating the needed number of wallpapers for relatively small problems, create an algorithm in a suitable graphical interface and make different tests. The tests show the efficiency of the proposed approach compared with the existent (available) wallpapers’ calculators

Mineral substances in the bone tissue and blood of patients with osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is a very common disorder of skeleton, which can be caused by various metabolic disturbances, malnutrition, immobilization, endocrine disorders, bone marrow diseases, connective tissue disorders, and, in some cases, by inappropriate therapy. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the relationships between the mineral content in the alveolar bone and serum osteoporosis in chosen patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included an experimental and a control group of patients who were submitted to internal and prosthodontic therapy. The plan of therapy was to extract anticipated parodonthopathic teeth, taking samples of the alveolar bone and its analysis by spectrometry. At the same time the biochemical analyses of the blood were performed. RESULTS: Before the therapy, due to negative remodeling, values of mineral content in decalcified bone tissue and serum were significantly lower than in the control group. After the therapy, the quality of the bone tissue was improved, with increased contents of mineral substances. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Disorders of mineral metabolism are very important for osteoporosis. This disorder may involve entire skeleton, especially stomatoghnatic complex. Therefore osteoporosis is one of very important illnesses in dentistry, especially in prosthodontics, because of the supporting nature of bone tissue for all types of dental prostheses

Traditional Eastern European diet and mortality: prospective evidence from the HAPIEE study

PURPOSE: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer mortality rates in Eastern Europe are among the highest in the world. Although diet is an important risk factor, traditional eating habits in this region have not yet been explored. This analysis assessed the relationship between traditional dietary pattern and mortality from all-causes, CVD and cancer in Eastern European cohorts. METHODS: Data from the Health, Alcohol and Psychosocial factors in Eastern Europe prospective cohort were used, including participants from Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic. Based on food frequency questionnaire data, we constructed an Eastern European diet score (EEDS) from nine food groups which can be considered as traditional in this region. The relationship between categorical (low, moderate, high) and continuous (range 0-18) EEDS and mortality was estimated with Cox-regression. RESULTS: From 18,852 eligible participants, 2234 died during follow-up. In multivariable adjusted models, participants with high adherence to the traditional Eastern European diet had significantly higher risk of all-cause (HR 1.23; 95% CI 1.08-1.42) and CVD (1.34; 1.08-1.66) deaths compared to those with low adherence. The association with cancer mortality was only significant in Poland (high vs. low EEDS: 1.41; 1.00-1.98). From the specific EEDS components, high consumption of lard was significantly positively related to all three mortality outcomes, while preserved fruit and vegetable consumption showed consistent inverse associations. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that traditional eating habits may contribute to the poor health status, particularly the high CVD mortality rates, of populations in Eastern Europe. Adequate public health nutritional interventions in this region are essential

Wars and Betweenness Big Powers in Middle Europe, 1918-1945

The region between the Baltic and the Black Sea was marked by a set of crises and conflicts in the 1920s and 1930s, demonstrating the diplomatic, military, economic or cultural engagement of France, Germany, Russia, Britain, Italy and Japan in this highly volatile region, and critically damaging the fragile post-Versailles political arrangement. The editors, in naming this region as "Middle Europe" seek to revive the symbolic geography of the time and accentuate its position, situated between Big Powers and two World Wars. The ten case studies in this book combine traditional diplomatic history with a broader emphasis on the geopolitical aspects of Big-Power rivalry to understand the interwar period. The essays claim that the European Big Powers played a key role in regional affairs by keeping the local conflicts and national movements under control and by exploiting the region's natural resources and military dependencies, while at the same time strengthening their prestige through cultural penetration and the cultivation of client networks. The authors, however, want to avoid the simplistic view that the Big Powers fully dominated the lesser players on the European stage. The relationship was indeed hierarchical, but the essays also reveal how the "small states" manipulated Big-Power disagreements, highlighting the limits of the latters' leverage throughout the 1920s and the 1930s

Dynamic Two-Dimensional Refractive Index Modulation For High Performance Acousto-Optic Deflector

The performance of an acousto-optic deflector is studied for two-dimensional refractive index that varies as periodic and sinc functions in the transverse and longitudinal directions, respectively, with respect to the direction of light propagation. Phased array piezoelectric transducers can be operated at different phase shifts to produce a two-dimensionally inhomogeneous domain of phase grating in the acousto-optic media. Also this domain can be steered at different angles by selecting the phase shift appropriately. This mechanism of dynamically tilting the refractive indexmodulated domain enables adjusting the incident angle of light on the phase grating plane without moving the light source. So the Bragg angle of incidence can be always achieved at any acoustic frequency, and consequently, the deflector can operate under the Bragg diffraction condition at the optimum diffraction efficiency. Analytic solutions are obtained for the Bragg diffraction of plane waves based on the second order coupled mode theory, and the diffraction efficiency is found to be unity for optimal index modulations at certain acoustic parameters