Because this is an American book, many Canadian readers might give it a miss but this would be their loss. The issues are relevant, and the suggestions proffered are workable, despite differences in Canadian health and pension policies. The types of ideas that have been recommended are particularly useful to those who have ignored the aging of the labour force. Most of the ideas, which are really common sense, are used in some organizations in Canada to try to stamp out ageism, introduce flexible work schedules, use telecommuting, or encourage phased retirement. The main strategy for implementing change suggested by the editors is disappointing. Lewin's Force Field Analysis has been around for a long time, and new approaches to organizational change need to be developed. When all is said and done, the book should take its own advice about life course longevity and ageism and change the definition of what constitutes an older worker. Most people are not old at forty-five!


To cope with the increased complexity, models are used to capture what is considered the essence of a system. Models are often analyzed to obtain insights on the modeled system. Often, these analyses have a heuristical nature and need to be adjusted according to updated requirements and are therefore a subject of maintenance activities. It is thus necessary to support writing model queries with adequate languages. However, in order to stay meaningful, the analysis results need to be refreshed as soon as the underlying models change. Therefore, a good execution speed is mandatory in order to cope with frequent model changes. In this paper, we propose a benchmark to assess model query technologies in the presence of model change sequences in the domain of social media.


In recent years, with the rapid development of modern three-dimensional space technology, laser tracker has become a mature technology, high efficiency, stable and reliable performance of high-precision large-size measurement instruments in the industrial measurement system. In some major industries, the 3d high-precision measurement method represented by laser tracker has gradually replaced the traditional measurement method and is widely used in the installation and detection of large precision equipment. This paper mainly introduces the structure, working principle, advantage, and laser tracker applications in main industries.


Background: In particular during extension, the posterolateral corner of the knee (PLC) acts as a substantial rotational and transitional stress resistor. The interplay of numerous overlapping structures creates the multi-compartment complicated sector known as the posterolateral corner. Objective: Assessment of conventional MRI role in posterolateral corner of the knee. Patients and Methods: The study was a cross-sectional study. It was conducted at the Radiodiagnosis Department, Zagazig University Hospitals during six months. It included 36 symptomatic patients with knee trauma before the MR examination. Their ages ranged from 21 to 53 years. Results: According to LCL pathology among the studied cases there were 16.7% intact, 33.3% with sprain, 25% with partial tear and 25% with compete tear. According to PT pathology there were 19.4% intact, 66.7% with sprain, 5.6% with partial tear and 8.3% with compete tear. According to BF pathology there were 94.4% intact and 5.6% with compete tear. According to ITB pathology; 94.4% intact and 5.6% with ITB friction syndrome. According to PFL pathology, 50% intact, 25% with sprain, 16.7% with partial tear and 3 (8.3%) with compete tear. There was remarkable variation between patients and healthy persons in LCL, PT, BF, ITB, and PFL lesions. Conclusion: We came to the conclusion that MRI offers a superb, in-depth assessment of the knee's posterolateral corner structures and lesions. Chronic posterolateral instability can be caused by an unsuspected posterolateral corner injury. To improve surgical care, suggestive imaging results should be quickly communicated with the orthopedic surgeon.


Ethics, and especially contemporary ethics in the helping professions, can be a complex and often intimidating subject for students, practitioners and academicians alike. Audrey Leathard and Susan McLaren have edited an informative exposition of the issues that does much to clarify this multilayered area. While the volume tends to focus on the United Kingdom, there are international contributors who help to provide a generalizable, global quality to the issues explored. Also contributing to the utility of their work, the editors have solicited contributors who are representative of a range of helping fields including, nursing, social work, sociology and gerontology. Different levels of practice are also represented, such as direct care providers, academicians and policy-level contributors. The editors describe their primary goal as aiming 'to show the importance of ethics in health and social care' (p. 1). By the end of the volume, they have assuredly achieved their goal. The introduction begins, as many works on ethics do, with an exposition of pertinent definitions. However, Leathard and McLaren add an especially welcome contextual component that explores recent developments in policy that affect their ethics exploration. Additionally, they divide the publication into three main sections: Section I is entitled 'Ethics: Research and Provision in Health and Social Care; Section II 'Law, Management and Ethics in Health and Social Care'; and Section III 'Ethics: From the Start of Life to the End'. Within the sections, some chapters emerge as extremely strong in their utility for the helping professional. These include Leathard's Chapter 7 in Section I, 'Ethics and Interprofessional Care', which analyzes ethics across collaborating levels and fields of practice, particularly as it relates to the ethical topics of beneficence, confidentiality and accountability. In Section II, Terry's Chapter 9, 'Ethical and Legal Perspectives on Human Rights', represents a timely examination of the legal and ethical mandates of several international human rights acts and declarations. Additionally, Irvine and McPhee's Chapter 10, and Dombeck and Olsan's Chapter 12, do a nice job of extending the discussion to Australian and American, respectively, systems of care. Section III, probably the most practice-useful section, looks at ethical issues across the lifespan and in


The radite (Hypochaeris chillensis Hieron), native from Brazil, deserves investigation not only for its nutritional potential as medicinal species. The objective of this work was to verify the influence of different aqueous extract concentrations of Jatropha curcas (Pinhao Manso) leaves in radite cultivation. We used jatropha extract concentrations of 0% (control), 5, 10, 20, 40 and 80%, to perform the treatments, considering as pure extract 200 g of green leaves of jatropha in one litre of distilled water. The seeds were sown in trays specific for vegetable seedling production, a manual sprinkler system was used. With the increasing concentration of the aqueous extract of the leaves of Jatropha curcas, there was a decreasing tendency in the leaf number, plant height, root size and dry mass, proving the allelopathic effect of Jatropha curcas leaf extract on radite cultivation.


Distributed quantum computation has gained extensive attention since small-qubit quantum computers seem to be built more practically in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era. In this paper, we give a distributed Bernstein-Vazirani algorithm (DBVA) with $t$ computing nodes, and a distributed exact Grover's algorithm (DEGA) that solve the search problem with only one target item in the unordered databases. Though the designing techniques are simple in the light of BV algorithm, Grover's algorithm, the improved Grover's algorithm by Long, and the distributed Grover's algorithm by Qiu et al, in comparison to BV algorithm, the circuit depth of DBVA is not greater than $2^{\text{max}(n_0, n_1, \cdots, n_{t-1})}+3$ instead of $2^{n}+3$, and the circuit depth of DEGA is $8(n~\text{mod}~2)+9$, which is less than the circuit depth of Grover's algorithm, $1 + 8\left\lfloor \frac{\pi}{4}\sqrt{2^n} \right\rfloor$. In particular, we provide situations of our DBVA and DEGA on MindQuantum (a quantum software) to validate the correctness and practicability of our methods. By simulating the algorithms running in the depolarized channel, it further illustrates that distributed quantum algorithm has superiority of resisting noise.


Using bis amino of ortho-substituted aryl halide, 1,3- and 1,4-diamino - a disclosure of a method of generating phenyl intermediates.


Method of manufacturing a semiconductor device is to form a mask pattern on a substrate, forming to form on the substrate a secondary film covering the mask pattern by anisotropically etching the auxiliary film secondary pattern on the side walls of the mask pattern to, by etching the substrate of the mask patterns and the auxiliary pattern as an etch mask, comprises the formation of a trench that defines an active pattern.


Earthquakes that rupture the Earth's surface are typically the most damaging and highlight the need for us to better constrain the style of deformation and frictional behaviour of fault zones in the shallow crust. This thesis presents two studies of natural, seismogenic, shallow crustal fault zones: 1) the Gubbio fault zone, which has been exhumed from 2.5-3 km depth and deforms a mixture of limestone and phyllosilicate-rich marly limestone; and 2) the Masada fault zone, which deforms near-surface, poorly lithified lake sediments. Field studies were complemented by low- and high-velocity rotary shear experiments to constrain the frictional behaviours of the naturally observed fault gouges under representative conditions. In addition, microstructural analyses of both naturally- and experimentally-produced fault rocks were performed in order to constrain the deformation mechanisms operating during fault slip.
Our results show that the dominant deformation mechanisms operating within a fault zone, which are highly variable depending on environmental conditions such as depth, fault rock composition, fluid presence and composition, and strain-rate, will control: 1) fault zone architecture and therefore the distribution of seismicity; and 2) slip zone processes, which can subsequently affect the frictional behaviour of a fault, and also determine whether or not signatures of seismic slip are produced during rupture propagation. These are useful tools for geologists when trying to decipher the seismic history of natural faults. Frictional behaviour, in terms of the likelihood of rupture propagation through the shallow crust, is also found to vary significantly as a function of the aforementioned environmental conditions. A fuller knowledge of spatial, and possible temporal, variations in fault zone properties is therefore essential if more accurate earthquake forecasting models and assessments of their associated hazards are to be produced.


Controlled hand-cross-pollinations were performed among the genera Hylocereus, Selenicereus, and Epiphyllum and synthetic intergeneric hybrids were obtained. Parental lines and the intergeneric hybrids were studied for their nuclear DNA (2C) content and for their morphological and phenological characteristics. Hybrids between Hylocereus and Selenicereus species produced viable seeds, a finding that showed the lack of post-zygote barriers. Partial to complete sterility was observed in the intergeneric Epiphyllum x Selenicereus hybrids. The dominant relationship between the alleles controlling morphological and phenological traits was elucidated. Among the traits studied, the presence of spines and/or hairy-spines on the fruit peel, the co-dominance of the ripening time, and the dominance of the high number of shoot ribs were the most significant characteristics proving hybridization. Further development of species-specific molecular markers will be valuable for a suitable taxonomic description of these spe...


In this chapter, the author chronicles experiences living and teaching in three rural communities in the Midwest and, consequently, these experiences' impacts on practice. The chapter begins with a discussion on rural sustainability and culturally sustaining pedagogies. Next, themes of community, place, and culture are explored. Pedagogical practices such as place-based education are discussed. Then, authentic experiences from three uniquely diverse settings are shared. Finally, a statement about how these stories and lived experiences shape teacher educator identity and practice is provided.


The aim of this study was to describe the use of acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) elastography in the evaluation of testicular disorders in dogs. Eighteen dogs with testicular disorders (thirty-six testicles) were assessed. Echotexture, size, contours and margins of testes were analysed by ultrasonography. Deformities and tissue stiffness (greyscale and homogenous or heterogeneous) were evaluated by qualitative elastography and shear velocity was determined quantitatively. Subsequent to orchiectomy, testicular samples were collected for histopathology analysis and thirty-six disorders were identified. Qualitative elastography revealed that normal healthy testicular tissues were homogenous and not pliable while the affected testicles had alterations in tissue stiffness and homogeneity. The values obtained for quantitative elastography of the testicular tissues were: normal/healthy - 1.30±0.12 m/s; degenerated - 0.97±0.08 m/s; atrophied - 2.00±0.35 m/s; hypoplastic - 0.82±0.2 m/s; cystic - 1.32±0.18 m/s; orchitis - 2.68±0.42 m/s; interstitial cell tumours - 3.32±0.65 m/s; sertolioma - 2.99±0.07 m/s and leydigoma - 2.73±0.37. ARFI elastography of abnormal testes proved to be an applicable and complementary technique in the diagnosis of testicular disease in dogs.


Abstract The textile industry is a key source of pollution in fresh water. The concentration of key heavy metal pollutants (cobalt, nickel, lead, mercury, cadmium, copper, and iron) as well as pH value and conductivity were measured in water samples taken from the input and output (waste water) of Al-Diwani textile factory on the Al-Diwani River, Iraq. These samples were measured using two methods, flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry and spectrometry. This paper considers the relative effectiveness of each method for measuring the concentrations of the elements, and discusses which method is best for which element. It was found that the first method is more accurate for measuring the concentrations for all elements except iron.


Bone and connective tissues at the 12th thoracic vertebra and round/loin junction on one side of each of three U.S. Choice beef carcasses were cut 90 min postmortem (prerigor treatment, Tendercut), while opposite sides served as controls. Effect of prerigor treatment was determined on 10-day aged Longissimus (LM), Rectus femoris (RF), and Biceps femoris (BF) steaks cooked to different endpoint temperatures (EPT: 65.6, 70.0, 76.7C). Treated RF steaks had higher (less perceptible) connective tissue scores than controls. Myofibrillar and overall tenderness in all treated muscles were not different (P>0.05) than controls. Treated carcasses resulted in lower (P<0.05) Warner-Bratzler peak force values for LM and longer sarcomeres for all muscles. Tendercut resulted in lower (P < 0.05) values for Lee-Kramer peak force (LM at 65.6C and 76.7C; RF at 65.6C) and total energy (LM at 70.0C and 76.7C) than controls. Tendercut did not affect the BF at any EPT.


This study, conducted during a severe drought in 1980, assesses the effects of burned and unburned treatments in tallgrass prairie on nitrogen content of big bluestem, AndropogongerardiiVitman. Seasonal total nitrogen and amino-nitrogen translocations in big bluestem in the tallgrass prairie were studied on burned and unburned treatments within Konza Prairie Research Natural Area, Manhattan, Kans. Leaf total nitrogen dropped from .71% in June 1980 to .21% in November with no significant difference between treatments. Rhizome total nitrogen was significantly different between treatments with a June to November increase of .46% to .86% in unburned and .41% to .82% in burned treatments. Roots averaged 72% of rhizome total nitrogen, indicating that roots are also used as storage organs for nitrogen. Comparisons with other studies conducted in 1980 and 1971-1972 indicate that drought stress may reduce the total nitrogen content of big bluestern. In April 1980, emerging leaves on the unburned plots were significantly higher in amino acid concentration than those on the burned plots. Although leaf amino acid concentration was constant after July, the percent of total nitrogen as amino acids increased 3 to 4 fold from mid-August to October. Rhizome amino acid concentration was significantly higher on the unburned than on burned plots. The September 1980 increase in leaf amino acid concentration and percent of total nitrogen as amino acids indicate\ a breakdown of protein in aboveground tissue. The concurrent increase in rhizome amino acid concentration and percent of total nitrogen as amino acids supports the concept of fall translocation of nitrogen to the belowground parts which serve as storage organs. Fall translocation of nitrogen from foliage to storage organs has been suggested as the explanation for nitrogen losses from living aboveground material of grasses during late summer (Weinmann 1940, 1942, 1948; Clark 1977, 1981). Pate( 1971), Perry and Moser (1974), and Trlica and Singh (1979) discussed the possibility of nitrogen movement out of senescing plant parts and into storage organs for use in the spring. Amino acids are hypothesized to be the form of late season nitrogen movement (Weinmann 1942). Total amino acids decrease in leaves and increase in stems of grasses and trees as the amino acids move out of the senescing plant parts (Koretskaya and Zholkevich 1966, Trlica and Singh 1979, Chapin and Kedrowski 1983). Concurrently, the total nitrogen content in leaves decreases as the total nitrogen levels in stems, rhizomes and roots increases. The storage of nitrogen in perennial plant parts may be in the form of amino acids (Weinmann 1942, Perry and Moser 1974) or as protein (Thimann et al. 1974, Chapin and Kedrowski 1983). Internal conservation of nitrogen could be critical for survival in a nitrogen limited system (Pate 1971, Switzer and Nelson 1972, Woodmansee et al. 1978). As Bormann et al. (1977) stated, fall translocation would maintain a mobile pool of nitrogen unaffected by outside losses and serve to guard against short-term shortages in soil nitrogen availability. Trlica and Singh (1979) projected that Author is graduate student. Division of Biology. Kansas State University. Man-


In this paper, we study submanifolds in a Euclidean space with a generalized 1-type Gauss map. The Gauss map, G, of a submanifold in the n-dimensional Euclidean space, En, is said to be of generalized 1-type if, for the Laplace operator, Δ, on the submanifold, it satisfies ΔG=fG+gC, where C is a constant vector and f and g are some functions. The notion of a generalized 1-type Gauss map is a generalization of both a 1-type Gauss map and a pointwise 1-type Gauss map. With the new definition, first of all, we classify conical surfaces with a generalized 1-type Gauss map in E3. Second, we show that the Gauss map of any cylindrical surface in E3 is of the generalized 1-type. Third, we prove that there are no tangent developable surfaces with generalized 1-type Gauss maps in E3, except planes. Finally, we show that cylindrical hypersurfaces in En+2 always have generalized 1-type Gauss maps.


In this paper the results of modern scientific researches are analyzed and the possibilities of the method of establishing the amount of K+ and Na+ in the vitreous body (VB) of a person for solving problems of practical forensic medicine are studied.
The aim of the work. To investigate the possibilities of accurately establishing the time since death (TSD) by determining the amount of electrolytes (K+ and Na+) of human VB.
Materials and methods. VB samples from 120 deaths due to cardiovascular pathology (exclusion criteria: eyeball injuries, traumatic brain injury, exogenous intoxications) were studied. The study of the test material was performed on an analyzer of electrolytes and gases ROCHE COBAS B121. The main task was to analyze and establish the dependence of the change in the amount of K+ and Na+ of the VB on the TSD. Statistical processing of the obtained results was performed using Statistica software.
Results. In all cases, on average in the first 6 hours, its amount was 7,4 mmol/l, after 6-12 hours – 9,8 mmol/l, after 12-18 hours – 12,1 mmol/l, after 18-24 hours – 16,5 mmol/l, after 24-36 hours – 20,2 mmol/l, after 36-48 hours – 25,3 mmol/l. The amount of Na+ ranged from 120 to 200 mmol/l.
Conclusions. It is established that the number of electrolytes of the VB of the human eye naturally changes with increasing postmortem interval, which allows to use this technique to determine the TSD. In particular, the accuracy of setting the DNS by the number of K+ – 4-6 hours between 1 and 18 hours after death. There is an increase in the range of accuracy at a later date of the TSD.


Human behaviors are affected by rapidly-changing conditions, and so do leaders. Leaders play essential roles in shaping the planet, world, and businesses. Like all the other organisms, they communicate with the outside world. On one side, leaders affect the outside world, and on the other, leaders are also affected by it. Technological advancements affect leader behaviors, decisions, insights, lifestyles, and it even impacts leaders' selves. Although digital transformation has become so central, and it has challenges for leaders and organizations, the studies are deficient in the quantity that links and associates leader and digital transformation. In this context, this research deals with answering two clear and vital questions: Which characteristics create effective and efficient business leaders, and how leader behaviors are affected by digital transformation. This research finds skills and key behaviors the leader of today and the future possesses, which potential leaders can adopt and employ. On the other side, it reveals the challenges this disruption causes and its effect on leaders. It moreover brings a holistic approach to provide a paradigm for leadership. These would guide us to understand how digital transformation disrupts the leadership process and where it will evolve next. Other measures of progress are to emphasize the leaders' interplay with technology, the leadership spectrum, and what is required for leaders to adopt and adapt to the changing world from technological and universal perspectives.


The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the lifestyle of dental consumers and their hospital satisfaction level in an attempt to lay the foundation for successful dental marketing strategy setting. The subjects in this study were 720 medical consumers who visited dental institutions in Jeolla buk-do province. A survey was conducted from October 1 to December 1, 2006, with self-administered questionnaires. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS(Statistical Package for the Social Science) 12.0 program to find out their lifestyle and hospital satisfaction level. Concerning the impact of lifestyle on satisfaction with dental institutions, lifestyle made a difference to the satisfaction level of the hospital users with promptness and economicality(p < 0.001). As to connections between hospital-reuse intention and satisfaction level, those who were willing to reuse the dental institutions they had visited expressed better satisfaction with promptness(p < 0.05). As for links between health-related lifestyle and hospital satisfaction level, health conscious style, health promoting style health unconscious styles had a statistically significantly positive relationship to hospital satisfaction level, which showed a significant relationship between the three lifestyles and hospital satisfaction level. As for factors affecting reuse of dental institutions, it's found that their intention to reuse the same dental institution they had visited was linked to their satisfaction level with it, what made them choose it and their health-related lifestyle. In the future, more precise and in-depth questionnaires should be developed to analyze health-related


Aided spatial hearing in the hearing impaired remains a rather sparsely explored topic. Therefore we do not know enough about the ability of the hearing impaired to exploit auditory cues for spatial hearing. In an attempt to advance our knowledge the following experiment was set up. A group of 21 experienced hearing aid users took part in a test using modern completely in the canal hearing aids in the field for at least 7 weeks. After acclimatization to the devices they were tested on a number of outcome measures. These included spatial unmasking, an interview administered selection of questions from the Speech Spatial and Qualities of hearing scale, and a baseline speech in noise measure. Spatial unmasking was assessed using three concurrent female talkers, with the target talker always presented directly ahead and the maskers presented either at +/‐ 50 degrees or both at 180 degrees. This presentation will provide results from the study described above along with possible relations to auditory and non‐a...


Oxidative dehydrogenation of propane to propylene can be achieved using conventional, oxygen-assisted dehydrogenation of propane (O2–ODHP) or via the use of soft oxidants, such as CO2, N2O, S-conta...


Directed self-assembly (DSA) of a block copolymer containing hybrid material using topographic guiding patterns is presented in this paper. Lamellar microdomains of the hybrid material, which is a mixture of poly(styrene-b-ethylene oxide) (PS-b-PEO) and organosilicate (OS) precursor, have orientational correlation length about five times longer than typical organic block copolymers such as poly(styrene-b-methyl methacrylate) (PS-b-PMMA). The longer correlation length (i.e. bigger grain size) makes it possible to align the lamellar microdomain into geometries similar to device layouts. We report one-dimensional assembly of lamellar microdomains on substrates, which gives crossbar and multifinger nanostructures.


This investigation compares the properties of PVC films prepared both by casting from tetrahydrofuran solution and from samples obtained by precipitation with properties of samples from the original PVC. The differences in properties are explained on the basis of solvent residues remaining in the samples even after tempering at higher temperatures and after extremely long times of drying. Attention was given to the difficulties caused by this fact, namely, in observing the influence of molecular weight and of distribution of molecular weights of fractions on PVC properties. Reasons were given for the retention of the tetrahydrofuran by PVC.


Economists have been perplexed by the overwhelming evidence that sports teams set ticket prices in the inelastic range of spectator demand. In response, a number of profit-maximizing explanations have been proposed in the literature explaining why sports teams set ticket prices in the inelastic range of spectator demand, yet an evaluation of the proposed theories is missing. Therefore, using National Football League team data covering the 1995 through the 1999 seasons is employed to: a) determine if NFL teams do set ticket prices in the inelastic range of spectator demand, and b) evaluate various inelastic sports ticket pricing models.


Nodulated winged bean [Psophocarpus tetragonolobus (L.) DC., cv. UPS 122] were grown under constant environmental conditions and supplied with mineral nutrient solution in which nitrogen was absent or was present as nitrate (12 mg N week-1 plant-1).

Nitrate treatment dramatically promoted plant growth, increased fruit weight 1.6 fold, was necessary for tuberisation and enhanced nodulation. The in vitro accumulation of 14C into asparagine and aspartate components of excised nodules supplied with exogenous 14CO2 and [14C]-D-glucose was greater for nitrate-treated plants, whilst accumulation into ureides was reduced by nitrate treatment. Levels of amino acids in xylem sap were greater for plants supplied with a complete nutrient solution, than those grown without applied nitrate, particularly for asparagine, glutamine and proline. Xylem ureide levels were greater for plants grown in the absence of supplementary nitrate.

Nitrogen accumulated in leaf, stem and petiole, and root nodule tissues for utilisation during fruit development; peak nitrogen levels and time of anthesis were retarded for plants grown without applied nitrate. The shoot ureide content increased during fruiting, coincident with decreases in the total nitrogen content, indicating that ureide pools are not utilised during the early reproductive phase. However ureide reserves, particularly allantoin, were utilised during the later stages of pod fill.

Enzyme activity which metabolised asparagine was found throughout the plant and was identified as K+-dependent asparaginase (EC 220.127.116.11) and an aminotransferase. Apart from temporal differences in developmental profiles of enzyme activity, the activity of these enzymes and of allantoinase (EC 18.104.22.168) in developing tissues were similar for both treatments. The main differences were greater asparaginase and asparagine:pyruvate aminotransferase activities in root tissues and fruit of nitrate-supplied plants; allantoinase activity in the primary roots of plants grown without nitrate decreased during development, whilst activity in developing tubers (nitrate-supplied plants) increased.


This letter presents a compact quad-band bandpass filter for DCS/WLAN/WiMAX/5G Wi-Fi applications. It utilizes two resonators. One is a multi-stub-loaded resonator operating at the first, second and fourth passband frequencies. The other one is a short-end stub-loaded resonator used to yield the third passband. Among the four passbands, the highest one is designed to cover a wide bandwidth (5.15-5.85 GHz) for 5G Wi-Fi applications. The design procedures are discussed in detail and the simulated and measured results are presented.


This article describes assessment organoleptic quality in boiling process soybean at production tempe. we proposed the model for selecting boiling process soybean based on quality organoleptic. We used pairwise comparison and SAW the problem. Pairwise comparison used to determine to weigh for organoleptic criteria. SAW used for selecting boiling process alternative. the result of proposed pairwise comparison and SAW model showed this model effective for assessment organoleptic quality in boiling process soybean at production tempe.


PURPOSE: A wire grid polarizer and a liquid crystal display device including the same are provided to minimize color change rate according of an observation angle by controlling the transmittance of each wavelength according to the optical angle of incident light. CONSTITUTION: A first grid layer(120) comprises one or more first grid patterns(121) on a substrate(110). The second grid layer comprises one or more second grid patterns formed of metal material on the top of the first grid pattern. A light absorption layer is laminated on the second grid layer and absorbs the light from the outside.


iGlobe is open-source software built on NASA World Wind virtual globe technology. iGlobe provides a growing set of tools for weather science, climate research, and agricultural analysis. Up until now, these types of sophisticated tools have been developed in isolation by national agencies, academic institutions, and research organizations. By providing an open-source solution to analyze and visualize weather, climate, and agricultural data, the scientific and research communities can more readily advance solutions needed to understand better the dynamics of our home planet, Earth


The spreading of HIV infection is still a serious epidemic disease in Asia, including Thailand, especially by transmission from mother to child and drug resistance HIV. Therefore, discovery of a new drug is the hope for curing the drug resistant strains. Drug discovery needs atomic resolution structure of the target protein, reverse transcriptase. In this paper, we reported the cloning, expression, purification and activity assay of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase in E. coli. The yield of homogeneous recombinant HIV-1 reverse transcriptase enzyme was 2 mg/liter culture. The enzyme activity assay using fluorometric method and PicoGreen dye was convenient and rapid, and Km, determined by this method was 10.51 ± 2.58 μM dTTP substrate. The fluorometric assay can be further used for high-throughput inhibitor screening application.


Mice neonatally grafted with glandular stomach were continuously given Nmethyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NG) dissolved in drinking water (50mg/L) for 10 months. This dose of NG did not induce gastric carcinoma, but gave rise to leiomyosarcomas in the wall of the gastric cysts in the subcutaneous tissue, in 5 out of 26 mice. Atypical hyperplasia of epithelial cells in the cysts was also found in 2 mice. A strengthened and remote action of this carcinogen in gastric cysts was suggested.


Thermoreflectance is quantitatively compared with lock-in IR thermography for NDE of solar cells. The order of magnitude enhancement in spatial resolution enables shunt detection as well as extraction of local IV curves, diode parameters, and thermal diffusivity and conductivity.


ABSTRACT While the French Revolution of 1789 divided European polities along religious lines in the ensuing decades, the English-speaking world, including the United States, was largely bypassed by the turmoil it engendered. Consequently, while Christian democratic parties developed in postrevolutionary Europe, parties in Great Britain and the US divided along more pragmatic lines. Now, however, the increasing polarization of the American electorate along religious and partisan lines has brought a French-stye divisiveness to that country's political life. While this would seem to provide fertile ground for the growth of a Christian democratic party, such a phenomenon will become viable only if structural, cultural and practical obstacles can be successfully overcome.


Changes taking place in the fine structure of the cobalt K edge in Ni‐Co solid solutions indicate a decline in the 3d‐4s hole density at cobalt atom sites. Changes in the Ni K edge in the same alloys suggest that the hole density at nickel atoms increases, thus supporting the rigid‐band model for these alloys.Significant changes in the Ni K edges of fcc (gamma) Ni‐Fe solid solutions suggest that the rigid‐band model may be valid for these alloys also. It does not appear to be applicable, however, to bcc (alpha) solid solutions. In both alloy types, the fine structure at the Fe K edge remained unchanged. Good agreement was obtained with magnetic measurements on bcc Ni‐Fe alloys.


A multiband planar antenna is proposed for mobile handsets. The multiband antenna covers four frequency bands: 696-970 MHz for Long Term Evolution (LTE) 700, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) 850/900; 1683-2700 MHz for GSM 1800/1900, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) 2100, LTE 2300/2600, WLAN 2.4 GHz, WiMAX 2.5 GHz; 3070-3755 MHz for WiMAX 3.5 GHz; and 4590-7604 MHz for WLAN/WiMAX 5.2/5.8 GHz and WiMAX 5.5 GHz. The planar antenna consists of a U-shaped monopole coupling with an S-shaped strip, a clip-shaped monopole with a meander line coupling with an inverted-C strip, an X-shaped monopole, and an F-shaped monopole. The multiband antenna has a low profile and is printed on a thin substrate, suitable for ultra-slim smartphone applications.


In this article authors present the problems connected with the dynamics modeling mobile robot with crawler drive. The description of the robot's dynamic is based on the energetic method based on Lagrange equations. In order to avoid modeling problems connected with decoupling Lagrange multipliers Maggi equations are used. During the analysis and motion simulation takes into account such parameters as: slipping track-dependent deformation of the substrate and claws, strength, buoyancy robot located in the liquid, the hydrodynamic resistance force depending on the environment in which the robot works and the strength of the rolling resistance of track. Simulations of the dynamics parameters have been made and the results are shown.


In this work, comprehensive study on the ambipolar characteristics of short channel bilayer Phosphorene double gate tunnel-FETs has been presented. The impact of structural modifications such as heterogeneous gate dielectric (HGD), gate drain underlap (GDU) on the ambipolarity has also been investigated. It is shown that maximum suppression of ambipolarity, higher Ion/Ioff ratio and lower SS occur when length of low-k oxide near drain region is half of the channel length for both devices. However, GDU structure yields better Iamb reduction (∼6 decades for 20 nm channel length) than HGD structure at the same device parameters. Besides, channel length cannot be scaled beyond a minimal limit for both structures without increasing Iamb to undesired high values.


Branch of Muhammadiyah Tegalboto Kidul is a forum for Muhammadiyah da'wah activities within the scope of the village level. Muhammadiyah's space for movement is not only in religious activities, but in social, economic and other fields. The activity program of the Muhammadiyah branch of Tegal Boto Kidul which has been running so far is only in the routine study of recitation and social movements such as compensation for the needy. Activities related to economic development in branch members in particular and the surrounding community have generally not been carried out much. The purpose of this community service is to provide education to the community as a solution to limited land owned but still able to carry out fish farming and vegetable and fruit farming activities. This service aims to optimize the narrow land with a fish farming system in small media, does not require large areas, is cheap, is easily available media and technology that can be carried out by all groups of society at large. This service is expected to be a solution to the problem of limited land for fish cultivation, especially in cities, the problem of decreasing the availability of aquaculture and the problem of the need for fish animal protein in the community. The implementation of this community activity has been carried out during pandemic Covid-19 in Tegalboto Village, Sumbersari District, Jember Regency, including counseling, education and training on "budidakmber", measuring the quality of cultivated water, measuring the weight of catfish.


Existing public databases may help nurse administrators better understand the rapidly changing and increasingly complex healthcare environment. The authors discuss the availability of public healthcare databases and demonstrate through a hypothetical query how nurse administrators can use these databases during their decision-making efforts.


To understand the role of reflected particles in the fundamental scalings of the structure of a quasi‐perpendicular shock, we study a simple one‐fluid model for a shock with reflected particles by including appropriate source terms. A reductive perturbation scheme is adopted to obtain the nonlinear evolution equation, yielding a Burgers' equation for the case of low reflection efficiency. The stability of the shock is investigated and it is found that for a large reflection efficiency, the shock is destabilized. Possible implications for injection and acceleration of pickup‐ions at a quasi‐perpendicular and the heliospheric termination shock are discussed.


Game Trust, the leading infrastructure provider for premium online casual games, today announced that AOL Games is partnering with Game Trust in hosting the highly anticipated Second Annual "Casual Game Evolution Challenge." Launched last year at the Game Developer Conference (GDC), the Second Annual Casual Game Evolution Challenge seeks to identify the best Java web games for online, tournament and download play.


This article analyses decision-making within the EU's committee system for BSE regulations during the latest phase of the mad cow scandal between Spring 2000 and Spring 2001. As the empirical analysis shows, the two concepts which dominate the academic discussion - the principal-agent theory and the concept of deliberative supranationalism - each focus on different committees within this complex institutional framework. While the principal-agent theory emphasizes the intergovernmental character of oversight committees, the concept of deliberative supranationalism stresses the supranational character of scientific committees. However, this article demonstrates that there is a differentiation within the decision-making system and a functional division of labour between the different kinds of committees. The oversight committees fulfil the control function in the interests of the member states, whereas the scientific committees advise the Commission during the policy formulation process. Under specific circumstances the scientific committees gain significant influence over the decisions in the oversight committees and, thereby, on the final policy outcome. In this way, the different committees help to increase the EU's problem-solving capacity.


This Article considers the notable developments in Indiana family law during the survey period of October 1, 2015 to September 31, 2016. The Indiana statutes and published appellate cases surveyed in this Article concern same-sex marriage, property division upon divorce, parenting time, child custody and child support, CHINS, as well as the termination of parental rights, spousal maintenance, and jurisdiction and procedure.


BACKGROUND AND AIMS
Peribiliary glands (PBGs), clusters of epithelial cells residing in the submucosal compartment of extrahepatic bile ducts, have been suggested as biliary epithelial stem/progenitor cell niche; however, evidence to support this claim is limited due to a lack of PBG-specific markers. We therefore sought to identify PBG-specific markers to investigate the potential role of PBGs as stem/progenitor cell niches, as well as an origin of cancer.

METHODS
We examined the expression pattern of the Wnt target gene Axin2 in extrahepatic bile ducts. We then applied lineage tracing to investigate whether Axin2-expressing cells from PBGs contribute to biliary regeneration and carcinogenesis using Axin2-CreERT mice.

RESULTS
Wnt signaling activation, marked by Axin2, was limited to PBGs located in the periampullary region. Lineage tracing revealed that Axin2-expressing periampullary PBG cells are capable of self-renewal and supplying new biliary epithelial cells (BECs) to the luminal surface. Additionally, the expression pattern of Axin2 and the mature ductal cell marker CK19 was mutually exclusive in periampullary region, and fate tracing of CK19+ luminal surface BECs revealed gradual replacement by CK19- cells, further supporting the continuous replenishment of new BECs from PBGs to the luminal surface. We also found that Wnt signal enhancer R-spondin3 secreted from Myh11-expressing stromal cells, corresponding to human sphincter of Oddi, maintained the periampullary Wnt signal-activating niche. Notably, introduction of PTEN deletion into Axin2+ PBG cells, but not CK19+ luminal surface BECs, induced ampullary carcinoma whose development was suppressed by Wnt inhibitor.

CONCLUSION
A specific cell population receiving Wnt-activating signal in periampullary PBGs functions as biliary epithelial stem/progenitor cells and also cellular origin of ampullary carcinoma.


ABSTRACT We performed spoligotyping and 24-locus mycobacterial interspersed repetitive-unit-variable-number tandem-repeat (MIRU-VNTR) typing on M. tuberculosis culture-positive biopsy specimens collected from adults dying in a hospital in KwaZulu-Natal. Of 56 culture-positive samples genotyped, we detected mixed strains in five (9%) and clonal heterogeneity in an additional four (7%).


Objective To investigate the effects of transplantation of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) transfected with adrenomedullin (ADM) on cardiac function in heart failure rats and the mechanism.Methods BMSCs were isolated from femur and tibia marrow of 10 rats,20 days old,body weight 30-50 g,and in vitro cultured.The third passage of BMSCs were tuansfected with adenovirus containing ADM and labeled with green fluorescent protein(GFP).Before transplantation,BMSCs were labeled with 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI).Eighty healthy male Wistar rats weighted 180-200 g were randomly divided into 2 groups according to body weight:control group (n =10) was injected with normal saline (NS); diffuse myocardial injury heart failure rat model(n =70) was established by subcutaneous injection of isoproterenol (ISO,170 mg/kg) every day for 4 consecutive days.Four weeks after administration of ISO,heart function was assessed by echocardiography,the 39 rats with left ventricle ejection fraction(LVEF) < 70% of global heart failure model were randomly divided into three groups in accordance with the level of heart function:untransfected group,transfected group and NS group.DAPI labeled untransfected BMSCs suspension,ADM gene transfected BMSC suspensions (3 × 106/150 μl) and equal volume of NS were injected into the left ventricular anterior wall in 4 places in each goup.Control group received thoracotomy only.Four weeks after transplantation,rats were examined by ultrasound echocardiography,then were sacrificed and left ventricular were dissected.The myocardium was stained with Massons trichrome to analyze myocardial tissue fibrosis.The transplanted cells were observed by fluorescence microscopy and matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) expression of myocardial tissue was detected in each group by Western blotting.Results After in vitro culture for three days,the BMSCs began to grow adherently,tended to be fused about 10 days,in the fusiform shape.Four weeks after transplantation,ultrasound echocardiography results showed that rat cardiac left ventricular end systolic diameter (LVDs),LVEF,and left ventricular cardiac fractional shortening (LVFS) were different between groups,and the difference were statistically significant(F =5.838,32.983,51.714,P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).Compared with the control group[(86.50 ± 1.54)%,(50.66 ± 1.87)%],the LVEF and LVFS of NS groups[(56.67 ± 6.86)%,(26.27 ± 4.01)%],the transfected group[(79.40 ± 1.70)%,(43.48 ±2.15)%] and untransfected group[(69.24 ± 7.30)%,(34.59 ± 5.13)%] were significantly lower(all P < 0.05);compared with the NS group,the LVEF and LVFS of the transfected groups and the untransfected group were significantly increased(all P < 0.05) ; compared with the untransfected group,the LVEF and LVFS of the transfected group were increased (all P < 0.05).Compared with the control group [(3.16 ± 0.22)mm],the LVDs of the NS group[(5.35 ± 1.57)mm] was significantly increased (P < 0.01); compared with the NS group,the LVDs of the transfected group and the untransfected group[(3.95 ± 0.55),(4.24 ± 0.92)mm] were significantly decreased (all P < 0.05).There was no statistically significant difference between the control group,the transfected group and the untransfected group in LVDs (P > 0.05).It can clearly be seen that there was GFP and DAPI labeled transplanted cells under a fluorescence microscope in the myocardial tissue transplanted area.There was significant difference in myocardial fibrosis area and the myocardial tissue protein expression of MMP-2 between groups(F =533.75,32.777,all P < 0.01).The area ratio of the NS group[(15.200 ± 0.356)%,0.584 ± 0.013],the transfected group[(8.530 ± 0.573)%,0.386 ± 0.017] and the untransfected group [(10.670 ± 0.369)%,0.438 ± 0.015] and the MMP-2 protein expression were significantly higher than that of the control group[(1.070 ± 0.113)%,0.319 ±0.013,all P < 0.01)]; compared with the NS group,the two index of the transfected group and the untransfected group were decreased (all P < 0.05).Compared with the untransfected group,the two index of the transfected group was decreased (all P < 0.05).Conclusion Transplantation of ADM gene transfected BMSCs can improve heart function of rats with heart failure significantly and reduce myocardial fibrosis.

Key words:
Rats; Heart failure; Bone mesenchymal stem cells; Transplantation


Orbital floor blow-out fractures occupy the anatomical, as well as philosophical, intersection between ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat/otolaryngology, maxillofacial surgery, and facial plastic surgery. This confluence of interests carries the possibility for significant benefit, with potential 'cross pollination' of new investigations or surgical techniques from one speciality to another. There may also be serious disadvantages, however, with the possibility of significantly different treatment paradigms being developed in each speciality, leading to marked inconsistency of care, even within a hospital. It seems clear that the disadvantages will always outweigh the advantages as long as the various specialities are not comparing and discussing with each other. The paper by Lynham et al. in this issue of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology begins to address this problem. 1


The paper discusses the problem that the position of stress concentrtion in a hydraulic cylinder is often designed by the designers' experience and therefore can not be optimized accurately.For the given typical structure of a cylinder,its stress is analyzed by using the finite element method,showing that the stress conceatration is located in the transitional area.The comparison of the stress distributions is then made by selecting the wall thinkness corresponding to different transitional radii.The corresponding values of different wall thinknesses with the optimal radii of flange fransition area in the model is finally obtained,which offers a strong basis for optimizing the design of such structures.


I am explicating the neologism critical genetics as a site of curricular engagement for urban science students, acknowledging that schools and school systems are hierarchical structures that reflect a community's social norms and practices. This critical and standards-based critical genetics curriculum interrogates and disrupts the deficit narratives for inner-city minority youth while helping students manifest skills that are crucial for college-bound science learners. I also explicate the curricular choices made in an attempt to help students participate in developing authentic counternarratives so that they could resist the racial determinism embedded in dominant narratives of school success.


In this study the phase diagram of Poly(Vinyl Methyl ether)(PVME) aqueous solution in the presence and absence of hard spherical hydrophilic nanoparticles was determined during heating and cooling by using rheological measurements, modulated temperature differential scanning calorimetry (MTDSC), optical microscopy and FT-IR. The viscoelastic properties of PVME/water solution were investigated in oscillatory shear above and below the lower critical solution temperature (LCST). The "coil-globule" transition which results in the abrupt increase in the elastic modulus by heating of the solution above the LCST, is due to competition between PVME hydrophilic ether groups (which stabilize the solution by hydrogen bonds formation) and PVME hydrophobic methyl groups (which destabilize the solution by changing the water structure). The morphological evolution has been investigated in two phase region by the optical microscopy in temperature sweep mode. We further studied the influence of the interactions on infrared band shift for ?(CH_3) and ?(C-O) as a function of concentration. In order to investigate the interaction changing during phase separation, FT-IR was carried out below and above the LCST temperature. The time lag observed through remixing of the solution sample during cooling process was observed by rheological and thermal analysis, which was attributed to the interchain and intrachain quasi hydrogen bonds between different chain segments. The influence of hard spherical hydrophilic nanoparticles (fumed silica) on the phase behavior of PVME aqueous solution has been investigated. According to rheological measurements, the phase separation take place more rapidly as the result of competition between nanoparticles and PVME chains to form hydrogen bonds with water which reduce the PVME intra and inter hydrogen bonding and weaken the solution stability. Furthermore, based on FT-IR results in the presence/absence of nanoparticles, the formation of new hydrogen bond between PVME chains entangled on nanoparticles with water molecules has been founded.


This paper concerns the relationships amongst acoustic phonetic features of speech signals, perceived vocal effort, and speech clarity. It is presented from a statistical analysis of a good number of subjective testing on an anechoic speech corpus with 5 different vocal efforts, namely hushed, normal, raised, loud, and shouted, with an aim to map objective acoustic phonetic features onto subjective ratings. Results show that listeners can differentiate vocal effort from subtle acoustic phonetic variations. There is also a correlation between clarity and vocal efforts. A regression model is further established to predict vocal effort from acoustic phonetic analysis.


The capability of producing a marked and prolonged lymphopenia by extracorporeal irradiation (ECI) of the blood (1, 2), the prolongation in rejection of skin grafts (3), the development of a cobalt-60 irradiator to supplant the X-ray machine (4), and semipermanent Teflon-Silastic arteriovenous shunts have become realities. In the original experiments a transit dose of 900 rads was adapted, since the work of Trowell (5) led us to believe that this dose would approximate the 100 % lethal dose for lymphocytes. However, in some of the experiments with continuous ECI of the blood for 36 to 72 hours, severe hemolysis developed, owing to radiation injury of the red cells. This necessitated a fuller understanding of the factors that might contribute to an accumulation of sufficient dose to the red cells to produce hemolysis before ECI could be extended to the study and treatment of human disease. It had been demonstrated by Slatkin et al. (6) that one can estimate the dose distribution to any items that remain within the blood stream during ECI of the blood from the volume of the blood in the total bypass, the blood volume, the transit dose, and the total duration of ECI. By applying these mathematical principles to the specific cases in which hemolysis was induced, it was found that, when a substantial fraction of red cells had accumulated a dose in excess of 100,000 rads, hemolysis commenced. These studies (7) have in fact shown that 100,000 rads delivered to red cells in vitro will cause a major portion of them to be destroyed promptly on subsequent autotransfusion of the labeled cells into the donor. Prior to application of ECI in the treatment of leukemia in man or in the preparation of patients for homotransplantation of organs, one must know the best ECI treatment schedule to suppress the radiosensitive lymphocytes in the blood and how to minimize injury to the radioresistant red cells, because the ultimate duration of therapy


The authors carried an ab initio investigation on the properties of Mn impurities in BN, presenting results on stability, spin states, magnetic moment, hyperfine parameters, and formation and transition energies. Substitutional Mn in the cation site in BN was compared to that in GaN and GaAs. Due to the small BN lattice parameter, the Mn impurity is energetically more favorable in a divacancy site, as compared to the cation site. Although the Mn-divacancy complex has a high spin configuration, with a prevailing Mn d character, the transition energies lie deep in the gap, preventing a hole-mediated ferromagnetism.


Pharmaceutical contamination is increasing in the environment and the consequences this will bring are of growing concern. The highest contamination of pharmaceuticals can be found in aquatic ecosy ...


The 19th century style is mostly referred to as Eclecticism. In some countries, mostly in Germany, the term "Historicism" is also used. At the same time it never found wider application in Anglo-American or French art-historical studies. The term Eclecticism was introduced in Latvian in 1980ies, later "Historicism" was used as well. One of the purposes of this article is to resolve these terminological inconsistencies. "Historicism" should be understood as general method and not only as distinct style. The 19th century architecture has been analysed within a wider historical perspective.


The magnetic polymer complex microspheres with core-shell structure were synthesized by copolymerizing of pyrrolidone acid(NVP) and methacrylic(MAA) on surface of Fe_3O_4 particles modified by OP,using potassium persulfate as a initiator.The effect of bulk volume of monomers,ratio of monomers,reaction temperature,dosage of initiator on the reaction were investigated by the test target of content of Fe_3O_4,content of CO_2H,and diameter of microspheres,and the means of orthogonal test.The optimum reaction conditions were chosen by range analysis of the multitest target.The sturcture of complex microspheres were characterized by means of IR,XRD,SEM and TG.


Whether radio-intermediate quasars possess relativistic jets as radio-loud quasars do is an important issue in the understanding of the origin of radio emission in quasars. In this paper, using the two-epoch radio data obtained during the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty cm (FIRST) and NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS), we identified 89 radio-variable sources in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Among them, more than half are radio-intermediate quasars (RL = f20 cm/f2500 Å < 250). For all objects with available multiple-band radio observations, the radio spectra are either flat or inverted. The brightness temperature inferred from the variability is larger than the synchrotron self-Compton limit for a stationary source in 87 objects, indicating relativistic beaming. Considering the sample selection and the viewing angle effect, we conclude that relativistic jets probably exist in a substantial fraction of radio-intermediate quasars.


Bismuth−aluminum binary-oxide layers and clusters on an Al2O3 surface were prepared by supporting bismuth triethoxides on Al2O3, followed by calcination at 673 K. The Bi−Al binary oxides were characterized by EXAFS and XPS, and their catalytic activities for ethanol-selective oxidation were investigated. XPS data revealed that Bi atoms were supported on the Al2O3 surface in a Stranski−Krastanov (SK) growth mode, while EXAFS data demonstrated that Bi atoms made bondings with Al atoms at 0.353−0.361 nm through oxygen atoms (Bi−O, 0.211−0.212 nm) irrespective of Bi loadings and that the coordination numbers (CN) of the Bi−Al bond did not significantly change with Bi loadings (CN, 1.0−1.5). It is likely from these results that below 9 wt % Bi loading, Bi−Al (rich) binary-oxide monolayers are formed at the Al2O3 surface and that above 9 wt % Bi loading, Bi (rich)−Al binary-oxide clusters grow on the surface. In the low-Bi-loading catalysts, Bi−O and Bi−Al bonds were observed at 0.211 and 0.353−0.355 nm, respec...


Characterization of gate oxides grown on zone-melting-recrystallized (ZMR) and silicon-implanted-with-oxygen (SIMOX) films indicates oxide leakage and charge trapping to be several orders of magnitude greater than their bulk silicon counterparts. Electron trapping is the primary trapping mechanism for constant current injection in the gate oxides of these SOI (silicon-on-insulator) films. Similar type of traps are observed in ZMR and SIMOX oxides.<<ETX>>


Saponins of rhizomes of two specimens of Panax pseudo-ginseng subsp. himalaicus collected at high-altitude areas of Bhutan (Tzatogang and Pari-la : tentatively named specimens T and P) were investigated. With regard to oleanolic acid saponins, two new saponins, pseudo-ginsenosides-RT1 and RP1, were isolated along with the known saponins, chikusetsusaponins IVa and V, from both specimens. It seems significant that chikusetsusaponin IV was not detected in these specimens, in contrast to Japanese and Chinese P. japonicus and P. pseudo-ginseng subsp. himalaicus collected at lower-altitude areas of Bhutan, all of which contained chikusetsusaponin IV as one of the major saponins, whereas they lacked pseudo-ginsenosides-RT1 and -RP1. As regards dammaranesaponins, ginsenosides-Rb1, -Rd, -Rg1 and a new saponin, pseudo-ginsenoside-RT3, were isolated from specimen T, while ginsenosides-Rb1, -Rd, -Re, -Rg1 and -F2, gypenoside-XVII and pseudo-ginsenoside-RT3 were isolated from specimen P. Characteristic saponins having the ocotillol-type side chain were also isolated; pseudo-ginsenoside-F11 and three new saponins, pseudo-ginsenosides-RT2, -RT4 and -RT5, from specimen T and pseudo-ginsenoside-RT4 from specimen P.


This chapter presents the findings of the Participant Outcomes Analysis (POA) through Year 4 of the Waiver. The POA component of the Waiver evaluation compares outcomes for children in the 14 demonstration counties to those in the 14 comparison counties. It also compares pre-Waiver outcomes to outcomes after the Waiver was implemented. After adjusting for case mix and child characteristics in demonstration and comparison counties, significant differences are attributed to the effects of the Waiver, but the study team acknowledges that these differences could be due to other unmeasured factors.


Based on the investigation of the farmers from Hunan and Hubei,the level of life satiafaction Index, Emotional-social loneliness and the self-esteem were explored. The results showed that the level of farmer's life satisfaction is high,emotional-social loneliness is quite serious,and the farmers showed low self-esteem.


The present thematic set of studies comprises five concise review articles on the use of priming paradigms in different areas of bilingualism research. Their aim is to provide readers with a quick overview of how priming paradigms can be employed in particular subfields of bilingualism research and to make readers aware of the methodological issues that need to be considered when using priming techniques.


Hemoglobinopathies, sickle cell disease and thalassemias, are the most common genetic disorders worldwide, affecting millions of individuals. Diagnosis can take place very early in life, ideally through newborn screening, sometimes later in life. Disease modifying, acute and long term management strategies are provided for specific genotypes, and can be challenging for the treating hematologists. It is essential the adequate diagnosis for the optimal management of these patients. Most diagnosis are made through hemoglobin electrophoresis, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in the majority of cases of thalassemias. However, in some cases the correct diagnosis cannot be made by these methods, and more complex studies are needed, at the molecular level to genetically characterize the disorder. We report a series of 12 patients from the pediatric hematology department from Hospital de Ninhos JM de los Rios, affected by severe congenital hemolytic anemias, who where assessed and managed at this tertiary Referral Center, who did not have definitive diagnoses by conventional methods, in September 2010. They all had presented symptoms from severe anemia since very early age, and where of difficult management through strategies like chronic transfusions, splenectomy or hydroxycarbamide, because lack of definitive diagnosis. Samples were shipped after appropriate consentment to a highly specialized referral laboratory, (Hemoglobin Diagnostic Reverence Laboratory, Boston University School of Medicine), free from any charge, for its molecular characterization. We obtained very accurate and complex results, also very interesting cases, like one unstable hemoglobinopathy from Heinz bodies (Hb Volga) and never before described thalassemic mutations, both homozygous and heterozygous. This was assuring, also reflected in a more appropriate and safer management of our patients. We conclude it is always necessary to establish adequate diagnosis in our patients affected by hemoglobinopathies, for their adequate characterization and management. This will be reflected in a better quality of life. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Heat-exchanger structure having a heat exchange path, comprising at least one micro-channel (3) with at least one arc-shaped fluid guide (7) having at least one fluidic branch (8) and / or behind the arcuate fluid guide. The task was to propose a heat exchanger structure with increased efficiency.


This thesis examines why and how Indigenous Australians convert to Islam in the New South Wales suburbs of Redfern and Lakemba. It is argued that conventional religious conversion theories inadequately account for religious change in the circumstances outlined in this study. The aim of the thesis is to apply a sociological-historical methodology to document and analyse both Indigenous and Islamic pathways eventuating in Indigenous Islamic alliances. All of the Indigenous men interviewed for this research have had contact with Islam either while incarcerated or involved with the criminal justice system. The consequences of these alliances for the Indigenous men constitute the contribution the study makes to new knowledge. The study employs a socio-historical and sociological focus to account for the underlying issues by a literature review followed by an ethnographic participant observation methodology. In-depth open-ended interviews with key informants provided the rich qualitative data to compliment literature review findings. For the Indigenous people involved in this study, Islamic religious identity combined with resistance politics formed a significant empowering framework. For them it is a symbolic representation of anti-colonialism and the enduring scourge of social dysfunction in some Indigenous communities.


This paper considers scenarios wherein a hacker hacks into a subset of UAVs in a swarm and turns them into vehicles with malicious intent. The objective of the malicious vehicles is to prevent the swarm from performing its intended mission, and thereby compromise the effectiveness of the overall swarm. The two species of UAVs in the swarm - malicious UAVs and normal UAVS, as well as their associated interaction effects, are modeled using Partial Differential Equations (PDEs). The malicious UAVs choose a reference density profile of the normal UAVs which, when enforced, would reduce the effectiveness of the swarm. The malicious UAVs then perform a sequence of velocity changes with the objective of changing the density profile of the normal UAVs so that it tracks the reference density profile. Analytical expressions governing the velocity inputs of the malicious vehicles with which they can generate such density changes in the normal UAVs, are demonstrated. Simulations are presented to demonstrate the working of the attack model.


A biosensor for on–line measurement of progesterone was designed and calibrated. The objectives were to develop
an improved immunoassay sensitive enough to measure progesterone in milk at follicular phase concentrations in real–time,
and to design a biosensor for implementation of the detection chemistry. Anti–progesterone antibody was coated on small
disks of nitrocellulose membrane, which were inserted in the reaction chamber prior to testing. An antigen capture format
was used with 5 minutes for binding and peroxidase–labeled progesterone as the competitor, and 3 minutes for substrate
development with tetramethylbenzidine as the chromophore. The sensor was designed using micropumps and valves under
computer control, and tested fluid volumes of about 1 ml. Output was read as the rate of change in optical density at 645 nm.
An automated sampler was designed to draw a test volume at the start of milking from the long milk tube using a 4–way pinch
valve. The system could execute a measurement cycle in about 10 min, and progesterone could be measured at concentrations
low enough to distinguish mid–luteal phase cows (2–10 ng/ml) from follicular phase cows (<1 ng/ml). The 95% confidence
interval for a 0.5 ng/ml reading was estimated to be 0.2 to 1.5 ng/ml.


We analyze the impact of speaker adaptation in end-to-end architectures based on transformers and wav2vec 2.0 under different noise conditions. We demonstrate that the proven method of concatenating speaker vectors to the acoustic features and supplying them as an auxiliary model input remains a viable option to increase the robustness of end-to-end architectures. By including speaker embeddings obtained from x-vector and ECAPA-TDNN models, we achieve relative word error rate improvements of up to 9.6% on LibriSpeech and up to 14.5% on Switchboard. The effect on transformer-based architectures is approximately inversely proportional to the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and is strongest in heavily noised environments ($SNR=0$). The most substantial benefit of speaker adaption in systems based on wav2vec 2.0 can be achieved under moderate noise conditions ($SNR\geq18$). We also find that x-vectors tend to yield larger improvements than ECAPA-TDNN embeddings.


Business process reengineering (BPR) assists organisations in improving their internal functions to better achieve their business objectives. Various methodologies have been developed for applying BPR, through which organisational processes are identified, analysed, and improved. However, the need still remains for custom methodologies which are tailored to fit the specific characteristics of organisations and BPR projects. Process patterns are abstract representations of common and effective processes that can be reused as method parts for building custom methodologies; an approach that is commonly referred to as situational method engineering (SME). This study aims to use SME in the context of BPR by proposing a collection of cohesive process patterns for BPR; these process patterns have been extracted through studying prominent BPR methodologies and abstracting their similarities. The patterns have then been organised into a generic framework for BPR methodologies. A method for using the framework has also been presented which prescribes a process for selecting suitable process patterns and adding them to a core process to yield a bespoke BPR methodology. This flexible framework forms a knowledge base that is not only useful for improving BPR practices, but also provides a basis for future research in this context.


Due to the complex structure of mitral valve and its surrounding tissues,technique of minimally invasive treatment of mitral valve diseases was started late. At present,only Mitraclip technique is selectively used in some developed countries to treat mitral regurgitation. However,new technologies have leaped forward. Nowadays,various prototypes of minimally invasive treatment of mitral valve diseases are in different of stages experimental or preclinical study. In this review,these technologies of minimally invasive treatment are summarized.


ATMs were introduced to the world in 1983. These modern marvels of technology were well received by consumers because they made it possible for them to access money from their credit cards or debit cards 24 hours per day with a quick and simple system. ATMs also made it possible for consumers to travel in a safer manner because they no longer had to carry large amounts of cash with them. The study entitled on customers perception towards ATM services of banks is concerned with the preference, awareness level, existing practices and opinion of customers towards ATM services provided by banks. And also the study analysis the problems faced by the customers and satisfaction level of them towards the ATM services of banks. It is conducted in Coimbatore city and the sample size is 100. Convenience sampling method has been used for the purpose of making analysis. Simple percentage analysis has been adopted in the study. It is concluded that most of the customers are satisfied with the ATM services provided by the banks. But still many customers have faced many problems such as non-functioning of ATM machines, unavailability of ATM centres, wrong deductions of amount. The main problem they have come across is the security problems like the absence of security personnel and non-functioning of auto door locks. Hence all these problems must be taken into consideration to provide the customers with even better ATM services.


Research was conducted on Kuwait University undergraduates enrolled in English courses offered by the English Language Centre at Kuwait University. It examined students' attitudes and motivations to learning English as a foreign language in a predominantly Arabic and Moslem environment. The research focuses on the inter-relationships between attitude, motivation, anxiety and achievement in the English language. Despite the studies (Al-Mutawa, 1986, 1994) that seem to show that Kuwaitis are not in favour of the English language and learning it, the researcher hypothesises that (1) Kuwait University undergraduates, in general, have positive attitudes towards learning English, towards the English language and towards native speakers of English. Students have reasons to study English; (2) Kuwait society values and regards the English language highly; and (3) students' achievement is positively related to their motivation and attitudes toward the English language and negatively related to their anxiety. In general, these hypotheses were vindicated by the research, which also found that the more a student is exposed to the English language, and the more a student needs the English language either for present studies or for future career, the more positive his/her attitudes appear towards the language.


In vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes is a promising technology for both the treatment of human infertility and in animal production as a means of improving genetic gain. However, IVM derived oocytes remain inferior to those matured in vivo with reduced developmental potential. The environment in which an oocyte matures in vitro is vastly different to in vivo where maturation takes place within the ovarian follicle. The in vitro environment differs in oxygen concentration, exposure to light, and metabolite composition of culture media vs. follicle fluid, to name a few. Human follicle fluid contains the metabolite Lcarnitine and has shown to be associated with human fertility. L-carnitine has known biological functions as an essential co-factor for beta-oxidation, regulating ATP production from lipids, and as a potent antioxidant. Importantly, it appears that cumulus cells and the oocyte lack the machinery to synthesize L-carnitine de novo. The inability for local production of L-carnitine during IVM and its importance in human fertility warrants investigation of its affects during IVM. The potential to improve oocyte quality by inclusion of L-carnitine in the culture media thus increasing the capacity for betaoxidation and/or antioxidant activity of the culture media is receiving increased attention. This review summarizes studies to date investigating the developmental importance of L-carnitine during IVM and the mechanisms by which improved developmental potential is elicited. Overall, the inclusion of L-carnitine during IVM of several species results in improved oocyte quality with increased development to blastocyst. This is likely due to the antioxidant capacity of L-carnitine and its ability to increase ATP production from intracellular lipid stores.


In recent years, many researchers have been involved in investigating the electromagnetic transient phenomena associated with the switching operations in offshore wind farms. It has been reported that, the single core submarine cables are the most distinctive electric component in offshore wind farms. This paper investigates the effect of sheath resistance, semi-conductive layer thickness, and the armor permeability of the single core submarine cables on both transient overvoltages and transformers inrush currents. Both transient overvoltages and transformers inrush currents are produced in the offshore wind farm due to the energization of unloaded wind turbine transformers which are connected to each other by single-core submarine cables. The PSCAD/EMTDC program is used for modeling the offshore wind farm. The offshore wind farm investigated in this study consisted of 72 wind turbines arranged in eight rows and each wind turbine is connected to a transformer. The results show that the transient overvoltage magnitude decreases with increasing the sheath resistance or the armor permeability. The transformer inrush current also decreases with increasing the sheath resistance or the armor permeability.


Contrary to what is sometimes assumed, it is mathematically impossible to write down a magnetic field of a current system that is not closed. When the Biot-Savart law is integrated over a current that ostensibly is not closed, the resulting magnetic field is that of a system containing a closure current which is uniquely determined but may neither be physically realistic nor correspond to the desired approximation.


Bodily and gender subjective experiences challenge Psychoanalysis to reconsider its conceptual apparatus and to sustain an ethics which enables a careful and attentive listening. It puts into question the existence of a taboo in relation to the body that would prevent this listening. Bodily interventions and changes observed in transsexuals and transgender people experiences have been the subject of efforts to approximate Psychoanalysis and Queer Theory. We believe that this approximation will bring us the possibility to formulate concepts that might clear up the understanding of these experiences. In order to investigate the status of the body we separate it from gender and sexual norms by choosing three interlocutors: psychiatry - the hormone treatment of adolescent transsexuals; art and biotechnological feminism. This way of considering things allows us to take into account different aspects of deconstruction and reconstruction of the body.


This short talk introduces and illustrates svylorenz, a Stata 9 program for computing variance estimates for quantile group shares of total varname, cumulative quantile group shares (i.e., Lorenz curve ordinates), and the Gini coefficient. The program implements the linearization methods proposed by Kovacevic and Binder (Journal of Official Statistics, 1997).


This paper presents the results of the chemical composition and structure of the NiTi surface layer after the single and ten-fold electron-beam treatment. Auger electron spectroscopy reveals that the electron-beam treatment of the NiTi surface layer results in its enrichment with carbon and oxygen and much greater depth extension than the thickness of the natural oxide layer of NiTi. Transmission electron microscopy shows the multilayer structure of the surface layer formed due to melting and crystallization.


Indirect (unit) tax collection is difficult because it is hard for the government to monitor the economic dealings. In most countries, the firm incurs cost to cheat the government while so does the government to audit the firm. To solicit the information on a transaction known only to the firm and the consumer, several governments have set up a cashback system. The paper shows if the government gives a subsidy to the consumer in a competitive market, the consumer will voluntarily and fully declare the tax so that the firm cannot cheat, and that the cheating and auditing costs can be saved; Pareto improving and efficient taxation without evasion becomes practicable. JEL classification: H26, D81, D82


In this paper we investigate the integration of object detection algorithms with eye-tracking data. The emerging technology of lightweight mobile eye-trackers enables realistic in-the-wild user experience experiments. Unfortunately, mobile eye-trackers generate a large amount of video data, which up to now requires manual analysis. This time-consuming and repetitive task renders processing large datasets economically infeasible. Our main contribution is the use of object detection algorithms to perform this analysis task automatically. We compare several object detection algorithms with regard to both speed and accuracy. To prove their functionality, we have recorded an eye-tracker shopping experiment and processed the data using object detection techniques.


Virtual reality (VR) as a form of therapy has made rapid strides in the field of psychiatry and neurorehabilitation. This paper is a narrative clinical review that provides an overview of the use of VR therapy (VRT) in care for elderly. It covers various uses of VR in elderly care that span from dementia, neurorehabilitation, and stroke to role of VR in psychotherapeutic management for the elderly. The uses of VR as therapy for dementia and various areas that it focuses on such as executive function, cognition, memory, and visuospatial navigation are discussed. The role of VRT in cognitive training and motor rehabilitation after stroke along with exergames is analyzed as well. The paper also looks at VR as a part of the treatment for treatment-resistant hallucinations and geriatric depression. Using VR as an adjuvant to psychotherapy and in reminiscence therapy is also discussed. The article ends by discussing the advantages and disadvantages of VR in the elderly along with future research needs in the area.


Based on the epidemiologic investigation into the swine disease in the rural area in Sichuan province recently with character of cunnus egorgement,endometrial hyperplasia and mastouxy,it was confined that the morphologic and functional changes of the generative organs result from the pollution of gibberella,which products gibberellenic ketone(RAL,F-2)in feedstuffs.


Summary In a randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over Phase-I study pharmacokinetic and hemostatic properties of BM 06.022 were investigated in seven healthy, male human volunteers. The novel recombinant plasminogen activator BM 06.022 consists of the kringle 2 domain and the protease domain of human t-PA and is unglycosylated due to its expression in Escherichia coli cells. Vehicle or 6 MU (= 10.4 mg) BM 06.022 was administered as a single i.v. bolus injection of 10 ml over 2 min. BM 06.022 was well tolerated. Fibrinogen levels and clotting times remained unchanged at baseline levels after 6 MU BM 06.022; plasminogen and α2-antiplasmin (collected on chloromethylketone) decreased maximally to 83 ± 1% and 64 ± 3%, respectively, of baseline. D-dimers and fibrinogen degradation products increased to 1,006 ± 234 ng/ml and 555 ± 155 ng/ml, respectively, after BM 06.022. Half-life of BM 06.022-activity was 11.2 ± 0.4 min and of antigen was 13.9 ± 0.7 min, followed by a terminal half-life only for antigen of 173 ± 33 min. Plasma clearance of BM 06.022 was 371 ± 13 ml/min for activity and 183 ± 15 ml/min for antigen. Thus, BM 06.022 is not fibrinogenolytic at 6 MU and is a fibrinolytic agent with a longer half-life than t-PA.


Methods used for the determination of oxygen to uranium ratios has been collected and discussed. These methods are destructive and non destructive. The experimental procedures are written in form of manuals to help their easy use in nuclear fuel quality control laboratories. It is of special importance in nuclear fuel laboratories of in connection with the fuel programme conceived within the scope or The accuracy and place of use of each method has been tabulated.


The solid-state behavior of the semifluorinated n-alkane C 8 F 1 7 -C 1 6 H 3 3 (F 8 H 1 6 ) has been characterized by temperature-modulated calorimetry, dielectric spectroscopy, and 1 H and 1 9 F nuclear magnetic resonance. Three solid-solid phase transitions were observed below the melting point (325 K) at about 258, 275, and 297 K. Wide-line 'H and 1 9 F NMR suggests that the first transition is related to the onset of a dynamic process occurring in the hydrocarbon chain, which is, however, mainly involved in the central transition. Contributions from the fluorinated segment to the transitions at 275 and 297 K can be revealed. NMR relaxation times, temperature-modulated calorimetry, and dielectric spectroscopy agree in suggesting that the motional processes activated at the phase transitions remain quite slow in the whole solid range and are characterized by maximum frequencies of the order of some mHz.


The genus Tephrosia Pers. (Leguminosae-Papilionoideae) is presently known by eight species from Thailand viz. T. coccinea, T. kerrii, T. pumila, T. purpurea, T. vestita including three introduced species, T. noctiflora, T. villosa and T. vogelii. Based on a through survey of taxonomic literature and collected specimens at herbaria were consulted and also fieldworks in the country. T. pumila subsp. aldabrensis (Drummond & Hemsley) Bosman & de Haas and T. purpurea var. laxa Craib, are reduced to be a synonym of T. pumila and T. purpurea, respectively. A key to the species, descriptions, distribution and ecology data and specimens examined are provided.


The results in this paper demonstrate that the synthetic loading methods described are able to be used to evaluate the efficiency of three-phase induction machines. Synthetic loading causes the machine, as it is rotating, to periodically accelerate and decelerate. This causes the machine to draw, on average, rated current, at rated voltage at or near rated speed, thus producing rated losses. The total losses for efficiency evaluation are identified by taking the average of the measured input power over each synthetic loading cycle. The measured results give excellent agreement with the conventional full-load efficiency test method. The synthetic loading test methods are portable with no loss of accuracy, so they are suitable for either on-site or laboratory use. The test is easy to set up, requiring only that the motor be decoupled from the load and electrically connected to an inverter controlled from a PC that also displays the results in real time. The efficiency evaluation method proposed is accurate, easy to use and considerably reduces the testing time compared with conventional methods, hence reducing testing costs.


Casual observers of Thai Buddhism may see the monkhood or sangha as a rather homogeneous group. Slightly varying shades of saffron-coloured robes walk the streets and village lanes on morning alms-rounds, and then retreat to their respective temples. The news only rarely mentions debates between religious figures or doctrinal differences; instead, high-ranking monks often appear opening shops or banks, or christening new navy ships or jet airliners for Thai international. If only viewed from this level, everything appears as if it is "business as usual". If, however, we peel back the ochre veneer covering sangha affairs, many people might be surprised by what lies beneath. If the casual observer becomes more curious and persistent in his inquiries, a number of ongoing issues and a certain amount of disagreement come to light.


The pore water pressure will be altered with the changes of groundwater characteristic and seepage condition.It will be also a crucial factor to the bank slope instability.Based on the model experiment and the numerical simulation(EMU),they the influence of drainage velocity on the bank slope stability is verified.This test also validates that the siphon drainage technology can reduce the water head between the reservoir and groundwater in the bank slope and make seepage path better.The results will be useful in engineering practice.


A DETERMINATION IS MADE OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOME-INTERVIEW TYPE OF O-D SURVEY SAMPLING RATES AND THE ERROR THAT CAN BE EXPECTED IN VOLUMES ACCUMULATED FROM A SURVEY. THE DATA ANALYZED WERE TAKEN FROM THE HOME-INTERVIEW PHASE OF THE 1957 PHOENIX-MARCOPA COUNTY TRAFFIC STUDY. INASMUCH AS INDIVIDUAL ZONE-TO-ZONE MOVEMENTS HAVE INSUFFICIENT VOLUME TO BE RELIABLE INDICATORS, A METHOD CALLED 'TRIP TRACING' WAS EMPLOYED TO ACCUMULATE INDIVIDUAL ZONE-TO-ZONE TRIP VOLUMES FOR STATISTICAL STUDY. BY THIS METHOD, TRIPS ARE TRACED ACROSS THE SURVEY AREA IN A STRAIGHT LINE BETWEEN ORIGIN AND DESTINATION AND ACCUMULATED IN ONE QUARTER MILE SECTIONS OF A GRID SYSTEM SUPERIMPOSED OVER THE SURVEY AREA. AN ELECTRONIC COMPUTER WAS UTILIZED FOR THE TRIP-TRACING PROCEDURE AND FOR MUCH OF THE STATISTICAL COMPUTATIONS REQUIRED FOR THE STUDY. THE TRIP DATA FROM THE PHOENIX-MARICOPA SURVEY WERE SYSTEMATICALLY SAMPLED TO PROVIDE ONE HALF, ONE THRID, AND ONE TENTH SUBSAMPLES OF THE ORIGINAL 1-IN-15 DWELLING-UNIT SAMPLE. THE EXPANDED RESULTS OF THE ORIGINAL SURVEY AND EACH OF THE SUBSAMPLES WERE INDIVIDUALLY PROCESSED THROUGH THE TRIP TRACING PROGRAM. THIS PROCEDURE PROVIDED THE DATA NECESSARY TO DETERMINE THE ACCURACY THAT COULD BE EXPECTED IN ANY VOLUME DUE TO SAMPLING. THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT THE ACCURARCY OF ACCUMULATED TRIP VOLUMES IS CONSIDERABLY LESS THAN THE ACCURACY PREDICTED BY A PURELY THEORETICAL APPROACH. HOWEVER, THE RESULTS AGREE QUALITATIVELY WITH THEORY IN THAT THE ACCURACY OF TRIP VOLUMES VARIES WITH THE SQUARE ROOT OF SAMPLE SIZE AND VERY NEARLY WITH THE SQUARE ROOT OF THE VOLUME. THE RESULTS OF THIS RESEARCH SHOULD ALLOW THE SELECTION OF A SAMPLE RATE COMMENSURATE WITH THE FUNDS AVAILABLE AND THE DEGREE OF ACCURACY REQUIRED. /AUTHOR/


On my first day in Ireland I waited for a bus. After several minutes (which seemed an eternity in the steady drizzle of rain or what the Irish refer to as a "soft" day) I felt the slow, deadly advance of indignation. The schedule was printed at the stop for all to see and yet this bus was stubbornly refusing to materialize. After a few more minutes and by now soaked to the bone I asked the man standing a few feet away from me, the only other prospective passenger, "Are you going to Dalkey?" The man considered this question carefully and after spending some time absorbed in the mysterious alchemy of keeping his pipe alight in the rain, he announced most affably, "Well now, if the bus comes I'm going there." This signifier of faith, this cheerful embrace of God's will placed all things, even the timetable of Bus Eireann on the map of fate. "If the bus comes I'm going there" became both motto and mantra for me through the ten years of my "visit" to Ireland, and I can see now that the man with cap and pipe standing in the rain for all time (the bus never came so I took a taxi) was some Bord Failte (welcoming) angel dispatched to my bus stop to usher me into a decade of bemusing conundrums that permeated the Emerald Isle of saints and scholars like the steady "soft" rains.


The expert fuzzy process control system consists of both precise and imprecise state descriptions and decision rules. The control system uses a supervising expert system, deterministic or crisp controllers and fuzzy logic controllers. The supervisor task is based on appropriate criteria which maintains the overall application objective. The selected system structure allows for use of both fuzzy and crisp controllers and encourages optimum allocation of the overall process control hardware and software resources. The control system is applied to a simulated rotary dryer process whose variables are nonlinear and exhibit interaction effects which typically require constant monitoring by skilled operators. Control automation is performed with the proposed system by implementation of the appropriate controller type under expert system supervisory control. The supervisory tasks include those which aid in improving the performance of control.


Ubilla, M. & Rinderknecht, A., April 2016. Lagostomus maximus (Desmarest) (Rodentia, Chinchillidae), the extant plains vizcacha in the Late Pleistocene of Uruguay. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518 The extant plains vizcacha, Lagostomus maximus, is described from the Late Pleistocene (Dolores Formation) of Uruguay based on an almost complete articulated skeleton. It is compared with the nominally extinct Pleistocene species of the genus. An AMS 14C taxon-age is determined for L. maximus at 11 879 ± 95 years BP (cal. BP 13 898–13 941). Lagostomus maximus is absent from modern mammal communities in Uruguay, and no Holocene evidence is available. Because L. maximus exhibits remarkable sexual and ontogenetic dimorphism, we examined a range of juvenile, sub-adult and adult male and female specimens. It is not possible to differentiate the articulated Pleistocene fossil from sub-adult specimens of L. maximus based on this sample. Moreover, the skull characteristics, including a broad vertical ramus of the zygomatic arch, semi-circular temporal crest and short robust sagittal crest, most closely resemble extant female individuals. Molar size is non-predictive for ontogenetic stage or body mass because it reaches stability during early adulthood. Other fragmentary skull remains are herein assigned to L. sp. cf. L. maximus. Lagostomus cavifrons from the Pleistocene of Argentina is considered synonymous with L. maximus. Its character states concur with the range of intraspecific variability and it has been established on a young adult or adult male individual. Likewise, the other Argentinean Pleistocene species based on incomplete mandibles, L. angustidens, L. striatus, L. heterogenidens, L. egenus, L. minimus and L. debilis, concur with ontogenetic morphs and are here assigned to Lagostomus sp. The ecological preferences of extant L. maximus infer open arid or semi-arid landscapes for the latest Pleistocene of southern Uruguay. This hypothesis is reinforced by the coeval presence of Microcavia, Galea and small camelids in the same strata. The Last Glacial Maximum likely promoted this environmental setting. Latest Pleistocene or early Holocene climatic change might have facilitated local extinctions and/or range shifts among this mammal fauna. Martín Ubilla [email@example.com], Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la Republica, Iguá 4225, 11400, Montevideo, Uruguay; Andrés Rinderknecht [email@example.com], Museo Nacional de Historia Natural, Paleontología, 11000, Montevideo, Uruguay.


In this paper, we address the theme of future products design, proposed a design for an ambient communication bracelet, which combines digital technology and with jewellery making tradition. The work presents an example of future visions where unobtrusive interactive wearables are used for emotional communication. The paper presents the concept design process and prototype for an interactive jewellery, Ambi-Bracelet. The interactive bracelet is targeted as an aesthetic and simple communication device between couples over distance. The jewellery design with Ambi-Bracelet was done by using traditional craft techniques combined with 3D modelling and rapid prototyping techniques. The functional physical prototype was manufactured by 3D printing the bracelet frame, and integrated with electrochromic displays showing user-designed graphics. The electrochromic display technique allows the printing of interactive graphics at low cost and small samples, which makes it potential for personalizing smart artefacts. The interactive prototype was implemented with Arduino-based electronics. We report on the process of creating the digital jewellery concept and prototype and discuss the lessons learnt.


The ranked set sampling (RSS) technique has been shown to be superior to classical simple random sampling (SRS) in the sense that it always provides a more precise estimator of the population mean. However, it is quite often that some measurements are below the limit of detection and hence become censored. In such situations, the superiority of RSS over SRS may no longer be held. In this article we consider the problem of estimating the population mean and standard deviation based on a ranked set sample with some data being censored. Maximum likelihood estimators are proposed when the data are assumed to follow a lognormal distribution. In the case where the distribution is unknown, a variant of the Kaplan–Meier estimator is proposed in the estimation of the population mean. A simulation study is conducted to compare the performance of the proposed RSS estimators with the corresponding SRS estimators. The impact of imperfect judgment ranking is also discussed. The proposed methods are applied to a real data set on mercury concentration in swordfish. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In this study, we aim to clarify spatial distributions of facility accessibility that vary according to facility type by using a distance attenuation function that includes an unknown parameter in the determination of distribution function. The distribution of facility accessibility is represented as a monotonically decreasing distance function that includes two parameters indicating "distance resistance" and "type of distribution function." Then, the sum of the square of the difference between population density and facility accessibility is minimized. We have applied the distance function in a defined region and analyzed facility accessibilities from multiple perspectives.


A Dissertation Submitted to the University of Nairobi, Ophthalmology Department in Partial Fulfillment for the Award of Degree of Masters in Medicine (Ophthalmology).


We propose a technique for monitoring the synthesis of Fenozan 23 by the method of high-resolution liquid chromatography using a Tsvet-304 soviet-made liquid chromatograph


This paper investigates the effects of prospective migration on students' investment in tertiary education. A simple theoretical model is presented in which individual educational choices, different across potential students because of heterogeneity in migration costs, are driven by expected returns and costs of tertiary education. In this framework, a larger probability of after‐graduation migration is shown to affect educational choices by both reducing the rate of enrollment at home and favoring pre‐graduation migration (i.e., enrollment at universities outside the residence region). The theoretical predictions are confirmed by the empirical investigation carried out on Italian interregional graduate migration in 2001–2016. In the lagging regions of Southern Italy, out‐migration of students and graduates, and weak incentives to acquire tertiary education turn out to bring about depletion of local human capital.