A solid‐phase radioimmunoassay (RIA) for the detection of hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and antibody (anti‐HBe) was developed. The RIA was approximately 1,000‐fold more sensitive than rheophoresis for HBeAg, and approximately 6,000‐fold more sensitive than rheophoresis for anti‐HBe. Generally, less than one‐fifth of hepatitis B antigen (HBsAg)‐positive sera from blood donors were positive for either HBeAg or anti‐HBe by rheophoresis; in contrast, more than 90% of the samples were positive by the RIA method. The ratio of HBeAg to anti‐HBe among HBsAg carriers varied in different geographic localities. Also, the presence of HBeAg correlated directly with the titer of HBsAg and the presence of Dane core particles. Anti‐HBe was associated with lower titers of serum HBsAg.


Inheritance of the nitrogen and phosphorus utilization efficiencies (NUE and PUE, respectively) and that of the tolerance (T) to limited NP nutrition was investigated in spring barley crosses at the vegetative growth stages. Plants were grown in sand-vermiculite cultures under high and low NP nutrition. In a diallel set (Ps and F 2 s), both general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) effects were significant for the variation in NUE and PUE, while the variation in T was mainly associated with GCA effects. The contribution of nonadditive genes for the utilization efficiencies was found to increase under nutrient shortages. Overdominance of genes was detected. The characters exhibited low heritabilities (0.10-0.42). Generation means analysis in two cross-combinations revealed significant effects of epistatic gene interactions. It was assumed that the involvement of both the dominance effects and epistatic interactions would not facilitate selection efforts to improve the characters in spring barley at its vegetative growth. Such selection should be performed among families of later generations. The genotype-nutrition interactions observed suggest that selection under diverse nutrition rates would be necessary for the more precise evaluation of barley efficiency under less favourable soil fertility.


The conveyor belt transport systems have taken on a new significance in recent years. The application of new developed solutions leads to considerable reduction in operational costs of transport systems, while ensuring their high reliability and service life [1]. Conveyor belts are used in practically every industry where large quantities of goods are moved [2], they are widely used to transport granular matter in bulk [3]. Conveyor belts (CB) of special importance are used for equipping large capacity conveyors or those working under heavy conditions (sharp slope, high speed, with big lengths to transport), where is requesting a very good breaking strength, special flexibility and high reliability [4]. These CB must have high mechanical properties, so CB have in structure different insertions (textile, metallic) and their properties are based on adhesions rubberinsertion [5]. The primary mechanical function of the belt is to bear the transported bulk material during conveyance [6]. In order to stop the conveyor belt sagging between the support rollers it must be kept under tension [7], while the axial load in the belt corresponds to 1/10 of the belt tensile strength. The critical energy, which belt is able to absorb by the deformation work, is proportional to the belt tensile strength [8]. The value of critical energy depends, among other things, on the head shape, method of belt support, strength of belt tension, head weight and height of its fall [9]. Abstract: The paper presents aplication the DOE (Design of Experiments) method on conveyor belt tension by dynamic impact loading. Factors that significantly affect the value of the tension load were identified. Interaction between the dynamic impact loading and the value of tension load influence the impact height as well as the using of a support system. It was examined an increase in the allowable load, which the belt is tensioned during testing.


Each medium we know of is defined by 1) the grammar which defines it and 2) the regulatory approach which defines it. Yet Cyberspace has introduced new harms and new crimes which have never before existed while some crimes have pre‐existing antecedents. Regulation over the Internet may be based upon new harms. Rather than physical harm per se, the realm of psychological violation may provide the basis for a cause of action, yet we still speak in terms of physical or corporeal impact. What is the nature of punishment when liability or guilt is found to exist and who metes out such punishment? This article proposes a typology of criminal behavior in cyberspace.


We measured the characteristics of the decline in tension during isometric relaxation of canine papillary muscle. In the intact heart, relaxation begins with the isovolumic phase, but in experiments on papillary muscle previously reported the isotonic phase preceded the isometric phase during the course of relaxation. In our experiments, however, the isotonic bar was locked at the instant the muscle reached the end-systolic fiber length in order to hold the fiber at that length during the succeeding relaxation process. Therefore, we obtained a relaxation process similar to that occurring in an intact heart. The major results of these experiments are: (1) Maximum rate of the decline in tension (-dT/dtmax) is linearly related to the magnitude of total load. (2)' -dT/dtmax is augmented by positive inotropic interventions and diminished by negative inotropic interventions. (3) An increase in preload results in only a slight increase in -dT/dtmax. (4) End-systolic fiber length itself is not a principal determinant of -dT/dtmax. (5) -dT/dtmax divided by total load is independent of the amount of muscle shortening. We, therefore, suggest that -dT/dtmax divided by total load can be a useful index of the relaxation characteristics of cardiac muscle.


Covid-19 has had a far-reaching influence on almost every aspect of everyday life. Deep learning techniques utilizing Chest CT images are currently proving to be significant resources in detecting Covid-19 cases. While standard CNN models have been utilized by various studies, a research stream focusing on Lightweight architectures is emerging. These compact models facilitate bringing the Covid-19 classification on Tablets and mobile phones, supporting healthcare professionals to rapidly identify the Covid-19 positive cases. We identified that the most used LWAs are MobileNetV2 and MobileNet for Covid-19 MIC. Both feature extraction and fine-tuning are extensively studied TL types. While dataset scarcity still exists X-ray images are mostly preferred due to cost-effectiveness and portability over CT images. Finally, we propose a truncated version of an ensemble model to be the future direction of our study.


Using FeSO4·7H2O and NH4HCO3 as the starting materials and surfactant OP-10 as the dispersing agent,the precursor prepared by solid state reaction at room temperature,then Fe2O3 nanoparticles were obtained by thermal decomposition of precursor.The effects of reaction time and ignition temperature on products were studied.The product nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction(XRD),and Scanning electron microscope(SEM).The results indicated that the reactant conversion rate is high,the crystal types and particle sizes of the products are affected by the ignition temperature.γ-Fe2O3 nanoparticles is obtained at 300 ℃.α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles are obtained when ignition temperature is 500℃、550℃、800℃.The particle size of nano Fe2O3 increases with increasing ignition temperature.


In this paper, we investigate coherence protection of a quantum system coupled to a hierarchical environment by utilizing noise. As an example, we solve the Jaynes-Cummings (J-C) model in presence of both a classical and a quantized noise. The master equation is derived beyond the Markov approximation, where the influence of memory effects from both noises is taken into account. More importantly, we find that the performance of the coherence protection sensitively depends on the non-Markovian properties of both noises. By analyzing the mathematical mechanism of the coherence protection, we show the decoherence caused by a non-Markovian noise with longer memory time can be suppressed by another Markovian noise with shorter memory time. Last but not least, as an outlook, we try to analyze the connection between the atom-cavity entanglement and the atomic coherence, then discuss the possible clue to search for the required noise. The results presented in this paper show the possibility of protecting coherence by utilizing noise and may open a new path to design noise-assisted coherence protection schemes.


Saltmarshes in Patos Lagoon Estuary have been converted since XIX century due to urban, port and industrial expansion, however in the last 53 years losses of saltmarshes were caused mainly by natural process (erosion). Biological and ecological processes in saltmarshes have been modified by anthropogenic activities, so this study aimed to identify and quantify the anthropogenic (grazing, fire, harvesting, litter, embankments, and man-made channels) and natural disturbances (erosion) on saltmarshes. Anthropogenic disturbances and erosion were quantified in intensity and spatial extension, evaluated through random transects. Saltmarshes showed some types of disturbance (anthropogenic and/or erosion) with low intensity and moderate extension (10-50 m). There are 23 saltmarsh units at Patos Lagoon Estuary, and it was possible to detect 4 main groups of units under different disturbances, caused by farming and ranching (11 unit-grazing), urban activities (5 unit-litter), fire (4 units), and erosion (3 units). Saltmarsh plants have showed good resilience by fast recovering (3 years) after anthropogenic disturbances (grazing, fire, litter and harvesting).


Objective To explore the mechanism of Huxinkang(HXK) on atherosclerosis(AS) induced by high lipid diet in rabbits.Methods The rabbits were fed with high cholesterol diet to induce the models,then,administrated by HXK with low,middle and high dose.The changes of TNF-α in serum and aorta AS plaque were detected.Results All the low,middle and high dose groups could decrease the level of serum TNF-α,and the effects in middle and high dose groups were better than that in low dose group;The expression of TNF-αmRNA in AS plaque were obviously decreased in the middle and high dose groups,and the high dose group was better than that in low dose group.Conclusion HXK can decrease serum TNF-α and TNF-α mRNA in AS plaque.


We present the results for multi-quark exotic states search from D0 Collaboration at the FNAL Tevatron. This includes an evidence for a Bs0π± state (X(5568)) with hadronic decays of Bs meson, a confirmation of the X(5568) state with semileptonic decays of Bs meson, and a search for exotic baryons decaying to J/ψΛ pairs.


A new class of composite electrodes made of sol-gel derived carbon-silica materials is introduced. Modifed porous composite carbon-silica electrodes can exhibit hydrophobic or hydrophilic surface characteristics and can serve as an indicator (inert) electrode, as a potentiometric (selective or reference) electrode, and in amperometric sensing and biosensing. The composite (carbon) ceramic electrodes (CCP) are rigid, porous, easily modified chemically and have a renewable external surface. The electrodes otter higher stability than carbon paste electrodes, and they are moreamenable to chemical modification than monolithic and (organic) composite carbon electrodes


Under usual laboratory conditions the absorption of a beam of light by a dilute two-level medium depends on the intensity and spectrum of the incident light. If the incident photon flux is small compared to the decay rate of the absorber's excited state, saturation effects can be neglected and only the spectrum of the light is important; thus, weak-field absorption depends only on the firstorder correlation function of the incident light. This result relies, however, on a requirement that the incident beam cross-section be much larger than the absorption cross-section of an atom. Then individual atoms act as low efficiency scatterers and the statistics of the scattering process is governed by the law of large numbers applied to many scattering sites. In contrast, if it is arranged that just one atom significantly absorbs (scatters) a beam of photons, correlation functions of the incident light beyond the first-order must be considered. For a beam that is focused within an absorption cross-section, we might naively predict that every photon will be scattered and none transmitted. In fact, even for a very weak beam there is a finite probability for two photons to arrive at the atom within the excited state lifetime, and in this event at least one of them will be transmitted (statistical saturation). In this paper we calculate the transmitted photon flux for a weak beam of photons focussed strongly onto a single, resonant two-state atom. We study the dependence of the transmitted flux on the statistics of the incident photons. Photon beams derived from sources of coherent, chaotic, squeezed, coherent-antibunched, and broadband-antibunched light are considered. our calculations are based on a recently developed theory of cascaded open systems,1,2 and serve to illustrate the usefulness of this theory.


Purpose
While conceived to examine key factors affecting post-retirement career advancement of retired elite athletes in South Korea, the purpose of this paper is to report how English, as a de facto global lingua franca, functions as a powerful gatekeeper in the sports administration field.

Design/methodology/approach
Interpreted through the lens of Bourdieu's linguistic capital and Gramsci's hegemony of language, the present study draws on content analysis of semi-structured individual interviews, as well as focus group interviews, conducted with thirty former South Korean elite athletes.

Findings
Based on the data analysis, systematic bias toward athletes was uncovered, privileging English as the single determining factor for employment. Furthermore, the educational implications for adult learners of English as a Foreign or English an Additional Language reveal unrealistic expectations of top–down language policies.

Originality/value
Perspectives of athlete participants, an underrepresented group in educational research, within the South Korean globalization context shed critical light on the pervasive aspects of English hegemony and its unexamined dimensions.


Comparisons of imaging systems through observer performance studies involve the selection of images, including those with subtle abnormalities. The selection of subtle abnormalities is typically performed in a subjective manner and is not quantitative. To assess the validity of such a selection process, we analyzed 163 ROC data sets. The difference in observer performance summary indices (Az) between ''typical'' and ''subtle'' cases were evaluated for each set. Average difference was found to be 0.10 (Az ''typical'' - Az ''subtle''), and in only 4 instances of 163 comparisons, observer performance for the subtle cases increased by 0.01 ((Delta) Az). We conclude that although it is not quantitative, this approach to the selection of subtle abnormalities is appropriate for imaging systems comparisons using ROC- type studies.© (1992) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.


The effect of the amendment with alginite, an organic rock originating from the biomass of fossilized unicellular algae, on microbial activity of forest soils was tested using a pot experiment. Five variants of soil-alginite mixtures were tested in three replicates with two forest soils: a loose sandy soil and a sandy loam. Gravimetric moisture closely correlated with the dose of alginite in both soils. Basal respiration and catalase activity increased with the dose of alginite in the sandy soil, but not in the sandy loam, where the highest response was observed at intermediate doses of alginite. The correlations of microbial activity parameters with moisture in the sandy soil were also much closer than in the sandy loam. The amendment with alginite was thus effective in improving some of the selected microbial activity indicators, but the optimum dose of alginite strongly depends on soil texture.


The concluding chapter summarizes the overall findings and pushes them toward related topics in sore need of additional study. It examines what happens before an executive order is issued, but we know little about what happens afterward. The conclusion is also a chance to explore the question of bureaucratic capacity and autonomy as it runs up against presidential desires to control that bureaucracy — a claim bolstered by electoral legitimacy. Presidential hostility to the permanent government is hardly new, of course. But the Trump administration's amplification of that contention — with frequent, personal attacks on agencies and even individual civil servants on the one hand, and "resistance" to presidential preferences on the other — raised its salience, and its stakes. The argument of this book rests in part on the value presidents derive — substantively but also politically — from astute management of a bureaucracy that can provide expert advice on solving pressing national problems. Undermining its ability to do so is therefore counterproductive.


Periodontal diseases is the most common infection of humans and has certain impacts on systemic diseases.In this paper,the character of periodontal infection,the conception of periodontal medicine and the relationship between periodontal diseases and systemic diseases were summarized.


After thoroughly reviewing Georg Simmel's work, we aim to take part in a discussion that aroused within German sociology about the alleged disagreement between two research lines: the differentiation theory and the one on inequality. Through the examination of two forms of differentiation that are present in Simmel's texts —that is, the role differentiation and the autonomization of monetary economy— we will show in which points the poles differentiation-inequality are connected and where are separated. The hypothesis that will guide us is that an interpretation of social stratification in a cultural key can be found in Simmel. In these coordinates, we will display the similarity between the perspective of the sociologist from Berlin and the theories from Karl Marx and Pierre Bourdieu.


This study explored to identify clustering patterns of metabolic risk factors and its association with dietary factors in Korean adults. The 156 subjects were recruited through family medicine department of a general hospital in Seoul. Subjects who had all the information of blood glucose, lipid indicators, blood pressure, and waist circumference were used. Dietary data was obtained from multiple 24‐hour recalls (2 to 4 days) through on‐site or telephone interview. To identify clustering patterns of metabolic risk factors, factor analysis was used for waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, blood glucose, triglycerides, and HDL‐cholesterol. Three patterns were identified: 1) High blood pressure, 2) Dyslipidemia, and 3) Glucose abnormalities. High blood pressure pattern was significantly associated with lower carbohydrate intake (percent of energy) but higher alcohol intake. Dyslipidemia pattern was significantly associated with higher intakes of dietary glycemic index, glycemic load, total grains, white rice, and kimchi (traditional fermented cabbage). Glucose abnormalities pattern was significantly associated with lower carbohydrate (percent of energy) and fruit juice intake but higher alcohol and vegetable intake. In conclusion, metabolic risk factors have three distinct clustering patterns that are independently associated with dietary factors in Korean adults.


seriousness in the aftermath ofWorldWarII.Concern over genetic risks, i.e., risks to the prog-enybothclose andremote, is basedon(1) the estab-lished factthationizingradiation is capableofinduc-ing mutations and chromosomal aberrations and, ifinducedin germcells, will betransmittedtotheprog-eny and (2) the realization that it is unlikely thatmankind will be an exception in this regard. Theother well-known fact is that naturally occurringgene mutations and chromosomal aberrations cancausegeneticdiseases andthatthese diseases contrib-ute


\em Personalized PageRank (PPR) stands as a fundamental proximity measure in graph mining. Given an input graph G with the probability of decay α, a source node s and a target node t, the PPR score π(s,t) of target t with respect to source s is the probability that an α-decay random walk starting from s stops at t. A \em single-source PPR (SSPPR) query takes an input graph G with decay probability α and a source s, and then returns the PPR π(s,v) for each node v ∈ V. Since computing an exact SSPPR query answer is prohibitive, most existing solutions turn to approximate queries with guarantees. The state-of-the-art solutions for approximate SSPPR queries are index-based and mainly focus on static graphs, while real-world graphs are usually dynamically changing. However, existing index-update schemes can not achieve a sub-linear update time. Motivated by this, we present an efficient indexing scheme for single-source PPR queries on evolving graphs. Our proposed solution is based on a classic framework that combines the forward-push technique with a random walk index for approximate PPR queries. Thus, our indexing scheme is similar to existing solutions in the sense that we store pre-sampled random walks for efficient query processing. One of our main contributions is an incremental updating scheme to maintain indexed random walks in expected O(1) time after each graph update. To achieve O(1) update cost, we need to maintain auxiliary data structures for both vertices and edges. To reduce the space consumption, we further revisit the sampling methods and propose a new sampling scheme to remove the auxiliary data structure for vertices while still supporting O(1) index update cost on evolving graphs. Extensive experiments show that our update scheme achieves orders of magnitude speed-up on update performance over existing index-based dynamic schemes without sacrificing the query efficiency.


The quantity and quality of public services are improved when citizens coproduce, that is, contribute input to public service provision. It is therefore becoming increasingly common for local governments to initiative coproduction initiatives in order to enhance citizen input to coproduction. However, we know little about how these initiatives influence citizens' motivation to coproduce. Using lower secondary education as the relevant service area, this study tests the effect of a coproduction initiative on parents' intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Our results show that only intrinsic motivation is positively and significantly related to citizen input to coproduction, and for less educated parents the initiative was found to have a negative effect on their intrinsic motivation. These results highlight how important it is that local governments pay attention to unintended motivation effects when they initiate coproduction initiatives.


Multichannel ultrasound scanning system based on phased arrays development is presented in this paper. Substantiation of system parameters is presented. The description of block diagram and hardware development is presented. The combination of the self-developed receiving and a transmitting units and commercially available FPGA unit and Personal Computer can solve our scientific goals, while providing a relatively low device cost.


Fully understanding the characters of easily contaminant microbes during the process of the cultivation of brewing microbes is necessary. In the design of suitable culture condition for microbial propagation,the prevention of contaminant microbial growth must be taken into account in the meanwhile. The every detail in the culture process must be under the control.


"Breathless and fragmented, the world lurches into the new millennium," begins a recent report by a European governmental advisory board1—a claim that seems hardly exaggerated given the restlessness of economic, social and cultural globalization. Most nations continue to expand their production and consumption (on average by 4 percent every year); national economies, once separate, are steadily growing together in one global market place; and spreading global communication lines bring together disparate communities into an emerging world society. This breathlessness of human activity, however, increasingly leaves its traces in the earth system: an earth system in transformation, if not in crisis, through global environmental change. Many writers have pointed to the inherent difŽculty of attaining the sustainable development of a globally interdependent system by relying on a dividing concept inherited from the 19th century—the nation state.2 Many political scientists have thus investigated options for building strong and effective international institutions and establishing new forms of global governance.3 Others,


In early years research, policy and education, a democratic perspective that positions children as participants and citizens is increasingly emphasised. These ideas take seriously listening to children's opinions and respecting children's influence over their everyday affairs. While much political and social investment has been made in the inclusion of participatory approaches, little has been reported on the practical achievement of such approaches in the day-to-day of early childhood education within school settings. This article investigates talk and interaction in the everyday activities of a teacher and children in an Australian preparatory class (for children aged four to six years) to see how ideas of child participation are experienced. The authors use an interactional analytic approach to demonstrate how participatory methods are employed in practical ways to manage routine interactions. Analysis shows that whilst the teacher seeks the children's opinion and involves them in decision-making, child participation is at times constrained by the context and institutional categories of 'teacher' and 'student' that are jointly produced in their talk. The article highlights tensions that arise for teachers as they balance a pedagogical intent of 'teaching' and the associated institutional expectations with efforts to engage children in decision-making. Recommendations include adopting a variety of conversational styles when engaging with children, consideration of temporal concerns and the need to acknowledge the culture of the school.


The present invention relates to an apparatus (1) for image data recording and reproducing, said apparatus (1) comprising: - an imaging system (10) for capturing an image; - a signal processor (20) coupled to said imaging system (10) for processing the captured image as a digital image file; - an audio system (30) coupled to said signal processor (20) for acquiring at least one speech annotation apt to be associated with said digital image file; - a speech recognition unit (40) for recognizing said at least one speech annotation and converting the speech annotation into text data, said speech recognition unit (40) being associated to the signal processor (20) for generating metadata using the text data and adding the generated metadata to the digital image file. The invention is characterized in that said speech recognition unit (40) comprises a plurality of subsets (41) of words, each subset (41) having a limited number of words, in order to recognize and convert into text speech annotations acquired from a corresponding plurality of languages.


Face recognition has been one of the most interesting and important research fields in the past two decades. The reasons come from the need of automatic recognitions and surveillance systems, the interest in human visual system on face recognition, and the design of human-computer interface, etc. These researches involve knowledge and researchers from disciplines such as neuroscience, psychology, computer vision, pattern recognition, image processing, and machine learning, etc. In this paper, we will have a study of most recently methods for face recognition is fisher faces. One of the approach is eigenface, fisher faces and other one is the elastic bunch graph matching. Face recognition issue gained more interest recently due to its various applications and the demand of high security. Some researches with contradicting results were published concerning this issue. This paper is based on popular face recognition projection methods: fisher faces. Index Terms Fisher faces, Face recognition, Eigan Value.


This study applies unique data on three-generation migrant and non-migrant lineages to assess how assimilation and intergenerational transmission theories hold up for attitudes on gender equality in the context of Turkey–Europe migration. Information on migration histories of families and gender equality attitudes is collected for over 800 families. Based on those data assimilation and retention theories and theories on intergenerational transmission as a means to reproduce cultural attitudes among migrant families are tested from a dissimilation-from-origin perspective: how do migrants and their descendants differ from non-migrants from the same area of origin. The results of this study support concepts that focus on context- and path-dependency: segmented assimilation is shown in the form that the more traditional migrants who move back to Turkey have children with more traditional views than comparable people without migrant ancestors (retention). At the same time, among lineages that settle in Europe, migration seems to speed up the assimilation process of becoming more supportive of gender equality. Moreover, the youth that grew up in Europe is hardly influenced by the parents' attitudes, whereas the ones growing up in Turkey are. This supports the idea of migration being a transmission belt for intergenerational transmission.


This quote is from Samar Yazbek and it describes her experience of living and working in Syria as a journalist in 2011. The actor exercising this form of coercive control is not an intimate partner, but an agency of the state. Yet this quote could be just as easily attributable to many of the descriptions given by survivors of domestic abuse of their relationships; where the abusive partners exerts power and control over the other, dictating how they might live their life, and ensuring subservience through fear. In many cases this abuse is psychological, and many victims do not see themselves as such. They either normalise this behaviour or simply do not recognise it. The violence they experience is intertwined with physical violence: isola-


An alternative method to formulate the stable Model Predictive Control (MPC) optimization problem, which allows controlling unstable systems with a large domain of attraction, is presented in this work. Usually, stability is guaranteed by means of an appropriate selection of a terminal cost, a terminal constraint, and a local unconstrained controller for predictions beyond the control horizon. This is the case, for instance, of the infinite horizon MPC (IHMPC) with a null local controller, and the dual MPC with a local Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR). In the last case, the MPC formulation also allows a local optimality. However, its domain of attraction is limited (small, in most of the cases) and depends on the size of the terminal set and the length of the control horizon. Here we propose the inclusion of an appropriate set of slacked terminal constraints into the optimization problem as a way to enlarge the domain of attraction of the MPC that uses the null local controller. In addition, this slack allows a simple offset-free operation in the proximities of the input saturation. Despite the proposed controller does not achieve local optimality, simulations show that its performance is similar to the one obtained with the dual MPC that uses a LQR local controller.


50 Gb/s error-free data transmission and a -3-dB modulation bandwidth of 28.2 GHz are reported for high speed 850 nm oxide-confined VCSELs fabricated with an as-grown epitaxial structure without post-fabrication tuning of the photon lifetime.


Five creative chemistry processes that prevent pollution, reduce chemical hazards and waste, and reuse refuse materials earned Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards in late June. Presented June 29th at the National Academy of Sciences headquarters in Washington, D.C., the 1999 awards garnered a record 130 nominations. Launched four years ago by the Clinton administration, the award program recognizes chemical process and product design improvements that are simultaneously environmentally benign and economically competitive, and the steadily increasing number of nominations that the program has received is a testament to green chemistry's burgeoning popularity. The U.S. awards are jointly sponsored by a group of 22 businesses, government agencies, and nonprofits, including EPA, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the American Chemical Society.


[Objective] To investigate the application of BPDE-albumin adduct as the monitoring biomarkers for cok oven workers exposed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the relationship between this adduct and the urinar 1-hydroxypyrene (1-OHP) levels in the same workers. [Methods] 37 coke oven workers from a coke plant and 47 control without occupational PAHs exposure were recruited in this study. The levels of plasma BPDE-albumin adduct and urinar 1-hydroxypyrene were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography. [Results] The median concentration of BPDE Alb adducts in exposed group(42.10 fmol/mg albumin)was significantly higher than that in control group(14.16 fmol/mg albumin P0.01). The median urinary 1-OHP in exposed and control groups were 5.46 and 2.96μmol/mol creatinine respectively(P0.01) The multiple logistic regression analysis showed that coke oven workers were at the higher risk of having BPDE-albumin adduc levels(OR=1.79, P0. 05)and urinary 1-OHP levels(OR=2.45, P0. 05). A positive correlation between the levels of BPDE albumin adduct and urinary 1-hydroxypyrene in all subjects was observed (rs=0.349, P0.01). [Conclusion] Plasma BPDE albumin adduct levels were significantly associated with urinary 1-hydroxypyrene levels. Plasma BPDE-albumin adduct is an usefu biomarker for monitoring longer-term exposure to PAHs.


which gives an alphabetical list of all the authors with their serial numbers, while the second and third list the Latin and Greek authors respectively. Under each heading a brief biography of the author in question is given with a resume of his general literary activity. This is followed by a list of the more important editions and translations into various languages ; then monographs of particular relevance are mentioned, and reference is also made to collections of extracts in which the author's works are quoted. Then the author's references to Gaul are briefly described. Duval warns his readers (p. 12) that they may be shocked by the disproportion between the brevity of certain texts and the length of the notices devoted to them, and also between the length of other texts and the conciseness of the relevant notices. Even with this warning the reader may find it a little strange to find, e.g., almost two pages devoted to Homer, mainly on the basis of the reference to the Cimmerians in Od. xi. 13—19. In contrast, Julius Caesar receives just over eleven pages. However, in view of the interest, clarity, and sound documentation of the notes provided, what might have been a defect may well be considered a bonus by the general reader, who will find the work a useful supplement to other works of reference.


N. Saito recently proposed a new method to analyze and represent data recorded on a domain Ω of general shape in Rd by expanding the data into a set of the eigenfunctions of Laplacian defined over Ω. Instead of directly solving the Laplacian eigenvalue problem on Ω via the Helmholtz equation (which can be quite complicated and costly), he found an integral operator commuting with the Laplacian, which shares the eigenfunctions with the Laplacian.
After discretization, the eigenvalue problem for this integral operator is converted to that of a symmetric kernel matrix. A conventional approach of computing selected eigenvalues of such a matrix is, for instance, an implicitly re-started Lanezos method (IRLM), which costs O( kN2) floating point operations where k is related to the number of the selected eigenvalues and the distribution of the eigenvalues. This approach is prohibitively expensive for a large kernel matrix that is often generated by a dense sampling of the domain.
The kernel function of this integral operator for a domain in R2 , however, is of the special form K( x, y) = – 12p log ||x – y||, i.e., the fundamental solution of the Laplacian. This kernel function represents the potential at point x due to a charge located at point y. This fact allows us to apply the ideas of Fast Multipole Method (FMM) and Hierarchical Semi-Separable (HSS) representation to exploit the structure of the kernel matrix. In this thesis, we investigate a hierarchical matrix-splitting scheme and the low rank property of the submatrices generated by the splitting scheme. By doing so, we design a hierarchical matrix decomposition method that leads to a fast algorithm of matrix-vector multiplication which costs O(N). By supplying our fast matrix-vector multiplication routine to IRLM, we obtain an eigenvalue solver that costs O(kN).


affect the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of tin dioxide. F doping produces alterations in the structure, with Sn atoms moving away from the impurity and O atoms moving closer to it; and, the system presents n-type electrical conductivity. Ga impurity incorporation distorts its surrounding, with the atoms moving closer to the impurity whereas the electrical properties of crystal remain unchanged. Results for Al impurity are almost the same as those for the Ga-doping. Cr-doping produces the atoms in the neighbourhood of the point defect to move towards it, the band gap has been slightly reduced and we observe the occurrence of a local magnetic moment.


The Brazilian Tele-health Program supports the development of information and communication technologies focusing the improvement of the primary health care (PHC) and the increase of the number of actions supplied by the PHC teams. In this context, this work presents the tele-health platform Salus which has been built to support the implementation of the Brazilian Tele-health Program in the Espírito Santo state. A description of the whole process of development is given, along with the main requirements and features.


Natural gas has a 21% share of the primary energy supply in Europe. This share will increase to about 28% in 2020 by projections ofEU and the dependence on imports of natural gas will increase strongly. Therefore the question arises, how the increasing gas demand can be assured? This question will be analysed in the following focussing on resource base, technical viability and contract security. According to natural gas resource base Western Europe is in a comfortable situation. Despite small own resources it is surrounded by countries and regions with high gas potential (Russia, North Africa, Caspian region, Middle East). Beside a sufficient resource base production and transport costs are very important, especially caused by long distances between producer and consumer countries. Transport costs are an important factor due to low energy density of natural gas in comparison with oil and coal. This limits possible distances for transport of gas. Therefore mainly regional gas markets exist. Only large gas fields (especially supergiants) are predestined for natural gas supply over long distances despite high expenditures for infrastructure. An extensive pipeline network exists for gas supply in Europe. In the future this network still has to be extended. Natural gas price is connected to the crude oil price. Sizeable fluctuations in oil price are a factor of uncertainty by decisions over capital expenditures. In order to secure future gas supply and taking advantage of this environmental-friendly energy source, in competition with other primary energies, the huge saving potential in the natural gas chain must be used. Policy is asked in securing very long term capital expenditures.


This paper studied the effect of the welding-supporting technology on the quality of steel-aluminium solid to liquid bonding. The results show that welding-supporting technology can solve interface oxidation problem in the process of solid to liquid bonding, and interfacial strength in steel-aluminium solid to liquid bonding could increase substantially by immersing flux No.1 made up with halogenide.


Data mining tools have been around for several decades, but the term "big data" has only recently captured widespread attention. Numerous success stories have been promulgated as organizations have sifted through massive volumes of data to find interesting patterns that are, in turn, transformed into actionable information. Yet a key drawback to the big data paradigm is that it relies on observational data, limiting the types of insights that can be gained. The simulation world is different. A "data farming" metaphor captures the notion of purposeful data generation from simulation models. Large-scale experiments let us grow the simulation output efficiently and effectively. We can use modern statistical and visual analytic methods to explore massive input spaces, uncover interesting features of complex simulation response surfaces, and explicitly identify cause-and-effect relationships. With this new mindset, we can achieve tremendous leaps in the breadth, depth, and timeliness of the insights yielded by simulation.


Tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) in double tunnel junctions with layered ferromagnetic nanoparticles was investigated. The sample comprised two ferromagnetic electrodes (CoFe/Fe) separated by an Al2O3 insulating layer in which a layer of Co80Pt20 nanoparticles was embedded. The nanoparticles were ellipsoidal with an average diameter of 3.7 nm, and composed a well-defined layer. The TMR and the tunnel resistance of the sample showed steep increases around 100 K, and weak temperature dependence below 50 K. The zero-bias TMR rose from 1 % at room temperature to 18 % at 20 K. Below 20 K, we observed magnetoresistance oscillation with respect to the bias voltage. The observed TMR oscillations, with periods of 1.6 and 15 mV, accompanied oscillations of the conductance. We consider that the conductance oscillations may originate from the coexistence of the discrete energy level of the nanoparticles and the discrete electrostatic potential due to the single-electron charging effect.


In this investigation the secretory response of the stomach to an antral stimulus followed by insulin and then histamine stimulation before and after vagotomy has been estimated in order to determine: (1) the effect of vagotomy on 'endogenous' gastric secretion resulting from antral stimulation compared with its effect on 'exogenous' secretion following insulin and histamine injections; (2) the effect of vagotomy on pepsin secretion compared with its effect on acid secretion; (3) the effect of vagotomy on total chloride secretion; and (4) whether after selective vagotomy any vagal innervation may reach the stomach via the coeliac plexus and greater curve resulting in a greater response to stimuli than that obtained after total vagotomy.


Vector Median Filtering is widely involved in image processing, for it can preserve the details of images mostly. But the heavy computing on each pixel makes it impractical for real-time system. Proposes an improved VMF to simplify the computation by reusing the median data, and the result of experiment confirms it.


Recently,great progress has be achieved in the experiment and application study of quantum cryptography both at home and abroad.However,there are some misunderstandings in the technical characteristics of quantum cryptography,and in that whether quantum communication could make a breakthrough in classic communication distance and bit-rate limit.This paper principally analyzes and discusses the technical characteristics and limits of key distribution and quantum secure communication.


Droughts are slow and silent natural hazards that can lead to long-lasting environmental, societal and economic impacts. Mountain regions are also experiencing drought conditions with climate change affecting their environments more rapidly than other places and reducing water availability well beyond their geographical locations. These conditions call for better understanding of drought events in mountains with innovative methodologies able to capture their complex interplays.

Within this context, the Alpine Drought Observatory (ADO) Interreg Project aims to further improve the understanding of drought conditions in the Alpine Space, with activities spanning from the characterization of drought types’ components in five heterogeneous case studies in Austria, France, Italy, Slovenia and Switzerland. For each case study, different sectors exposed to drought, ranging from hydropower, agriculture to tourism are considered. Moreover, specific socio-economic characteristics were collected for each sector in order to better understand the main drivers leading to drought impacts.

Starting from the risk concept in the IPCC AR5, the Impact Chains (IC) methodology has been applied to characterize the hazard, exposure and vulnerability components in the ADO case studies. IC allowed to pinpoint the main factors affecting drought risk and the relevant socio-economic sectors integrating a mixed-method approach. Quantitative data collection on the hazard and exposure components were coupled with local experts’ knowledge on the main vulnerability factors (e.g., through a questionnaire). Although validation represents a critical part of drought modelling, IC analysis and results were therefor compared with information from the European Drought Impact Inventory (EDII) on local drought impacts collected from scientific publications, unions press releases and newspaper articles over a long time period.

While drought risk assessment through IC can improve the understanding of the main drought events and their underlying factors, they also provide insights to improve planning and management of future drought events in the Alpine Space.


Male sterility in flowering plants is very important, for production of hybrid seeds.Hydrophytic plants possess unique morphological and anatomical features. But researchers are neglected the developmental aspects of reproductive structure in hydrophytes. Even slight alteration in external and internal environment may lead to pollen steril- ity. Here is a small attempt to study the reproductive structure of Potamogeton. The Potamogetonrichardsonii L. manifesta- tion of male sterility are expressed only during post meiotic phase. The circumstantial evidences point out to the defective carbohydrate metabolism and abnormal behavior of the tapetum as cause for male sterility (present study).


Erbium-doped femtosecond fiber lasers are ideal comb generators for optical frequency metrology. We compare two such systems and find agreement within 2/spl times/10/sup -16/. This is to our knowledge the first thorough test of fiber-based frequency combs.


Industrial production plants are highly complex mechatronic systems. In today's automation systems a trend for distribution of control functions can be observed. The hereby emerging challenges lead to delays and interruptions in automation projects. Especially non-functional requirements are hard to specify for later engineering phases. Therefore, a holistic engineering approach will be developed. As a first step, important challenges for the development of distributed automation systems are identified in this paper. Based on this, non-functional requirements derived from an information science point of view are adapted to the specifics of automation technology.


Societies, cultures and economies in the world's history have successfully developed by mastering their abilities to adapt to climatic conditions. However, the last decades have been characterized by a dramatic growth in human population that is imposing unprecedented pressures on natural ecosystems and on existing agricultural production systems. In addition to this pressure, societies are expected to face changes in climate at also unprecedented rate. Agricultural production systems will require effective adaptive strategies to overcome these expected pressures in the immediate future.


According to city road network system unique feature and the theory of traffic coordinated signal control,a kind of closed ring circuit auto-adapted region transportation coordination control system has been designed.This system controls the sub-area by road network in closed ring circuit achievement,searches a bunching parameter combination using the signal parameter optimization model,carries on the coordination control to the different closed ring circuit to form chooses in advance the plan,and carries on the judgment,the choice through system hypothesis surface controlling rate,thus determines the final signal control plan.The result indicates the control system can reduce vehicles delay effectively in the region and the number of stopping times,adjust the traffic flows,alleviate the traffic congestion and raise the road use factor.


The electric field around the building under DC transmission lines is so complex that the calculation method based on the Deutsch assumption which cannot consider the effect of the wind when solving the ionized field near the building would result in large errors theoretically.Based on the upstream finite element method(FEM),a new iterative controlling method was used to calculate the ionized field around the building model under a DC test line.The iteration was efficiently convergent,and the calculation result agreed well with the measured data,which indicates that the method based on the upstream FEM method is valid for solving the ionized field under DC transmission lines with buildings nearby.Taking the wind velocity into account,the ionized field of the test line was calculated,and it was found that the effect of the wind on the electric field around the building is remarkable,thus the effect should be considered when calculating the electromagnetic environment under DC transmission lines with buildings nearby.


The utility model proposes a multistage mixing spray esterification kettle, which comprises a kettle body, a mixer, a drive unit and a heater, therein: the mixer is positioned in the kettle and consists of a mixing shaft and an impeller; the drive unit is arranged at the upper part of the kettle and connected with the missing shaft; the heater is used to heat the kettle and / or the materials in the kettle; the reaction kettle also comprises a spray system, which is used to spray the materials into the kettle. The utility model has the advantages of simple structure, uniform material mixing and ideal heating performance, can effectively improves the output and is applicable for various chemical production fields.


We report a case of autoimmune hemolytic anemia and idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (Evans' syndrome) associated with gastric plasmacytoma. Recognition of this rare entity is important because surgery and chemotherapy together may achieve a cure. Possible mechanisms causing the hemolytic anemia and thrombocytopenia are discussed.


Key-value store is an essential component with an increasing demand in many scale-out environments, including social networks, online retail, and cloud services. Hence, modern key-value storage engines provide many features, including transaction, versioning, replication, etc. In storage engines, transaction processing provides atomicity and durability by using write-ahead logging (WAL), which flushes log data before the data page is written to persistent storage in synchronous commit. However, according to our observation, WAL is a performance bottleneck on key-value storage engine since the flushing of log data to persistent storage incurs significant overhead of lock contention and fsync() calls even with various optimizations in the existing scheme. In this paper, we propose an approach for improving performance of key-value storage by optimizing the existing flushing scheme combined with group commit and consolidate array. Our scheme aggregates multiple flushing of log data into a large request on the fly and completes the request early. This scheme is an efficient group commit that reduces the number of frequent lock acquisition and fsync() calls in the synchronous commit while supporting same transaction level that the existing scheme provides. We implemented our scheme on WiredTiger storage engine and evaluated that our scheme improves the performance by 1.3-5.5x on the key-value workload compared to the existing scheme.


Taking into account both the importance and the difficulty of transferring style,this paper,first of all,acknowledges the translatability of style,and following this,has a careful look at the translation of My Ever-lasting Yearning in light of stylistic markers.


While the expression of speaker alignment has been of interest in Conversation Analysis for decades, the prosody of (dis)agreement has so far only received little attention. This is the first investigation of the timing of agreement and disagreement turns in conversational Austrian German and the prosody of prefaces to these turns. To assess the timing and prosody, we extracted the duration of the pause before the (dis)agreeing turn, the duration of the preface, examined its F0 shape and performed linear and logistic regression analyses to estimate the relationship of these features with (dis)agreement. We find that agreement prefaces tend to be short and uttered after a short pause. Prefaces to straightforward disagreements are also produced after a short pause but tend to be long. Prefaces to a sub- category of disagreeing turns ("yes you're right, but…") tend to be long and uttered after a long pause. Various F0 shapes occur in all three types of prefaces, but there is a robust relationship between dip-rises and prefaces to straightforward disagreements. While the timing patterns are in line with previous findings in the literature on speaker alignment, we did not find unique F0 patterns for agreement or disagreement.


Dernodex. WE lhave seen that the lharvest mite is wont to insert its head into tlle skin of human beings, but other mites shiow less restraint and insert their whole bodies. One of these, the well-known Demodetr fo1eutdrium, is, according to Guiart and Grimbert, "le plus commun des parasites de I'liomnme et nons en sommes presque tous porteurs." Without taking quite so gloomy a view, Demnodex is undoubtedly widely distributed in the skin of mankind and of otlher mnammals. There are differences of opinion as to whether this form should be split up into numerous species, or subspecies, according to the genus of the mammals upon which it lives. We, at any rate, will confine our attention to the human kind (Fig. 1) and so avoid losing ourselves in the tortuous maze of synonymy and the arid discussion of a meticulous classification so dear to the analytical German mind. To us a Dernodex shall be a Demodex, and we mwill leave it at thlat. Unlike the majority of mites, Demodex is a good deal longer than it is broad. But even for a mite it is very small, and shows signs of bodily degradation associated with its parasitic habit of life. Its shape is adapted to its a^ b habitat, whiclh is the Fig. 1.-(a) Dentodex in hair follicle sebaceous glands of the cf dog. (b) Demodex folliculorum skin. The long abdomen (highly miiagnified). BEars to beomen -appears to be segroented, btut the annulations are not true segments. The legs are reduced to conical stumps. The male is 300 , long and 40 ,u* broad across the cephalothorax. The female is, as uisual, larger, measuring 380,u in length by 45fi in breadth. The minute larvae have, as is so often the case with mites, but tlhree pairs of legs and are 60 to 100 H in length. This parasite, 'which lives on all parts of the skin of the hurman body, is perhaps most commonly seen on the nose and in the passages leading into the ear. It can be expressed by firnmly pressing over the black spot which inldicates its presence on the skin of the nose or elsewhere any small cylindrical tube, such as a watch-kev. When expressed it is not always easy to see, as coming away with it is a mass of sebaceous matter which can best be dissolved off with oil on the microscopic slide. Whether this particular parasite causes much disease is not known. But in some cases it is certainly associated with acne and other skin disorders, and as it is also found in hair follicles, it may possibly destroy the hair. It is apparently spread by personal contact.


In the pandemic, testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) by real‐time polymerase chain reaction is one of the pillars on which countermeasures are based. Factors limiting the output of laboratories interfere with the effectiveness of public health measures. Conserving reagents by pooling samples in low‐probability settings is proposed but may cause dilution and loss of sensitivity. Blood transfusion services had experience in performance of high throughput nucleic acid testing (NAT) analysis and can support the national health system by screening of the inhabitants for SARS‐COV‐2.


Abstract Canonical discriminant functions are defined here as linear combinations that separate groups of observations, and canonical variates are defined as linear combinations associated with canonical correlations between two sets of variables. In standardized form, the coefficients in either type of canonical function provide information about the joint contribution of the variables to the canonical function. The standardized coefficients can be converted to correlations between the variables and the canonical function. These correlations generally alter the interpretation of the canonical functions. For canonical discriminant functions, the standardized coefficients are compared with the correlations, with partial t and F tests, and with rotated coefficients. For canonical variates, the discussion includes standardized coefficients, correlations between variables and the function, rotation, and redundancy analysis. Various approaches to interpretation of principal components are compared: the choice ...


Osteoarthritis is becoming more commonplace in younger age groups. These patients are more demanding to treat since they want to continue an active life style but wish to obtain significant pain relief with higher levels of activity. This review article will cover the various medical treatments available before operative intervention with total knee replacement is offered to this patient population.


Matrix approach applied earlier for description of electromagnetic waves in homogeneous rotationally symmetric media is generalized to inhomogeneous bianisotropic media. We propose the general method to determine material parameters of inhomogeneous media depending on the electromagnetic wave's profile. We consider an inverse problem which is the search of the material tensors of inhomogeneous rotationally symmetric media with predetermined electric and magnetic wave's fields in the form of spherical Bessel functions. Functioning of the approach is demonstrated with a particular example. The approach can be applied to create the required response of the artificial medium (metamaterial) on the external radiation.


The specialist leader of education (SLE) is a new role first introduced in the Department for Education's 2010 Schools White Paper - 'The Importance of Teaching'.


The invention discloses an indoor people search method based on shared track. The method comprises the following steps: obtaining the motion data of a target terminal in real time; determining the indoor traveling track of the target terminal according to the obtained motion data of the target terminal; and sharing the indoor traveling track with other terminals or designated terminals to navigate the other terminals or designated terminals to the current position of the target terminal. The invention also discloses an indoor people search cloud server and system based on shared track. The provided indoor people search method, cloud server, and system based on shared track can precisely and rapidly find the people indoor.


The coach plays a very important role in cultivating China sports'reserving talents,which has very strong specialty and no-replacement,but there is not very normative standard of the coach qualification authentication.It is found that coach's professional role and the athletes'development call for the occupational qualification;to establish authentication system of coach qualification and to define the grade standards of coaches are effective approach to improve coach's quality and meet the chal-lenges.


1Introduction 2 2. The system and the model set 3 3. Equation error methods; some asymptotic results 5 4. Main result 9 5. Discussion 16 6. Conclusions 18 Appendix 20 References 23


This paper deals with different kinds of Image databases In museum surroundings. Based on the experiences of the Natlonal Musuem of Denmark, different target audiences are mentioned, which requlre different user Interfaces, from Illustrated text databases (collection mangement systems) to highly interactive image databases for unqualified visitors. The question arises as to whether it is possible to adapt the same basic material to the different user levels, or to what extent new recording material is necessary. Furthermore, the role of images In systems is discussed. How do we avoid images becoming dead ends in the systems? How do we make them searchable, and platforms for "association jumps?" The National Museum of Denmark is a cultural historical museum covering Danish history from prehistoric to modern times, anthropology, antiques, coins, open air museum, conservation etc. The museum is in the middle of an extensive rebuilding project. The purpose of the project is partly to create new exhibitions and facilities for visitors, but another important part (called the Documentation Project) is to make information available for visitors as well as the outside world, e.g. education. "Information," in this case, means all the knowledge existing in a museum, but normally hidden in archives and storages. Two important means of making that information available to a broad public are text and image databases. But before dissemination of information is possible, it must be assembled on a media well suited to electronic distribution. Copyright by Archives & Museum Informatics, 1991 International Conference on Hypermedia & Interactivity in Museums Since most departments have been or will be involved in the documentation project, which runs over 7 years, it has not been possible for all departments to reach the same stage at the same time. This has turned out to be an advantage, since it has made it possible to test different approaches to recording and dissemination. We have had the opportunity to consider the nature of image databases as a result. During the last three years, we have established text databases of almost halfa million artifacts, of which about 100,000 have also been registered photographically. Consequently, we claim that we have an image database, in the sense that an image database is merely a text database containing images to be seen with text. An illustrated text database, so to speak. For the user, the image serves as another field to be retrieved from the database, but we know that no field in the database contains an image in itself, only an external reference to the place where the image is to be found by the computer program. It is, of course, important that the image be stored in a medium which gives the user immediate access to it. The image itself, however, does not provide for any further possible qualified searches as do the other fields in the database, such as measurements, materials, or codes of function and origin, all of which give us written information about the artifact. The pictoral part of the database is an appendix, in a sense. It primarily serves an administrative function similar to storeroom information about the artifacts, or information about where to find the records in the manual archives. By establishing image databases of this kind, we can free ourselves from dependence on manual photoarchives. Now we can simply call forth the images on the monitor instead of going to the archive drawers. In our case, the images are photos of the artifact, but they could just as easily have been photos of the protocols or other related documents. How lucky we are, that technology allows us to transfer images along with text when we establish electronic databases, especially since the combination of text and images has already been in use for many years in our manual archives! Explained in this way, an image database seems to be of obvious benefit, since a photo of the artifact is a necessity in an artifact database. Anything less would be a step backwards, since manual archives have been replaced by databases. At the National Museum, all 80,000 artifacts from the Ethnographical Department have been text registered and photographed. The images are stored on a two sided Laser Vision videodisc. The database functions in two ways. First, you can search the text, and when the appropiate records have been found, you can look at images related to the text. The other way round, you can browse through the images and, after having found some interesting looking artifacts, you can retrieve the descriptive text. This database is useful to the museum staff working on plans for new exhibitions, especially in situations where the artifacts are stored away and not physically accessible. One record, describing one artifact, consists of up to 60 fields, 15 of which are currently searchable, including the address of the image. What we are talking about is simply a collection management system with familiar possibilities for searching and retrieving information. The browse function, however, focuses on the images and gives us a previously inaccessible visual perspective on the whole Copyright by Archives & Museum Informatics, 1991 Chapter 8 Image Databases for Museum Staff, Visitors and the Outside World: collection. With 105,000 pictures in the database, it would take about 10 hours to browse through all of them using the slow step function. It is important to remember that museum databases are usually computerized catalogues, formerly written on cards or in books. Will visitors enjoy having access to this kind of information? It is often claimed that a picture is worth more than a thousand words, and it is true that a picture can create a series of associations. But these associations are rarely articulated in words, and in the administrative database there is seldom room for registration of such things. Nevertheless we have, at the National Museum, attempted to create a system for less determined users: the visitors coming in from the street. If we imagine for a minute that visitors are not primarily interested in computerized catalogues of the kind just described, what exactly do we need to make image databases more attractive and exciting? We have to find out how we can integrate the images in the search process. As far as I know, it is not possible yet to create real picture driven databases, which allow you to point out any area of a picture and make it the parameter for a new search. In its most extreme version, such a database would involve pattern recognition on a scale which is not realistic right now. And besides, how would the system know what the user expected to see when an area was activated? Take an image of a hat. If the user points out a certain area, what kind of information could he then expect or hope to get? He or she might be just as interested in the material, the pattern, or the techniques used, but the computer still does not know which aspect the user wants. Maybe in the future the data programmers will be able to provide us with expert systems in which the image databases can recognize users and build up a universe of experiences for each individual user. Until then, we will have to use the written languages we have in common to describe elements of the images. One way is to create links by hand, as has been done in some interactive video systems. By pointing at certain elements of an image, you are led to supplemental information, an explanation or a similar image. This kind of links will, however, always lead to an element of information which has been selected by the designer of the system. A system like that seems to be very flexible and dynamic, but what you really have is many possible combinations, all of which have been foreseen by the designer. Without doubt, creating such links by hand is a comprehensive task. A large scale image database is not well suited for such a treatment, and it is not possible for a human being to think out all possible combinations of the images. Which is fine that is exactly what computers are for. One year ago, The National Museum launched its first interactive video system for visitors. The title is "Danish Resistance during the German Occupation 1940-45." All of the material comes from the Resistance Museum, which is a department of the National Museum. The system is presented on two screens, a video monitor and a touch-screen, which operates the system. At the main menu the user can choose among "cinema" (looking at short films), "photographs" (exploring 4,000 photographs from the history of the Resistance) and "artifacts" (looking at objects from the time of the Occupation). Copyright by Archives & Museum Informatics, 1991 International Conference on Hypermedia & Interactivity in Museums If the user chooses "cinema" a new menu will present a choice of titles. Each title leads to a 3-minute film, which can be stopped when desired. In terms of image databases, the other two selections photographs and artifacts are much more relevant. We operate with two different bases for practical reasons, though both databases operate in the same way. The main entrance to the databases is by item or (for the photographs) geographical criteria. When you have passed through 2 or 3 menus, which can make your choice more specific, you will see the first image on the videoscreen. You can then browse through all the selected images. Accompanying each image on the computer screen is a short description of the artifact or the situation shown in a photograph. The right side of the computer screen shows a column of nine key words, which can be used to jump to other series of images described by the same key words. The key words describe classification, date, place and themelsubject of the image. A combination of up to three key words are allowed when starting new searches. The fascinating aspect of the program is that nobody has arranged the order in which y


This article discusses a family of distributions which would seem not to receive proper attention in the literature. The two-parameter distribution is introduced with an application in the financial engineering domain. Special cases of this family include the triangular distribution, the standard power function distribution, and the uniform distribution. Properties of the distribution are investigated and the maximum likelihood estimation procedure for its two parameters is derived. The flexibility of the family as compared to that of the beta family is discussed.


The research investigated the effect of inductive-deductive teaching instruction developed from the five-step procedure by Widodo (2006). To be more specific, this research attempted to explore the significant difference between the combined inductive-deductive approach and conventional approach (deductive approach only) on the EFL students' grammar achievement. A quasi-experimental design specifically non-equivalent group design was applied in this research in which the two experimental and control groups were compared. The subject of this research was the first-year university students of UIN Alauddin Makassar who were registered in the intensification program of English language. The instruments used were the initial and final tests of students. The results showed that after treatment, the experimental group increased by 0.36 or 36% and the control group was only 0.22 or 22%. In conclusion, there were significant achievement differences between the two groups after undergoing treatment: the combined inductive-deductive approach (experimental group) and deductive approach (control group).


This paper looks at the potential for, and the design aspects of, diesel high speed rail in Australia. The main intent is to illustrate how an Australian diesel high speed platform could improve the business case of high speed rail by providing greater utilisation of the high speed infrastructure. This would be achieved by greatly increasing the area serviced by any high speed infrastructure, therefore the number of services, and thus the economic benefits.


The radiation that comes from celestial objects is affected by different atmospheric components, mainly by water vapor, which is a highly variable component. This molecule can scatter, absorb and re-emit radiation and, therefore, attenuate it, affecting astronomical observations. Water vapor radiometry is an accurate method to measure the water vapor content in the atmosphere and, at altitudes 4000 masl, the 22 GHz emission line is chosen to estimate the amount of water vapor present in the at the time of the astronomical observation. This instrument, which is under development at CePIA UdeC laboratory, will provide a notable improvement in the measurement of the line profile of water vapor and will allow atmospheric characterizations that can be validated with other instruments in places where this quantity is relevant. The architecture designed for this project corresponds to a self-calibrated instrument, heterodine and is based on the pseudo-correlation principle. It consists of three parts: frontend, where incoming the RF signal is at a frequency range of 20 - 26 GHz; analog backend, where the RF signal is converted to a manageable frequency range of 0 - 6 GHz, called Intermediate Frequency (IF); and finally, the digital backend where the IF signal is processed in real-time through FFT, with a high spectral resolution of 62.5 kHz; the spectrum is divided intro three bands of 2 GHz each, in different Nyquist zones. Each output of the spectrometer is directly proportional to the brightness temperature of the load or the input, that provides a stable output measurement over time.


This paper contributes to the recent literature in spatial econometrics that focuses on space-time data modeling implementing a multi-location time-series statistical framework to analyze a regional system. Therefore, taking as a point of departure the Global Vector Autoregression approach introduced in Pesaran et al. (2004), a multiregional spatial vector autoregressive model (MultiREG-SpVAR) is formulated and then applied to study the spatio-temporal transmission of macroeconomic shocks across the regions in Spain. The empirical application analyzes the extent to which a region's economic output growth is influenced by the growth of its neighbors (push-in or inward growth effect), and also investigates the relevance of spillovers derived from temporary region specific output growth shocks (push-out or outward growth effect). Our results identify some regions that perform as 'growth generating' within the Spanish regional system since growth shocks from these regions spill over to a large number of regions of the country, playing a key role in transmitting regional business cycles. The policy implications of our results suggest that national and/or regional governments should stimulate economic activity in these leading regions in order to favor the economic recovery process of the whole Spanish economy.


To date the microporosity structures of coarse soils with various coarse/fines contents are still not fully understood. In this study, the pore-size distributions (PSDs) of five types of soil varying from gravel to clay were characterized using mercury intrusion porosimetry. The soil with a coarse content below 70% (i.e., fines content above 30%) is found to have a fines-controlled microstructure, which is sensitive to water content changes. Such soil forms a dual-porosity structure due to compaction, in which both intraaggregate pores and interaggregate pores are dominant. After saturation, the dual-porosity structure evolves into a unimodal porosity structure dominated by the intraaggregate pores. During drying, such soil exhibits a significant reduction of total volume. The soil with a coarse content above 70% instead has a coarse-controlled microstructure, which is stable upon water content changes. Such soil maintains dual-porosity structures no matter if the soil is compacted, saturated, or dried. As an example of application, the measured PSDs are used to predict the soil water characteristic curves (SWCCs) for the test soils and the predictions are consistent with the SWCCs measured in the laboratory.


The real estate cadastre, or the register of land and buildings, is one of the most important public records. It is a collection of descriptive and spatial information on land, buildings and premises. The proper functioning of the cadastre is essential for the proper functioning of the State. Based on the data contained in this register, spatial planning, real estate management, or the assessment of taxes and other payments is possible. For this reason, it is crucial that cadastral database contains updated information. This article aims to relate the regulations of the Construction Law to the regulations of the Geodetic and Cartographic Law, in the context of updating the cadastral data, changed as a result of the conducted construction processes. The data stored in the register of land and buildings and the manner of their updating will be presented. Diff erent types of construction processes will be discussed, along with a detailed analysis of the diff erences between them. The specifi cation of the cadastral data subject to the changes during construction, reconstruction, outward extension, upward extension and adaptation, will allow for a bett er understanding of these processes by surveying contractors or the entities running the cadastre.


Abstract As part of a transmission electron microscopic study of the embryological development in tardigrades, the ultrastructure of the pharynx was examined. The intent was to establish whether the pharyngeal muscle cells constitute an ectodermal myoepithelium (as in many aschelminth pharynges) or whether they are mesodermal (as in certain other aschelminth groups and among articulates). In the latter case the cuticle would be produced solely by specialized epithelial cells. The eutardigrade species Halobiotus crispae Kristensen, 1982, was investigated in four embryological stages, as a newly hatched juvenile, in the active adult stage, and in the hibernation stage pseudosimplex 1. A comparison was made with the arthrotardigrade Actinarctus doryphorus Schulz, 1935, in the active adult stage and in the simplex stage. The results indicate that the tardigrade pharynx is an ectodermal myoepithelium. The muscles appear to be truly cross-striated and monosarcomerial. The phylogenetic implications of these findings are discussed briefly.


This research aims to analyses (1) effect of motivation on organizational commitment (2) effect of job satisfaction on organizational commitment (3) effect of work environment on organizational commitment. This research using samples of 84 employee of Alfamart in Karanganyar District area. To test the hypothesis using regression analysis. The result shows that (1) motivation have significance effect on organizational commitment (2) job satisfaction have significance effect on organizational commitment (3) work environment have significance effect on organizational commitment. This finding has a strategic implication for leaders, to develop organizational commitment of company employees need to increase employee motivation and job satisfaction and also support the creation of aconducive environment.


AIM: To establish a non-traumatic, easy to induce and reproducible mouse model of severe acute pancreatitis (SAP)induced with caerulein and lipopolyasccharide (LPS).METHODS: Thirty-two healthy mature NIH female mice were selected and divided at random into four groups (each of 8 mice), i.e., the control group (NS group), the caerulein group (Ch group), the lipopolysaccharide group (LPS group),and the caerulein+LPS group (Cn+LPS group). Mice were injected intraperitoneally with caerulein only, or LPS only,and caerulein and LPS in combination. All the animals were then killed by neck dislocation three hours after the last intraperitoneal injection. The pancreas and exo-pancreatic organs were then carefully removed for microscopic examination. And the pancreatic acinus was further observed under transmission electron microscope (TEM). Pancreatic weight, serum amylase, serum nitric oxide (NO)concentration, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA) concentration of the pancreas were assayed respectively.RESULTS: (1) NS animals displayed normal pancreatic structure both in the exocrine and endocrine. In the LPS group, the pancreas was slightly edematous, with the infiltration of a few inflammatory cells and the necrosis of the adjacent fat tissues. All the animals of the Cn group showed distinct signs of a mild edematous pancreatitis characterized by interstitial edema, infiltration of neutrophil and mononuclear cells, but without obvious parenchyma necrosis and hemorrhage. In contrast, the Cn+LPS groupshowed more diffuse focal areas of nonviable pancreatic and hemorrhage as well as systemic organ dysfunction.According to Schmidt's criteria, the pancreatic histologic score showed that there existed significant difference in the Cn+LPS group in the interstitial edema, inflammatory infiltration,parenchyma necrosis and parenchyma homorrhage in comparison with those of the Cn group, LPS group and NS group (P<0.01 or P<0.05). (2) The ultrasturcture of acinar cells was seriously damaged in the Cn+LPS group. Ch


ABSTRACT In 1980, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) became aware of a problem with oil seeping into the elementary school basement of the northwest Alaska coastal community of Kotzebue. After initial investigation, it was determined that 100,000 to 200,000 gal (378,000 to 756,000 L) of #1 fuel oil (diesel) was contaminating an underground area estimated at up to 10 acres (4 ha). The fuel had been in the ground for 25 to 30 years, and may have been associated with fuel storage or handling in the 1950s. ADEC learned that many local residents had been collecting fuel from backyard sumps for years. Many gathered enough to heat their homes, and others sold their excesses of recovered oil. More recently, oil has been observed leaching into Kotzebue Sound from time to time, posing a potential threat to local fisheries. ADEC has since been involved in recovering the oil, using the limited funds available to mitigate the potential environmental and safety problems. Problems experienced in ...


Infinitely divisible distributions are known as the limiting distributions of partial sums of some infinitesimal double sequences of random variables or as the marginal laws of additive processes. Therefore the class of those distributions on R , denoted by R , is one of the most important classes of probability distributions. Recently, the classification of its subclasses has been developed. Among these, the class R of selfdecomposable distributions is especially important and has many characterizations. For example, it has a stochastic integral characterization, namely, it is expressible as the range of some stochastic integral mapping of infinitely divisible distributions. Also, selfdecomposable distributions are the limiting distributions of Ornstein-Uhlenbeck type processes which are solutions of Langevin equations driven by Lévy processes. In this thesis, the following three topics are studied. The first topic is to characterize generalizations of the class R in similar ways to those which characterize R . The generalizations are the class ,R of semi-selfdecomposable distributions with span > 1 and the class R of -selfdecomposable distributions with ∈ R. About the latter distributions, we also give a concrete example on R , which is a bivariate gamma distribution. The second topic is to study the nested subclasses of R . They are defined by limit theorems and by stochastic integral mappings. The limits of these nested classes are shown to be subclasses of the closure of the class of stable distributions under convolution and weak convergence. As an application, we find the limits of other nested classes using the compositions of stochastic integral mappings. The third topic is to give several forms of stochastic integral representations of gamma random variables. We also find a new way of stochastic integral characterizations of subclasses of R , which is by fixing a driving Lévy process and by taking some possible integrands, while the well-known way of stochastic integral characterizations by stochastic integral mappings is by fixing an integrand and by taking some possible driving Lévy processes.


Geographical Information System(GIS) is the computer technological system.GIS is based on geographical spatial data, takes geography model as analytical ways, offers many spatial and dynamical geography data, serves geography study and geography policy. Since geography information is applied to many fields, large quantities applicable geography information systems have been built. Since distributed spatial database will be the main data source of Internet GIS, we have to cope with the intercommunication between heterogeneous databases and systems.At first, the paper analyses problems to solve the interaccess of heterogeneous database system with the traditional strategy. A strategy of middleware is provided in this paper according to the problems. Later, we design a middleware model built from the side of element data and data dictionary for spatial data intercommunication in Internet GIS. How to solve similar problems with the strategy of middleware mode in the real work is explained in this paper too.


Coon et al ,1 who have published on other areas of putative overdiagnosis, bring us the example of coronary artery abnormalities in Kawasaki disease in children. Across 48 participating hospitals, they noted that over some 15 years the rate of diagnosis of non-severe cardiac abnormalities had increased significantly by some twofold, yet adverse cardiac outcomes remained stable. Their contention is that this may represent an increasing rate of overdiagnosis and that if this is the case, some children may be unnecessarily exposed to potential harm. The issue of overdiagnosis in all age groups has received increased attention recently,2 3 so in this Editorial I will explore some of the issues as they relate to child health and consider the societal, cultural and professional drivers.

Overdiagnosis has no formal definition,4 5 but for the purpose of this piece, we can think of it as 'the finding of mild disease for which the harms in diagnosing and treating exceed the benefits'. Nor is the issue a new one: Black and Welch published their landmark paper on the overestimation of disease prevalence 25 years ago, and even then they saw the problem as having crept up over the previous two decades.6 For fairly obvious reasons the issue has been of particular concern to radiologists as techniques and modalities have become progressively more refined, so more things are found on imaging that are not necessarily diseases. …


The present invention in a signal processing apparatus, to a method and apparatus for encoding a multi-channel signal into a first signal and a second signal according to a similarity between channels. The method includes the steps of: performing a first predetermined operation using the signal of a first predetermined channel signal of the channel generating a first signal; And a 1 is characterized in that it comprises a step of performing a second operation with a predetermined combination of signals of a second predetermined channel among the multi-channel signal and a signal of a predetermined channel generates the second signal. According to the present invention, the case of coding the channel signal, by encoding a stereo signal according to a similarity between the left channel signal and right channel signal can be encoded to-with fewer bits (bit) channel to remove redundant information.


This study represents the first attempt to examine the validity of scores on the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ) in a sample of European university students. Concurrent validity was established through significant correlations in the expected direction with alternative measures of student adjustment (academic motivation, loneliness, depression, and general adjustment to university). Further concurrent validity evidence for selected subscales was provided through moderate associations with students'engagement in social activities and their self-reported use of psychological services provided on campus. Findings regarding predictive validity, as assessed through correlations with student attrition and academic results, went in the expected direction but were somewhat less convincing. The latter results are explained in terms of differences between European and North American systems of higher education. With some reservations regarding the Academic Adjustment subscale, then, the SACQ seems to be a useful tool for research on university life among college students in Europe.


The eggs and larvae derived from the B-type adult fish of the walleye pollock were incubated and reared at the water temperature of 5°C. The larvae were separated into 5 experimental sections and were fed on the rotifers or the nauplii of brine shrimp in their respective sections successively. The rate of fertilization of the eggs, the hatching rate of the larvae a.nd the occurrence rate of the deformed larvae were 93.0, 72.1 and 18.0 % respectively. This was determined in view of the function that the stage of yolk absorption occurred at the beginning of the second decreasing period of the yolk-sac volume, viz. on the 21st day after hatching. Among the experimental sections fed on the nauplii of brine shrimp, the larvae with an empty gut were fewer in Section V with the highest larval density compared to those in the other sections during the early period of feeding. No effect caused by different physical and chemical conditions of water was recognized on the larva.l growth, survival and body form between the experimental sections. The larvae in Section V showed faster growth of body length and had relatively smaller eyes than the larvae in all other experimental sections. The relative growths of body parts were significantly different between the hatching and the larval period. The survivals of larvae were more numerous in Section IV fed on rotifers than in the sections fed on nauplii of the brine shrimp.


This study was done to determine the feasibility of in vitro embryo production in wood bison during the anovulatory season, without ovarian superstimulation or follicle wave synchronization, to simulate collection conditions in a wild or field setting. The experiment provided the opportunity to compare embryo development using 2 different maturation media and incubator systems. The cumulus-oocyte complexes (COC) were collected by transvaginal ultrasound-guided follicle aspiration during May from non-superstimulated bison. Compact COC were allocated to 2 groups and matured in standard maturation medium using a portable gassed incubator, or in commercial medium using a portable non-gassed incubator. In the former (Standard), the COC were placed in a round-bottomed tube containing TCM-199 medium with 5% calf serum, 5 μg mL−1 LH, 0.5 μg mL−1 FSH, and 0.05 μg mL−1 gentamicin, and the tube was placed in a portable incubator with 5% CO2. In the latter (Commercial), COC were placed in a round-bottom tube containing the commercial medium (Boviteq, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC, Canada), and placed in a portable incubator without CO2. After 24 h of maturation, oocytes were fertilized in vitro (Day 0) in Brackett-Oliphant medium at 38.5°C in a conventional incubator with 5% CO2 humidified atmosphere. Presumptive zygotes were cultured in CR1aa plus 5% calf serum, at 38.5°C and in 5% CO2, 5% O2, and 90% N2 and high humidity. Cleavage was recorded on Day 3 and embryo development was recorded on Day 7. Cleavage and transferable embryo rates (calculated from the total number of oocytes submitted to IVF) were compared between groups by chi-squared test. No difference in cleavage rates was observed between Standard and Commercial treatment groups [68.1 (32/47) v. 79.2% (57/72), respectively; P = 0.25], nor in morula plus blastocyst rates on Day 7 (36.2 v. 45.8%, respectively; P = 0.39). However, the rate of transferable embryos (grade 1 and grade 2) on Day 7 was higher in the Commercial group (38.9 v. 12.8%; P  3 layers of cumulus cells) than compact regular COC (1-3 layers of cumulus cells) (66.7 v. 31.0% respectively; P < 0.05), along with a higher number of transferable embryos on Day 7 (60.0 v. 23.8%, respectively; P < 0.05). In conclusion, wood bison oocytes collected during the anovulatory season from non-superstimulated, non-synchronized bison and matured in vitro using portable incubators were competent to develop to the morula and blastocyst stages following IVF and culture. These results are important for future plans that require transporting oocytes from remote collection sites to the IVF laboratory, particularly with respect to the effectiveness of commercial maturation media which does not require CO2 supplementation. Research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.


Maintenance of mixed grass-legume pastures for stand longevity and improved animal utilization is a challenge in warm-season climates. The goal of this study was to assess grazing management on stand persistence, forage intake, and N balance of beef heifers grazing mixed pastures of Brachiaria brizantha and Arachis pintoi. A two-year experiment was carried out in Brazil, where four grazing management were assessed: rest period interrupted at 90%, 95%, and 100% of light interception (LI) and a fixed rest period of 42 days (90LI, 95LI, 100LI, and 42D, respectively). The LI were taken at 50 points at ground level and at five points above the canopy for each paddock using a canopy analyzer. For all treatments, the post-grazing stubble height was 15 cm. Botanical composition and canopy structure characteristics such as canopy height, forage mass, and vertical distribution of the morphological composition were evaluated pre-and post-grazing. Forage chemical composition, intake, and microbial synthesis were also determined. A randomized complete block design was used, considering the season of the year as a repeated measure over time. Grazing management and season were considered fixed, while block and year were considered random effects. In the summer, legume mass accounted for 19% of the canopy at 100LI, which was less than other treatments (a mean of 30%). The 100LI treatment had a greater grass stem mass compared with other treatments. In terms of vertical distribution for 100LI, 38.6% of the stem mass was above the stubble height, greater than the 5.7% for other treatments. The canopy structure limited neutral detergent fiber intake (P = 0.007) at 100LI (1.02% of BW/d), whereas 42D, 90LI, and 95LI treatments had NDF intake close to 1.2% of BW/d. The intake of digestible organic matter (OM; P = 0.007) and the ratio of crude protein/digestible OM (P < 0.001) were less at 100LI in relation to the other treatments. The production of microbial N (P < 0.001) and efficiency of microbial synthesis (P = 0.023) were greater at 95LI and 90LI, followed by 42D and less at 100LI. Overall, the range from 90 to 95% of LI is the recommendation to interrupt the rest period, since this strategy enhanced community stability, forage intake, and nutritional value of the diet. Under on-farm conditions, brachiaria grass and forage peanut pastures should be managed at a range height of 24 to 30 cm.