Traps connect not only predator and prey, but mind and materiality, technology and landscape, and infrastructure and ecology. Through them, bodies, knowledge practices, materials and environments are assembled in transformative encounters which, because of their lethal agency, have emotive and moral force. In this Introduction to the Special Issue, the authors explore the conceptual bridges and disciplinary admixtures invited by ethnographic attention to traps. They review a history of attention to traps, which is in the main a history of neglect and epistemological bias. As humble hunting technologies, traps have been secondary in status to the heroic chase, and the lifeways of trappers at the frontiers of empires have been neglected. Meanwhile traps have featured as archetypes and prototypes in evolutionist discourses focusing on technology, and human crafty intelligence in its invention and advancement. The authors trace these threads from the 19th century to contemporary anthropology and archaeology, and propose conceptual and practical lines for future analysis and research collaboration.


It has long been a problem why some children steal and not others, why some play truant, or why some set fires and damage property. Theories have been advanced from time to time to explain these things, but only in the last ten or fifteen years have extensive scientific investigation been carried out on these problems. Officers of the juvenile courts, child welfare associations, educational bodies, and mental hygiene clinics have been instrumental in bringing together a vast amount of data concerning juvenile delinquency, from which certain general conclusions may be drawn. Delinquency itself is socially inadequate adjustment on the part of the individual to difficult situations. The factors which go to make up these difficult situations, together with the mental and physical conditions which influence an individual's capacity to adjust, constitute the causes of delinquency. Each juvenile offense is the outcome of a complexity of causes, some of whose origins date back years before the committal of the offense and others whose origins are more obviously and immediately connected with the act of delinquency. It has been shown that a different set of causes is involved in each individual case. It is impossible therefore to state the group of causes which will invariably result in any particular offense. The factors which operate to turn a child's behavior in one direction rather than another may be very obscure, many as yet are beyond the detection of expert sociologists, psychologists, physiologists and others. It often appears that quite different offenses are the results of the same group of causes, but further investigation shows that still


The topographical changes in the asperities of a flat cobalt-hardened gold electroplated surface that occur as a result of being contacted by a sphere are simulated by computer superposition of a mathematically generated spherical surface and a Scanning Tunneling Microscope topograph of an actual flat sample surface. Both ideally smooth and rough spherical surfaces are considered. Two-dimensional maps of the location and size of contact areas and quantitative information on contact areas resulting from asperities that would have been deformed in actual contact events are presented. In addition, 3-dimensional plots and quantitative values of the location and volume of asperity material that would have been deformed in actual contact events are presented. Good agreement is found when the simulation results are compared with experimentally obtained contact results for the same sample surface region at the same indention depth. The simulation technique should prove useful in predicting changes in contact performance associated with changes in contact surface topography or contactor geometry. Computer simulation is much faster and easier than obtaining similar information by experimental techniques which are time consuming and require sophisticated sample contact and positioning hardware.


With constant changes in physical education in universities,the teaching evaluation criterion system is changing too.Investigations indicate a lasting decline of student physique,which is resulted from the bias of P.E.teaching evaluation criterion.This article has tried to discuss a comprehensive evaluation system of the teaching quality of public P.E course in universities from the following three aspects: the P.E.teachers,teaching process,and students' activities.In this evaluation system,30 indexes have been formed to cultivate students' lifelong habit of doing physical exercises,hoping that it will a new perspective for the evaluation of the teaching quality of public P.E.course in universities.


Red palm weevil (RPW) is a pest that can cause severe damage to plantations and affects palm trees. Classical approaches to detection depend on visual analysis, which is inaccurate and time-consuming. Hence, deep learning techniques emerge as a potential solution used for automating the process of detection and presenting efficient and precise results. The initial detection of the RPW remains a difficult task for good production as the identification will protect palm trees infected from the RPW. So advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision (CV) can be used in preventing the spread of the RPW on palm trees. Various scholars still working on identifying a precise method for the classification, identification, and localization of the RPW pest. This article develops an automated Red Palm Weevil Detection using Gorilla Troops Optimizer with Deep Learning (RPWD-GTODL) method. The goal of the presented RPWD-GTODL approach lies in the accurate detection and localization of the RPW effectually. To accomplish this, the presented RPWD-GTODL technique initially uses the Gabor filtering (GF) technique to pre-process the images. For RPW detection, the RPWD-GTODL technique uses a Mask RCNN object detector with MobileNetv2 as a backbone network. Moreover, the detection performance of the RPWD-GTODL technique can be boosted by the design of the GTO algorithm for the hyperparameter selection of the MobileNetv2 model. The performance validation of the RPWD-GTODL technique is tested using the RPW dataset and the results demonstrate the enhanced performance on RPW detection process with maximum accuracy of 99.27%.


Objective To explore the correlation of KDR and its down-stream signal transduction proteins(PKC-β and p-ERK) expression to clinical features and survival of nasopharyngeal carcinoma(NPC) patients. MethodsImmunohistochemistry method was adopted to detect expression of KDR,PKC-β and p-ERK in formalin fixed,paraffin embedded specimens from 110 patients with NPC and 30 patients with benign nasopharyngeal disease.SPSS 13.0 statistical software was used to analyze their correlation to clinical features and overall survival of NPC patients by spearman method,Kaplan-Meier method and Cox model. ResultsKDR,PKC-β and p-ERK were expressed respectively in 88.2%(97/110),63.6%(70/110) and 51.8%(57/110) NPC patients,which were lower in benign nasopharyngeal disease patients.KDR expression was positively related with expression of PKC-β and p-ERK(r=0.297,P=0.002;r=0.336,P0.001,respectively).PKC-β expression was positively related with expression of p-ERK(r=0.301,P=0.001).KDR and p-ERK expression were related with primary tumor site(P0.05);PKC-β and p-ERK expression were related with clinical stage(P0.05);KDR and PKC-β expression were related with local recurrence and/or distant metastasis(P0.05).All of them were related with poor overall survival in NPC patients(P0.05).Cox multivariate analysis showed age more than 50 years was an independent prognostic factor(P0.05). ConclusionKDR and its downstream signal transduction proteins(PKC-β and p-ERK) express in NPC tissue and positively relate with clinical features and prognosis of NPC patients.


Mobile computing imposes several restrictions to software development due to diversities in network connectivity, platform capability and resource availability. Middleware has been used to abstract such issues from application developers, resolving common challenges of distributed systems. However, middleware is considered a heavy-weight technology to mobile computing, as it is a general purpose solution. By enabling the customization of the set of features provided by a middleware, the adoption of Software Product Lines techniques seems to be a promising systematic approach. Nevertheless, this is an incipient subject that has been explored for few research groups. In this sense, this paper goal is to present a systematic review of Product Line techniques applied to middleware for mobile computing.


Current sheets having a transverse scale near the electron inertial length c/ωp are shown to be unstable. Two general classes of modes are found to occur, the single and double tearing modes and a current shear driven current-convective interchange mode. The tearing modes are global modes that relax the equilibrium to a lower magnetic energy state. The current-convective interchange mode is localized near points at which k · B0 = 0. The interchange mode has features in common with the collisionless tearing modes but is a local rather than global instability. An extensive analysis of the linear stability is presented, and the results are confirmed from linear initial value and eigenvalue calculations. Nonlinear three-dimensional initial value simulations are performed to determine the effects of the mode on the equilibrium. The δE/δB spectrum of the field fluctuations is computed and compared to satellite observations. The results support the hypothesis that short-scale broadband extremely low-frequency (BBELF) waves associated with Alfvenic structures are possibly the result of current decay through the electromagnetic current-convective instability.


Electoral fraud is often a problem for new democracies. I study the consequences of voter-buying, defined as the act of inducing outsiders to fraudulently transfer their voter registration across jurisdictions in exchange for private benefits. Specifically, I explore the effects of Brazil's 2007 voter re-registration reform which was intended to curb voter-buying. Exploiting a fuzzy regression discontinuity design in the targeting of municipalities assigned to the reform, I examine the response of mayoral elections, public expenditures and socioeconomic outcomes to the imposition of exogenous barriers to voter-buying. The reform led to an increase in political competition and a rise in healthcare expenditures, a programmatic public good salient to poor voters. The increased investments in health are reflected in greater utilization of health services and better health outcomes: a 6.6% increase in prenatal visits, a 15% decrease in the incidence of low birthweight, and 5.3% reduction in the infant mortality rate. Consistent with imported voters being more pivotal in less populous municipalities, I find the impacts are larger in targeted municipalities that are small, and provide additional evidence that restrictions on voter-buying are the main driver of my results. I also provide evidence for more positive selection of politicians, and show that unintended disenfranchisement and incumbent reputation effects are not driving my results. JEL Codes: P16/P48/D72


The objective of this project is to experimentally study the initiation of the SCWO reaction of concentrated IPA solutions, by mixing a water + IPA stream and an air stream at different operational conditions (temperature, velocity). The reaction start was monitored experimentally measuring the temperature inside the mixer and by TOC determination in liquid samples. The experimental facility was modeled assuming plug and using different kinetic models. It was found that at temperatures lower than 450oC depending on the mixer design the reaction proceeds slowly while when reaching higher temperature the raised sharply indicating a much faster reaction mechanism. The description of the phenomenon is similar with the described ignition of hydrothermal flames in literature. Almost complete TOC removals have been obtained in residence times lower than 1 s.


Abstract On the 9th of July 2009, the National Art Gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria opened its doors to welcome visitors to a temporary exhibition, entitled 'Underground stores'. The exhibition, the first of its kind in the country, took the visitor on a journey back in time to the period of communism in Bulgaria. It seems to have provoked a sense of nostalgia in many of the older and middle-aged visitors, a phenomenon recently observed in other ex-communist countries. Using the exhibition as a starting point, this paper examines some of the reasons for the seemingly delayed reaction Bulgarian museums demonstrated in relation to interpreting and confronting this controversial period in European history. It also introduces little known details from Bulgarian museums' past and present operations.


Discriminating magnetic minerals of different origins in natural samples is useful to reveal their associated geological and environmental processes, which can be achieved by the analysis of remanent magnetization curves. The analysis relies on the choice of the model distribution to unmix magnetic components. Three model distributions were proposed in past studies, namely, the lognormal, skew normal, and skewed generalized Gaussian distributions, which are related to the normal distribution. In this study, the Burr type XII distribution is tested and compared with existing model distributions. An automated protocol is proposed to assign parameters necessary to initiate the component analysis, which improves the efficiency and objectivity. Results show that the new model distribution exhibits similar flexibility to the skew normal and skewed generalized Gaussian distributions in approximating skewed coercivity distributions and can fit end‐member components better than the commonly used lognormal distribution. We demonstrate that the component analysis is sensitive to model distribution as well as measurement noise. As a consequence, the decomposition is subject to bias that is hard to identify due to the lack of ground‐truth data. It is therefore recommended to compare results derived from various model distributions to identify spurious components.


For improving the prediction accuracy of slope stability,the paper optimized the weights and threshold of neural network by BP genetic algorithm and established GA-BP model.The measured data of slope stability shows that the prediction accuracy of GA-BP model is improved.


The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, which guarantees the 'right of the people to keep and bear Arms,' was bolstered, supposedly, by District of Columbia v. Heller (2008). Actually, Associate Justice Scalia, who wrote the majority opinion, took back as much as he gave. Implementation of the Second Amendment rights is uncertain. When those constitutional rights (to keep arms; to bear arms) are personal, ordinary people have the means to protect themselves against criminals. The societal circumstance of armed criminals is inescapable. Criminals disregard firearms-controul laws, as they disregard all laws. When those constitutional rights are collective, personal firearms are impossible. Ordinary people do not have any protection against criminals. In contrast, elected officers always have protection. No matter that one law renders ordinary people defenceless, another law authorises the guarding of elected officers by armed personnel, whether police officers or security officers. Elected officers are more equal than ordinary people. Denial of firearms to ordinary people is indicative of the antagonism of elected officers toward independent efforts. Prohibition of personal firearms is of a piece with prohibition of personal motor cars and insistence on mass transport. Elected officers are consternated by people who empower themselves, because those people are not dependent on elected officers. There is no signing up by self-empowered people for dependency-inducing governmental-assistance schemes flogged by elected officers.


This study was to evaluate the impact of hospital pharmacist-led home medication review (HMR) program on medication adherence, knowledge toward antipsychotic drugs, and quality of life among people with schizophrenia. This was a prospective longitudinal study conducted from October 2012 to December 2013. This study involved 133 people with schizophrenia under the care of the home care team in Hospital Bahagia Ulu Kinta Hospital, Malaysia. Upon attaining written informed consent, subjects were home visited after 1, 3, and 6 months by the pharmacist to perform a comprehensive medication review. Friedman analysis of variance test was used to compare the differences of the patients' medication adherence, knowledge of antipsychotic treatment, and quality of life at baseline and each follow-up visit. Subjects had a significant improvement on medication adherence as shown by the mean medication adherence rating scale scores (baseline: 8.42 ± 1.40 vs. sixth month: 9.47 ± 1.02; p < 0.001) and mean pill count percentage (baseline: 56.68% ± 39.43% vs. sixth month: 90.37% ± 15.19%; p < 0.001). Subjects' mean knowledge score on antipsychotics were improved significantly with the HMR program (baseline: 5.56 ± 1.51 vs. sixth month: 7.65 ± 0.60; p < 0.001). Regarding the subject's quality of life, the "social" and the "family" components of the Sheehan disability scale demonstrated significant improvement (p < 0.001). However, the improvement of the "work" component and overall quality of life were not statistically significant. In conclusion, pharmacist-led HMR program has a positive impact on medication adherence, knowledge of antipsychotics, and quality of life on "social" and "family" components among people with schizophrenia.


Based on the property of scheelite ore,the process investigations have been carried out for the treatment of the scheelite ore by adopting the methods of gravity concentration, combined process of gravity concentration and flotation and single flotation. By adopting the three different processes,the tungsten concentrates grade is 71.90%,69.38% and 71.38%,and the recovery is 83.67%,87.71%,90.19% respectively.All the mentioned adopted methods are feasible,and the best performance has been achieved by flotation.


Police officers play an integral role in enhancing security, which is normally a very basic premise if the economy of a given country is to thrive. The effectiveness and efficiency of police work are doing the right thing to assist the citizens who are their customers at all time. If they don't perform as expected the public can view it with negativity, and term them as either corrupt or unwilling to meet their needs. For a long time, police officers especially female police officers have had numerous challenges that have consistently contributed to their low morale at work thus subsequently having ripple effects on their performance. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of work-life challenges on the performance of female police officers in Kenya. The objectives of this study were; to examine the influence of gender stereotypes on the performance of female police officers in Nakuru county; to determine the influence of work-life balance on the performance of female police officers in Nakuru county; to identify how social injustices influences the performance of female police officers in Nakuru County; and to identify the best strategy to help enhance the performance of female police officers in Nakuru county. The study was guided by radical feminist theory and liberal approach theory. This study also adopted a descriptive survey research design. This study relied on primary data specifically a questionnaire and focus group discussion. A sample of 135 female police officers was drawn through stratified and simple random sampling to respond to the questionnaires. On the other hand, convenience sampling was used to select the female police officers who would participate in the focus group discussion. Descriptive statistics such as mean, percentages and standard deviation were used to analyze quantitative data that was obtained. The data was presented in charts, frequency, and tables. Qualitative data were analyzed according to themes and patterns formed. They were presented in narrative and verbatim quotations forms. This study was expected to contribute to the body of knowledge already existing on challenges facing female police officers and even police officers in general. It was also going to inform the national government on various challenges facing female police officers and how to mitigate them to enhance performance and by extension improving security. The study findings indicated that female officers experienced work-life challenges which included gender stereotypes, work-life balance and social injustices that affected their productivity to some extent. The study concluded that female officers encountered many forms of gender stereotypes at their workplace thus influencing their performance. There was a lot of preference for certain people for promotions or recommendations for promotions that took place at the workplace, a lot of bureaucracy and red tape in the management of police operations and missing certain opportunities for handling certain cases in the force because of their gender. The study also concluded that there was a lack of work-life balance amongst the female police officers as they found it difficult to balance their work and family responsibilities. The study recommends that the government or rather the KPS should come up with policy/policies that will cater for both genders and ensure that there is no favouritism and nepotism in the service as well as adopt practical reforms where possible for female officers to be assigned duties during the day to avoid inconveniences of not being able to attend to family and children.


The oil contains smoothing agent 45-55 wt%, emulsifier 10-20 wt%, bundling agent 5-15 wt%, antistatic agent 5-15 wt%, moistening agent 5-15 wt% and additive 1-5 wt%. It is prepared through heating weighed emulsifier, bundling agent and antistatic agent in reactor to 40-60 deg.c and mixing them through stirring; adding moistening agent to mix through stirring and smoothing agent to stir for 30-50 min; and adding additive to stir; cooling, filtering and packing. The present invention is suitable for use in spinning nylon cord.


The Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) and Multicast Listener
Discovery (MLD) are the protocols used by hosts and multicast routers
to exchange their IP multicast group memberships with each other. This
document describes ways to achieve IGMPv3 and MLDv2 protocol
optimization for mobility and aims to become a guideline for the
tuning of IGMPv3/MLDv2 Queries, timers, and counter values. This
document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
published for informational purposes.


A total of 507 (M 121, F 386) cases of facial dermatitis were investigated, of whom 308 (m 49, F 259) had eczema confined to the face. The prevalence of positive patch tests was 45% (229/507). Among all the patients, the 2 most frequent allergens were nickel (15.2%) and ammoniated mercury (6.1%), with the incidence of nickel sensitivity in men (20%) being greater than in women (13.7%) 56% of the nickel‐positive cases were caused by metal spectacle frames. Taiwan's high number of spectacle‐wearers, its subtropical climate and the characteristic oriental facial structure are possibly major contributing factors. Most ammoniated mercury (AM) sensitive cases resulted from cosmetics. Skin‐lightening creams are widely used in Taiwan, but their content is poorly controlled. According to consumer reports, 14.9% (48/322) had applied AM‐containing cosmetics, of all the cosmetics tested for mercury, 2.2% (60/2711) were positive.


Air traffic is growing steadily while the available airspace remains roughly the same, which is why it must be optimally exploited. In this paper, we try to better manage arrivals in the approach area for Mohammed V Airport, given the saturation of this space, we propose to solve two new models [1] that make it possible to schedule traffic in a direction where the most efficient will be served, and so on, while harmonizing arrivals so that the aerodrome can receive aircraft continuously, We propose to solve the models using a modified Bat algorithm (BA), the proposed solution will allow us to increase the capacity of the airport and to better manage the approaching controlled space, as being a limited space.


The media objects are good points of view to observe the logics of social life, the self-descriptions of society and its symbolic reproduction, the basic features of its imagery. The media objects give us the image of a society not longer symbolically founded on a stratified order of the differences but made by a web of included individuals: they are also the place where the images and the logics of a social and abstract symbolic world become visible and real, where they are incorporated in forms and practices, and so give a form to thoughts and relationships. Among these objects, the mobile telephone is un example of mediator object because of the incorporation of the logic of contingence whose roots can be found in the indifference of symbolic forms and ideas which modernity is based on, money in particularly.


Alumina powder in contrast with fresh alumina powder, it has obvious difference when alumina powder paticipitation in purification of carbon to dense-phase transfer line, base on test and theoretical study, incresing applied life methods have been gained.


An experimental freeze-dried sardine-based bait and a commerciallyavailable frozen sardine-based bait, both containing 0.5% sulfluramid, were compared for attractiveness, palatability and effectiveness against common and German wasps. The freeze-dried bait was rehydrated and the frozen bait thawed before use. Compared to a fresh non-toxic sardinebased cat-food, both baits attracted a similar number of wasps and had a similar weight of bait removed by wasps. Both baits also caused a similar reduction in the number of wasps collecting bait and flying in and out of nests. Thus, if commercially feasible and cost-effective, freeze-drying would be a suitable alternative to freezing as a method for storing bait for wasp control.


The paper describes the scientific initiative to enhance the cultural heritage and the landscape of Tivoli, an ancient city of Latium belonging to Area Metropolitana di Roma, in order to create an environment suitable for the best quality of city life and for the protection of its monuments. To this end the urban structure of Tivoli and its historic buildings were analyzed. Studies explore the potential of traditional building materials and methods used in the vernacular habitat and produce «organized forms of knowledge» useful for supporting both the new urban and building transformation initiatives, and the future government activities in the city. Historical knowledge of the site is organized in a structured set: the data relating to the documentation of historical transformation processes of urban texture and of architectural and archaeological monuments are collected in a digital information management system (GIS).


OBJECTIVE
To study the chemical constituents in the root of Cocculus orbiculatus var. mollis.

METHODS
The compounds were isolated by silica gel chromatography, their structures were established by spectroscopic methods.

RESULTS
Eleven compounds were isolated and identified as wattisine A (I), O-methylcocsoline (II), (+) cocsoline (III), (+) cocsuline (IV), magnoflorine (V), sino-coculine (VI), isosinococuline (VII), (-) coclaurine (VIII), daucosterol (IX), beta-sitosterol (X) and 1-oleioyl-3-(9Z, 12Z-arachoyl) glycerol (XI).

CONCLUSION
Compound I is isolated from this genus for the first time,and compound II - XI are isolated from this plant for the first time.


Objective To observe the curative effect of treatment of diabetic peripheral neuropathy with analgecine.Method Treatment 30 cases of diabetic peripheral neuropathy patients with analgecine, other 30 cases of conventional therapy used in patients with vitamin B12 for the control group.Analgecine can be found to reduce the patient's limb numbness, pain, cold clinical symptoms, autonomic nerve dysfunction also improved.Result In the course of treatment, analgecine have no signifi cant side effects and adverse reactions, it is an safe and effective drug.Conclusion Analgecine is an effective drug to treat of diabetic peripheral neuropathy.


Background— Circumferential pulmonary vein ablation (CPVA) is effective in curing atrial fibrillation (AF), but new-onset left atrial tachycardia (AT) is a potential complication. We evaluated whether a modified CPVA approach including additional ablation lines on posterior wall and the mitral isthmus would reduce the incidence of AT after PV ablation. Methods and Results— A total of 560 patients (291 men, 52%; age, 56.5±7.3 years) entered the study; 280 were randomized to CPVA alone (group 1) and 280 to modified CPVA (group 2). The primary end point was freedom from AT after the procedure. In group 1, 28 patients (10%) experienced new-onset AT, and 41 (14.3%) experienced recurrent AF. In group 2, 11 patients (3.9%) experienced AT, and 36 (12.9%) had recurrent AF. Group 1 was more likely to experience AT than group 2 (P=0.005). Freedom from AF after ablation was similar in both groups (P=0.57). Among those in group 1, gap-related macroreentrant AT was documented in 23 of the 28 patients (82%), and focal A...


To investigate whether transcranial Doppler (TCD) monitoring can identify patients at risk of hyperperfusion following carotid endarterectomy (CEA), the hemodynamics of CEA were investigated in 10 patients by electromagnetic flowmetry, digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and stable Xe-computed tomography (CT). The continuous measurement of flow velocity (FV) and pulsatile index (PI) in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) was performed by TCD every day, starting pre-CEA and continuing until 7 days after CEA. Cerebral circulation time (CCT) was calculated during intra-arterial DSA with morphological evaluation. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) on the MCA territory was measured by stable Xe-CT, and cerebrovascular reserve capacity (CVRC) was also calculated by acetazolamide activation. Ten patients were divided into two groups depending on their risk factors for hyperperfusion after CEA (i.e. ratio of carotid stenosis, collateral circulation, stump pressure and carotid blood flow). Reduced CVRC and delayed CCT investigated preoperatively suggested increased cerebrovascular resistance (CVR) in the high-risk group. In the postoperative study, increased FV and PI were both observed in the high-risk group 7 days after surgery, with significant differences in the FV and PI between the high-risk group and low-risk group observed on the second day after CEA. It is important to know the conditions of CVR and CBF in order to understand hyperperfusion after CEA. The continuous measurement of PI and FV along with preoperative CCT may be a useful method to prevent severe complications caused by hyperperfusion.


Philip Rosenberg's ambition in this study of Thomas Carlyle is to present nothing less than a theory and justification of radical activism, drawn from Carlyle 's earlier writings. Insofar as his theory has shape and cogency, it is a welcome contrast to the anti-intellectual bias of some contemporary political dissenters. Mr. Rosenberg's book sounds as if he got the idea for it when he was a younger man, during the years of the false apocalypse in the sixties, and has used the intervening time for reflection. He wanted a serious case against democratic gradualism and the liberal doctrine, and he has made it. There is brilliance here, and rashness, as well as a candor that lights up the darkest corners of the long battle between liberal democracy and its enemies on the Left. (Carlyle himself was very tough, in fact violent, in his attack upon nineteenth-century liberalism.) The result should concern not only scholars and teachers who deal with Carlyle's reputation but many other people though I imagine that Rosenberg's book will make Carlyle shine more brightly in many a politically oriented classroom. I have no objection to that; it is an incidental reward that one's faith in


Tanks-in-series model for free-radical polymerization that involves the polymer transfer reactions, leading to both long-chain branching and scission, is extended to account for different for each tank, where the subscript i represents each value for the ith tank. Illustrative calculations are conducted for the cases with one large ξn for the nth tank and the same ξi for all i's with i ≠ n. The effect of the order of a large ξn was investigated, by keeping the final conversion xN, average branch density , and scission density the same, to find that the largest weight-average degree of polymerization, is obtained for n = 1. The full distributions of MW, the branching density, and the radii of gyration are also investigated to propose a novel reactor design strategy for the tower-type multi-zone reactors.


We consider an electrostatically induced square lattice of quantum dots and study the role of electron-electron correlations in the resulting electronic features of the system. We utilize the Wannier functions methodology in order to construct Hamiltonian for interacting fermions and find that the change of the depth of the quantum dot confining potential results in a transition from a moderately-, to strong-correlated regime of the system. We obtain the approximate ground state by means of Variational Monte-Carlo method for a wide range of dopings. The values of microscopic parameters, charge gap as well as spinand pair-correlation functions obtained in the stronglycorrelated regime signify the presence of antiferromagnetic spin-ordering and the realization of the Mott insulator phase. Moreover, we report on a two dome structure of the emerging d-wave paired state residing on both sides of the half filled case. The obtained results are discussed in view of the well known family of unconventional superconducting materials such as copper based compounds.


Simulating a model of a complex physical system can beuseful in order to obtain a deeper understanding of the system.OpenModelica is an open-source, modeling and simulation environmentin which such ...


Abstract Lower Pennsylvanian deposits in the Anadarko basin onlap eroded and truncated Mississippian age rocks. The basin is asymmetric with a mobile rim, basin deep, hinge zone, and stable shelf. Onlap is noticeable between the basin deep and the stable shelf. Successively younger time-rock units extend past older rocks and terminate against the post-Mississippian unconformity. In western Oklahoma, between the top of the Cherokee Formation (Desmoinesian) and the base of Morrowan rocks, there is 1,500 feet of stratigraphic onlap. This interval contains more than 12,380 cubic miles (135 × 1112 tons) of sediment. Except for scattered, thin, silty, and agrillaceous limestone, all of this sediment consists of terrigeous elastics, transported into the basin by streams and deposited in relatively shallow marine water. Detailed study of core from the Cherokee and Morrow Formations indicates that most of the rock was deposited in a deltaic environment. Deltas prograded the shoreline and built lobes of regressive deposits which kept the subsiding basin nearly full. Lateral shifting of the major sites of deltaic sedimentation permitted deposition of thin impure limestone in interdeltaic areas. Continued and rapid subsidence of the basin established the pattern of onlapping stratigraphy. An understanding of the relationship between this onlap framework and the regressive deposits involved provides insight into the processes of basin filling.


Biological drugs represent one of the most important therapeutic novelties of the last twenty years in many areas including Nephrology. Their use was initially limited to the transplantation field, but now it is extended to the treatment of many glomerular diseases. The selectivity of these drugs should ensure a decrease in the side effects associated with conventional immunosuppressive therapy and an improvement in patient compliance. These aspects, together with the identification of previously unknown pathogenic mechanisms of many glomerular nephropathies, resulted in an increased use of biologic drugs even in kidney diseases. Rituximab was introduced in the mid '90s and it was the pioneering drug among biologic agents in Nephrology. Since then, clinincians have become more and more interested in this class of drugs, and the potential of these agents is on the rise. Currently unresolved issues include both safety and cost/benefit ratio of their long-term use. Undoubtedly, it is the most significant progress that has been made from a therapeutic point of view in recent years.


A 13‐year‐old girl was treated surgically for a giant‐cell tumor of bone originating in the talus and for a recurrence in the distal tibia. She later developed liver and lung metastases and was treated for two years, five months with a combination of vincristine, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide and actinomycin‐D, and thereafter with high‐dose methotrexate/vincristine with citrovorum factor rescue. A good response was obtained and the patient is without evidence of disease 12 months after a salvage thoracotomy for residual disease in the left lung. Aspects of this singular case are discussed.


The photodegradation of fenitrothion was examined in a mixture of distilled water/methanol (5:1). The UV irradiation was carried out with a high-pressure Hg lamp during 7 h. For the identification of further breadown product, fenitrooxon and carboryfenitrothion were also irradiated under experimental conditions identical to those for fenitrothion. The identification of the breakdown products formed was carried out by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with electron impact (EI) and comparison with authentic standards synthesized in the laboratory. A total of 21 photoproducts of oxidation, isomerization, denitration, and solvolysis that may be of concern in environmental studies were unequivocally identified


In order to improve the evenness of cooling strip and reduce the accessional residual stress of laminar cooling system of1 700 mm hot tandem mills of Jinan Steel, mathematical optimization models of up-down water distribution and side spray of the laminar cooling system are built by which the key parameters of up-down water distribution and side spray angle are optimized. The corresponding scaling standard is built and used in the production. The application result indicates that the optimized up-down water distribution and side spray angle improve the evenness of cooling strip toward thickness and width directions and redundant water and various shape problems are reduced clearly.


This chapter examines the historical evolution of neuropsychiatry in Brazil and Argentina, with a view to understanding what the future may hold for the field in South America. A brief historical context is given, before the limitations of neuropsychiatric services in Brazil are discussed, with reference to the lack of attention afforded in education and training and the absence of long-established links between the psychiatric and neurological communities. Meanwhile, although neuropsychiatry only gained official recognition and accreditation in Argentina in 2007, there is a precedent of neuropsychiatric study in the country dating back to Charcot's theories in the nineteenth century, carried forward by expatriate psychiatrists such as Edmundo Fischer in the twentieth. The future development of neuropsychiatry in South America remains uncertain due to the unscientific distinction between psychiatry and neurology, leading to simplistic diagnoses such as classifying Parkinson's disease as simply a 'movement disorder' or schizophrenia as purely 'psychotic'.


An electro-optic light valve was recently described, which uses the Pockels effect in a KD 2 PO 4 crystal cooled close to its Curie temperature and is addressed by photoconduction in an amorphous selenium layer. Preliminary performance was: resolution 20 lp/mm, contrast ratio 40/1, writing time 10 µs, sensitivity 100 erg/cm2for 10/1 contrast. The linearity of the Pockels effect allows image addition and subtraction, the latter being obtained by reversing the applied voltage between two exposures. Experiments of first and second order image derivation using incoherent light are described, the latter using subtraction of a blurred image from the initial one.


INTRODUCTION
The increase in youth electronic nicotine delivery system (ENDS) use coincided with JUUL's rapid rise, which prompted investigations and lawsuits aimed at this leading brand. In response, JUUL discontinued sweet flavors in late 2018, followed by mint flavors in November 2019. We assessed ENDS sales and prices at both the state and national level before and after JUUL's removal of mint flavors.

METHODS
Nielsen retail sales data on ENDS products from convenience and food stores in 4-week aggregates were analyzed between January 2019 and January 2020 in Florida and the United States. Standardized units were created. Unit market share and growth rates were calculated for top brands and flavors in the periods before and after JUUL's mint removal. Average prices within brand and product type were calculated.

RESULTS
Following JUUL's removal of mint in November 2019, JUUL's market share dropped from over 66% in Florida and the United States to 37.1% (Florida) and 55.1% (United States). In January 2020, the second leading brands were Puff Bar (15.0%) in Florida and Vuse (18.1%) in the United States. Mint market share decreased and share of all other flavor categories increased, particularly menthol and concept. Total ENDS sales increased in Florida but decreased in the United States. Average prices of ENDS devices decreased.

CONCLUSIONS
While JUUL's actions led to a decline in its sales, Puff Bar emerged and menthol and concept flavors experienced growth. Findings also demonstrate how changes by influential brands differentially affect purchase patterns at the national and state level.

IMPLICATIONS
These findings support the growing body of evidence that tobacco industry self-regulation, with selective flavor removal by the leading ENDS brand in this case, is insufficient to reduce total ENDS sales, including sales of flavored products which are preferred by youth. Results suggest that brand and flavor substitution compensated for the removal of mint JUUL pods. Understanding changes to the ENDS market in response to industry actions, at both the state and national level, can inform future regulation and interventions. These findings can also inform efforts to prevent and reduce youth ENDS use.


s r rrTT ~Thurow (ii) launched recently into a stunning indictg \ x / 2 ment of the "class" most all of us hope one day to g W 3 join: the elderly. Author of such highly acclaimed books as The Zero Sum Society (z) and The Future of Capitalism (3), Thurow rails against a selfish and financially secure population block whose entitlement programs and single-issue voting are busting the budget and directly threatening the well being of younger and future generations. We have, of course, heard this rhetoric before. But it typically has come from people like Republican financier Pete Peterson (4) whose political interests are well served by finding in the old a scapegoat that helps deflect attention from the more fundamental causes of our economic problems. The Thurow tirade is important precisely because of the source: when a leading liberal economist and former editorial board member of The New York Times can make these statements and get away with them, we need to be concerned. Few would deny that serious steps must be taken to reform Social Security and Medicare, insuring the solvency of these programs while making sure that they don't cause undue hardships for the young. The gross inequities in financing for Medicare and Social Security also need to be addressed. It is outrageous that today, the median income family with earnings of under $38,ooo pays close to 8% of its income in Social Security taxes, while the family earning io times as much pays


Review(s) of: The Emerging Media Toddlers, by Souza, Maria Dolores and Cabello, Patricio (eds), International Clearinghouse on Children, Youth and Media, G teburg, 2010, ISBN 9 7891 8947 1955, 55 pp., 12.


This paper details the major changes that are occurring within petrol forecourt retailing. It examines the transition of services stations within a contextual framework and highlights how they have sought to differentiate themselves in the face of increased competition form the grocery multiples. One strategy undertaken has been to develop a convenience store format to supplement fuel sales. The research examines in detail one company's attempt to undertake this process by identifying the products most suited to its forecourt sites.


The decade of the 1960s was a crucial period in Franco-German relations. Although the Elysee Treaty of 1963 formalized cooperation between the two countries, fundamental disagreements remained on a range of political interests. Drawing upon French and German archival sources, Carine Germond analyzes the influences of this relationship within the development of the European Community and the detente of East-West relations.


Nd3+:Ba2ZnGe2O7 (BZAG) is an attractive diode array pump material due to its long fluorescence lifetime of 340 µs and broad absorption band centered at 804 nm. In addition, the crystal has a broad fluorescence spectra and offers turnability both at 1.05 and 1.34 µm. BZAG possesses the Akerminite crystal structure and the Nd ions substitute into the Ba2+ site with charge compensation. Time-resolved site-selection spectroscopy measurements revealed ten different crystal field sites for Nd3+ in BZAG and showed the presence of strong energy transfer between ions in nonequivalent sites. The laser performance of Nd3+:BZAG rods was studied using a 2-D diode array. The rods were 5 mm in diameter, 11 mm in length, and AR and HR coated at 1054 nm on opposite ends. The pump was close coupled to the polished AR coated rod barrel. An optical slope efficiency of 23% was observed and the round trip (Findlay-Clay) resonator loss was 4.2%.


Two species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) markers were developed to assist in sugarcane breeding. Marker Eri3IEri4 is a 313 bp DNA product that is amplified specifically from the 5S rRNA locus of Erianthus spp, clones. Marker GigIIPII generates two DNA products. One is a 176 bp amplified DNA product from the 5S rRNA locus of S, giganteum, including all three known cytotypes (2n = 30, 60, and 90). The other is a DNA product of approximately 350 bp in size from Erianthus spp, clones, NG77-214 and IMP2886. Three cases are reported to demonstrate how these species-specific DNA markers could be applied in the conventional breeding program to identify sugarcane intergeneric hybrids.


General Comment: Kuwata and Kondo (2009) report high precision measurements of the particle mass of mobility selected ammonium sulfate and sodium chloride aerosol particles used for the calibration of cloud condensation nuclei counters (CCNC). As described and discussed in several earlier studies, neither NaCl nor (NH4)2SO4 particles are completely spherical when generated by atomization. Thus the mobility equivalent diameter of such particles is usually not equal to the volume or mass equivalent


Experimentally observed ``jump'' phenomena in gas temperature and detected fluorescence at a well‐defined pressure, when a 50‐W beam of focused 10.6‐μ laser radiation is absorbed in CO2, are reported. A model based on sufficiently fast relaxation of (00°1) vibrational‐translational energy and sufficiently slow energy loss out of the laser focus to result in a runaway of temperature is proposed to account qualitatively for the observed features. Calculation of the temperature jump (160°C) agrees with a measured value and establishes the reason for the order‐of‐magnitude jump in detected fluorescence by means of an increased Boltzmann distribution of absorbing states. The influence of helium on the jump condition was established; in particular, the helium quenching effect via increased thermal conductivity supports the proposed model.


Within the D25 ellipse of M83, 21 X-ray sources are detected with the ROSAT HRI. A variable super-Eddington (3.8×1039 erg s−1) X-ray source is found to coincide with a faint, extended optical counterpart. Based on the multiwavelength characteristics, the source most likely represents a massive (∼30 M⊙) accreting black hole binary, located in a compact HII region or in a globular cluster in M83. We also detect two luminous (3.7 and 6.7×1038 erg s−1) previously unknown supernova remnant candidates, located in extended Hα emission complexes and coinciding with compact 6 cm and 20 cm radio sources.


ABSTRACT Since Beveridge, budget standards have been neglected in British social policy research. Empirical effort has concentrated on developing social indicator methods of investigating relative poverty. This paper explores the potential of budget standards for assessing whether the scale rates of supplementary benefit are adequate. Three applications of budget standard methodology are presented.


1.
Crucian carp Carassius carassius, which is native to south-east England, has received little previous study in Britain but is threatened by introductions of goldfish Carassius auratus through hybridization and by frequent mis-identification of brown goldfish as crucian carp. The present study provides the first data on back-calculated growth, morphology and age-at-maturity of crucian carp in Britain.

2.
The youngest mature crucian were female (age 2+), the smallest mature crucian were male (age 3+), with almost all fish mature at age 3+. Sex dimorphism in back-calculated standard length at age was not observed except at age 2+ (juveniles longest). Shifts in morphological characters often associated with maturation (dorsal and ventral fin length, dorsal and anal fin depth, pre-dorsal distance, body width) were observed between ages 4+ and 7+, which (in contrast to the relatively abrupt shift in maturity) suggests that age and size at maturation may not reflect the size and age of active (i.e. real) spawning.

3.
Back-calculated standard lengths at age for crucian carp were intermediate relative to other European populations, indicating that environmental conditions in England appear to be well suited to the species despite being at the westernmost extent of the species' native European range. The management of ornamental ponds specifically for crucian carp is discussed.

© Crown copyright 2007. Reproduced with the permission of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Hobbes' philosophy of geometry was eccentric to contemporary movements and worsted in specific controversy. But he laid down stipulations defining geometry and its method which might provide a significant and workable alternative "meta-geometry". Some of these are isolated and reinterpreted here, especially those concerned with describing magnitudes, motions and quantities, and with his use of proportions. Rather than refutation of commentaries and historical rehash, the effort here is to isolate definitive texts and to offer a reinterpretation of their arguments in succinct form showing their coherence and their interdependence with his other philosophic principles.


The European Charter for regional or minority languages was adopted under the auspices of the Council of Europe on the 5th of November 1992 in Strasbourg and became effective on the 1st of March 1998. Romania signed the Charter on the 17th of July 1995 and ratified it by means of law 287/2007. The regional or minority languages include the languages traditionally used in a certain area of a state by the citizens of that state which form a group numerically inferior to the rest of the state population and which are different from the official language or languages of the respective state. The phrase mentioned above does not refer to the dialects of the state's official language or to the languages used by immigrants. In this article we have tried to identify the way in which the right to education in one's mother tongue is applied based on the provisions of the Charter and on the internal legislation, as well as its instruments. Also, we analyzed the main difficulties that one is confronted with in practice and we suggested a series of measures for the improvement of the institutional practices with regard to the right of the minorities from Romania to study in their mother tongue. The observance of this right necessarily assumes the creation of certain conditions for a proper development of the didactic process starting with the number of hours allocated, the proficiency of the didactic staff or of the handbooks.


Evaluating abundance of juvenile salmonids is critical to conservation and management. Current abundance estimation involves use of rotary screw traps and mark-recapture studies. Use of environmental DNA (eDNA) in water samples offers a noninvasive and less expensive approach that may potentially improve or eventually replace traditional monitoring. Here I evaluate the utility of eDNA to predict weekly abundance estimates of outmigrating Chinook salmon ( Oncorhynchus tshawytscha ) smolts in the Klamath River, California. A total of 15 water samples were collected per week over the 17-week smolt outmigration in both 2019 and 2020. Chinook salmon eDNA concentration in each water sample was determined using a species-specific quantitative PCR assay. I compared traditional abundance estimates from a rotary screw trap to the weekly eDNA rate, a metric corrected for variable flow (stream flow (cfs) x eDNA concentration). The best fit model included eDNA rate and temperature and explained 77% of the variation in weekly abundance. In an assessment of eDNA methods, I found that filtering 1-liter of water with 0.45 µm cellulose nitrate filters captured more eDNA than filtering 2-liters with 3 µm polycarbonate filters and that


In this paper, motor drive system fed by single phase diode rectifier without input filter is proposed. The motor drive considered in this paper consists of single phase diode rectifier, three-phase inverter, and small DC-link capacitor. Since DC-link capacitor is small, grid input current of the drive is directly affected by the electrical output power of the inverter. Using this aspect, the control method was proposed which can drive the motor and shape the grid current as a sinusoid simultaneously. However, the drive with this method uses high motor current and has low efficiency because the DC-link voltage periodically falls to zero. To improve the efficiency of the drive, the method that keeps the DC-link voltage higher than a certain limit in order to reduce the flux weakening current is proposed in this paper. With the proposed controller, the harmonic components of the grid current can be suppressed below the limits stated in the regulation IEC61000-3-2. Also, the electrolytic capacitor and PFC circuit of the drive can be removed. The improved performance of the proposed method was verified by the experimental results using the inverter system with a 5μF DC-link capacitor.


Batik is one of the traditional art has decided by United Nations world organization that is UNESCO as Indonesian culture legacy. Batik has surely pattern like garuda picture, curve line, tree with drops decoration like in the some of pattern batik the one of them is Batik Pekalongan. Batik Pekalongan is one of the coustal area of batik that get a lot of many foreign culture influence. Since it was first made around the 1800s, batik Pekalongan continues to experience rapid growth, especially in terms of pattern. It makes ordinary people will have hard time to recognize the pattern of batik which exists. Neural network is a method which has been used many times to recognize the pattern, especially one of them is backpropagation algorithm. Backpropagation algorithm working by means of three phases, it is forward propagation phase, backward propagation phase and changes in the weights and biases phase. In many research about pattern recognition, backpropagation algorithm has been useful and it is proved that has high accuracy level. In this research, backpropagation algorithm is used to recognize the pattern of batik Pekalongan. The final research which has been obtained is backpropagation algorithm can be used well to recognize batik Pekalongan pattern with the level of accuracy has reached 88,62%.


This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction, Definitions of Delay, Rise Time, Duration, and Bandwidth, The Significance of the Uncertainty Principle; Pulse Resolution, Summary, Exercises for Chapter 16, Problems for Chapter 16


Schistosomiasis is a disease caused by infections of the genus Schistosoma. Schistosomiasis can be transmitted through schistosoma worms that contact human skin. Schistosomiasis is a disease that continues to increase in spread. Saturated incidence rates pay attention to the ability to infect a disease that is limited by an increase in the infected population. This thesis formulates and analyzes a mathematical model of the distribution of schistosomiasis with a saturated incidence rate. Based on the analysis of the model, two equilibrium points are obtained, namely non-endemic equilibrium points (E0) and endemic equilibrium points (E1). Both equilibrium points are conditional asymptotically stable. The nonendemic equilibrium point will be asymptotically stable if rh > dh, rs > ds and R0 < 1, while the endemic equilibrium point will be asymptotically stable if R0 > 1. Sensitivity analysis shows that there are parameters that affect the spread of the disease. Based on numerical simulation results show that when R0 < 1, the number of infected human populations (Hi), the number of infected snail populations (Si), the amount of cercaria density (C) and the amount of miracidia density (M) will tend to decrease until finally extinct. Otherwise at the time R0 > 1, the number of the four populations tends to increase before finally being in a constant state.


Small Pb inclusions in Al have been studied by a number of investigators because the alloy system offers the possibility of observing the processes of melting and solidification directly. Both solids are fee, and the mutual solubility of solid Pb and Al is negligible. Despite a large difference in lattice parameter, it has been found that inclusions follow a parallel-cube orientation relationship and their equilibrium shape is a cuboctahedron, bounded by ﹛111﹜ and ﹛100﹜ facets [1]. Following Herring, the relative extent of the two types of facet directly indicates a ratio of interfacial energies γl00/γ111- However, recent investigations have shown that for inclusions in the range of a few to a few tens of nanometers the equilibrium shape becomes a function of size [2]. In the present work, this size dependence of the equilibrium shape has been investigated further. Al alloys with about lat.% Pb were prepared by rapid solidification or by ion implantation, and equilibrated by annealing at about 300°C.


Cultivating innovative talents is not only the tactic demand of the higher education in the new period but also the important duty of our society. This paper analyzes and discusses the main problems existing in cultivating postgraduates' innovative ability in the pattern recognition and intelligent system, such as the simplistic curriculum system and training program, lack of professional innovation platform, imperfect innovation environment, and inadequate evaluation mechanism, which make students' innovative ability has not been substantively improved. In view of these problems mentioned above, some strategies are proposed, which include the innovation of curriculum system and training program, establishment of a more perfect innovation platform, optimization of innovation environment and reform of evaluation mechanism. The research and practice results show that these strategies will improve postgraduates' innovation consciousness, innovation cogitation and innovation skills.


At the present time, the Spanish University is developing, systematically, processes of evaluation of its three main scopes of performance: education, investigation and services. The reasons of these processes of evaluation are two general missions: on the one hand, to provide information to the society on the quality of the services and, on the other hand, to detect the strongpoints and weak of the institution as well as the opportunities and proposals of performance that suppose an increase of the university quality.


In a paper [4] submitted for publication in this journal, the author has presented simplified methods for setting up and solving equations for missing values. The methods apply to those designs and data for which normal theory, with linear model, provides the appropriate analysis, and have been extended to cover covariance analyses. A. T. James, in a personal communication, drew the author's attention to the fact that concomitant measurements corresponding to missing observations are irrelevant to the analysis of existing observations, and could therefore be replaced by hypothetical values more convenient for determining missing values and for the subsequent analysis of covariance on the completed data. Application of this suggestion has greatly simplified the author's results, and as the procedure is so simple, it has been thought worth while to outline it in this advance note. Since deriving these results, the author's attention has been drawn to a paper by Barnard [1] in which the method of fitting values appears to be the same as that proposed here. Barnard's description is very brief, however, being incidental to the main content of the paper (analysis of a crop-weather scheme), and seems to have been overlooked in the literature and textbooks. The present paper gives details of the fitting process, and also of deriving standard errors and exact significance tests.


The Sentinel-2A satellite is a multispectral instrument with medium spatial resolution (10-60 m) developed by ESA. In general, one of the tasks of the satellite is also mapping process of land cover and use. In recent years, different studies have been conducted to demonstrate the adequacy and potential of Sentinel-2A MSI (MultiSpectral Instrument) satellite sensors. In our country, the limited studies done by the Sentinel-2A satellite images reveal the importance of this study. The main purpose of this study is to determine the temporal change of land use and land cover of Giresun province using Sentinel-2A satellites. In this context, the satellite images covering Giresun province center from Sentinel-2A satellite for 2017 and 2018 were obtained from ESA's data provider web address. The land cover changes for the years were determined and the losses and gains of the land classes were calculated. In practice area which is about 29 km 2 , it is generally determined that green and construction sites are replaced within the area. In addition to this, it is calculated that approximately 63 hectares have been passed from the green areas to the construction sites As a result, the usage of Sentinel-2A satellite images, which provide free access, has been demonstrated in the determination of land use and land .


This article looks at the design and use of reinforced earth and segmental arch structures with reference to uses in India. Reinforced earth structures are internally stabilised earth structures including high tensile and stiff reinforcing elements. This requires high adherence, heavily galvanised steel strips as reinforcement in backfill material with precast reinforced concrete facing panels. Benefits of the technology are superior performance, economy, speedy construction, versatility, and the use of locally produced materials. Applications include bridge approach ramps, retaining walls and abutments; water retaining structures; landscaping; and seismic protection. Segmental arch construction is an ancient concept used for bridges, tunnels and culverts. Precast concrete elements are assembled in a staggered and symmetrical way, allowing raped installation. Benefits are adaptability, quality, economy and speed of construction.


The original roadside Inspection Selection System (ISS) was developed in response to a 1995 Congressional mandate. This mandate called for the use of prior carrier safety data to guide the selection of commercial vehicles and drivers for roadside inspections. As the ISS has undergone development, another project also has been evolving. This project involves the creation of a Performance and Registration Information Systems Management (PRISM) program. An objective of PRISM is to identify relatively unsafe carriers, through an assignment of a Safety Status Measurement System (SafeStat) score, and encourage them to improve their safety performance or risk having their registration privileges revoked. While SafeStat was designed to prioritize carriers for monitoring and compliance reviews, the ISS was designed to prioritize carriers for roadside inspection. However, both algorithms use similar data to define a relatively "unsafe" carrier. It would be beneficial if there could be one uniform motor carrier rating system in place for all of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's programs. This paper briefly describes the two algorithms, discusses the integration of the SafeStat algorithm into the ISS, and presents conclusions of the initial testing of the resulting system, ISS-2. An analysis of more than 213,000 roadside inspections reveals that ISS-2 is just as effective as the original ISS in meeting the goals it was designed for. It successfully identifies, and prioritizes for roadside inspection, vehicles and drivers of carriers with poor prior safety performance, as well as those with few or no previous inspections. In addition, safety inspectors testing the system are pleased with the new algorithm and the new features present in ISS-2.


The invention discloses a content information sharing method and system and an electronic device. The method comprises the steps of determining an ID of a current application as a first ID; obtaining a second ID matched with the first ID; extracting first content information from a first main post indicated by the second ID; updating the first content information to a comment window matched with the current application through a first pre-established link, wherein the first link is the communication link between the current application and the first main post indicated by the second ID; receiving second content information input by the comment window and updating the second content information to the first main post indicated by the second ID through the first link. The content information sharing method and system and the electronic device solve the problem that interaction between applications as well as between applications and other platforms is poor.


It is shown that current agricultural production is based on the use of innovative technical means and machine technology, and the strategy of rational and effective implementation of the created biotechnological potential is the most promising, popular and required one.


At somewhat short (but manageable) notice, I received an invitation to speak at the Verbundtag 2011, a convention of Austrian librarians, where the plenary session of the first day was to be on mobile services for libraries. As I recently...


A rudimentary map of the photoisomerization potential energy surface for tetraphenylethylene in alkane solvents is experimentally determined. The line shapes of the vertical and relaxed excited states emissions at 294 K in methylcyclohexane are obtained from the steady state emission spectrum and the wavelength dependence of the time resolved fluorescence decays. Subsequently, the temperature dependences of the vertical and relaxed states emission quantum yields and of the time resolved fluorescence decays are determined. Analysis of these data in conjunction with the twisted excited state energy, determined using picosecond optical calorimetry, provides values for the energies of the vertical, conformationally relaxed, and twisted excited states on the photoisomerization surface, as well as the barriers to their interconversion. The energy difference between the latter two states is found to be 1.76 f 0.15 kcdmol in methylcyclohexane. The information from this and prior investigations is discussed with the aim of constructing structure-energy and structure-kinetic correlations for the twisted excited states of tetraphenylethylenes and structurally related alkenes.


Based on larch,rubber tree and other garden plants and field crops,this paper describes a series of morphological and physiological changes of the root system of garden plants under the nitrogen nutrition conditions.In a certain nitrogen concentration,as nitrogen concentration increases,the fresh weight and dry weight of garden plants' roots gradually increase,the total root surface area,lateral root number,root/shoot ratio increase,too,and the roots get longer and thinner;the influence of different periods of nitrogen application is more obvious,the early application of nitrogen fertilizer is beneficial to root growth;the nitric nitrogen effect is better than that of other forms of nitrogen for the roots;at the same time,a certain amount of nitrogen can significantly increase the water absorbing capacity and activity of the roots,increase the quality of secretory materials of the roots,promote carbon and nitrogen metabolism,reduce the number of free amino acids within the roots to maintain the balance of nitrogen metabolism in roots.


This paper introduced general methods of the GPS technology for open-air side slope deformation monitoring,and the entire process of the GPS deformation monitoring through the lead zinc ore open-air side slope in Yinshan,Dexing city, Jiangxi Province including technology design of monitoring network,field survey,data processing and deformation analysis.The results indicate that GPS static positioning technology reached the precision of mini-meter,has good advantages in the open-air side slope deformation monitoring and fully meet the requirements of high-precision deformation monitoring.


An ultrathin film sensor, consisting of two serially connected Pt/Ti films with different sensitivity to obtain the output voltage, was developed. The hydrogen sensor, based on the electrical resistance change of Pt thin films upon exposure to hydrogen gas, is operable at room temperature. However, two different Pt/Ti films showed different temperature coefficient of resistance, so the output voltage changed by temperature change. In order to solve this problem, we developed a self-temperature compensation technique by optimized combination of Pt thickness and Ti thickness. As a result, the hydrogen sensor showed good stability against temperature change. Keywords-hydrogen sensor; platinum thin film; catalysis.


Peace is a universal concern involving a complex process of negotiations between select groups (i.e. policy makers, mediators, scholars and civil society groups). In this paper we present PaxVis, a platform of two interactive data visualizations for a large database of peace agreements (PA-X). We developed PaxVis to support comparative analysis of peace processes and to improve understandings of the complex dynamics behind the establishment of peace.


The Mid Year Fiscal and Economic Review, published annually, provides a mid-year update on the fiscal and economic outlook for the State based on assessments prepared by Treasury. This includes updated forecasts for major economic parameters, revised estimates of State Government borrowings and consolidated sectoral financial statements on Government Finance Statistics basis.


The Bakun Hydropower Station is located at a tropical rainy island,and is consisted of a 202 m high CFRD,a long chute-spillway at left-bank,a diversion tunnel and a power plant.The gullies washed out by discharge flow from chute-spillway bring about serious disturbances to the general layout of construction equipment and construction roads.In the light of these difficulties,a careful construction scheme is worked out,the focal points are on the layout of construction roads and construction equipment,the selection of formwork,and the concrete placing-curing works etc.


It Is Designed and experimentally is checked efficiency of the methods, providing unity of general, special and variant training of 12-14 years young orientators. The Variety directed muscular load, optimum combination motor and intellectual tasks; the correlation technical and tactical elements provides the increase of the speed, muscular power, endurance, coordination quality that provides the growing atheletic skills and is a big stimulus for teenagers interest maintenance to atheletic orientation.


The following discussion about Hadley v. Baxendale took place on June 8, 2004, at the Conference on "The Common Law of Contracts as a World Force in Two Ages of Revolution," held at the Oxstalls Campus of the University of Gloucestershire, in Gloucester, England. The Conference marked the 150th anniversary of Hadley. The following discussion was intended to be a free-ranging exploration of Hadley, its rule, its role in legal pedagogy, and its likely future.


The speed variation in urban growth can produce structural changes in cities, altering the space patterns that emerge in the course of time. To test this hypothesis and to study those space patterns, simulation experiments of urban growth were carried out, considering speed variation and results compared, using the automata cellular based simulation model SACI – City Environment Simulator – in the urban area of Pelotas in the South of Brazil. The test demonstrates that variations in the growth speed can implicate different results. The main ones are the following: a) slow growth facilitated the consolidation of remote areas, the compactness and the monocentrality; in that case, the interface of the urban area with the natural environment appeared with a low occupation index, however with tendency of integral elimination of the natural remainders; b) the fast growth produced the annexation of the remote areas to the urban structure, combined with fragmentation increase and policentrality production; in that case, the interface with the natural environment remained contrasted by higher occupation indexes than in the slow growth, however, the resulting urban fabric has a larger chance of maintaining natural environment remainder. That result questions the traditional idea that fast urban growth is the cause of environmental degradation, suggesting that the territory conversion done in a selective way could reach appropriate integration results exactly between city and nature considering exactly the fast growth. In consequence, observing the territory conversion not urbanized to have urbanized, the suppression of the natural environment for the city seems not to be a problem of excessive urban growth speed, but a consequence of the territory chosen to be destined to the urbanization or the environmental conservation.


The main problems of the two-way referral implementation of community health service agencies in urban pilot areas are unidirectional hospital-transfer and low general referral rate. The major constraints on the two-way referral efficient function-ning are from the supply-side, demand-side and a third party. Some good suggestions are to be put forward, such as setting up effective supervisory system; advocating community hospitals; establishing first attending system among the community general practitioners; readjusting health resources and implementing the integrated management, etc.


The processes of research proposals and evaluation have become ever more elaborate, but the system remains primitive. This paper argues for a fresh look at existing practices, with a view to developing less onerous and more efficient systems.


The instrument consists of two different spectrometers with different spectral resolutions for each quantity (Visible to near infrared (VNIR)=400-927nm; Shortwave infrared (SWIR)=933-2200nm). The FWHM of VNIR is 2-3 nm and 8-10 nm for SWIR. The resulting data set is a merged spectrum from both spectrometers. An example of a clear sky measurement should look like Figure 1a-b. Absorption bands of different atmospheric gases (O3: 470 nm; O2: 760 nm; H2O: 720 nm, 820 nm, 940 nm, 110 nm, 1380 nm, and 1870 nm; and CO2: 1400 nm, 1600 nm, and 2000 nm) are represented in the downward spectral irradiance and radiance.


Construction Management by using 4D CAD system analyzes operations information based on 3D and 4D objects. But it is difficult to provide a variety of documents linked by 4D objects in a lump from 4D CAD system based on visual object, and to get an optimal decision-making information to conduct business. Therefore, it is necessary to construct effective construction information management systems and to organize integrated information through linking non-objects to objects. This study suggests methodologies of effective construction management for railway facilities through building of framework for practical application and methodologies to link 4D objects to IETM documents. Accordingly, it is possible to establish a systematic decision-making for an effective construction management of railway facilities, and this provide integrated methodology for linking non-objects to objects.


We examined the age-related changes in autonomic nerve function affecteding the regulation of blood flow. We used the Schellong test and a questionnaire for orthostatic dysregulation. Two handred seventy-two elderly subjects over 70 years old were examined in this study and 192 healthy volunteers under 70 years old were examined as controls. We classified the former subjects into two groups, one group with dizziness and vertiginous sensation (vertigo group, N=222), and the other with no symptoms (non-vertigo group, N=50). Then, we statistically analyzed the above three groups. More changes in decrease of systolic blood pressure, pulse pressure and/or increase of pulse rate were observed with age increasing, excluding the young subjects in their 20s. In the increase of systolic blood pressure in particular, the vertigo group showed clear changes, and a higher positive rate on the Schellong test and questionnaire. It was suggested that the increase of orthostatic dysregulation with aging might be one factor for the increase of senior vertiginous patients.


The American Astronautical Society, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Space Grant Consortia, and Universities Space Research Association have initiated a student design-build-launch competition for space-related topics. This competition allows teams from different universities to design and build a space-type system (called "NearSat"), such as a BalloonSat (payload carried to burst altitude by a weather balloon and then descend by parachute) or a CanSat (small soda-can size payloads carried aloft by high power rockets), according to the specifications released by the competition organizing committee, and then compete against each other at the end of two semesters to determine the winners. Each team will also have to submit a written report on their design and make an oral presentation to a panel of judges. There is also an outreach component to the competition, which will affect each team's score. There will be cash prizes and trophies, initially supplied by the AIAA Foundation and aerospace corporations. Two committees will administer the competition. The Executive Committee will consist of a representative from the four charter organizations plus the competition administrator, who is the chairperson of the Organizing Committee, and will be responsible for the oversight of the program. The Organizing Committee will consist of representatives of the four charter organizations and the various government and corporate sponsors. The purpose of this committee is to organize and arrange the competition, from defining the design specifications, to finding judges, and organizing the fly-off competition, which will be hosted by a sponsoring organization. The AIAA will provide the administrative support for the competition, using the same staff that provides similar support for other AIAA competitions. The design specifications for the first competition were released in August, 2004. It is planned to have the competition be an annual event that may someday be expanded to include high school students.


Abstract The theoretical construct of cognitive reserve is used to explain why some people can sustain more brain pathology due to disease than others before cognitive and everyday functioning become impaired. Several lines of research suggest that cognition may be maintained by taking steps to prevent loss or possibly increase cognitive reserve. These steps could include promoting certain health behaviors, engaging in cognitively stimulating activities, or possibly even using cognitive training techniques. These factors may positively influence the physiological functioning of the brain or may increase the ability to compensate for declines in cognition. Empirical findings related to neuroplasticity are discussed and a hypothetical model of neuroplasticity, cognitive reserve, and cognitive functioning in older adults are presented. Implications of this model for 'real world' or everyday functioning are discussed and directions for future research on maintaining cognitive reserve are provided.


In this work, we investigate an optimal assessment strategy to measure student learning in the first-year undergraduate engineering course at X-Department at X University. Specifically, we evaluate and compare challenge-based and competency-based assessment strategies. In the challenge-based approach, the students are required to design a C++-based application that meet the required design objectives. The competency-based assessment involves assessing learning by asking a variety of pointed questions pertaining to a single or a small group of concepts. After studying the performance of 207 students, we found that in the challenge-based assessment, due to the complex nature of the questions that assess numerous concepts simultaneously, students who are not very thorough with even one or two concepts fared very poorly since they were unable to finish the challenge and present a functional prototype of the program. On the other hand, the competency-based assessment allowed for a more balanced approach in which the students' learning was reflected more accurately by their performance in the various assessments.


Acrylic resin denture base material has been available to the dental profession for over 60 years, and although materials with superior properties have been on the market for some time, it still remains the most popular choice of clinicians. The requirement of the simple processing equipment and low cost of the fabrication process are the reasons for its continued popularity. However, debonding of acrylic teeth from denture base resins remains a problem for both patients and clinicians. The failure rate of acrylic dentures resulting from fracture has been reported to be unacceptably high, with the most prevalent type of failure documented being debonding or fractures of the teeth A series of studies have attempted to determine the quality of denture tooth bonding produced by commonly employed dental laboratory conditions. The present study was under taken to evaluate and compare the effects of chemical and mechanical treatment of the ridge lap surface of acrylic teeth on the bond strength of acrylic resin teeth to denture base resins.


The article presents the results of a comparative analysis of clinical and laboratory parameters of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in adults and children in 2019–2022. HFRS is predominantly registered among the adult population, children account for only about 2%. Features of HFRS clinical and laboratory parameters in children are few and contradictory. Therefore, it is of particular interest to study the peculiarities of the HFRS course in children and to compare them with the course of this infection in adults.


Abstract— Trombe wall is one of the unique features in passive solar house development, which facilitates heat storage. A mathematical model of semitransparent photovoltaic thermal Trombe wall (SPVT-TW) with air ducts (or vents) has been derived in this paper, for a single room of 30 m 2 dimension, for winter season of New Delhi, India. The model is derived considering the energy balance equations taking into account the periodic nature of solar radiation and ambient temperature. Further, the effect of several parameters namely, thickness of wall, mass flow rate, packing factor, absorptivity and transmittivity of PV module on room air temperature and thermal stability have been examined. The performance of vented SPVTTW has been compared with SPVT-TW without vent. The results illustrate that the thickness of the room should be 0.3 m, with a corresponding thermal load leveling of 0.0038, for vented SPVT-TW, from a thermal stability point of view. Also, the room air temperature of 45 o C can be reached in case of vented SPVT-TW, which is higher than SPVT-TW without vent.


ABSTRACT This study ascertains the extent to which the marketing concept has been adopted and implemented by banks in Ghana. It addresses a gap in an area that is currently under researched and provides insight into the banking services industry in a developing country. All sixteen licensed banks in Ghana were included in this study. The data was collected through in-depth interviews and self completed questionnaires. The results suggest that marketing departments in the banks are organised mainly within headquarters and headed by marketing and advertising/public relations managers. The marketing activities in the banks are associated with the stage where marketing orientation is perceived as advertising and public relations. There is a partial lack of marketing culture in the banks. The total and formal acceptance and understanding of the marketing concept is at an embryonic stage in the evolutionary process.


AbstractThe studies relative to the presence, state and combined form of vanadium in Amanita toadstools are reviewed critically. A possible role for the vanadium containing compound "amavadine" is suggested on the basis of the present knowledge of its structure, thermodynamic stability and oxidation-reduction behaviour.


In the Kakinada area Eupleurogrammus muticus is landed in small quantities in the commercial catches. Occurrence of a total of 245 post-larvae and juveniles of the length (S.L.) range 43-136. mm collected during March 1966 to April 1971 is reported. The phylogenetic significance in the loss of the caudal fin of the genus Eupleurogrammus, during ontogeny is discussed. Food and feeding habits, length-weight relationship, relative condition factor, size at sexual maturity, spawning and fecundity are studied


Most automobile body members are fabricated from formed steel sheets joined by spot welding, and these welded joints typically tend to cause fatigue failure owing to local stress concentrations. In this study, fatigue tests were conducted under cyclic torsion loads using spot-welded rectangular section members made of 590 MPa grade dual-phase high-strength steel to investigate the springback effect on fatigue properties. These members were assembled using the rectangular sections that were formed under different blank holder forces, as this would change the amount of springback. Furthermore, the prediction of the fatigue life of these members was attempted through springback analysis, an elastic analysis together with a method of fatigue life prediction for spot welds using nominal structural stress. In this prediction, residual stress caused by springback was regarded as the mean stress. Concerning the experimental results, every fatigue failure was initiated close to the spot weld edge located at the center of the tested members, and fatigue life decreased with springback amount increasing. In addition, the predicted results were generally in agreement with the experimental results in terms of the effect of springback.


The structures and energies of the side-on complexes B2(N2)2 and monocyclic Bn(N2)nm (n = 3~6,m = –1~+2) between N2 (1∑+g) and B (2P) have been investigated by the DFT-B3LYP and MP2 methods at the 6-311+G(2d) and aug-cc-pVTZ levels. The analyses of NICS (Nucleus Independent Chemical Shifts),NBO (nature bond orbital),AIM (atoms in molecules) and frontal orbitals have been used to reveal the origin of coordination bond between the π-electron donor N2 group and B atom,accompanied by the comparison with the end-on complexes. The results have indicated that the side-on coordination complexes can be formed due to the relative strong fluidity of the π-electrons,and the nature of the coordination bond has been exposed to be that the N2 group offers 1πu electron to the 2p orbital of boron. The coordinate energies of the side-on complexes are less than those of the end-on complexes. Furthermore,the aromaticity of side-on coordination complex is weaker than that of the corresponding end-on coordination complex.


The aim of this study was to examine the effect of aging on body reactions to perturbation during walking. The subject group comprised 15 young and 15 elderly individuals. Perturbation was produced by abruptly decelerating one side of the walking-belt of a two-belt treadmill for 500 ms during walking. Each subject received 30 perturbations during a 10-minute walking period. Muscle activity in the lower limb muscles and acceleration at the pelvis were recorded using surface electromyographs and accelerometers. Peak values of acceleration following perturbation were significantly greater than in normal walking. Posterior peak values of acceleration appeared prior to anterior peak values of acceleration following perturbation. These outcomes seem to demonstrate that external forces by perturbations act on the center of gravity of the whole body and that external forces work from the rear to the front. In addition, the tibialis anterior muscles demonstrated bilaterally reduced latency of muscle reactions. Latency of the tibialis anterior on the stimulation side was significantly shorter than that on the non-stimulation side. This suggests that perturbation in one leg triggers a righting reaction of that leg within the first 120 ms, facilitating the subsequent stepping reaction of the contralateral leg. Comparisons according to age demonstrated that both the appearance of anterior peak values of acceleration and latency of the tibialis anterior on the non-stimulation side were significantly delayed after perturbation for older subjects. These results suggest that the capacity for postural adjustment during stepping might be deteriorated in elderly individuals.


In this paper, a multi-level simultaneous minimization (MLSM) scheme is proposed and investigated to remedy the joint-angle drift (JAD) and non-zero final joint-velocity (NZFJV) phenomena as well as to prevent the occurrence of high joint variables of redundant robot manipulators. The proposed scheme is novelly designed within multiple levels and finally resolved at the jerk level for a jerk-bounded robot motion, which is desirable for engineering applications. More importantly, the correctness of the proposed MLSM scheme is guaranteed by the corresponding theorems. Then, the MLSM scheme is formulated as a dynamical quadratic program (DQP) that is solved by a piecewise linear projection equation neural network (PLPENN). Furthermore, the path-tracking simulations based on a 6-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) robot manipulator substantiate the effectiveness and advantage of the MLSM scheme. Comparisons between the MLSM scheme and the minimum jerk norm (MJN) scheme illustrate that the proposed scheme is superior and more applicable. Finally, the additional validation on the KUKA robot in the virtual robot experimentation platform (V-REP) is provided for reproducible engineering applications by researchers and practitioners. Note to Practitioners—This paper is motivated by the inverse kinematics problem of jerk-bounded redundant robot manipulators in practical applications. Note that the joint-angle drift (JAD) and non-zero final joint-velocity (NZFJV) phenomena as well as the occurrence of high joint variables always encountered in the traditional norm-based scheme for robot manipulators, which is not suitable for the real-time control of robots. Besides, it would be appealing and desirable to resolve the robot redundancy at the jerk level for industrial robots in engineering. Therefore, an effective, flexible, and stable solution for such robot manipulators is significant for practitioners. This paper proposes a multi-level simultaneous minimization (MLSM) scheme for practitioners interested in robot kinematics to remedy the JAD and NZFJV phenomena as well as to prevent the occurrence of high joint variables of redundant robot manipulators. Unlike traditional single-level schemes, such as the minimum jerk norm (MJN) scheme, the proposed scheme is designed within multiple levels with distinct physical nature and finally resolved at the jerk level to achieve a desirable performance for the jerk-bounded redundant robot manipulators. Besides, for better understanding of practitioners, the corresponding block diagram and principle interpretation of the MLSM scheme are presented. Simulation studies and comparisons are designed and conducted on a 6-degrees-of-freedom (DOF) robot manipulator to substantiate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed scheme. Extensive tests with different weighting factors fully verify the flexibility and stable performance of the proposed MLSM scheme. For reproducible engineering applications by researchers and practitioners, the additional validation on the KUKA robot in the virtual robot experimentation platform (V-REP) is further presented.


A spatial competitive equilibrium for the crop and livestock sectors of the U.S. agricultural economy is approximated. Agricultural commodities are classified into three mutually exclusive classes : primary, intermediate and desired. Primary commodities represent available resources ; intermediate commodities are produced only as inputs for further production; desired commodities are wanted either for consumption or for other uses outside the system (export). The 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia are partitioned into 10 markets, which are further partitioned into a total of 103 crop producing regions. In each market, demands for 10 desired commodities are represented by functions, linear in commodity prices. Production of crops and livestock and intermarket commodity shipments are represented by linear activities. The objective function maximizes aggregate producer profits. Since the demand functions are linear, total revenue is quadratic in the prices of desired commodities, hence the qua...


Curriculum standard construction is one of the important foundation works that guarantees talent training quality of vocational education in China.Depending on respective administrative responsibilities and different position of curriculum in vocational education from the level of nation,province and the school,and formulating different curriculum standard is an executable strategy for curriculum standard construction of vocational education in China.With persisting in specialized operation of setting curriculum standard,it is also important to emphasize diversification of the subjects and public participation.In addition,it should follow the principles of competency based,universal relevance,lifelong development,integrated system,holistic education and so on.


INTRODUCTION
In December 2019, the minimum legal sales age for tobacco products in the US was raised from 18 to 21 as a measure of preventing smoking initiation. Smoking during pregnancy, which causes maternal, fetal, and infant morbidity and mortality, is a major public health concern. We first study the effects of purchase restrictions on smoking during different stages of pregnancy covering the entire US and using the records of all live births during 2014-2018 by birthing people aged 18-21.

METHODS
Our identification strategy utilizes the variation in the minimum legal sales age of tobacco products over time and across counties in the US during 2014-2018 using a two-way fixed effects model, modified to accommodate a partially observable treatment indicator.

RESULTS
The results show 37.4% of potential smokers in our study population would have been prevented from smoking before pregnancy, 50.5% during the first trimester, 53.4% during the second trimester and 14.8% during the third trimester if the law prevented selling tobacco products to them in the locality they live. A purchase restriction is estimated to cause smoking intensity of those who smoke, the intensive margin, to drop by 5.4% before pregnancy, 10.4% during the first trimester, 14.8% during the second trimester and 5.2% during the third trimester.

CONCLUSIONS
Our results show that purchase restrictions are highly effective in preventing smoking among birthing people in the 18-21 age group. The effect on smoking prevalence during the first and second trimesters is more pronounced.

IMPLICATIONS
Many countries around the world have recently tightened age-based purchase restriction policies as a tobacco control measure. We first study the effects of purchase restrictions on smoking during different stages of pregnancy using the birth records of all pregnancies in the US by birthing people aged 18-21 during 2014-2018. The study utilizes the variation in the minimum legal sales age of tobacco products over time and across counties during that period. Our results show that purchase restrictions are highly effective in preventing smoking among birthing people in the 18-21 age group.