Background—Recent improvements in image processing along with active collaborations of health experts have started an era of inventions in medical imaging. From the last two decades, computer vision empowers computers to analyze the data in bulk using machine learning methods
 in developing intelligent models. Several techniques are already available in the literature that is capable of learning intricate patterns to generate meaningful output. A set of areas, which researchers have preferably covered are related to contrast stretching, segmentation, feature extraction/fusion,
 and classification. In the medical domain, feature fusion is an active area, which plays a vital role in the final classification step. Objective—In this review article, our primary objective is to discuss and validate the advantages of feature fusion and present its roles in
 this domain. The fusion of two images or multiple features gives better results in the form of either detection or classification of infected areas. For this purpose, we discuss a set of techniques used by several researchers in the medical domain. Method—A detailed and comprehensive
 review of the fusion techniques are presenting. The key challenges and shortcomings of existing image and feature fusion methods are presenting along with the possible future directions. Conclusion—At the end of this review, we conclude that fusion techniques improves the image
 quality, as well as for salient (infected) regions detection. Moreover, the fusion of medical images increases the overall segmentation accuracy, and feature fusion shows its effects in the final stage of classification.


This study includes TEM analyses of individual particles that were collected at an elevated site in the North China Plain. As expected, polluted conditions were encountered most of the time, and haze layers contained mostly sulfate/organic mixed particles with additional refractory components such as soot, metals and fly ash. When air masses arrived from the Northwest, mineral particles were dominant. An interesting result is the quasi-periodic, mid-day formation of new particles. Particle growth occurred by the condensation of sulfate and organics and by coagulation with pollutants and mineral dust. I see as the main value of the paper that it provides a detailed, single-particle-C10093


Since nanoshells consisting of a silica core covered by a gold shell possess high biocompatibility and specially tunable plasmon resonant response based on the relative dimensions of the core radius and shell thickness, they are extremely concerned in many research fields including nanomedicine. The current status of study on the silica/gold nanoshells is reviewed in this paper, meanwhile, the preparing methods and the important applications in nanomedicine of the silica/gold nanoshells are elucidated in detail.


Application Specific Instruction set Processors (ASIPs) are field or mask programmable processors of which the architecture and instruction set are optimised to a specific application domain. ASIPs offer a high degree of flexibility and are therefore increasingly being used in competitive markets like telecommunications. However, adequate CAD techniques for the design and programming of ASIPs are missing hitherto. An interactive approach for the definition of optimised microinstruction sets of ASIPs is presented. A second issue is a method for instruction selection when generating code for a predefined ASIP. A combined instruction set and data-path model is generated, onto which the application is mapped.<<ETX>>


The XBT (Expendable Bathythermograph) is variously used in broad areas of oceanographic observation at the moment. It is required to develop a new type frame corresponding to various needs for measuring information. In this study, it is confirmed that the numerical simulation based on the fluid dynamics technique is effective for designing the optimal frame of a new type of multi-functional XBT profiler.


Unlike tangible goods such as industrial products and food products, digital content distinguish themselves by the fact that it is very easy to duplicate products of the same quality. The copyright law prohibits duplication of content without the permission of the creators can be obtained, but in reality, there are many cases where content are duplicated and used illegally. Properly protecting the copyright of content is extremely important for content creators and it's demand is strong as well. Considering these facts, the concept of Digital Rights Management (DRM), i.e., digital content copyright management technologies, has been attracting attention recently. At first, the focus of attention was on DRM technologies applied to music CDs, DVD movies, digital broadcast and similar media, but application of the DRM technology to mobile terminals is coming into the spotlight lately as well, as content provided to mobile terminals are becoming diversified and increasingly expensive. From the background above, the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), a standardization organization dealing with mobile application technologies, standardized the OMA DRM specification for mobile terminals. OMA DRM is intended to protect any content delivered to mobile terminals; it can prevent illegal copy of digital content and allows defining restrictions related to content usage (e.g., number of usages and expiration date). Moreover, OMA DRM has various functions requested by content providers; it also has the super-distribution function for promoting content distributions that separate content and right information. There are two versions of OMA DRM: the simple OMA DRM version 1.0 (DRMv1.0), which is mainly targeted at inexpensive content, and the more sophisticated OMA DRM version 2.0 (DRMv2.0), which is mainly targeted at expensive content. This article describes the standardization of OMA DRM and provides a technical overview of each version.


Training by adaptive gain (TAG) neural network model, which had been developed for optical implementation of large-scale artificial neural networks, is further extended for better performance and its feasibility is demonstrated by a small-scale electro-optic implementation. For fully interconnected single-layer neural networks with N input and M output neurons the modified TAG model contains two different types of interconnections, i.e., MN fixed global interconnections and (beta) N + M adaptive local interconnections. For the original TAG model the number of adaptive local interconnections (beta) was set to 1, and the interconnections were understood as adaptive gain. For 2-dimensional input and output patterns the fixed global interconnections may be achieved by page-oriented holograms, and the adaptive local interconnections by spatial light modulators. The original and modified TAG models require much less adaptive elements than the popular perceptron model with fully adaptive global interconnections, and provide possibilities of implementing large-scale artificial neural networks with some sacrifice in performance. The training algorithm is based on gradient descent and error back-propagation, and is easily extensible to multi-layer architecture. Computer simulation and electro-optic implementation demonstrate much better performance of the modified TAG model compared to the original TAG model.


The increasing uses of voxelied human body geometry have created challenges in many aspects of Monte Carlo simulations . This paper presents an investigation on the maximum number of voxels the MCNP code can handle by using an extremely detailed VIP-Man model . The VIP-Man tomographic model is a radiation dosimetry model developed from the segmented Visible Human color cross sectional images . Several variables that MCNP uses to store the information related to the MCNP "universe" have been changed in this study to maximize the efficient usage of the system memory . Two modifications have been made in the MCNP source code for the variable, laf, which greatly reduce the amount of system memory required for these kinds of MCNP geometries. Another variable, mazu, which is not necessarily used when running the voxel models, is only allocated if it is used. The VIP-Man model having about 25 million voxels caused MCNP5 (MCNPS_RSICC 1 .20) to crash. However, a simple voxel model was tested and results showed that the modified version of MCNP5 can handle lattice geometries of 400 million voxels in size. This modified version was used to calculate the transmission radiograph of a portion of the VIP-Man with 100 million voxels . From this study, we conclude that, although there have been many improvements in computer speed and tallies in the MCNP, both the current and modified versions of the MCNP remains unable to handle the whole VIPMan model at the original voxel size of 0 .33mm x 0 .33 mm x 1 .0 mm, with 3 .7 billion voxels, which would exceed the operating system limits of 32 bit MS Windows PCs if every voxel's material was stored in memory. However, a VIP-Man with larger resolution, such as 1 mm cubic voxels, would potentially be able to run on the modified version of MCNPS . Key Word.s: VIP-Man, MCNP, voxel, do.rimetry


Let $G$ be a graph and $H\colon V(G)\to 2^\mathbb{N}$ a set function associated with $G$. A spanning subgraph $F$ of $G$ is called an $H$-factor if the degree of any vertex $v$ in $F$ belongs to the set $H(v)$. This paper contains two results on the existence of $H$-factors in regular graphs. First, we construct an $r$-regular graph without some given $H^*$-factor. In particular, this gives a negative answer to a problem recently posed by Akbari and Kano. Second, by using Lovasz's characterization theorem on the existence of $(g, f)$-factors, we find a sharp condition for the existence of general $H$-factors in $\{r, r+1\}$-graphs in terms of the maximum and minimum of $H$. This result reduces to Thomassen's theorem for the case that $H(v)$ consists of the same two consecutive integers for all vertices $v$ and to Tutte's theorem if the graph is regular in addition.


High Mach number flight requires that the scramjet propulsion system operate at a relatively low static inlet pressure and a high inlet temperature. These two constraints can lead to extremely high temperatures in the combustor, yielding high densities of radical species and correspondingly poor chemical combustion efficiency. As the temperature drops in the nozzle expansion, recombination of these excess radicals can produce more product species, higher heat yield, and potentially more thrust. The extent to which the chemical efficiency can be enhanced in the nozzle expansion depends directly on the rate of the radical recombination reactions. A comprehensive assessment of the important chemical processes and an experimental validation of the critical rate parameters is therefore required if accurate predictions of scramjet performance are to be obtained. This report covers the identification of critical reactions, and the critical reaction rates in hypersonic combustion chemistry. 4 refs., 2 figs.


In a hydro energy and water resource system it is desirable to optimize hydropower production with considerations of flood control, residential, agricultural and industrial water supply, navigation, environmental and ecological requirements, etc. Incorporating complicated constraints of cascaded reservoirs and government regulation on water resource usage allocation, this paper presents a long-term scheduling problem of hydro energy and water resource system based on chance-constrained programming with uncertainties of natural water inflows and water demands of different regions. The water usage regulation with uncertain natural inflow is modeled as probabilistic chance constraints. The nonlinear and noconvex hydro plant production function is converted into mixed integer formulation and a general mixed integer linear programming (MILP) method is applied to solve this complicated scheduling problem. Preliminary numerical testing results for a river basin with cascaded reservoirs show that based on the problem formulation presented in the paper, the long-term scheduling is solved efficiently and accurately. Numerical testing for a more complex hydro system is being conducted.


The study describes a microdialysis system coupled with capillary electrophoresis for monitoring of cimetidine in test rabbit blood. Under the conditions of 100mM phosphate buffer, pH 2.5, applied voltage 10 kV and injection voltage 9 kV×9 s, cimetidine and ranitidine can be baseline separated. The peak area ratio of cimetidine and ranitidine vs. concentration of cimetidine was linear over the range of 8.0×10 -9 ~4.0×10 -7 g/mL with a detection limit of 5.0×10 -9 g/mL. The pharmacokinetics parameters of cimetidine were calculated utilizing the pharmacokinetics software "NDST-21". The concentration-time curve of cimetidine was in accordance with one-compartmantal open model.


Although the means of the ages of stars in young groups determined from Li depletion often agree with mean ages determined from Hertzsprung–Russell (H-R) diagram isochrones, there are often statistically significant differences in the ages of individual stars determined by the two methods. We find that inclusion of the effects of inhibition of convection due to the presence of magnetic fields leads to consistent ages for the individual stars. We illustrate how age consistency arises by applying our results to the β Pictoris moving group (BPMG). We find that, although magnetic inhibition of convection leads to increased ages from the H-R diagram isochrones for all stars, Li ages are decreased for fully convective M stars and increased for stars with radiative cores. Our consistent age determination for BPMG of 40 Myr is larger than previous determinations by a factor of about two. We have also considered models in which the mixing length ratio is adjusted to give consistent ages. We find that our magneto-convection models, which give quantitative estimates of magnetic field strength, provide a viable alternative to models in which the effects of magnetic fields (and other processes) are accounted for by reducing the mixing length ratio.


Diabetes Mellitus is a disease characterized by hyperglycemia or the glucose in the blood increased or beyond ordinary. The national prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus in Indonesia is 6,9%. Patients with Diabetes Mellitus can be given antidiabetic drugs such as sulfonylurea and glinid. The antidiabetic drug can be consumed as a combination or single. This study aims to determine whether there is a significant efficacy comparison between antidiabetic combination therapy and single antidiabetic therapy. This study is a retrospective casual research by looking at the medical record. From 30 patients, 15 patients using oral antidiabetic combination therapy and 15 patients using oral antidiabetic single therapy, there were mean differences on the first day where patients using oral antidiabetic single therapy mean 228,47 and patients using oral antidiabetic combination therapy mean 294,07. There is no significant difference between single antidiabetic therapy or antidiabetic combination therapy from the statistic test.
Keywords: Diabetes, Antidiabetic effectiveness


A report on environmental research conducted under the Australian Network for Plant Conservation (ANPC) in the USA is presented. The author's investigation onto partner choice in mycorrhizal symbioses of the terrestrial orchid genus 'Platanthera' is described. In other news, an interdisciplinary team of scientists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center has received a grant of US$5 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to investigate factors affecting the bay and the impact on native plants and animals.


The design and performance of a high gain, monolithic, broadband amplifier with extremely low power consumption are described. The amplifier, fabricated using a 0.5 ¿m GaAs depletion-mode MESFET process, utilizes very small gate width devices to achieve a measured gain of 19 dB and a 0.1 to 2.1 GHz bandwidth with only 63 mW DC power dissipation. This is the lowest power consumption broadband MMIC reported to date and is intended for mobile radio applications.


Various laryngoscopes are currently available for supraglottic, glottic, and cervical esophageal exposure, yet none allow for adjustable articulation of the laryngoscope distal tip. We sought to create a new laryngoscope to improve anatomic field of view exposure.


Too often the department of Computer Science's service course is limited to either the major course itself or some course about computer science. While the former is usually much too demanding for nonmajors, the latter never fully allows the student to design, debug and actually run the solution to a complex problem on a computer. We propose a course which includes the use of a friendly but nontrivial programming language (Logo) coupled to a problem set which demonstrates the efficacy of top-down design as a problem solving technique.
The paper describes a four-part curriculum unit based on an "Alphabet" programming project. In this Alphabet Project, student groups design and implement an alphabet of letters that are to be drawn on the screen via Turtle Graphics in Logo. The end result of the project is to make the Turtle trace out variable-sized letters on the screen as the associated keys on the keyboard are pressed. While the instructor supplies the driver program, the students work together to determine a reasonable set of "core shapes" which can be used to assemble each letter of the alphabet. Throughout the four parts of the project design is constrained by assigning "costs" to the memory space and execution time associated with the procedures which draw the core shapes and the letters. Some lively discussions develop around the ideas of primitives and parsimony that are surprisingly similar to those in an upper-level computer science class in programming language design.


Search of new materials in industry remains relevant today. Recently intensively production and application of the elastomers capable to big reversible deformations develops. Rather new elastomer syndiotactic 1,2-polybutadiene (1,2-SPB) is among such polymers. The elastomer is perspective for use in various areas of equipment requiring a good combination of plastic and as an additive in polymer materials.This paper presents the results of study of the elastomer (1,2-SPB) which was first obtained by Japanese scientists G. Natta and Corradini. Corporation JapanSyntheticRubber (JSR) (Japan) obtains 1,2-SPB with content of 90% 1,2-bonds and low degree of crystallinity (15-30%). In Russia, where getting of 1,2-SPB mastered relatively recently, developed experimental batches of polymer with a content of 1,2-bonds more than 85% and crystallinity 20-50%. Really this elastomer represents composition of nanocrystals and an amorphous phase. New method in studying of structure of an elastomer is atomic force microscopy (AFM) which has extreme resolution in all three directions. Resolution of microscopes are share of nanometers that allows to observe atoms. AFM is a widely used instrument for research in various fields of science. By means of atomic force microscopy image of deformed elastomer 1,2-SPB surface was taken, which allows to analyze structure many different hard materials - polymers, glasses, ceramics, plastics, metals, semiconductors. The basic chemical and physical properties, the structure of syndiotactic 1,2-polybutadiene was observed. The conditions of formation of spatially ordered lamellar structure at deformation of syndiotactic 1,2-polybutadiene are discussed.


Although the current knowledge of microbial life is vast, there still exist a practically uncountable number of bacteria, fungi and other microbes that have yet to be identified and categorized. Part of this deficiency is due to current methods for culturing bacterial colonies, most commonly, the petri dish. In this setting, where all different species of bacteria are placed together, competition arises and the slower growing, less adaptive bacteria that may even be prey to other, larger, bacteria die out and are never identified. This research presents a new method for the capturing and culturing of different bacteria from an environmental sample that may enable colony growth and observation of low-abundance species by separating bacterium into different 'niches'. A microfluidic device with small hexagonal chambers was formed and used to trap free-living bacteria. The bacteria were nourished with a media derived from the original sample and observed growing in the hexagons, demonstrating that naturally-occurring bacteria can be cultured this way.


The proper functioning of the central nervous system (CNS) depends on the physiological homeostasis, which is itself maintained and regulated by two opposite forces acting independently to each other, flowing into a natural cycle and always seeking the balance. The thing is about two main amino acid neurotransmitters, glutamate and GABA, creating the opposite excitatory/inhibitory forces in the brain. Together, these two neurotransmitters constitute more than 90% of all neurotransmission, leaving less than 10% for the others. Therefore, to all the possibilities their mutual interaction determinates the proper functioning of the CNS. In Fig. 1, the schematic balance is presented, which mirrors the physiological equilibrium between GABA (represented by the white dots) and glutamate (represented as the black dots).


The article introduces the construction of supply chain operations reference model,and the difference with other models,and the role in supply chain management.


Responsible learning and teaching are in a correlation with the development of critical thinking, which starts with presenting the problem and ends with presenting arguments. Through the implementation of contemporary teaching strategies, critical thinking is being developed with the tendency of expanding the consciousness of a competent individual in a constantly changing environment of socially distributed knowledge and programmed truths. In a time when information is a powerful "weapon", and the entirety of public knowledge represents a means of controlling and monitoring, only an individual inclined to critical thinking is the answer to the manipulative challenges of media content. Therefore, educational tendencies for the development of critical thinking have ceased to be a mere means, but have rather become the necessity, purpose, and goal of education and teaching. An individual that has developed critical (self)-consciousness is able to consume the media selectively and thus distinguish the mediated reality. The research paper is based on the assumption that critical thinking is the absolute goal of the teaching process, a departure from factual and dogmatic knowledge that does not prepare an individual for living in the world of scattered and fragmented truth. Therefore, the research paper observes critical thinking primarily from the position of contemporary pedagogical theory and practice.


This paper reviews current activities at the Montanuniversität Leoben on the hierarchical design of flaw‐tolerant brittle materials in the fields of layered ceramics, hard coatings, fibre reinforced laminates, and biomimetic functional systems. Different examples of reinforcement mechanisms are presented acting at different length scales. Novel strategies are analyzed that make use of tailored residual stresses, textured microstructures, compositional heterogeneity and spatial variations in properties, fiber arrangement and laminate stacking, or functionalization of hierarchical materials from brittle constituents. Potential implications of hierarchical structures combining different materials science approaches for future engineering designs are discussed.


In this article, we propose a grid rotation method for glove sizing to accommodate a greater fraction of the population with a given number of sizes. The method is based on the optimization of two geometric variables, the rotation degree and the number of grid points. Instead of applying a traditional tabulation method to the original samples, we apply the tabulation after rotating the sample points by a certain degree to improve coverage. We further optimize the grid points for the same purpose. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. For the glove sizing system developed by the proposed grid rotation method, the coverage rate is increased by 2.3% compared to previous work for the same number of glove sizes.


Mathematics presents many accessibility challenges that other disciplines may not have to deal with. Portland Community College (PCC) is dedicated to making education accessible to all and funded two full-time mathematics faculty members to investigate these challenges. This report summarizes the process and the findings, including best practices. The main conclusion is that there is no 'one-size-fits-all' answer. Every student's needs must be addressed individually; however, there are some common practices that can help to support a wide range of students. This is not surprising considering the diverse student population that PCC encompasses.


Is it...possible...to slow down...population growth in Africa? The paper will first try to describe the facts [focusing on the] African population situation compared to the rest of the world....Then we will try to show why the trends of growth may be sustained in Africa for a certain length of time and thirdly why the trends of growth may not be sustained. (EXCERPT)


Business plan A plan commonly intermediate between a company's strategic plan and its annual marketing plan. The purpose of the business plan is to establish the broad business objectives and strategies to be pursued by the business unit or centre over a time period of as many as five years. In this respect, business plans are similar to strategic plans which concern themselves with equally long time-frames. Business plans are like strategic plans in one other respect: usually they deal with such strategic considerations as new product development, product acquisition, and new market development to achieve desired financial goals. Business plans also require extensive marketing input for their formulation and, in this respect, they share characteristics in common with marketing plans. However, business plans generally do not include action programmes – a feature typical of marketing plans – but simply spell out intentions and directions. For example, if new product development was among the strategies to be pursued, this would be stated alongwith appropriate supporting rationale.However, the statement of this strategy would not be accompanied by a new product development plan.


Objective The regeneration of periodontal bone tissue is a major obstacle in tissue engineering. We have recently designed a compound nanofiber scaffold for the tissue repair of periodontal bone, which was composed of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and calcium alginate (CA). The obtained improvements in both physical properties and biological effects on periodontal tissue were systematically evaluated and discussed. Method Neat PLA and PLA/CA nanofiber scaffolds were prepared by electrospinning technology. Scanning electron microscopy was applied for the observation of surface morphology. Their mechanical properties were evaluated in terms of elongation at break and elastic modulus. Hydrophilic/hydrophobic nature of the nanofibers was investigated by a stereomicroscope, and their vitro degradation was tested as well. Cell proliferation and adhesion were detected in order to evaluate the biocompatibility of nanofiber scaffolds. Expression of cell mineralization gene and formation of mineralization knots were examined so as to assess scaffolds' capability of regenerating bone tissues. The expression of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), IL-6, IL-8, and IL-1β was utilized to decide the possibility of tissue inflammation caused by the nanofibers with the assistance of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay. Results The obtained nanofibers possessed uniform surface morphology. The elongation at break and elastic modulus of PLA/CA nanofiber scaffolds were higher than those of neat PLA. CA could enhance the hydrophilicity of PLA fibers; in the meantime, it promoted cell adhesion of periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs) and bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs). Addition of CA had raised the expression level of cell mineralization gene and the formation of mineralization knots (BMSCs). On the other hand, both neat PLA fibers and PLA/CA fibers could induce higher expression level of inflammatory mediators and TLR4 of human periodontal ligament cells (hPDLCs). Conclusions The introduction of CA enhanced the mechanical properties of neat PLA nanofibers and increased its hydrophilicity. Neat PLA nanofibers and PLA/CA scaffold could both facilitate BMSCs proliferation, while the addition of CA promoted BMSCs osteogenic differentiation. The improved (or enhanced) expression of inflammatory mediators caused by nanofibers might be regulated via TLR4 pathway.


A procedure is presented for determining the controllability indices and the observability indices of a linear, time-invariant, strictly proper, controllable and observable system from the truncated Hankel matrix.


Abstract The aqueous syntheses of the hydroxy and halo apatites of calcium, strontium, barium, lead, and cadmium were explored. Because these cations represent the main group s‐ and p‐fillers and a transition metal, they present different synthetic challenges. The alkaline earth cations and lead form hydrogen phosphates at slightly acidic and slightly basic conditions, the alkaline earths form the fluorides (MF2) in the preparation of the fluoroapatites with excess fluoride, and ammonia is required for the preparation of the cadmium apatites through decomplexation. A variety of reagents were utilized with most of the derivatives, but, in general, the source of the cation was its nitrate or halide, and the phosphate is best provided as ammonium hydrogen phosphate. The requirements for pH, heating, and reaction time were also explored. A number of literature syntheses for pure phase apatites could not be reproduced: calcium iodoapatite, strontium fluoroapatite, and cadmium hydroxyapatite. Several apatites were prepared for the first time in aqueous solution: barium fluoroapatite, lead bromoapatite, and cadmium chloroapatite. The relative ease of formation of the compounds is rationalized with arguments based upon lattice and hydration energies.


When stepping onto the bridge of a modern ship, yacht, or well-equipped boat, there are in all likelihood a number of advanced communications and navigation equipment to be found there, for which the Radio Technical Commission for Maritime Services (RTCM) standards are largely responsible. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission and U.S. Coast Guard use RTCM standards to specify radar systems, emergency position-indicating radio beacons, and the basic version of digital selective calling radios for commercial vessels and recreational boats. Also, personal locator beacons used on land or sea in the U.S. are required to meet an RTCM standard. This article provides an overview of RTCM standards and their application, used internationally for differential global navigation satellite systems and electronic chart systems.


The effects of sulfur content of diesel fuel on oxidation catalyst were investigated using from 0.2 weight % to 0.05 weight % sulfur content fuel on engine dynamometer and the characteristics of the emission reduction were tested using the prepared catalyst at various operating conditions such as T-6 mode with and without Pt/V and Pt catalysts in the exhaust system.
In addition. the prepared catalytic converter was installed to a heavy-duty diesel engine and light-duty diesel vehicle. Then the emission reduction performance of Pt/V and Pt catalyst was also compared with each regulation test mode such as D-13 CVS-75 mode
The emission reduction performance of Pt catalyst with respect to CO, HC, SOF and aldehyde was found to be a little bit higher than that of Pt/V catalyst, but Pt catalyst showed the innate disadvantage of causing the increase of PM due to the sulfate formation via high SO₂ conversion at high exhaust temperature especially above 500℃ in heavy-duty diesel engine.
In the D-13 mode, PM reduction efficiency of Pt catalyst equipped heavy-duty diesel engine is lower than that of Pt/V catalyst caused by increasing sulfate in the high exhaust temperature but in the CVS-75 mode. Pt catalyst equipped light-duty vehicle showed higher PM reduction efficiency than that of Pt/V catalyst.


To summarise the available evidence regarding the effectiveness of commercially available wearable devices and smart phone applications for increasing physical activity levels for people with stroke.


In order to investigate the longitudinal dynamic performance of heavy haul train,a combined simulation system of air braking and longitudinal dynamics is developed.The system consists of system parameter input,dynamic adjustment control handle and per-formance parameter real-time display.The train braking,releasing,control of velocity,driving simulator and analysis of performance parameter are implemented.The system is developed with Fortran and Windows programming language.Reasonable driving method can be determined in a complex line by simulation system.An effective visual drawing tool is presented for the analysis and assessment of dynamic performance of loaded train.It is used well in project.


The standardization of the measurements plays a major role in this work, especially since one of its principal results is that actual emissions appear to be very significantly less than has been estimated from "bottom-up" methods (e.g. by EDGAR). Yet there is no discussion of this in the main paper – not even a calibration uncertainty estimate appears there. It appears only in the Supplemental Information, but because of the importance of the absolute values to the conclusions, I believe that a brief summary of calibration and calibration uncertainty (15%) belongs in the main paper. The cali-


Globalization causes multinational entrepreneurs to move their business locations across geographical boundaries. The Multinational Entrepreneurs running businesses across geographic boundaries are called Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). One factor that determines the success of FDI is the accurate choice of investment location. Currently, Climate Change plays a significant role in business decisions. Aim: This study aimed to assess the selection of investment locations using the demand-side analysis and environmental policies approach. Methodology and results: The sample was the Electronic and Automotive industry located in the JABABEKA Industrial Estate, Jakarta, Indonesia. The primary data were collected from the respondents' perceptions and processed using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) method. The SEM-PLS results showed that the path coefficient of the relationship between Environmental Regulations and the Investment Locations Choice was 0.314. Therefore, Environmental Regulation significantly affected Investment Locations Choice. Furthermore, the path coefficient of the relationship between Environmental Litigation and the Investment Locations Choice was 0.113, with a P-value > 0.05. This means that Environmental Litigation insignificantly affects the Investment Locations Choice. Conclusion, significance, and impact: Environmental regulations and litigation affect the location selection by investors. Therefore, urban planners should formulate policies for providing better waste and air pollution treatment facilities in each industrial area to increase the attractiveness of Indonesia as a Host Country.


The paper introduced the principle and application status of the vitual real technology. Base on the theoretical research of the mine gas explosion and the features of the mine gas explosion, the paper discussed the feasibility, method and access of the mine gas explosion modeling with the vitual real technology. Also the paper provided the cases of the mine gas explosion modeling with the vitual real technology.


The ionization potential of 86Kr I is 112 925 IO cm-'. From possible series perturbations, the two 5s, the four 5p and four 4f levels belonging to the parentage 4s 4p6 are calculated.


We are concerned with the problems of stability and stabilization for stochastic Markovian jump systems subject to partially unknown transition probabilities and multiplicative noise, including the continuous- and discrete-time cases. Sufficient conditions guaranteeing systems considered to be asymptotically stable in the mean square are presented in the form of LMIs. Furthermore, the desired state feedback controllers are designed. It is shown that, by introducing the free-weighing matrix method, the results we have obtained not only are less conservative than the existing ones but also can be regarded as extensions of the corresponding results of Markovian jump systems without noise. Numerical examples are finally provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results.


The reducing properties of photographic gelatins have been determined and compared by potential titration. The magnitude of the reducing property of different kinds of gelatins can be arranged in the following sequence: active semi-active inert deionized. The inert gelatins of the same kind have been shown to be different in their reducing property. This difference can be attributed to the different kind and amount of reducing agents contained in gelatin, depending on the processing technology of gelatin manufacture and post-treatment. The results of reducing property in present paper can be used to explain, in part, the difference of various gelatins in their photographic property.


The national key technology selection and appraisement is the important problem in our country. But the technological powers place strict technology export restrictions to China with various reasons, and effect our country's national key technology selection. For a long time, the national key technology selection is primarily based on experts' collective decision-making, and has little systematic consideration of technology restriction in China. The paper took the technology export restrictions as one of the most important factors of national key technology selection, and did tentative studies in theory and model. Then this paper put the national key technology selection model into our country's practice.


In this paper, the author shows the practical and measurable improvements in the service of electric utility customers achieved through the application of the total quality management initiated at his departmental level. In response to consumers' needs the department reorganises itself, simplifies procedures and forms, offers needed training to its personnel and cooperates with others to find ways to overcome problems beyond its sphere of influence. All this is carried out while the department is performing its daily routine work which, as a result of the new thought, is marked by continuous improvements in its performance indicators.<<ETX>>


AbstractThis paper presents the results of a series of dynamic centrifuge tests that were conducted for 2×2 pile groups in a three-layer laterally spreading soil profile consisting of a nonliquefiable cohesive crust overlying loose, liquefiable sand, overlying dense sand. Two main variables are considered, both of which received little attention in previous work on piles in laterally spreading soils, namely (1) the axial load carried by the foundation, and (2) whether the slope boundary conditions are infinite or finite. The data show that the presence of axial load reduces the lateral stiffness of the foundation resulting from P-Δ effects and reduces their capacity to resist lateral kinematic loads from spreading soil. This degradation in lateral response (bending) may be accompanied by substantial settlement of the foundation as a competing failure mode that must also be considered in design. Furthermore, the mechanical response of the liquefied soil appears to vary greatly with the slope boundary condi...


Abstract : Briefly reviewed is research concerned in the demonstration that ions can be produced in the electronically excited rather than in the ground state in electrode reactions. Electroluminescence has been observed in all of the three cations (Th(3+), Eu(3+), and Nd(3+) that have been tried so far. Upon passage of current between electrodes immersed in aprotic solvent solutions of the ions, the terbium-containing solutions emit green light, europium containing solutions emit red, and neodymium containing solutions, infrared. The observed electroluminescence suggests that ions with relatively low-lying excited states are readily produced in the excited state in electrode reactions. The new liquid electroluminescent systems are solutions of rare-earth ions in phosphorus oxychloride acidified with a Lewis acid zirconium tetrachloride. A solution was prepared by adding Tb(CF3COO)3 (or another rare-earth trifluoroacetate) to a solution of zirconium tetrachloride in phosphorus oxychloride. A reaction takes place in which CF3COOl is liberated and the Nd(+3) remains in solution. (Author)


This study highlights the concerning high project failure rate even when the best software development methodologies and project management methods are used. Information technology systems are classified as some of the most complex artefacts that mankind produces [2]. This study aims to (1) identify a mechanism that can be used to measure software complexity; (2) analyse the correlation between complexity and the high project failure rates; and (3) conclude with a mechanism that can be used to reduce complexity. In-depth mixed method case studies were conducted. Quantitative data will be collected through a tool by measuring the system complexity. Qualitative data will be collected through interviews. The results indicate that there is a correlation between project failure and high system complexity measurements. This research proposes guidelines on how to reduce system complexity in order to increase the chances of successful project delivery.


Data visualization plays a crucial role in gaining insights from high-dimensional datasets. ISOMAP is a popular algorithm that maps high-dimensional data into a lower-dimensional space while preserving the underlying geometric structure. However, ISOMAP can be computationally expensive, especially for large datasets, due to the computation of the pairwise distances between data points. The motivation behind this study is to improve efficiency by leveraging an approximate method, which is based on random kitchen sinks (RKS). This approach provides a faster way to compute the kernel matrix. Using RKS significantly reduces the computational complexity of ISOMAP while still obtaining a meaningful low-dimensional representation of the data. We compare the performance of the approximate ISOMAP approach using RKS with the traditional t-SNE algorithm. The comparison involves computing the distance matrix using the original high-dimensional data and the low-dimensional data computed from both t-SNE and ISOMAP. The quality of the low-dimensional embeddings is measured using several metrics, including mean squared error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE), and explained variance score (EVS). Additionally, the runtime of each algorithm is recorded to assess its computational efficiency. The comparison is conducted on a set of protein sequences, used in many bioinformatics tasks. We use three different embedding methods based on k-mers, minimizers, and position weight matrix (PWM) to capture various aspects of the underlying structure and the relationships between the protein sequences. By comparing different embeddings and by evaluating the effectiveness of the approximate ISOMAP approach using RKS and comparing it against t-SNE, we provide insights on the efficacy of our proposed approach. Our goal is to retain the quality of the low-dimensional embeddings while improving the computational performance.


Human primary immunodeficiency caused by a point mutation in the 39 untranslated region of the endosomal adaptor protein p14 (also known as Lamtor2) resulted in severely impaired function of neutrophils, B cells, T cells and melanocytes. However, complexity of the phenotype and scarcity of human material preclude in-depth studies. Therefore, to gain insight into the role of p14 in B cell development and function, we generated loxP conditional knock-out mice. Using mb-1-Cre mice we demonstrated that loss of p14 at the preB1 stage lead to a complete block of B cell development, resulting in the absence of IgM-positive B cells. Further, to test the significance of p14 deficiency in peripheral organs, we took advantage of CD19-Cre mice, which have limited efficiency in deleting target genes in the bone marrow, but reach up to 95% efficiency in spleen. Thus, we could demonstrate that later in B cell development, p14 was essential for the generation and activation of mature B lymphocytes. While B1 cell development was maintained, splenic follicular B cells were massively reduced in the absence of p14. Furthermore, activation of B cell receptor (BCR) resulted in impaired intracellular signalling and proliferation of p14 deficient B cells. In particular, lack of p14 lead to delayed internalization of BCR and endosomal processing associated with impaired mobilization of Ca++ from intracellular stores as well as aberrant phosphorylation of BCR-associated kinases. In conclusion, our data revealed that p14 is a critical regulator of B cell development and function, which acts by modulating BCR signalling. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


High School Seniors' Knowledge about College and the Acquisition of College-Readiness Skills by Karen Franklin McSherry MA, Webster University, 1995 BA, Rutgers University, 1979 Doctoral Study Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Walden University August 2016


Today we can see many people cutting down the trees in the forests. A lot of rich land has become deserts. If we read newspapers, we'll learn that the forests on the earth are getting smaller and smaller all the time. We are cutting down large numbers of trees because we need wood and farmland. Some scientists say that there will not be any great forests in 20 or 30 years.


In order to approach the subject of equality in Indian law, I reviewed Judge Betty Fletcher's numerous Indian law opinions. It has been a privilege to serve as a colleague of Judge Fletcher for nearly thirty years on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit during which time Judge Fletcher has served as the conscience of our court. In examining her opinions I looked for ringing phrases, calling Indian supporters to the figurative barricades, but found none. All of the opinions I read were careful, technically fine-tuned, and seemed to spring sensibly from the precedent they discussed. I have to say that Judge Fletcher is the least self-indulgent judge I have ever read. She seems to think that it is not her place to fill an opinion with her hopes and fears, delirium, or angst. What restraint! What I cannot figure out is how she can make the law come out with such consistently good results. If you ask someone on the street what he or she thinks of the status of Indians, the answer (if it is a non-Indian) is likely to be: Why are Indians treated any differently from anyone else? The answer, of course, is history. In numerous treaties or other agreements, Indians yielded much of their territory to those of us who now occupy it, reserving small portions to themselves and their tribes - hence the term "reservations." These were government-to-government arrangements, and nothing is more important to the contemporary tribal Indian than recognition of this point, and an honoring of tribal government at least equally with, say, state government. That is the equality upon which the tribes insist. And when we recognize a government in our midst, we cannot treat its constituents exactly as we treat ourselves. This brings me to Judge Fletcher's opinion in Nevada v. HicL·.1 This decision was reversed by the Supreme Court.2 It happens to the best of us. In fact, it seems to happen to the best of us more than anyone else. In Hicks, state officers suspected that a tribal member who lived on trust land on a Nevada reservation had violated game laws offreservation by taking some mountain sheep. They went to state court for a search warrant. The warrant they received noted that the state court's writ did not run into Indian country, and that the officers would need to get the approval of the tribal court for a search. The officers did, and the tribal court narrowed the scope of the search somewhat. The state officers, accompanied by tribal officers, performed the search and confiscated one mounted sheep head. The sheep was soon determined not to have been a protected variety, and the trophy head was returned. The suspicions continued, however, and about a year later the officers obtained another search warrant, with the same caveat. They went to tribal court and got approval for a search, which, like the previous one, was conducted with tribal officers, and one or more additional trophy heads were removed. They, too, were found not to be illegal and were returned. Later, Hicks sued the officers in tribal court for exceeding the scope of the search and for damage to the trophies. The state officers came to federal court to challenge the tribal court's jurisdiction. The district court determined that the tribal court had jurisdiction. The state appealed, and the opinion fell to Judge Fletcher. The legal context at the time was framed by a series of Supreme Court decisions, starting with Montana v. United States? that had increasingly restricted the authority of tribes and tribal courts over nonIndians. Judge Fletcher carefully pointed out why none of the Supreme Court's restrictions on tribal authority applied to this case. It was a civil case. The claim arose on trust land, owned and controlled by the tribe. The tribe had not ceded any of its jurisdiction by authorizing occasional searches by state officers. "The Tribe's unfettered power to exclude state officers from its land implies its authority to regulate the behavior of non-members on that land. …


Big data based on text massages in SNS(Social Network Services) play important roles in analyzing public opinion because they the contain various opinions of society"s members. In order to collect and analyze the Big data effectively, it is necessary to understand the differences between characteristics for each types of the SNS. In this paper, being based on construal level theory, we studied the differences between characteristics for each types of the SNS. The types of SNS is divided into opened SNS and closed SNS. The types in the characteristics of SNS is divided into desirability and feasibility. We carried out experiment through surveying questionnaire reflecting the divisions. As a result, we observed, first, that in opened SNS, the desirability would be higher than feasibility. This shows that users in the opened SNS attach greater importance to the information exchange and the participation in society than to interest and pleasure. Second, we observed that in closed SNS, the feasibility would be higher than desirability. This show that users in the closed SNS attach greater importance to interest and pleasure than to the information exchange and the participation in society.


This paper presents NCDOT's general guidance and practice of degradable rock use in highway embankment construction and case studies of four highway projects in which degradable rock related embankment and/or pavement failures occurred. Despite potential construction and maintenance problems, degradable rocks have been used in many highway construction projects located in the Deep River Triassic Basin geologic province of North Carolina to reduce earthwork cost, and this practice will continue. It has been noted in recent years that degradable rock related embankment and/or pavement failures have occurred more frequently than previous years. Rainfall pattern change, improper quality control/assurance, more construction activities, and scarcer material resources are possible reasons for this observation, though no definite answer can be given. Even with a substantial amount of failure investigation work, negative effects of degradable rock on the performance of embankment and pavement are sometimes difficult to evaluate or quantify because many other factors could contribute to the failures. NCDOT's handling of degradable rock in highway projects has been generally successful with some exceptions; however, the current practice needs to be improved to reduce such failures. Suggested improvements in the NCDOT's current practice are discussed.


Background: The seeds of cumin (Cuminum cyminum L.) are widely used as the spice for their distinctive aroma, they are also commonly used in traditional medicine to treat a variety of diseases. Methods: The present study aimed to evaluate the antioxidant activities of cumin extracts and their antimicrobial effects against six oral pathogens isolated from dental caries and supragingival plaque. The extracts were obtained by maceration with acetone, ethanol and methanol at 70% (v/v). Result: The greatest content of polyphenols, flavonoids and tannins, was obtained with acetone (42±3.46 mg GAE/g DW), (24.49±1.24 mg EQ/g DW) and (34.95±8.71 mg EC/g DW) respectively. HPLC analysis performed to determine acetonic extract components revealed the presence of p-coumaric acid, diosmin as the most abundant compounds and several apigenins. Antioxidant activity of cumin extracts showed the greatest activity with the acetonic extract (940±42 µg/mL) followed very closely by the ethanolic extract (960±50 µg/mL). The agar well diffusion method has shown that all the extracts have an antimicrobial power against all the Gram+strains. The minimum inhibitory concentration values recorded by the studied extracts vary from 12.5 to 200 mg/mL. These findings suggest that cumin seed extracts might be effective as antibacterial agent against oral pathogens.


On the basis of introduction to practical teaching of bachelor of nursing in The Thai Red Cross College of Nursing,this paper proposed that nursing schools in our country should explore a practical teaching mode suiting for both a school's conditions and students' development according to reality,i.e.changing teachers' teaching concept,implemeting practical training in simulated hospital and increasing or optimizing clinical probation and instruct clinical practice under the cooperation of staff from schools and hospitals.


ABSTRACT Although the Theory of Constraints (TOC) is a widely known management concept, it warrants further research, particularly in terms of its application. The study investigates TOC implementation in a medium-scale manufacturing system with diverse products. The instrumental case study methodology is employed in this study, and the conceptual studies assess the case. The study helps to elucidate the methodology of TOC implementation in a manufacturing system. Instead of the five-step sequential approach that exploits constraints one after another, the cycles of system productivity target points are proposed, where each improvement cycle simultaneously considers several constraints. The proposed methodology is visualised, several implications and suggestions for constraint identification are provided, and a new method of bottleneck identification is elaborated in this study.


This research work aims to characterize and model the failure initiation in bainite‐aided dual‐phase (DP) steel. Combined electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) measurements were applied to quantify the constituents (ferrite, martensite, and bainite) in the microstructure. Mini tensile test with digital image correlation (DIC) analysis was carried out and linked to local scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis to identify macroscopic failure initiation strain values. SEM measurements showed that the crack initiation occurs in martensite islands. A microstructure‐based approach by means of representative volume elements (RVE) modeling combined with extended finite element method (XFEM) was utilized to model martensite cracking on mesoscale. The identified parameters were validated by comparing the predictions with the experimental results.


As part of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) Reactor Conversion program, the fuel assembly at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) is undergoing a significant redesign. The proposed fuel structure is based on low-enriched uranium foils. The proposed aluminum-clad LEU foil fuel plates for the MURR core are significantly thinner than the currently used fuel plates. Further, the monolithic structure of the proposed fuel is fundamentally different than the current design based on powder metallurgy. Consequently, coolant flow reduction due to flow induced deformation of the proposed fuel plates is of concern. The goal of the current analysis is to estimate the amount of flow induced deformation of the proposed LEU-based fuel plates when subjected to coolant flow imbalance due to fuel plate assembly tolerances. Previous methods for assessing fuel plate deflection have relied heavily on analytic and experimental techniques. With the continued advancement of computational codes, new options are now available to assess structural stability. The current approach is to explicitly couple a commercial CFD code with a commercial FEM code. This paper will describe the convergence and stability criteria that were developed to obtain an accurate deflection solution. Time step management and pressure ramping strategies were effectively used as relaxation parameters to improve the computational stability. Additionally, mesh quality criterion were developed and are enforced during a simulation. Benchmarking of the numeric results to analytic calculations is also presented.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


A model for the demonstration of ion deflection by the action of a magnet that is occurring inside of a tube of a mass spectrometer.


One pot neat, solvent free green protocol  of 1,5‐benzothiazepines is  reported here.1,3‐substituted‐prop‐2‐en‐1‐one 2a were synthesized  by microwave –assisted Claisen‐Schmidt condensation of acetylated α‐naphthol with aldehydes in presence of alkali and ethanol. Synthesis of  2,3‐dihydro‐2‐substituted‐4‐ (naphthalen‐2'‐ol)‐yl ‐1,5‐benzothiazepines 3a was carried out by cyclo condensation of 1,3‐substituted ‐ prop‐2‐en‐1‐one 2a w ith 2‐aminothiophenol in presence of ecofriendly catalyst zinc acetate in the solvent free condition under microwave irradiation. The structures of newly synthesized compounds were confirmed by spectral evidence and the compounds were evaluated for their anticonvulsant and CNS depressant activity. The compounds have shown excellent results.


Offering a detailed summary of available modeling methods, both "top-down" and "bottom-up", this book offers systematic coverage of the use of modeling in the development and application of inorganic nano-materials in industry ...


A ecosystem model was applied for understanding of circulation process of state variables in marine ecosystem. A mass balance was conducted by calculating the physical process. The sensitivity analysis was conducted to know which coefficient is the most effective factor to the state variables in the model. The results of the mass balance indicate that the primary production was 58.6 ton C/day in the case of mass flux. DIN and DIP in nutrient ingestion of phytoplankton were each 7.9 ton N/day, 1.1 ton P/day. POC and DOC in mineralization of organic matter were each 10.8 ton C/day, 40.6 ton C/day. The results of sensitivity analysis showed that the maximum growth rate of phytoplankton was the most important factor for overall state variables. In the case of nutrients, Half saturation constant of DIN, and mineralization rate of DOM for COD were important factor.


Background. Adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs) are a promising source for the regeneration of bone tissue injuries. At the same time, three-dimensional cultures provide spatial organization of stem cells for optimal intercellular signaling, contact interaction and increase the efficiency of directed osteogenic differentiation prior to further transplantation.
The aim of the study was to establish the regenerative potential of mouse adipose-derived stem cells in micromass grafts differentiated into the osteogenic direction to restore the bone injury in mice.
Methods. Three-dimensional micromass cultures of murine ADSCs with further differentiation into osteogenic direction were obtained. The migration potential of cells from micromass in vitro and the effectiveness of differentiation by staining for alkaline phosphatase were evaluated. Mice with the model of femoral bone injury were transplanted with ADSCs micromass grafts and 21 days later the lesion site was examined by histological and morphometric methods.
Results. The protocols for the cultivation and directed osteogenic differentiation of ADSCs in the three-dimensional micromass culture have been developed. Alkaline phosphatase production was demonstrated in cells that migrated from micromass, confirming the effectiveness of differentiation. In macroscopic examination 21 days after graft transplantation, the defect sites in femur were filled with dense tissue, while in control bones without the use of transplants, the size of the defect by 80 ± 6 % corresponded to the initial diameter and depth of injury. Histological examination of femoral bone lesions in the area of transplantation of micromass grafts revealed the formation of granulation tissue followed by the replacement of defects with newly formed bone tissue with thickening of periosteum and compact bone substance, similar to callus in fracture regeneration. In animals that underwent transplantation of micromass without prior osteogenic differentiation, the diameter of the zone of active regeneration of the diaphysis at the site of injury was 1.3 ± 0.2 mm while in the group with transplantation of directed differentiated graft it was significantly lower (0.37 ± 0.12 mm, p ≤ 0.05).
Conclusions. Three-dimensional grafts of adipose-derived multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells cultured in micromass are able to improve bone tissue regeneration in a model of bone injury in mice. In this case, the grafts differentiated into osteogenic direction, provide better morphological indicators of bone recovery, compared with the micromass without prior differentiation.


Dan Geer is the CISO for In-Q-Tel and a security researcher with a quantitative bent. He has a long history with the USENIX Association, including officer positions, program committees, etc. email@example.com Michael Roytman is responsible for building out Risk I/O's predictive analytics functionality. He formerly worked in fraud detection in the finance industry, and holds an MS in operations research from Georgia Tech. In his spare time he tinkers with everything from bikes to speakers to cars, and works on his pet project: outfitting food trucks with GPS. It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts. P unchline: Using CVSS to steer remediation is nuts, ineffective, deeply diseconomic, and knee jerk; given the availability of data it is also passé, which we will now demonstrate. Vulnerability data is often used to describe the vulnerabilities themselves. This is not actually interesting—it's like using footprints to describe bear paws. Sure, a black bear has different ones from a polar bear. .. but a more interesting fact is what kind of fur they have. Strategies for vulnerability remediation often rely on true, but irrelevant, facts. The problem begins with how vulnerabilities are defined. There are several places that define vulner-abilities, but Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE), while not the most complete, is the most universal set of definitions with which we have to work. Yet thinking of CVEs as elements on the periodic table is a grave mistake; before creating synthetic polymers (read: useful analytics) out of these elements, we need to understand the biases and sources of uncertainty in the definitions themselves. For example, take a look at this finding from a research team at Concordia University in their 2011 paper " Trend Analysis of the CVE for Software Vulnerability Management " [1]: " Our finding shows that the frequency of all vulnerabilities decreased by 28% from 2007 to 2010; also, the percentage of high severity incidents decreased for that period. Over 80% of the total vulnerabilities were exploitable by network access without authentication. " There are many such papers out there and they may be guiding organizational decision-making, but, to our point, that type of analysis misses the boat on what is being analyzed. An increase or decrease in vulnerability frequency or the enumeration of vulnerability types seen in successive time intervals can …


In order to study the three-dimensional stability problem of the saturated soft clay slope under earthquake loads, based on the three-dimensional rotation failure model, the seismic force was introduced into the calculation by the quasi-static method. The work rate of external loads and the internal energy dissipation rate of the saturated soft clay slope were calculated using the upper bound method of limit analysis, and the analytical solution of stability coefficient of saturated soft clay slopes was derived based on the fictitious power principle. By virtue of the exhaust algorithm, the optimal solution of stability coefficient of saturated soft clay slopes was obtained. The influence of the slope angle and the horizontal and vertical seismic forces on the stability coefficient of saturated soft clay slope was analyzed. The results show that the slope angle has a great influence on the stability coefficient, and the relative difference is up to 35.7%. Therefore, the stability coefficient of saturated soft clay slopes can be effectively increased by a proper slope setting. The horizontal and vertical seismic forces also have a significant influence on the stability of saturated soft clay slopes. The relative differences of the stability coefficient under horizontal and vertical seismic forces are as high as 41 and 14.7%, respectively. If they are ignored, the stability coefficient of saturated soft clay slopes will be seriously overestimated. It is suggested that the effects of horizontal and vertical seismic forces must be considered simultaneously in the seismic design of saturated soft clay slopes.


The total area of solar collectors installed in Taiwan had exceeded 2 million square meters by the end of 2010. However, there were only 98 systems in operation with area of solar collectors installed exceeding 100 square meters from 2001 to 2010. To increase industrial awareness of solar water heating technologies, a nursery greenhouse was chosen as the case study to evaluate its thermal performance throughout the months of May 2010 to April 2011. The results showed that the solar energy collected and heat loss during the night hours would affect the thermal efficiency, economic viability and attractiveness of a SWH. This study would provide useful information for all parties related to this market, manufacturers, potential users and policy-makers.


Nanotechnology finds in flagellar bacteria an uncomparable example of a very efficient and miniaturized motor. This and the complex behaviour of the bacteria colonies growth in a self‐organized way make the study of flagellar bacteria very important and appealing for possible applications. This brief paper presents an innovative point of view: instead of designing nanoscale devices the control of flagellar bacteria is an alternative solution for nanoscale problems. For these reasons in this work single bacterium motion and colonies growth have been studied by applying non‐linear methods in order to characterize their behaviour and control it. The characterization of the single bacterium motion leads to the conclusion that determinism (due to chemotaxis) is predominant with respect to random terms. This result is confirmed by the possibility of modelling the case study of colonies growth through an activation/inhibition dynamics. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


The recent books by John Shepherd and Tara Martin Lopez on the Winter of Discontent of 1978–79 provide an opportunity to examine the experience and tactics of several of its strikes and to challenge standard statistical views of its strike record. The main conclusion is to stress the continuity of the local authority and National Health Service disputes of 1979 with their antecedents from 1969 to 1973. Evidence is provided to show that previous instances of mountains of rubbish and unburied corpses did not attract much opprobrium (it is likely that earlier industrial action in the NHS was also generally tolerated). The sensationalization of events by politicians (of both hues) and by some of the media was contingent on a particular set of economic and political circumstances.


Herein Professor Sharkansky attempts to take an impressionistic concept-Daniel Elazar's well-known theory of state political cultures-and find out empirically whether there is anything to it. He finds that, with some modifications, it is an empirically useful concept, and that it makes an "additive" contribution to our store of knowledge about state politics. It is good to learn, occasionally, that traditional observation can be validated.


Genetic testing has begun to have a significant effect on society. It offers information about individual and population genetic characteristics that can improve predictions about their future health status and can offer opportunities for specific preventative actions. The paper by Deborah Wilson addressed an important issue concerning genetic information, that is, its use in the insurance market and the effect of market incentives on the demand for genetic testing (Wilson, 2006). Wilson adopted the framework of the 'persuasion game' literature to show the expected outcomes of different regimes related to the disclosure of genetic information to insurers. According to her analysis, two outcomes should concern policy makers: genetic health information searches made for public health purposes and the efficiency of the insurance market. Equity concerns were not openly addressed in her analysis. The paper is clearly written and does not require specialised expertise to be understood. However, for the sake of this short essay, I present its main arguments. The insurer and the enrolee make their decisions based on the enrolee's risk profile; the enrolee can freely decide whether to seek and disclose genetic information and the insurer can require the enrolee to disclose the same information. The regulation of disclosure establishes market rules and, consequently, incentives. Three options are investigated: voluntary disclosure (enrolees are free to disclose their tests results), mandatory disclosure (enrolees must disclose their test results) and a moratorium (tests results cannot be used in the insurance market). The theoretical model is based on a 'game' in which the two agents act according to their own interests, whereas fully anticipating the other agent's strategy. With voluntary disclosure, the enrolee decides whether to be tested and can disregard the effects of disclosure because his or her opportunities in the insurance market will not be worsened by testing. As testing is voluntary, the insurer cannot differentiate between higher-risk and untested individuals and


Following a Migdal-Kadanoff-type bond moving procedure, we derive the renormalisation-group equations for the characteristic function of the full probability distribution
of resistance (conductance) of a three-dimensional disordered system. The resulting recursion relations for the first two cumulants, K, the mean resistance and K ~ t,he meansquare deviation of resistance exhibit a mobility edge dominated by large dispersion, i.e., K $ '/ K=, 1, suggesting inadequacy of the one-parameter scaling ansatz.


The Nature and Significance of Productivity and Innovation Techniques and Rationale in the Quest for Productivity The Dynamics of Innovation Motives and Conditions for Human Productivity The Missing Factors The Quintessence of a Culture of Productivity The Productivity Culture of Japanese Society The Productivity Culture of American Society The Productivity Culture of Indian Society Productivity Culture for Rural Societies The Spiritual Option Restructuring of Behavioural Processes in Organisations Role of S-Productivity Culture in Eliminating Poverty, Unemployment, Inflation The Rationale of S-Productivity Culture and Its Cascading Effect


Transporting natural gas from production to points of consumption requires large pipeline networks. Thus, only overland or somewhat shorter undersea routes can be considered. Liquefaction of natural gas serves to overcome these obstacles, and permits transport over larger distances allowing for a more diverse application of LNG. The principal reason for transporting natural gas in liquid state is a 600-fold reduction in volume that occurs with the vapor-to-liquid phase change. Natural gas can be liquefied only under certain conditions after purification. The gas purification is needed to remove impurities such as water, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide. Light inert gases such as argon and helium are also removed, along with heavy hydrocarbons including propane, butane, and so on. Almost all natural gases contain some components which solidify when natural gas is transformed to LNG at atmospheric pressure. Some components must be removed to meet the LNG specification. It is essential to remove these impurities down to a concentration where they do not present a problem. A technology has been developed at Curtin University to sweeten gas using the Curtin Contaminant Tolerant Process (CCTP). The technology results in a compact module, commercially known as the LNG Micro Cell, which is portable and can be easily accommodated on production platforms; it is energy efficient and can process a wide variation in feed gas composition. Up to 70% carbon dioxide as a contaminant of the natural gas volume, has been successfully removed down to less than 200 PPM during laboratory trials. This paper describes the CCTP and also investigates the potential to use the module for gas sweetening post-pipeline, as a pipeline precursor to establish reticulated gas systems in regional and remote communities.


In conducting a survey in the mining industry to enhance the existing Electrical Load Management (ELM) strategies applied in this industry, it was discovered that there are significant human obstacles to the adoption of ELM technologies. These human barriers are presented as well as a proposed solution.


Kraft pulps prepared from beech chips, with 10% wood weight loss, pre-extracted with green liquor solution, hot water and dilute oxalic acid, were more effectively delignified by a double-stage oxygen system in comparison with the reference pulp from original chips. The highest delignification efficiency was demonstrated for pulps prepared from dilute oxalic acid and hot water pre-extracted chips. The bleachability of oxygen delignified kraft pulps in the sequence D0(EO)D1D2 was better in the case of the pulps from pre-extracted chips, first for those extracted with dilute oxalic acid and then for the hot water extracted ones. The consumption of ClO2 in bleaching was lower for these pulps by about 40% and 20%, respectively, while for the pulp from green liquor solution pre-extracted chips it was lower only by about 5% compared with the reference pulp. Brightness reversion of the bleached pulps from pre-extracted chips was lower in comparison with the reference pulp, which correlates with lower content of hexenuronic acids. The loss of pulp yield in oxygen delignification and bleaching was of 1.4% for the pulp from dilute oxalic acid pre-extracted chips, 1.6% for the pulp from hot water pre-extracted chips, while in the case of the pulp from green liquor pre-extracted chips it was 2.4% and for the reference pulp – 2.5%. The beatability of bleached pulps from dilute oxalic acid and hot water pre-extracted chips was much worse than that of the bleached reference pulp, but in the case of the pulp from green liquor pre-extracted chips it was only slightly lower. The tensile index and burst index of the bleached pulps prepared from dilute oxalic acid and hot water pre-extracted chips were lower, while the tear index was higher, compared with those of the reference bleached pulp.


Social network websites are widely used by adolescents, but disclosing in this environment has inherent risks, as does connecting with others online. In a sample of 256 adolescent Facebook users, the authors explore the relationship between having a negative experience, privacy knowledge, and behavior. Their reports of bad experiences on Facebook are categorized as bullying/meanness, unwanted contact, exposure/unintentional disclosure, and misunderstandings. Adolescents who report having a bad experience are more likely to protect their privacy, and this relationship is mediated by knowledge of the privacy settings. Participants who experience negative consequences are more aware of the risks of online disclosure and how to protect themselves, which results in greater information control. Implications for educating adolescents about privacy and disclosure online are discussed.


The observation technique of internal structure in structural components is necessary to elucidate the cause of the failure accident or incident. Aluminium alloys tend to initiate preferentially at special sites, such as heterogeneous inclusions which exist in the subsurface region. By conventional techniques, such as laboratory X-ray and ultrasonic imaging, the size and shape of subsurface non-metallic inclusions and cracks, those smaller then 100 μm, cannot be detected. The x-ray computed micro-tomography provides information on the internal structural features of a material by the measurements of the attenuation of an x-ray passing through the sample at different incidence angles. It has many applications in a variety of fields, such as for the identification of internal material inhomogeneities, assessment of internal defects and damage, and investigation of the microstructure-property relationships in various materials [1]. The x-ray micro-tomography is also expected to have a good perspective in fracture studies; however, a particularly high spatial resolution well suited for the investigation of crack and crack/microstructure interaction is always required. Fortunately, the current synchrotron radiation facility at DESY in Hamburg enables x-ray computed tomography with a high spatial resolution down to less then 1 μm.


The purpose of this paper is to investigate the antecedents and the consequences of the Greece debt crisis as well as highlighting the reforms capacity. The approach adopted in this paper is to answer the questions such as "what is the background of the Greece debt crisis and how it is originated?â€, "which antecedents caused the Greece vulnerable to the crisis?â€, "what are the twin constraints being faced by Greece and its consequences?â€, "which measures are taken to gain fiscal stability in the Greece under Stability and Growth Pact?†and "what are the rescue possibilities available to Greece to withstand the crisis? Is bail out the only possible solution?†These questions are used to guide the search or studies and analysis thereof and major emerging themes are presented. The key findings of the study are some main factors that triggered the crisis. These are misstated statistics by Greek government, weak co-ordination and organization, high expenditures in comparison to revenues, corruption, tax evasion, weak welfare system and inflexible employment laws. The research limitation is based on the limited scope of the study as some important question regarding the Greece debt crisis is yet to be answered and some aspects of literature are needed to be explored further. Since the main objective of this study is to explore the antecedents that caused Greece vulnerable to the crisis and its aftermaths, it also aims at explaining the fiscal stability measures under taken by Greece under Stability and Growth Pact along with explaining the bail- out alternative available to the Greece perhaps as a last resort. Moreover, this paper highlights the various steps being upheld for reforming Economic Monetary Union (EMU) governance. Thus, this study provides an opportunity to probe into the overall economic and fiscal scenario of Greece under debt crisis.


Abstract The effect of thickening of intermetallic compound layers formed at the interface and shear properties of solder joints are studied as a function of aging for lead-free solders. The modified double lap shear test method is employed to measure the shear strength and shear strain. The test specimens are Sn-3.5Ag and Sn-3.5Ag-1Zn solders and they were aged up to 2880 h at 423 K. Intermetallic compound layers at the interface between Sn-3.5Ag solders and Cu substrate grow with increasing aging time. The coarsened Cu6Sn5 intermetallic compounds lead to a deterioration of the shear properties of solder joints by changing the crack propagation path and decreasing shear strength of the solder joint. Adding 1 wt% of Zn to Sn-3.5Ag, however, suppresses Cu6Sn5 intermetallic compound growth markedly by forming a Cu–Zn–Sn layer. This Cu–Zn–Sn layer acts as a diffusion barrier between Cu6Sn5 and Sn-3.5Ag-1Zn solders during the aging treatments. Thus, Sn-3.5Ag-1Zn solders have higher shear strength and higher strain to fracture than those of Sn-3.5Ag/Cu solder joints.


The present invention provides a high yield and excellent bonding reliability of the laser flip chip bonding method, and a method of using the flip chip bonder. The flip-chip bonding comprises: bonding stage, on which rests the substrate; bond head, which picks up the semiconductor chips and the semiconductor chip is attached to a substrate; and a heating unit of the semiconductor chip, a semiconductor chip which is heated to a bonding temperature. The semiconductor chip heating unit comprising: a laser light source; and a lens assembly, which laser beam emitted by the laser light source is refracted into the top surface of the semiconductor chip, the central position of the laser beam in order to change the top surface of the semiconductor chip.


Since 1997, abortion has been legal in South Africa in the
first trimester under all circumstances. Between 13-20
weeks' gestation abortion is legal in cases of socioeconomic
hardship, rape, incest and for reasons related to
the health of the pregnant woman or fetus. Despite the
progressive law, however, access to abortion is challenging
for many women for a host of reasons including a lack of
willing providers and stigma surrounding abortion services,
providers and clients.


Several hundred TB OPS class massively parallel supercomputers new according to the present invention, system-on-as comprising a node architecture based on chip technology, each processing node includes a single ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). ASIC node 20 is in an optimal way communication packet processing capabilities while maximizing the delay may be interconnected by a number of independent network 26 to minimize. A number of networks to which may comprise three high-speed networks for the parallel algorithm message passing (parallel algorithm message passing), this is a torus network, global tree network, and a global asynchronous network that provides global barrier and notification It is included. These multiple independent networks are in accordance with the requirement or step of the algorithm may be used cooperatively or independently to optimize the algorithm processing performance.


Islamic pawnshop will be influenced by internal conditions and external conditions in determining the amount of distribution of Islamic pawn financing. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of income, number of customers, and the price of gold on the distribution of financing at PT. Islamic pawnshop in Indonesia 2011-2018. This type of research uses a quantitative inferensial research approach is research conducted by recording and analyzing and the exact results of research using statistical calculations. Example in this study is the quarterly financial statements of PT. Pegadaian Syaria in Indonesia in 2011-2018. the dependent variable of this research is the distribution of financing and independent variables include: income, number of customers, the price of gold. The results of this study indicate that the income and number of customers influences the financing of PT. Pegadaian Syaria for the year 2011-2018 with significant values of 0,000 and 0.045. the price of gold does not affect the distribution of financing to PT. Pegadaian syaria in Indonesia in 2011-2018 with a significant value of 0.257.


The original optimization of the Columbia Nonneutral Torus (CNT) considering only volume (and error field resilience) was also successful in optimizing the stored energy. To assess the general confinement properties of a device, studies of the 1/ν neoclassical transport (effective ripple ϵeff) are important. For CNT the field line tracing code NEO [1] is used to compute ϵeff. NEO is used by the code SORSSA [2, 3] for computation of the total stored energy based on neoclassical transport.


We investigate a superconducting quantum interference device based on carbon nanotubes in a fork geometry [J.-P. Cleuziou et al., Nat. Nanotechnol. 1, 53 (2006)], involving tunneling of evanescent quasiparticles through a superconductor over a distance comparable to the superconducting coherence length, with therefore "nonlocal" processes generalizing nonlocal Andreev reflection and elastic cotunneling. Nonlocal processes induce a reduction of the critical current and modify the current-phase relation. We discuss arbitrary interface transparencies. Such devices in fork geometries are candidates for probing the phase coherence of crossed Andreev reflection.


There is growing interest to study the effect of nanoparticles to break productivity barriers of agricultural and horticultural crops. But variations in the response of plants to nano-particles have been reported in the literature. The effects of nanomaterials on the plant growth and development were dependent upon the type of nanoparticles, concentration and plant species besides specific conditions of experiments (Gao et al. 2006, Hong et al. 2005, Ma et al. 2010). Nano-ZnO is being extensively used because of its ultraviolet scattering ability in cosmetics industries besides being used in semiconductors. So chances of its release in environment during industrial processing or dumping are high wherein nano-particles predominantly may get incorporated into sewage sludge and are subsequently applied to agricultural field. Both negative (Lin and Xing 2008) and positive (Adhikari et al. 2010) effects of ZnO nano-particles on roots have been reported. However, studies so far have focused on plant growth but there is no study to our best knowledge that describes the effect on carbon partitioning with emphasis on root exudates. We have therefore studied the effect of nanoZnO solution as foliar spray on root exudates of important crop plants. Plants were raised in 3 cm diameter glass columns filled with acid washed sand to 40 cm length having G-0 disc at the lower end and fitted with tap at the bottom. Outer surface of the column was covered with black paper followed by aluminum foil to prevent algal growth and to provide dark zone for normal root growth. Columns were vertically arranged on an iron stand as depicted in Fig 1. Columns were initially leached with one-fourth strength of Hoagland solution (Hoagland and Arnon 1950). Two visibly uniform size pearl millet seeds [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br. emend Stuntz var CZP 9803] surface sterilized with 0.1% mercuric chloride and then soaked in double distilled water for 12 hours were placed at 2 cm depth from surface in the column and covered with moist sand. After seedling emergence, for first seven days, 50 mL Hoagland solution of one-fourth strength was added every day. The leachates were collected in a 100 mL capacity beaker placed at bottom of the column embedded in ice. The tap of the column was kept open. After seven days 50 mL Hoagland solution of complete strength was added and leachates collected every day. Leachates were kept in the deep freeze till analysis. Two weeks after emergence when the plants were at 5-6 leaf stage, 10 mL aqueous solution of 100 mg spherical nanoZnO/L (prepared and characterized by IIT Mumbai of size range 16-30 nm) was sprayed under pressure in an illuminated enclosure to completely drench. The spray was repeated for


This study estimates the effect of Tourism on economic growth of nine (9) COMESA countries members during the period of 2003 to 2017, using panel data approach. As result, the Tourism is statistically significant and has a positive effect on economic growth in COMESA countries members. As well, the Tourism sector needs support and directive from the government to have better productive activities in order to avoid its adverse impact on GDP of COMESA countries members. an empirical study explaining the link between in the (TOUR). Granger co-integration and causality techniques are used to analyze short- and long-term linkages in the case study of selected OECD countries. Our empirical results show the existence of a long-term and bidirectional causal link between FDIRE and TOUR. The results have implications for the decision-makers. Pelinescu et al. (2009). 6. Conclusions The study aimed to examine the impact of Tourism on Economic growth in COMESA countries members during the period of 2003 to 2017.The results show us that The probability of LNNTA variable is 0.000 less than 5%, LNETS variable is 0.0000 less than 5%, are statically significant to explain the variable GDP. And an increase in LNNTA by 1% is related to 0.124% increase, an increase in LNETS by 1% is related to 0.124% increase, and an increase in LNEXR by 1% is related to 0.146% increase in a specific region's growth, which means that Tourism influence positively the economic growth in COMESA countries members. The results of our analysis indicate that the Tourism sector contribute on economic growth in COMESA countries members, also the tourism sector is one of the priority sectors identified by the COMESA Treaty. Similarly, there are a number of private sector associations representing the tourism stakeholders at national and regional levels in COMESA. These include: tour operator's associations, tourism associations, hotel associations and others. One key factor to note in the case of tourism associations and councils is that some of the associations are public–private institutions or quasi-governmental bodies. But the p-values of FDI variable is 0.2806is bigger than 5%, meaning not significant to explain the variable GDP meaning that the government does not have a policy of directing investments to specific geographical areas but encourages investment in job-creating, currency-generating sectors and creating upstream and downstream linkages with rural areas.Governments of COMESA member countries must manage and direct the tourism sector towards productive activities in order to avoid


By using MSComm control of VB6.0,serial communication between PC and many intellectual meters with RS-485 bus interface can be realized.By calling EXCEL chart in the VB6.0 environment,data preservation can be realized.In this way,centralized controlling of scattered intellectual-meter and automatic data collecting and saving are realized.


Abstract A multi-proxy paleo-data synthesis of 110 sites is presented, exploring the impact of mid- to late Holocene precipitation changes upon vegetation across Southern Hemisphere tropical South America. We show that the most significant vegetation changes occurred in southwest Amazonia and southeast Brazil, regions reliant on precipitation derived from the South American summer monsoon (SASM). A drier mid-Holocene in these regions, linked to a weaker SASM, favored more open vegetation (savannah/grasslands) than present, while increased late-Holocene precipitation drove expansion of humid forests (e.g., evergreen tropical forest in southwest Amazonia, Araucaria forests in southeast Brazil). The tropical forests of central, western and eastern Amazonia remained largely intact throughout this 6000-year period. Northeastern Brazil's climate is "antiphased" with the rest of tropical South America, but a lack of paleo-data limits our understanding of how vegetation responded to a wetter (drier) mid-(late) Holocene. From this paleo-data perspective, we conclude that ecotonal forests already close to their climatic thresholds are most vulnerable to predicted future drought, but the forest biome in the core of Amazonia is likely to be more resilient. Of greater concern are widespread deforestation and uncontrolled anthropogenic burning, which will decrease ecosystem resilience, making them more vulnerable than they might be without current anthropogenic pressures.


A new cascaded configuration of multi level inverter with reduced switching devices compared to conventional scheme is proposed. Proposed configuration has further advantages of less total harmonic distortion in output voltage and less current rating of the devices compared to the conventional scheme. Detailed analytical study has been made using proposed configuration for both 5-level and 11-level inverter. Hardware implementation of the modified topology has been made for 5-level inverter. Different modulation techniques have also been tried to validate the proposed concept. The proposed structure reduces the device count, reduce losses associated with the devices and hence the efficiency of converter gets improved along with reduction of converter cost.


On May 26, 2011, the Research Institute of the State Audit Office of Hungary (RIHSAO) held an academic conference titled The Factors Determining the Macroeconomic Environment of the 2012 Budget. The objective of the conference was to prepare the decision of the Fiscal Council due in the fall of 2011 impacting the 2012 draft budget. Nine lectures were given at the conference, where domestically and internationally recognized researchers presented their views. All three members of the Fiscal Council attended the conference. Two of them – Zsigmond Jarai and Andras Simor – gave presentations and presiding chair of the conference was Laszlo Domokos, President of the State Audit Office.


The paper analyzes the ecological state of Lugyny district rivers polluted with nitrogen group compounds, such as nitrates, nitrites, total nitrogen and ammonia. It also highlights the characteristics of the main district rivers, such the Zherev, the Glurhova, the Kremyanka, the Povchanka end the Dyvlynka. The paper also analyzes the investigated indices at the bull length of these rivers within the district boundaries.


The controller area network (CAN) is a well-known standard, and it is widely used in many safety-critical applications, spanning from automotive electronics to aircraft and aerospace electronics. Due to its widespread adoption in critical applications, the capability of accurately evaluating the dependability properties of CAN-based networks is becoming a major concern. In this paper we present a new environment that can be fruitfully exploited to assess the effects of faults in CAN-based networks, which is particularly suited for being exploited when a prototype of the network under analysis is available. The core of our new environment is a special-purpose board that plugs into an existing CAN network, and that is able to monitor and, when asked, to modify the information traveling over the bus. Observation and modification of CAN frames are done concurrently with normal CAN-bus operations without introducing any performance degradation. The obtained environment is thus suitable for being deployed in complex CAN-based networks to validate their dependability.


SUMMARY

Two Swedish isolates of barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), one (39/78) transmitted much more efficiently by Rhopalosiphum padi than by Sitobion avenae and the other (27/77) transmitted specifically by Sitobion avenae, were purified with yields of 200–300 μg/100 g infected oat leaves. Three light scattering zones were obtained when isolate 39/78 was sedimented in 10–40% (w/w) sucrose density gradients but only one zone with the other isolate. The sedimentation coefficients of 39/78 particles were 94,106 and 150 S, respectively, whereas the 27/77 particles sedimented at 110 S. Four protein bands of mol. wts 31 900, 29 700, 28 000 and 15 000 were detected when disrupted 150 5 particles of the 39/78 isolate were electrophoresed in SDS-polyacrylamide gels. Only one major band of mol. wt 24 500 was detected when 94 or 106 S particles were electrophoresed under the same conditions. The 27/77 isolate yielded one major band of mol. wt 23 500. A weak serological relationship was found between isolates 39/78 and 27/77. In enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, isolate 39/78 was serologically closely related to New York isolate PAY, whereas 27/77 was closely related to MAY.