Bioactive compounds extracted from natural renewable sources have attracted an increased interest from both industry and academia. Recently, algae have been highlighted as promising sources of bioactive compounds, such as polyphenols, polysaccharides, fatty acids, proteins, and pigments, which can be used as functional ingredients in many industrial applications. Therefore, a simple green extraction and purification methodology capable of recovering biocompounds from algal biomass is of extreme importance in commercial production. In this study, we evaluated the application of three valuable algae (Colaconema formosanum, Sarcodia suae, and Nostoc commune) in combination with Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis (type strain ATCC 14393) for the production of versatile compounds. The results illustrate that after 6 h of first-stage fermentation, the production of phycobiliproteins in C. formosanum was significantly increased by 156.2%, 188.9%, and 254.17% for PE, PC, and APC, respectively. This indicates that the production of phycobiliproteins from algae can be enhanced by P. haloplanktis. Furthermore, we discovered that after S. suae and N. commune were fermented with P. haloplanktis, mannose was produced. In this study, we describe a feasible biorefinery process for the production of phycobiliproteins and mannose by fermenting marine macroalgae with cyanobacteria. We believe it is worth establishing a scale-up technique by applying this fermentation method to the production of phycobiliproteins and mannose in the future.


This study was carried out to find the energy equivalents of inputs and outputs in tomato cultivation in the Mediterranean region of Mersin province. For this aim, the energy balance between values of the input and output energies per unit field for tomato cultivation in open-field and greenhouses was investigated. Energy efficiency, energy density, energy efficiency were compared in terms of cost-benefit ratio. Data were collected and analyzed in open-field (112) and in greenhouses (14) from producers of tomato cultivation. The results showed that the total energy requirement in open fields and greenhouses was 56127.77 and 245246.78 MJ ha-1, respectively. Energy use efficiency in the open-fields and in greenhouses was realized as 1.12 and 0.75 respectively. The cost-benefit-ratios were 2.32 in open-fields and 3.06 in greenhouses. According to the current results, the open-fields tomato production system has a higher energy efficiency than the greenhouse tomato production system, while the greenhouse system has a higher economic benefit.


Production of asphalt mixtures have always been challenging in
terms of environmental friendliness and workers' health. Various
efforts are taken to address these concerns in paving industry.


This annotated bibliography of recently published picture books provides resources for educators interested in students' social and emotional growth. Such quality literature can promote rich discussion of life lessons and help children develop strength of character. Although much emphasis is placed on academic growth and performance, there is increasing awareness of the need to educate the whole child for immediate classroom benefits and the welfare of our future (ASCD, 2010). Noddings stated/Our main educational aim should be to encourage the growth of competent, caring, loving, and lovable people" (p. 368). According to Perry (2001), the six core strengths needed to help our students become caring individuals are (a) being a friend, (b) thinking before acting, (c) joining and contributing to a group, (d) thinking about the needs of others, (e) accepting the differences of others, and (f ) respecting yourself and others. Other important traits include self-esteem, empathy, and mutuality (Sawyer, 2009). One highly effective way to help students develop these strengths of character is through the use of quality literature that provides a context for rich discussion. Teachers have known this for years and have used books to address classroom issues - for example, reading Hooway for Wodney Wat (Lester, 1999) to discuss bullying. With numerous books published annually, educators find it impossible to be familiar with all of them. This annotated bibliography highlights some recently published picture books that lend themselves to learning life lessons through literature. Becker, B. (2008). A visitor for bean Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press. Bear is adamant that he wants no visitors. A persistent mouse ignores the No Visitors sign on the door and proceeds to make himself at home. When the mouse finally starts to leave, the bear has grown to enjoy the company and asks the mouse the stay. Bear learns how to make a friend by being a friend. This story can help children learn that friendships are built over time. Making a new friend may be a little scary at first, but we need to be open to opportunities to meet new people and lend a helping hand. Through sharing his home, Bear gained a friend. Children who have difficulties relating to their peers may learn a life lesson from Bear about reaching out to help others and tending the seeds of friendship. Berger, C. (2008). The little yellow leaf New York, NY: HarperCollins/Greenwillow Books. Splendid illustrations and endpapers depict the little yellow leaf, anxious and afraid to fall from the tree in autumn until he meets a little red leaf who has similar fears. They find courage in numbers as they face their fears together to take the leap. Most children can relate to the fear of the unknown. The life lesson of this story helps readers to know that they are not alone and that working together will reduce fears and anxiety. After reading this book, the teacher could brainstorm with the class about their fears and ways classmates can help each other to overcome them. This book exemplifies the life lesson that there is safety in numbers and would be an excellent choice to read before a field trip or similar activity that requires students to use a buddy system. Diesen, D. (2010). The pout pout fish in the big big dark. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. This story of the pout pout fish and his fear of the dark follows Diesens earlier book, The Pout Pout Fish (2008). The first book deals with the problem of pouting, while the newer one focuses on a fear of the dark and concludes with the quote and the lesson that "friends help friends; that's a promise we keep" (p. 30). Fleming, C. (2010). Clever Jack takes the cake. New York, NY: Schwartz Wade Books. Poor Jack wants to attend the birthday party for the princess but has no money for a gift. He barters to obtain ingrethents to make a luscious cake with the most succulent strawberry on top. …


In this work, novel synthesis of molybdenum nitride/oxide coating on AISI-316 is attained by active screen plasma (ASP) treatment, using molybdenum active screen (AS). Molybdenum nitride is synthesized in N2-H2 environment, while oxidation is carried out in O2-H2 and O2-Ar environment. The synthesized coatings are characterized by microhardness tester, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy . The results show a successful synthesis of coating with improved hardness. This study illustrates that using molybdenum active screen, molybdenum nitride/oxide coating can be produced and industrial compatibility of this technique increases the effectiveness of these results on wide-scale engineering applications.


Drought is a limiting factor for plant survival and food production. Plants have developed various strategies in response to this stress. The immediate response to drought is the closure of the stomata. However, it prevents the transpiration and the photosynthesis. From the point of view of crops, it is interesting the ability of the plants to keep photosynthesizing under drought. Leaf water content is affected by the difference among leaf and soil water potentials (I¨ leaf -I¨ h ) and by the xylem-specific hydraulic conductivity (Ks). It has been hypothesized that the number and diameter of the xylem vessels would affect the drought tolerance. In this experiment the influence of the xylem anatomy in the tolerance to water stress of three Capsicum sp accessions: Bol 58, Piquillo, Chimayo was studied. Plants were grown in plastic pots filled with soil:sand mixture in a glasshouse at UPV, during spring season. Two different treatments were used in the assay: normal irrigation and restricted irrigation (50% less irrigated than the control). Three and a half months after transplantation plants were harvested; roots, stems and fruits were weighted. Portions of the stem bases were fixed in FPA and rehydrated for the analysis of the xylem total area. Material was sectioned with a freezing microtome and dyed with phloroglucinol. Vessel element area was calculated with Autocad software. There were significant differences of biomass among genotypes and treatments. Piquillo showed lowest reduction of biomass under stress. The genotypes studied showed differences in the xylem structure. In addition, there were changes in the vessel diameter pattern from control to drought conditions.  Generally, plants grown under water deficit reduce the number of bigger vessels (>7500µm 2 ). Chimayo was the accession with bigger vessels, in normal and stress conditions, whereas Piquillo had smaller vessels. Therefore results showed a negative correlation between vessel size and production under stress conditions. Big vessels are prone to cavitation and a high proportion of small vessel may contribute to maintain Ks without collapse risk.


Aim: The aim of this study was to assess the association of lifestyle/behavioral factors with low bone mineral density in Albanian women, a transitional country in the Western Balkans.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Tirana city in 2010 including a population-based sample of 549 women aged 35 years and above (response rate: 92%). Low bone mineral density (osteopenia and/or osteoporosis defined as a bone mineral density T-score less than -1) was assessed with a bone ultrasound device which is simple and easy to use for screening of bone mineral density in population-based studies. Binary logistic regression was used to determine the relationship of low bone mineral density with behavioral factors in this study population.
Results: The prevalence of low bone mineral density in this study population was 28.4% (156/549). In multivariable-adjusted logistic regression models, low bone mineral density was positively associated with smoking (OR=4.1, 95%CI=2.2-7.4) and coffee consumption (OR=2.3, 95%CI=1.3-4.1), but inversely related to overweight and obesity (OR=0.4, 95%CI=0.2-0.7 and OR=0.3, 95%CI=0.2-0.6, respectively).
Conclusion: This study offers useful evidence about the lifestyle/behavioral determinants of low bone mineral density among women in this transitional South Eastern European population. Health professionals and policymakers in Albania should be aware of the major behavioral factors which increase the risk of low bone mineral density in order to provide correct treatment and control of this condition in the general population.


This paper presents the results of a generalized study that has been made on the transient speed response of basic forms of speed regulating systems to suddenly applied square wave load torques. The solutions were obtained on the transients analyzer and the electrical analogies for the systems are developed. The solutions are applicable to d-c motor drives with either variable armature voltage or motor field current control and two inherent time delays, one of which must be in the motor armature circuit. Stabilization is effected by means of an ``anticipatory'' RC circuit just following the error signal and an RC feed-back circuit just after the first inherent time delay. The type of system specifically illustrated in the paper is one with an electronic amplifier, Rototrol, and d-c generator that supplies the armature voltage. The study shows the effects of all system parameters, including a series self-energizing field that may be used with Rototrols to eliminate steady-state speed errors. It was found practical to define optimum forms for the response to impact loading in terms of crest transient speed dip, time to recover normal speed, and per cent system damping. A set of generalized dimensionless curves presents the performance of such regulating systems in terms of these characteristics, together with the anticipation and feed-back circuit constants required for optimum solutions. These curves cover the practical range of all parameters.


This study of mainstream media and its approach to online publications and participatory journalism comes at a time of significant change in technological and telecommunication regulation in Fiji. It specifically seeks to analyse attitudes and practices within the local media industry, particularly towards greater interaction between the audience and journalists (or media companies) through advances provided through the Internet.


Haze exerts a large effect on visibility reduction and has serious impacts on air quality and human health. Understanding the sources and transport of haze is of importance to improve the regional air quality and evaluate its health effects. In this study, we investigated a typical haze episode that occurred in northeast (NE) China during 4-6 November 2010 by analyzing the ground PM10 measurements from 11 monitoring sites, aerosol Lidar observations, synoptic charts, MODIS satellite imageries, and back trajectories. Our analyses suggest that the regional haze formed in the North China Plain (NCP) under stagnant conditions can be transported to NE China in ∼1-3 days across Bohai Bay and Liaodong Bay - a typical transport pathway associated with the topography of northern China. The haze episode appeared to evolve progressively from southwest to northeast in the region of NE China, in agreement with the appearance of PM10 peak values, wind patterns, MODIS images and the back trajectories of air masses. Due to the haze impact, NE China showed significantly elevated particulate matter pollution by a factor of ∼4-6 with the peak concentrations reaching ∼410 μg m-3. The results together indicate that the regional transport from the NCP has a significant contribution to the PM pollution in NE China, thus efforts to control the source emissions over the NCP would be effective to improve the air quality in NE China.


We describe the Liquid Phase Epitaxial (LPE) growth of p-Hgl-xCdxTe on CdTe substrates up to 2cm x 3cm in area, using an atomospheric pressure slider with a tellurium-rich growth liquid. Controlled growth of Hgl-x CdxTe with x values of 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 will be described, and measurements presented on the morphology and semiconductor characteristics of the grown layers.


Finding motifs is a significant computational problem in bioinformatics,many models and algorithms have been proposed to solve this problem.By reason of the complexity of DNA sequence data,there exist lots of subtle motifs which are much more difficult to be found than strong signals.Up to now,the planted(l,d) motif problem and the extended planted(l,d) motif problem are two suitable models for finding subtle motifs.This paper generalizes and analyzes the methods and strategies of motif discovery and the motif model as well as points out their advantages and disadvantages.Based on the above work,this paper further assays some main present subtle motif discovery algorithms through experiments and make a reference for the users of motif discovery.This paper also provides discussion on some unresolved problems and development trend in this field.


BACKGROUND: Recent data from military and civilian centers suggest that mortality is decreased in massive transfusion patients by increasing the transfusion ratio of plasma and platelet (PLT) products, and fibrinogen in relationship to red blood cell (RBC) products during damage control resuscitation and surgery. This study investigates the relationship of plasma:RBC, PLT:RBC, and cryoprecipitate:RBC transfusion ratios to mortality in massively transfused patients at a civilian Level 1 trauma center.


A prospective survey of radiotherapy practice in Sweden was conducted during 12 weeks in the autumn of 2001. All hospitals that provided radiotherapy participated, and all patients who started radiotherapy during the study period were included. The final patient sample comprised 5 105 treatments given to 4 171 patients. The results were compared with those of a similar survey conducted in 1992, and the following conclusions were drawn: <list id="l1" type="5"> <item>A substantial increase in the use of radiotherapy was noted;</item><item>The estimated proportion of cancer cases receiving radiotherapy (compared to the incident number of cases) had increased from 32% in 1992 to 47%;</item><item>The proportion of cancer patients receiving radiotherapy was estimated at between 37 and 46%;</item><item>54% of treatments were given with curative intent, a small increase since 1992;</item><item>The difference between regional and county departments for proportion of treatments with curative intent had diminished;</item><item>Treatments with curative intent used a higher proportion of resources measured in terms of fractions;</item><item>The proportion of palliative treatment was slightly lower than in 1992, but the absolute number of treatments had increased by more than 20%;</item><item>No improvement in participation in clinical trials was noted;</item><item>Treatments given with curative intent were more complex with more fields;</item><item>Hyperfractionation was used, mainly in treatments of cancers of the head and neck, lung, and bladder;</item><item>The use of brachytherapy for non-gynaecological malignancies had increased dramatically;</item><item>Treatment of bone metastases with a single or few fractions was used much more frequently;</item><item>Dose planning and patient set-up showed a high standard but quality control of dosimetry of given treatment did not fully comply with Swedish and European recommendations;</item><item>The treatment devices seem to be used more efficiently.</item></list>


This paper presents the design of a near-field reader and tag antennas in UHF that can be used for various smart shelves. The tag antenna is designed by introducing an "S"-shaped or "+"-shaped slot to the circular patch and the reader one is a rectangular slot array fed by a microstrip line. These antennas operated in UHF near-field are more reliable in many RFID applications where reading distance is not the major factor. Electric coupling concept between the reader and tag antenna is employed for near-field communication.


Methods for forming an electronic device can include forming a capacitor structure on a portion of a substrate with the capacitor structure including a first electrode on the substrate, a capacitor dielectric on the first electrode, a second electrode on the dielectric, and a hard mask on the second electrode. More particularly, the capacitor dielectric can be between the first and second electrodes, the first electrode and the capacitor dielectric can be between the second electrode and the substrate, and the first and second electrodes and the capacitor dielectric can be between the hard mask and the substrate. An interlayer dielectric layer can be formed on the hard mask and on portions of the substrate surrounding the capacitor structure, and portions of the interlayer dielectric layer can be removed to expose the hard mask while maintaining portions of the interlayer dielectric layer on portions of the substrate surrounding the capacitor structure. The hard mask can then be removed thereby exposing portions of the second electrode while maintaining the portions of the interlayer dielectric layer on portions of the substrate surrounding the capacitor.


This is second part of 2 paper series on Power trading, in the first part Power System Trading Strategies (TS) is discussed from viewpoint of Power generation company (GENCO) in auction based Electrical Power Markets (EPM) while in second paper market design analysis is done to form competitive EPM. Many challenging issues arise under the newly deregulated competitive electric power markets. This paper proposes a measures and execution condition for making short-term Electrical Power Market (EPM) competitive. The aim is to minimize inefficiencies, monopoly and influence of single GENCO. This paper also shows that, consequences of presence of circuit breaker (CB) in Indian power exchange Market Price (LTP). From these suggested measures, we try to change in market design & formulate necessary and sufficient conditions that characterize competitive EPM. Electricity is a particular type of commodity which does not store in large quantities so whenever it is generated it must be consumed immediately. This has made Electrical power status complicated, for both generation and consumption point of view. The most probable reason for higher LTP is market power and oligopoly, GENCOs having large capacity can impact the LTP by means of their TS. Also, those Market Participants having small generation capacity able to manipulate market price in times of stringent supply function. This paper shows the necessary measure, policy, & execution conditions apply to EPM to make it more competitive.


Exhaust gas recirculation(EGR)and intake heating are two different approaches for gasoline engine to achieving homogeneous charge compression ignition(HCCI)combustion and have different performances on HCCI combustion.Therefore,experiments were carried out on a single-cylinder gasoline engine with HCCI combustion using EGR and intake heating,respectively,to study the different performance mechanisms of the two approaches on HCCI combustion.The experimental results show that,compared with the HCCI combustion with intake heating,the specific heat of charge with EGR is higher.However,lower dilution ratio leads to lower total specific heat of charge,which results in higher in-cylinder combustion temperature.The unburned hydrocarbons(UHC)emission generated by HCCI combustion with EGR is 41%—59% lower than that by HCCI combustion using intake heating.NOx emission of the former is 2—20 times that of the latter,and the CO emission depends on the IMEP.The combustion efficiency of HCCI combustion with EGR is 0.8%—14% higher than that of HCCI combustion with intake heating.However,due to lower pumping mean effective pressure,higher specific heat ratio of charge and lower heat transfer loss,the fuel consumption of HCCI combustion with intake heating is 6.6%—16.4% lower than that with EGR.


Spray drying is a convenient dehydration technique in producing food powders. The characteristics of product depend on the drying parameters and characteristics of the
liquid feed. Controlling the spray dryer is vital to ensure that the product meets the quality specifications, even when disturbance occurs. In order to control the spray
dryer, the development of dynamic model is required. The main objective of this study is to investigate the dynamic behavior of the spray drying process and suggest the suitable control strategy using proportional-integral (PI) controller. Before developing the dynamic model, a preliminary study was conducted and the outlet air
temperature was identified as the controlled variable and inlet air temperature as the manipulated variable. Dynamic models that gave the best prediction of the dynamic
response of nozzle atomizer spray dryer for orange juice powder (with maltodextrin) and whole milk powder (without maltodextrin) were developed empirically. In addition, the models that show the effect of selected disturbance on the dynamic response of spray dryer was also developed. All models were represented as first order plus time delay (FOPTD) and valid because R2>0.6. Furthermore, the control
of the spray dryer in this study engages a PI controller for the set point change and disturbance change. High overshoot is a problem in many processes, thus a lambda, λ
guideline for direct synthesis tuning method was proposed to enable users to define the specified overshoot, and its performance and robustness were found to be satisfactory. When this method was applied in this process, it provided good performance in the set point change, more robust and less sensitive to the error but demonstrated slow performance (2-5 minutes) in disturbance change.


Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) is a gluzincin zinc dipeptidyl carboxypeptidase
I, of which thermolysin is considered the prototypical member.
This enzyme took its name from its ability to convert the decapeptide
Angiotensin-I to octapeptide Angiotensin-II, which is a highly potent vasoconstrictor.
Another basic ability is to inactivate bradykinin, a vasodilatory
peptide. These two major activities render ACE through the renin–
angiotensin–aldosterone system.
There are two isoforms of ACE that are transcribed from the same gene in a
tissue-specific manner. Somatic ACE, which is present in brush-border
epithelial cells and endothelial cells, exists as a glycoprotein composed of a
single, large polypeptide chain of 1,306 amino acids, whereas in sperm cells
it is a lower-molecular-mass glycoform of 732 amino acids. The somatic
form consists of two homologous domains (N and C domain). Each domain
contains an active site with a conserved HEXXH zinc binding motif, where
the two histidines are zinc ligands, with a glutamate 24 residues downstream
forming the third ligand. These N- and C-domains most likely are the result
of an ancient gene duplication event that occurred during vertebrate evolution.
The two domains differ in their substrate specificities, inhibitor, chloride
activation profiles, and physiological functions. There are two N-domainspecific
substrates: the peptide N-acetyl-serylaspartyl-lysyl-proline, which
regulates haematopoietic stem cell differentiation and proliferation; and the
bradykinin-potentiating peptide angiotensin-(1-7). On the other hand, the
active sites of both domains catalyse the hydrolysis of angiotensin I and the
vasodilator bradykinin with similar efficiency. However, inhibition of the N
domain with a phosphinic peptide RXP407 has no effect on blood pressure regulation and expression in transgenic mice of the N domain alone produces
a phenotype similar to that seen in complete ACE knockout mice.
Thus, the C domain seems to be necessary and sufficient for controlling
blood pressure and cardiovascular function, suggesting that the C domain is
the dominant angiotensin-converting site. Testis ACE is identical to the Cterminal
half of somatic ACE, except for a unique 36-residue sequence constituting
its amino terminus. It has also been shown that testis ACE is
thought to play a role in sperm maturation and the binding of sperm to the
oviduct epithelium.
Objective of this thesis was the overexpression, in bacterial cells, purification
and solubilazation of two ACE peptides of 108 aa (Ala361-Gly468
(ACE_N), Ala959-Ser1066 (ACE_C)). This experimental approach was chosen
because of the ease of culturing bacterial cells and the advantage of using
label mediums with 15N and/or 13C. Such large peptides labelled or nonlabelled,
can be studied for their structural features using circular dichroism
and/or NMR spectroscopy.
The above mentioned protein fragments overexpressed in bacteria and purified.
Their purity was greater than 99%. The yield was 9mg for ACE_N and
6mg for ACE_C protein fragment from 1L bacterial culture. Their secondary
structure was studied using circular dichroism spectroscopy. Deconvolution
of ACE_N and ACE_C CD spectra had shown that the presence of
trifluoroethanol, at concentrations of 60% or higher, is necessary for the correct
folding of the protein. This result was partially confirmed for ACE_N
protein fragment by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy. Complete
conformation was not succeded due to the inability of recording the 2DNOESY
spectrum of ACE_N.
Conclusively, the described procedure in this research proved to be advantageous
in speed and facility of purification. It demonstrated good reproductively
for ACE peptides during purification. The in vitro refolded recombinant proteins had almost identical secondary features compared with these
found using crystallographic data, with a high content in a-helix secondary
structure motif. Thus, this study offers an effective system for producing
large amounts of pure ACE peptides which can be used for several studies.


In heterogeneous distributed computing (HDC), a network of dissimilar machines is used to execute a given application in parallel. With the advent of advanced networking technologies, the scale where heterogeneous computing can be practically applied is growing to a global scale, thus making it possible to collect high performance computers across the globe into a single computational resource. Multiple users are able to simultaneously use this computational resource to execute a variety of large, parallel applications.
This research develops algorithms to allow multiple users to execute applications in a large, decentralized, failure-prone, heterogeneous computing environment. Due to the dynamic and uncertain nature of this environment, the algorithms emphasize the use statistical techniques to make decentralized decisions in a highly dynamic system. This research is split into three distinct problems.
In the first problem, a method is developed that statistically obtains an estimate of the execution time of a task on an arbitrary target machine. This execution time estimate is constructed from data gathered from past executions of the task, and the method compensates for varying parameters that affect the execution time of the task. Next, a dynamic matching and scheduling method for heterogeneous machines is developed, where each application is self-scheduling and makes decisions without direct knowledge of the other applications executing in the environment. Knowledge of the other applications is obtained indirectly from machine and network load estimates. In this manner, each application competes for the computational resources of the network. Finally, a cost function is developed that can be used to allow a matching and scheduling algorithm to consider reliability when making an assignment. This is important, since, in a large distributed system, the probability of experiencing a machine or network failure is significant, and large, long-running applications are particularly sensitive to failures.


As the chromosomes, there are many factors that feature in time varying information, so the traditional identification methods in identifying the weaknesses. In this study, the introduction of a class of fuzzy neural network chromosome identification, using 2 network structures. Experiments show that the recognition rate of more network-layer perception (MLP) artificial neural network has been significantly improved. Especially for many of the features similar to chromosome recognition works well. References [1] Matria, S., Pal, S.K., Multilayer Percetron, Fuzzy sets, and Classification, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, Cybernetics, 1994, 3 (5): 683-696. [2] Graham, J., A neural network classifier for chromosome analysis, Biology and Biochemistry, 1997. [3] Kwan, Hon Keung; Cai, Yaling; A Fuzzy Neural Network and its Application to Pattern Recognition, IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, 1994, volume 2, issue 3, pages 185-193, August. [4] Gader, P.D., Keller, J.M., Krishnapuram, R., Nerual and Fuzzy Methods in Handwriting Recognition, IEEE Computer, 1999, 30 (2): 79-86. [5] Qi, Ren-l. [D], Nanjing: Southeast University, 2000, 30-50. [6] 周焕庚, 夏家辉, 张思仲, 人类染色体[M], 北京: 科学出版社, 1988. [7] 李洪兴, 汪培庄, 模糊数学[M], 北京: 国防工业出版社, 1994. [8] 刘增良, 模糊技术与神经网络技术选编[M], 北京: 北京航空航天大学出版社, 2001. [9] 黄德双, 神经网络模式识别系统理论[M], 北京: 电子工业出版社, 1996, 70‐104. Authors' affiliation Southeast University, Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Nanjing 210096, China. Description of original document (in Chinese) 郭宏宇 鲍旭东 蒋春涛, 基于模糊人工神经网络的染色体识别,中国生物医学工程学报, 2004 年 4 月, 第 23 卷, 第 2 期。


Founded in Schweinfurt, Germany in 2014, HATE ME TOMORROW have been compared to the sounds from the dirty backyards of Berlin, portraying our sick ...


Summary: The paucity of modern medical technology in a resource-poor developing country presents challenges to a volunteer orthopaedic surgeon visiting from an affluent Western nation where state-of-the-art equipment is conveniently available. In the overseas medical environment, a pioneer spirit and inventive imagination are valuable assets in solving complex and often-neglected musculoskeletal problems. The volunteer orthopaedist learns to implement treatment by strategizing a stepwise care plan, and guiding mentorship from a senior and experienced healthcare provider is indispensable for the rookie volunteer. In a remote undeveloped country, the use of local materials and craftsmanship for many orthopaedic appliances is preferred, because this approach facilitates the replacement and repair of equipment.


Using the example of the creation of corporate environmental reputation, the article offers a theoretical extension of the resource-based view of the ®rm to include quality signaling via the channel of accounting disclosure. The proposed framework is then tested via an empirical survey into the relationship between environmental disclosure and environmental reputation. The results suggest that implementation, monitoring and disclosure of environmental policies and their disclosure in annual reports contribute significantly to the creation of environmental reputation. Diverse institutional share ownership and low systematic risk are also associated with positive environmental reputation. Prior financial performance has no impact and there is no evidence that environmental reputation is created by a financial halo effect or by the availability of slack financial resources.


Novel strategies for the preparation of rigid cartwheel pincer metal complexes have been developed. The aromatic backbone of these materials ensures a high rigidity, which is expected to be important for a high retention when these multimetallic nanosize complexes are applied as homogeneous catalysts in a nanomembrane reactor. The ligand precursors C6[C6H3(CH2Y)2-3,5]6 (10, Y = NMe2; 11, Y = SPh; 12, Y = PPh2; 13, Y = pz = pyrazol-1-yl) have been prepared in high yields from the key intermediate C6[C6H3(CH2Br)2-3,5]6 (9). The hexakis(pincer) palladium(II) complexes C6[(PdX)-4-C6H2(CH2Y)2-3,5]6 (14, Y = SPh, L = Cl; 15, Y = PPh2, L = Cl; 16, Y = pyrazol-1-yl, L = OAc; 17, Y = pyrazol-1-yl, L = Cl) have been prepared via direct electrophilic palladation of the corresponding ligands. The (tris)pincer ligand C6H3[Br-4-C6H3(CH2NMe2)2-3,5]3-1,3,5 (20) was prepared via a triple-condensation reaction of 4-bromo-3,5-bis[(dimethylamino)methyl]acetophenone (19). Reaction of 20 with Pd(dba)2 yielded the tripalladium ...


In this paper the concept and content of the pressure-sate-response (PSR) model were discussed. The PSR model combined with analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is employed to establish a assessment system for mangrove ecosystem health. Based on a comprehensive health index (CHI) value, the health of mangrove ecosystems can be divided into three states: excellent, healthy and sub-healthy. The assessing system achieves visualization by Microsoft Visual Basic (VB). Combined with the actual findings of the mangrove, the visual assessing system is verified. The CHI of the mangrove of Gaoqiao Town in Zhanjiang City of Guangdong Province is 80.54. The CHI of the mangrove of Qiao Island of Zhuhai City in Guangdong Province is 60.35. The CHI of the mangrove of Techeng Island of Zhanjiang City in Guangdong Province is 53.87. The results are consistent with the investigation. The visualization system will be used scientifically, rapidly and practically with the health assessing for the mangrove ecosystem.


Residues and degradation of chlorantraniliprole in cabbage and soil were studied in Jinan and Zhejiang in two years.Field trial was designed according to The Guideline on Pesticide.The residues in cabbage and soil were not more than 0.297 mg·kg-1,0.097 mg·kg-1 respectively.The degradation of chlorantraniliprole in cabbages and soils followed the first-order kinetics.The half lives of chlorantraniliprole in cabbage and soil were 7.2-8.9 d and 6.9-10.7 d respectively.Similar degradation magnitude of chlorantraniliprole in cabbage was found in Shandong and Zhejiang,while the processes of dissipation in soil were significantly different between the two places.and characters of soil played an important role in pesticide dissipation.The study provided scientific base for setting up the Maximum Residue Limit of the pesticide in cabbage,the guidance of safe application and the estimation of maximum residue level.


Haplotypes are specially important in the study of complex diseases since they contain more information about gene alleles than genotype data. However, getting haplotype data via experiments methods is techniquely difficult and expensive. Thus, haplotype inference through computational methods is practical and attractive. There are several models for inferrings haplotype from population genotypes, of which we are interested in the pure parsimony model. This problem has been proved to be an NP-hard problem, so the goal of this paper is to design a heuristic method to obtain good solutions within acceptable time. A heuristic method based on genetic algorithm is presented for haplotype inference under pure parsimony criterion. The algorithm was tested on a variety of biological data and simulated data. In comparison with the exact algorithm HAPAR (based on a branch and bound algorithm), experiment results show that the method can obtain optimal solutions in almost all cases and runs much faster than HAPAR when the number of genotypes or SNP sites is large. It is suited for haplotype inference in relative large haplotype blocks because the algorithm is fast and its running time is not exponentially increased with input size.


Al Quran is the basis for all aspects of Muslim's life. These words of Allah are to guide us in every phase of our journey to become ummatan wasata including teaching and learning. Remembering is essential in one's attempt to learn. Remembering involves one core cognitive process known as memory. This research aims to explore and form a better understanding on the cognitive basis underlying human memory, so as to help in optimizing one's own ability to learn. We have chosen to study the memory of Al Huffaz, i.e. those who memorize the Quran because of their exceptional memory performance to commit such a volume in their memory. In the Western literatures, the most influential research on people with superior memory performance focused mainly on chess players (Chase & Simon, 1973). In our context Al Huffaz are considered as people with superior memory performance due to the greater body of knowledge, the possession of accurate memory and superior ability to store information in memory. The exceptional memory ability of the Al Huffaz was investigated via a detailed and structured interviews and a survey. The findings from the interviews strengthened the involvement of several control processes such as rehearsal, motivation or interest and self-discipline. In addition, the findings from the survey revealed that the best predictor to memorizing ability is the self- efficacy and goal setting behavior. The understanding on this cognitive basis underlying human memory will definitely help to develop ummatan wasata mentioned in the Quran become a reality. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n3s1p121


In an article recently published in Mind, Tim Crane and D.H. Mellor (1990) present a series of arguments against physicalism, the view that "mental entities, properties, relations and facts are really physical", and that "the empirical world... contains just what a true complete physical science would say it contains" (pp. 185-6). Many recent defenders of physicalism have relied on the supervenience thesis, which states that two things will not be found to differ in any mental respect without also being found to differ in some relevant (non-trivial) non-mental respect as well. The physical excludes the mental, according to the supervenience physicalist, "by being that on which everything else, including the mental, supervenes" (p. 203). Crane and Mellor claim to have refuted all forms of physicalism. The final argument of their paper is directed against the supervenience physicalist. They invite the reader to consider a situation in which two individuals have at time t1 some qualitatively identical experiences PI and P2, respectively. Let us suppose, with Crane and Mellor, that PI causes by some later time t2 a mental state or property Ml in the first individual and that P2 causes by t2 some mental state or property M2 in the second individual. Let us also suppose that I, and I2 are non-mental states or properties ("I" for "intrinsic") on which Ml and M2 are claimed to supervne at t2. Crane and Mellor's argument rests on the assumption that there are two independent causal connections, one between the P 's and the M's, the other between the P 's and the I's. They show that if the connection bewteen the P's and the M's is indeterministic, it is possible for Ml ? M2 yet I, = I2, in conflict with the supervenience thesis as stated above. I wish to point out here that Crane and Mellor have not refuted every version of supervenience physicalism. In particular, they have not refuted the most wellknown recent version, viz. Donald Davidson's anomalous monism. Davidson does hold that the mental supervenes on the physical and that the physical events can causally interact with mental events (1980, p. 208). This certainly appears to make his position a candidate for Crane and Mellor's attack on supervenience physicalism. Nevertheless, their attack fails. Why it fails becomes clear once we formulate Crane and Mellor's thought experiment in Davidson's own terms. The supervenience thesis states that two individuals will differ in some non-mental respect given that they differ in some mental repsect. The respects that Crane and Mellor have in mind are mainly properties. They rely on the locutions "an instrinsic non-mental property P causes a mental property M" and "the properties involved are causally related" (p. 205). Surely this is not how Davidson would desribe the situation. To begin with, Davidson describes one connection as holding between two events, not properties. According to Davidson, we can and do describe the same event in either mental or physical terms. Despite these alternative descriptions, there is just one event. Furthermore, any mental event capable


Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), also known as corticotropin-releasing factor, is a highly conserved peptide hormone comprising 41 amino acid residues. Its name derives from its role in the anterior pituitary, where it mediates the release of corticotropin (ACTH) leading to the release of adrenocortical steroids. CRH is the major hypothalamic activator of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Major functions of the HPA include: (i) influencing fetal development of major organ systems including lung, liver, and gut, (ii) metabolic functions, including the maintenance of normal blood glucose levels during the fasting state via glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis, (iii) modulation of immune function, and (iv) maintenance of cardiovascular tone. In addition, CRH, acting both directly and via the HPA, has a role in regulating several neuroendocrine functions including behavior, food intake, reproduction, growth, immune function, and autonomic function. CRH has been localized to the paraventricular nucleus (PVN) of the hypothalamus, which projects to the median eminence and other hypothalamic and midbrain targets. The CRH gene is composed of two exons. The CRH promoter contains a cAMP-response element, and the intron contains a restrictive element-1/neuron restrictive silencing element (RE-1/NRSE) sequence. Recently, a family of CRH-related peptides, termed the urocortins, has been identified. These peptides probably play a role in integrating multiple aspects of the stress-response, although their functions are largely unknown. Both CRH and the urocortins interact with two transmembrane G-protein-coupled cell surface receptors, CRH-R1, and CRH-R2, which differ in their patterns of tissue distribution. In addition, the binding affinities for CRH and the urocortins to the two receptors differ considerably, and may contribute to the different actions of these peptides.


The Long-Wave theories of Nikolai Kondratiev and others claim to find mathematic waves in economic and other social data which are at present in dispute. Currently the theory is considered outside the scope of mainstream economics under several rationales. Despite the lack of mainstream acceptance, we make a strong case for the existence of long waves in the Real GNP of the United States with a 56 year cycle. Our analysis bypasses many of the issues cited by Long-Wave theory critics and in fact clarifies the mathematical structure of the theory.


This paper presents a decision procedure for a certain class of sentences of first order logic involving integral polynomials and the exponential function in which the variables range over the real numbers. The inputs to the decision procedure are prenex sentences in which only the outermost quantified variable can occur in the exponential function. The decision procedure has been implemented in the computer logic system REDLOG. Closely related work is reported in [2, 7, 16, 20, 24].


In most real analysis textbooks, the standard example of a nonmeasurable set is a subset of the real line that is due to Vitali [3]. We describe a similar nonmeasurable subset of the torus (and hence the plane), where we can more easily visualize the set. In the process of constructing the set, students get an opportunity to experience how topics they learned in algebra and topology can be used in analysis. The idea of Vitali's example is to express the unit interval I as a disjoint union of countably many mutually congruent sets Ak. The nonmeasurability of each Ak follows from the observation that I = UkEz Ak and that countable additivity of measure implies that 1 = m(I) = Lkez m(Ak). Since each set Ak must have the same measure, the last equation shows that no nonnegative value can be assigned as the measure of each Ak. We will use this same idea with the square [0, 1] x [0, 1] in the plane R2. The advantage is that we will now have a more visual object than that of Vitali's example because the example will appear as a subset of a torus.


In recent years, we have witnessed a growing interest in adopting network automation solutions to maximize network availability in increasingly hybrid data centers networks. Amongst all the solution design characteristics, reliability, performance, scalability, and minimal resource overhead, are essential features that influence the adoption choice. This interest, and the associated challenges, have led to a rapid development of several network automation solutions that are available in the market, mostly offered by the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). In this paper, we explore the ability to develop lightweight network automation Python programs to automate data center network tasks that can run on private cloud environments. We compare the programs performance running on the cloud implementation with a conventional deployment on a standalone physical server. Further, we evaluate the execution time performance and the recovery of the Python programs running different network tasks. Our measurements show that the reading performance for the programs running on the cloud achieves a steady performance across multiple runs with relative improvements compared to the standalone servers. Further, the average performance for the writing tasks produced comparable results for both scenarios. Our analysis shows that the worst writing performance when running on the cloud can still achieve a 22% better performance. Finally, our experimental results show effective utilization of the cloud built-in high availability features to provide necessary levels of recovery without losing the running state, and with acceptable resource overhead.


Introduction Coal fired power plants (CFPP) are the largest anthropogenic stationary sources of mercury emissions in Europe. The USA has developed policies to reduce emissions of mercury from CFPP. The current HM Protocol also addresses the emissions of mercury from CFPP. The Protocol provides information on the Best Available Techniques (BAT) to reduce emissions of mercury. The Protocol does not give a specific emission limit value (ELV) for mercury emissions from CFPP. With the revision of the current protocol new standards aimed at reducing mercury emissions from CFPP could be amended to the HM Protocol now in revision.


The concept of threshold wind speed for sandstorm and a method to calculate the threshold wind speed with the mean wind speed and duration time of the sandstorm were put forward in this paper. With the method the threshold wind speeds for sandstorm in northern China were calculated and the distribution was analyzed, based on the duration time of sandstorm and monthly mean wind speed in the period of 1991-2000. The result is helpful to the forecasting of sandstorm in northern China.


The influence of Ca and Ba modification on the ferroelectric properties of SrBi2Ta2O9 (SBT) was investigated using dense ceramics, and their crystal structures were analyzed by the Rietveld method through high-resolution neutron powder diffraction. The 30% substitution of Sr by a larger Ba lowered the Curie temperature (TC) and decreased remanent polarization (2Pr). In contrast, an equal amount of smaller Ca modification resulted in a marked increase in TC and in a much higher coercive field, but did not improve 2Pr at an applied field lower than 200 kV/cm. Structure refinement revealed that spontaneous polarization (Ps) is determined by the average shift of perovskite blocks along the a axis, and that the Ca-modified SBT had almost the same Ps as SBT. The 30% Ca incorporation did not improve the intrinsic polarization, however enhanced TaO6 octahedral rotation in the a-b plane, which would lead to the higher TC.


Two new fractions of complement have been isolated from pig serum containing C′1, C′3, and C′4, and C′1 and C′3, respectively. Probably because of their C′3 content, these fractions greatly enhance the lytic activity of gpC′. The maximal velocity of the reaction between EAC′1,4,2 (C′ cells) and the 1,3,4 fraction is directly proportional to the quantity of 1,3,4 added at constant EAC′1,4,2 concentration, and directly proportional to the EAC′1,4,2 concentration at constant 1,3,4 concentration. The concentration of C′3 was not appreciably diminished in the hemolytic reaction as carried out in these experiments.


Children may have difficulty in understanding liked scale in rating websites. However, they are easily attracted to images and icons. Therefore, in any evaluation with children, use of images and icon can be used instead of
numbers. This study proposes to try fuzzy computing with expression as a method for children to evaluate websites. It uses linguistic expressions as a method in the evaluation process. Linguistic expressions are applicable to
children where expressions are much likeable by children than numerical scaling (e.g. 1 to 5 rating). Evaluation with linguistic expression is applied
during the interviews, questions and answers session with the children. Children websites were chosen for evaluation as a proof of idea that linguistic expression work better for children. Websites are important to children as
one of the media for education learning and entertainment; however, children websites in Malaysia seems to be limited. This chapter shades some results from a pilot study as the outcomes of using fuzzy computing with expression
with Children. The evaluation focus on fonts styles on the children websites. In addition, it also describes a scenario of children websites development and advancement in Malaysia.


Entrepreneurial activity, its types and methods of action in the markets are very diverse. Markets also have great differences, features or specifics, therefore, a comparative analysis of the feasibility of entering or presence in them requires not only the calculation of economic indicators, but also the development of a single sequence and lines of business for any market, type and scale of business, allowing an analysis of the possibility of effective conducting different types of business, occupying desired positions in the market, compare these business opportunities in different markets. A sequence of interrelated actions and directions of entrepreneurial activity in the market, their structure and description, which are common for any type of business, are proposed, which allow analyzing the state, functioning and possibility of developing any type of business in any market, determining the feasibility of entering the market or being present on it.


A derivation is presented for the calculation of the interelement mutual coupling in a finite-size planar array of waveguide-fed apertures covered by a multilayered dielectric and/or plasma. The general mutual admittance expression is evaluated for circular apertures and the mutual coupling calculations are verified experimentally for two transverse electric circular waveguide mode excited apertures. A parametric study of higher order mode aperture fields indicates that the only significant change in the circular aperture mutual coupling is due to the transverse magnetic mode, which introduces an additional phase shift. Qualitative agreement between calculations for a 183-element array of circular apertures and an infinite array establishes the validity of the finite-array theoretical model.


In recent years, new energy vehicles in Beijing have developed rapidly. This creates a huge demand for charging. It is a difficult problem to accurately identify the charging behavior of new energy vehicles and evaluate the use effect of social charging piles (CART piles) in Beijing. In response, this paper established the charging characteristics analysis model of new energy logistics vehicles based on the positioning data of new energy logistics vehicles. It also researched vehicle SOC and charging electricity and analyzed the utilization characteristics of charging facilities operation by using the operation data of charging facilities. Finally, this paper established the evaluation index system of regional charging facility layout to evaluate the construction level of charging facilities in each district.


A task of agricultural universities is mainly to train applied talents. The skill level is one of important qualities of student in the future development, to a certain extent, reflects quality and level of the university education. Considering of agricultural university students with poorer skills at present, this paper took students in grassland science major at South China Agricultural University as the research subject, with the goal to improve student's skill level, to cultivate applied talents with excellent comprehensive quality, and then to put forward the plan to establish a farming training system for grassland science major. The training system was focused on professional curriculum, and integrated related practical curriculum into four modules including grasses identification, turf establishment, turf management, and turf quality evaluation according to the teaching plan. Finally every farming training operation and evaluation method for each module were put forward in order to explore the way to improve the level of practical teaching in agricultural universities.


This research examines the role of management exposure to external information sources, such as training sessions, plant visits, and conferences, in helping manufacturing or-ganizations achieve lean goals. Based on an initial qualitative study of 18 Canadian manufac-turers, a model is proposed highlighting the relationship between various key drivers of lean, external information sources, management commitment to lean, and lean thinking. To empiri-cally test the model, 1000 surveys were mailed to Canadian manufacturers in the summer of 2007, with 109 usable surveys returned (i.e., 11% response rate). Analyzing the data using partial least squares, the common sources of management information on lean and their effec-tiveness for lean improvements are discussed.


Etiology and Epidemiology: TCDs account for around 40% of cervical malformations in children with peak incidence occurring during the first three decades of life. This anomoly has been attributed to the persistence of the tract formed during migration of the rudimentary thryroid gland between the base of the tongue and the anterior cervical region Residual epithelial elements that do not completely atrophy may give rise to cysts in childhood or adult life in the posterior portion of the tongue (lingual thyroid) or in the neck itself.


It discusses mechanism of static pressure pile in process of its sinkage, analyzes common problems combined with actual applicative situation of project, propounds corresponding handling measures and points out that combining static pressure pile with prefabricated square pile prestress tube pile has better constructive effects.


The substrate temperature has been measured and controlled by an adaptively calibrated pyrometer during the YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7/ film deposition process. The experimental results show that a feedback control system based on this pyrometer can maintain the substrate temperature accurately at a set value. Thermal problems associated with the fabrication of multilayer structures are discussed. The study demonstrates accurate substrate temperature measurement and control for large-area film growth, facilitating the fabrication of high-quality superconducting electronic devices.<<ETX>>


Improvement attributes in healthcare; implications for integrated care. patrick john harnett, Article information: To cite this document: patrick john harnett, "Improvement attributes in healthcare; implications for integrated care.", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-07-2016-0097 Permanent link to this document: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-07-2016-0097


The article researches definition, objectives and basic directions of judicial power communication strategy realization. Legal basis of judicial power communications in Ukraine is analyzed on the basis of European standards. Following objectives of the court communication strategy exist: 1) population attitude change in regards to judicial system; 2) increasing the interest of the public towards judicial power; 3) increasing citizens awareness about legal issues; 4) relations improvement with target or interested groups (tor instance, mass media, public human rights organizations); 5) legislative changes implementation that are needed for the legal system; 6) increasing the efficiency of judges and court staff.
It is defined that court communication strategy can be developed at two levels: 1) inner level, that means working with judges and court staff about their communicative skills, organizing courts to be informationally saturated and comfortable both for visitors and staff; 2) outer level, that means informing the public about court work, organizing constant dialogue with the public and mass media Furthermore, some types of court communications are analyzed in detail: 1) institutional informational interaction, which comes out of the citizens right to get information about the contents of public power organs activity; 2) interaction directly connected with legal process (cooperation with legal activity participators, attracting the public to partake in legal process, ability to be present at judicial sittings, access to results of legal process - judgments); 3) coordinative cooperation of the court with different social institutes, mass media in particular. A conclusion is given that court communication strategy should be developed to provide inner and outer communication, it should include some communicative means, methods, techniques, which will help providing correct information about court and judges activity, providing constant dialogue with the public and mass media, providing independent judicial power, guaranteeing law and order, providing fair and just judiciary and also aligning Ukrainian legal process with European standards, forming positive image of judiciary system of Ukraine in public.


The Fengtai ore concentration area is an important Pb- Zn- Au metallogenic area in the Qinling Mountains, and the Shuangwang gold deposit is a representative large-sized deposit of auriferous albite breccias type in this area. Based on Gregorian's zoning index method, the authors studied the vertical zoning characteristics of primary halos at the depth of drill holes ZK18- 5,ZK30- 1, and ZK40- 5 in orebodies KT9 and KT8. By discussing the vertical variation of the zoning rate of primary halos, the graphical method of 3-end-mumber diagram, and the vertical change rules of the geochemical parameter, the authors hold that the orebody indicated by ZK18- 5 thins out gradually at the depth, with a higher degree of mineralization at the elevation of 950 m;bead-shaped orebodies may occur at the depth of ZK30-1, with a higher degree of mineralization at the elevation of 980 m; the ore body indicated by ZK40- 5 with a higher degree of mineralization at the elevation of 850 m still extends to the depth without pinching out.


Introduction: This study found an increasing incidence and cost burden of septic arthritis because there are no criteria guiding the decision to perform arthrocentesis in adults. In this study, the authors aimed to determine whether arthrocentesis can be used as a diagnostic criterion for suspected septic arthritis. Methods: This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in our rheumatology department, and include patients aged greater than 18 years with mono-arthritis suspected to be septic arthritis. The exclusion criteria were prosthetic joints, inflammatory arthritis, participation in the study, and the inability to provide informed consent. Information was registered, including demographic data, smoking, alcoholism, comorbidities, BMI, symptoms and signs via medical history, clinical examinations (joint pain, local fever, and range-of-motion), fever (temperature >38°C), and laboratory markers including white blood cell count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and C-reactive protein. The patients were divided into two groups: group 1 (patients who had arthrocentesis) and group 2 (patients who did not). The authors also divided patients who had arthrocentesis into two subgroups: patients with septic arthritis and patients without. Arthrocentesis was done. Results: A total of 256 patients were entered in our study, divided into two groups according to arthrocentesis. In all patients, the joint involved was the knee. Group 1 included 142 knee-aspirated patients (55.46%), and group 2 included 114 nonaspirated patients (44.53%). All aspirations were performed without image guidance. The ages, laboratory markers, physical exams, and comorbidities were not significant between the two groups on multivariate analysis. Synovial cultures were positive in 75.67% of patients. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common germ. No patient had died. The authors did not find any predictive risk factors for whether a joint was septic or not. Fever was significantly more frequent in joint-aspirated patients with septic arthritis. Conclusion: The aspiration decision is still the best in clinical practice in light of available clinical and laboratory findings, although further multicenter, larger studies are needed. Based on our findings, the authors decided to aspirate the joint based on positive guided findings and comorbidity risk factors.


To the Editor: We have read with interest the letter to the editor from Bhambhani et al. and would like to present 2 additional cases of Lyme disease presenting as a ruptured synovial cyst that are pertinent to the report. Furthermore, these cases emphasize some of the suggestions these authors made regarding diagnosis of this disease. Periarticular synovial cysts of the knee (e.g., Baker cyst) with or without rupture are common in the general population. A Baker cyst may represent a true cyst but more commonly results from the posterior herniation of a tense knee effusion. They are typically associated with rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis (OA), meniscal tears, and synovitis of diverse etiologies. Ultimately any cause of synovitis could be associated with rupture. Synovial effusion, while common in Lyme arthritis has rarely been reported in association with cyst rupture. We describe 2 cases of Lyme disease presenting with cyst rupture and pseudo-thrombophlebitis. In both cases, delay in diagnosis led to inappropriate therapy and morbidity. Case No. 1. Nine months prior to admission (PTA), a 54-year-old Caucasian male noted acute onset of pain in the right knee with calf swelling. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a meniscal tear with ruptured Baker cyst. Treatment with valdecoxib and physical therapy led to improvement. Two months PTA, he developed similar symptoms in the left knee. MRI again revealed meniscal tear and a ruptured Baker cyst. He was treated accordingly. Six days PTA, he developed acute onset pain and swelling in the right knee and calf. He denied tick bite and had no other manifestations of Lyme disease. On admission, the right knee revealed moderate erythema, warmth, and swelling associated with popliteal fullness extending to the right calf. Duplex ultrasound (US) showed a noncompressible mass at the right popliteal fossa without venous obstruction. Arthrocentesis of the right knee revealed inflammatory synovial fluid, which tested positive for Borrelia burgdorferi by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Lyme enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot were positive in serum. Ceftriaxone 2g intravenously (IV) every 24 hours was administered for 4 weeks leading to resolution. He had no recurrence after 6 months. Case No. 2. Six years PTA a 59-year-old Caucasian male developed erythema chronicum migrans (EM) and received 1 week of antibiotic. In the 2 years PTA, he developed 4 attacks of recurrent left knee pain and swelling with mild fever. Episodes were treated with NSAID and resolved. After the third attack, a diagnosis of OA was made based upon MRI findings of patellofemoral OA with knee effusion. Three weeks PTA, he developed gradual onset right knee and ankle pain and swelling. Ibuprofen provided partial resolution. One week PTA, pain and swelling spread from the right knee to the right thigh and upper calf. Four days before, he developed a fever and was hospitalized. MRI revealed large effusion under tension with marked distension of the right suprapatella bursa and rupturd popliteal cyst (Fig. 1). Serum enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blot were positive for Lyme disease. Synovial fluid PCR for B. burgdorferi was negative from the right knee but positive from synovitis which developed in the left knee a few days later. Ceftriaxone 2g IV every 24 hours was administered for 4 weeks with resolution. He had no recurrence after 6 months. We have described 2 patients with synovial cyst rupture due to Lyme arthritis, both confirmed by B. burgdorferi DNA in synovial fluid using PCR. Each was successfully treated with IV antibiotic therapy leading to resolution of inflammatory events. These cases are noteworthy as they reveal a treatable disease that was mistakenly assumed to be due to coexistent OA with meniscal pathology. Considering the prevalence of Lyme disease, OA and meniscal tears, we assume other cases of Lyme disease leading to synovial cyst formation have been overlooked in endemic areas. Late articular manifestations of Lyme disease are common in patients with inapparent infection or untreated EM. This was demonstrated in a study of 55 patients with nontreated EM where 80% of patients developed an articular manifestation over a mean period of 6 years. In areas endemic for Lyme disease, adult patients with OA, meniscal tears, and synovial cysts should be tested for Lyme disease with serologies and synovial fluid PCR. FIGURE 1. Fat-suppressed T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging of right leg in case 2. The left panel demonstrates a large effusion under tension with marked distension of the right suprapatella bursa (arrow). Right panel demonstrates diffuse fluid between fascial planes behind the left knee from ruptured popliteal cyst (arrowhead).


In order to maintain the anammox biomass,waterborne polyurethane( WPU) was employed as carriers to immobilize anammox sludge,as compared to polyvinyl alcohol( PVA),sodium alginate( SA)and mixture of PVA-SA. The physical stability and anaerobic ammonium oxidation activity of the granules were evaluated. The results indicate that the four immobilized granules all have higher anaerobic ammonium oxidation activity. WPU is the most suitable immobilizing material among others,because WPU granules have shown the best biological activity and physical stability. In continuous flow experiments,the physical stability and anaerobic ammonium oxidation activity of the granules were further investigated through increasing volume loading by lowering hydraulic retention time( HRT). It was found that for WPU immobilized granules,there were no increasing effluent SS and granule fracture in the 100-day operation,and the total nitrogen( TN) removal rate still reached 80% when volume loading was1. 697 kg /( m3·d). Meanwhile WPU immobilized granules showed strong capability of retaining sludgeand good stability in long-term-run. Through 16 S r DNA cloning,it was discovered that the primary ANAMMOX bacteria inside the WPU-immobilized granules were affiliated to Candidatus Brocadia fulgida( JX243641. 1). As carriers,WPU protected ANAMMOX bacteria and increased biomass. However,they had no effect on bacteria and bacterial community structure.


This paper puts forward a design scheme of the collection and process system based on the pressure transducer signals,talks about that the system can make sampling of the output signals of the transducer and transform them into the word signals taking the AVR microcomputer as the core,and expounds the software flow and Modbus communication protocol.


The uterine atony is one of the main causes of maternal morbidity and mortality during the postpartum, it is considered the second cause of maternal death in the whole world, it is considered one of the first causes of Postpartum Hemorrhage since it occupies 70% of the cases reported according to the protocol of the Ministry of Public Health.

In this clinical case, a patient of approximately 20 years, multigesta-secundiparous, is presented to the gyneco-obstetric emergency department of the Alfredo Noboa Montenegro Hospital for referring a clinical picture characterized by mild abdominal pain and sporadic, low-intensity contractile type of about 12 hours of evolution with a gestational age of approximately 42 weeks per date of last menstruation, does not present a first-trimester ultrasound report.

The clinical case proposal was based on a description and analysis of the risk factors and complications of uterine atony in a multigesta patient of 20 years for prolonged and induced delivery in order to design a plan for evaluating good practices in care of the pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum, aimed at professionals who care for women during the birth process, leading to permanent surveillance during the birth process, with the appropriate application of updated and current standards and protocols.


BACKGROUND
The polymorphic length restriction fragment technique (PLRF) complements epidemiologic investigations. The aim of this study was to present an outbreak of tuberculosis in which the risk factors of infection and disease were studied.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
A descriptive study was carried out in cases of tuberculosis. The isolated strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were typed by the PLRF technique. A study of the prevalence of infection was carried out among the 61 classmates of two classrooms (A and B) which the index case attended. An historical cohort study was thereafter performed among the cases with infection. The association of the dependent variable (infection or tuberculosis disease) with the remaining variables was determined by the odds ratio (OR).

RESULTS
The incidence of disease was 9.8% (6/61). The strains isolated in 5 patients presented the same PLRF pattern. The prevalence study detected 28 infections (45.9%). Five cases (17.9%) were detected on the second tuberculin test. By multivariate analysis showed that the hours of exposure (1.8-3.2 hours, OR = 2.0; > 3.2 hours; OR = 10.2) were the risk factor for infection. The BCG vaccine, the intensity of the reaction to the tuberculin test and age could be associated with the risk of disease.

CONCLUSIONS
The focus of the outbreak was confirmed by the PLRF technique. The importance of repeating the tuberculin test in whom the test was negative on the first test is of note. To evaluate the risk of infection the time of exposure is more important than the proximity to the index case.


We address the issue of the use of symmetry-based representations, such as the medial axis and an augmented form of it, the shock structure, to regenerate shapes. First, we address pointwise reconstruction of the boundary from points of the medial axis. As classified into three generic types (A/sup 2//1 mid-branch, A/sub 3/ end point of a branch, and A/sub 1//sup 3/ junction). Second, we examine the intrinsic reconstruction of shape when differential properties of the axis are also available. We show the surprising result that the tangent and curvature of the medial axis, coupled with the speed and acceleration of the shock flowing along the's axis, i.e., first and second order properties, are sufficient to determine the boundary tangents and curvatures at corresponding points of the boundary. This implies that for a rather coarse sampling of the symmetry axis, the location together with its tangent, curvature: speed, and acceleration is sufficient to accurately regenerate a local neighborhood of shape at this point. Together with reconstruction properties at junction (A/sup 3//sub 1/) and end points (A/sub 3/), these results lead to the full intrinsic regeneration of a shape from a representation of it as a directed planar graph (where the links represent curvature and acceleration functions, and where the nodes contain tangent and speed information): a representation ideally suited for the design and manipulation of free-form shape.


As a complete overview of Internet and network security, this guide explains the means by which security is implemented in a variety of computing environments. -- Points out the inconsistencies, weaknesses, and breaches in existing computer security implementations -- Takes a comprehensive look at Internet and network security/loopholes, including Firewalls, PGP, Public and Private Keys, digital cash, Digital Signatures, and the Clipper chip -- Uses understandable definitions instead of meaningless technical jargon


This study examines the emergence of a neo‐Nazi terrorist movement in Sweden, focusing on the largest group, Vitt Ariskt Motstand (White Aryan Resistance). VAM is inspired by traditional national socialism, the militant wing of the skinhead movement, South African apartheid ideology and, especially, US racist groups like 'The Order'. Notions of the 'Zionist Occupation Government' (ZOG) and the coming 'racial war' are central in VAM's worldview. The adaptation of this extreme revolutionary ideology radicalized the group towards terrorism. The quest for status and prestige within the group and vis‐a‐vis other groups has also been an important factor in this radicalization process.1


Sordarin derivatives are selective inhibitors of fungal protein synthesis, which specifically impair elongation factor 2 (EF-2) function. We have studied the effect of sordarin on the ribosome-dependent GTPase activity of EF-2 fromCandida albicans in the absence of any other component of the translation system. The effect of sordarin turned out to be dependent both on the ratio of ribosomes to EF-2 and on the nature of the ribosomes. When the amount of EF-2 exceeded that of ribosomes sordarin inhibited the GTPase activity following an inverted bell-shaped dose-response curve, whereas when EF-2 and ribosomes were in equimolar concentrations sordarin yielded a typical sigmoidal dose-dependent inhibition. However, when ricin-treated ribosomes were used, sordarin stimulated the hydrolysis of GTP. These results were compared with those obtained with fusidic acid, showing that both drugs act in a different manner. All these data are consistent with sordarin blocking the elongation cycle at the initial steps of translocation, prior to GTP hydrolysis. In agreement with this conclusion, sordarin prevented the formation of peptidyl-[3H]puromycin on polysomes from Candida albicans.


The Impella pump system for mechanical circulatory support comes in two versions: the 2.5 pump, which is inserted percutaneously and delivers a maximum flow of 2.5 L per minute, and the larger 5.0 pump, which requires surgical cut down of the femoral or axillary artery and …


The present report describes the Descriptive Analysis (DA) of aromatic profile of some tropical plants. The standard selection criteria of the panelists was performed and preference was made to those who were familiar with tropical aromatic plants. The specific descriptive terms were by consensus among the panelists together with the analysed descriptors derived from the volatile compositions from Gas Chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GCMS) results. Here, we presented lists of the descriptive terms used to analyse the aromas from fresh or extract of basils, garlic, some species of the Zanthoxylum and rhizomes of the ginger family.  In the context of testing this protocol, we performed the descriptive analysis of fresh and heated Chok-Anan mango puree.  Six aromatic terms were (viz., mango identity, tropical fruit, fermented, green, sour fruit and sweet) generate by the panelists which were referred to the GCMS results. Panelists rated the intensity (scaling from 0 - 15) of the aromas. The results illustrate that green tropical fruit and mango identity were dominant in Chok-Anan mango puree. Heat treatment increased the intensity of the described mango aromas.


Event geologic functions,such as fault,volcano and earthquake,play a great role in oil and gas formation,migration and accumulation in central uplift belt,Huimin depression.In event accumulation of hydrocarbon progress,fluid rush out of the source rock and flow rapidly in its pathway.Pore fluid pressure can do favor to rock's rupture,while tectonic movement is the main factor that induces the rupture of source rock and the episodic fluid migration.Event accumulation of hydrocarbon can occur before or after the continuous oil and gas migration,it depends on the active period of the tectonic movement.The progress of oil and gas pool-forming can be divided to three parts:static period before the gusty event,unstable period during the gusty event,static period after the gusty event,among which,the second is the main period of the event accumulation of hydrocarbon.The features of vertical oil and gas distribution are the results of event accumulation of hydrocarbon.


Although the impact that information technology can have on the delivery of health care is widely acknowledged, surprisingly, empirical investigation of this impact has been limited. One explanation for the paucity of rigorous studies is that practitioners and scholars alike, struggle with the fact that health information technology (HIT) is diffusing at a relatively slow rate compared to other industries, and thus there are limited avenues for pursuing this type of investigation. In this paper we draw on theories of cognition and use a large data set collected from a nationwide telephone survey to examine the acceptance of HIT. The specific technology examined is the personal health record (PHR). We argue that individuals will engage in a sensemaking process and develop cognitive schemas about electronic PHRs based on factors describing their health situations and technological sophistication. Using factor analysis and structural equation modeling, we first derive the cognitive schema and then test for its effects on the user's willingness to store health information electronically. Results support the proposed conceptualization and yield important implications for future research and practice.


The release behavior of the fission products iodine and cesium has been characterized in fission product release tests that have been conducted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory with highly irradiated, light water reactor fuel segments under conditions simulating severe accidents. The chemical forms of the fission products depended on the composition of the carrier gases used in the tests. In purified helium or steam-helium-hydrogen atmospheres, the behavior of the released iodine was characteristic of cesium iodide, whereas that of the cesium, which was not associated with cesium iodide, was characteristic of cesium oxide in the helium atmosphere and of cesium hydroxide in the steam-helium-hydrogen atmosphere. In the dry-air tests, iodine appeared to be in elemental form and cesium in the oxide form. In the steam-helium-hydrogen tests, the released cesium (other than CsI) significantly reacted with and was retained by hot oxidized stainless steel, zirconia, and silica surfaces. In contrast, cesium iodide appeared to be unaffected by these surfaces.


The author's research on the tuning and scale systems of the Central African xylophone and Javanese gamelan has departed from previous Western ethnomusicological studies in these areas. Rather than relying on acoustical measurement as a primary source of data, his team has adopted an interactive approach involving the participation of Central African and Javanese musicians, who work with researchers to demonstrate their tuning processes using synthesizers and MIDI systems. The author presents results of this experimentation and explains the inconsistencies of previous research in terms of differing cultural concepts of scale.


The problem of the friction between the piston groups and the cylinder wall was studied and its friction heat model was established.The problem of friction heat of sliding bearing was also studied by liquid friction theory and its model was established.Combined with the problem of the fuel flow,the friction heat model between diesel fuel and the conduit of the spray oil pump was studied by the method of conserva- tion of energy.The distribution model for the friction heat between two kinds of objects was provided and the effect produced by the engine's rotate speed,the air temperature and the air pressure on friction heat in the engine was further studied.


..................................................................................................................................... I Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. III Dedications .............................................................................................................................. IV Declaration ................................................................................................................................ V List of Acronyms ...................................................................................................................... X List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... XI List of Tables ......................................................................................................................... XII CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background and Context of the Study ............................................................................. 2 1.2 Theoretical Framework .................................................................................................... 5 1.2.1 Applying the Activity Theory to Bank Staff............................................................. 8 1.3 Definition of Key Terms .................................................................................................. 9 1.3 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................... 10 1.4 Research Objectives ....................................................................................................... 10 1.5 Research Questions ........................................................................................................ 11 1.6 Research Paradigm ......................................................................................................... 11 1.7 Research Methodology and Methods............................................................................. 12 1.8 Significance of Study ..................................................................................................... 13 1.9 Limitations of the Study................................................................................................. 14 1.10 Outline of Thesis .......................................................................................................... 14 1.11 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER TWO: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICT) 16 2.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 16 2.1 Defining ICTs ................................................................................................................ 17 2.1.1 ICT as devices ......................................................................................................... 17 2.1.2 ICT as a service ....................................................................................................... 18 2.1.3 ICT as a system ....................................................................................................... 18 2.2 Impact of ICT ................................................................................................................. 19 2.2.1 The challenge in expressing the impact of ICTs ..................................................... 19 2.2.2 The potentional value of ICT integration ................................................................ 21


The decrease in the fatigue parameter n of ground ceramics and its effect on lifetime were discussed. The decrease was observed in dynamic fatigue tests of nonoxide ceramics containing a glassy phase and of oxide ceramics. It is considered that the decrease in n value is mainly dependent on the degree of stress corrosion due to water vapor. We also revealed that the decrease in the n value can be prevented by controlling the grain depth of cut g below a critical value (g cr ) f . The static fatigue test of ground ceramics was also carried out and the shortening of lifetime was observed, although the strength degradation was small.


The radiative heat transfer in highly porous materials, open cellular structure or open-celled foam, is reviewed to characterize the radiative transport process in terms of fundamental radiative properties such as extinction coefficient ( β ), albedo ( ω ) and scattering phase function : P ( cos q ). Firstly, the geometric shape and topology of open-celled foam are deeply presented. Thereafter, the governing equation for radiative transfer (RTE) and the solution methods are represented. Finally, analytical expressions relating such radiative properties to basic structural parameters developed through mathematical modeling and experimental studies are briefly recalled and discussed.


Confronting the Internet's Dark Side is the first book on social responsibility on the Internet. The book aims to strike a balance between the free speech principle and the responsibilities of the individual, corporation, state, and the international community. This book brings a global perspective to the analysis of some of the most troubling uses of the Internet. It urges net users, Internet service providers, and liberal democracies to weigh freedom and security, finding the golden mean between unlimited license and moral responsibility. This judgement is necessary to uphold the very liberal democratic values that gave rise to the Internet and that are threatened by an unbridled use of technology.


The purpose of the algorithm is to convert the raster formats of radar data,which don't consist of geography information,into the vector elements,so that the radar data can be recognized,and treated for analyzing in GIS.The operation of the merge scans the matrix of radar data from left to right,and upper to bottom for disposition.Considering their adjacent points'value,points having the same rank-value are merged into an irregular polygon.After this procedure,not only the display and procession of radar data are accelerated greatly,but also the spatial analysis of observed radar data overlapped with the objects of points,lines and even polygons are accessible with the help of GIS operator.By the end,the application demonstrates the precision of the merge operator,which doesn't cause any distortion in spatial form,and the procession is performed promptly,apt to the meteorological monitoring and pre-warning service in urban area.It can be drawn that being the vector format of radar data,some useful functions,which can be developed upon the spatial analysis and statistics,are more powerful than those with the original data format.


This paper applies boundary element method to the analysis of well testing.By combining boundary element method with filtration mechanics method,a mathematic model of well testing interpretation in a dual medium reservoir of random shape is built up and solved,which takes well bore storage and skin effect into consideration.Moreover,the curve features of downhole pressure dynamic are analyzed.


To meet the requirements of detecting methane gas concentration in specific environment,a WS. node realized methane gas concentration detection and alarm was designed. Multiple MJC4 /3. 0 methane sensors were used to pick up concentration signals and a ultra-low power consumption MSP430 microcontroller wad taken as the core. The data acquisition,storage,processing and transmission were achieved. The method of multi-sensor data fusion based on Bayes estimation was applied to reduce the impact of sensor faults to the detection results,while improved the accuracy and reliability of the test results.


Objective To investigate the relationship between indoor decoration and sick building syndrome (SBS) in middle living standard families in Northern China. Method 1166 residents of the families with or without indoor decoration were surveyed by questionnaire. Results There were different degree of sick building syndrome in residents whose houses were decorated recently in great quantity.The main symptoms were smell,eye itch,eye dry,throat dry,runny nose,sneeze etc. Analyzed by the conditional Logistic regression,the result showed that there was a significant relationship between these symptoms of SBS and indoor decoration.The main pollutant was formaldehyde. Conclusion Formaldehyde was one of the main pollutants from indoor decoration.


As an important part of national economy and information society,e-commerce represents the future development of new commerce.It breaks through the traditional time and space limitation,reduces the gaps among production,distribution and consumption,increases the management efficiency of material flow,cash flow and information flow,and plays more and more important roles in widening business space,lowering cost,increasing efficiency and promoting economic and commerce development.The development of e-commerce not only causes the revolution of economic theory,economic structure and economic development pattern,but also changes commercial pattern and production system,which will lead to the transformation of commercial conception of consumers,laborers and investors.It is very important to develop e-commerce for promoting the industry structure adjustment,changing the economic development pattern,increasing the efficiency and quality of national economy,forming new force of national economy development,and obtaining the continuous development of economy and society.


Objective To explore the possible mechanisms of Wuling Jun Power by the DNA microarray technique.Methods An experimental depression model was established by exposing the mouse to a chronic mild stress procedure. The total RNA was extracted reverse-transcripted and hybrided to the mouse 1.2 cDNA microarray (Clontech). The difference of expression profiles between control model,Wuling Jun powder and fluoxetine-treated groups were analyzed by the Image 2.1 Software.Results 130 genes were significantly altered in stress group compared with the control groups. Among them,116 genes were up-regulated and 14 genes were down-regulated. Meanwhile,85 genes significantly changed in the Wuling Jun powder treated group with 34 genes up-regulated and 51 genes down-regulated compared with the model groups. For the Fluoxetine-treated group,133 genes significantly changed with 35 genes up-regulated and 98 genes down-regulated compared with the model groups. These genes were associated with many aspects of life including receptor activity,protein kinases,inflammatory factors,transferrin,neurogenesis and so on.Conclusion Multiple genes were affected by the stress exposure. Altered changes of some genes were normalized by Wuling Jun powder and Fluoxetine treatment. In general,the mechanisms of Wuling Jun powder and Fluoxetine are similar,but also with minor difference.


Intersex is an anomaly in the reproductive system, which characterizes animals that have ambiguity in the genital system. The documented report is of a dog that presented abnormalities in the external genitalia, with the presence of a hemipenis in its vulva. The animal was submitted to hormone dosage of progesterone, testosterone and estrogen. Imaging tests such as ultrasound and X-rays were performed, with an exploratory celiotomy and histopathology being chosen as the therapeutic approach. According to the findings in the imaging exams, testicular structure was observed in the location of the ovaries, and in the x-ray images it was possible to observe the presence of underdeveloped penile bone in the hemipenis. Hormone dosage indicated significant changes in testosterone increase 2,300 pg/ml, estrogen concentrations were 8.00 pg/ml being normal and high progesterone 0.91 ng/ml. Microscopic findings in histopathology indicated testicular structure present in the ovaries, thus concluding the diagnosis of true hermaphroditism.


This paper discussed specific features of corporate behavior in Indonesia related to corporate governance issues. Since corporate governance structure in Indonesia is also characterized by the fact that most companies are managed and owned principally by founding family members, there exists potential conflict of interests between the governance participants. This paper argues that business ethics play as a key role in mitigating the conflicts in order to facilitate healthy business practices that accommodate various interests of stakeholders. Moreover, any effort to promote sound governance practices should consider the country's specific factors such as cultural issues that relates to business practices. Appropriate regulatory environment, therefore, is necessary to determine the rights and obligations of governance participants and the incentive to promote sound governance practices and business sustainability.


Detection and isolation of failures in large, complex systems is a crucial and challenging task. The increasingly stringent requirements on performance and reliability of complex technological systems have necessitated the development of sophisticated and systematic methods for the timely and accurate diagnosis of system failures. We propose a discrete-event systems (DES) approach to the failure diagnosis problem. This approach is applicable to systems that fall naturally in the class of DES; moreover, for the purpose of diagnosis, continuous-variable dynamic systems can often be viewed as DES at a higher level of abstraction. We present a methodology for modeling physical systems in a DES framework and illustrate this method with examples. We discuss the notion of diagnosability, the construction procedure of the diagnoser, and necessary and sufficient conditions for diagnosability. Finally, we illustrate our approach using realistic models of two different heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, one diagnosable and the other not diagnosable. While the modeling methodology presented here has been developed for the purpose of failure diagnosis, its scope is not restricted to this problem; it can also be used to develop DES models for other purposes such as control.