One of the main directions in the application of mathematical methods in construction - is to create the complex objects using simple algorithms of fractal geometry with the use of computer technology. The use of fractal geometry methods to describe real systems, in particular, in the development of the architectural appearance of the city and the design of modern structures of the most amazing shape, will allow solving the problems of research and forecasting the urban environments development.


Abstract Between 1945 and 1949, the British military conducted a large number of war crimes trials in Europe and Asia. Based on historical archival records, among other sources, this article evaluates and compares the British authorities' implementation of the 1945 Royal Warrant and war crimes trials in Europe and Asia, with a specific focus on trials organized in Germany and Singapore. By examining the British war crimes trial experience in those two jurisdictions, the article analyzes factors shaping the evolution of the Royal Warrant's legal framework and trial model in different contexts. It therefore contributes to the growing historical work on post-Second World War trials and current debates among scholars of transitional justice and international criminal law on the contextual factors that impact on war crimes trials.


We know that exopolysaccharides of microbial origin are of great practical importance, and have their industrial value because of the biological and physico - chemical characteristics of the producer. We had a goal to study the most important properties of an exopolysaccharide isolated from a bacterial culture of Streptococcus thermophilus. First we got exopolysaccharide. After that we had cultured the bacteria on A. Welman at 38 °C for 48 hours. To do this, 3000 g of culture liquid had been centrifuged for 30 minutes. Next, we removed the biomass sludge, and we evaporated the centrifuge on a rotary evaporator. After that, we precipitated the exopolysaccharide with a double volume of 96% ethyl alcohol. We got a concentrate which we then dissolved in a small amount of distilled water and had centrifuged for 30 minutes. Afterwards my colleges and I precipitated it again. Our further purification of the exopolysaccharide we had to perform using some gel filtration on a column with a Sephadex G-50. It had to be dried on a freeze dryer. Thus, we obtained an exopolysaccharide in the form of a light brown powder, it was odorless, without any foreign impurities and any producer cells. Our further work included following steps: we had to know the molecular weight of the exopolysaccharide. It was possible to make with gel chromatography on a Toyopearl – HW –50F column. We determined the chemical nature of the exopolysaccharide through ion exchange chromatography using a SPS Bio DEA medium with 70 microns. We determined the monosaccharide composition with the help of a thin-layer chromatography on DC-Alufolien Cellulose plates, and the relative viscosity by viscometer. As a result of our research, the exopolysaccharide S. thermophilus were presented by a single neutral fraction, with molecular weight of 20,000 Da, with a small relative viscosity.


Dye sensitized solar cells (DSCs) modules are an emergent photovoltaic technology but still present some weaknesses in terms of long-term stability: sealing is presently the Achilles' heel of DSCs, which is currently preventing their commercialization. Thermoplastic sealants are normally used to bond the two glass substrates of a DSC. However, these thermoplastic sealants, such as Surlyn®, are permeable towards ambient water vapor, UV sensitive, and they cannot be used above 60 °C. Laser assisted glass-frit sealing is a very interesting alternative sealing technique as it has been demonstrated on microelectromechanical systems assembly. For these applications, the laser is shot around the sealing perimeter several times in a loop pattern. Nevertheless, for sealing large areas without heating the samples, this method cannot be applied since the laser loop takes more than 1 s, which is too long for an effective low-temperature glass-frit sealing. At present, work is described a laser assisted sealing techni...


The article evaluates the dynamics of destruction and new formation of soil aggregates, the processes of transition and exchange of soil mass between aggregates of different sizes. The article shows that labeling allows you to get an idea of the rate of destruction of soil macroaggregates. In all cases, the 7-10 mm fraction is more stable than the 3-5 mm fraction. In arable land, the redistribution of the mark occurs in the direction of its displacement into larger fractions. During the observed period, a tendency to reaggregation towards an increase in the size of fractions was revealed.


The ergonomic design of the aircraft cockpit directly affects the pilots' operating experience, which is related to the comfort, convenience and flight safety of the aircraft. The subjective and objective comprehensive evaluation method of the operating efficiency in the cockpit, based on virtual reality, is proposed in this paper. It combines the advantages of both the physical and virtual prototypes to achieve the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the ergonomics. Firstly, this paper defines the component of the virtual cockpit modelling and the mapping relationship between real space and virtual space. This demonstrates the virtual reality model of the cockpit and constructs the foundation for the ergonomic analysis. As a result, the subjective and objective evaluation indexes are put forward, establishing a comprehensive evaluation process of "subjective qualitative and objective quantitative", and achieving a comprehensive assessment oriented to the ergonomics. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed evaluation method in this paper is verified by ergonomic analysis of the joystick.


In the Shadow of State and Capital: The United Fruit Company, Popular Struggle, and Agrarian Restructuring in Ecuador, 1900–1995. Steve Striffler. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2001. 242 pp.


Purpose – This paper aims to elucidate the value of opening up digital collections for end‐user development of mash‐ups and to evaluate the suitability of libraries' infrastructure for this purpose.Design/methodology/approach – The author surveyed ARL members' digital collection platforms to assess the terms of use statements and options for programmatic access.Findings – The findings show that 17 per cent of the institutions surveyed offer some means for mashing up digital collections, and that, while more than half the collections surveyed have some form of terms of use or rights statements, they were not written to support this type of use case.Research limitations/implications – Results of the research suggest that a mashable digital collection service is feasible for most libraries.Originality/value – This paper will be of interest to librarians who are considering providing application programming interface (API) access to their digital collections.


Published in: Sobczak, A., Znajmiecka – Sikora M. (eds.), 2012, Development in the perspective of the human science – opportunities and threats, Lodz: Wydawnictwo UŁ, (pp. 115-128)


This document contains provisions of Panama's 1982 Penal Code. Chapter 2 describes the penalties for inflicting personal injuries that result in 20-30 days incapacitation. If the injury resulted in a permanent loss, such as the loss of the ability to procreate, the punishment is greater. Chapter 3 inflicts a punishment of one to three years imprisonment upon any woman found to induce her own abortion or to allow another person to perform her abortion. Various penalties (ranging from three to nearly 12 years) are given for inducing abortions in various circumstances. These penalties do not apply if the abortion is induced because the pregnancy resulted from rape or if the woman consented to the abortion because of the presence of a serious health risk to her life. Chapter 4 sets the penalty for abandonment of children or incapacitated individuals or failing to aid such individuals.


Microbes that have acquired the ability to colonize and/or cause disease in humans must be able to both recognize and respond to host defenses to ensure their survival. For commensal microbes, adaptive strategies generally promote a balance between host immune defenses and bacterial maintenance, allowing asymptomatic colonization. Pathogenic microbes, on the other hand, tilt the balance in favor of the microorganism, leading to symptomatic illness and disease. Some microorganisms that are known to be asymptomatic colonizers of humans can cause serious disease upon gaining access to foreign sites and usurping immunological attack. The Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is one such microorganism. This article will address recent advances in our understanding of S. aureus immune evasion with an emphasis on immune cell targeting. The prospects of this targeting in terms of understanding the evolution of S. aureus as a pathogen as well as its implications for future anti-S. aureus therapeutics, will be discussed.


Remote forcing from the equatorial Pacific and local forcing from the North Pacific lead to interannual ocean temperature change along the west coast of the United States. In fall-winter seasons, coherent temperature changes extending from the surface to 300 m depth indicate remote forcing. Correlations between time series of ocean temperature change and series of equatorial sea level pressure (SLP) at 12.4°S × 130.9°E were as great below 100 m as at the surface. From 1954 to 1986, coherent warming events occurred only during moderate to strong El Nino years. Warming events more closely related to local North Pacific SLP at 45°N × 165°W have correlations which were greatest at the ocean surface. The first three empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) derived from ocean temperature change series at 0, 100, 200, and 300 m accounted for more than 98% of the variance. The first EOF is most closely correlated with remote forcing, and the second and third EOFs are closely correlated to local forcing. At the sea surface, lags of up to 6 months were found for remote forcing, while lags of less than 3 months were characteristic of local forcing. At 300 m there was an additional oceanic response which appears in phase with remote forcing. The study shows that interannual warming off the west coast has two distinguishable geographical origins and that the remotely generated warming signal arrives as complex dynamic structure having apparent propagation rates from 30 to greater than 200 km/d.


The degradable polymer biomaterials have great potential in the field of nerve regeneration, which have gradually been applied to spinal cord injury repair. In this study, a polylactic acid-glycolic acid copolymer (PLGA) porous scaffold was prepared by the process of phase inversion, then the surface of the scaffold was modified by polydopamine (PDA) as a substrate, followed by adsorption of nerve growth factor (NGF) to obtain a PDA-PLGA/NGF scaffold. The characterization and hydrophilicity of the scaffolds were evaluated by electron microscopy, EDX and contact angle measurement. The effect of PDA modification on the binding efficiency and release profile of NGF was observed by ELISA. The proliferation and differentiation of NSCs on the surface of biomaterials was evaluated by MTT, immunofluorescence staining and PCR. Subsequently, the rat T9 spinal cord transection model was established and the nerve scaffolds were implanted to injured site. Our results showed PDA modification could significantly improve the NGF adsorption capacity and provide sustained release of NGF. PDA-PLGA/NGF scaffolds could not only enhance NSCs proliferation and neuronal differentiation in vitro, but also promote recovery of spinal cord injury in vivo. Therefore, we believed that PDA-PLGA/NGF scaffolds could be a promising method to facilitate neurogenesis and repair spinal cord injury.


ABSTRACT This paper addresses the effects and consequences of police checks in Swiss cities. In our participatory and collaborative research, we focus on the perspectives of those for whom racial profiling is part of everyday life. Using a theoretical perspective of subjectivation, we draw on thirty qualitative interviews with members of racialized minorities. We analyse not only the immediate effects of stop and searches such as feelings of humiliation, powerlessness and self-accusation but also long-term consequences such as the restriction of one's own movement in public spaces, fear of police, social withdrawal and loss of trust in state authorities. Ultimately, we examine the tactics and forms of resistance comprising elements of specific subjectivities that individuals use to deal with racial profiling.


There have been strategic and important developments in the field of energy in Turkey in recent years. Considering the current energy policy framework, smart grids are an important paving stone for Turkey to reach the determined targets. In the development of smart networks, the most important part is smart meters and their communication. Smart energy meters, together with their communications, power and control infrastructure, constitute a system associated with electrical networks of worldwide interest. The massive implementation of these technologies requires not only the corresponding conceptual management but also the formulation of policies and regulatory frameworks, the analysis of the benefits that they entail and the barriers that arise for their use. This study presents a scheme that integrates the actors, processes and functionalities associated with advanced measurement systems through an appropriate hardware and software infrastructure. Successful cases of massive use of smart meters are compared, and the benefits and barriers are analyzed to propose possible future scenarios in Turkey and present some applicable use cases. In this study, a prepay or supply-demand balanced solution proposal was presented for Turkey with communication infrastructure smart meters.


Objective:To establish an RP-HPLC method for determination of octahydroaminoacridine succinate. Methods:Octahydroaminoacridine succinate was chromatographed on Shimadzu HPLC with a C_(18) (5 μm,250 mm× 4.6 mm) column,and detected at 268 nm.The mobile phase was 0.05 mol·L~(-1) triethylamine (adjusted to pH 3.0 with formic acid)-acetonitrile(87:13) at flow rate of 1.0 mL·min~(-1) with the column temperature at 30 ℃,the injection volume was 20 μL.Results:A good linear relationship was obtained,concentration of octahydroaminoacri- dine succinate over the range of 0.2 to 2.0 μg·mL~(-1),The linear equation was Y=3.0×10~5X+1.9×10~3,r= 0.9999.The RSD of within-day was less than 2%.Recovery,precisiong,durability of the method were good.The limit of quantitation was 5 ng.Conclusion:The method is simple,accurate and is suitable for the determination of octahydroaminoacridine succinate.


Diwa theory holds that the crust consists of many tectonic elements. Any tectonic element has underwent a number of geotectonic development stages. Every geotectonic development stage possesses its own metallogenic specialization. A later geotectonic development stage not only possesses ore deposits peculiar to itself, but also can inherit the remains of the ore deposits of its predecessors, i. e. it possesses the inheritance of minerals. At the same time the geological processes of a later geotectonic development stage can change the ore deposits of a preceding stage and turn them into polygenetic compound ore deposits. These concepts are the theoretical bases of diwa theory in the search for minerals including oil and gas.Practice proves that diwa theory is of great importance in analysing the conditions of oil formation and determining the application of diwa theory in the search for oil and gas and can be summarized as. (1) identifying tectonic nature; (2) looking for depression; (3) analysing formation; (4) studying structure; and (5) synthetic appraisal. The above-mentioned five respects are an organic whole. The consideration of the above-mentioned contents in making an oil-gas appraisal of an area can correctly come to a reasonable conclusion.


The ricochet means the rebound off a surface and is a very important scenario in engineering applications. The specific case of an impact of a solid steel body on a water surface has been chosen for the ricochet example. This solid body hits the water surface with a certain velocity and angle and their dependency on the ricochet behaviour is of interest. This impact scenario can be further developed for more complex impact scenarios, like the ditching of aeroplanes, and has been extensively studied in the past. Due to that fact, it was decided to compare the two numerical analyses with each other; SPH in the internal developed code MCM at Cranfield University with the ALE method in the commercial programme LS-Dyna. The early state of the development was the reason that a 2D model was developed in the 3D solver and therefore verification with another method crucial. Therefore the two simulations were set up and the ricochet behaviour investigated. In contrast to the experimental results, these results demonstrate that independent of the numerical method, both models show an unexpected overproduction of ricochet at higher impact velocities, but agree in their over prediction. The benefits arising out of the collaborative approach of SPH and ALE to describe a problem are presented.


The debate surrounding the usefulness of portability clauses in European high-yield continues, with one in-house counsel at IFLR's Capital Markets Forum insisting it has no place in emerging market corporate-led deals


Mergers of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) may contribute to the gravitational wave mergers detected by the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration. We study the dynamics of PBH binaries dressed with dark matter (DM) spikes, for PBHs with extended mass functions. We analyze the impact of DM spikes on the orbital parameters of the PBH binaries formed in the early Universe and calculate their merger rates at the age of the Universe today. We consider two possible scenarios for the dynamics of the dressed binaries: assuming that either the DM spikes are completely evaporated from the binaries before merger or they remain static until the merger. Contrary to previous studies, we find that the presence of spikes may increase or decrease the present-day PBH merger rates, in some cases dramatically. Comparing with merger rates reported by the LVK Collaboration in the third Gravitational Wave Transient Catalog (GWTC-3), we derive approximate constraints on the fraction of Solar-mass PBHs in cold dark matter as $f_\mathrm{pbh}\leq \mathcal{O}(10^{-5} - 10^{-3})$, depending on the mass function. Our calculations are valid only for the idealized scenarios in which the DM spikes are either evaporated or static. However, they suggest that the impact of DM spikes on PBH merger rates may be more complicated than previously thought and motivate the development of a more general description of the merger dynamics, including feedback of the DM spikes in highly eccentric PBH binaries.


-glucopyranoside, IL-12 p40, IL-6Inflammatory responses, initiated by the invasion of patho-gens or by tissue injury caused by free radicals, are a seriesof vascular and cellular reactions. Some important chemicalmediators of inflammation are interleukin (IL)-1, -6, -12,and tumor necrosis factor-α, prostaglandins, etc… IL-6 haspro- and anti-inflammatory properties. IL-6 is involved notonly in the activation of the immune system but also inregenerative process as well as in the regulation of meta-bolism.


The aim of this study is to analyze the contents of the articles on media literacy in Turkey and explore how media literacy is handled. The content of 66 articles in total, of which full texts could be obtained on the internet, were analyzed. Data obtained were interpreted based on percentage and frequency and presented in tables. Based on the data obtained, it was determined that the highest number of publications were in 2013. It was further determined that the subjects that were most studied on were the investigation of the practices in countries and inter-disciplinary works. It was established that document review was used as the principal data collection tool in the study where qualitative methods and research reviews were most common elements in publications. As for the sample level, it was observed that studies focus on primary school students and within a range of a sample of 101-300 people. It was determined that in data analysis, descriptive analysis is dominating and frequency percentage distribution is frequently used in the studies. Key words: Media literacy, media, content analysis.


This Research Full Paper investigates how students experience "gender-balanced" engineering environments and how alumni narrate the stories of their experiences in such "gender-balanced" engineering environments. Using the grounded theory approach, this study examines interviews of engineering alumni about their experiences in a "gender-balanced" educational environment. Using two emergent constructs, awareness and impact, we take a detailed look at how gender has shaped the participants' undergraduate and post-graduate experiences. These constructs suggest that having parity in the number of men and women in an engineering institution is not sufficient for creating equitable environments for men and women to thrive.


Fox, Halpern, and Forsyth (2008) offer a compelling case for school-based mental health checkups for children at risk for developing anxiety and depressive disorders. Although the concept of universal mental health screening has obvious merits, a number of important issues in clinical science, practice, and training need to be addressed in order to promote successful implementation. With regard to clinical science, issues pertaining to risk assessment, screening implementation, and prevention effects for anxiety and depression deserve additional attention. Many of the challenging issues involved in the dissemination and utilization of evidence-based treatments, including current training of school-based clinicians, apply to screening and prevention efforts. We highlight some of what needs to be done in order to transport the concept of mental health checkups into school-based practice.


The objetive of this study was to identify the effects of aluminum concentrations and pH levels of solution on germination of Echium plantagineum L. seeds. Three different experiments were carried out in completely randomized design with four repetitions. In the first experiment, we used aluminum sulfate solutions in concentrations of 0.0; 0.3; 0.6; 1.0; 2.0; 3.0; 4.0; 5.0; 6.0 and 7.0 cmol c L -1 and in the second experiment, solutions with different pH, 3.0; 4.0; 5.0; 6.0; 7.0; 8.0; 9.0 and 10.0. In the third experiment, we carried out a factorial (4x4) with aluminum sulfate solutions (0.0; 2.0; 4.0 and 6.0 cmol c L -1 ) and pH (4.0; 5.0; 6.0 and 7.0). It was evaluated the germination of Echium plantagineum L. at four and 14 days after seeding (DAS), germination speed index, primary root length, aerial part and dry mass of seedlings. The presence of aluminum reduced the germination by 27 and 40% at four and 14 DAS, respectively, in concentrations superior to 3.0 cmol c L -1 . The three growth parameters presented linear reduction with the increase of aluminum concentrations. In the second experiment, the solutions with pH of 3.0 and 10.0 provided increases in germination, length of root and aerial part, and little influence in the dry mass of seedlings. In the third experiment, there was significant interaction between the aluminum concentrations and pH levels of substrate. The presence of aluminum in the substrate presented toxic effect on germination of seeds, length of seedlings and dry mass. The pH of the solution has little effect in germination of seeds and in the growth of seedlings of E. plantagineum .


Many small marine planktonic organisms converge on similar propulsion mechanisms that involve impulsively generated viscous wake vortex rings, and small-scale fluid physics is key to mechanistically understanding the adaptive values of this important behavioral trait. Here, a theoretical fluid mechanics model is developed for plankton jumping, based on observations that the initial acceleration phase for a jumping plankter to attain its maximum speed is nearly impulsive, taking only a small fraction of the viscous timescale, and therefore can be regarded as nearly inviscid, analogous to a one-dimensional elastic collision. Flow circulation time-series data measured by particle image velocimetry (PIV) are input into the model and Froude propulsion efficiencies are calculated for several plankton species. Jumping by the tailed ciliate Pseudotontonia sp. has a high Froude propulsion efficiency ~0.9. Copepod jumping also has a very high efficiency, usually >0.95. Jumping by the squid Doryteuthis pealeii paralarvae has an efficiency of 0.44 ± 0.16 (SD). Jumping by the small medusa Sarsia tubulosa has an efficiency of 0.38 ± 0.26 (SD). Differences in the calculated efficiencies are attributed to the different ways by which these plankters impart momentum on the water during the initial acceleration phase as well as the accompanied different added mass coefficients.


Teaching professionalism is one of the most important issues of the education of teachers and professional training is the inevitable choice of the education of teachers.This paper intends to discuss the educational ideology,professional ideals,professional knowledge,professional ability,professional autonomy and mental quality for music teachers in accordance with teaching professionalism.


The steady-state visual evoked potential based brain–computer interface (SSVEP–BCI) can provide high-speed alternative and augmentative communication in real-world applications. For individuals using a long-term BCI, within-subject (i.e., cross-day and cross-electrode) transfer learning could improve the BCI performance and reduce the calibration burden. To validate the within-subject transfer learning scheme, this study designs a 40-target SSVEP–BCI. Sixteen subjects are recruited, each of whom has performed experiments on three different days and has undergone the experiments of the SSVEP–BCIs based on the dry and wet electrodes. Several transfer directions, including the cross-day directions in parallel with the cross-electrode directions, are analyzed, and it is found that the transfer learning-based approach can maintain stable performance by zero training. Compared with the fully calibrated approaches, the transfer learning-based approach can achieve significantly better or comparable performance in different transfer directions. This result verifies that the transfer learning-based scheme is well suited for implementing a high-speed zero-training SSVEP–BCI, especially the dry electrode-based SSVEP–BCI system. A validation experiment of the cross-day wet-to-dry transfer, involving nine subjects, has shown that the average accuracy is 85.97 ± 5.60% for the wet-to-dry transfer and 77.69 ± 6.42% for the fully calibrated method with dry electrodes. By leveraging the electroencephalography data acquired on different days by different electrodes via transfer learning, this study lays the foundation for facilitating the long-term usage of the SSVEP–BCI and advancing the frontier of the dry electrode-based SSVEP–BCI in real-world applications.


1. Introduction Suppressing some important technical hypotheses for the moment, the project under-taken in this paper is this: Given a tree T of height and cardinality ω 1 , construct (uniformly in T) a subset S T ⊆ ℵ ω 1 +1 such that, if W is an outer model of V having the same ω 1 , ℵ ω 1 , and ℵ ω 1 +1 in which S T has a closed unbounded (club) subset, then T has a cofinal branch in W. Conversely, if T has a cofinal branch in W , then there exists a cardinal preserving set forcing extension of W in which S T has a club subset. This reduces the " branch problem " for trees of height and cardinality ω 1 to the " club subset problem " for subsets of ℵ ω 1 +1. The point is that there is no parameter-free first-order characterization of those trees of height and cardinality ω 1 that have a branch in some ω 1-preserving outer model [S1]. It follows that there is no parameter-free first-order characterization of the subsets of ℵ ω 1 +1 that have a club subset in some ω 1 , ℵ ω 1 , and ℵ ω 1 +1 preserving outer model. The reason that we require these three cardinals to be preserved is so that ℵ ω 1 +1 of the inner model is still ℵ ω 1 +1 in the outer model. That is, it maintains its status as the successor of the least limit cardinal of uncountable cofinality. These rules allow that unboundedly many cardinals less than ℵ ω 1 may be collapsed. If we require all cardinals less than or equal to ℵ ω 1 +1 to be preserved, then uncharacterizability follows from work in [S1]. Properties of the form ". .. has. .. in some. .. outer model " are not first-order. They are best understood in terms of standard transitive models. Say that W is an outer model of the standard transitive model V of ZFC, if W ⊇ V , (W ; V) is a 1. INTRODUCTION model of ZFC in a language with a predicate symbol for V , and the models W and V contain the same ordinals. A first-order characterization (relative to ZFC) of a family delineated by a non-first-order property is a first-order formula that defines that family in …


Sat, 09 Feb 2019 16:32:00 GMT viking language 1 learn old pdf The Viking Age (793–1066 AD) is a period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, following the Germanic Iron Age. It is the ... Mon, 21 Jan 2019 12:51:00 GMT Viking Age Wikipedia Viking metal is a style of heavy metal music characterized by a lyrical and thematic focus on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age. Thu, 07 Feb 2019 18:57:00 GMT Viking metal Wikipedia His Viking Bride Kindle edition by Olivia Norem. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking ... Sun, 10 Feb 2019 00:17:00 GMT His Viking Bride Kindle Edition amazon.com Course materials, exam information, and professional development opportunities for AP teachers and coordinators. Thu, 07 Feb 2019 15:01:00 GMT AP Central – Education Professionals – The College Board BibMe Free Bibliography & Citation Maker MLA, APA, Chicago, Harvard Sat, 09 Feb 2019 10:19:00 GMT BibMe: Free Bibliography & Citation Maker MLA, APA ... SAGA: The word comes from the Old Norse term for a "saw" or a "saying." Sagas are Scandinavian and Icelandic prose narratives ... Literary Terms and Definitions S This is OldSoftware.com's IBM compatible selection of software, accessories, and supplies for both old and new computers. discount Windows and Dos software and old computer games ... -


Effects of black plastic mulch and clear plastic canopy on the nematode populations and southern blight of tomato were investigated at the University Field Station, Trinidad. The results showed significant differences (p = 0.05) in the effectiveness of the various t reatments against populations of Rotylenchulus reniforrnis, Aphelenchus avenae, Meloidogyne incognita and Tylenchus sp. The incidence of southern blight (Sclerotium rolfsii) was reduced in the black plastic mulch and mulch plus clear plastic canopy treatments but greatly increased in the clear plastic canopy treatment when compared wich the control. Much of the reduction in yield of agricultural crops in the Eastern Caribbean has been partly at tr ibuted to plant parasitic nematodes either directly or in association with other soil borne disease-causing organisms e.g. Fusarium, Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc. and Pseudomonas solanacearum Sm, (1, 2, 7).


In this paper we extend the definition of K-positive definite operators from linear to Frechet dierentiable operators. Under this setting, we derive from the inverse function theorem a local existence and approximation results corresponding to those of Theorems 1 and 2 of the authors (8), in an arbitrary real Banach space. Furthermore, an asymptotically K-positive definite operator is introduced and a simplified iteration sequence which converges to the unique solution of an asymptotically K-positive definite op- erator equation is constructed.


An outline is given of the electrochemical nature of corrosion and the corrosion mechanisms of the metals used in building are discussed. Comparative corrosion rates of these metals are presented for various environments. The factors that influence the rates of corrosion namely the time of wetness and level of atmospheric pollutants are discussed in detail; some empirical quantitative relationships are included. The pollutants discussed include so2, atmospheric chloride, particulate matter and lead (a).


This paper treats the problem of merging formations, where the underlying model of a formation is graphical. We first analyze the rigidity and persistence of meta‐formations, which are formations obtained by connecting several rigid or persistent formations. Persistence is a generalization to directed graphs of the undirected notion of rigidity. In the context of moving autonomous agent formations, persistence characterizes the efficacy of a directed structure of unilateral distance constraints seeking to preserve a formation shape. We derive then, for agents evolving in a two‐ or three‐dimensional space, the conditions under which a set of persistent formations can be merged into a persistent meta‐formation, and give the minimal number of interconnections needed for such a merging. We also give conditions for a meta‐formation obtained by merging several persistent formations to be persistent. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley and Sons Asia Pte Ltd and Chinese Automatic Control Society


The development and use of Ventura, California's Pavement Management System is described. It is noted that it is better to start with a simple system that has the potential for expansion. The system is based on a survey of the pavement condition of each block of city streets. A pavement condition survey manual was developed to describe the survey methods and explain distress types. The survey ensures that one key person looks at each city block. The VPMS then evaluates pavement distress, using staff's experience and rehabilitation strategies. The selection process for rehabilitation candidates is illustrated in a decision tree which is a simplified version of the decision trees used by Caltrans. Various reports are prepared with the VPMS: list of streets; condition score for the streets; prioritized list of streets for rehabilitation. Five years of projects are then identified. The worst streets are resurveyed every year. An annual report is submitted to the City Council. The report also informs the council on the long-term needs for effective pavement maintenance.


In this paper, we discuss the joint time-frequency properties of a transient freak wave in order to distinguish the freak wave from non-freak waves in a quantitative manner. Exploring the use of an alternative to wavelet-based approaches, joint time-frequency distributions (TFDs), we portray the simultaneous timeand frequency-localized nature of freak waves vs. that of non-freak waves. The knowledge of the TFD, which represents the transient energy distribution over time and frequency in a joint manner, is very powerful as it allows one to calculate various moments and conditional moments in the time and frequency domains. Based on the experimental time series data collected at Texas A&M University, we calculate the instantaneous frequency center, frequency bandwidth and time duration. The instantaneous power spectrum of the freak wave, where the second harmonic component is observed, allows one to interpret the abnormal wave elevation of the freak wave in time domain. Also, the freak wave is characterized by impulsive joint time-frequency properties, i.e., wider instantaneous frequency bandwidth and shorter time duration than the non-freak waves.


litical forces such as the bargaining, compromises, negotiation, even the raw power that bring about decisions in legislative bodies, that define the constitutions studied. Scholars like Bentley, Wilson and Merriam needed to step in at the beginning of the 20 century to suggest that politics was far more than rules and constitutional forms. Observation of the functioning of the administrative state taught much that was missing in the study of its structure. Or for those manipulating data about individual opinion or choice, Bentley's work from the first decade of the 20 th century warns that the "process" of government, the "how" of government, means that "the raw material we study is never found in one man by himself...It is a 'relation' between men, but not in the sense that the individual men are given to us first, and the relation erected between them. The relation is...the given phenomenon, the raw material" (Bentley 1908, 176). Or Mary Parker Follett similarly speaks to scholars of today when she warns (in 1918) that those who fail to acknowledge the "new psychology" with its emphasis on relation will understand politics only as contract and be ineffective in their efforts at building democratic regimes in a "genuine community of nations." We include in the syllabus several of the classics of the field, path-breaking works at the time they appeared, though some may appear methodologically dated now. The goal is to have the students understand what it was that made these works stand out, what made them works that changed the field. The "heroes" and "heroines" of the field achieved their influence because they ventured beyond the methodological givens of the time and place. They challenged themselves to draw on new ways to understand and communicate about the political world, but in order to do so they themselves often call on their readings of earlier classics. In this sense, perhaps they serve as object lessons about the importance of memory as well as of methodological risks (and institutional risks, e.g. Merriam) of earlier scholars. From these classics in political science, we learn as well that key themes and approaches that were once so important often regrettably receive little attention by contemporary scholars and that a reliance on narrowly focused methods today tends to obscure the insights of earlier writers. As the life story of Arthur Bentley suggests, the contributions of innovators were not necessarily immediately recognized and the image of Bentley returning to rural Indiana, far away from the academic world, after writing his major work may offer little consolation to a student eager for his or her first job. But the goal of the course is to use the history of the discipline to shake the potential self-assurance that may arise from a failure to see today's methods as similarly products of the particular political life of the times and the syncretism born of a interaction with a range of intellectual and disciplinary endeavors. It is a failure that leads to the unfortunate resistance to reading, learning from and apply the insights of those earlier classics in the field.


In ICEHL 20 at the University of Edinburgh, I made a report of my research on this theme. The present paper gives additional facts on the construction of a verb of negation followed by a þæt-clause with a negative element. What I try to exemplify is not a historical change from expletive negative to affirmative clause, but the facts that (i) the expletive negative was one of the correlative constructions based on Old English syntax and (ii) the affirmative clause was already found in early Old English together with the negative clause, even though the negative clause was frequent in late Old English to early Middle English and then decreased after late Middle English. The verb with negative import with a negated þæt-clause is, therefore, not an illogical expression but a stylistic device of combining the negation of the governing verb with the content of the governed, negated þæt-clause.


. We study a convex constrained optimization problem that suffers from the lack of Slater-type constraint qualification. By employing a constructible representation of the constraint cone, we devise a new family of dilating cones and use it to introduce a family of regularized problems. We establish novel stability estimates for the regularized problems in terms of the regularization parameter. To show the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed framework, we present applications to some L p -constrained least-squares problems.


In this paper, the author presents a concept, referred to as "city- logistics", for logistics and goods movement, for the city of Kassel in Germany. The concept is designed to optimize freight transportation, minimize mileage and vehicle use, and achieve a maximum saturation of freight movement.


An etch pit shape of off-angled 4H-SiC Si-face formed by different halogen gases such as chlorine trifluoride (ClF3) and a mixed gas (O2+Cl2) of oxygen and chlorine in nitrogen (N2) ambience has been studied. One kind of etch pit with the crooked hexagon was formed at etching temperature under 500oC. The angle of etch pit measured by the cross-sectional atomic force microscope image was about 10o from the [11-20] view. A dislocation type of the etch pit was discussed in comparison with the etch pit shape and an X-ray topography image.


Results of an investigation into possible involvement, of fungal tremorgens in the aetiology of ryegrass staggers (RGS) are presented. Effects produced by administration' of pemtrem A, verruculogen, and fumitrembrgin B to sheep were similar to signs of RGS. Perzicillium .species capable of producing these tremorgens' (penitrem A by P. crustosum and verruculogen and fumitremorgin B by P. simpkissimum) were isolated from pastures on which RGS occurred and also from dung taken from affected sheep. When cultured and dosed to sheep, effects similar to signs of RGS were again' produced. Two' tremorgenic species of Aspergillus have also been isolated from pasture. It is suggested that synergism between tremorgens may be a feature of thC RGS syndrome. Althdugh tremorgens were not detected in pasture samples, the results are consistent with a causal role for fungal tremorgens. in RGS.


ABSTRACT A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to examine proposition 2 of relational turbulence theory, that interference from a partner heightens affective arousal toward the partner. The meta-analysis revealed a positive average correlation between interference from a partner and anger toward that partner (k = 15, N = 6114, r = .419 [95% CI: .376, .459]) with a prediction interval ranging from .264 to .553. Upon uncovering heterogeneity, study moderators were examined to explain variability in study effect sizes including (a) dating versus married samples, (b) average length of romantic relationship, (c) percent of female participants in the study, (d) average age of participants, (e) author research teams, (f) before COVID-19 versus during COVID-19 data collections, and (g) discrete anger measurements versus anger subsumed in negative affect measurements. These study moderators were unable to explain heterogeneity in effect sizes. The computed summary effect and prediction interval support the theoretical logic of proposition 2 from relational turbulence theory.


This report summarizes the preparations made for reactivation of the 100-B pile and the operational activities associated with the reactivation and subsequent operation up to the time of reaching desired power level. The period covered is from approximately June 1, 1948 until July 16, 1948.


Hemings and Hawings After much dithering the Monticello Association, an organization of descendants of Thomas Jefferson (through his daughters Maria and Martha), voted last May not to extend membership and burial rights to descendants of Sally Hemings, one of Jefferson's slaves. A DNA study four years earlier had led the Jefferson Foundation to acknowledge that Jefferson had very likely been the father of Hemings's son Eston. The recorded vote was 74 to 6. The six, we assume, will be buried in a separate corner of the Monticello plantation cemetery.


This work presents a numerical model for the physical processes during the transfer process of our nickel/copper laser fine line metallization. Here, a pulsed laser transfers a thin nickel layer from a glass support and contacts the solar cell directly through the anti-reflection coating. The model simulates the temperature distribution in the nickel as well as the glass support and calculates the arising gas pressures at the nickel/glass interface. The gasification of the soda-lime glass support is the main driving force of the transfer process.


Spray flames of blends of Soy Methyl Ester (SME) and Diesel No. 2 fuel were characterized in this study. The fuel was atomized and mixed with air in a heated environment at an initial equivalence ratio of 0.64 in order to simulate lean-burning conditions. Measurements of global emissions, in-flame concentration profiles and in-flame temperature profiles were carried out. The atomization air and the co-flow air flow rates were maintained constant for all the experiments. The global emission indices of CO and NOx decreased as the volumetric content of SME was increased in the blends. The peak temperature in the flames decreased with the increase in biofuel content in the blend. The inflame NOx concentration profiles at 25% flame height mirrored the temperature profiles in the flames, indicating that the thermal mechanism of NOx formation may be dominant in these flames.


Automated robot-based nanomanipulation is one of the key challenges of microsystem technology and nanotechnology, which has recently been addressed by a rising number of R&D groups and companies all over the world. Controlled, reproducible assembly processes on the nanoscale will enable high-throughput manufacturing of revolutionary products and open up new application fields. The ultimate goal of these research activities is the development of automated nanomanipulation processes to build a bridge between existing precise handling strategies for micro- and nanoscale objects and aspired high-throughput fabrication of micro- and nanosystems. Despite the growing interest in automated nanomanipulation, there is hardly any work that treats this research in a coherent and comprehensive way. This paper is an attempt to provide an overview over some important issues in this rapidly expanding technology.


Nonlinearities can be introduced into communication systems by the physical components such as the power amplifier, or during signal propagation through a nonlinear channel. These nonlinearities can be compensated by a nonlinear equalizer at the receiver side. The nonlinear equalizer also operates on the additive noise, which can lead to noise enhancement. In this work we evaluate this trade-off between distortion reduction and noise-enhancement via nonlinear equalization techniques. We first, evaluate the trade-off between nonlinearity compensation and noise enhancement for the Volterra equalizer, and propose a method to determine the training SNR that optimizes this performance trade-off. We then propose a new approach for nonlinear equalization that alternates between neural networks (NNs) for nonlinearity compensation, and belief propagation (BP) for noise removal. This new approach achieves a 0.6 dB gain compared to the Volterra equalizer with the optimal training SNR, and a 1.7 dB gain compared to a system with no nonlinearity compensation.


Absfract-The acoustic modes of crystalline parallelopipeds are examined for their influence on the terminal properties of acoustic surface wave (Rayleigh mode) filters. It is shown that in substrates with parallel top and bottom surfaces, the entirety of the spurious acoustic responses can be described by the eigenmodes of the plate. Signal transmission between transducers on a plate and transducers on a half space is considered and modeling dzerences between using bulk waves, plate waves, or pseudosurface waves for the basis modes are discussed. Quartz, lithium niobate, bismuth germanium oxide, and bismuth silicon oxide are analyzed. It is concluded that cuts of lithium niobate taken from the range between about 30" (qw) LiNbOs and 60" (zy.~) LiNbOs can provide substantial advantages over more conventional cuts such as (!p) LiNbO;.


A new procedure for simulating turbulent flow in three-dimensional arbitrary geometries is presented. Finite volume method using physical covariant velocities on a staggered grid arrangement was used in this investigation. This work is an extension of previous successful work to three-dimensional cases. The ability of the new algorithm was tested using a conventional two-equation turbulence model on a highly separated turbulent flow test case. The low Reynolds number k-ω turbulence model of Wilcox was utilized to evaluate its capability in modeling highly curved flows. Turbulent flow over a threedimensional hill, which is appropriate in assessment of ability of turbulence models in predicting separation and vortical structures, was used. There exists a very complicated separation pattern consisting of multiple vortical structures. Although there have been many experiments investigations on such flow, numerical works are limited.


Coronary ostial lesions are a rare entity and isolated coronary ostial stenosis is even less frequent. Diffuse coronary artery atherosclerosis is the main cause for the non-isolated stenosis, based on old post-mortem series and histological analysis of tissue removed during atherectomies.

 A 49-year-old woman suffering from mild non-familial hypercholesterolemia reported to her family physician repeated episodes of chest pain related to exercise. During a cardiological outpatient evaluation, 12 lead electrocardiogram (ECG) and echocardiography turned out normal. During a stress test she had recurrent chest pain coupled with ECG ischemic changes (diffuse ST segment elevation). She was immediately referred to the emergency department where the ECG was back to normal and the troponin dosage within normal range. Coronary angiography was performed: non-selective cannulation revealed some irregularities of the aortic wall profile at the level of the right coronary ostium, with inability to visualize the right coronary artery. The selective cannulation of the left main coronary artery (LMCA), left anterior descending (LAD) and left circumflex branches showed a critical ostial stenosis at the origin of the LMCA without any other relevant lumen restriction, in a left-dominant pattern of coronary circulation. A suspicion of LAD dissection was raised when a laminar flux was observed at its origin. At the end of the procedure, the patient suddenly collapsed. The recorded rhythm was initially bradycardia, evolving to episodes of ventricular tachycardia for which multiple shocks were applied. Despite the resuscitation efforts, the patient never recovered. Autopsy was performed at the local hospital. At gross analysis, a non-uniform pale-tan thickening at the level of the sino-tubular junction was evident with involvement of both the right and left coronary ostia. Histological examination allowed to ascribe the thickening to recurrent thrombosis, without any underlying inflammatory process at the level of the aortic wall and with only minimal atherosclerotic plaques. No coronary artery dissection nor significant stenosis was present in all the coronary tree. Regarding the ventricular myocardium, one focus of replacement-type fibrosis was identified at subendocardial level in the infero-septal wall coupled with a small spot of loose connective tissue rich in hemosiderin-laden macrophages in the same region, consistent with an area of subacute ischemic damage.

 Several series reported a higher frequency of isolated coronary ostial stenosis in women versus men. In fact, female sex along with hypertriglyceridemia have been recognized as independent risk factors for ostial lesions. The case herein reported highlights the diagnostic relevance of the autopsy investigation together with clinicopathological correlation, particularly in cases where the definite diagnosis can't be achieved in vivo.


As a typical Internet of Things application, network traffic prediction (NTP) plays a decisive role in congestion control, resource allocation, and anomaly detection. The trend of network traffic is different at different scales, so multiscale is an important characteristic of network traffic. In addition, the network traffic is nonlinear on each scale and dependent between scales. The existing NTP methods cannot comprehensively consider these characteristics, which limits their performance. In view of the characteristics of network traffic, such as multiscale, nonlinearity, and scale dependence, this article proposes a new multiscale NTP method based on a deep echo-state network (ESN). First, a multiscale parallel layered structure based on deep ESN is designed to fully consider the influence of each scale on the prediction result and then reduce the prediction error. Second, a feature extraction algorithm is proposed to improve the nonlinear approximation ability by extracting more abundant dynamic features with multiple reservoirs. Third, an NTP model based on scale dependence is proposed to reduce the influence from partial scale missing and then improve the prediction accuracy. Finally, simulation results demonstrate that compared with the state-of-the-art NTP methods, the proposed method significantly improves the prediction performance of network traffic with a slight increase in running time.


The primary aim of recommender system is to predict items which are of most interest to the users and today recommender systems play a vital role in boosting the sales in any e-commerce based platform. The present paper proposes an approach for recommending movies to the users on the basis on their choices. A novel technique for evaluation of collaborative filtering using SVD and hit ratio as a metric is taken in our proposed approach. We attempted to build a model-based Collaborative filtering technique. The proposed paper makes use of matrix factorization techniques like SVD & SVD++ for filtering movie recommendation system based on latent features. It makes better recommendations based on choice of user because it captures the underlying features driving the raw data. In this paper we are proposing a hybrid recommender system fusion of Content Based and SVD to get a new hybrid recommender system. Our proposed model gives the value of RMSE 0.87 for SVD model and RMSE 0.938 for SVD++ model. Keywords-- Collaborative filtering, movie recommendation, SVD, content based filtering


In recent times the identification and parking of vehicle has become a difficult task because of the increase in the number of automobiles. In the existing surveillance system the maintenance of incoming and outgoing vehicles is difficult. To resolve this problem a number of techniques can be used out of which Optical Character Recognition (OCR) is most the suitable technology. OCR has been the subject of research for more than decades. OCR is defined as the conversion of scanned images into machine encoded text. The proposed system is implementing the OCR technology to park the vehicles in smart way and keep the track of the vehicles which are entering and leaving. The system will capture the image of number plate of the vehicle using the OCR process and will instantly update the database.


Within graphic design, from its origins, but mostly under the light of the current century, it is obvious the participation, in different levels, of multiple disciplines that affect directly on the various phases and the multiple possibilities of its shaping. This work explains how an activity like graphic communication design is the result of the interaction between different disciplines, which makes basic to put aside the one discipline approach and consider it, due to its characteristics, as a multidisciplinary activity. Particularly, given the number of components taking place in this creative process and due to the different approaches considered for the achievement and analysis of the objects of design. From this multidisciplinary perspective, the semiotic perspective is approached like one of the various viewpoints that make possible to analyze, to evaluate, to project, and to make the different design objects and messages to seem like a visual communication activity.


In this study the authors have designed a multipurpose single channel bio signal amplifier for recording of ECG/EEG/EMG for clinical applications. To accomplish this we have used only three dry electrodes along with simple EEG leads to obtain the above Bio Potential signals. The authors have used the amplifiers INA 217 which has low noise and OP-07C. The results indicate that the signal extracted is very much free from noise. Furthermore the performance analysis of this pre amplifiers has been carried out and shows low Noise of 1.69nV/. Also the outcome gives the SNR approximately 57.79 dB with a very high input impedance of 711.11KΩ and low output impedance 150Ω.


The concept of a learning organization is becoming increasingly popular since in a Knowledge-based economy. Learning organization gives organizations their competitive advantage and organizational effectiveness. Learning organization is an organization that creates, spreads, and utilizes knowledge. The purpose of the research is to empirically prove the influence of leader's transformational act in employee's learning organization performance. Furthermore, research suggest that a seek to leader's transformational act for learning organization performance. The sample was drawn from 310 employees of enterprise, located in city of K. The prime method of collecting data was through a questionnaire and analyzed through SPSS/PC+. The result shows that first, in the group with low learning organization activation level, intellectual stimulation had the greatest influence on learning organization performance. Second, In the Received (March 14, 2017), Review Result (March 28, 2017) Accepted (April 4, 2017), Published (May 31, 2017) 1 61743 Dept. Business Administration, Gwangju Univ., Hyoduk-Ro, Nam-gu, Gwangju, Korea. email: email@example.com *이 연구는 2017년도 광주대학교 대학 연구비의 지원을 받아 수행되었음 The Effect of Leader's Transformational Act on Employee's Learning Organization Performance Copyright c 2017 HSST 222 group with middle learning organization activation level, inspirational motivation had the greatest influence on learning organization performance. Third, in the group with high learning organization activation level, idealized influence had the greatest influence on learning organization performance. These results suggest that a leader's transformational act should be adapted based on learning organization activation level. keywords: leadership style, Intellectual Stimulation, Inspirational Motivation, Idealize Influence, learning organization performance


Tree height is an important vegetative structural parameter, and its accurate estimation is of significant ecological and commercial value. We collected UAV images of six tree species distributed throughout a subtropical campus during three periods from March to late May, during which some deciduous trees shed all of their leaves and then regrew, while other evergreen trees kept some of their leaves. The UAV imagery was processed by computer vision and photogrammetric software to generate a three-dimensional dense point cloud. Individual tree height information extracted from the dense photogrammetric point cloud was validated against the manually measured reference data. We found that the number of leaves in the canopy affected tree height estimation, especially for deciduous trees. During leaf-off conditions or the early season, when leaves were absent or sparse, it was difficult to reconstruct the 3D canopy structure fully from the UAV images, thus resulting in the underestimation of tree height; the accuracy improved considerably when there were more leaves. For Terminalia mantaly and Ficus virens, the root mean square errors (RMSEs) of tree height estimation reduced from 2.894 and 1.433 m (leaf-off) to 0.729 and 0.597 m (leaf-on), respectively. We provide direct evidence that leaf-on conditions have a positive effect on tree height measurements derived from UAV photogrammetric point clouds. This finding has important implications for forest monitoring, management, and change detection analysis.


Financial instability in one country may quickly spread out to the rest of the world on different transmission channels. This leads to financially connected countries and creates a risk of rapid contagion of the financial crisis. The last global financial crisis was an example of this contagion effect. Therefore, the financial connectedness of both developed and developing countries is very important in order to determine the spillovers of financial stress across countries. In this study, we follow Diebold and Yilmaz approaches and examine total, directional and net spillovers between high frequency (daily) financial stress indexes of 9 countries from 2007/03/17 through 2016/11/17. In addition, we analyze the 200-day rolling window of the total spillover index with well-known financial stress events. Finally, the network topology of directional spillovers is given to visualize financial connectedness.


Why were some banks heavily affected by mortgage crises, while others barely? Why were some banking sectors dominated by "originate and distribute" model, while others were trading? Why did some banks decide not to follow the others, and preferred to stay traditional banks? How the models chosen by banks translated into their risk-return profiles? And finally, which banking model makes the world safer? This article raises these issues. It shows that heterogeneity in the banking industry before the mortgage crisis was huge. We document that institutional factors were largely responsible for the development of individual banking models in single countries. We find that the most risky banking model is when banks specialize in trading and do not diversify. Therefore, the most "optimal" from risk-return profile seems to be the "balanced" model. The traditional model though appears as systemically the least risky, it does not allow banks to achieve sufficient return.


Airborne lidar systems have come to be extensively used in photogrammetry and mapping sciences. In this paper, a high-quality simulation approach and methods of smallfootprint lidar processing are presented and discussed, validated for tree height estimation, and demonstrated for scanning geometry effects analysis and mobile mapping. The simulation method implemented combines both spatial and radiometric components to produce realistic waveform and point cloud data for system performance analysis and for algorithm development for lidar data processing and mapping purposes. Waveform data generated by the simulator were shown to demonstrate the possibilities of such an approach in system and data verification. As the related empirical data are insufficient for effective research and exploitation in mapping purposes at the moment, the simulated waveform data are needed. A tree location accuracy of 15 cm and tree height underestimation of 0.33 m was found using the simulation model for the TopEye Mk II laser scanner, compared to the artificial forest model reference data. Modeling of light


Abstract This article takes as a starting point for a contextual exploration of the dialogue as a form of cross-cultural interaction the accounts of disputations between Francis Xavier and his companions and various Buddhist monks during the first years of the mission in Japan (1549-51). The essay considers the differences among a lay popular version of these disputations offered by Fernao Mendes Pinto, the account publicized by Francis Xavier in his letters to Europe, and the internal working documents produced by his companions Cosme de Torres and Juan Fernandez during these encounters. The latter reflected the complexity of the exchanges that took place in Yamaguchi in September 1551, offering many echoes of Buddhist arguments that stretched the Christian theological capacity. More interesting still is the process by which the Jesuits came to reject the possibilities for convergence through analogy and chose instead to emphasize doctrinal and moral differences, often employing arguments that echoed, unwittingly, the recent divisions within European Christendom.


Significance Cell death-inducing DFF45-like effector (CIDE) domains, initially identified in apoptotic nucleases, form a highly conserved family with diverse functions ranging from cell death to lipid homeostasis and synaptic regulation. Through structural determination of two CIDE family proteins, Drep2 and Drep4, we found that CIDE domains can form helical oligomers. Our results reveal that such higher-order structures not only are conserved in the CIDE family, but also are critically important for both DNA fragmentation and lipid droplet fusion. Therefore, our findings identify the CIDE domain as a scaffolding component for higher-order structure assembly. Our results expand the importance of higher-order structures from the established field of immune signaling to broader biological functions. Cell death-inducing DFF45-like effector (CIDE) domains, initially identified in apoptotic nucleases, form a family with diverse functions ranging from cell death to lipid homeostasis. Here we show that the CIDE domains of Drosophila and human apoptotic nucleases Drep2, Drep4, and DFF40 all form head-to-tail helical filaments. Opposing positively and negatively charged interfaces mediate the helical structures, and mutations on these surfaces abolish nuclease activation for apoptotic DNA fragmentation. Conserved filamentous structures are observed in CIDE family members involved in lipid homeostasis, and mutations on the charged interfaces compromise lipid droplet fusion, suggesting that CIDE domains represent a scaffold for higher-order assembly in DNA fragmentation and other biological processes such as lipid homeostasis.


Abstract Following Craw, Maclagan, Thomas and Nakamura's works[2, 7] on Hilbert schemes for abelian groups, we give an explicit description of theHilbGℂ3 scheme for G = 〈diag(ϵ, ϵa, ϵr−a)〉 by a classification of all G-sets. We describe how the combinatorial properties of the fan of HilbGℂ3 relates to the Euclidean algorithm.


Multiphase gas-liquid-solid swirling flow within hydrocyclone is simulated. Geometry and boundary conditions are based on Hsieh's 75 mm hydrocyclone. Extensive simulations point that standard mixture model with careful selection of interphase drag law is suitable for correct prediction of particle classification in case of dilute suspensions. However this approach fails for higher mass loading. It is also confirmed that Reynolds stress model is the best choice for multiphase modeling of the swirling flow on relatively coarse grids.


This study examined associations between main references Anglophone and Francophone men and women refer to when learning healthy eating, and their knowledge of best food habits (KBFH), body mass index (BMI) status, sex, age, education, and household income. Data were obtained from a 2012 Statistics Canada survey (Canadian Community Health Survey: Rapid Response, Canada's Food Guide). A greater number of women reported high KBFH than men. Regardless of the language group, "general search on the Internet," "TV programs," and "family and friends" were referred to the most for learning about healthy eating. However, those who refer more often to "health organizations" or "weight loss programs" had significantly higher KBFH and lower BMI rates.


S. mansoni infection can produce damage in several organs, in some due to immunological altera tions such as the development of glomerulopathy2 and in others, at least in great part, due to vascular obstruction related to egg deposition, such as chronic cor pulmonale 1. Both situations are essentially obser ved in patients with the hepatosplenic form of the parasitic infection. There are reports in the literature suggesting that a chronic increase in renal vein pressure may favour the development of glomerulopathy and/or nephrotic syndrome, such as has been described in chronic congestive pericarditis, renal vein thrombosis or chronic congestive heart failure3 4 5. Even though the increase in renal vein pressure may not be a cause of glomerulopathy, there is some agreement that it could exacerbate a previously exis tent proteinuria3. In chronic cor pulmonale due to S. mansoni infection, besides the immunological alte rations related to the parasitic infection, there is frequently heart failure, with severe systemic conges tion. It would be logical to assume, then, that patients with hepatosplenic schistosomiasis and cor pulmonale should have more frequent (or, perhaps more intense) glomerulopathy or proteinuria than similar patients without cor pulmonale. To investigate this question, a total of 20 (twenty) patients with hepatosplenic schis tosomiasis and cor pulmonale (Group I) were compa red with 20 others with schistosomal hepatospleno megaly without cor pulmonale (Grupo II), matched ac cording to ager and sex. All cases had been autopsied at the University Hospital of Federal University of Bahia. Schistosomal cor pulmonale was defined as hypertrophy of the right ventricle (> 0 .5 cm thickness), with a normal left ventricle, pulmonary arteritis with multiple granulomas around eggs of the parasite, and systemic venous congestion. In each group, 10 (ten) patients were male and 10 (ten) female with an average of 15.3 ± 14.2 years for Group I and 26.5 ± 14.3 for Group II. There was no significant difference in the occurrence of arterial hypertension, microscopic hematuria nor the nephrotic syndrome (Table 1).


mind one looks vainly for some hard and fast distinction between these two bankers and the so-called robber barons of Matthew Josephson. Greenberg's book is part of the historical tradition of A. D. Chandler, Jr., as it stresses "the significant role of these financial intermediaries in the pattern of early railroad finance." Greenberg devotes much of her time to providing a detailed account of the operations and functions of Morton, Bliss & Company. This is the great strength of the book. Its rich detail and wide scope, coupled with a readable narrative, contains insights into the firm's connections with the European capital markets, its uneven influence over the courts and the legislatures, the origins of "Business Politics," the harsh impact of business cycle downswings during this era, and the role these Americans played in financing the Canadian Pacific. The book relates the activities of Morton and Bliss to these major themes in American business and financial history. The introductions to the book's three main sections outline the issues and furnish information relating Morton and Bliss's activities to outside events.


This paper studies a deductible claim process risk model. The author puts an emphasis on studying the risk model under the condition that claim number process is Poisson process and loss distribution is exponential distribution. According to the calculation, draw the interesting conclusion that under the two situations whether regard deductible as claim or not, the aggregate claim is the same. Furthermore, depending on the conclusion in classical risk models draw the expression of relative security loading, adjustment coefficient, and ruin probability. Finally, the author using renewal function and relative conclusion draw the explicit expression of ruin probability in this risk model.


Objective
To assess the feasibility of the log file-based three-dimensional independent dose verification system for the quality assurance of clinical radiotherapy.

Methods
The statistical values of the percentage depth dose, off-axis curves and output factor calculated by the Mobius system were statistically compared with the measured data by three-dimensional water tank. The three-dimensional independent dose verification in clinical radiotherapy plan and the acceleratr log file-based three-dimensional dose verification during the treatment were performed in 17 patients with nasopharyngeal cancer. The accuracy of dose calculation and reconstruction of Mobius system was assessed. A statistical analysis was performed on the intra-fractionalγpass rate (3%/3 mm) for each patient to evaluate the stability of intra-fractional radiotherapy.

Results
The percentage depth dose, off-axis curve and output factor statistically calculated by the Mobius system matched well with the data measured by three-dimensional water tank. The dose-volume histogram (DVH) parameters between the target area and organ at risk during clinical radiotherapy plan were statistically compared in 17 patients with nasopharyngeal cancer. The maximum deviation was-2.16% for the three-dimensional independent dose verification in the clinical radiotherapy plan, and 0.18 Gy for the accelerator log file-based three-dimensional dose verification. The averageγpass rate for 17 nasopharyngeal cancer patients was 99.26%, and the maximum deviation of intra-fractional radiotherapy was below 0.5%.

Conclusions
The function of dose reconstruction and independent calculation of the Mobius system yeilds the same accuracy with the treatment planning system, which can quickly perform three-dimensional independent dose verification in the clinical radiotherapy plan and accelerator log file-based three-dimensional dose verification throughout the treatment, thereby guarantting and providing the safe and reliable technical support for clinical treatment.

Key words:
Intensity-modulated radiotherapy; Dose verification; Quality control


To study the disparity of river hydrochemical characteristics and water quality in different regions of the city, this paper took the Tuo River in the center of Suzhou, Northern Anhui, China and the Bian River on the edge of the urban area as the research objects, used Piper trigram, Gibbs diagram, and hydrogen and oxygen isotope content characteristics to analyze the geochemical characteristics of surface water in the study area, and then the improved fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method was used to evaluate the water quality. The results showed that the hydrochemical types of the two rivers were SO4-Cl-Na type, and the contents of Na+, K+, SO42−, Cl−, Ca2+, total phosphorus (TP) in the Bian River at the edge of the city were much higher than those in the Tuo River at the center of the city (ANOVA, p < 0.001). Gibbs diagram showed that the ion composition of the two rivers was mainly affected by rock weathering. The results of correlation analysis and water quality evaluation showed that Bian River was greatly affected by agricultural non-point source pollution, and its water quality was poor, class IV and class V water account for 95%, while, for Tuo River, due to the strong artificial protection, class II and class III accounted for 40.74% and 59.26%, respectively, and the overall water quality was better than that of Bian River. The evaluation results of irrigation water quality showed that the samples from Tuo River were high in salt and low in alkali, which could be used for irrigation when the soil leaching conditions were good, while Bian River water samples were high in salt and medium in alkali, which was suitable for irrigation of plants with strong salt tolerance.


This article reports on a study which used results from 119 scenario–based evaluations of 36 museum Web sites to develop a conceptual framework for analyzing the usability flaws of museum Web sites. It identifies 15 unique dimensions, grouped into five categories, that exemplify usability problems common to many museum Web sites. Each dimension is discussed in detail, and typical examples are provided, based on actual usability flaws observed during the evaluations. The availability of this conceptual framework will help the designers of museum Web sites improve the overall usability of museum Web sites in general.


Subtitle: Logistics and supply chain jobs are changing rapidly. But are the educational resources supporting this business discipline -- the university programs, professional associations, and publications -- keeping pace? A new study provides some answers and reveals significant differences between the ways academics and supply chain practitioners view the state of supply chain education today.


A method of decreasing the amount of relatively long lived fission products in radioactive waste materials in excess of that due to their natural radioactive decay by producing relatively short lived radioactive nuclides and stable nuclides from the relatively long lived fission products is described comprising the steps of: (a) separating the fission products into at least (1) physically separate groups, and (2) relatively short lived fission product radioactive nuclides and stable nuclides; (b) storing the relatively short lived radioactive nuclides and stable nuclides; (c) exposing at least the groups containing Kr/sup 85/, Sr/sup 90/, Zr/sup 93/, Tc/sup 99/, Pd/sup 107/, I/sup 129/, Cs/sup 135/, Sm/sup 151/ + Eu, and actinides, to a high thermal neutron flux for separate, different predetermined periods of time selected in accordance with the long lived fission product nuclide in the corresponding group for inducing predetermined transformations of the relatively long lived fission product nuclides to produce relatively short lived radioactive nuclides and stable nuclides; (d) removing each exposed group containing the produced relatively short lived radioactive nuclides and stable nuclides from the high thermal neutron flux; (e) separating the removed group into (1) the produced short lived radioactive nuclides and stable nuclides, and (2)more » a plurality of further groups having long lived fission product nuclides respectively corresponding to at least some of the long lived fission product nuclides or the groups of step (a); (f) storing the produced short lived radioactive nuclides and stable nuclides; (g) joining at least one of the further groups to at least one of the groups of step (a) having a corresponding long lived fission product nuclide.« less


Abstract The design procedures for the buckling strength of structures involves a complex interaction of strength and deformation equations. For timber structures, this complexity is amplified by the non-homogeneous, anisotropic and creep characteristics of timber. This paper describes some of the concepts used in the development of equations given in the Australian Standard AS1720.1 (Standards Australia, 1997), the Australian engineering code for the design of timber structures. The structural elements discussed include beams, columns, beam-columns, buckling restraints and plywood membranes.


This project report presents the work done on the design of safety system for COMAU Articulated Robot in the Robotics and Automation Laboratory of Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka. The objectives of this project are to design the safety system and to develop a soft prototype of the design. Two ideas of design are proposed. The ideas are compared using some criterias in order to select the best idea. The selected idea is developed using the proposed methodology. The software for designing the safety system is chosen based on the author knowledge and experience in using the software. The chosen idea has been developed using CATIA software. The safety system design requirement is based on the condition where the robot is installed. The list of all the parts need to be fabricated and the standard parts to be purchased are presented in this report. Detail parts and their specifications are presented in solid model with the dimensions which fulfills the requirement for future fabrication. All the project objectives are managed to be achieved. For further work it was suggested to fabricate, install, and test the safety system and also improved the design of the safety system (if necessary) based on the test result.


For miniaturization of the fuel cell is thin and the thickness of the separator is made uniform, the material properties also is to provide a manufacturing method for efficiently producing a preferred polymer electrolyte fuel cell separator material, the process is performed 1 to 3 of the following to the sequential It characterized. 10 to 35 parts by weight of a binder resin, a dispersant from 0.1 to 10 parts by weight of a resin solution obtained by dissolving in an organic solvent, by dispersing 100 weight parts of the carbonaceous powder viscosity of 100 mPa · step of making a slurry of s~1500 mPa · s 1, the through hole after the opening area ratio (R) is immersed in the organic sheet 25-85% in the slurry adhered to the slurry on both surfaces of the organic sheet, and dried to deposit the slurry on both surfaces of the organic sheet process of manufacturing a green sheet 2, a green sheet-forming process for the cutting to a predetermined shape, and hot-press laminating a sheet or more than 2 13.


Global trends in development of contemporary educational process are allocated in the article. Global challenges for engineering education are systematized. The main problems in engineering education are defined. The concept of training engineering staff in the sphere of chemical technology at a research technological university is developed. Priorities in the university development, its innovative structure and implemented programs of interaction with partners are presented.


Large-sized of φ100 mm CaF2 single crystals were grown by the Bridgman method. Growth defects and optical spectra properties of CaF2 samples in different growing conditions were studied. The experimental results showed that water in the growing atmosphere induces several additional absorption bands. Among these, a broad one around 1 500 nm is ascribed to the two-order vibration of OH-, and two others at the visible and ultra-violet range are induced by the formation of color centers. Moreover, the presence of Ce3+ impurity causes an absorption band at 306 nm.


Application layer multicast (ALM) can be useful for many types of peer-to-peer (P2P) applications. We compare a group of ALM algorithms, that take into account network topology measurements, using Monte-Carlo simulation. A new algorithm, called Fastcast, is introduced. Fastcast allows to control the tradeoff between used traffic and the worst-case length of the application layer path. ALM algorithms for P2P applications can benefit from the possibility of limiting the number of children in the ALM tree, since many nodes could be connected by slow modem connections. We study the impact of such a limitation on ALM algorithm performance.


Galvanization of precardial region in rats with experimental infarction elicits considerable cardioprotective effect manifested in a decrease of the mass of necrotic tissue and in partial normalization of ion content both in the necrotic focus and outside it.


The effects of the Second World War on British colonial Africa were far-reaching and unexpected. Colonial governments, hitherto concerned with establishing and preserving law and order, with administration, the collection of taxation, and with slow economic development, had perforce to divert their energies into more varied and unorthodox channels. Troops were recruited from the colonies and in addition local Home Guards were formed. African colonies acquired a new strategic importance and became the scene for new intelligence and counter-espionage activities: this was especially so after the French government signed the armistice with Germany on 22 June 1940. On the following day the British government promised that if French overseas territories continued the war against the Nazis Britain would guarantee their integrity and economic stability, as well as providing funds to pay the salaries and pensions of French colonial officials. The governor of Nigeria, Sir Bernard Bourdillon, did much to encourage the rallitmcnt of neighbouring Vichy colonies to the Free French cause of General de Gaulle. It was part of French propaganda to exaggerate British involvement in the French colonies and to paint de Gaulle as simply a tool of British imperialism; and it was part of Britain's propaganda to minimize her own role and to stress that the British were simply supporting the initiatives of the Free French. As a result we have not yet been presented with a balanced and scholarly assessment of the contribution which the British in Nigeria made to the ralliement of French Equatorial Africa and the Cameroons in August 1940.


SUMMARY This paper presents a numerical method for free surfaceows that couples the incompressible Navier- Stokes equations with the level set method in thenite element framework. The implicit characteristic- Galerkin approximation together with the fractional four-step algorithm is employed to discretize the governing equations. The schemes for solving the level set evolution and reinitialization equations are veried with several benchmark cases, including stationary circle, rotation of a slotted disk and stretching of a circularuid element. The results are compared with those calculated from the level setnite volume method of Yue et al. (Int. J. Numer. Methods Fluids 2003; 42:853 - 884), which employed the third-order essentially non-oscillatory (ENO) schemes for advection of the level set function in a generalized curvilinear coordinate system. The comparison indicates that the characteristic Galerkin approximation of the level set equations yields more accurate solutions. The second-order accuracy of the Navier-Stokes solver is conrmed by simulation of decay vortex. The coupled system of the Navier-Stokes and level set equations then is validated by solitary wave and broken dam problems. The simulation results are in excellent agreement with experimental data. Copyright ? 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Introduction: The changes in the brazilian demographic pyramid, observed as a greater aging in the last decades, and also the creation, in 1994, of the Family Health Program by the Health Ministry, are taking the health professionals to focus with much more emphasis the integral assistance to the elderly health, in the brazilian health system. The development of Geoprocessing and Geoinformation are important tools in Public Health as analysis instruments of diseases distribution among population, and which have been poorly explored in studies about elderly people. Objectives: This article studies the spatial analysis of distribution of 60-year old and more population according to their social-demographic profile in the city of Botucatu. Methods: 468 interviews from elderly people were analyzed from a multicentric inquiry conducted between 2001 and 2002, utilizing Geoprocessing techniques to locate the interviewed elderly in the censitary sectors inside the town map. Results: The elderly with greater annual income and greater escolarity are clearly located in the higher social censitary sectors, a fact that was statistically proved by the use of spatial analysis techniques, both for annual income and for escolarity. Conclusion: This article intends to contribute with the municipal health system in the planning of health actions in the Primary Care System, identifying groups of risky elderly people. In Botucatu, there are a positive correlation between the spatial distribution of the elderly people and their social-economical level, which must serve as a guide to orientate the planning of the distribution of the Family Care Units inside the city. UNITERMOS: IDOSO, GEOPROCESSAMENTO, SOCIO-DEMOGRAFICAS


The axillary nerve has long been known to be one of the nerves vulnerable to damage during shoulder arthroscopic and open surgical procedures. The relationship of the axillary nerve to the shoulder capsule and the subscapularis muscle has not been well defined in orthopedic literature. This descriptive anatomical study aimed to present the course and the relations of the axillary nerve with neighboring neurovascular structures and the shoulder capsule and to define anatomical landmarks and regions that can be used practically in anterior surgical approaches to the shoulder region. To investigate the course of the axillary nerve and its relationship with neighboring structures, 30 shoulders of 15 fixed adult cadavers were dissected under the microscope through an anterior approach. A triangle‐shaped anatomic area containing the axillary neurovascular bundle was defined. The closest distance between the axillary nerve and the anteromedial aspect of the coracoid tip and the glenoid labrum was measured as 3.7 cm and 1.1 cm on average, respectively. The distance between the anteromedial aspect of the coracoid tip and the point where the nerve passes through the medial edge of the subscapularis was measured as 2.5 cm on average. The results of this study demonstrate the anatomic pattern and the course of the axillary nerve and its relations with the shoulder capsule. Knowing the exact localization of the axillary nerve under the guidance of the defined anatomic triangle may provide a safer surgery. Clin. Anat. 20:273–277, 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Contents: Anna Gil-Bardaji/Pilar Orero/Sara Rovira-Esteva: Introduction: Translation Peripheries. The Paratextual Elements in Translation - Neslihan Kansu-Yetkiner /Lutfiye Oktar: Hayri Potur vs. Harry Potter: A Paratextual Analysis of Glocalization in Turkish - Mary Louise Wardle: Alice in Busi-Land: The Reciprocal Relation Between Text and Paratext - Leah Gerber: Marking the Text: Paratextual Features in German Translations of Australian Children's Fiction - Ellen McRae: The Role of Translators' Prefaces to Contemporary Literary Translations into English: An Empirical Study - Elizabete Manterola Agirrezabalaga: What Kind of Translation is it? Paratextual Analysis of the Work by Bernardo Atxaga - Ulf Norberg: Literary Translators' Comments on their Translations in Prefaces and Afterwords: The Case of Contemporary Sweden - Jose Yuste Frias: Paratextual Elements in Translation: Paratranslating Titles in Children's Literature - Rocio Garcia Jimenez: Translation and Paratext: Two Italian Songs in 1960s Spain - Madeleine Stratford: Reviewed and Rectified: Pizarnik's 'Negative Paintings' in German Translation - Miquel Edo: Paratextual Discord: The Reception of Carducci's Poetry in Catalan and Spanish Literature.


Recently there has been a desire to apply photonic concepts and technologies to astronomical applications, with the aim of replacing traditional bulk optic instruments. This astrophotonic approach is envisioned to produce compact devices that have the potential to provide the unprecedented precision and stability required for current astronomical goals, such as the detection of Earth-like exoplanets capable of supporting life. The work in this thesis covers the investigation of the technique of Ultrafast Laser Inscription (ULI) to create the building blocks that may lead to a fully integrated compact spectrograph for astronomy. Unlike conventional fabrication technologies, ULI allows custom three-dimensional optical devices to be directly inscribed within a bulk substrate. Volume gratings with high first order diffraction efficiencies optimised for a variety of wavelengths are demonstrated, with a view to providing efficient gratings for the midinfrared wavelength range. Initially the mid infrared transmitting material GLS was used to create gratings with a first order efficiency of 63 % up to a wavelength of 1.35 μm. Anti-reflection coatings were applied to GLS and gratings with an efficiency of 95 % at 1.02 μm were produced. A second material, IG2 was used and diffraction gratings with a first order efficiency of 63 % were produced, which were efficient up to a wavelength of 2.5 μm, with thicker gratings produced which have yet to be characterised in a mid-infrared setup. These developments show that practical mid-infrared volume gratings can be produced by the process of ULI. Photonic reformatters have also been developed to reshape a multimode telescope point spread function into a pseudo-slit, suitable as an input for a diffraction-limited spectrograph. Two device designs were investigated. The first was a fully integrated ULI component which, tested in the laboratory reformatted a multimode input at 1550 nm into a slit, single mode in one axis and highly multimode in the orthogonal axis with an efficiency of 66 %. The device was tested on-sky at the William Herschel Telescope and performed with an efficiency of 19.5 % over the wavelength range 1450 to 1610 nm. The second, improved device combined a ULI component with a multicore fibre component, and performed with a similar performance in the laboratory demonstrating an efficiency of 69 %, but a much improved on sky efficiency of 53 % showing a potential for such devices to be used as an input for a diffraction limited spectrograph. To my Grandad, Ernie. CANARY laser guide star at the William Herschel Telescope, La Palma. Acknowledgements Firstly, I would like to thank Professor Robert Thomson, my academic supervisor for the opportunity to do this PhD and all his help and support throughout, in particular for his patience in the very painful process of writing up this thesis. I would like to thank all the members of the Photonic Instrumentation group for all their work and assistance, in particular Dr Debaditya Choudhury who has been invaluable in staying late and assisting with several deadlines and help writing and checking papers. I also thank Optoscribe, in particular Dr Graham Brown for assistance in using the stages and the chance to adapt and use his programming code for initial device inscription. I would also like to thank Professor Ajoy Kar for his support, particularly in the early years with access to his labs and equipment when first starting out. I am additionally very thankful for the opportunity to travel to a conference in India with him and his group. I thank the staff at the Edinburgh Astronomy and Technology Centre, in particular Professor Colin Cunningham and Dr David Lee for the opportunity to use their labs and equipment in the development and testing of the volume gratings, without whom this work would not have been possible. I would like to thank Dr Jeremy Allington-Smith and Dr Robert Harris of Durham University for all their work on the photonic reformatter, in particular Robert Harris for the challenging summer we spent at Heriot-Watt designing and manufacturing the photonic dicer. I would also like to thank the entire CANARY AO demonstrator team, in particular Professor Richard Myers, Dr Tim Morris and Dr Alistair Basden of Durham University and Dr Eric Gendron of l'Observatoire de Paris for the opportunity to travel out to La Palma and test the photonic reformatters on their system at the William Herschel Telescope. Additionally, I thank the team at the Centre for Advanced Instrumentation in Durham University for making me very welcome in my trip there. I would also like to thank Professor Tim Birks and Dr Itandehui Gris-Sánchez from the University of Bath for manufacturing the multicore fibre photonic lanterns without which the hybrid reformatter would not have been possible. I wish to thank my office mates for keeping me grounded and sane throughout this experience. Last but not least I wish to thank all my family in particular Mum, Dad and Grandma for all their support, patience and, when required nagging to complete this opportunity.


Brain tumour segmentation is a critical step in surgical planning and treatment planning. A substantial medical informatics assignment is to perform indexing of patient databases according to size, location, and other characteristics of brain tumours based on magnetic resonance (MR) imagery. This requires segmenting tumours within images from different MR modalities. Automatic brain tumour extraction from MR modalities remains a challenging, computationally demanding assignment. Image segmentation performs an essential role in image processing. The goal of image segmentation is to group the pixels into salient image regions i.e. regions corresponding to individual surfaces, objects, or natural parts of objects. This paper deals with the implementation of Simple Algorithm for locating and segmenting tumour in brain MR images. Tumour is an abnormally increasing growth of tissues in any part of the body. They are of different types and hold different characteristics and treatment. This paper uses computer aided method for segmentation (detection) of brain tumour based on the combination of two algorithms. This method allows the segmentation of tumour tissue with precision and consistency in comparison with manual segmentation. Also, it also reduces the time for analysis. At the end, the tumour is extracted from the MR image and its exact position and the shape is also determined.


This paper introduces a monolithic approach that provides simultaneous solution to the coupled system which involves volume-coupled piezoelectric mechanics and a controlling energy harvesting circuit for applications in energy harvesting. The weak form of the governing equations is discretized by space-time nite element method based on mixed velocity-stress/ rate of potential-dielectric displacement setting. The results will be compared to the simple cases with closed-form solution available from literature.


The research whose methodology is analyzed here appears to make use of optimal conditions for comparison: an identical public health problem is appearing simultaneously in a large number of countries, including the European welfare states, whose social, political, and cultural levels of development are very similar, as they all have medical cover and social security for the entire population. AIDS provides an ideal opportunity to observe how the various national and sectoral systems are dealing with a new problem.