With the increasing proportion of new energy generation installed with power electronics technology as the core, the power system shows the trend of power electronics, which further leads to lower inertia, weaker damping and lower anti-disturbance capability of the grid, which brings hidden danger to the safe and stable operation of the power system under the high proportion of new energy access. In this paper, we propose a grid-based converter control strategy for energy storage systems based on DIgSILENT/PowerFactory software to realize virtual inertia, damping and droop control functions similar to those of synchronous generators. In this paper, a case study is conducted with the application scenario of the grid-based control strategy for energy storage systems in PV power plants to verify the correctness and effectiveness of the above model and strategy.


Crownvetch is an excellent herbage in legume. Plenty of nutrients are there in Coronilla Varia L., and some of them are Reducing Saccharide (3.1%), Starch (18.8%), Rough Cellulose (24.2%) and Soluble Protein (2.6%). Compared air-dried crownvetch in florescence with that dried in oven, we found that Reducing Saccharide was damanified greatly in the course of air-drying, whichever in whole plant, stems or leaves the loss of Reducing Saccharide reached to a significant level. Starch in air-dried whole plant was lower than that dried in oven with significant difference, the difference of change in stems and leaves was insignificant respectively. There is richer Rough Cellulose in Crownvetch (37.8%), so it is really a good natural feedstuff. After dried in oven (70-80℃), Rough Cellulose in whole plant, stems and leaves was lower than that in air-dried one, and the differences reach to a significant level. Soluble Protein in Crownvetch is mainly distributed in leaves, also the change is the most (P 0.05), but the change in stems is the least.


The development of a three-dimensional spatially evolving compressible mixing layer is investigated numerically using a parallel implementation of Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) on a Cray C-90. The parallel implementation allowed the flow to be highly resolved while significantly reducing the wall-clock runtime. A sustained computation rate of 5.3 Gigaflops including 1/0 was obtained for a typical production run on a 16 processor machine. A novel mixing layer configuration is investigated where a pressure mismatch is maintained between the two inlet streams. In addition, the sonic character of the two streams is sufficiently different so that the pressure relief wave is trapped in the high speed stream. The trapped wave forces the mixing layer to form a characteristic cellular pattern. The cellular structure introduces curvature into the mixing layer that excites centrifugal instabilities characterized by large-scale counter-rotating vortical pairs embedded within the mixing layer. These are the dominant feature of the flow. Vi*This work of these authors was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract No. W-7405-Eng-48. Support under contract No. W7405-Eng-48 was provided by the Applied Mathematical Sciences Program of the Office of Energy Research. Partial support was provided by the HPCC Grand Challenge Project in Computational Fluid Dynamics and Combustion Dynamics. Computations were carried out on the National Energy Research Supercomputing Center's Cray C-90 under the Special Parallel Processing Allocation. 1 sualizations of these structures in cross-section show the pumping action which lifts dense fluid up into light gas. This effect has a strong impact on mixing enhancement as monitored by a conserved scalar formulation. Once the largescale structures are well established in the flow and undergo intensification from favorable velocity gradients, the time-averaged integrated product shows almost a four-fold increase. A spectral analysis of the flowfield over the cellular structures, as part of a full space-time analysis, shows these structures to be zero-frequency modes that develop from low level essentially broad-banded noise. This characterization of the vortical structures and their appearance is consistent with a recent linear stability analysis of a mixing layer over a curved wall that predicts the most unstable modes to be zero frequency streamwise vortices. Time series spectral analysis of the spanwise velocity in the far field, near outflow, shows an inertial range in the mid to high frequencies. Above this region is a clear dissipative range out to the Nyquist frequency with no anomalous accumulation of energy at or near the highest frequencies.


A comparison was made of the use of residential kitchen work centres by one worker and by two workers during a dinner meal preparation in which a microwave oven was utilized. When the meal was prepared by two workers they divided the work load by menu item and utilized separate work stations; typically, only one worker prepared the menu items requiring actual cooking. However, whether the meal preparation was individual or shared, the sink and preparation centres were the most frequently used.


The invention discloses chloride-based slow-release complex fertilizer which comprises the following components in parts by weight: 15 to 20 parts of carbamide, 17 to 38 parts of monoammonium sulfate, 20 to 28 parts of potassium chloride, 6 to 8 parts of slow-release agglomerant and 8 to 12 parts of organic fertilizer. The organic fertilizer is added to the chloride-based slow-release compound fertilizer, and the organic fertilizer is rich in humic acid, which can improve the soil structure, is the catalytic agent and irritating agent for crop growth; the organic fertilizer can also activate nutrient, increase the contents of the available nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the soil, and improve the ratio of solid phase, liquid phase and gas phase in the soil; and the fertilizer use efficiency is improved, the agricultural non-point source pollution is reduced, the stress resistance of plants is enhanced, and the crop quality is improved.


Potato Tuber Moth, Phthorimaea operculella is the major insect pest and causes damage both under field and seed storage of Potato, Solanum tuberosum in Ethiopia. For this major threat of productions the experiments were carried out in a simple CRD under laboratory and RCBD design under field condition having three replications to evaluate the Entomopathogenic fungi of B. bassiana (PPRC-56 isolate), M. anisopliae (MM isolate) and V. lecani each at 1x104, 1x105, 1x106, 1x107, 1x108spore/ml (in laboratory) and1x106, 1x107, 1x108spore/ml (in field) for the management of Potato Tuber Moth (PTM). Laboratory investigation of M. anisopliae isolate significantly reduced the damage caused by PTM followed by B. bassiana isolate than the fungal type of V. lecani. The fungal species B. bassiana significantly reduced the infestation of PTM larvae both on the leaves and tubers followed by the M. anisopliae than the V. lecani. In general as the concentration levels of fungus increased, the number of larvae and the damage they caused on leaves were significantly decreased. From the presented studies for the effective management of PTM in potato using B. bassiana and M. anisopliae could be considered and using the higher fungal concentration also advantageous.


In order to realize environmental condition monitoring,a monitoring system based on Arduino/Android was designed.Focused on ArduinoUNO and Android,we programed the ArduinoUNO for sending the sensor data to public server.As the ArduinoUNO'client,the Android smartphone geted the sensor data.Tests show that this kind of design provide environmental condition monitoring system more economy and convenient.


There has not been a time since the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in which so many radically irreconcilable views of the seventeenth century have been competing for acceptance. Certainly, the impact of marxism and of the social determinism inherent in the great controversy about whether the gentry were rising or falling (or neither), and what difference it made anyway, was disruptive; but these disruptions occurred within the framework of a generally-accepted whig paradigm. Was marxism ever anything more than whig history with statistics? The answer is perhaps no, though it was frequently less, lacking statistics where they surely ought to have been. Seventeenth-century historiography would seem to exemplify well Lawrence Stone's thesis that dissatisfaction with social and economic determinism has resulted in a return to narrative history.' Looking back we might see marxism and other social determinisms as attempts to modernize the whig paradigm,2 and our predicament as the result of the failure of these attempts at modernization. To grasp the pattern underlying recent revisionist work on the early Stuart period we need to look briefly at this failure. This will give us some idea of what 'revisionism' is intended to do (and what it does in fact do). The chief characteristic of the work done in the I950s, I960s and early I970S (whether from the marxist perspective of Hill or the sociological perspectives of Stone and Zagorin) was an attempt to graft onto a basically whig political history some sort of social dimension. The problem with this was not that no satisfactory or meaningful links could be made between society and politics. Rather, the links that could be made were coming to be seen as over-reliant on reductionist assumptions. Once the essential emptiness of reductionism was recognized, the return to narrative (in Stone's very loose sense) became inevitable. This point is a simple one: if it is accepted that politics can never be 'reduced' to something else or explained totally in terms of some other thing, then it becomes necessary to treat it, at least in part, on its own terms as an activity with


Paul tried to convince the predominantly Gentile Christian churches to contribute to a collection for the impoverished Jewish Christians of Jerusalem. While Paul is best known as a theologian, missionary and pastor, his collection project also shows his skills as an early Christian leader. Part II of this article describes what obstacles Paul had to overcome on the side of the Jewish Christian recipients of the collection, how he did so and how he proceeded in preparing and organising the actual collection, the transport and presentation of the funds in Jerusalem. It also discusses what obstacles were involved for Paul personally in this project and how he dealt with them. In closing, the article relates the portrait of Paul the leader as it emerges in this enterprise to modern leadership theory. Paul's leadership evinces elements of servant leadership, authentic leadership and adaptive leadership. Intradisciplinary and/or interdisciplinary implications: The article indicates to what extent early Christianity was affected by and had to interact with the political situation of its day. It also shows the complexities of Paul's life and ministry and his relations to the church in Jerusalem. It also provides an example of how Paul can be related to current leadership theory and suggests that awareness of this discourse sheds fresh light on Paul.


Soybean is one of humanity's major sources of plant protein. It is also very important for animal feed and as industrial raw material. Great advances have recently been achieved in its genetic transformation. This review provides a comprehensive discussion of important factors affecting Agrobacterium-mediated soybean transformation including target tissues, plant tissue health, wounding methods, regeneration systems, selectable markers and reporter genes.


Ayesha Tariq, Mishal Javaid, Muhammad Zubair, Sarah Maryam, Yousef Gilani and Syed Amir Gilani. University Institute of Radiological Sciences and Medical Imaging Technologies, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan. ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History Received: 11 February 2019 Final Accepted: 13 March 2019 Published: April 2019


In order to identify special information from a light pulse sequence, we propose a few viable schemes for marking a desired slow light signal with a fast optical precursor in a Λ-type and N-type atomic system. The fast optical precursor is characterized by transient beating patterns originating from the temporal discontinuity of the marking pulse at the sharp rising or falling edge. Compared with the schemes in the Λ system, the one in the N system has the advantage of flexibility in situations in which we are not the sender of the original probe signals. Besides, there is no disturbance to the probe signals nor an undesired main pulse coming from the marking field.


This paper introduces the generation and decoding principle of Walsh code,expatiates the application of soft spread spectrum based on Walsh code to identification friend or foe(IFF) Mark XIIA Mode 5 system,establishes the simulation model by using Simulink platform.The experiment result shows that the application of soft spread spectrum technology raises the anti-jamming ability of system effectively.


This paper proposes a human hand detection method for gesture recognition used for communication of a robot with a human. A human hand motion can be recognized as a different meaning according to a situation in the communication between the human and robot. First, we propose a steady-state genetic algorithm for extracting a time series of human hand position, and next, a gestures recognition method of a robot composed of a spiking neural network and self-organizing map. Finally, we discuss the effectiveness of the proposed method through several experimental results.


A kit for performing a body fat measurement and an electrocardiogram comprises a current inflow electrode, a voltage detection electrode, and a stand portion. The current inflow electrode is fixed to a handlebar of a shopping cart. The voltage detection electrode is fixed to the handlebar of a shopping cart so as to be adjacent to the current inflow electrode. The stand portion is electrically connected to the current inflow electrode and the voltage detection electrode and is fixed to the handlebar of a shopping cart.


Lymphocytes are an integral part of lymphocyte to monocyte ratio (LMR) and prognostic nutritional index (PNI). Both LMR and PNI which reflect body's inflammatory and nutritional status can be obtained from routine blood and biochemical test conveniently. Little evidence concerning the prognostic value of LMR and PNI in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients has been published. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of LMR and PNI in hepatitis B virals (HBV)—associated HCC patients who underwent curative hepatectomy.


Queiroz G.B., Machado S.L., Toma H.K., Alencar N.X., Macieira D.B. & Almosny N.R.P. 2017. [Search for hemoglobinopathies in dogs with chronic anemia in the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro.] Pesquisa de hemoglobinopatias em cães da região metropolitana do Rio de Janeiro portadores de anemia crônica. Pesquisa Veterinária Brasileira 37(6):593-597. Departamento de Clínica e Reprodução Animal, Faculdade de Veterinária, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Rua Vital Brazil Filho 64, Vital Brazil, Niterói, RJ 24230-340, Brazil. E-mail: email@example.com Thalassemias and hemoglobinopathies are hereditary conditions found in humans throughout the world. In veterinary medicine, hemoglobin polymorphism has been studied in production animals, but there are no reports of hemoglobinopathies in dogs, and studies involving hemoglobin polymorphism in this species are scarce. In order to search for hemoglobin variants in dogs, blood samples were collected from 202 dogs of various breeds, being 130 patients with chronic anemia (Experimental Group) and 72 clinically healthy animals (Control Group). These samples were subjected to alkaline electrophoresis of hemoglobin, which permitted separation and quantification of hemoglobin fractions by densitometry, and then subjected to hemoglobin electrophoresis in an acid medium, a technique used in human medicine for the separation of variant fractions of hemoglobin that do not differentiate in an alkaline medium. The erythrogram and RBC indices were obtained concurrently. The methods demonstrated that HbA is the major component of canine hemoglobin, and a small amount of HbA2 can be detected in some of the evaluated animals, and most dogs showed only HbA in its composition. It was concluded that the presence or absence of HbA2 does not interfere with RBC indices of evaluated animals, and the comparison between the hemoglobin of Experimental and Control groups showed no differences in fractions distribution between them, and there was no hemoglobin variants in evaluated canines.


Until now, there is no efficient treatment to cure the late non- operation NSCLC. Chemotherapy can only comfort the state of the illness in a limited degree, but it can抰 come to a satisfactory result to prolong patients?life. In this research, we just want to discuss how we can add some Chinese traditional anti-cancer medicine while taking chemotherapy. Means: In this research, we adopt MFP method. During the chemotherapy of NSCLC, the patient may take Chinese traditional antipyretic medicine which can invigorate the circulation of blood, improve the patient抯 immunity and resist cancers. The medicine on the patient shouldn抰 be stopped until he completely recovers. Result: We took one case for CR, six cases for PR, and the results showed that, in the whole group, the efficacious rate is 54%, and that of the retreated is 25%. Conclusion: According to the means of MFP, taking anti-cancer Chinese traditional medicine constantly as well as chemotherapy for NSCLC, has an very good effect on the patients. This can extend the patient抯 life obviously, making the NSCLC chemotherapy effect approach that of small-cell lung cancer抯 standard.


Structural features of w/o microemulsions have been conductometrically evaluated. The radius of the water pool, the effective radius of the droplets, their number per unit volume, the effective surface area of the water pool, and the aggregation number of the surfactant and cosurfactant molecules per droplet in the oil/water interphase have been estimated. Three oils (n-heptane, n-decane, and xylene), three surfactants (CTAB, SDS, and AOT) and two cosurfactants (1-butanol and n-hexylamine) have been used; their effects on the structural properties of microemulsions have been studied at two different temperatures, 293 and 303 K, at two weight ratios of surfactant/cosurfactant, 0.33 and 0.50. The droplet radius has been found to be oil dependent and follows the order n-heptane AOT > CTAB. 1-Butanol yields greater radius than n-hexylamine with SDS and AOT, and the order is reversed with CTAB. The aggregation number of the surfactant and cosurfactant per droplet increases and decreases, respectively, with elevation of temperature. The R{sub e}/R{sub W} (ratio of the effective radius of the droplet and the radiusmore » of its water core) remains fairly constant under all situations, the average value being 1.15 {plus minus} 0.10.« less


Nonblocking multicast asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switches can simplify the call admission control process and increase the external links' utilization. We derive the wide-sense nonblocking condition for multicast ATM switches based on a general Clos network. We also propose a routing algorithm to achieve wide-sense nonblocking. It is illustrated by an example that the number of required middle stages in our switch is significantly less than that of strictly nonblocking multicast switches.


Large space structures are characterized by a large number of modes, grouped frequencies, and small inherent damping. Model reduction techniques in time domain may not be effective due to small damping. The model truncation method is generally used. This method can not solve the problem of grouped frequencies, and will lose all the information about the higher order modes. A new method developed in this paper, which tries to minimize the error of interested transfer functions, makes use of all the information of the original system, and achieves improvement not only from a smaller error of transfer functions but also from better frequency distribution.


Financial Disclosures: Dr Schneeweiss reported being a paid member of the scientific safety advisory boards of HealthCore Inc and ii4sm; being a paid consultant to HealthCore, World Health Information Science Consultants, and RTI International; and having received an investigator-initiated research grant on the safety of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs from Pfizer. No other disclosures were reported.


This book offers the first English translation of the compelling heroine story of Irena Sendler, a Polish Catholic who organized the rescue of more than 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. * Based on sound scholarship and research while also being easy to read and accessible to a wide readership * Provides a complete, chronological presentation of Sendler's life, from her childhood, education, and wartime humanitarian efforts to her postwar experiences, including her professional and personal life and her visit to Israel * Presents unique information from letters and interviews with the now-elderly children Sendler rescued over 60 years ago, illuminating the dramatic influence she had upon their lives * Contains several sections written in the voice of Irena Sendler, resulting in a lively, conversational first-person narrative that gives a reading experience akin to sitting with Sendler and hearing her story firsthand


The ordering of items of an array/list in a certain sequence is one of the crucial topics in computer science. Sorting algorithms determines the new order of elements in a data structure typically in arrays and lists, they do so based on a comparison operator. The effectiveness of these sorting algorithms is determined by calculating their time and space complexity. Financial institutions and commercial enterprises organize much of the information by sorting. They must deal with a large amount of data. There might be millions of data rows. Now we have enough space but less time that is also one the major reasons of microservices architecture is being used nowadays. The microservice design enables the fast, frequent, and reliable delivery of large, sophisticated applications. Hence, the algorithms must be lightning fast. The purpose of this study is to improve on the classic Merge Sort Algorithm and create a new approach with a faster execution time. Merge sort is a popular method for sorting large datasets since it is typically efficient and straightforward to implement. The proposed method surpasses the standard Merge Sort algorithm, which has a time complexity of O(nlog2n). The proposed approach has been examined, executed, and compared, with favourable findings and the suggested modified mergesort algorithm is 12.12% faster than the usual merge sort.


The invention discloses API (Application Programming Interface) management method and system, relating to the field of geographic information systems. The invention solves the problem of excessive tight coupling between an API file and a system developed by adopting the API file in the prior art. An API service end uniformly stores the API file and a corresponding resource. The method comprises the following steps of: receiving a request for calling the corresponding resource by the API file transmitted by a preset user interface of a target system, wherein the target system is obtained by developing the API file obtained from the API service end; obtaining the resource corresponding to the API file from an appointed catalogue according to the request for calling the corresponding resource of the API file; transmitting the resource to the target system by the preset user interface and calling by the API file in the target system. The embodiment of the invention is mainly applied to a geographic information system.


In this paper, a novel active current co-efficient extraction (ACCE)-based control method is presented for a three-phase grid-interfaced voltage source inverter (VSI). Since the VSI performance largely depends on the reference current generation method, it is of signifi-cance to identify the active current co-efficient of the load current contaminated with harmonics, as it is a key governing factor that decides the shape of the compensating current. The proposed ACCE structure functions with minimal mathematical operators like prod-uct, sum, and integrators and thereby identifies the fundamental current with computational effectiveness. Besides, in comparison to existing prevalent state-of-the-art methods, the proposed ACCE structure is devoid of any low-pass filter and zero-crossing detector, and hence serves the following two distinctive purposes: (i) Ensures minimum steady-state oscillations and (ii) exhibits improved dynamic performance under disturbances in the grid and load. The proposed structure effectively confronts the various power quality challenges while injecting the active power into the utility grid. Further, the incremental-conductance-based maximum power point tracking algorithm is equipped to extract the maximum pos-sible power from the photovoltaic array.


The invention discloses a diesel oil anti-wear agent. The diesel oil anti-wear agent is prepared from fatty acid, urea and ethanol in a mass ratio of 10: (4.8-5): 10 through purification of the fatty acid. The saturated fatty acid content of the diesel oil anti-wear agent disclosed by the invention is less than 2%, the yield of a product is more than 80%, the condensation point of the product is less than -12 DEG C, the cloud point of the product is less than -8 DEG C, the acid value of the product is 190, and the diesel oil anti-wear agent has good low-temperature stability, greatly improves the lubricity of diesel oil, reduces the wear degree of an oil injection pump, prolongs the service life of an engine, does not corrode metal and has good compatibility with diesel oil.


A potentially powerful tool to detect and classify corrosion mechanisms is the analysis of electrochemical noise (EN). Data analysis in the time-frequency domain using, e.g., continuous wavelet transform (CWT) allows the extraction of localized frequency information, providing information on the type of corrosion, i.e., uniform or localized corrosion, from the EN signal. The CWT provides the opportunity to analyze changes in frequency behavior of EN signals over time. In the presence of transients generated by pitting corrosion that occur only during short instants of time, this is an important property. This paper introduces the combination of automated transient detection with wavelet transform modulus maxima (WTMM) and the Holder exponent. WTMM enhances the determination of transient frequencies by indicating the ridges of a CWT spectrum. The Holder exponent, a measure of singularity of an EN signal, provides a single parameter discrimination tool based on WTMM and serves to differentiate between gener...


Tetramesityldigermene (1) can be synthesized cleanly and quantitatively by photolysis of hexamesitylcyclotrigermane (2) in THF at low temperature. A solution of tetramesityldigermene (1) in THF is stable for several weeks at room temperature; the digermene does not dissociate or rearrange. The molecular structure of tetramesityldigermene (1) has been determined using X-ray crystallography. The effectiveness of the new protocol for the synthesis of tetramesityldigermene (1) and its derivatives has been demonstrated in the study of the addition of carboxylic acids to tetramesityldigermene (1).


our progress?&dquo; &dquo;What should we strive for now?&dquo; The group recorder keeps a running record of the group's production. He is usually available at any time during a meeting to identify &dquo;benchmarks&dquo; in the group's progress. Some groups have found it useful to duplicate the recorder's notes and distribute them to members after meetings. This team of two, one giving his attention to process and the other to content, may work together to supplement each other. After a group has worked for some time with an observer and a recorder they may benefit from another technic which involves member-member and member-leader relations.


This paper was aimed at the impact of drought and high temperatures on the main stages of plant development, yield, grain protein content (GPC) and its composition as well as content of phenolic compounds (PC) and anthocyanins (AC), and antioxidant activity (AOA) of grain of two purple-grained lines (163 and 193) and drought-resistant white-grained cultivar (cv.) Khazine of soft spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in growing seasons of 2015-2018 years. It has been shown that the impact of drought and high temperatures on the wheat yield is complex and depends on genotype resistance, on the strength/duration of stress factor action, and on the stage of plant reproductive development. The periods of sensitivity were booting, heading, flowering, and milky ripening. In 2018, prolonged exposure to high temperatures and drought, from the stage of booting to the milky ripening stage, led to a decrease in the yield of all genotypes, and also contributed to an increase in the Kjeldahl protein content and the fraction of non-extractable proteins in the grain. In 2016, drought during the reproductive period and high temperatures at the stage of milk ripening turned out to be more favorable for the formation of the yield compared to the weather conditions in 2018, they contributed to an increase in the fraction of non-extractable proteins in Khazine grain, but a decrease in the content of non-extractable proteins in the grain of purple wheat lines. A decrease in the weight of 1000 grains under drought conditions was observed only for line 163. It was shown that purple wheat lines did not differ significantly from the cv. Khazine in the total PC content, but they had a higher AOA, probably due to presence of ACs. Drought caused a decreased PC and AC content in the grain of line 163, but an increased PC and AC content in line 193, which correlated with decreasing or increasing of AOA. It was shown that purple lines have different resistance to drought, which, can be explained by the ability to activate biosynthesis of PC and, particularly, ACs with high AOA in response to impact of stressors.


Abstract Area equivalent latitude based on potential vorticity (PV) is a widely used diagnostic for isentropic transport in the stratosphere and upper troposphere. Here, an alternate method for calculating equivalent latitude is explored, namely, a numerical synthesis of a PV-like tracer from a long-term integration of the advection–diffusion equation on isentropic surfaces. It is found that the tracer equivalent latitude (TrEL) behaves much like the traditional PV equivalent latitude (PVEL) despite the simplified governing physics; this is evidenced by examining the kinematics of the Arctic lower stratospheric vortex. Yet in some cases TrEL performs markedly better as a coordinate for long-lived trace species such as ozone. These instances include analysis of lower stratospheric ozone during the Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) III Ozone Loss and Validation Experiment (SOLVE) campaign and three-dimensional reconstruction of total column ozone during November–December 1999 from fitted ozone...


Criticizes business school operations in relation to management. Critical importance of administrative quality; Conception of business schools of their role in society; Implications for problems an...


The Civil Protection Act was revised in 2004. The act stipulates that municipalities shall have action programmes for prevention and operative activities. The government bill states that work with the programmes is to be seen as a process with continual follow-up, evaluation and improvement. The aim of this study is to investigate the evaluations which municipalities have carried out on their action programmes from a theoretical perspective. The investigation is based on four criteria which an evaluation should live up to according to the author's interpretation of evaluation literature. The criteria are reliable data collection, analysis, assessment and transparency. In a questionnaire survey by the Swedish Rescue Services Agency in 2008, 28 municipalities claimed to have evaluated their programmes. When asked to provide their evaluation documents, 24 municipalities responded. This study is based on these documents together with information received via e-mail and telephone conversations. The investigation showed that three municipalities had not in fact evaluated their programmes, two could not find their documents and seven had done evaluation without any documentation. The latter were not considered to live up to the criteria of transparency. Three of the twelve municipalities which provided their documentation were considered to live up to all four evaluation criteria. Eight municipalities lived up to some but not all of the criteria. One municipality did not live up to any of the criteria.


The report explores the impact of the crisis on the labor market efficiency in Bulgaria and the trends for its recovery. The main focus is set on one of the sub-criteria of the seventh pillar of the competitiveness evaluation, examined annually by the World Economic Forum. In particular, subject of the study are regulations applied in the minimum wage field, crisis and postcrisissocial dimensions connected to the consequences and recovery trends in households income, unemployment and employment indicators. By means of the methods and instruments of the theoretical and empirical descriptive analysis it is proved that in the field of minimum wage there is an improving efficiency and flexibility of the Bulgarian labor market, which does not yet occur as a prerequisite for a considerable increase in the competitiveness of the Bulgarian economy. Among retaining factors, the ongoing processes of rising unemployment and limitede mployment growth under the conditions of a positive economic growth after the crisis 2009 can be outlined.


Mapping of fire extent and severity across broad landscapes and timeframes using remote sensing approaches is valuable to inform ecological research, biodiversity conservation and fire management. Compiling imagery from various satellite sensors can assist in long-term fire history mapping; however, inherent sensor differences need to be considered. The New South Wales Fire Extent and Severity Mapping (FESM) program uses imagery from Sentinel and Landsat satellites, along with supervised classification algorithms, to produce state-wide fire maps over recent decades. In this study, we compared FESM outputs from Sentinel 2 and Landsat 8 sensors, which have different spatial and spectral resolutions. We undertook independent accuracy assessments of both Sentinel 2 and Landsat 8 sensor algorithms using high-resolution aerial imagery from eight training fires. We also compared the FESM outputs from both sensors across 27 case study fires. We compared the mapped areas of fire severity classes between outputs and assessed the classification agreement at random sampling points. Our independent accuracy assessment demonstrated very similar levels of accuracy for both sensor algorithms. We also found that there was substantial agreement between the outputs from the two sensors. Agreement on the extent of burnt versus unburnt areas was very high, and the severity classification of burnt areas was typically either in agreement between the sensors or in disagreement by only one severity class (e.g., low and moderate severity or high and extreme severity). Differences between outputs are likely partly due to differences in sensor resolution (10 m and 30 m pixel sizes for Sentinel 2 and Landsat 8, respectively) and may be influenced by landscape complexity, such as terrain roughness and foliage cover. Overall, this study supports the combined use of both sensors in remote sensing applications for fire extent and severity mapping.


This paper makes a comparative study of the five major service modes,which include SMS, MMS,Web,App Client and WeChat,of Chinese mobile library from the system architecture,reader coverage,service initiative,service diversity,reader interactivity,construction costs,service costs and so on. It turns out that each model has its own advantages and disadvantages. Mobile library should choose the modes selectively for different services,so as to provide better services for its patrons.


It was intended to find a way to improve the earthquake resistance performance more effectively through various reinforcement methods regarding between the cabinet bottom and concrete slab, which is a vulnerable connection part in the event of an earthquake. In order to improve the earthquake resistance performance of an electric cabinet, methods such as installing a vibration isolation device, increasing the number of connecting bolts between cabinet bottom panel and base channel, welding a steel grid of cabinet bottom panel, etc. were considered and, in order to compare the performance of each case, a three-axis shaking table test was performed. As a result of comparing the seismic performance of each case according to the acceleration response, it was found that the reduction of seismic force was the best when applying the vibration isolation device. However, there is a disadvantage in that the spatial and temporal limitations are large and the unit price is high in field application. For this reason, it is predicted that a method of ensuring the higher rigidity of an electric cabinet by increasing the number of connecting bolts proved through this study would be a more economical and realistic seismic performance method in field application.


On a broadcast-type contents distribution, a time-limited key management scheme has been proposed, which enables a broadcaster to provide contents to each user with each period. In order to realize a long expiration date with a short bit-sequence, chaotic map based schemes must design the allowable period by discrete values and tree-structured schemes must allow a user for the access of extra period. In this paper, based on tree-structured scheme we propose a new time-limited key management scheme applying one-way function. In this scheme, we realize a long expiration date with a short bit-sequence, and make it possible to design arbitrary expiration date without redundancy unless a specific condition is satisfied.


The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of social capital in the creation of intellectual capital in the Iranian sports federations' staffs. Research method s are descriptive. Materials and Methods: The popul ation of this study was employees of sports federations and the ssample was 263 employees of the various sports federations formed in the 84 senior managers (president and vic e president and secretary) and had 179 employees. T he results of this study showed that in Iranian sports federat ions' staffs there was significant positive relationship between social capital and intellectual capital. Put more c learly, with increasing social capital, intellectua l capital has increased in their two dimensions of human and stru ctural relationship. Put more clearly, with increas ing social capital, intellectual capital has increased in thei r human dimensions, and structural relationship.


Microvesicles are heterogeneous population of micro-particles released constitutively and upon induction from healthy and unhealthy cells. The role of cancer cell derived-MV in intercellular communication gains an intensive aria of research. The influence of leukaemia cell derived-MVs in this study was determined on normal prostate epithelial cell lines. PNT2 cells were treated with Jurkat cell derived-MVs lost epithelial characteristic (decreased epithelial marker E-cadherin) and gained mesenchymal phenotype (increased expression of mesenchymal marker Vimentin).

TGF-β and intracellular Ca2+ concentration were partially involved in Epithelial Mesenchymal Transition (EMT) process. PNT2 cells acquire mesenchymal characteristic produced high level of resistances against apoptotic signals after exposed to serum starvation and anti-cancer drug docetaxel, produce excessive level of MMP-9 and 2/3 of total TPNT2 cell population were arrested in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle, and halts cell proliferation.

The influence of carcinoma cell derived-MVs on tumour microenvironment was examined through use of Non-small lung cancer cells (A549) derived-MVs on primary lung fibroblasts (MRC5). MRC5 cells were treated with A549 cell derived-MV produced significantly high level of myofibroblasts marker alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) cytoskeleton protein and FGF. MVs were isolated from the myofibroblasts were enriched with α-SMA protein. Primary fibroblasts were treated with MVs released myofibroblasts expressed high level of α-MSA protein. Elements present in the CGM cause aggregation of cancer cell MVs and significantly reduced the effects of MVs on the target cells.


____________________________________ Advisor Date ii DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my parents, Paul and Diane Kott for their love, support, and encouragement throughout my life and academic career, and to all of my little rats that were sacrificed for this study and the advancement of scientific research. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work would not have been made possible without the guidance of my George Borszcz who provided access to their labs and the necessary equipment, without which portions of this study would have been impossible to conduct. I would also like to thank members of Dr. Brummelte's lab who provided invaluable assistance in data collection and analysis:


Cloud computing is adopting that uses data stored on an external server, accessed via the Internet. It's defined as unique, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction. It is an evolutionary result of the improvements in digital networks and computing speed over the last decades. Banks are already widely using cloud computing for non-core and non-critical uses, such as human resources, e-mail, customer analytics, customer relationship management, and development and testing. While a few smaller banks either have transferred or are in the process of transferring entire core services. This brief looks into the relationship between banks and technology; presents an overview of the cloud model; outlines the model's benefits, costs and risks; discusses risk management strategies; and predicts what the near future holds for cloud computing in banking. IndexTermsCustomer analytical, Cloud computing, Customer relationship management.


This paper studies the issue of the almost exponential stabilization for stochastic dynamical systems (SDS) by using event-triggered impulsive control (ETIC). The ETIC scheme is designed by setting three levels of event conditions. The criteria on almost exponential stabilization are derived for the controlled SDS. Thus the almost exponential stabilization is achieved for SDS under the designed ETIC. Finally, one example is given for illustration.


The deuteration of the lattice molecules in clathrate hydrates is a widely used experimental technique to clearly separate the vibrational modes. However, the effect of the deuteration on the vibrational spectra and molecular motions is not fully understood. Since the guest–host coupling may change the vibrational spectra, a detailed analysis of the vibrational spectra of deuterated clathrate hydrate is significant in the understanding of the mechanism of the vibrational shift. In this study, the vibrational spectra of the deuterated methane hydrates were calculated by ab initio molecular dynamics simulation. The intramolecular vibrational frequency of the methane in D2O lattice and deuterated methane in H2O lattice was calculated and compared with the pure methane hydrate. The bending, rocking and overtone of the bending mode was also reported. The effect of coupling of the rattling motions of guest and host molecules on the vibrational spectra was revealed.


This paper expound the content,form and problems of the combining physical training with education,in addition,the paper discuss the methed and approach of training mode of combining physical training with education to cultivate competitive sports talents.The training mode of combining physical training with education can give full play to the advantages of sport and educatio and it is an effective way to sustainably cultivate competitive sports talents.


A number of manufacturing challenges exist in creating a robust permanent-magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) design to meet critical requirements for cogging torque and torque ripple in specific applications. In addition, reduction of the back electromotive force (BEMF) harmonics that lead to torque ripple is also required during design. Due to manufacturing tolerances, maintaining capability with these requirements is very difficult, particularly for mass production of units. A design of experiments (DOE) that combines manufacturing tolerances with assembly process variations is proposed here to address the sensitivity of cogging torque and harmonics. The limits for the parts and the process variations are extracted from an actual production environment. The DOE is laid out according to one of the robust engineering matrices chosen from Taguchi's method. The DOE results are then utilized to set the tolerance limits for manufacturing the rotor magnets and to set the allowance for the rotor assembly process variations. The method helps to limit the cogging torque and harmonics within predefined bands, thereby producing a robust motor. This paper also investigates the capability of maintaining the tolerances of magnets for a surface-mounted PMSM. The analysis is done using a finite-element method and verified with experimental results.


A new type of light sound-insulation composite plates made up of aluminum honeycomb core and microperforated panels with GSGN film and sawdust-board added in was fabericated.The sound insulation properties of the plates with different structural parameters of the honeycomb cores and microperforated panels were measured.The result shows that the weighted sound-insulation index can reach 58.41 dB and the density is only 0.37 g/mm3.It is expected that the traffic noise can be greatly reduced if these composite structures are applied to the sound barriers,and the quality of acoustic environment can be greatly improved.


Education is the process of transforming knowledge into the process of learning and teaching in the school system. Dwyer and Barker stated that the most dominant learning and teaching process is receptive communication as applied in the act of listening and reading. Logically, the senses being actively engaged in such process are hearing and visioning facilities. An observation toward school practices proved that listening and reading activities become the main part of academic skills to be acquired by students. It is concluded that receptive communication allows students to absorb knowledge and technology effectively which in turn will increase students' learning achievement.


Regional development requires good/effective coordination among sectors. In general, development coordination in local governments in Indonesia is still weak. However, the opposite case has been happened in Sragen Regency, where coordination has been run well, particularly in regional development planning. This study is a single case study research, conducted based on qualitative descriptive technique.
The study shows that coordination can be done by utilizing all additional activities trusted in the area. Coordination function can be done through formal activity such as briefing. In the briefing, the Regent plays role as director, facilitator, coordinator and evaluator. It can be conducted also through informal activity, which is morning exercise routinely done for all staffs in the Regency. In such activity, informal social interactions have been happened. In such occasions, the Regent of Sragen provides time and place to share to his staffs in discussing all urgent issues. Such occasions is the most effective mechanism for coordination. Another way of coordination is by utilizing information system of regional government that is cyber office (Kantaya/Kantor Maya). Such media can accelerate and improve communication among staffs. Other regional governments in Indonesia should consider utilizing both formal or informal activities uniqueness of each region as means for coordination.


A numerical analysis of a GeO2-doped single-mode optical fiber with a multi-step index core toward stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) based dual-parameter sensing applications is proposed. Adjusting the parameters in the fiber design, higher-order acoustic modes are sufficiently enhanced, making the fiber feasible for discriminative measurements of temperature and strain in the meantime. Numerical simulations indicate that the Brillouin frequency shifts and peak SBS efficiencies are strongly dependent on the doping concentration and the thickness of low-index ring in the proposed fiber. With appropriate structural and optical parameters, this fiber could support two distinct acoustic modes with comparable peak SBS efficiencies and well-spaced Brillouin frequency shifts. The sensing characteristics contributed by the dual-peak feature in the Brillouin gain spectrum are explored. Calculated accuracies of temperature and strain in simultaneous measurements can be up to 0.64 °C and 15.4 με, respectively. The proposed fiber might have potential applications for long-haul distributed dual-parameter simultaneous measurements.


Meningococcal meningitis (MCM) is one of the serious public health threats in the tropical and sub-tropical regions. In this paper, we propose an epidemic model to study the transmission dynamics o...


This article introduced the background, idea and practice of setting laboratory's chief technical inspector in Shanghai University, including post-setting, the scope of official duty and remuneration etc. It presented two key words about laboratory's chief technical inspector: key and leading.


The thermoxidative degradation of a high-density polyethylene stabilised either with standard and novel kinds of antioxidants was examined at many different temperatures. The aim of this work was to investigate the degradation response (crosslinking or chain-breakage) on the polyolefin molecular structure in terms of low shear rate melt viscosity increment and oxidation induction time both studied through steady and dynamic shear flow tests performed in a rotational rheometer. Lactone type antioxidants, especially the one containing P-EPQ phosphite component, exhibit the lowest thermoxidative degradation at high temperatures. Vitamine E, used in blend with a phosphite, appears to be a good stabiliser only at 230°C, but at high aging time.


Torsemide is the first loop diuretic in the pyridine sulfonylurea class. of prescribing furosemide b.i.d., a more appropriate dosing seems to be fourtimes a day.. Moreover, the once daily (q.d.) dosing of torsemide offers improved patient . (furosemide) is a potent diuretic which, if given in excessive amounts, can lead to a chloride not only in the proximal and distal tubules but also in the loop of Henle.. Peak plasma concentrations increase with increasing dose but times-to. .. determined single dose should then be given once or twice daily (eg, at 8 am . Nov 2, 2010. One approach to overcome loop diuretic resistance is the addition of a. .. despite intravenous furosemide 80 mg twice daily were randomized to the. . to metolazone 2.5 mg daily is suggested; 2 to 3 times weekly dosing is . Jul 25, 2017. Elderly: Oral: Initial: 250 mg twice daily; use lowest effective dose. Dosing adjustment in. Bumetanide is a loop diuretic with a rapid onset and short duration of action.. . Elderly: Oral: 500 mg once daily or 1 g 3 times/week as half the dose given twice daily' is countered by evaluation of the recently introduced loop diuretic,. . significantly greaterarea under the response-time. Hunter KR, Underwood PN. Evaluation of once-daily versus twice-daily bumetanide in heart failure. Postgrad Med J. 1975;51 (Suppl 6):91–95. [PubMed] . This page includes the following topics and synonyms: Loop Diuretic,. Optimal dosing is given at least twice daily (patient otherwise is Sodium avid 18 hours/ day). Start: 25 mg orally daily; Maximum: 200-400 mg divided 2-3 times daily. Dosing chart for loop diuretics including dosage forms, dosage range, maximum dose, how to. Starting: 40mg twice a day; Maintenance: titrate to desired effect. Diuretics, or water pills, are prescribed to reduce excess fluid in the body. chlorthalidone, and metolazone) and loop diuretics (furosemide, bumetanide, torsemide).. If you are taking a single dose a day, take it in the morning with your breakfast or right. You may need to change the times you are taking each medication..


Objective
To study the diagnostic value of sonographic "Leopard pattern" sign in breast hyperplasia.

Methods
Two hundred and twenty-three female patients in Beijing Friendship Hospital from October 2012 to April 2013 were choosen. All the cases were diagnosed as mammary gland hyperplasia clinically, and their breast ultrasound images show the breast imaging-reporting and data system (BI-RADS) grad was 0 or 1. These patients were divided into 3 groups according to their age, Group A: 20 to 35 age (36 cases), Group B: 36 to 50 age (102 cases), and Group C: order than 50 year-old (85 cases). The pathological diagnosis were obtained by ultrasound guided breast biopsy. With pathological diagnosis as the gold standard and "Leopard sign" as ultrasound diagnostic criteria, the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predictive value and negative predictive value were calculated. The consistency between the ultrasonic and the pathological diagnosis were analyzed by Kappa statistical test.

Result
The diagnostic consistency test of the total sample of 223 cases: in terms of the ultrasonic Leopard sign" for the diagnosis of breast hyperplasia, the sensitivity was 69% (59/85),the specificity was 46% (64/138), the accuracy was 55% (123/223), the positive predictive value was 44% (59/133), the negative predictive value was 71% (64/90), the consistency was poor (Kappa=0.14, P<0.05). Group A:the sensitivity was 90% (18/20), the specificity was 50% (8/16),the accuracy was 72% (26/36), the positive predictive value was 69% (18/26), the negative predictive value was 80% (8/10), the consistency was good (Kappa=0.42, P<0.05);Group B:the sensitivity was 70% (33/47), the specificity was 49% (27/55),the accuracy was 59% (60/102), the positive predictive value was 54% (33/61), the negative predictive value was 66% (27/41), the consistency was poor (Kappa=0.19, P<0.05); Group C: the sensitivity was 44% (8/18), the specificity was 43% (29/67), the accuracy was 44% (37/85), the positive predictive value was 17% (8/46), the negative predictive value was 74% (29/39), the consistency was poor (Kappa=0.08, P<0.05).

Conclusion
"Leopard pattern" sign is not suitable as an independent standard in diagnosing breast hyperplasia disease.

Key words:
Ultrasonography; Breast diseases; Biopsy, needle


Low vitamin D levels are associated with adverse bone outcomes, and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) deficiency is typically defined on the basis of


Notwithstanding the advances which are steadily taking place in knowledge of the chemistry, serologic nature and biology of tumors, gross morphology and, more especially, microscopic morphology remain our best means of determining their histogenesis, classification, activity and prognosis. The diagnostic application of this morphologic knowledge lies in the procedure known as biopsy. Though this word strictly includes the removal of any tissue from a living subject for diagnostic examination, usage has tended to confine it to the examination of tumor tissue suspected of having malignant qualities. About the middle of the nineteenth century the idea of biopsy began to be voiced in independent reports or suggestions by various authors here and abroad, among them Sedillot, 1 Marmy 2 and Lebert 3 in France, Hannover 4 in Denmark and Donaldson 5 in this country. It was Virchow, 6 however, who first laid the rational foundation of the procedure as a diagnostic


This chapter uses Candida as the example to emphasize the uniqueness of mucosal immunity to fungi. Following a general discussion of the dogmatic host defense mechanisms against Candida albicans, a fairly detailed discussion of host defense against oral, vaginal, and gastrointestina (GI) candidiasis is reviewed to stress the uniqueness of the responses at each anatomical site and what this implies for immunity to other fungal organisms that infect multiple sites. The chapter talks about other fungi that infect multiple sites and on which studies on host defense have been focused to date, together with a road map for research on immunity to fungi that affect different mucosal tissues or anatomical sites. Historically, most studies of host defense against other medically important fungi focused on cells in the lymph nodes, spleen, or peripheral blood. Studies of host defense against the medically important fungi are certainly following the correct path and moving to evaluations at sites of infection. The authors would like this chapter to serve as an example of what the future should be relative to host defense against the medically important fungi. Development of vaccines must consider the site-specific host responses and target the site of infection with the vaccine.


Purpose: The study sought to investigate the causes and approaches used in the management of truancy in Nyamira North district in Kenya. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: to analyze the school related causes of truancy in secondary schools in Nyamira North district; to assess home related causes of truancy in secondary schools in Nyamira North district; and to evaluate the approaches used in the management of truancy in secondary schools in Nyamira North district. Literature review on truancy was undertaken in order to provide a bridge and clear understanding of existing knowledge base in the problem area. Methods: The literature review is based on authoritative, recent, and original sources such as journals, books, thesis and academic projects. A descriptive survey was used to undertake the study. The method permits gathering of data from the respondents in natural settings. A census of 36 public secondary schools in Nyamira North District was undertaken. All the school principals participated in the study. In order to obtain data from the students, stratified random sampling was used, where by in each school, forms 1, 2, 3 and 4 were each represented by 8 students, selected at random.  In total 36 Principals and 288 students participated in the study. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data from the respondents in public secondary schools in Nyamira North District. Content analysis was employed for data pertaining to the profile of the respondents while data pertaining to the objectives of the study was analyzed by employing descriptive statistics. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used in data entry and analysis. Results: The study findings showed that even though the main causes of truancy vary from study to study, a combination of home, school and individual factors may be involved. The main causal factors of truancy include individual factors, institutional factors, and family backgrounds and community factors. The individual factors include: anxiety and fear; poor social skills; low self – esteem; anti-social behavior; scholastic failure; learning problems; cognitive style; poor habits arising from initially legitimate reasons. The institutional factors include: dilapidated school building and poor facilities; school size; movement between classes during lesson changes; classroom management; bullying; educator-learner relationship; teaching or instructional approach. The family and community factors include: socio-economic status of parents; marital status of parents; poor involvement and supervision; peer influence; violence and drug use. The findings also show that the approaches used in the management of truancy in schools may be categorized into the following: personal traits, school aspects, community aspects and others. In view of the findings, the following recommendations were made: there is need for the management of schools to accord the students opportunities for connection and social bonding; there is need for the management of schools to emphasize students' commitment in schools; the management of schools should endeavor to involve students in as many school activities as possible, including day-to-day management of the schools; and belief and values should be emphasized as they are often not formally written but serve as the moral conscience of the society that determines right from wrong. Key w ords: Truancy, Public Secondary schools


In contrast to GaN-based structures grown along [0001], nonpolar growth allows for the realization of thick quantum wells (QWs) with an optimal overlap between electron and hole wavefunctions. However, nonpolar GaN layers grown on non-lattice-matched substrates exhibit high densities of defects. Then, even at low temperature (T), the carrier recombination is mainly nonradiative.
Here, we present the dynamics of charge carriers in AlGaN/GaN QWs of various widths and Al-contents grown on the a-facet of GaN crystals. The QW dislocation density and the exciton diffusion length at 300K are 2.105 cm-2 and 100 nm, respectively. Therefore, dislocations play a minor role in the carrier dynamics at 300K. For all samples, we observe an increasing QW PL lifetime with T, indicating the absence of nonradiative phenomena in the low-T range. Purely radiative recombination is observed up to 240K for a 7 nm thick QW. This suggests the possibility of realizing UV emitters with narrow emission and high internal quantum efficiency at 300K.
The observed decrease in QW PL lifetime in the high-T range arises from the thermal escape of carriers from the QW to the AlGaN barriers and their subsequent nonradiative recombination. The efficiency of nonradiative recombination at 300K is thus reduced by limiting the thermal escape of carriers from the QW. This is obtained by growing thick QWs rather than increasing the barrier Al-content, which is important from point of view of defect generation.


Insects: A Very Short Introduction explores the insects' evolution, behaviour, and development, highlighting their pivotal role in supporting ecosystems across the planet. It considers the threats of pesticides and climate change on the insect population, and the potentially catastrophic impact of their decline. The VSI describes insects as a fascinatingly diverse and beautiful group of animals. They are found on all continents, in caves, underground, inside other insects, in rivers, lakes, and puddles, and in our houses. To date, over a million insect species have been named. It also mentions that insects include predators, parasites, herbivores, detritivores, fungivores, and saproxylics that live on decaying wood.


The Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS‐CN) method is a popular rainfall–runoff model that is widely used to estimate direct runoff from small and ungauged basins. The SCS‐CN is a simple and valuable approach to quantify the total streamflow volume generated by storm rainfall, but its use is not appropriate for estimating the sub‐daily incremental rainfall excess. To overcome this drawback, we propose to include the Green‐Ampt (GA) infiltration model into a mixed procedure, which is referred to as Curve Number for Green‐Ampt (CN4GA), aiming to distribute in time the information provided by the SCS‐CN method. For a given storm, the computed SCS‐CN total net rainfall amount is employed to calibrate the soil hydraulic conductivity parameter of the GA model. The proposed procedure is evaluated by analysing 100 rainfall–runoff events that were observed in four small catchments of varying size. CN4GA appears to provide encouraging results for predicting the net rainfall peak and duration values and has shown, at least for the test cases considered in this study, better agreement with the observed hydrographs than the classic SCS‐CN method. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


A new method for determining the height profiles of the electron plasma frequency ($f_{N}(h)$-profiles) is proposed in the inner ionosphere. It uses the group paths of signals reflected from the Earth's surface on ionograms of topside satellite sounding. The calculated profile is used to correct the IRI-2016 model by means of its key parameters: the height of the maximum $hmF2$ and the critical frequency $foF2$ of the $F2$ layer, the values $B0$ and $B1$ that determine the shape of the profile in the $F$ region, the time and coordinates of the satellite sounding. The problem of determining the $f_{N}(h)$-distribution in the inner ionosphere using the group paths of signals passing through it is incorrect and requires the involvement of model ideas about the height distribution of the $f_{N}(h)$-profile. A new system of functions to represent the $f_{N}(h)$-profile is proposed. The parameters of the functions are determined by minimizing the corresponding functionals using the group paths of the probing signals. Testing the method on the data of $f_{N}(h)$ rocket measurements shows that the reconstructed $f_{N}(h)$-profiles are adequate to the real distributions in the F2 region. The profiles calculated from the ionograms of the ISIS-2 satellite and the IRI profiles adjusted from them are close to each other at the altitudes above the E region. This indicates the correct choice of the system of functions. Both profiles can be used independently to solve problems related to the propagation of radio waves.


We have deposited CaTiO3 thin films on SrRuO3 electrode layers on SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The low-frequency dielectric properties were measured from 4 to 300 K. We found that the dielectric constants of 1-μm-thick CaTiO3 films are very close to that observed in the bulk materials. The dielectric loss depends on the temperature and is on the order of 10−4 at low temperature. The dielectric constants of the films can be tuned by electric field by 6% at room temperature and 10% at 200 K.


The invention discloses a rapid container seedling culturing method for peach. The method provided by the invention comprises the steps of preparing a tree stock, selecting a container, preparing nutrient soil, culturing a grafted seedling, managing the grafted seedling and seedling outplanting. By adopting the method provided by the invention, the conventional seedling culturing time of two years is reduced to be ten months, the outplanting of seedlings is rapid, the transplanting of seedlings is not limited by seasons, the survival rate after field planting is high, the seedling reviving time is avoided, the amount of growth in the initial stage is great, flower bud differentiation appears earlier than planned, the high yield in early stage is realized, meanwhile the phenomenon of multiple plant diseases and insect pests caused by continuous cropping in field seedling cultivating is also avoided.


Cracking is found at the foot area of the welding seam of the large-sized X80 SAWL pipe as expanded. Relevant physical tests and chemical analysis are made to the fracture,and the results reveal the main elements which responsible for the cracking,including rather high welding heat input that makes the toughness of the metal of the HAZ greatly decreased,concentration of the stress in the base metal near the welding seam of the pipe that occurs before it is expanded,and extrusion that takes place between the HAZ of the tube and the expanding die. Based on the elements as identified,the welding process is improved,and thus the crack incidence rate is decreased from 2.00% to 0.12%.


he purpose of this research is to measure the level of perception and attitude towards the mentoring post-graduate team. The method used in data collection is a live interview using structured questionnaires and direct observations to measure the skills of respondents. Purpossive Random sampling technique to 20 respondents was applied. The parameters are observed counseling/socialization activities, the training of sugar-making innovations, the training of palm sugar products and the training of liquid sugar products and the packaging of brown sugar products. The results showed that public attitudes and perception of socialization activities showed 100% understand the content of material, demonstration processing of palm sugar Products innovations 60% understand and will try to cultivate, 40% understand just do not try to cultivate; Demonstration brown sugarprocessing 85% understand and will try to do, and 15% just look at the process and would try for livelihood needs, processing liquid sugar 50% who enthusiastically understand and 50% less understanding, packaging the product modeled 75% understand and interested, 25% do not understand and have no desire to make packaging.


Aiming at the present condition of forest fire suppression in Mt.ChangbaiNature Reserve,this paper presents a series of measures as follows: To control forest fire in time and in force before it is too late,too terrific untill it disappear; To deploy fire fighters by a scientific way.


Transamidation Reactions with Cyclic Amino-amides

Lactames which are substituted at the nitrogen atom by a 3-aminopropyl residue are transformed under base catalysis to cyclic amino-amides enlarged by 4 ring atoms. The formed ring must be at minimum 12-membered. Scheme 2 illustrates this result: the 8-membered 7 is transamidated in 96% yield to the 12-membered ring 8 (in the presence of potassium 3-aminopropylamid in 1, 3-propanediamine), the 9-membered 10 to the 13-membered ring 11 (97%) and the 11-membered 14 to the 15-membered ring 15. Furthermore, the 13-membered ring 27 (Scheme 5) is transformed to the 17-membered 28. In the case of the 15-membered lactame 15 it is demonstrated that 14 is not formed back under the conditions of the transamidation.

Large ring lactames which are substituted at the nitrogen atom by a 3-(alkylamino) propyl group lead under base catalysis to an equilibrium mixture, e.g. the 17-membered 26 is in equilibrium with the 21-membered 29. This result is similar to the behavior of the corresponding open-chain amino-amides [2].

Because of transannular interactions, the 11-membered ring 2 is not stable: transamidation of the 7-membered 1 (Scheme 1) doesn't give the expected 2, but its water elimination product 3 in small yield. The N-tosyl derivative of 2, namely 20, is synthesized by an independent route (Scheme 3). Detosylation of 20 yields the 7-membered 1 instead of 2. Concerning the mechanism of this interesting reaction see Scheme 4.


The yield of the annual forage and feed crops mixture grassland in agro-pastoral transitional zone of Yanmenguan region in Shanxi was studied.The results showed that the mixture with 50% common vetch + 50% oat was the best among the different mixtures,the yields of grass and crude protein reached 48 525 kg/hm2 and 1 981 kg/hm2,the suitable row spacing was 30 cm,the crude protein of interlacing sowing significantly was higher than the same row sowing.While the grass yields of mixtures with 50% corn + 50% lablab or 50% sorghum hybrid sudangrass+ 50% labla were higher than the single sown of corn or sorghum hybrid sudangrass.The models could get higher grass yield in flat ground and basin region,and the mixture model of oat and vetch was suitable adopted in mountain and hilly region.


Abstract:In 1960s Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian white middle class embraced the samba music written by working-class blacks as a source of authentic national culture. Cultural mediators, or individuals that bridged sociocultural spheres and negotiated the terms in which work was produced and circulated, were essential to samba's mainstream acceptance. This article examines how the Rio de Janeiro bar and restaurant Zicartola functioned as an alternative space of encounter during a period of social and political upheaval. Following the trajectories of musicians Nara Leão, Paulinho da Viola, and Clementina de Jesus, the article traces Zicartola's position as conduit for the exchange that occurred between the middle and working classes between 1963 and 1965. Although cultural mediation is often framed as a way to bridge differences between disparate communities founded on differences in race and social class, these interactions only cause transformations on an individual scale while reaffirming the imbalance of power through the unequal distribution of social and cultural resources.


In 2021, a group of seven senior academics from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, published a letter to the editor in The Listener, a weekly magazine. The authors, who included three Fellows of the Royal Society of New Zealand, were commenting on proposals to include, in the New Zealand national schools' curriculum, the NCEA (New Zealand Certificate in Educational Achievement), indigenous knowledge on the same level as what were described as other 'bodies of knowledge', 'particularly Western/Pākehā [European New Zealand] epistemologies'. In other words, Māori traditional knowledge would effectively be given equal standing with physics and chemistry. The Māori understanding of the world – that all living things originated with Rangi and Papa, the sky mother and sky god, for instance, – should therefore be presented as equally valid as the general theory of relativity, or oncology. The authors of the letter opposed this proposal in principle, saying that 'Indigenous knowledge is critical for the preservation and perpetuation of culture and local practices, and plays key roles in management and policy', but concluded that, 'In the discovery of empirical, universal truths, it falls far short of what we can define as science itself'. They also responded to the working group's claim that science had been used as 'a rationale for colonisation of Māori and the suppression of Māori knowledge'. The authors conceded that science – like literature and art – 'has been used to aid colonisation' but stated 'Science itself does not colonise'. The letter created a storm of controversy, with most responses being highly critical of the letter and of its authors. The Royal Society commented that 'The Society strongly upholds the value of mātauranga Māori and rejects the narrow and outmoded definition of science outlined [in the letter]'. It commenced disciplinary action against Professor Garth Cooper, and Emeritus Professor Robert Nola, a philosopher of science; a third Fellow of the Royal Society who had co-signed the letter had since died. Cooper, a Professor of Biochemistry and Medicine, is himself of Pākeha and Māori descent. He later noted that the main reason he signed the Listener letter was because he was 'concerned [that teaching] Māori kids about the colonising effects of science [would] lead to loss of opportunity'. Before looking at the harmful effect of this controversy, particularly on free speech (and especially academic free speech), it is worth noting that the basis of mātauranga Māori is kaupapa Māori, or the principles of Māori thought. Overarching concepts are whakapapa (genealogy) and language (te reo Māori). The values and beliefs behind


The new iterative nonuniform polar quantization method is presented in this paper. The decision levels and the reconstruction levels are determined by this iterative method as well as the number of points on levels. The quantization mean-squared error (MSE) is used as the criterion for optimization. We also present the exact method for the error probability determination per signal constellation symbol, which is obtained by this quantization method. The error probability for nonequiprobable symbols transmission through a channel with the additive Gaussian noise is also computed.


Flow and transport processes in porous media occur on different spatial and temporal scales and may also exhibit different physical behavior in different parts of the model domain. Additionally, the structure of the porous medium itself generally shows a high dependence on the spatial scale. Employing a complex fine scale model throughout the whole domain is in general very expensive and often limited by the available computational resources. Moreover, in many cases, it is not needed to use the full model everywhere, and one can choose a simpler one and/or consider one on a coarser scale in large parts of the domain. Our goal is to develop a multi-scale multi-physics toolbox DuMux for nonisothermal compositional multiphase flow and transport processes in porous media which makes use of the locally different behavior. In particular, we aim to use in each part of the domain the model which is the less expensive but still accurate enough to describe the physics correctly. Furthermore, we want to be able to choose the best discretization in space and time for each model. We use modern programming techniques within the framework of DUNE, the Distributed and Unified Numerics Environment which has been developed recently. It allows to implement the necessary numerical algorithms independent of the ultimately used data structures. This paper presents the current possibilities of our toolbox.


By means of comparison, the spiritual cultural difference in the two famous novels To Besiege a City and The Castle, which were created by Chien Chungshu and Kafka respectively, is discussed in the paper. The spiritual conversation between Chien Chungshu and Kafka could be assumed to reflect on the dissimilarity of the West and China in some cases, and attach more attention on the construction of the modern culture.


【The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect on the fracture strength and color of ceramic by the design of the metal coping in ceramo metal crown. In this study, four types of ceramic crowns were made for fracture strength : standard ceramo metal crown, collariess ceramo metal crown, modified ceramo metal crown, and ceramic jacket crown. And three types of disk formed-specimens were made to compare the dentin shade owing to aluminous opaque powder and palladium alloy. Fracture strength was measured by universal testing machine(Instron Co. Ltd., U.S.A) and color was measured by color and color difference meter(Yasuda Seiki Seisakusho, Ltd., Japan). The results were as follows : 1. The fracture strength of ceramic was affected significantly by the design of metal coping in ceramo metal crown. The mean fracture strength(192.0 Kg) of standard ceramo metal crown was about 1.7 times higher than that(111.5 Kg) of collarless ceramo metal crown, and about 2.8 times higher than that(67.8 Kg) of ceramic jacket crown. 2. Modified ceramo metal crown that has metal band in the labio cervical had the lowest fracture strength. 3. Lightness, yellowness and redness of the dentin fired were decreased by the metal coping.】


The current paper aims to identify the mathematical connections activated by 10 Mexican high school students while solving mathematical tasks that involve the exponential and logarithmic function. We used the Expanded Mathematical Connections Model (EMCM) and the Onto-Semiotic Approach of Cognition and Mathematical Instruction (OSA) as theoretical frameworks. Task-based interviews were used to collect data that was analyzed using thematic and onto-semiotic analyses. It was found that the connection of reversibility is essential for achieving students' full understanding of the existent relationship between the exponential and logarithmic function; however, this requires a network of connections.


Conducting research, more so, fieldwork, changes every researcher in many ways. This paper shares the various reflexivities – the journeys of learning – that we underwent as field researchers. Here, we share the changes brought about to ourselves, as a result of the research process, and how these changes have affected the research process. It highlights the journey of discovering how we, as researchers, shaped and how we were shaped by the research process and outputs. All these efforts were done in our attempts to discover and understand various social phenomena and issues such as poverty, development, gender, migration, and ill health in the Philippines. This article includes the challenges encountered in our epistemological stance/s and personal and methodological concerns shown in our reflexivity notes/insights. Indeed, it is when researchers acknowledge these changes, that reflexivity in research constitutes part of the research findings. It is through this consciousness of the relational and reflective nature of being aware of personal and methodological concerns that we honor ourselves, our teammates/co-researchers and all others involved with the research project. As researchers, we need to be cognizant of our contributions to the construction of meanings and of lived experiences throughout the research process. We need to acknowledge that indeed it is impossible to remain "outside of" one's study topic while conducting research.


This project develops in the city of Puerto Francisco de Orellana, in front of a rapid growth civilization due to oil exploitation. There are several areas in the city which have not been used properly and they have become isolated and insecure spaces that do not have a good appearance. Several of the riverside areas have become hard-to-access spaces...


This work develops how the students of intermediate superior level (CCH-Sur) in the context of strike of the UNAM (1999-2000) impelled the conformation of a space of public opinion through the written productions. These productions were oriented by the appropriation of particular written genres and diverse sources and materials of the written culture. Also, the literacy practices were articulated with the construction of the authorship and power relations maintained between publishers and reading public, all of them from the same student group. In this institutional circumstances, the students used the writting as instrument of expression and "concretion" of the circulating arguments and as a strategy to promote the dialogue and a new form of social participation.


To identify literary evidence on strategies for continuing education of undergraduate health professors. Integrative Literature Review, developed in six stages: Research question, inclusion and exclusion criteria, categorization, evaluation, interpretation and final writing. Searches were carried out in the Lilacs, Medline, Bdenf, Cumed, Scopus, Scielo, Eric and Web of Science databases. The inclusion criteria were primary studies, published between 2014 and 2020, in Portuguese, English and Spanish, which addressed the proposed theme. 32 articles were selected from which ten analytical categories emerged: Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Workshop, Design Thinking, Problem-Based Learning (PBL), Distance education (EAD), Pedagogical training courses, Reflection of practice, Bloom's Taxonomy, Skills Development and Personification. In the current educational context. There is a wide variety of teacher training strategies, in view of the specificity of each scenario. A qualitative research is a means to expand this understanding.


Acute hemolytic anzmia of a severe degree induces biochemical alterations and pathological lesions in various organs. A detailed characterization of the hemolytic anamia and the bone marrow changes induced by the maximum tolerating dose of phenylhydrazine in albino rats has in earlier studies shown close similarity to those occurring in other pathological conditions  associated with liver injury. The sequential course of the pathological lesions occurring in the liver, spleen and kidney during the acute phase and the recovery period after phenyl hydrazine anammia has been reported in this communication.


The state of risk management methods in flood control and hazard mitigation is reviewed.Hydrological risk analysis includes linetype selection,parameter estimation,risk rate calculation;studies of hydraulic risk place focus on flood discharge risk of reservoirs and flood routing of riverway and flood plains. Economic risk analysis centres on cost benefit risk analysis of flood control. Risk decision making resesrch involves reliability programming and multiobjective risk analysis.In the study of flood insurance mainly simulation model is used to deduce an optimal flood insurance policy. Finally, the tendency of risk management in flood control and hazard mitigation is described.


The invention relates to a paper sheet separating and discharging device. A lifting assembly is mounted at the bottom of a bin on a machine frame, and a paper pre-adsorbing assembly for blowing paper sheets to a fleecy blowing pipe and adsorbing one corners of the paper sheets, and a paper absorbing fixture for lifting the entire paper sheets are mounted at a discharge opening of the bin. The paper sheet separating and discharging device completes separation and discharge mainly through three methods of blowing, paper pre-adsorbing and paper absorbing, through step-by-step separation, an accurate and stable separation effect can be obtained, the condition that multiple paper sheets are adsorbed together is effectively avoided, and the condition of too much adsorption of multiple paper sheets and missed adsorption can also be avoided. The paper sheet separating and discharging device is simple in structure, and stable and quick to work.


Objective To explore histological origin and effects of the embolism during uncemented total hip arthroplasty (THA).Methods Thirty patients with ASA grade Ⅰ-Ⅲ undergoing uncemented total hip arthroplasty under general anesthesia received intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) monitoring.The incidence of embolism were observed at various operative stages (beginning of the operation,reaming of the acetabula,insertion of the acetabular prosthesis,reaming of the femur,insertion of the femoral prosthesis,relocation of the hip.Blood from right atria was sampled by central venous catheter each time for histological examination when echogenic speckles were detected.Haemodynamic and blood-gas variables were also measured repeatedly during the operative procedure.Results Ultrasonic image of microembolus were detected in the hearts of all 30 patients,respectively 0,5,19,30,23,24 cases at beginning of operation,acetabular reaming,insertion of the acetabular component,reaming of the femur,insertion of femoral prosthesis and relocation of the hip joint.The incidences differed significantly (P<0.05).The percentages of embolism histologically positive at different stages were 0,0,0,47,61,38% respectively.The origin of embolism included fat drops and bone debris while the ratios were significantly different at different stages (P<0.05).HR,SPO2,PO2,PCO2 and PETCO2 varied little throughout the operation.However,systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure markedly decreased after implantation of the femur prosthesis (P<0.05),especially at 5 min after relocation of the hip joint.Conclusions Emboli are common during uncemented THA and most frequent at the stages of implantation of the acetabular and femoral component,reaming of the femur and relocation of the hip joint.The histological origin of embolism includes fat drops and bone debris.Intraoperative emboli gives rise to haemodynamic changes.

Key words:
Total hip arthroplasty;  Transesophageal echocardiography;  Embolism;  Bone cement implantation syndrome


and sediment type, he concluded that depth was a primary factor and that sediment type was of secondary importance. Mahon and Smith (1989) looked for interactions between sediment characteristics, water depth, bottom temperature, and bottom salinity but concluded that assemblages were related more to depth than to other attributes. Scott (1982) reported that although fish distributions were related to sediment types, the latter was related to depth. Studies of other fishes indicated that temperature and salinity are important; Jahn and Backus (1976), using salinity and temperature to characterize slope waters, the Gulf Stream, and northern and southern Sargasso Sea waters in the Atlantic Ocean, concluded that mesopelagic fishes associated with slope and Gulf Stream waters were distinct and different from fish assemblages associated with the other two water masses. Bianchi (1992, a and b) determined that water depth, bottom temperature, bottom salinity, and The distribution and abundance of commercially important demersal fishes inhabiting temperate and tropical seas are relatively well studied (e.g. Pearcy, 1978; Mahon and Smith, 1989; Weinberg, 1994). Results from such studies have been used to examine relationships between environmental factors and fish assemblage distributions. Important environmental variables that have been identified include sediment type, water depth, bottom temperature, and bottom salinity. Overholtz and Tyler (1985) found that six species assemblages on Georges Bank, northwestemAtlantic, remained consistent over depth for a number of years. Fargo and Tyler (1991), sampling at depths of 18-240 m in Hecate Strait off British Columbia, found four species assemblages separated by depth. Pearcy (1978) described shallow and deep demersal fish assemblages in the northeast Pacific Ocean off the coast of Oregon at depths ranging from 70 to 102 m. Although there was an interaction between depth Willard E. Barber


1789 Objectives The goal of this study was to utilize C-type atrial natriuretic factor (CANF) conjugated Comb-like nanoparticle to image the natriuretic peptide clearance receptor (NPR-C) up-regulated in a rabbit atherosclerosis model and demonstrate the superiority of nanoparticle in molecular imaging. Methods CANF peptide was conjugated to Comb-like nanoparticle to target the NPR-C receptor expressed at atherosclerotic plaque in a double-injured rabbit model with the non-CANF conjugated Comb-like nanoparticle as control. The CANF-Comb and Comb were radiolabeled with 64Cu in 0.1M pH 5.5 NH4OAc buffer and purified with size exclusion spin columns. PET imaging were performed at 1h, 4h and 24h after injection of 64Cu labeled nanoparticles. The expression of NPR-C receptor was characterized with Western blot and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Competitive PET and IHC receptor blocking studies were also performed. Results PET imaging illustrated significantly (p Conclusions The developed 64Cu-CANF-Comb nanoparticle provided sensitive and targeted molecular imaging for NPR-C receptor in vivo and is a candidate probe in for atherosclerosis PET imaging. Research Support This work is supported by the NHLBI Program of Excellence in Nanotechnology (HHSN268201000046C)


Communal violence in democratic India has been explained in many ways. In contrast to many previous works that emphasise one or two variables, Amrita Basu argues that Hindu nationalists' anti-minor...


The present investigation was performed to find the lipid composition of the total lipids, the fatty acid components of the neutral lipids and the phospholipids, and the composition of sterols, from Spisula sachalinensis. The results obtained are as follows ; 1) The main components of the total lipids are phospholipids, triglyceride, and sterol . 2) The phospholipids are mainly composed of phosphatidyl choline, phosphatidyl ethanols, mine, phosphatidal ethanolamine and phosphatidyl serine. 3) The main fatty acids of the neutral lipids, the ethanolamine phospholipids and choline phospholpids, are C20:5, C16:1, C16:0, C20:5, C18:0, C22:6 and C16:0, C20:5, C22:6, respectively. Oleic acid content of all fractions is very small compared with one of gastropoda lipids and fish oil. 4) Most of plasmalogen are present in the ethanolamine phospholipids and only trace of plasmalogen in the choline phospholipids. 5) Sterols to be found are 22-trans-norcholesta-5, 22-diene--ol, 22-dehydrocholesterol, cholesterol, brassicasterol, 24-methylenecho-lesterol and .


In this study, a unique energy system integrated with an agrivoltaic plant, a biogas production and utilization facility, and a community‐based energy system is analyzed in order to fully cover the needs of electricity, biogas, heat, and cooling for a community. The bifacial photovoltaic modules with a high structure are considered in this design, where they cover the sugarcane field as the agrivoltaic system. Both sugarcane and cow manure are considered and used to generate biogas. An integrated energy system is proposed to meet the electricity, heating, and cooling requirements of a community in a case study. The capacities of the components are determined according to a community load selected for a case study with more than 34 000 people living in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand. A biogas‐based combined cycle with two stages of the Rankine cycle, as well as a bifacial photovoltaic‐based system, are used to generate electricity. The excess heat is recovered and used to cover the heating loads of the community for greenhouse and food dryer, as well as in a lithium bromide absorption refrigeration cycle to provide cooling. The first and second laws of thermodynamics are used with the mass, energy, entropy, and exergy balance equations to analyze and evaluate the system. A time‐dependent analysis is carried out to provide more insightful details about the system for each hour throughout the whole year. The experimental data for the biogas production system and actual meteorological data are considered with commercially available component and unit specifications to provide more realistic results. An 8 MWp of PV plant with 415 MWp of a biogas power plant as well as 105 MWp of high‐ and low‐pressure steam turbines can meet 100% of 92 GWh nonthermal electricity, 63 GWh cooling, and 13 GWh heating loads in a year. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the overall system are found to be 33.64% and 22.96% under average ambient conditions and average load requirements.


Despite the existence of little empirical evidence for their effectiveness, many techniques have been suggested for writing multiple-choice items. The option "none of the above" (NA) has been widely used although a recent review of empirical studies of NA suggests that, while generally decreasing the difficulty index, NA also decreases discrimination and may decrease reliability. It is suggested that most of the studies of the effect of NA on these item parameters have been flawed. by methodological inconsistencies and by a disregard for the finding that discrimination is restricted when corresponding item difficulties have been extremely high or low values. By examining the effects of NA on difficulty and discrimination indices in light of optimal difficulty for a 100-item test taken by 300 undergraduates, this study found that when following reasonable guidelines: (1) difficulty tended to approach the optimal level; (2) discrimination tended to increase; and (3) reliability was unaffected. (Contains 6 tables and 24 references.)


Objectives: As a result of advances in the treatment of childhood cancer many patients who may previously have had a limited life expectancy, are now surviving into adulthood. More insight is needed into the long‐term adjustment of young adult survivors of childhood cancer. The purpose of this study was to (1) assess health‐related quality of life (HRQoL), and (2) to explore the role of cognitive coping in relation to HRQoL.


Construction planning and scheduling is one of the important tool in a construction project. Every construction project involve with a lot of activities which need to be planned and schedule properly to ensure the completion of the project. Therefore the study on construction planning and scheduling must be conduct to provide knowledge on this topic and (a view on how it is be implement theoretically and in the real case of construction project). This study reviewed on the concept of sequence of work for building construction project, scheduling technique used in the primavera project planner and the development of construction planning and scheduling on building construction of science faculty International Islamic University Malaysia (HUM). From the study is found that the sequence of work for building construction project can be divided in to four main categories which is substructure work, superstructure work, architectural work and mechanical and electrical work. The study also found that the precedence diagramming method PDM is a scheduling technique used in the primavera project planner and the total duration for the HUM project after developed using the primavera project planner is 695 days.


Aim of the present study was to investigate metallurgical properties of preand post-weld heat treated and non-heat treated AISI 420 martensitic stainless steel joined using CO2 laser welding method. In addition, heat treated laser welded and base metal samples were immersed in Simulated Body Fluid (SBF) for 1, 3, 7, 14, 21 and 28 days, and apatite formations on base metal and on welding seam surface were studied. Corrosion properties on all samples immersed in SBF were determined based on weight loss method. Due to heat treatment process, corrosion sensitivity occurred by producing carbides, such as Cr23C6, M23C6, and decreasing local chromium content in the weld zone. In addition, weld heat input affected corrosion resistance.


AbstrcatOn the basis of learning-type organization, this article defines the concept of learning-type corporate culture , expounds the seven characteristics and explicates the necessity of building learning-type corporate culture from four parts.Finally it points out the approaches to build learning-type corporate culture. 