ABSTRACT New hockey-stick-shaped 2,5-diphenyl-1,3,4-thiadiazole-containing mesogens have been designed and synthesised. These molecules possess 4-n-alkoxy chain at the elongated arm whereas and 4-n-butyloxy chain at the shorter arm of the molecule. The compounds are fluorescent and emission located in the violet to blue region with a large stoke shift observed in polar solvents. No substantial solvatochromic effect was found in the absorption maxima, but in the emission, a red shift was observed with increasing the solvent polarity. In the solid thin film, compounds emitted green light. The compounds having longer chain (n > 8) exhibit SmA and SmC phase, while the compounds with shorter chain at one end of the molecule display nematic and SmC phase. The density functional theory study has been carried out to investigate the stable configuration and the influence of solvent on bond length, bond angle, bending angle, dipole moment, polarisability of the molecule. It also enables us to predict the possible reactive sites and effect of solvent on the chemical reactivity descriptors. Our study concludes that the molecule becomes more reactive in solvent compared to gas. The large voltage holding ratio confirms that this molecule may be used for active matrix display applications. Graphical Abstract


Background: Antisperm antibody (ASA) is defined as an immunoglobulin with antibody activity against a sperm antigen that plays a role in fertility. It has been hypothesized that hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection of lymphocytes is the cause for the increased autoimmune phenomena and autoantibody production reported in association with HCV. The development of ASA has been previously reported in cases with human papilloma virus (HPV), where infertile males with HPV in semen showed higher ASA percentages compared with infertile males with no HPV in semen. Aim: To investigate the influence of HCV infection on the development of ASAs in diagnosed HCV male patients. Patients and Methods: The study included two groups: group one included 25 patients who were infected with HCV, and group two included 25 healthy controls. Semen analyses by CASA were performedand serum and semen samples were taken for all patients to detect ASA by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results: In the patient group, 28% were positive for ASA in semen versus 4% in the control group with a statistically significant difference between the two groups ( P =0.049). ASA levels in serum were positive in 36% of patients versus 12% in the control group with a statistically significant difference between the two groups ( P =0.047). There were significant negative correlations between progressive motility, agglutination, and the level of patient's ASA in both serum (r= ‒ 0.635, P <0.001, r= ‒ 0.749, P <0.001, respectively) and semen (r= ‒ 0.764, P =0.001; r= ‒ 1, P <0.001, respectively). Conclusion: The coincidence of ASA in males with hepatitis C infection diseases was significantly higher than healthy controls.


Many things might happen in the body when a titanium implant is inserted into bone. Examples are activation of the immune system and imbalance between bone formation and bone resorption, which migh ...


Help the library build its collection! Get involved and let the library know what sort of materials you'd like to see in the library.


Part one: The history and politics of the Renaissance 1. Renaissance and Reformation (1840-94) 2. A troubled inheritance (1895-1914) 3. War, post-war, pre-war, more war (1914-40) Part two: Aspects of cultural formation 4. Being beastly to the Hun 5. Crusading for national music 6. Slaying the false prophets 7. Becoming transfigured


The invention is applicable to a liquid crystal display, providing an ITO heater and a heating method of the liquid crystal display. The ITO heater comprises an ITO glass substrate which is provided with two opposite long edges and two opposite short edges, wherein, two opposite edges are electrically connected with connecting terminals along the direction from one edge to the other edge; and theITO glass substrate is divided into a plurality of areas, each area is etched with an ITO pattern, and the ITO area of the etched edge part is larger than that of the central part. As for the ITO heater of the invention, the closer to the edge area, the stronger the resistance is; therefore, the heat output of areas closer to the edge is more than that of the central part, while heat of the edge is discharged fast, therefore, offset effect is achieved; the ITO heater can be used for the heating of liquid crystal display modules, and the temperature is evenly distributed on the surface of the ITO heater.


Due to increase in global warming, it is very essential to use the non-conventional source of energy in place of conventional sources of energy. Cooling is one of the most critical requirements for humankind. It also requires the traditional source. Hence there should be alternative is necessary to reduce it. Present review paper shows the comprehensive review of the solar assisted cooling system. It includes various research work done by researchers from all around the world on Solar Assisted cooling system. From the comprehensive review, it has been found that the solar assisted cooling system is essential in today's world.


Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a genetic disease characterized by abnormalities in ciliary structure and leads to bronchiectasis. The disease is probably underrecognized in the cohort of bronchiectasis due to extensive diagnostic testing and low recognition of PCD. To find a reliable screening method for PCD in the cohort of non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis. All patients who presented to our outpatient clinic were analysed. Nasal NO and a symptom score of key clinical features of PCD (neonatal respiratory symptoms, chronic cough since childhood, otitis media, rhinosinusitis, recurrent pneumonia) were measured post-hoc and compared in the two groups of PCD-bronchiectasis and non-PCD-bronchiectasis. 118 patients (42 male, 76 females) had a sufficient nasal NO and were eligible for analysis. The median (IQR) in nNO levels in parts per billion (ppb) in the PCD and non- PCD groups were 35 (IQR 22-70) and 525 (IQR 367-690), respectively. The median nasal NO levels were significantly lower in the PCD- group than in the other group (p Low nasal NO and a clinical scoring of typical PCD signs and symptoms is a suitable and cheap screening test for PCD in the cohort of non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis.


This paper presents a new method of providing both conductivity ($\sigma$) and permittivity ($\epsilon$) images at the MR Larmor frequency in magnetic resonance electrical property tomography (MREPT), a relatively new MR-based electrical tissue property imaging modality. In MREPT, the RF coil of the MR scanner is used to feed a sinusoidal current at the Larmor frequency, $\omega/2\pi$ (approximately 128 MHz for a 3 Tesla MRI machine), to an imaging object within the MR scanner. Inside the object, this injection current induces a time-harmonic magnetic field, $\mathbf{H}=(H_x,H_y,H_z)$, that is influenced by the body's admittivity distribution, $\gamma=\sigma+i\omega\epsilon$, via Maxwell's equations. Currently, the positive rotating field, $H^+=(H_x+iH_y)/2$, is the only measurable quantity which can be obtained from $B_1$ mapping techniques. The inverse problem of MREPT is to reconstruct $\gamma$ from the $H^+$ data. Existing MREPT reconstruction methods use the local homogeneity assumption ($\nabla\gamm...


Introduction: Lunar zircons are among the oldest minerals on the Moon and their ages have been used to investigate its early magmatic and impact history. Zircons are ideal for investigating the early lunar bombardment because (1) low initial Pb results in high precision U-Pb age measurements, (2) these crystallization ages of lunar zircons all predate the proposed cataclysm at 3.9 Ga, (3) zircons incorporate both U and Pu, so we can measure both U-Pb crystallization ages and fissiongenic Xe degassing ages for the same crystal. We report preliminary U-Xe degassing ages in conjunction with Pb-Pb ages for two Apollo 14 zircons. Samples: A total of seven zircons were separated from ~5g of Apollo 14259, a very mature lunar soil [1]. Three of the zircons were chosen for Xe analyses on the basis of their estimated U contents and large sizes (>300μm). The size requirement was determined during our previous Xe analyses of lunar zircons [2]. Method: U-Pb and Pb-Pb ages of all seven zircons were measured with the UCLA Cameca ims-1270 ion microprobe. The three large zircons were then irradiated in the UC Irvine Nuclear Reactor to induce U fission in order to determine the U-Xe age [3]. Xe isotopes were measured with the University of Manchester Refrigerator Enhanced Laser Analyser for Xenon.


Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has many comorbidities such as coronary artery disease (CAD) and stroke. Chronic low‐grade systemic inflammation and oxidative stress play a significant role in CAD and COPD. We analysed that impact of COPD on intensity and severity of coronary artery lesions on the angiogram in the groups of patients with COPD according to the Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) grades updated in 2015.


The resistance of radiation damage (latent fission tracks, metamictization) in minerals has been studied for decades. The aim of these studies is the employment of such materials as nuclear waste ceramics and thermo-geochronometers. The last is based on the knowledge of annealing kinetics and the Principle of Equivalent Time, which states that the reduction of damage by a thermal treatment (annealing) is independent from previous thermal history. We present preliminary results for reduction in projected length for fossil and pre-annealed apatite samples irradiated with 152 Sm ions (≈150MeV and 45°). It was found that projected length in fossil samples are more resistent to annealing.


Background: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) has become a public health problem worldwide. Hemodialysis (HD) is a therapy for patients with terminal CKD. Hyperphosphatemia is one cause of mortality of CKD patients on routine HD. Correction and prevention of hyperphospatemia is a major component in the management of HD patients. High diet of protein in HD patients can cause increased concentration of phosphor serum due to mineral metabolism disorder associated with decreased function of renal glumerulous filtration rate. High protein intake is often followed by high phosphor intake because food containing high protein also contains much phosphor that will cause hyperphosphatemia. Meanwhile reduction of protein intake to control phosphor is associated with physical stamina. Good ratio of phosphor-protein is necessary to provide adequate protein intake and avoid hyperphosphatemia.
Objective: To identify association between intake of protein, phosphor and ratio of phosphor-protein and level of blood phosphor in patients with CKD on routine HD.
Method: The study was analytic observational that used cross sectional design with quantitative method. Data were obtained through food record, interview using questionnaire and laboratory test. Analysis used chi square at confidence interval 95%.
Result: There was association between protein intake (p 0.037, RP 1.36, 95% CI 1.04-1.77), phosphor intake (p 0.005, RP 1.49, 95% CI 1.12-1.99) and ratio phosphor-protein (p 0.045, RP 1.39, 95% CI 1.08-1.79) and level of blood phosphor in CKD patients on routine HD.
Conclusion: Protein intake was still needed to meet nutrition status but it should be considered to select source of protein that had low ratio of phosphor-protein. Source of phosphor as well as protein should be limited to sustain normal level of blood phospor. It was suggested to consume drugs that accurately and regularly bound phosphate.


The Active Network Management (ANM) scheme on the Orkney Islands in the UK was the first of its kind and remains at the cutting edge of smart grid implementation. The first generation deployment has facilitated the connection of almost 19 MW of new wind capacity to a network that was considered `full'. The paper describes a range of second generation technologies and initiatives that are now being implemented, illustrating how the ANM scheme provides a foundation for further work and an environment for testing a range of techniques with much broader applicability. This includes enhancements to communications, the introduction of real time ratings and voltage management, a new energy storage park, demand side management, small-scale generators and distribution state estimation. The collaborative nature of the developments on Orkney is noted. (4 pages)


Aliabad-Morvarid iron-apatite prospecting area is located in southeast of Zanjan , Tarom mountain range, northwest Iran. The exposed rocks are Eocene andesite, trachyandesite and basalt (both lava and pyroclastic). Oligo-Miocene quartz-syenite, quartz-monzonite, monzonite and monzogranite intrude the volcanic rocks. Trace and REE chemical composition of the intrusive rocks indicate that they were emplaced in a volcanic arc setting. Mineralization is found mainly as vein , stockwork and hydrothermal breccias. The geometry of the faults controls the shape of the mineralization. Most of the veins are parallel. Paragenesis involves magnetite, apatite, pyrite, chalcopyrite and secondary ones are hematite, malachite, azurite and goethite. The size of apatite crystals is variable of some mm to more than 20 cm. Important alteration types are: argillic (illite, kaolinite and montmorillonite), sericitic, silicification, potassic, tourmalinization, epidotization, actinolitization and carbonate. The REE distribution patterns of apatite and magnetite samples from the area are similar to those of subvolcanic rocks. Spatial distribution of intrusive rock; type and geometry of alteration; and style, location and mineral paragenesis all indicate that the intrusive rocks are the source of mineralization. The REE patterns of Aliabad-Morvarid mineralization show similarities with Kiruna type magnetite deposits; therefore, it can be classified as a magnetite-apatite Kiruna-type deposit.


Newly constructed box-girder cantilever bridges with continuous spans, revealed extensive cracking in the webs after only two years of service. Continuous spans are complicated to design and second ...


OBJECTIVE To investigate the antibiotic resistance pattern of MRSA,homology and carriage of Panton-valentine leukocidin(PVL) in 50 meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates to guide the clinical treatment.Results of homology provide the proof for molecular epidemiology.METHODS According to CLSI′s guideline,antimicrobial susceptibility tests were performed with disk diffusion method.PVL gene and mecA gene were detected by PCR.The homology was analyzed by repetitive estra-genic palindromic elements(Rep)-PCR method.RESULTS MecA gene was detected in all 50 MRSA isolates.All isolates MRSA were resistant to oxacillin and cefoxitin.But they were all sensitive to vancomycin and teicoplanin.The rates of sensitivity to clindamycin,ciprofloxacin,piperacillin and sulbactam,SMZ-TMP,gentamicin,cefazolin and erythromycin were 7.5%,1.9%,24.5%,92.5%,20.8%,1.9% and 3.8%,respectively.The resistance rates of MRSA were higher than that of MSSA.Twenty PVL genes were detected from 50 MRSA isolates.CONCLUSIONS The resistance rates of MRSA are higher than MSSA.There is no isolate resistant to vancomycin and teicoplanin.40.0% MRSA carry PVL gene and part isolates have high homology.


On the one hand stands the Spanish crusading hero, fiercely riding his horse in the spirit of the Reconquista, vanquishing the newly discovered land; on the other hand, the pious British Puritan, hard at work from dawn to dusk, endlessly seeking to prove his worthiness to the Lord. The former, an embodiment of chivalric values; the latter, prefigured by the Old Testament. Two distinct types that chose separate colonial paths which ultimately led to the formation of two different, almost opposite, societies.


Net absorption of Ca,Mg and P was measured in three low birth-weight babies with no major problems, during periods of 3 days in the 3rd week of life. Their formula was supplemented with 800 mg of calcium-magnesium lactate. Five control babies were on the same formula,the mineral content (mean± SD) of which was:Ca 76.26±5.44 mg/dl,Mg 10.23± 2.06 mg/dl and P 53.40± 6.94. In this control group the absorption (intake-faeces) was: Ca 89.98 ± 18.73 mg/kg/day; Mg 14.19±2.08 mg/kg/day and P 88.59± ± 13.96 mg/kg/day. Serum calcium, magnesium,phosphate, lipids,cholesterol and triglycerides were normal on all ocassions. In supplemented group the absorption in each baby was: Ca 202.17; 232.29 and 216.63 mg/kg/day; Mg 20.59; 19.77 and 17.99 mg/kg/day and P 80.05; 100.40 and 83.19 mg/kg/day.Calcemia increases in two cases (11mg/dl) on the 4th day, but no hypo or hypermagnesemia appeared. As previous experiences has suggested the supplementation considerabily increases the absorption of divalent cations.


Evaluation of clinker using microscopy is a powerful technique that can help improve clinker production and cement quality. One can gather remarkable information about clinker history as well as provide information about cement performance. The key to using the microscope is understanding the process of clinker manufacture: how raw materials are transformed into clinker. The transformation involves both chemical and physical processes, as the material passes through the kiln system. To produce the desired calcium silicate phases of portland cement, specific raw materials are required. The burnability of the mixture of these materials is determined by chemical composition, mineralogy, and fineness. To convert the raw materials to the cement compounds, the ground feed goes through a series of clinkering reactions in the kiln system. Formation of the primary clinker phases (alite, belite, tricalcium aluminate, ferrite) during this time depends on the pyroprocessing conditions and material properties. At the same time in the kiln, clinker nodules are formed by agglomeration due to capillary forces of the liquid. The microscope is used to observe features such as clinker phase size, morphology, abundance, and distribution. These observations can not only provide information about the clinker production parameters, but can also offer clues to cement performance properties. Based on understanding of the process of clinker formation, interpretation of the microstructure can be used for quality control, troubleshooting, and to monitor process changes at the cement plant. Effect of the fine chemistry of Portland cement clinker on its mineralogical composition Cyrille Sauvaget*, André Nonat* , François Sorrentino** University of Burgundy, Laboratory of reactivity of solid, (France) ** Lafarge , Central laboratory ( France) ABSTRACT It is possible to determine the mineralogical composition of Portland cement clinker by analytical methods such as points counting, image analysis by mean of optical or scanning electron microscopy ( OM or SEM), X ray analysis by Rietveld method, chemical selective dissolution or Bogue calculation. When applied to more complex system i.e. containing minor phases such as alcalies or mixed sulfates (alcalies, earth-alkalies), these methods are not sufficient to predict the total phase composition and further its consequence to the properties of the cement. In this paper, we use a trial and error method based on the microanalysis by microprobe of the main phases. This method allows a calculation of the percentage of the major phases fitting with the mass balance of the main four oxides in the range of the standard deviation of their chemical analysis. From the residu of the calculation, is then possible to identify the minor elements forming alcalies and earth alkalies sulfate and to estimate their quantity. It is shown that the effect of these minor elements on the mineralogical composition of the clinker can be decomposed into an indirect effect due to the modification of the burnability which induces a decrease in the alite content (and a simultaneous increase of the belite content) and a direct effect when new phases occur after the saturation of the major phases.It is possible to determine the mineralogical composition of Portland cement clinker by analytical methods such as points counting, image analysis by mean of optical or scanning electron microscopy ( OM or SEM), X ray analysis by Rietveld method, chemical selective dissolution or Bogue calculation. When applied to more complex system i.e. containing minor phases such as alcalies or mixed sulfates (alcalies, earth-alkalies), these methods are not sufficient to predict the total phase composition and further its consequence to the properties of the cement. In this paper, we use a trial and error method based on the microanalysis by microprobe of the main phases. This method allows a calculation of the percentage of the major phases fitting with the mass balance of the main four oxides in the range of the standard deviation of their chemical analysis. From the residu of the calculation, is then possible to identify the minor elements forming alcalies and earth alkalies sulfate and to estimate their quantity. It is shown that the effect of these minor elements on the mineralogical composition of the clinker can be decomposed into an indirect effect due to the modification of the burnability which induces a decrease in the alite content (and a simultaneous increase of the belite content) and a direct effect when new phases occur after the saturation of the major phases. RESUME Il existe de nombreuses méthodes pour déterminer précisément la composition minéralogique du clinker de ciment Portland, telles que comptage, analyse d'images par microscopie optique ou électronique, diffraction X classique ou par les techniques Rietveld, dissolution chimique sélective, ou calcul de Bogue. Quand elles sont appliquées à des systèmes plus complexes, c'est à dire contenant des phases mineures telles que sulfates alcalins ou sulfates doubles alcalins, alcalino terreux, ces méthodes ne sont pas suffisantes pour prédire la composition minéralogique des clinkers et ses conséquences sur les propriétés des ciments. Dans ce travail, nous avons utilisé une méthode itérative basée sur la composition chimique des quatre phases principales par microsonde électronique. Cette méthode nous permet de calculer un pourcentage de ces phases qui permet de boucler un bilan massique des quatre oxydes principaux dans la limite de l'écart type de leur analyse chimique. De l'analyse des résidus, il est possible d'identifier les éléments mineurs susceptibles de former les sulfates solubles et d'en estimer leur quantité. Nous montrons que l'effet des éléments mineurs peut être décomposé en un effet indirect causé par une modification de l'aptitude à la combinaison des matières premières qui provoquera une diminution de la quantité d'alite (et simultanément une augmentation de celle de bélite) et un effet direct lié à l'apparition de nouvelles phases aprés saturation des phases principales en éléments mineurs. Compositional Analysis of NIST Reference Material Clinker 8486 Paul E. Stutzman Inorganic Building Materials Division National Institute of Standards and Technology Stefan Leigh Statistical Engineering Division National Institute of Standards and Technology


A solution for scalable POP service is presented in this paper.In this solution,the POP service can be flexibly extended and the performance bottle-neck can be avoided.The work principle and implementation methods of the system are introduced.Using qmail,a test environment is setup and some performance tests are carried on.The obtained running data indicates that the system has high performance.


Cerium (Ce) is recognized as one of rare-earth elements that has become a hot topic in the field of materials research due to its electronic layer structure, and unique antioxidant abilities of its oxide (CeO2 ). Cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2 NPs) have demonstrated their potential as an antioxidant and antibacterial agent. Current researches focused on whether they can be used to promote wound healing and in what manner. This article provides a systematic review of the various forms of CeO2 NPs that have been used in wound-healing materials over the past decade, as well as the effectiveness demonstrated by in vivo and in vitro experiments, with a focus on the relationship between concentration and effectiveness. CeO2 NPs are expected to become effective ingredients in dressings that require antibacterial, antioxidant, and wound healing promoting properties. This article serves as a reference for further research and clinical applications of nano-sized CeO2 in wound healing. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Dear Editors, I want to congratulate Psychoanalytic Perspectives for offering a space for creative expression. I think that Bonnie, Zindel's story "The Day of Michelangelo," which appeared in your last issue [Vol. 2, No. 21, is a remarkable piece of writing. The description of walking around Florence is beautifully rendered, as is the exchange between patient and analyst. In that exchange she includes the unspoken conversations, which give it "all the feel of real" (Winnicott). My favorite part was Laurel's response to Michelangelo's tomb: wordless tears. She manages to convey a feeling state of love and awe and enormous admiration and ordinary sadness.


P H O T O B Y F E A T U R E C H I N A /B A R C R O F T M E D I A V I A G E T T Y I M A G E S for regular workloads such as stencil-based and structured grid-based computations. Are they also capable of processing extremescale graphs? In this article, we discuss our efforts to enable extreme-scale graph processing in two leading supercomputer architectures. Tianhe hardware features. The Tianhe supercomputer has unique designs for its many-core interface. Each panel has eight cache-coherent compute cores. SVE enables Matrix-2000+ to choose the most appropriate vector length via two usage modes: auto vector-length agnostic (AVLA) mode and assembly vector-length specified (AVLS) mode. AVLA mode can automatically pack sub-vectors into vectors but requires synchronization between processing of two vectors, while AVLS mode allows programmers to specify user-defined sub-vector lengths. Tianhe's network subsystem adopts a multidimensional tree topology with optoelectronic-hybrid interconnection, which combines the benefits of both tree and n-D-Torus topologies. The networking logic is integrated into CPU architecture and its high-performance interconnection network, providing both opportunities and challenges for graph processing. Tianhe's computing nodes (CN) use the proprietary Matrix-2000+ CPUs (see Figure 1). A CN has three Matrix-2000+ CPUs, each of which has 128 2GHz cores. Each core has an in-order 8-to-12-stage pipeline extended with scalable vector extension (SVE). Matrix-2000+ CPUs adopt a regional autonomous parallel architecture where one CPU is composed of four regions connected through a scalable on-chip communication network. Each region is a functionally independent supernode (SN) with four panels communicating through an intra-region M ANY APPLICA-


The characteristic behavior of three robot manipulator control schemes are analyzed. The controller designs were based on three different control theories, i.e. linear multivariable control, variable structure system, and model-reference adaptive control. The strength and weakness of each controller design are first identified. Then, the three controllers are combined to form a bank of controllers. Finally, two restructuring control mechanisms and three restructuring laws are derived and used to coordinate the operational behavior of the controllers and to dynamically select the proper control action for a prespecified sub-task. The performance of the restructuring control schemes and laws is illustrated by presenting simulation results of the PUMA-560 robot arm.<<ETX>>


The Integrated Biosphere Simulator(IBIS) is one of the most sophisticated models in simulating terrestrial biosphere processes based on dynamic vegetation schemes.For the purpose of validating IBIS in semi-arid region and eventually improving the model's capability for specific land cover types in China,a simulation for the whole 2003 year was conducted over cropland and degraded grassland in Tongyu field observation station(44°25′N,122°52′E) in Jilin Province of China,which is one of the reference sites of international Coordinated Enhanced Observing Period(CEOP).Model inputs include the site ecosystem characteristics and main meteorological variables.Comparisons between simulated land surface fluxes and observed eddy covariance(EC) measurements show that the model is capable of reproducing CO_(2),sensible and latent heat fluxes indicated by correlation coefficients exceeding the significant level of 0.05.In general,CO_(2) flux and sensible heat flux have obvious diurnal and seasonal variation both at the grassland and the cropland,while the latent heat flux,which is related to evapotranspiration,only has diurnal variation during the growing season.Meanwhile,all fluxes at the cropland are larger than those at the degraded grassland,especially in the growing season,and one of possible reasons for these is that crops grow much better than degraded grass.The model generally estimates lower annual CO_(2)(underestimating 9.29% in the grassland and 3.73% in the cropland) and latent heat flux(with corresponding percents 4.63% and 3.48%),and greater annual sensible heat flux(overestimating 9.90% and 11.98%,respectively) than measured by EC.And the simulations for the cropland are better than those for the grassland,with more reasonable model-measurement agreements.


The most common disease of rice in Kazakhstan are Piricularios and darkening of the glume of grain. Weather conditions of rice growing zones generally unfavorable for the development of to epiphythoty level, the disease appears only in some years. The agents of the darkening of the glume of grain are Alternaria tenuissima, which dominates and has a low pathogenicity, rarely A. infectoria and species of the Fusarium genus, bacteria of the Xanthomonas and Erwinia genus, possessing pathogenic and toxigenic properties.


The controlled free-radical polymerization of methacrylic acid was performed at 73 and 83 °C using a methacrylic acid-based alkoxyamine and the nitroxide SG1 as a mediator in the presence of a small concentration of styrene, without protection of the carboxylic acid groups. The solvent was 1,4-dioxane or ethanol, and no chain transfer to the solvent could be detected. Because of the presence of styrene, the polymerization exhibited the characteristics of a living one. In particular, the polymers could be chain-extended and were used as efficient macroinitiators in the polymerization of styrene, allowing well-defined, amphiphilic diblock copolymers to be synthesized.


Age was determined by means of otoliths of juvenile and adult Pacific ocean perch (Sebastes alutus) collected during 1963–69 in the northeast Pacific Ocean, from Oregon to Unalaska Island, Alaska. Consistency of otolith readings between two readers varied inversely with numbers of translucent (or opaque) zones — from 100% agreement for 0-zone otoliths to 23% for 19-zone otoliths. Variability in zone counts between two readers was not great — 85% ± 1 zone for 3- to 24-zone otoliths — and the dispersion was near-normal about zero. Validity of otolith readings was established by demonstrating the annual formation of the translucent zone for juvenile fish, and by detecting the temporal passage of dominant year-classes among juveniles and adults.Age–length relationship varied inversely with depth off British Columbia, and inversely with latitude (or longitude) in the study region. Off Vancouver Island (48°48′N lat), two partially mixed stocks with near-opposite seasonal availability maxima were delineated, fro...


Aims Since 2000, the environmental flow controls project has been implemented in the lower Heihe River Basin, a typical arid inland river basin in northwest China, to restore the deteriorated ecological environment in this region. The aim of this study was to explore the impacts of groundwater fluctuations on vegetation dynamics. Our results can be used as a reference for water resources planning and management to maintain proper environmental flows in arid areas. Methods The location (by Global Positioning System) and depth of the monitoring wells, as well as groundwater table depth and salinity were measured in situ at each site from July to August 2009. Based on the measurements of the groundwater table depth and salinity following the implementation of environmental flow controls project (EFCP) in the lower Heihe River Basin, the groundwater fluctuations during the period from 2001 to 2009 were analyzed. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation were used to analyze the relationship between vegetation changes and groundwater table fluctuations. Additionally, the spatial distributions of the groundwater table depth and salinity were interpolated using the simple kriging method. Trend analysis was applied to the time series of integrated Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer normalized difference vegetation index data to identify interannual vegetation dynamics. The relationship between vegetation status and groundwater environment was investigated at different spatial scales by analyzing and comparing the time series and trends. Important Findings (i) The groundwater table and salinity increased significantly in most of the study area with spatial heterogeneity. On average, the groundwater table rose ;0.5 and 1.5 m in the upper and lower Ejina Basin, respectively, and the groundwater salinity increased across the study area by 0–4%. (ii) A notable correlation between the vegetation status and the groundwater table was revealed when the groundwater table depth fluctuated between 1.8 and 3.5 m, whereas the vegetation did not show an obvious response to groundwater table changes when the groundwater table depth was more than 5–6 m. (iii) Vegetation restoration mainly occurred in riparian areas within 500–1 000 m of from natural rivers, where the groundwater table depth varied from 2 to 4 m, and salinity was <5%, whereas vegetation degradation appeared at some locations where groundwater environment had deteriorated.


Reactive oxygen species have been proposed to signal the activation of the transcription factor nuclear factor (NF)-κB in response to tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α challenge. In the present study, ...


The effects of cutting leaves patterns on the growth,plant width,population light distribution and fruit setting of hard fruit type tomato in greenhouse were studied.The results showed that the cutting degree,direction and position had little influence on the growth vigor.The more the cut leaf area,the better the population transmittance.The cutting direction had great influence on light.Cutting the middle leaves,the light on the lower leaves increased,the ventilation and penetrating light were improved,which could promote the plant growth.Cutting the leaves could reduce the fruit numbers,increase the plant width,reduce the planting spacing,which was helpful to increase the planting density.


Researches for natural antioxidants that play an important role in the
prevention of diseases linked to free radicals have increased in recent years. In this study,
antioxidant activity of Bauhinia rufescens Lam which is a medicinal
plant was investigated. The
methanol extract, acetone extract and water extract of leaf and trunk bark had
antioxidant activity. Three methods were used: 2,2-diphenyl-1picryl-hydrazyl
(DPPH), 2,2'-Azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzoth iazoline-6-sulfonic acid)
(ABTS) and ferric ion reducing power (FRAP) by spectrophotometry. Phytochemical screening
was carried out followed by the quantification of the total phenolic by the
Folin-Ciocalteu method. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) with the STATISTICA
7.1 software revealed significant differences (p 0.05). Percentage inhibition (PI) and IC50 of the extracts were obtained using the OriginPro 8.5 software. These
tests show that the bark is as rich in total phenolic as the leaves. The DPPH
test shows that at 2.5 mg/ml, the bark and the leave have similar activity.
Bark has a percentage inhibition (PI) of 86.55% ± 0.026% compared to the leave
which PI is 85.63% ± 0.02%. As for the ABTS test, the bark extract reached its maximum activity
at 2.5 mg/ml with a PI of 99.81% ± 0.012% compared to the leaf extract which
has a PI of 99.61% ± 0.025%. The best IC50 of the
extracts obtained with the DPPH radical is 0.139 ± 0.001 mg/ml (hydro-acetonic), 0.354 ± 0.001 mg/ml
(hydromethanolic) and 0.840 ± 0.001 mg/ml (aqueous) on the bark. With ABTS
test, it was obtained 0.351 ± 0.001 mg/ml (hydro-acetone; bark), 0.403 ± 0.001
mg/ml (hydro-acetone; leaves) and 0.474 ± 0.001 mg/ml (aqueous; bark). The
reducing power of the leaves is slightly higher than that of the bark. Standard
of ascorbic acid, has a PI of 94.86 ± 0.008% with an IC50 of 0.213 ±
0.001 mg/ml. Thus, it is easy to conclude that the bark of Bauhinia rufescens has a better activity than
the leaves and the alcoholic extracts have given better results than the
aqueous extract.


'If we have quality problems and therefore a defect rate greater than zero, the total costs of production actually decrease.' Furthermore, 'although at first this might sound surprising, the decreasing total costs of production for poorer quality levels are to be expected.' This was concluded in a paper published in this journal. In this note it is argued that this conclusion is misleading in suggesting that poor quality might be of economical advantage. The contrary is demonstrated – production costs actually grow dramatically due to poor quality.


The cDNA clone encoding the antibacterial peptide (SL-1) was isolated from the fat body of the common cutworm, Spodoptera litura, immunized with E. coli K12. The primary structure analysis revealed that its deduced amino acid sequence showed the characteristics of the cecropin family antibacterial peptides and that the amino acid residues highly conserved in the antibacterial peptides from moths and flies were also conserved, implying that SL-1 was a cecropin-like, and especially cecropin B-like, peptide. The predicted secondary structure of the mature SL-1 consists of three domains: (i) an amphiphilic -helical domain (Ile-4 to Gly-18); (ii) the hinge region (Gly-23 and Pro-24); and (iii) a hydrophobic domain (Ala-25 to IIe-38).


The preoperative anemia in patients increases the risk of perioperative blood transfusion, myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, acute kidney injury, and higher nosocomial and 30-day mortality, lengthens the duration of treatment, and increases the risk of re-hospitalization.The objective: to improve treatment results of patients after revision shoulder replacement through management of preoperative anemia.Subjects and methods. 170 medical files of patients who underwent revision shoulder replacement from 2014 to 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. On the day when they were examined by the physician, all patients had blood hemoglobin level below 130 g/l. The patients were divided into two groups that were comparable in their characteristics. Patients of the Main Group (n = 90) received preoperative preparation with iron carboxymaltate in combination with recombinant human erythropoietin 4 weeks before the expected date of surgery. Patients of the Control Group (n = 80) did not have any specific preparation.Results. The data obtained showed that the volume of intraoperative and postoperative drainage blood loss did not differ statistically between the groups; hemoglobin blood level in patients from the Main Group was statistically significantly higher both before the surgery and on the first day after it, and no hemotransfusion was indicated. In the Control Group, a statistically significantly greater decrease in hemoglobin level was observed in the postoperative period; 3 (3.8%) patients in the Control Group required RBC-transfusion. Complications in the early postoperative period (myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism, and cardiac arrhythmia) were significantly less frequent in the Main Group versus the Control one (4.5% of cases vs. 8.8%; p < 0.05).Conclusion. The use of iron carboxymaltate at the dose of 1,000 mg once and, if necessary, repeatedly in 14 days in combination with recombinant human erythropoietin at the dose of 150 IU/kg allows preparing patients for revision shoulder replacement within the period from two weeks to one month. Preoperative management of anemia until the hemoglobin concentration reaches 130 g/l using the proposed regimen can significantly reduce the need for blood transfusion and frequency of somatic complications in the early postoperative period.


We assessed the exposure of total N‐nitroso compounds (TNOCs) in the inhabitants of high‐ and low‐risk areas for esophageal cancer in southern China. Samples of 24 hr diet and 12 hr overnight urine were collected from 120 male adults in each of the 2 areas, a high‐risk area (Nan'ao County) and a low‐risk area (Lufeng County) for esophageal cancer. Annual standardized mortality rates of esophageal cancer in Nan'ao and Lufeng are 110/106 and 10/106 respectively. The 240 healthy male subjects (35–64 years old) were selected by a 3‐stage random cluster sample procedure. Levels of TNOCs, NAAs and volatile nitrosamines in the samples were measured. The TNOC detection rate (95%) in the diet, the TNOC daily intake (4.25 ± 0.84 μmol), TNOC excretion levels (0.04 ± 0.01 nmol/12 hr) and daily intake of volatile nitrosamines (5.84 ± 0.71 μmol) in the high‐risk area were significantly greater than values in the low‐risk area (A ± B = mean ± SE). The TNOC detection rate in the diet, the TNOC daily intake, TNOC excretion levels and daily intake of volatile nitrosamines in the low‐risk area were 70%, 0.25 ± 0.06 μmol, 0.02 ± 0.01 nmol/12 hr and 3.18 ± 0.31 μmol, respectively. NAA excretion levels showed no difference between the 2 areas (16.3 ± 7.18 μmol/12 hr for Nan'ao and 31.2 ± 26.4 μmol/12 hr for Lufeng). Thus, TNOCs are implicated in the etiology of esophageal cancer in southern China. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


William Brown Johnson was born at midnight on the summer solstice, 1950, in a middle‐sized Midwestern town located at the center of the population distribution of the United States. The nurse who weighed him said that he was very unusual: his weight was exactly the average for baby boys born in the US. That was the last time that Bill Johnson was described as unusual. In school, his grades were always average. His parents and teachers suggested remedies, but nothing made any difference.


As software has been pervasive and various software projects have been executed since the 1970's, software project management has played a significant role in software industry. There are three major factors in project management; schedule, effort and quality. Especially, to represent quality of products, there are various possible quality characteristics of software, but in practice, frequently, quality management revolves around defects, and delivered defect density has become the current de facto industry standard. The researches related to software quality have been focused on modeling residual defects in software in order to estimate software reliability.
 However, only the predicted number of defects cannot be sufficient information to provide basis for planning quality assurance activities and assessing them during execution. That is, in order to let projects managers be able to identify the project related information in early phase, we need to predict other possible information for assuring software quality such as defect density by phases, defect types and so on. In this paper, we propose a new approach for predicting distribution of in-process defects, their types based on project characteristics in early phase. For this approach, the model for prediction is established using the curve fitting method and the regression analysis. The maximum likelihood estimation is used in fitting the Weibull probability density function to the actual defect data, and the regression analysis is used to identify the relationship between the project characteristics and the Weibull parameters. The research model is validated by using cross-validation technique.


associated with an increased incidence of new onset diabetes ranging from 1% to 11% [6,7]. Five hundred thousand people are projected to be receiving ART within 5 years, but at present less than 10% of those eligible are actually receiving such therapy. Consequently the treatment target might not be met, rendering accurate predictions of the additional case load of people with diabetes problematic. It is also apparent that the health services, which even now deliver suboptimal diabetes care, will require further resource allocation to ensure that people with diabetes receive the kind of care that will improve their quality of life and outcome. Ideally, primary prevention strategies on a national level also require bolstering.


This article describes how in the VANET environment, routes are broken owing to node mobility. Moreover, the usage of wireless links for data communication leads to inherent unreliability and are error prone. Single path routing uses a prediction mechanism to compute a reliable path considering vehicle velocity and vehicle direction. Nevertheless, this methodology does not deal with major real-world traffic conditions. Hence, to address the aforementioned problems and to enhance reliability and fault tolerance, multipath routing protocols are employed. However existing multipath routing protocols even though compute multipath, only one path will be engaged in actual communication at any given time. Hence this work proposes Adaptive Congestion Controlled Multipath Routing in a VANET. The proposed work computes multiple paths from source to destination using cubic Bezier curves and more importantly, employs all/more than one path during the communication. The paths thus computed are adaptive in nature dependent upon the direction of mobility of source and destination vehicles.


BACKGROUND
Previous studies have reported differing clinical outcomes among hospitalised heart failure (HF) patients admitted under cardiology and general medicine (GM) without consideration of patients' frailty.

AIMS
To explore outcomes in patients admitted under the two specialities after taking into account their frailty and other characteristics.

METHODS
This retrospective-study included all HF patients ≥18 years admitted between 1 January, 2013-31 December 2019 at two Australian tertiary-hospitals. Frailty was determined by use of the Hospital-Frailty-Risk-Score (HFRS) and patients with HFRS ≥5 were classified as frail. Propensity-score-matching (PSM) was used to match 11 variables between the two specialities. The primary outcomes included the days-alive-and-out-of-hospital (DAOH90) at 90 days of discharge, 30-day mortality and readmissions.

RESULTS
Of 4913 HF patients, mean age 76.2 (14.1) years, 51% males, 2653 (54%) were admitted under cardiology compared to 2260 (46%) under GM. Patients admitted under GM were more likely to be older females, with a higher Charlson-index and poor renal function than those admitted under cardiology. Overall, 23.8% patients were frail and frail patients were more likely to be admitted under GM than cardiology (33.6% vs. 15.3%, P < 0.001). PSM created 1532 well-matched patients in each group. After PSM, the DAOH90 was not significantly different among patients admitted in GM when compared to cardiology (Coefficient -5.36, 95% CI -11.73-1.01, P = 0.099). Other clinical outcomes were also similar between the two specialities.

CONCLUSIONS
Clinical characteristics of HF patients differ between GM and cardiology, however, clinical outcomes were not significantly different after taking into account frailty and other variables.


The aim of my diploma work is to characterize the place of strategic planning in selected sections of company management by increasing its effectiveness and competitiveness. The author's ambition is to provide brief theoretical introduction into the setting of strategic aims and strategic planning, further to process the importance of the strategic planning for the effective development of the financial company – company pursuing business in the insurance market of the Slovak Republic, and that in the selected sections of this company management, and as well to state propositions for improvement of the strategic planning in the selected sections of this company management. This diploma work is divided into four chapters, from which the first and the second one (The Introduction into the Theory of Strategic Planning and The Strategic Planning as the Part of Decision Making) describes the planning, strategy, strategic management and strategic thinking as the basic terms, further describes the different prediction methods and the strategic planning as the part of decision taking. The third chapter (The Experience with the Application of Strategic Planning in Practice in the Selected Sections of Management) specifically deals with the application of the strategic planning in the respective sections of management in the business department of the insurance company KOOPERATIVA poisťovňa, a.s. Vienna Insurance Group. The fourth and the last chapter (Propositions for Improvement of the Strategic Planning in the Selected Company) deals with, on the basis of analysis of the strategic planning, the leading of team of external intermediaries of insurance and the system of remuneration of the insurance counselors and the external intermediaries.


The Copenhagen interpretation is an interpretation of quantum mechanics formulated mainly by Niels Bohr and also Werner Heisenberg while collaborating in Copenhagen. According to a poll in 1997, the Copenhagen interpretation is the most widely-accepted interpretation of quantum mechanics [1] and it was the first general attempt to understand the world of atoms. Since Copenhagen Interpretation was developed by a number of scientists and philosophers in different times there is not very clear statement of the Copenhagen Interpretation. In fact Bohr and Heisenberg never completely agreed on the details of the interpretation of quantum mechanic, and none of them ever used the term "the Copenhagen interpretation" as a joint name for their ideas [2] .However it is possible to summarize some of the main principles of this interpretation based mainly on Bohr's statements. Nowadays, the Copenhagen interpretation is mainly famous for indeterminism, Bohr's correspondence principle as well as his complementarity interpretation and Born's probability rule [2]. It is useful to mention a statement by E.T. Jaynes about the role of Bohr in quantum mechanic [3]:


We define a specific class of fractals as "net fractals" and prove that in the logarithmic scale they are isomorphic with some bulk crystals. This offers possibility to describe physical phenomena in the way that is reminiscent of conventional formalism developed for crystalline systems. With the use of logarithmic coordinates, we study fracton excitations, magnetic interactions and phase transitions in the "net fractal" systems. Furthermore, we prove that in the "net fractal" magnetic system the indirect exchange, mediated by itinerant electrons, can be presented in the form that is reminiscent of the RKKY interaction. Finally, we prove that both RKKY and phase transitions are determined by the value of the effective spectral dimension.


Magnetic systems in which the ions have singlet ground states and triplet excited states have interesting properties which have been discussed by a number of authors in the past. It is shown, by representing each ion by two fictitious spins with S=1/2, that the Hamiltonian for such systems is equivalent to that of a two sublattice ferrimagnet. For special values of the parameters the effective Hamiltonian also describes a spin one‐half Heisenberg ferromagnet with hyperfine interactions or a spin‐one Heisenberg ferromagnet.


We present a numerical investigation of the performance of retrospective cost adaptive control (RCAC) for spacecraft attitude control using control-moment-gyroscopes (CMG). The setup consists of three orthogonally mounted CMG's that are velocity commanded without the use of a steering law. RCAC is applied in a decentralized architecture; each CMG is commanded by an independent RCAC control laws. This architecture simplifies the required modeling information and treats the axis-coupling effects as unmodeled disturbances. A rotation-matrix parameterization of attitude is used to implement a dynamic compensator with state feedback. The adaptive controller is able to complete various slew and spin maneuvers using limited information about the mass-distribution of the spacecraft.


The acoustic streaming of an idealized elastico-viscous fluid near a cylindrical obstacle is considered using the boundary-layer type of approximation. It is shown that this streaming phenomena can be greatly influenced by the presence of elasticity in the fluid.


Photoinduced, multistep charge separation in bacterial reaction centers proceeds from the lowest excited singlet state of the dimeric bacteriochlorophyll electron donor in two steps, to yield a weakly interacting dimer cation-quinone anion radical pair, P{sup +}-Q{sup {minus}}, separated by 28 {angstrom}. Recently, we developed criteria for achieving high quantum yield charge separation in porphyrin-based-donor-acceptor systems at cryogenic temperatures. Using this information as a predictive model, we synthesized compound 1, TAPD-ZP-NQ, which consists of a zinc porphyrin primary electron donor, ZP, positioned between a naphthoquinone electron acceptor, NQ, and an N,N,N,N-tetraalkyl-p-phenylenediamine secondary electron donor, TADP.


Navigation receiver is easily influenced by radio frequency (RF) interference in complicated electromagnetic environment, so it is necessary to enhance its ability of cancelling interference. Space-time anti-jamming system model of the navigation receiver is established. Multistage Wiener filter and conjugate gradient iteration algorithms are researched, and their characteristics such as calculation and storage are analyzed. A new method of difference sample mean square error (DSMSE) is proposed to stop calculation timely. The simulation results show that the two algorithms are valid in space-time adaptive processing for navigation receiver, and the DSMSE method can stop calculation process when the anti-jamming performance of the algorithm almost reaches its best performance, avoiding extra computation and alleviating computational burden.


Antibiotics and copper in pig feeding 79 8. Food intake of pigs offered meal containing either 0.5 or 1.0% copper sulphate rapidly fell to a very low level and the pigs failed to gain weight. All pigs resumed satisfactory growth and food intake immediately the copper supplement was reduced to 0-1 %, or omitted from the diet. 9. The results obtained are discussed in relation to the known toxic effects of feeding of very high amounts of copper to sheep and cattle.


We propose, within an international framework, to bring together scientists, engineers, teachers and science communicators to raise awareness among a broad spectrum of audiences of the current state of Earth science knowledge, especially what we have learned through space-based observations.


Nothocriconema miscanthi n. sp. was detected from rhizosphere of Miscanthus sinensis in the Somma of Mt. Aso. This new species is similar to N. demani and N . longulum in body shape and in having elongated conical tail, but differs from them in shorter stylet , more posterior vulva and anus, and not sigmoid vagina in female adult; and less developed spines on body annules in larval stages. Jpn. J. Nematol. 11: 24-27 (1982)


Tourist perception patterns seem to be standardized by a powerful tourist industry and its commercial photography. But, do tourists really gaze the way guide books and advertising tell them to gaze? To answer this question, private holiday snapshots constitute a valuable source. They should be analysed, however, within the media, in which they are usually kept: photographic albums. Just like autobiographies or Oral History interviews, private photographic albums have a narrative structure containing various image categories. This paper analyses a series of 45 private photo albums of a much-travelling German couple between the 1950ies and the 1980ies. Concentrating on selected examples, it studies the complex mechanisms of gaze construction and tourist perception. After some theoretical remarks, I will present the album series and discuss different picture types as part of the album's narrative structure. This case study is part of a recently finished PhD thesis studying tourist perception patterns and visual consumption in post-war West German tourism, using mainly pictorial evidence. Holiday snapshots and the standardized Tourist Gaze In modern mass tourism, tourist perception patterns are widely believed to be constructed and standardized by a powerful tourist industry. Since Karl Baedeker and Thomas Cook, guide books standardize the sights, the sights are being assembled to package tours, which then are sold as a mass consumer good (Enzensberger 1958, cf. Pagenstecher 2003a). The commercial photography in tourism marketing seems to determine the tourists' gaze on landscapes, buildings and cultures. Individual travel routes follow the sights prescribed in guidebooks, travel photography only reproduces the clichés found in advertising brochures. But, how far does the manipulative power of tourist industry reach? This is basically an empirical question. Its answer depends on the travel type, the country, the social and demographic group and the period we are looking at. This paper studies post-war German tourism, i.e. the gaze of West German tourists between the 1950s and the 1980s. In that period, the industry's influence seems to be restricted: Statistics show that almost 90 % of


Aim:To investigate the expression of fibronectin(FN)mRNA and protein in injured vessels in diabetic rats.Methods:Wistar rats were randomly allocated into control group,angioplasty group,and diabetic plus angioplasty group (diabetic group).Diabetic group was served with stretozotocin (STZ) 60 mg/kg for each rat by intraperitoneal injection.The angioplasty group and diabetic group were treated with balloon denudation from thoracic to left iliac aorta.Fourteen days after the operation,thoracic aortae for each group were collected to detect vascular smooth muscle cells(VSMCs)FN mRNA expression with Northern blot and the protein expression of vessel wall FN with immunohistochemistry. Results: Expression of FN mRNA and protein were significantly higher in diabetic group than angioplasty group ( P 0.01) and those in these 2 groups were both higher than control group. Conclusion:These findings indicates that the pathogenesis of restenosis in injured vessels is related to the higher expression of FN mRNA and protein in diabetic rats.


The effect of uni-directional orientation of SiC whisker(SiC(w)) on the pressureless sintering dens cation of SiC(w)/Si3N4 ceramics composite was investigated in relation to the content and aspect ratio of SiC(w) and the amount of sintering aids. It was found that the uni-directional orientation was effective for promoting the densification at higher SiC(w) contents. The maximum relative density obtained, however, was limited to 92 and 86% at 15 and 20vol%SiC(w), respectively.


The invention relates to an aldehyde-ketone resin modified unsaturated polyester primer and a preparation method thereof. The aldehyde-ketone resin modified unsaturated polyester primer is prepared by mixing a main paint, an initiator and an accelerator at a weight ratio of 100:(1.0-1.5):(1.2-1.7), wherein the main pain is prepared from the following components in parts by weight: unsaturated polyester resin, a dispersing agent, hydroquinone, a defoaming agent, a leveling agent, a toner, heavy calcium carbonate, talc powder, fumed silica, zinc stearate, aldehyde-ketone resin solution and styrene, the accelerator is cobalt naphthenate, and the initiator is methyl ethyl ketone peroxide. The aldehyde-ketone resin modified unsaturated polyester primer prepared by adopting the preparation method can be directly sprayed on the substrate of a fiberboard without the necessity of polishing the substrate, and the aldehyde-ketone resin modified unsaturated polyester primer presents excellent adhesion and fullness after being sprayed on the substrate of the fiberboard.


This poster presents continuing work on Green UML. Green is a UML class diagram plug-in for the Eclipse IDE developed originally for educational purposes. Due to this nature of the tool, its prominent features include live round-tripping and a customizable set of relationships.
 As a plug-in to Eclipse, Green is able to utilize the development environment and maintain a real-time synchronization between its class diagrams and the Java source code. The extensible style of Eclipse plug-ins also allows Green to have its own plug-ins, which in turn are the relationship semantics. By allowing end users to create, add, and remove relationships which are recognized by Green, the too becomes highly flexible and easily tailors to a user's specific needs.


a brief use of stigma to describe the condition of eastern intellectuals. In short, these theoretical reflections feel severed from the material that preceded them and would have benefited from better integration. Indeed, belying its long gestation, the book feels underprepared. Bednarz candidly admits in a footnote that the book was rejected by another publisher after peer review, ostensibly for being too one-sided in taking easterners at face value. That seems less an issue than the lack of engagement with other research: Bednarz is either not acknowledging what he has read or simply has not read field-defining work in German Democratic Republic (GDR) studies covering many similar discussions. Even so, the book confirms and repeats many well-known grievances and difficulties of reunification. These were documented in earlier, influential ethnographies by, among others, Daphne Berdahl (cited here in the final pages), Andreas Glaeser and Dominic Boyer. Bednarz's book is unlikely to take its place in that influential group, as its 'ethnography' does not really delve into the lifeworld in any depth, despite a few descriptive passages – largely of which train stations he disembarks from to meet people or where he buys food. Instead, Bednarz's contribution, particularly in the book's long first section, is to add refinements and details to the picture we have of re-unification as a process that felt remote from eastern German control. In particular, Bednarz's book offers in English a sense of the 'Abwicklung' (winding up) of the GDR research institutions and the displacement of GDR researchers by West Germans. This has had long-lasting effects on the geographical and sociological divisions of Germany's research culture (e.g. the paucity of GDR-educated scholars among professorial ranks after the early 1990s). These effects remain little understood by many outside Germany. The East Germans in the book voice strong concerns about this process as it unfolds day by day during the interviews. Researchers in the humanities and the social sciences were hit especially hard for perceived ideological biases that led to their work being discounted. As reported by interviewees, the cold reality of the scientific committees was that westerners were left to sit in judgement on scholars who would soon become competitors for research funding – some westerners even admitted this. Scholars of higher education reform may be interested in some reflections on questions of institutional power. They may likewise find interesting discussions of the GDR academy system, based on the Russian model, in which scholars were permanently employed to research with no teaching and minimal administration. Their experience in the western system's competitive research funding model reveals their (understandable) discontent with short-termism and the novelty-mongering of confected innovations necessary to justify another round of research funding. Like their former compatriots, these intellectuals from a fairly elite stratum of the GDR felt adrift from their surroundings (the language of internal migration and western colonisation are common in the interviews) and harboured resentments about the blithe dismissal of their expertise and experience. In all, the interview material here will no doubt be of much interest to those studying re-unification and later reflections by those subjected to the process.


Accumulation of partially decomposed plant residues under no-tillage (NT) and cover crop management systems can affect herbicide fate in the soil. This study evaluated adsorption and desorption of cyanazine {2-[[4-chloro-6-(ethylamino)-1,3,5-triazin-2-yl]amino] -2-methylpropanenitrile} in soils and herbicide-killed Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) residues collected from a long-term conventional tillage (CT) and NT cotton field. The four cotton production systems included were CT and NT, each with and without ryegrass as a cover crop. Adsorption was determined by reacting 0.5 g of soil or ryegrass residue with 8 mL of 14 C-cyanazine solution (five concentrations: 0.13 to 15.68 μmol L -1 ) for 48 h. The Freundlich K f values were higher in NT than in CT soils and higher in soils from ryegrass cover crop than in soils from no cover crop. The K f was higher in ryegrass residue (13.33) than in soils (1.77 to 2.94). The N values for soils (>0.90) and ryegrass residue (>0.95) indicated nearly linear adsorption. Time-course adsorption data analyzed by an equilibrium/kinetic model indicated that adsorption was rapid initially (within 1 h), followed by a slow increase in CT and NT soils from ryegrass plots. In contrast, adsorption achieved equilibrium within 48 h of reaction time in ryegrass residue. Cyanazine adsorption increased with increased decomposition of plant residues. The K f for ryegrass residues sampled at 5 weeks after cotton planting was 17% higher than the residues sampled at 3 weeks before planting. The CaCl 2 -desorbable cyanazine in two consecutive 24-h cycles ranged from 77 to 88% in soils and from 46 to 47% ofthat adsorbed in ryegrass residues. Two additional 24-h desorptions with methanol removed most of the remaining cyanazine. Under field conditions, the plant residues on the soil surface in NT and cover crop systems can apparently intercept and temporarily retain cyanazine.


The focus of this paper is a brief summary of (1) the multi-scale structure of cementitious materials in the light of microporomechanics theory; and (2) to present estimates of the poroelastic properties of cementitious materials (cement paste and mortar) by means of advanced homogenization techniques of microporomechanics. This microporomechanics approach allows us to deliver a blueprint of the elementary poroelastic properties of all cementitious materials, which do not change from one cementitious material to another, but which are intrinsic properties. These properties result from the intrinsic gel porosity of low density and high density C-S-H, which yield a base Biot coefficient of 0.61<b≤0.71 and a Skempton coefficient of B=0.20-0.25. While the base Biot coefficient decreases gradually at larger scales, because of the addition of non-porous solid phases (Portlandite,...,aggregates), it is shown that the Skempton coefficient is almost constant over 3-5 orders of magnitude.


Residential building inspections are periodically required by public authorities. However, current approaches to storing and viewing data concerning an inspection are often collected in reports whose form and limited content hamper the rigorous assessment of the building's state of conservation and subsequent repair of the identified damage and alterations. This research proposes a method for documenting and displaying inspection-related information in BIM models to generate a dynamic information model. Damage is spatially located by means of a parametric family, which collects the necessary information about each instance of damage and enables agile and up-to-date information extraction. The proposed method was validated in a residential building situated in San Sebastián, with a scenario designed to demonstrate its ability to support the diagnosis of causes and decision making regarding maintenance. This work demonstrates the advantages of the parametric representation of information on damage and alterations in a BIM model, which facilitates the management of a residential building's life cycle by means of a digital twin of the building. The results shown in this research may be very interesting for researchers as well as for those whose work involves the rehabilitation of residential buildings.


This paper mainly analyses the cause of the failure of the transmission parts,pumps and pump equipment and the moving parts of the working bench of the SK001/2 Roll Ring-special Purpose Grinder and proposes the maintaining methods.


In consideration of the special need of chamfering face of gear used in automobile gearbox,this paper introduces the design principle and construction of a tool post specially used to chamfer the gear face.It describes in detail the process to assembly and adjust the tool post.This chamfering tool post can be used to machine not only gears in special-purpose gearbox but also gears in certain range and series.It has universality and popularization to a certain extent.


This research aims at proving that the use of Task-based Learning (TBL) method can improve the ability of the grade X students of SMAN 3 Paluto write descriptive paragraph. The samples are X MIA 3 as the experimental group and X MIA 4 as the control group. They were selected by using purposive sampling technique. The researcher used quasi experimental research design where the two groups were given pretest and posttest. There are two variables; the use of TBL method as the independent variable and the students' writing ability as the dependent variable. The result of the research shows that there is a significant improvement of the students' writing ability after the students were taught using TBL method. The mean score of the experimental group before the treatment is 33.4 while the control group's is 33. After the treatment, the mean score of the experimental group is 78.7 and the control group's is 47.3. It is also shown that the t-counted ( 7.686) is higher than the t-table (2.001).It can be concluded that the hypothesis is accepted. It shows that TBL method can improve the ability of the grade X students to write descriptive paragraph. Keywords: Improving; Descriptive Paragraph; Task-based Learning


New catalyst systems for the direct synthesis of diphenyl carbonate (DPC) from carbon monoxide (CO) and phenol were investigated. Palladium-tin complexes [Pd2(dPPm)2(SnCl3) Cl and Pd2(dppm)2(SnCl3)2, dppm : bis (diphenylphospino) methane] with manganese redox catalyst [Mn(TMHD)3, TMHD : 2, 2, 6, 6-tetramethyl-3, 5-heptanedionate] were found to produce DPC effectively without any addition of ammonium halide. Furthermore, palladium catalyst systems such as, palladium dinuclear complexes, palladium-diimine complexes, and palladium-6, 6'-disubstituted-2, 2'-bipyridyl complexes promoted the oxidative carbonylation of phenol more effectively in the presence of ammonium halide. Especially, the efficiencies of Pd2(Ph2PPY)2(NO2)2(Ph2PPy : 2-pyridyldiphenylphosphine) and Pd(6, 6'-Me2bpy)Cl2(6, 6'-Me2bpy : 6, 6'-dimethyl-2, 2'-bipyridyl) were highest among these palladium complexes. These palladium catalyst systems were applied for the direct synthesis of polycarbonate (PC) from bisphenol A and CO. PC with the number-and weight-average molecular weights of 5600 and 12900 respectively, was successfully obtained using Pd (6, 6'-Me2bpy) Cl2 catalyst system. These molecular weights were highest among the direct syntheses of PC by oxidative carbonylation.


In order to establish a threshold criterion for rational flood resources utilization and form a harmony relationship among flood resources utilization, flood disaster control and eco-environment protection, a basic framework of flood resources utilization assessment was proposed. The four basic problems of flood resources utilization assessment were pointed out, including evaluation of the utilized flood resources quantity, utilizable flood resources quantity and flood utilization potentiality. Based on systemic illustration of these conceptions, the assessment approach for flood resources utilization on basin scale was set up. According to it, flood utilization assessment for the water-scare of the Haihe River Basin, North China and its four sub-basins was conducted. The results show that the utilizable flood resources and flood utilization potentiality are respectively 6.28 billion m3 and 0.535 billion m3 all over the basin during 1980~2006. Flood utilization condition there is relatively irrational. The utilized flood resources quantity frequently exceeded the utilizable flood resources quantity and flood resources utilization potentiality was rather small. This condition was mainly resulted from the invasion of the river necessary water demand during the flood season,but also caused by the fact that the utilized flood resources exceeded flood regulation capacity in several years. In order to change the irrational situation of flood resources utilization in the Haihe River Basin, the present space structure of utilized flood resources highly concentrating in the mountainous region must be gradually adjusted and the flood regulation capacity in the plain region must be intensified in future. Meanwhile, the river water demand during the flood season should be guaranteed.


We present an electrophysiological dataset recorded from nine subjects during a verbal working memory task. Subjects were epilepsy patients undergoing intracranial monitoring for localization of epileptic seizures. Subjects performed a modified Sternberg task in which the encoding of memory items, maintenance, and recall were temporally separated. The dataset includes simultaneously recorded scalp EEG with the 10-20 system, intracranial EEG (iEEG) recorded with depth electrodes, waveforms and spike times of 1526 units recorded in the medial temporal lobe, and the MNI coordinates and anatomical labels of all intracranial electrodes. Subject characteristics and information on sessions (set size, match/mismatch, correct/incorrect, response, response time for each trial) are also provided. This dataset enables the investigation of working memory by providing simultaneous scalp EEG and iEEG recordings, which can be used for connectivity analysis, alongside hard to obtain unit recordings from humans.


Based on the experimental data, the characteristics of maximum clear water scour hole around groins were studied by correlating to the approach velocity of flow, mean sediment size, depth of flow and ratio of length of permeable to impermeable part of groin. Empirical equations for prediction of scour hole characteristics were proposed based upon dimensional analysis and laboratory experiments.


This work presents the results of using a complex protein additive (CP А ) for feeding animals in comparison with a soybean food additive in chronic experiments on hens and in scientific and economic experiments on pigs. Performed according to Ts.Zh. Batoev's and Ts. S. Batoeva's method, the chronic experiments reveal a stimulating effect of CPА on the secretory function of the hens' pancreas. The amount of pancreatic secretion increased by 25 %, compared with the control period. The enzyme activity of amylase increased by 72 % in the amount of juice during the experiment. The protease activity increased up to 84 % and lipase up to 98 % in the amount of juice during the experiment. The analysis proved the most intensive development of the pigs fed by mixed fodder with CPА. The study included the analysis of the enzymatic activity of pancreatic tissue. The results in the group with an additive (CPА) diet were higher. The total protein level check in the serum of the tested pigs showed that the indices practically didn't change.


In order to design good pseudorandom number generator,using a generalized synchronization theorem for discrete chaos system,this paper introduced a new 6-dimensional generalized chaos synchronization system based on 3D-Lorenz map.It designed a chaos-based pseudo-random number generator(CPNG) by the new system.Using the FIPS 140-2 tests issued by the NIST,it verified the random properties of the 1 000 binary number sequences generated via the CPNG.The results show that all the tested sequences passed the FIPS 140-2 test.The confidence interval analysis shows that the sequences have sound random properties.The CPNG is suitable to be used in the information security field.


This paper discusses the severe housing affordability problems of certain areas of the UK and the Government's "Key Worker" initiative designed to enable teachers, health workers and other essential workers to purchase housing in these areas. A case study of a proprietary pre‐fabricated housing type, which may provide one solution to the provision of low cost housing, is presented. A detailed analysis of the energy requirements of the case study building and its assessment under the BRE's EcoHomes scheme is provided.


Based on the benchmarking platform of ship propulsion systems benchmarks(SPSB) and combining with satisfactory control theory, a T-S fuzzy model of marine propulsion control system is established. Through the fuzzification and anti-fuzzification, ship propulsion system is divided into a plurality of local subsystems. Each local subsystem gives the actuator under constant bias fault, which meets multiple performance indices of design method of fault diagnosis. By using Simulink toolbox, the simulation model is set up, which verifies correctness and effectiveness of the fault diagnosis observer with good multiple performance indices in ship propulsion system. It provides a new way for fault diagnosis of ship propulsion system.


Innovative engineering applications are proposed to satisfy the current necessities of earthquake engineering, which are well established from a conceptual perspective, and frequently, the development of some missing inputs is only required to employ them, such as the case of the correlations between spectral values at different vibration periods. Accordingly, we computed the correlation between spectral accelerations at two vibration periods using ground motions from interplate and, alternatively, intraslab events, recorded in firm ground of Mexico City. Results show that the spreading of correlation values depends on the rupture mechanism. Then, based on hypothesis test analyses, we used four correlation models available in the literature to predict our correlation values. According to the findings, we proposed a predictive correlation mathematical model for interplate and, separately, for intraslab seismic events. We evaluated the influence of the predictive correlation models on the results corresponding to two earthquake engineering applications. The first refers to compute conditional mean spectra and the second to perform probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) using INp and, alternatively, Saavg, intensity measures. We found that while the conditional mean spectra might be affected in the region of short vibration periods, the computations of the PSHA with improved intensity measures are not affected significantly.


Normalizing flow comprises of a series of invertible transformations. With careful design in transformations, it can generate images or speeches with fast sampling speed. Inference can also be efficient in maximum likelihood manner. In addition to generating scenes or human faces, it can be used to transform probability distributions. On the other hand, learning latent structures of sentences in a global manner is always challenging. Variational autoencoder (VAE) is haunted by the issue of posterior collapse, where the latent space is poorly learned. To improve inference and generation of VAE in learning sequence data, we propose the amortized flow posterior variational recurrent autoencoder (AFP-VRAE). Variational recurrent autoencoder (VRAE) has RNN based encoder and decoder and learns global representations of sentences. To learn latent space that well preserves the semantic information of data, we use the normalizing flow to generate flexible variational distributions. Furthermore, we adopt the amortized regularization to encode similar embeddings to neighboring latent representations, and we use the skip connections to reinforce the representations to predict every output directly. The benefits can be shown in the experiments as we evaluate the models for language modeling, sentiment analysis and document summarization. AFP-VRAE reports good results on variational modeling for sequence data.


Classification tasks are pivotal across diverse applications, yet the burgeoning amount of data, coupled with complicating factors such as noise, exacerbates the challenge of classifying complex data. For algorithms that require a large amount of data, the annotation work for datasets is also exceptionally complex and tedious. Drawing upon existing research, this paper first introduces a novel semi-supervised category dictionary model based on transfer learning (SSDT). This model is designed to construct a more representative category dictionary and to delineate the associations of information across different domains, utilizing the lens of conditional probability distribution. This approach is particularly apt for semi-supervised transfer learning scenarios. Subsequently, the proposed method is applied to the domain of bearing fault diagnosis. This model is suitable for transfer scenarios; moreover, its semi-supervised characteristic eliminates the need for labeling the entire input dataset, significantly reducing manual workload. Experimental results attest to the model's practical utility. When benchmarked against other 6 models, the SSDT model demonstrates enhanced generalization performance.


The theory for the UTRC Energy Conversion System Performance Analysis (WECSPER) for the prediction of horizontal axis wind turbine performance is presented. Major features of the analysis are the ability to: (1) treat the wind turbine blades as lifting lines with a prescribed wake model; (2) solve for the wake-induced inflow and blade circulation using real nonlinear airfoil data; and (3) iterate internally to obtain a compatible wake transport velocity and blade loading solution. This analysis also provides an approximate treatment of wake distortions due to tower shadow or wind shear profiles. Finally, selected results of internal UTRC application of the analysis to existing wind turbines and correlation with limited test data are described.


This work investigates worship and formation in view of Christian anthropology, particularly union with Christ. Traditions which value justification by faith wrestle to some degree with how to describe and encourage ethical formation when salvation and righteousness are presented as gracious and complete. The dialectic of law and gospel has suggested to some that forgiveness and the advocacy of ethical norms contend with each other. By viewing justification and formation in light of Christ's righteousness which is both imputed and imparted, it is more readily seen that forgiveness and ethics complement each other. In justification, God converts a person, by which he grants new character. Traditional Lutheran anthropology says that this regeneration grants a new nature in mystical union with Jesus Christ. Considering Oswald Bayer's "suffering" the word of Christ, Louis-Marie Chauvet's "symbolic order" and Bernd Wannenwetsch's understanding of worship as Christianity's unique "form of life," Grobien argues that worship practices are the foundational and determinative context in which grace is offered and in which the distinctively Christian ethos supports virtues consistent with Christian character. This understanding is also coordinated with Stanley Hauerwas's narrative ethics and Luther's teaching of virtue and good works in view of the Ten Commandments.


The purpose of the present work is to optimize the key processes in the company MPS SAS, following the guidelines of the process approach of ISO 9001: 2015 clause 4.4 which, in its numerals, establishes that the organization fixes resources, methods, assigns responsibilities to control and improve their processes and procedures. The approach is presented as an implementation strategy directed at the organizational structure of the company in order to generate significant changes in its functioning. It is contemplated that the processes have to be identified and measured in order to exercise a control that in turn is reflected in an added value and can generate competitive advantage. But the success of the approach depends in large part on the impact it generates by what it requires of a strategy of applicability that guarantees good results. Taking into account the methodology in a series of steps, which ensure an excellent applicability of the approach in the organization.


Several fiber treatments can be applied to mitigate the high water absorption of vegetal fibers. Wetting and drying cycles are usually performed in the industry of paper and cellulose to reduce the volume variation of the natural fibers. This procedure stiffens the polymeric structure of the fiber-cells (process known as hornification) resulting in a higher dimensional stability. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of the hornification on the interface of natural fibers. For this purpose, cycles of wet and drying was applied on Sisal, Curaua and Jute fibers. Fiber pull-out tests were performed in embedment lengths of 25mm. Furthermore, the influence of the hornification in the fibers mechanical (under tensile loading) and microstructural (surface modifications of the fiber and changes in the fiber-cell structure) behavior were investigated. The results indicate changes on the tensile strength and strain capacity of the studied fibers, showing that morphology and chemical composition play an important role on the efficiency rate of hornification.


One kind of coal used as a sewage treatment plant filter comprising filtering water tank, filter cloth sinks, sinks tank, piping, control valves, pumps and other apparatus composed of a sewage treatment plant for the coal desired filter, the filter pool water pond pool groups the plurality of rectangular spaced apart by the wall composed of the filtration tank disposed on opposite sides of a set of cloth sink and sink tank, between the tank and the water filtration tank cloth, between the water tank and filters the water tank are mounted sinks a grating, the filtration tank to another set of opposing surfaces and fill unloading table fetched coal, sewage treatment apparatus connected to a piping, valves, pumps; a valve is connected to the contact means connected with the tank conduit cloth sink sinks pipe, connected to each other through the valve; communication pipe and the filtration tank cloth sink and sink the sink through the valve connection, running in series, are connected in parallel and the filtration tank between the filtration tank and the filtration tank by controlling valves, pumps, drainage, taking a step of coal, coal filling.


Introduction: Infective endocarditis (IE) is a life-threatening condition, especially when diagnosis is prolonged, as the symptoms of IE overlap with COVID-19 infection (Coronaviruses disease 2019) 1-4We present the case series of two patients with a diagnosis of IE concomitant with COVID-19 infection Case report: 36-year-old patient admitted to the hospital, due to pneumonia and meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) showed paravalvular aortic abscess with mild aortic insufficiency without vegetations Month after, patient had a positive COVID-19 swab, developed bilateral COVID-19 pneumonia, requiring oxygen therapy and respiratory support, and transferred in University Hospital Dubrava Transesophageal echocardiography showed aortic root abscess with pseudoaneurysm in the projection of non-coronary cusp (NCC), destroyed NCC and left coronary cusp with mobile vegetations measuring 17x11 mm The abscess cavity communicates with left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT), with massive aortic insufficiency and the regurgitation jet filling >75% of LVOT diameter (Figure 1) Ejection fraction was reduced to 45%, with signs of right ventricle deterioration Emergent surgery was indicated, patient was successfully operated Biologic aortic valve was implanted (Edwards Inspiris Resilia A 23) with pericardial patch of the aortic root Control TTE showed closure of pseudoaneurysm cavity and normal function of bioprosthetic valve Patient recovered successfully and discharged home twelve days after surgery 63-year-old female patient, with multiple comorbidities, bilateral COVID-19 pneumonia and symptoms of acute heart failure TTE showed massive vegetation on the anterior mitral leaflet measuring 15x15 mm, with peak pressure gradient on LVOT >120 mmHg, and highly susceptible aortic valve vegetation (Figure 2) She had to undergo urgent surgical operation The mechanical mitral valve (On-X M 31) and mechanical aortic valve (On-X A 21) were successfully implanted Postoperative recovery went well, and control TTE showed a good function of both mechanical valves Conclusion: Despite applied therapy, COVID-19 infection caused the hyperinflammation and suppresses our immune system to defend against pathogens, accelerating the symptoms which leads to cardiac collapse Such clinical condition requiring urgent cardiac surgery, which could be performed only with the implementation of all epidemiological measures in the therefore planned COVID-19 hospitals [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Cardiologia Croatica is the property of Croatian Cardiac Society and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use This abstract may be abridged No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract (Copyright applies to all Abstracts )


Advanced programming languages such as Standard ML have rarely been used for systems programming tasks such as operating systems and network communications. In order to understand more fully the requirements of systems programming, we have implemented a suite of industry-standard network communication protocols in a completely type-safe extension of Standard ML. While the implementation has only recently become operational, we already observe acceptable communications throughput. We make careful use of the Standard ML modules system, with the core component of the implementation being a signature which is generic to all communications protocols. This generic protocol is then specialized for specific protocols, and these are implemented by functors parameterized by generic protocols. This leads naturally to a layered system structure and also provides an important and useful "mix-and-match" capability in composing protocols into complex networking systems.
We have found the advanced features of Standard ML, in particular the modules system, static typing, and higher-order functions, to be extremely useful in building complex communications systems. The type compatibility of the various components of a system is guaranteed by the compiler. Furthermore, we find it significant that most of the information needed to understand the structure and interactions in our code can be obtained from a study of the signatures alone. Perhaps most important is that we have been able to use the expressive power of Standard ML modules to give concrete expression to previously ad hoc system-structuring concepts developed by other researchers in the field of network communications. For language designers and implementors, our experience has also pointed out specific areas for further work that may lead to advanced languages that are useful for systems programming.


In the process of modernization of the German water supply industry well-established tools such as technical guidelines and management schemes are combined with newer approaches such as the application of performance indicator (PI) systems. The application of performance indicators is an integral part of total quality management schemes (TQM) in support of the continuous process of quality improvement and optimization. Basic applications of performance indicators in metric and process benchmarking processes are presented, followed by a survey of on-going benchmarking projects in Germany. The Internauonal Water Association (IWA) performance indicator system is presented as an assessment tool for the important performance categories quality, reliability, customer service, sustainability and economic efficiency in water supply.


During real-world experiences, determining the stimulus-relevant brain activity is excitingly attractive and is very challenging, particularly in electroencephalography. Here, spectrograms of ongoing electroencephalogram (EEG) of one participant constructed a third-order tensor with three factors of time, frequency and space; and the stimulus data consisting of acoustical features derived from the naturalistic and continuous music formulated a matrix with two factors of time and the number of features. Thus, the multilinear partial least squares (PLS) conforming to the canonical polyadic (CP) model was performed on the tensor and the matrix for decomposing the ongoing EEG. Consequently, we found that brain activity of majority of participants was significantly correlated with the musical features in time domain, and that such brain activity showed frontal or central or posterior or occipital distributions along the scalp, and that such brain activity could be of different oscillation bands in frequency domain.


А comprehensive clinical, psychopathological and psychodiagnostic examination of 150 male patients with alcohol-related syndrome was conducted; The main group (the patients of which participated in the psychoeducational program) included 105 people. The control group consisted of 45 patients who received standard regulated therapy in the hospital. It was established that the clinical and psychopathological features of the formation of alcohol dependence in men are specific loss of situational control, dysphoria, affective reactions, anxiety and depression disorders depending on the predominant personally significant motives of alcohol consumption. During the course of work, the psychoeducational program was developed and tested in the system of rehabilitation of patients with alcohol dependence, the main purpose of which is a comprehensive influence on the cognitive, emotional, psycho-physiological, behavioral and social aspects of alcohol dependence. The algorithm of psychoeducation of patients with alcohol dependence is developed, which is aimed at increasing the level of special (narcological) knowledge of the patient and his family; working out of skills of solving life problems; communication skills training; training skills of co-ownership.


Some 83% of the area of native vegetation of the Tasmanian Midlands has been replaced after 170 yr of agricultural exploitation, but scattered remnants of the native vegetation still exist. The floristic variation within and between these remnants was most closely related to soil moisture, as affected by texture and topography. A classification produced 13 groups that comprised subdivisions of grassy communities dominated by Eucalyptus amygdalina forest, E. viminalis, E. pauciflora, E. ovata woodlands and treeless communities. From accounts of surveyors and travellers, survey plans, paintings and standing paddock trees, it was determined that these formations dominated the Midlands at the time of European contact. -from Author