This article deals with the numerical treatment for two-dimensional thermo-mechanical wave propagations in the thermoelastic solids. The development of the formulation is based on the generalized dynamic coupled theory of thermoelasticity. The numerical procedure is developed by using the method of characteristics, yielding the bicharacteristics and bicharacteristic equations. The difference equations for computing the solutions of two-dimensional thermo-mechanical waves are then derived. The method is applied to the thermal and mechanical wave propagations in finite plates subjected to the impulsive surface heating. The numerical results are shown in the graphical form.


Phenomenological models of cosmic ray (CR) transport in the Milky Way (MW) can reproduce a wide range of observations assuming that CRs scatter off of magnetic-field fluctuations with spectrum ∝k−δ and δ ∼ [1.4, 1.67]. We study the extent to which such models can be reconciled with current microphysical theories of CR transport, specifically self-confinement due to the streaming instability and/or extrinsic turbulence due to a cascade of MHD fast modes. We first review why it is that on their own neither theory is compatible with observations. We then highlight that CR transport is a strong function of local plasma conditions in the multi-phase interstellar medium (ISM), and may be diffusive due to turbulence in some regions and streaming due to self-confinement in others. A multi-phase combination of scattering mechanisms can in principle reproduce the main trends in the proton spectrum and the boron-to-carbon ratio (B/C). However, models with a combination of scattering by self-excited waves and fast-mode turbulence require significant fine-tuning due to fast-mode damping, unlike phenomenological models that assume undamped Kolmogorov turbulence. The assumption that fast modes follow a weak cascade is also not well justified theoretically, as the weak cascade is suppressed by wave steepening and weak-shock dissipation even in subsonic turbulence. These issues suggest that there may be a significant theoretical gap in our understanding of MHD turbulence. We discuss a few topics at the frontier of MHD turbulence theory that bear on this (possible) gap and that may be relevant for CR scattering.


A reading and panel discussion as part of 'Convocation: On Expanded Language-based Practices' at the Research Pavilion, Venice Biennale. The reading and discussion were related to an earlier contribution, a chapter within the 2018 Routledge book The Creative Critic, edited by Emily Orley and Katja Hilevaara. Performed with Grainne Rice, the reading was of a 1994 short story by the Scottish painter Steven Campbell.


International school is a school which takes a global concept as its value orientation, is intended mainly for mobile people all over the world and develops foreign languages, knowledge, ability and attitude necessary for students in process of globalization. The curriculum is crucial to international school with the purpose of cultivating the ability of students to participate in international affairs and where great importance has been attached to language learning, which is sharply characterized by internationalization.


We present here the design details of a high-pressure pulsed valve that generates intense supersonic jets. The measured rotational contours of Aniline indicate that temperatures lower than 0.5 K can be achieved before the formation of clusters with the He carrier gas. The spectral shifts and vibronic structure of Anthracene–Hen clusters (n=1–6) are showing some surprising features.


Objective To study the anti-apoptotic effects of vitamin E on osteonecrosis of the femoral head induced by glucocorticoids.Methods The 36 rabbits were divided three groups:model group,receiving hormone and endotoxin to induce model of femoral head necrosis; vitamin E group,administered vitamin E [0.6 g/(kg· d)] orally following establishment of femoral head necrosis; control group,given sodium chloride alone.At the fouth and sixth week after the last dosing,animals were sacrificed,each n =6.The femoral heads were conventionally fixed and decalcified.Hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining was used to examine vacant bone lacuna.TdT-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay was used to determine apoptosis.The expression of B lymphocytes/leukemia-2 (bcl-2) and cysteinyl aspartate-specific protease (Caspase)-3 was detected by using immunohistochemical method.Results (1) At the 4th and 6th week,the average percentage of empty osteocyte lacunae in vitamin E group was lower than that of the model group (P <0.05),and the average apoptosis index in the vitamin E group was significantly lower than that of the model group (P < 0.05) ; (2) As compared with the model group,bcl-2 positive cell rate was increased in the vitamin E group (P < 0.05),and the Caspase-3 positive cell rate was decreased in the vitamin E group (P < 0.05).As compared with the model and vitamin E groups,bcl-2 positive cell rate was obviously increased in the control group (P <0.01),and the Caspase-3 positive cell rate was significantly decreased (P <0.01).Conclusion Vitamin E may prevent corticosteroid-induced osteonecrosis by up-regulating the expression of bcl-2 and down-regulating the expression of Caspase-3.

Key words:
Glucocorticoids;  Necrosis of femoral head;  Vitamin E;  Apoptosis


A consideration, from the nursing perspective, of some nurse-to-nurse communication and record keeping aspects of the Exeter Nursing Systems, against a brief background of their development and current status. An indication of the direction in which development of the systems, particularly in relation to the philosophy of the Nursing Process, hopes to proceed.


Quinoa consumption has created a challenge for producers and food processors. They need to study new cultivars and the functional properties of quinoa flours.The structural and rheological properties of six quinoa cultivars (Titicaca, Blanca real, Soracá, Pasankalla, Puno and Nariño) grown at different altitudes were studied using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and dynamic oscillatory tests. The FTIR spectra revealed differences in the protein and starch structures among the cultivars, which could be related to their adaptation to different environmental conditions. The rheological analysis showed that the quinoa gels exhibited viscoelastic behavior, with a predominance of the elastic component (G') over the viscous component (G"). The linear viscoelasticity range was determined by applying a strain sweep test (0.001–100%) at a constant frequency of 5 Hz. The frequency sweep test (0.01–100 Hz) at a constant strain amplitude of 0.1% within the linear regime was used to obtain the storage modulus (G'), the loss modulus (G") and the complex viscosity (η*).The Burgers model was fitted to the experimental data, and the four parameters (η1, η2, R1, and R2) were obtained for each cultivar. The results showed that the cultivar., the altitude and their interaction had significant effects on the rheological properties of the quinoa gels. The cultivars grown at higher altitudes tended to have higher G', G", and η* values than those grown at lower altitudes, indicating a stronger gel network. The cultivars also differed in their relaxation times, with Titicaca and Blanca real having the shortest and longest times, respectively. These differences could be attributed to the variations in the protein and starch structures of the quinoa flours, as well as the water absorption and gelation properties of the cultivars.The viscoelastic behavior of gels is influenced by the structural conformation of their components, such as proteins and starch. These components provide stiffness and elasticity to the gels. The structural conformation can change depending on the environmental conditions and the phenotypic characteristics of the components.


Hyperbolic metamaterials are valuable potential single-photon emitters because of their large density of states at phase boundaries. We grow metamaterial stacks using alternating layers of undoped GaSb (dielectric) and Si-doped InAsSb (metallic). This combination can act as a dielectric in the sample plane, but a metal perpendicular to the plane, forming a hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) state depending on the density of free electrons. We demonstrate this behavior by injecting free electrons using an ultrafast 1300-nm pump laser, while probing the differential reflectivity and transmittivity with a linearly polarized probe in the range of 4-5 µm. The difference in results for s- and p-polarized probes demonstrates the anisotropic nature of the hyperbolic state, suggesting that single photons at mid infrared (MIR) frequencies may be efficiently emitted in a highly directional manner. The HMM state is also dependent on the metal fraction, which we control via the relative thicknesses of the layers. Additionally, spectroscopic ellipsometry reveals that the metal fraction is consistently lower than the nominal value, a phenomenon we attribute to doped carriers being squeezed to the center of the InAsSb layers. Our analysis of the pump-related shift of the metal/dielectric/HMM phase diagram shows that our sample structure is a highly tailorable avenue to MIR spontaneous photon emission.


Context surrounding hyperlinked semi-structured documents, externally in the form of citations and internally in the form of hierarchical structure, contains a wealth of useful but implicit evidence about a document's relevance. These rich sources of information should be exploited as contextual evidence. This paper proposes various methods of accumulating evidence from the context, and measures the effect of contextual evidence on retrieval effectiveness for document and focused retrieval of hyperlinked semi-structured documents. We propose a re-weighting model to contextualize (a) evidence from citations in a query-independent and query-dependent fashion (based on Markovian random walks) and (b) evidence accumulated from the internal tree structure of documents. The in-links and out-links of a node in the citation graph are used as external context, while the internal document structure provides internal, within-document context. We hypothesize that documents in a good context (having strong contextual evidence) should be good candidates to be relevant to the posed query, and vice versa. We tested several variants of contextualization and verified notable improvements in comparison with the baseline system and gold standards in the retrieval of full documents and focused elements.


Abstract. Microscopes are widely applied in characterizing feature sizes at the micro-/nanoscale, and magnification calibration plays a key role in achieving precise measurements. However, it is difficult to obtain accurate results by using the general magnification calibration method if comparing the displayed size of a test-piece under microscope and its original one. In this study, a high-accuracy and automatic magnification calibration method that could be applied to different types of microscopes is proposed. A standard grating is employed as the reference, and a high-resolution discrete Fourier transform is used to analyze the images captured under various magnifications in this method. With utilization of the high-order harmonic component in the Fourier spectrum, the proposed method is capable of performing the calibration over a wide range of magnifications while maintaining identical precision. The relative error of the proposed method can be theoretically limited to 0.01%; moreover, the image noise can be tolerated. Furthermore, the validation and extensive adaptability of this method are demonstrated by calibrating the magnification of a scanning electron microscope and an optical microscope.


Contemporary discourse in the field of Memetics offers potential new insights upon the ways and means of producing and curating contemporary Performance beyond the limits of discipline specific Performance taxonomies. Alongside the rise of Internet Culture and the rapid adoption of social media, it is argued that contemporary artistic practice is becoming 'more fluid, elastic, and dispersed' (Cornell, 2014: online). Given this circumstance, the researcher acknowledges that notions of disciplinarity, performative agency and materiality remain in a state of flux and in need of reconsideration.
Utilising a Practice-as-Research (PaR) framework, and based upon the above context, the researcher initiated an innovative three-phase methodological approach focused on the application of insights drawn from the concept of the 'Meme' (Dawkins, 1974) alongside a primarily Deleuze & Guattarian philosophy upon methods of artistic production, and the curation of transdisciplinary performance.The resulting praxis: 'Rhizo-Memetic Art' produced three major artworks including the hypertextual assemblage - Corpus 1 (2012-13), produced collaboratively online with users of Twitter and Facebook; the Florilegium: Exhibition (3rd -24th November, 2014): produced and curated alongside an invited group of contributing artists; and Florilegium: Remix (24th April 2015): an intermedial Live Art lecture. Each of these elements plugs into the following exegetic writing, and alongside the documentation of its artefacts (available on the project website), these elements produce the thesis.The outcomes of this PaR are twofold. The first outcome is a new theoretical understanding of the mechanisms of interdisciplinary creative practice emerging out of
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the synthesis of meme and rhizome. This outcome can be further developed to reveal insights relevant to the production of transdisciplinary performance and archival/curatorial discourses. The second outcome can be identified as the Rhizo-Memetic Artwork itself, or, rather the multiple creative artefacts and actions that combine to produce its assemblage.
The implications of this research suggest that the functioning of Rhizo-Memetic Art raises permanent questions about the status of Performance in terms of its materiality and efficacy outside of the limitations of disciplinarity.


Due to its superior hightemperature piezoresistive characteristics,diamond film is very suitable for the fabrication of hightemperature pressure sensor. The fabrication and the test of the diamond pressure microsensor have been discussed. Using intrinsic polycrystalline diamond films,which were grown on 50 mm silicon substrate by means of HFCVD,as isolation layer, selective area deposition technology to prepare the Borondoped diamond films resistors, and followed with metalization and pressure cavities etching,the piezoresistive diamond pressure microsensor prototype devices have been obtained successfully. The measurements of their output characteristics show that the devices have good linearity and repeatability and high sensitivity at the room temperature.


5 Veteriner Hekim, TURKIYE Abstract: In this study, Bovine Herpesvirus Type 1 (BHV-1) infection was investigated serologically in private dairy enterprises in Denizli (29), Mugla (26), Burdur (14), Usak (83) and Afyonkarahisar (986) provinces. Blood serum samples were controlled using Virus Neutralisation Test. Samples from Denizli and Mugla were negative while 7.1%, 13.2% and 19.2% of the samples were positive from Burdur, Usak and Afyonkarahisar provinces, respectively. Out of 1.138 samples, 201 was found to be positive (17,6%). Antibody titers show regular distribution and general values were not high. Determined proportions were not so high compared to previous reports. Considering existed difficulties for eradication, it was concluded that technical supports are necessary for private enterprises at least for control of the infection on the herd basis.


Alcohol is a significant problem on university campuses, and rates of alcohol use and abuse are higher on college campuses than those found in the population at large (Rivenus, 1988). This study examines two constructs that may be related to alcohol behavior: purpose and locus of control. Moran (2009) defines purpose as: "an internal compass that integrates engagement in activities that affect others, self-awareness of one's reasons, and the intention to continue these activities" (p. 143). Locus of control refers to the degree to which a person takes responsibility over events in their life. There are two types of locus of control: internal and external (Rotter, 1975). An individual with an internal locus of control perceives that their actions influence events in their life, whereas an individual with an external locus of control believes that their actions have little to no influence over events in the life; instead, events in their life occur as a result of external factors, such as fate, chance, or luck. In this study, 138 undergraduate students were surveyed about their perceived purpose in life, locus of control orientation, and alcohol behaviors, including their drinking habits and experience with alcohol-related problems.


The concept of intervention under international law is not new but is as old as the concept of state and was growing slowly and gradually since then. However, after World War II, the law of intervention developed rapidly. Historical analysis shows that states used to intervene in the internal affairs of other states. However, after the middle of 20th century, various developments took place resulting in shrinking of area of domestic jurisdiction. These led to changed concept of intervention under changing dimensions of international law giving rise to the question of legitimacy. Various instances of intervention have taken place since 1990s, which have raised eyebrows all over the globe. This article is a humble attempt to make an analysis of the concept of intervention and its legitimacy under the presently changing dimensions of international law.


This late Tantric Upanisad (of which manuscripts are preserved in the Nepal National Archives at Kathmandu and microfilmed by the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project) has been meticulously edited and translated by the two Dutch editors. Schoterman had collated the manuscripts and established the critical text, as well as collecting Vedic and other parallels, before his death in 1989; Goudriaan subsequently added the translation, the notes (incorporating many left by Schoterman) and three of the four appendices. The text is of interest in several respects and credit is due to Goudriaan for completing his colleague's work and making it generally available.


Evolving from metamaterials, optical metasurfaces not only inherit their unprecedented flexibility in tailoring light–matter interaction but also the generally fixed response determined by the metaatoms' geometries—an undesirable property that hinders the development of practical metadevices. Consequently, novel optical metasurfaces that can be tuned in an active manner are intensively studied in recent years. Due to their optically thin structures, optical metasurfaces present unique characteristics in the realization of dynamic tuning. In this review, a detailed summary of the recent advances in active optical metasurfaces is provided including discussions reviewing a variety of active materials and approaches that enable faster, stronger, and more accurate tuning. Beyond facilitating practical metadevices, studies of active metasurfaces have, and will continue to deepen the understandings of the interaction between light and nanostructured photonic architectures and to promote the development of nanofabrication techniques involving high‐complexity.


Commentary The extracellular matrix (ECM) consists of a complex, mesh-like network of acellular structures and molecules that surround and envelop neurons, glia, and synapses in the brain. Although the cellular elements of the brain are obviously critical for epi-leptogenesis and seizure generation, the ECM is increasingly recognized as also playing an important role in the patho-physiology of neurologic diseases, including epilepsy (1). The ECM may potentially influence epileptogenesis in a number of ways, mostly related to structural plasticity within the brain. Extracellular structural networks may normally stabilize cellular and synaptic elements and prevent anatomic plasticity under physiologic conditions. In pathologic states, however, these extracellular components may break down and allow abnormal structural reorganization, such as axonal sprouting or dendritic spine loss, which may promote epileptogenesis and other neurologic complications of epilepsy. The specific mechanisms by which changes in the ECM trigger epileptogenic processes in the brain are poorly understood. Recently, a number of extracellular proteases have been identified that may mediate both physiologic and pathologic effects of the ECM via degradation of extracellular structural elements and signaling molecules (2). For example, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) represent a family of zinc-dependent secreted or cell membrane–bound enzymes involved in remodeling of the ECM (3, 4). Some MMPs are activated intracellularly before being transported to the membrane or secreted, whereas other MMPs are first secreted as an inactive proenzyme into the extracellular space and then converted into an activated form. MMPs can cleave structural proteins and signaling molecules in the ECM to regulate both physi-ologic and pathologic processes. One type of MMP, MMP-9, regulates dendritic spine morphology and synaptic plasticity related to learning mechanisms, such as long-term potentia-tion (5). MMP-9 also has been implicated in the pathophysiol-ogy of a number of neurologic disorders (3, 4). The potential role of MMP-9 in epileptogenesis is supported by several lines of evidence. MMP-9 levels are elevated in the serum of children with prolonged febrile seizures and status epilepticus (6) as well as in the brains of several animal Recurrent seizure activity has been shown to induce a variety of permanent structural changes in the brain. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) function to promote neuronal plasticity, primarily through cleavage of extracellular matrix proteins. Here, we investigated the role of MMP-9 in the development of pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced kindled seizure in mice. Repeated treatment with PTZ (40 mg/kg) produced kindled seizure, which was accompanied by enhanced MMP-9 activity and expression in the …


The invention relates to a receiving device for handling a structured substrate (1), which has structures (3), comprising a soft material layer (5) for receiving the structured substrate (5) on a receiving surface (5o), wherein the structures (3) of the structured substrate (1) can be received at least partially in the material layer (5). The device is characterised in that fastening means are provided for fastening the structured substrate (1) to the receiving surface. The present invention further relates to a corresponding method and to the use of the receiving device for thin substrates with a thickness of less than 100[mu]m.


Although hydraulic fracturing-induced earthquakes have been widely reported in Alberta, Canada, only one seismic cluster (the Cordel Field) has thus far been linked to wastewater disposal (WD). In this study, we report a statistically significant spatiotemporal correlation between recent earthquakes and nearby WD wells near Musreau Lake—the second disposal-induced earthquake swarm in Alberta. This newly occurred swarm contains five events with local magnitudes ML>3 from January 2018 to March 2020, forming into three tightly spaced clusters. The refined locations and focal mechanisms suggest a ∼10 km long northwest–southeast-trending rupture along the northern Rocky Mountains that developed over time, during which both poroelastic effects and static stress transfer played key roles. Through a statistical analysis of all reported induced earthquake clusters in the western Canada sedimentary basin (WCSB), we propose a linear predictive relationship (i.e., the "Interpolated Strike Orientation" model) between fault rupture direction and fault distance to the Rocky Mountains. This observation-based model, which is supported by both the focal mechanisms of the natural earthquakes and the nearby northwest-striking geological faults, is a new and useful reference for future assessments of seismic hazard in the WCSB.


Wireless video broadcast/multicast and mobile video communication pose a challenge to the conventional video transmission strategy (which applies separate digital source coding and digital channel coding in a point-to-point communication system) and, therefore, cooperative communication has been proposed to improve the received quality of the receivers with bad channels and the robustness to fading (mobility). In this paper we propose a novel wireless cooperative video coding (WCVC) framework. Specifically, we present a cooperative joint source-channel coding scheme that is based on hybrid digital-analog coding and integrates the advantages of digital coding and analog coding. Compared with most state-of-the-art cooperative video delivery methods, no matter for cooperation scenario or noncooperation scenario, the proposed scheme can avoid the staircase effect and realize continuous quality scalability on condition that the channel quality is within the expected range, and it has strong adaptability to channel variation with higher coding efficiency and better fairness among all receivers. Therefore, it is very suitable for wireless cooperative/noncooperative video broadcast/multicast transmission and cooperative/noncooperative mobile video applications. The experimental results show that the proposed WCVC outperforms SoftCast (which is a new analog scheme) and SVC + hierarchical modulation (HM) (which combines H.264/SVC codec and HM technique) no matter the noncooperative scenario or for cooperative scenario, which verify the effectiveness of our proposed WCVC framework.


Consider a difference equation whose evolution rule is defined as the maximum of several first-order equations. It is shown that if the first-order equations are individually contractive, then the aggregated max-type equation converges to a fixed point. A corresponding result holds for local convergence.


The design and fabrication of interdigital transducers with metallic fingers on piezoelectric substrates requires accurate values of velocity shifts and reflection coefficients caused by the mechanical and electrical loading of the fingers. We describe a simple and reliable method of determining electric reflection and velocity shifts as well as mechanical velocity shifts to first order in h//spl lambda/ for transducers with an anisotropic substrates. We calculate SAW velocities and wavefunctions (displacements and potential) for various substrates with one thin metallic layer. A simple multiplication of the resulting material constants with the appropriate geometrical factor yields the desired SAW parameters. An analogous procedure for the mechanical reflection coefficient is being sought. We present results for many standard SAW substrates and crystal orientations with a metallic overlay, and compare with other first order treatments and some experimental results presently available.


This paper presents a theoretical grounding and a conceptual proposal aimed at providing support in the initial stages of sustained behavioural change. We explore the role that learning analytics and/or open learner models can have in supporting lifelong learners to enhance their food literacy through a more informed curation process of relevant-content. This approach grounds on a behavioural change perspective that identifies i) knowledge, ii) attitudes, and iii) self-efficacy as key factors that will directly and indirectly affect future decisions and agency of life-long learners concerning their own health. The paper offers some possible avenues to start organising efforts towards the use of learning analytics to enhance awareness in terms of: knowledge curation, knowledge sharing and knowledge certainty. The paper aims at triggering discussion about the type of data and presentation mechanisms that may help life-long learners set a stronger basis for behavioural change in the subsequent stages.


Almost three hundred and fifty years ago, on 1 May 1667, in Draycott, Derbyshire, northern England, John Woodward was born. Although we know precious little about his early life, he left a legacy that has resonated down the centuries. In a letter written in 1723 to a physician friend, John Allen of Bridgewater, five years before he died, Woodward confided that 'I have bequeathd … an Hundred & Fifty Pounds per annum to the University of Cambridge, which I intreat [sic] you to keep secret …'


The criteria formula used on rod and shell mixed structure based on the most critical criterion was derived using principle of virtual work.Discussions and extensions were made to the algorithm under multi-load cases and multi-constraints situations according to the characteristic of aircraft structure optimization design.Verifications were carried out through an experiment on a wing structure optimization problem using the proposed method and the feasible direction method from iSIGHT software.Experimental results indicated that the proposed method could obtain results in accordance with iSIGHT,proved its correctness,while consumed less time.The proposed method had been applied to the optimization of main load-carrying wing structure and the results are satisfactory.Both the experimental and practical result shows that the proposed method is an effective,fast and practical engineering optimization method.


MNP-modified tryptic peptides of creatine kinase have been separated with two-dimensional electrophoresis, but the location of the SH groups of creatine kinase modified by MNP still seemed to be vague until recently(Laue, M.C.& Quiocho, F. A., 1977). Two peptides have now been found to be the MNP-modified peptides with reversed-phase FPLC methods, and the amino acid compositions of these two peptides are in agreement with those of the two peptides around Cys-253, respectively. These findings indicate that the two buried SH groups of creatine kinase have been modified by MNP.


The invention relates to a method for producing an at least partially light transmissive molded body comprising at least one light reflecting area in which a thermoplastic polymer is injected into at least one cavity of a mold and a film in the mold with the thermoplastic polymer connected by means of a micro-structured tool area a microstructure is embossed into the film. According to the invention, the film is pressed through a cavity pressure of at least 400 bar against the microstructured tool area. The invention further relates to a shaped body 20, which at least partly consists of a thermoplastic polymer and is at least partially transparent, as well as an at least partially connected to the base body 22 film 21, which has at least one light reflecting area and is provided with a microstructure comprising. According to the invention 21 includes the film is a mirror film and the thermoplastic polymer is doped with reinforcing means.


It discloses a cleaning robot and a control method. Robot cleaner and a control method according to the invention, when the cleaning unit driven object of the present invention is to increase the power consumption efficiency to be used by using the city are increasing the cleaning efficiency, driving or navigation low voltage power relatively has a high-voltage power It shall be. Another object of the present invention is, when the driving of the cleaning unit does need to increase the power consumption efficiency to carry out that while driving or navigation stop the driving of the cleaning unit. Cleaning robot according to the invention To this end, the battery and; Electric power is converted into a second voltage for driving a first voltage and a cleaning unit for the electric power supplied from the battery to drive the driving unit and the power conversion unit; But first and such that the drive to supply the first voltage of the electric power to the driving unit made, a so that the cleaning operation to a second voltage power supply to the cleaning unit made, the traveling when traveling an area already cleaning operation is completed in the cleaning area unit It continues driving, but the cleaning unit is a control unit for controlling the power supply unit to drive the power conversion is stopped.


Semifluorinated block copolymers of oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (OEGMA) and 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluorooctyl methacrylate (FOMA) were prepared using group transfer polymerization via sequential monomer addition. Wide ranges of copolymers were obtained with good control over both molecular weight and composition by adjusting the monomer/initiator ratio. Analogous statistical copolymers were prepared using radical polymerization in supercritical CO2. The micelle-like aggregates of the block copolymers in water and chloroform were characterized by quasi-elastic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. The size and morphology of the aggregates were found to depend on the nature of solvent, temperature, and the copolymer composition. The solubility of copolymers and the formation of hydrated reverse micelles in CO2 were investigated. The block copolymer showed a better ability of solubilizing water in CO2 than the statistical copolymer.


INTRODUCTION: Naadi pariksha is a historical diagnostic skill of physicians to examine the state of dosha (dosha avasta) in patients. Although this is a commonly used examination, there is still a need for standardization in the collection of data and reliability of the diagnostic technique. Considerable researchers have been conducted on the pulse classification based on its characters but this study was conducted to analyze the repeatability of arterial pulse-based diagnosis (Naadi pariksha) by test–retest method in a single group. AIM: The study aims to test and retest the repeatability of the arterial pulse-based diagnosis. The naadi parameters such as pulse wavelength and pulse character were tested for repeatability in the gap period of 9–18 min in a controlled environment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was an observational study conducted in Belagavi. An Ayurveda physician examined the pulse of 30 healthy volunteers twice, within an interval of 9–18 min. A random sampling of volunteers was adopted (to avoid bias), and the data were recorded graphically as per the study protocol. This study was conducted for 6 days with five participants per day for examination. The Naadi pariksha was done to examine the pulse wavelength and pulse character. The data obtained from the test and retest of Naadi pariksha were statistically analyzed using paired t-test to study the difference between both the test–retest methods. RESULTS: All the data collected from the naadi examination were statistically analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26. The mean difference in pulse wavelength was 0.004 mm (standard deviation [SD]: 0.2067 mm, degree of freedom (df): 29, and t: 0.106). There was no statistically significant difference between the two variables: test and retest pulse wavelength (P > 0.05). The mean difference in pulse character was 0.333 mm (SD: 1.64177 mm, df: 29, and t value: 1.112). There was no statistically significant difference between the two variables: test and retest pulse wavelength (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The reliability and repeatability of pulse-based diagnosis depend on the adaptation of standardized techniques in arterial pulse data collection along with the training, maintaining the controlled environment, and experience of a physician in naadi pariksha. Quantification of the physiological signals has become more important to create evidence and research documentation. The results of this study suggest that an identical report may be obtained on repetition of the test within 9–18 min. This demonstrates the repeatability of arterial pulse-based diagnosis (naadi pariksha).


In this study an attempt has been made to compare the variation of time period and base shear of building analyzed dynamically considering base of the structure hinge, fixed and stiffness of soil as spring for Kolkata region. Push over analysis also has been carried out for all the three cases. Variation of shear modulus in Kolkata is determined for 144 locations and contour was plotted for accurate analysis of building considering stiffness of soil in the city.


ABSTRACT The U.S. Navy is investing in the development of new technologies that broaden warship capabilities and maintain U.S. naval superiority. Specifically, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is supporting the development of power systems technologies that enable the Navy to realise an all-electric warship. A challenge to fielding an all-electric power system architecture includes minimising the size of energy storage systems (ESS) while maintaining the response times necessary to support potential pulsed loads. This work explores the trade-off between energy storage size requirements (i.e. mass) and performance (i.e. peak power, energy storage, and control bandwidth) in the context of a power system architecture that meets the needs of the U.S. Navy. In this work, the simulated time domain responses of a representative power system were evaluated under different loading conditions and control parameters, and the results were considered in conjunction with sizing constraints of and estimated specific power and energy densities of various storage technologies. The simulation scenarios were based on representative operational vignettes, and a Ragone plot was used to illustrate the intersection of potential energy storage sizing with the energy and power density requirements of the system. Furthermore, the energy storage control bandwidth requirements were evaluated by simulation for different loading scenarios. Two approaches were taken to design an ESS: one based only on time domain power and energy requirements from simulation and another based on bandwidth (specific frequency) limitations of various technologies.


Dissolution studies cannot distinguish phenomena occurring inside the dosage forms when studying formulation with similar dissolution profiles—such formulations can behave differently when considering their physical changes. The application of flow-through dissolution apparatus integrated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system for discriminative evaluation of controlled release dosage forms with similar dissolution profiles was presented. Hydrodynamically balanced systems (HBS) containing l-dopa and various grades hydroxypropyl methylcelluloses were prepared. The dissolution studies of l-dopa were performed at high field (4.7 T) MR system with MR-compatible flow-through cell. MRI was done with 0.14 × 0.14 × 1-mm spatial resolution and temporal resolution of 10 min to record changes of HBS parameters during dissolution in 0.1 M HCl. Structural and geometrical changes were evaluated using the following parameters: total area of HBS cross-section, its Feret's diameter, perimeter and circularity, area of hydrogel layer, and "dry core" area. While the dissolution profiles of l-dopa were similar, the image analysis revealed differences in the structural and geometrical changes of the HBS. The mechanism of drug release from polymeric matrices is a result of synergy of several different phenomena occurring during dissolution and may differ between formulations, yet giving similar dissolution profiles. A multivariate analysis was performed to create a model taking into account dissolution data, data from MRI, information about chemical structure, and polymer viscosity. It provided a single model for all the formulations which was confirmed to be competent. The presented method has merit as a potential Process Analytical Technology tool.


Outline of Problem: Sudden unexpected cardiac death is one of the most important Public Health problems in the affluent societies. The apparent occurence is about 150, 000 per 100 million population/year. In about one-half of the victims, sudden cardiac death is the first manifestation of heart disease (usually coronary) . In the vast majority of persons with good ventricular function, the mechanism is ventricular fibrillation (VF) . In some victims with severely impaired ventricular function, additional (numerically less important) mechanisms include: ventricular tachycardia (VT), cardiac standstill, and electro-mechanical dissociation.Ventricular premature complexes are nearly ubiquitous and increase in frequency and"complexity"exponentially with age, and also with increasing severity of heart disease. I will examine the relation between these arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death, and will propose that the simple and"complex"ventricular arrhythmias, including nonsustained VT are not precursors of either sustained VT, or VF. Sustained VT is usually a marker of severely impaired ventricular function i.e. a breakdown of electrical safety mechanisms protecting the heart whereas VF is an electrical accident caused usually by severe myocardial ischemia, and sometimes by marked increase in the dispersion of ventricular repolarization (frequently associated with long QT interval) .Hypothesis: The apparent paradox of nearly perfect electrical safety in the presence of variety of ubiquitous ventricular arrhythmias, and the occurrence of fatal electrical accidents unrelated to these arrhythmias may be better understood if we examine the electrophysiologic mechanisms of experimental and clinical accidents encountered in practice and in the laboratory. Extrapolating from these accidents, the following safety factors appear to protect the healthy heart from electrical accidents; 1) Hierarchy of escape pacemakers, 2) Impulse delay in the A-V node + long refractoriness of the conducting system, 3) High (negative) stable resting membrane potential, 4) Fast and uniform ventricular conduction, 5) Long absolute and short relative refractory period of ventricular myocardium, 6) Small dispersion of ventricular repolarization, 7) Uniform ventricular polarization, and 8) Large safety factor inherent in a small ratio of the duration of impulse propagation to the duration of refractoriness in the ventricle.The following examples, and causes of the safety breakdown will be briefly presented: 1) Cardiac standstill—failure of escape pacemakers, 2) Ventricular flutter during atrial flutter and conduction through the Kent bundle—loss of normal protection afforded by the A-V nodal function, 3) Ventricular fibrillation in hypokalemia—diastolic depolarization as well as short absolute and long relative refractory period of the ventricular myocardium, 4) Electrocution—nonunif orm polarization, 5) Induced ventricular tachyarrhythmia by extrastimulation—shortening the refractory period and slowing conduction, 6) Ventricular tachyarrhythmia due to digitalis toxicity—induction of diastolic depolarization and afterdepolarizations, 7) Torsade de pointe in congenital long QT syndrome—increased dispersion of ventricular repolarization, 8) Primary VF in the presence of myocardial ischemia—nonunif orm polarization resulting in slow and nonunif orm conduction.Conclusions: The heart is remarkably well protected from electric accidents. They occur under unusual circumstances, representing mainly the consequences of modern lifestyle, and occasional congenital defects.


In the paper, the cultivation of Pleurotus ostreatus using abandoned hawthorn seeds as a culture medium was investigated. The results indicated that the addition of hawthorn seeds will slow down the growth of Pleurotus ostreatus, but will increase the biological efficiency, nutrient quality and antioxidant capacity of fruiting bodies. Under the condition that hawthorn seed content is 30%, the cultivated Pleurotus ostreatus fruit body has the highest biological efficiency, the strongest antioxidant capacity, and the best nutritional quality.


Image's registration includes 2D-2D, 3D-3D and 3D-2D registration. This paper only concentrates on the 2D-3D registration, the image's attitude is represented by a rotation matrix R, while the position is a translation vector T. Traditional approaches mainly focus on points correspondences, and state-of-the-art approaches concentrate on high-order structures, i.e. lines, rectangle, parallelepiped etc. Mathematically, Most existing solutions adapt either linear optimization or iteration methods.  However, they need the position, attitude initialization, which are not always available in real scene, and they do not guarantee to find global solutions. In this paper, instead of solving these polynomials directly, we introduce a novel approach ( say qLR ), which treat these multivariate polynomial equations as "monomials" and express R in a quaternion vision, resulting in dramatic decrement of the number of equations. DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/telkomnika.v12i3.4465 Full Text: PDF


3-chloropropionic acid and 2,2-dichloropropionic acid are synthetic halogenated compounds used in herbicide. A bacterium isolated from a soil sample and characterised as Rhodococcus sp. by 16S rRNA analysis, was able to degrade and utilised 3-chloropropionate as the sole source of carbon and energy. This was supported by the ability of the bacterium to grow on 20 mM 3-chloropropionate with a doubling time of 11.72 hours. The utilisation of 3-chloropropionate was also confirmed by detection of 3-chloropropionate depletion in the medium using HPLC. Cell free extract of Rhodococcus sp. had an enzyme specific activity of 0.013 µmol Cl-/min/mg protein towards 3-chloropropionate. Another bacterium isolated from the same soil sample and identified as Methylobacterium sp. by 16S rRNA analysis was found to be able to degrade 2,2-dichloropropionate. The bacterium grew in 20mM 2,2-dichloropropionate minimal medium with a doubling time of 20.32 hours. Degradation of 2,2-dichloropropionate was further confirmed by detection of 2,2- dichloropropionate depletion in growth medium by HPLC. Cell free extract prepared from the cell showed 0.039 µmol Cl-/min/mg protein specific activity towards 2,2-dichloropropionate. A putative haloacid permease gene (dehrP) from Rhizobium sp. was subcloned into Novagen pET 43.1a plasmid. The newly constructed plasmid was designated as pHJ. The cloned gene was sequenced and analysed using various online analysis tools. DehrP has a calculated molecular weight of 45 kDa and an isoelectric point of 9.78. The nucleotide sequence of dehrP showed significant homology (86%) with the putative mono-chloropropionic acid permease from Agrobacterium sp. NHG3 and 62 % homology with the haloacid specific transferase from Burkholderia sp.


PURPOSE: A thin-film formation apparatus having a chamber consisting basically of a sputtering space and a film-forming space and a grid plate disposed between the sputtering space and the film-forming space, and a thin-film formation process making use of this apparatus are provided. CONSTITUTION: The thin-film formation process for forming a thin film by means of a sputtering apparatus having a chamber comprising a sputtering space and a film-forming space and a grid plate disposed between the sputtering space and the film-forming space comprises the steps of placing a target and a substrate in the sputtering space and the film-forming space, respectively; maintaining the pressure in the film-forming space at a pressure lower than the pressure in the sputtering space and a pressure sufficient for sputtered particles to move in the film-forming space with their mean free path which is longer than the distance between the grid plate and the substrate; and sputtering the target to form a thin film on the substrate. The thin-film formation apparatus comprises a chamber(22) comprising a sputtering space(34) for placing a target(23) therein and a film-forming space(35) for placing therein a substrate(28) on which a thin film is to be formed; a grid plate(36) disposed between the sputtering space(34) and the film-forming space(35); and a pressure control means for maintaining the pressure in the film-forming space(35) at a pressure lower than the pressure in the sputtering space(34) and a pressure sufficient for sputtered particles to move in the film-forming space with their mean free path which is longer than the distance between the grid plate(36) and the substrate(28).


We report the comprehensive comparative analysis of the upper critical magnetic fields μ Hc2(0) obtained within Ginzburg–Landau (GL) and Werthamer–Helfand–Hohenberg (WHH) theories for optimally-doped YBa2Cu3O7–δ thin films. For different orientations of the magnetic field, our calculations give 638 and 153 T for μ Hc2(0), H ||  ab and μ Hc2(0), H ||  c, respectively, when using Hc2(0). For the first time, the temperature dependences of coherence lengths ξ ab( T) and ξ c( T) within proposed theories were determined using 50 and 90% criteria of the normal state resistivity value ρ N. The GL (0.9ρ N) approach gives ξ ab(0) = 11.8 Å and ξ c(0) = 3.0 Å which are in a good agreement with literature data. The implications of very short coherence lengths in HTSCs are discussed.


Based on the general Adaptive Directional Lifting(ADL) promotion transformation,this paper proposes an image compression algorithm based on ADL wavelet transform.Using this algorithm,the image is divided into flat and non flat block according to different angle second moment of Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix(GLCM).For each block,the lifting scheme is adaptively selected to reduce the computation of directional lifting wavelet.For the flat blocks,it uses ordinary horizontal and the vertical promotion directly to reduce the time.For the non flat blocks,it uses the directional lifting wavelet to enhance the result.Experimental results show that this algorithm can dramatically reduce the computational time compared with the tradditional ADL method.


It is pointed out that the frequency spectrum of a laser beam is not broadened when the beam is focused by a normal lens. This assertion contradicts the conclusion reached by the authors of the articles cited in the title above.


Background: Apoptosis in skeletal muscle plays an important role in tissue dysfunction disease such as muscle atrophy. Current evidence suggests that exercise trainings may alter apoptosis-related signaling in skeletal muscle. Therefore, the present study was investigated the effect of 12 weeks of aerobic training on some indices of skeletal muscle apoptosis in rats. Methods: This study was conducted as a two-group experimental design on 20 randomly selected three month old male rats. Then divided them into two groups of training group (n=10) and control group (n=10). Rats in training group participated in 12 weeks of aerobic training program. 48 hours after the last training session, the soleus muscle of rats in both group were isolated and Bax, Bcl2 and caspase-3 genes expression evaluated by Real Time-PCR. Results: The results indicated that there is a significant difference in gene expression of Bcl-2 (P< 0.01) and Bax to Bcl-2 ratio (P< 0.05) between control and training group. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between the two groups in expression of Bax and caspase-3 (P> 0.05). Conclusion: The 12 weeks of aerobic training was effective in increasing skeletal muscle mitochondrial anti-apoptotic protein. However, considering the alterations of caspase-3 expression, more researches are needed to identify the effects of exercise training on skeletal muscle apoptosis.


Heterogenous flow pathways through the soil are a major component in the transport of water, dissolved and particle-bound nutrients like phosphorus (P) to water resources, and promote the eutrophication of water bodies. Non-uniform water flow patterns may also influence the spatial variability of the P-content in soils.

This study was designed to understand the spatial distribution of P in agriculturally used soils and the mechanism causing P accumulation and depletion at the centimeter scale. We conducted three replicate dye tracer experiments using Brilliant Blue on a loamy Stagnosol in North-Eastern-Germany. The plant-available phosphorus of stained and unstained areas was analyzed using double lactate extraction and diffusive gradients on thin films (DGT).

The DL-extractable P and the DGT-extractable P were strongly correlated (p<0.001, R²=0.63) confirming that DL-P is a good measure for the mobile phase of soil phosphorus.

The plant available P contents of the topsoil were significantly higher than those of the subsoil in all three replicates. The topsoil’s stained areas showed higher P contents than unstained areas, while the opposite was found for the subsoil. The P contents varied strongly over the soil profiles (0.4 to 11.2 mg P 100 g-1) and different categories of flow patterns (matrix flow, flow fingers, preferential flow and no flow). The P contents of these flow patterns differed significantly from each other and followed the order: Pmatrix flow > Pfinger flow > Pno flow > Ppreferential flow.

We conclude that P tends to accumulate along flow pathways in managed and tilled topsoils, while in subsoils at a general lower P level, P is depleted from the prominent preferential flow domains. It is likely, that P in the shallow groundwater origins from preferred flow zones from the subsoil.


Lean production is a systemic approach to meeting customer expectations by reducing waste. Many believe that implementing lean leads to achieving "green." The authors explore the validity of this statement. They investigate the environmental impacts of prefabrication with just-in-time (JIT) delivery on reinforced bar using a building construction case study. The results suggest that prefabrication with JIT delivery consumes less energy but emits more CO2. The study also finds that delivery batch size per truck as well as delivery distance are important factors.


Uncertainty quantification on the dynamic response of vibro-acoustic systems draws increasing attention in engineering applications. To calculate the high-frequency energy response of a vibro-acous...


The marine controlled-source electromagnetic method (MCSEM) has attracted considerable attention as an approach to explore marine oil and gas resources and geological structures. This study presents a new wavelet Galerkin method (WGM) to solve the forward modeling problem of 2D MCSEM data incorporating conductivity anisotropy. The method uses Daubechies wavelets that may be differentiated based on the need to solve the governing field equations of MCSEM. A quasi-minimal residual method was adopted by combining an incomplete LU preconditioner to solve the WGM equations. The numerical results were compared with the analytical solution and those obtained by the finite difference and element methods. The results show that the proposed WGM is superior to the finite element and difference methods in terms of computing time and memory requirements. This algorithm can be applied to solve the forward modeling problem of MCSEM. The conductivity anisotropy of the background medium affects the MCSEM response more than the reservoir anisotropy. The match between the modeled results and measured data for the simplified real model demonstrates the necessity for using the anisotropic model to interpret data. Although this study used the proposed algorithm for 2D models, it may also be used for 3D models.


With the improvement of medical market,it is imperative to promote the comprehensive competitive ability.From the economic angle,to promote the cost accounting can help hospital control and save cost,get more comprehensive competitive ability.


Objective: To establish an effective method for determination of DINCH and investigate the migration of DINCH from PVC infusion devices to different injections of itroglycerin,vitamin B6,aminophylline,and hydroxycamptothecine. Methods: The low- concentration DINCH was concentrated by solid phase extraction and the migration amount of this plasticizer was determined via GC- MS rapidly. Results: The migration of DINCH from PVC infusion devices was less than 0. 6 mg /500 mL as determined by this method. Conclusion: This method is sensitive,reproducible,simple and suitable for the determination of DINCH migration in PVC infusion devices.


To analyze the change of electromagnetic environment in different states quantitatively and extract its interference feature information effectively,an analytical method of electromagnetic interference is proposed based on the wavelet packet decomposition and sample entropy(SampEn).Firstly,the sample signals of electromagnetic environment were decomposed by wavelet packet.Then,the energy spectrum coefficient and SampEn of signals at each frequency band were computed.The two indexes in different working states were compared comprehensively to judge whether the electromag-netic environment was changed or not.The simulation shows that SampEn reflects the complexity of the sample signal′s frequency,which can make up the shortcoming of the energy spectrum coefficient that cannot distinguish the frequencies of frequency-closed signal.Finally,the experiment of electromagnetic environments in different working states by certain electronic equipment validated the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed analytical method.


With the growing awareness regarding the importance of personal data protection, many countries have established laws and regulations to ensure data privacy and are supervising managements to comply with them. Although various studies have suggested compliance methods of the general data protection regulation (GDPR) for personal data, no method exists that can ensure the reliability and integrity of the personal data processing request records of a data subject to enable its utilization as a GDPR compliance audit proof for an auditor. In this paper, we propose a delegation-based personal data processing request notarization framework for GDPR using a private blockchain. The proposed notarization framework allows the data subject to delegate requests to process of personal data; the framework makes the requests to the data controller, which performs the processing. The generated data processing request and processing result data are stored in the blockchain ledger and notarized via a trusted institution of the blockchain network. The Hypderledger Fabric implementation of the framework demonstrates the fulfillment of system requirements and feasibility of implementing a GDPR compliance audit for the processing of personal data. The analysis results with comparisons among the related works indicate that the proposed framework provides better reliability and feasibility for the GDPR audit of personal data processing request than extant methods.


Dereverberation of a moving speech source in the presence of other directional interferers, is a harder problem than that of stationary source and interference cancellation. We explore joint multi channel linear prediction (MCLP) and relative transfer function (RTF) formulation in a stochastic framework and maximum likelihood estimation. We found that the combination of spatial filtering with distortion-less response constraint, and time-varying complex Gaussian model for the desired source signal at a reference microphone does provide better signal estimation. For a stationary source, we consider batch estimation, and obtain an iterative solution. Extending to a moving source, we formulate a linear time-varying dynamic system model for the MCLP coefficients and RTF based online adaptive spatial filter. For the case of tracking a desired source in the presence of interfering sources, the same formulation is used by specifying the RTF. Simulated experimental results show that the proposed scheme provides better spatial selectivity and dereverberation than the traditional methods, for both stationary and dynamic sources even in the presence of interfering sources.


Herein, we have demonstrated an economical and practical approach to nitriles from readily available aldehydes using stable N-Boc-O-tosylhydroxylamine (TsONHBoc) as the aminating agent. This direct transition metal-free method tolerates a...


In many clinical situations, the importance of determining plasma lactate level is emphasised, while the effect of type and severity of anemia on plasma lactate concentration is not fully known. It was aimed to evaluate the effect of anemia type and severity on plasma lactate concentrations in dogs with anemia in this study.
A total of 48 dogs (36 anemic, 12 healthy) of different breeds, ages and sexes were included in the study. Dogs with anemia were classified according to the severity and type of anemia. Hematologic evaluations included RBC, HGB, HCT, and MCV measurements. Plasma lactate concentrations were colourimetrically tested on a point-of-care analyser.
Plasma lactate levels were significantly (P


Purpose: Intraportally transplanted islets provoke an instant blood-mediated inflammatory reaction (IBMIR), resulting in acute islet destruction. In a simplified in vitro model, we compared the mechanisms of IBMIR induced by human (allogeneic, A) and pig (xenogeneic, X) islets. Methods/Materials: 2,500IEQ were incubated with fresh non-anticoagulated human blood in petri dishes in an incubator-shaker (37°C, 100rpm). Clotting times were recorded. Levels of complement activation products (iC3b for common pathway and Bb for alternative pathway) and C-peptide were compared to dishes with blood alone at 5, 30 and 60min. At 60min, clots were fixed for immunofluorescent staining. The effect of 1.6mg/mL low molecular weight dextran sulfate was investigated. Results: Exposure of human and pig islets to human blood induced equally rapid clotting (A: 3:13+1:31min vs. X: 3:54+1:42, P=0.35; compared to blood alone: 46:25+16:23min, P<0.0001). In X, average porcine C-peptide levels increased from 118 to 627ng/mL between 5 and 60min, indicating islet cell lysis. In A, human C-peptide only increased from 41 to 64ng/mL (P<0.05). IgM and IgG binding were observed on pig but not on human islets. In X, supernatants released by clots at 30min contained 50% more iC3b, and 77% more Bb than controls. These increases were only 7% and 38% in A (P<0.05). Dextran sulfate completely prevented clotting and reduced iC3b and Bb to control levels. However, in X, it did not prevent antibody binding and porcine C-peptide release. Conclusion: Xenogeneic IBMIR was more aggressive than allogeneic IBMIR in an in vitro model of islets exposed to human blood. Dextran sulfate prevented complement activation through the alternative pathway, but did not prevent antibody binding to pig islets and C-peptide release, suggesting an important role for the classical pathway of complement activation.


The present study was conducted with an aim to assess the nutrient status and water quality index (WQI) of a Himalayan freshwater stream Rambiara which is one of the principal tributary of River Jhelum. The stream serves the citizens of south Kashmir as the main source of water. WQI values varied from a minimum of 43.47 to 48.74. Among the study sites, Site III (Hirpora village) revealed higher values of WQI while as lowest values was obtained at Site I (Sokh Sarai). Standard methodology (APHA 1998) was employed to examine physico-chemical parameters involving water temperature, pH, CO2, total alkalinity, DO, total hardness, calcium, magnesium, PO4, total phosphorus, NH4, NO2, NO3, dissolved silica and SO4. Pearson matrix revealed that significant positive correlation existed between total alkalinity and DO (r = 0.958, p < 0.05), total hardness and DO (r= 0.775, p < 0.05), PO4 and water temperature (r= 0.991, p < 0.05), NH4 and water temperature (r= 0.973, p < 0.05) dissolved silica and sulphate (r= 0.947, p < 0.05). While inverse relationship existed between water temperature and DO (r = -980, p < 0.05). Our results support that all the hydrological parameters are desirable and the water quality of the Rambiara stream falls under excellent category based on water quality index values. It is concluded that immediate attention is needed to limit anthropogenic activities in its riparian zone from where sediments and nutrients are brought into the stream. Riparian tree planting should be encouraged to prevent soil erosion. In addition, public awareness programs should be raised about these precious natural resources.


Spectrum sensing is a key component to realise the cognitive radio. The main requirements of spectrum sensing are the prediction of signal status in multiple frequency bands in a low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and decision reliability. This study proposes a novel multinode wideband sensing technique to predict the status of multiple frequency bands based on the integration of entropy and cyclic properties of received signals. It uses the uncertainty and auto-correlation properties of the deterministic signal and noise in the frequency domain for signal detection. To increase the decision reliability, cooperative sensing techniques are being used for spectrum sensing. Although cooperation among multiple cognitive users enhances the sensing performance, presence of few suspicious/malicious cognitive users severely degrade the decision reliability of the system. Hence, in this work, generalised extreme studentised deviate and adjusted box-plot methods are introduced to eliminate multiple malicious users in the cooperation. The proposed sensing method shows the best performance and is less severe to noise uncertainties compared to the traditional sensing methods in the literature. It enhances the sensing performance by 2.5 dB using five nodes in cooperation for same sensing parameters compared to other detection methods. It is a significant improvement for IEEE 802.22 systems that work under low SNR environment.


The purpose of this paper is to estimate export of used PCs by trade statistics and compared the results with other methods. The number of exported secondhand PCs can be estimated from export data from ports and quantity and price data to distinguish between shipments of new and used PCs. Exports of secondhand desktop and laptop PCs in 2001 were estimated to be 90,000 units and 245,000 units, and that of in 2004 were 649,000 units and 277,000 units, respectively. The number of PCs collected by manufacturers and exported abroad from Japan was compared with the situation in South Korea.


The developed method extracts bathymetry distributions from satellite images, processing one, two or three of the common RGB bands. The remote sensing is sparsely coded and combines spiking neural net anomaly filtration, spline and multiband fitting. Survey data were used to identify an activation threshold, decay rate, spline fittings and multi band weighing factors. Errors were computed for remotely sensing Landsat satellite images. Multiband fittings achieved an average error of 26 cm. This proved sufficiently accurate to also automatically extract shorelines to eliminate land areas in bathymetry mapping. © 2022


HMM models for complex stochastics in electrophysiology; human physiology complexities, a challenging field; AP action in intracellular of the human body; spike and extracellular in deep brain stimulation; APs, as 'spikes', amplitude greater than background noise; HMMs, for AP detection in extracellular recordings; multiple neurons, and factorial HMM application; HMM estimation, on latent sequence/s and their parameters; forward-backward algorithm success in speech processing; HMM flexibility in modelling, and the cost prohibitive factor


The purpose of the research is to examine the difference of the stock liquidity and the stock return before and after the stock split. The variables used to measure the stock liquidity are Bid-Ask Spread and Trading Volume Activity. The variable used to measure the stock return is Abnormal Return. The sample used in this research is the companies listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange that do the stock split in the period of 2013-2015 with the observation period of five days before the stock split and five days after the stock split. The analysis of the data used in this research is Wilcoxon Sign Rank Test and Paired Sample t-Test. The result showed that there is no the difference bid-ask spread before and after the stock split while trading volume activity and abnormal return showed that there are the differences before and after the stock split. This result is compatible with Signaling Theory and Trading Range Theory, which states that the stock split is responded positively by investors and the price is lowered to a specific range which will increase the stock trading.

Key Words: Stock Split, Bid-Ask Spread, Trading Volume Activity, Abnormal Return


Introduction: Phencyclidine (PCP) is a least addictive drug due to its lack of CNS suppression like other drugs such
 as opioids, benzodiazepine and alcohol. Mortality from PCP is also not very common as it does not cause any direct
 toxic effects. However PCP intoxication is lethal through its secondary effects such, rhabdomyolysis, Acute renal
 failure, hyperkalemia and seizures.
Case presentation: Toxicity from PCP is dose dependent with various levels of CNS excitement based on the
 dose. We describe a case of a patient who presented to the emergency department with cardiac arrest. Patient
 had prolonged cardiac arrest on initial evaluation; the patient had potassium of 11.9 with acute renal failure and
 rhabdomyolysis. Patient admitted to ICU after initial resuscitation. Patient had a complicated ICU course with
 compartment syndrome and multiple organ failure. Wife reports the patient takes some substance before this event
 patient urine came back positive for phencyclidine.
Discussion: It is important to understand the lethality of phencyclidine. More commonly we discuss the high
 mortality from opioids with the patients but we do not discuss the mortality from other substances such as PCP,
 family and patients should be warn appropriately regarding the drugs which can cause death.


A new phase-matching scheme for noncollinearly phase-matched fifth-order difference-frequency generation (FODGE), yielding the third harmonic, is described. The coupled-wave equations are solved for some special cases, and the phase-conjugating properties of FODGE are discussed. Different causes of phase mismatch are also discussed.


FIELD: instrument making. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a hand-held household electric appliance. When controlling the hand-held household appliance, a first control signal is received from the first control element to select the motor control mode, then a second control signal is obtained from the second control element, the motor activation mode is selected from the provided motor activation modes based on the first control signal, and the motor activation signal is determined, to be outputted to the electric motor, based on the selected motor activation mode and the second control signal. EFFECT: technical result consists in the creation of a hand-held household appliance with more precise activation of the electric motor, which facilitates the use of the device and leads to an improved result of processing the products. 12 cl, 8 dwg


This thesis is motivated, as the Article 594 of the Labour Code provides that
relief may be requested once a conviction is reached, which violates Section
169 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador, which provides "The
system is a means of achieving justice. The procedural rules enshrine the
principles of simplification, uniformity, efficiency, immediacy, speed and
economy, and make effective the guarantees of due process. "
Faced with this situation that leaves defenseless workers who sued for nonpayment
of the obligations of employers in trial work and to ensure
compliance with a possible sentence in his favor, should have the right to
request precautionary measures such as prohibition of transfer, retention,
kidnapping and establishment.
At present, this situation affects the rights of an effective remedy, for when
the worker has reached judgment, the employer and could sell their goods
and hide them so that when the worker wants to assert their rights declared
in a judgment, only will be the role qe containing the statement and nothing
more.
In this regard, urges a reform of the Labour Code, which allows to apply the
precautionary measures and inclusive submit claims at any time up to
judgment.
This research was done trying to emphasize the rights of workers who hope
one day will resonate, and it becomes a reality.


The dilatancy in question is the change of overall volume produced by strain in an assembly of particles. This has been demonstrated in the case of a mixture of sand and water by a photoelectric method of measuring the wetness of the surface. The general phenomenon has been experimentally studied in detail with a two-dimensional hexagonal array of uniform cylinders, part of the free surface of which is loaded with a rigid piston. An alternate increase and decrease of overall volume as the piston descends has been demonstrated and the mechanism of slip by which it comes about has been established. The elastic stress distribution in the array before slipping takes place has been calculated and shown to be a determining factor. The effect of friction between the component units has been studied. Experiments have also been carried out on three-dimensional irregular arrays of carbon shot and of sand.


'A critical need exists for the development of methods to monitor toxic metal concentrations in remediation system off gases in real-time at parts-per-billion levels or lower. Although several technology development projects are being pursued to meet the requirements of a multi-element metals continuous emission monitor (CEM), no current technique has met all the requirements of sensitivity and data quality. The use of cavity ringdown spectroscopy (CRS) as an ultra-sensitive analytical technique is a natural extension of previous atomic absorption spectroscopy methods. However, while CRS has rapidly gained popularity among the molecular spectroscopy community, the work reported here concerns the first efforts to apply this technique to analytical atomic spectroscopy. The objective of this project is to combine CRS with the well-established tools for sample atomization, the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) and graphite furnace (GF), to provide a viable technique for on-line, trace level continuous emission monitoring of species such as toxic metals and radionuclides with detection limits comparable to ICP-mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). This report summarizes the authors progress in the first year of a 3-year project to develop cavity ringdown spectroscopy as a sensitive, continuous emission monitor for metals. Progress has been slightly delayed by problems associated with freeing upmore » the matching funds necessary to purchase a new narrow-linewidth dye laser and the typical problems encountered when departments move into a new building. However, these problems have been largely solved. Their new laser system has recently arrived and additional matching funds have been obtained for the purchase of a graphite furnace. This instrument is on order and will arrive in the near future. The postdoctoral and graduate positions have been filled.'« less


Mindfulness, as both a term and a practice, has become enormously popular over the past couple of decades. It seems as if announcements of new books or articles and fliers on mindfulness workshops appear in our mailboxes every day. In fact, during the past 10 years it has become so trendy that it risks becoming a cliché in mental health circles. As testimony to its popularity, "an NIH report found that Americans spent some $4 billion on mindfulnessrelated alternative medicine in 2007" (Picker, 2014, p. 43). In this context, Lisa Dale Miller's book Effortless Mindfulness: Genuine Mental Health Through Awakened Presence is an essential read for those seeking to separate mindfulness facts from mindless fictions and for all psychotherapists interested in using mindfulness techniques in practice.


At the centre of this peer-reviewed journal article on distractibility is a detailed investigation of William McDougall's 1920s-1940s adaptation of William James' notion of distraction developed in the 1890s. While the argument concerning the application of the notion of 'distractibility' in 1940s Britain rests on this analysis, this piece differs in its focus on the mechanics of conceptual adaptation and revision through which this becomes possible. This article was developed from two papers at international conferences 'Civilization, Sentiment and Psychosis: Aesthetic Values and Distraction in Britain, 1920s-1940s', Technology, Media and Culture in the Space Between, 1914-1945, The Seventh Annual Meeting of 'The Space Between', McGill University, Montreal, Canada, May 27-29 2005; and "Serenity and Psychosis: Culture, Aesthetic Values and 'Distraction' Compositing Gender: Concepts of the Body and the Politics of Desire at the Interface of Material and Visual Culture, Centre for Cultural Studies, Essen Germany, March 2005 (invited paper).


In their recent meta-analysis of eight observational studies including a total of 632 children (mean age 13 years, ~55% male, and mean body mass index 30 kg/m2 ) that assessed association between nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and areal bone mineral density (aBMD), Mantovani et al. found that age- and sex-matched aBMD Z scores decreased with the progress of NAFLD, independently of body mass index.(1) By contrast, the authors' previous meta-analysis of twelve observational studies including a total of 30,041 adults (mean age 58 years, 63% female, and mean body mass index 26 kg/m2 ) on this topic showed that NAFLD did not influence aBMD but increased osteoporotic fracture incidence, independently of age, sex and body mass index.(2) Here I would like to introduce one reasonable theory(3) that is useful to interpret the noteworthy discrepancy in aBMD between children and adults. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


The rapid evolution of technology has presented both teachers and students with a unique set of advantages as well as challenges. The inability of individuals to adapt to technological developments when confronted with a bewildering array of terminology and platforms can have serious legal and social implications. The student learning guide has been developed with the aim of addressing technological developments in an area of learning which has now been designated at Technology Enabled Learning (TEL). The objective of this guide is to enable the usage of technology in order to enhance the teaching and learning process within the context of the current laws and guidelines pertaining to the usage of multi-media in Malaysia. The guide commences with an introduction to the Universiti Malaysia Sabah Learning Management System (UMS LMS), which is based on the Moodle Open source platform. The UMS LMS has been designated as Smartv3UMS. Students have been provided with the basic instructions, such as registration at the site, as well as more advanced instructions pertaining to the assessment tools such as quiz and assignment. The Department of Information Technology and Communication (JTMK) is responsible for the management of Internet resources at UMS. They offer a range of services for both staff and students registered at UMS, which include the Google Suite, Microsoft Office 365, statistical software package SPSS and the inter-university Wi-Fi service Eduroam. The procedures for the usage of these and other services are covered in this guide. The UMS Library offers multiple services which can be accessed by staff, students and registered UMS users. These include online databases which provide access to international, peer reviewed journals, UMS theses, and software for checking plagiarism in user-generated content. Inappropriate etiquette when using social media platforms and multimedia can have serious legal implications as well as social repercussions. UMS complies with the provisions of the COMMUNICATIONS AND MULTIMEDIA ACT 1998 (Act 588), and both staff and students are obliged to comply with the technical and legal requirements when utilising communication platforms at UMS. The fundamental guidelines are outlined in the section on Social Media. The Centre for E-learning (PEP) is responsible for the management of the pedagogical aspects of Technology Enabled Learning as well as the development of Multi-media and Open License Content under the UMS Open Educational Resources (OER) repository. PEP is also actively engaged with both lecturers and students as part of its initiative to foster TEL among the UMS community and bring them up to par with their global peers.


Surgeon-General, Madras, and the InspectorsGeneral of Civil Hospitals in the other Provinces were invited to be Vice-Presidents. It was resolved to ask for the use of the Bombay University Buildings for the Congress. It was also decided that the Exhibition should be kept open for at least a week after the session of the Congress, and that Parchment Testiinonials be give,, to exhibitors. Other resolutions


The present invention discloses an electrostatic discharge protection device with a low operating voltage, which comprises parts of a power clamp to provide a discharge path between a pair power supply line of a power clamp portion, the trigger corresponding to the static electricity accumulated in the first power supply line tree refused for generating a voltage; And it is switched by the trigger voltage power clamping element which forms a discharge path for discharging the static electricity of the first power line to a second power supply line; and characterized in that it includes a. Here, the power clamping element can comprise a gate and a NMOS transistor being connected to the bulk. In addition, the power clamping element by lowering the trigger voltage is characterized by having a resistance to be applied to the bulk.


We consider a particular extension of the scalar two-Higgs potential of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model to an arbitrary number of Higgs doublets. The extended potential has an absolute and only nontrivial minimum that is found exactly. It appears that this minimum is a simple analog to the well-known minimum of the MSSM. This result is applied to a low-energy Higgs potential of the finite Grand Unification Theory where six Higgs doublets are present.


Ferromagnetic films of L10-ordered MnGa and MnAl that exhibit giant perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and great controllability in the magnetism and structural disorders show promising applications not only in magnetic recording, permanent magnets and spintronics, but also in controllable studies of disorder-relevant electrical transport phenomena. In this paper, we review the intriguing experimental observations of the orbital two-channel Kondo effect and anomalous Hall effect in L10-ordered MnGa and MnAl thin films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. We also give a perspective with regards to the future technological and fundamental applications of these perpendicularly magnetized Mn-based binary alloy films.


Ken Thompson is credited for inventing the Unix operating System. Unix is the first portable operating system of significance. Unix is based on Multics, one of the first timesharing operating systems. Before the development of Multics, most computer operating systems operated in batch mode, forcing programmers to edit large stacks of punched cards or paper tape. Programming used to be a very time-consuming process. Thompson borrowed many features of Multics and incorporated them in his early versions of Unix, the principal characteristic being that of timesharing. Without this potential, most of the features in today's Unix systems and in most other operating systems would lack real power. The tenets of the Unix philosophy are simple and effective. By focusing on a single task, a program can eradicate much irrelevant code that often results in excess overhead, redundant complexity, and a lack of flexibility. Prototyping is the principal vehicle for generating an effective design in Unix. Code reuse is a powerful concept that some Unix developers use to create numerous applications in a comparatively short time. This chapter is designed to elucidate the Unix philosophy and the various tenets that define Unix.


The data-based regression models are widely popular in modelling the relationship between the crash frequencies and contributing factors. However, one common problem usually associated with the classical regression models is the multicollinearity, which leads to biased estimation of the model coefficients. This paper mainly focuses on the consequences of multicollinearity and introduces a multiple objective-based best-subset approach for promoting the accuracy of the road crash model in Qatar State. The prediction performance of the methodology is verified through a comparative study with two of well-known time series models, namely autoregressive moving average (ARMA) and double exponential smoothing (DES). The mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) is used to assess the ability of each model in maintaining minimum prediction errors. The methodology is illustrated by using a data set of road crashes in Qatar State, 2007-2013.


As part of the effort to internationalize the educational system in Taiwan, in line with the island's already vigorous participation in the global economy, and to elevate the level of academic research to what the government and university administrators regard as "international" standards, there has been a strong push in recent years for scholars on Taiwan to publish in international, foreign-language (especially English), referred journals that are cited in SSeI and SCI. This issue of GRF is an indirect consequence of that effort. The two guest editors for this issue, drawing on long-standing academic linkages with NTU and its Department of Geography, invited members of the department to submit papers for consideration for publication in a special issue, designed to highlight the talents of geographers in Taiwan, but especially those affiliated with NTU. We did so in the belief that there is great talent among Taiwanese geographers, and the valuable research they do should receive greater visibility and appreciation by geographers outside Taiwan. We decided to limit the issue to human geography, on the rationale that physical geography is alive and well represented on Taiwan, and does not really need any assistance from us. Human geography, although it has made enormous progress in the last 20 years, still lags somewhat behind.


The core object of this study is to examine the suitability of linseeds for biodiesel production. The performance of an engine at different proportions of linseed blends with petro-diesel and the amount of emissions rate were investigated. Initially, linseed biodiesel was produced through transesterification process, and then it was mixed with petro-diesel fuel (D100) blends at volumetric ratios of 10% (LB10), 20% (LB20), and 30% (LB30). The properties of linseed biodiesel and its blends were investigated and compared with petro-diesel properties with reference to ASTM standards. It has been observed that the fuel properties of produced biodiesel are within ASTM permissible limits. The specific fuel consumption (SFC) of LB10 blend has been found lesser compared to LB20 and LB30. SFC of D100 is slightly less than that of all the blends. The brake thermal efficiency (BTE) of LB30 is greater than that of pure diesel D100 at maximum load and greater than that of LB10 and LB20. The heat dissipation rate in all linseed blends is found to have been less than that of D100. Carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and NOx emissions of linseed blends are mostly lower in comparison with D100's. Among all blends, LB10 was found more suitable alternative fuel for diesel engines and can be blended with petro diesel without engine modifications. It can be concluded that cultivation and production of linseed in Pakistan is very promising, therefore, it is recommended that proper exploitation and use of linseed for energy production may be encouraged through pertinent agencies of Pakistan.


The relationships between prenatal methadone dosage and the soverity of subsequent neonatal methadone withdrawal were studied in 72 clinically well, methadone-maintained women and 19 drug-free controls. Total methadone ingestion during the last trimester, the last methadone dose prior to delivery and the absence of other drugs of abuse were known. The quantities of methadone in intrapartum maternal blood and urine, amniotic fluid, cord blood and neonatal urine were determined and the soverity of neonatal withdrawal was quantitated. Severity of withdrawal was related to last maternal dose of methadone (p < 0.01), total amount ingested durina the last trimester (p < 0.02), and intrapartum maternal serum methadone (p < 0.01). Severity was not related to levels of mothadone in maternal urine, cord blood, amniotic fluid or neonatal urine. These findings indicate that careful monitoring of maternal methadone levels during the last trimester coupled with a knowledge or intrapartum serum methadone levels can predict the degree of neonatal narcotic withdrawal.


A numerical study on concrete debris ricocheting off sand ground is presented in this paper. The numerical package ANSYS LS-DYNA is used to model the whole process of the impact of concrete debris on sand ground. The numerical modeling is first calibrated with experimental results. A set of formulation is retrieved from the numerical results to predict the ricochet angle and the ricochet velocity in terms of the incident angle and the incident velocity. The debris size effect on the ricochet phenomenon is also studied. It is found that for the range of the debris size studied in this paper, the debris size only has very minor influence on the ricochet.


In the present work, we have investigated ballistic quantum transport in vertical halo implanted p plus minus GaSb InAs n TFETs. We have investigated the current voltage characteristics, ON current, OFF current leakage, subthreshold swing variation as function of gate length, drain length, gate undercut, equivalent oxide thickness, High K and drain thickness. The electrostatic control, I V performances and optimization of device structure are carried out for novel L shaped nonlinear geometry n TFETs. In the n TFETs device p plus minus GaSb InAs heterostructure gives rise to type III broken gap band alignment. In this geometry the gate electric field and tunnel junction internal field are oriented in same direction and assist the Band to Band tunnelling process. To study the ballistic quantum transport in this L shaped nonlinear geometry we used 3 D, full-band atomistic sp3d5s spin orbital coupled tight binding method based quantum mechanical simulator which works on the basis of Non Equilibrium Green Function formalism to solve coupled Poisson Schr "odinger equation self consistently for potentials and Local Density of state.


With regard to fire protection for exterior walls of a building, only fire-resistive performance is considered, according to the current building standard law of Japan. In previous authors' studies, a new test method for evaluation of fire propagation along combustible cladding was proposed using primarily test specimens of facade walls with exterior thermal insulation without vent layers. In this paper, newly made results of facade fire tests also with other specimens of combustible facades, such as sandwich panels, photovoltaic sheets, combustible coating materials, and exterior insulation with vent layer, are discussed.


Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) exacerbates dyslipidemia and increases the incidence of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. DKD is a concept that includes typical diabetic nephropathy and an atypical phenotype without proteinuria. We investigated dyslipidemia in different DKD phenotypes that have not been fully studied.


We introduce the pseudohole and heavy-pseudoparticle operator algebra that generates all Hubbard-chain eigenstates from a single reference vacuum. In addition to the pseudoholes already introduced for the description of the low-energy physics, this involves the heavy pseudoparticles associated with Hamiltonian eigenstates whose energy spectrum has a gap relatively to the many-electron ground state. We introduce a generalized pseudoparticle perturbation theory which describes the relevant finite-energy ground state transitions. In the present basis these excitations refer to a small density of excited pseudoparticles. Our operator basis goes beyond the Bethe-ansatz solution and it is the suitable and correct starting point for the study of the finite-frequency properties, which are of great relevance for the understanding of the unusual spectral properties detected in low-dimensional novel materials.


How to define the Chongqing government in building the financial center of the financial elements of market cultivation of three kinds of theories as a starting point. According to institutional economics, "in Institutional Change in the provision of basic services are the basic rules of game" in principle, the use of Douglas o Snow institutional change and economic growth in Sri Lanka a theoretical model. It is proposed by the boundary of Chongqing government action to build a specific framework, namely, the elements to stabilize the financial system and improve the provision of supporting infrastructure and environmental support.


The overall process of the first application of "multi-anchor isolation pile"technique in Beijing subway construction at World Trade Center bridge station is systematic reviewed and summarized.Simultaneously,this technique is deeply discussed from the aspects of theory and practice. The research result shows that( 1) multi-anchor pile does not bear force in vertical direction,while their assemblies can play a role as isolation wall;( 2) the soil around pile is integrated into a whole system by reinforcement of anchor pile and grouting,subsequently it preserved the frictional resistance of original bridge pile and increased the stability of excavation tunnel;( 3) the combination of high-pressure grouting and installation technology of anchor increased the resistances of side and pile end,soil bearing capacity and soil deformation modulus. The formative isolation pile and wall possess relatively high side bearing capacity.


A new species in the diplodactylid gecko genus Bavayia is de scribed from the northern ranges of Province Nord, New Caledonia. The new gecko is a gracile, large-bodied form distinguished from its congeners by the morphology of digit I of the manus and pes, and the presence of two long rows of preanal pores that extend onto the thigh. The two known specimens are from high elevation in closed forest. This is the first species of diplodactylid gecko apparently restricted to high elevations in New Caledonia and joins a growing group of high-elevation skinks that have been described in recent years. THE GENUS Bavayia was initially erected by Roux (1913) to include two species of small, endemic New Caledonian geckos, B. sauvagii (Boulenger) and B. cyclura (Gunther). Roux (1913) described three new forms, each of which he considered to be subspecies of one of the previously known forms. Sadlier (1989) elevated these three taxa (B. ornata, B. montana, B. crassicollis) to specific status and described two additional taxa (B. septuiclavis and B. validiclavis). Intensive and extensive sampling on the New Caledonian mainland since that time has revealed a number of ad ditional species, including both novel mor phologically distinctive forms (B. exsuccida, B. pulchella (Bauer et al. 1998)) and more cryptic species bearing a superficial resem blance to one of the more widespread species in the genus (B. geitaina, B. robusta (Wright et al. 2000)). Despite the recognition of these new taxa, the geckos currently referred to B. sauvagii and B. cyclura still each constitute a heterogeneous assortment of superficially similar taxa (Bauer 1990). Although many of these undescribed forms may be diagnosed morphologically by only minor differences in scalation or subtleties of coloration pattern, the exploration of unique or distinctive hab itats within New Caledonia still occasionally reveals higWy distinctive new taxa exhibiting localized endemism within the island. We here present a description of such a distinc tive form that is apparently restricted to high elevations in the Mt. Panie Massif of north eastern New Caledonia.


Abstract : This monograph investigates the historical use of cavalry in low intensity conflict (LIC). This investigation is to determine the possible strengths and weaknesses of our current light infantry division's reconnaissance squadron in terms of organization, equipment, doctrine, and techniques for employment in LIC. The intent of the paper is neither to produce a paradigm on the use of reconnaissance forces in LIC nor simply to conduct a historical study, but rather to see if our past actions impact on today's cavalry. The structure of this monograph is to explain the nature of LIC and assess its impact on reconnaissance forces, describe a comparison methodology, conduct historical analysis, analyze the results of the comparison, and then to make conclusions and offer recommendations. Keywords: Low intensity; Infantry; Counterinsurgency; Reconnaissance; Military personnel.


In this paper, the linear regression model with an interval constraint on coefficients is considered. Until recently, many papers have examined the sampling performance of the INCLS (interval constrained least squares) estimator for this problem. For example, Escobar and Skarpness (1986) examined the bias of the INCLS estimator, and Ohtani (1987) and Escobar and Skarpness (1987) examined the MSE performance of the INCLS estimator. Also, Hasegawa (1989) considered a Bayesian counterpart of the INCLS estimator and derived its sampling theoretical risk function. However, the sampling performance of the pre-test estimator, after a test for an interval constraint, has yet to be examined. (Although Judge and Yancey (1981) examined the sampling performance of the pre-test estimator after a test for an inequality constraint, their constraint was not an interval.) This paper treats a pre-test estimator in the presence of an interval constraint on coefficients by using the two stage test. An MSE of the pre-test estimator is also derived. The performance of the pre-test estimator is compared with that of the INCLS estimator.