aMuse tHeMselves Critics are wont to see a great deal of coded meaning in Ethan and Joel Coen's meticulously framed films. In The Big Lebowski (1998), The Guardian took the madcap troupe of German pornographers in black trench coats as a comment on fascism. In Miller's Crossing (1990), the hat blowing in the wind signified a deep recurrent theme for Positif, whose interviewer pressed the Coen brothers for an explanation. They readily assented that the image represents a hat blown by the wind. That it obliged their aesthetic sensibilities explains any deeper significance. Nothing more. The Coens are decidedly not purveyors of political commentary or hidden meaning. They simply seek to amuse themselves. They made Fargo (1996) thinking that "about three people will end up seeing it, but it'll be fun for us," said Joel. As The Coen Brothers: Interviews makes plain, fun, for the Coens, means never making the same picture twice as they allude to their favorite writers and movies in outlandishly idiosyncratic ways. For Miller's Crossing, which they termed a "shameless rip-off" of Dashiell Hammett, they created the "Thompson jitterbug" montage, a danse macabre propelled by a submachine gun to the strains of "Danny Boy." The choreographed Klan dance in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) was a mélange of The Wizard of Oz, Busby Berkeley and a Nuremberg rally. The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) was printed in black and white to evoke the mood and feel of early 1950s science fiction movies and the nuclear anxiety that engulfed suburbia. ... Interviews is a volume in the Conversations with Filmmakers Series. Arranged chronologically, they span the Coen's first picture, Blood Simple (1985), through their tenth (as both writers and directors), The Ladykillers (2004). As is de rigueur in the series, the interviews are presented in their original form, unedited. Far from producing a numbing redundancy, the repetition of questions and answers in shifting contexts is precisely what informs this useful and interesting volume. In essence, these interviews represent the least enjoyable aspect of filmmaking for the Coens—publicizing their movies. As such, ... Interviews is also a document about the constraints of journalism; how, willingly or unwillingly, celebrities are created and typecast in bouts of forensic sparring. After all those rounds the adjectives leave their marks: "lowbudget," "highbrow," "noir," "grotesque," "subversive," "violent," "borderline-tasteless," "tight-lipped," "absurd." Interviews records how facile characterizations of the filmmakers and their films have bled into each other through countless iterations and congealed into the Coen's public personae. For their parts, the Coens have slipped most punches, countering with humor and magnanimity; Joel professed, for example, to have "loved" the quip about Blood Simple having "the heart of a Bloomingdale's window and the soul of a résumé." Perhaps their friend Holly Hunter explains their stance best: "Joel and Ethan function without their egos . . . . Or maybe their egos are so big they're completely secure with anybody who disagrees with them." Of course, meaningful interviews are predicated on empathy and trust. While promoting O Brother, Where Art Thou?, their hillbilly version of the Odyssey, the Coens told the Nashville Scene they had borrowed only loosely from Homer and joked about excluding Laertes and his dog. Yet just three days prior the erudite pair had told The Guardian they had never read Homer! Putting-on to keep their distance? But in fairness to the fourth estate, feeding at a hospitality suite, cattle trough in Cannes or New York, is not quite the same as a one-on-one interview for Playboy or NPR's Fresh Air. However, from the very beginning, the Coens have protested the futility and tedium of explaining themselves: there is nothing to explain, they are perfectly normal people who happen to work in an industry outsiders find glamorous. As to their movies, they speak for themselves; their purpose is to entertain. What is there to add? Plenty, actually, that will interest the scholar or aficionado. Such as the shoptalk in ... Interviews that sharpens the eye and ear. For example, in Barton Fink (1991), the story of a Hollywood scriptwriter in 1941, the set, a dilapidated art-deco hotel, was designed as an externalization of John Goodman's character, who is a prisoner of his own mental inferno: falling wallpaper mirrors the sweat falling from the character's brow. "We used a lot of green and yellow to suggest a feeling of putrefaction," said Ethan. And with Hollywood placing focus groups above artistic individuality, why do the studios grant the Coens such license? Because their preproduction costs are cheap. The Coens know how to work on a tight budget. They storyboard every shot (just like Hitchcock did), work fast and rarely improvise. Thus, "The movie people let us play in the corner of the sandbox and leave us alone," said Ethan. "We're happy here."


The article is part of a research project that deals with the cultural history of more than 35 ancient nations, of their respective languages, writing systems and most important literary works. Because of the evidence that religious beliefs make up a great part of the specific profile for each civilization, we have paid attention only to those areas delimited by the confessed denomination of the cultures studied. Following this scheme, the article starts with the description of the philosophical scope of the medieval peoples belonging to the religious worlds of Buddhist-Hinduism and Buddhist-Confucianism: Japan, Tibet, Burma, Vietnam, Mongolia, and Korea. A concise outline of the history of each of the peoples is provided, the origins of their languages and writing systems are revealed, and their most important works and philosophical contributions are presented. Second, the linguistic and literary achievements of the Persian and Arabic peoples—those belonging to the religious area of Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism and Islam—are described.


The title compounds are prepared by arc-melting of stoichiometric mixtures of the elements followed by annealing (silica tubes, Ar, 1270 K, 1 month).


In recent decades, extreme weather events related to natural disasters and market deregulation have impacted agricultural production and income. Price volatility, increased by the globalization of trade in raw materials, and climate change are affecting the volume and quality of production, thus jeopardizing the survival of farms. Protection against climate and market risks and thus farmers' insurance coverage fall within a good risk management. Our goal is to contribute to the development of new methods to model French farm income in order to study its insurability. One way to tackle this question is to extract a probabilistic relationship via copula theory between crop prices and yields in order to fix the benchmark beyond which a crop insurance should be purchased. We propose a methodology based on extreme value theory, particularly adapted to extreme disasters and risks. Modeling disasters and associated losses allows to consider the application of these models to the issue of disaster insurance, a quite new research area. The main objective of this work is to improve the modelling of extreme weather-related events and their consequences. We propose first to investigate how Bayesian methods can improve the estimation of extreme risk measures. Statistics of extreme values, Bayesian statistics and copulas are the three theoretical pillars on which our project is based. Then, our goal is to adapt financial risk management instruments such as insurance contracts and financial instruments (weather derivatives and « catastrophe bonds »-Cat Bonds) to a better hedging of natural risks. They could be critical assets aiming at reinforcing proactivity and resilience of farms facing disaster risks. The studies are conducted on a large database extracted from the Farm Accountancy Data Network. It is an annual database of around 7,000 commercial-sized agricultural holdings. This exhaustive and unique dataset contains significant details about French professional farm income, allowing to combine advanced statistical modelling with insurance and financial models on real cases. Our research project will thus contribute to the improvement of knowledge on weather-related natural disasters and their financial coverage.


A new method is proposed for the fabrication of a well-defined size and shape distribution of silver nanoparticles in solution; the method employs direct laser irradiation of an aqueous solution containing a silver salt and a surfactant in the absence of reducing agents.


The degradation of the paraffin P-I for Pseudomonas aerugionsa MGP-1 in submerged mineral culture was optimized. The microbial growth was determined for viable count and the paraffin mineralization for CO2 Winkler's method. The effect of carbon source concentration, nitrogen source type and nonionic surfactant concentration were evaluated on the strain MGP-1 growth and the mineralization of carbon source.


This paper attempts to introduce the enhanced SHA-1 algorithm which features a simple quadratic function that will control the selection of primitive function and constant used per round of SHA-1. The message digest for this enhancement is designed for 512 hashed value that will answer the possible occurrence of hash collisions. Moreover, this features the architecture of 8 registers of A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H which consists of 64 bits out of the total 512 bits. The testing of frequency for Q15 and Q0 will prove that the selection of primitive function and the constant used are not equally distributed. Implementation of extended bits for hash message will provide additional resources for dictionary attacks and the extension of its hash outputs will provide an extended time for providing a permutation of 512 hash bits.


In the present context of fast-evolving complex advancements of mobile technology, the education field has to adapt to the latest trends. Nevertheless, for education purposes, mobile tools are still in the first stages of their development. As of now, these types of applications only facilitate generic activities, including testing, problem solving, skills acquisition (Fowler, Mayes, 2004) with a focus on the instructor rather than on the student due to their one-sided nature – which leads the instructor to evaluate the available mobile tools and imagine how these applications can blend with the pedagogical approaches such as the associationist, cognitive and situated (Mayes, de Freitas, Fowler, 2004) so that they accommodate the instructor's goals to use this type of technology in the class. From the perspective of the generic approach, the present paper aims at analyzing the efficiency of testing the mobile application Kahoot! used with the students from the Faculty of Chemistry. The testing was directed towards two major issues: the conditional (general English) and specific vocabulary (English for Specific Purposes), the choice of the application being not random as it offers a complex platform for building personalized tests and establishing the degree of difficulty, the timing for each answer and the layout for the testing process. The testing tool has been used as a mid-term test because the final test is still oriented towards traditional methods of testing. The use of the Kahoot! testing tool has proved quite beneficial, easy to use, modern, close to the student, where students exercised not only English but also specialized terminology and mobile skills. Nonetheless, mobile developers have to work more on the improvement of the tools used for education purposes and applications such as Kahoot! represent a promising start.


This letter reports picosecond laser-based measurements of acoustic waveguiding in a thin film of nanoporous silica (similar to silica aerogel or xerogel) on silicon for wavelengths between 2.5 and 25 μm. The large mismatch between the acoustic properties of the film and substrate in this system creates pronounced dispersion in the velocities and leads to unusual acoustic behavior: over a relatively large range of wavelengths, the group velocities of the lowest order Rayleigh mode and certain other modes are less than 50 m/s—nearly ten times slower than the intrinsic velocities of the nanoporous silica and more than one hundred times slower than those of silicon. An isotropic model of the waveguide reproduces these and other features. Nonlinear least-squares fitting of the data to this model determines the intrinsic acoustic velocities of the nanoporous glass.


This article introduced domestic and foreign about the methyl alcohol production development condition,and has analyzed the technology which the gasification and the natural gas steam transforms,has carried on the optimum composition to the methyl alcohol installment plan in the design,in technical plan research design process,in order to enhance the product the competitive power,achieved the energy conservation reduces a row of goal,transforms the gasification and the natural gas two kind of technologies to carry on the organic union.And acts according to raw material the characteristic,carries on the analog computation to the entire installment,the optimized synthetic gas allocated proportion,and reduced the carbon dioxide emissions,thus causes the entire flow to be more advantageous to the energy conservation,opened the energy comprehensive utilization new mentality,has the extremely vital practical significance.


The article presents a synthesized analysis of the work of Western scientists on the theory of cognitive flexibility in the context of actualizingits potential as one of the basic competencies of the future professionals. The interpretation of cognitive flexibility from the standpoint of different fields of study is shown. The essence of cognitive rigidity as an opposition of cognitive flexibility and the theory of cognitive flexibility as an important component of the education system is clarified. The essence of cognitive competence of the future specialist as a set of qualities based on worldviews and knowledge, skills, abilities, social experience of the future specialist, which allow him to quickly adapt to different living conditions, maintain emotional behavioral stability, respond flexibly, act and make optimal decisions in standard and unpredictable professional situations, is determined.


The homogeneity theorem of frequency domain analysis on sinusoidal alternating current circuit is gained. By using this theorem,the calculation of complicated ladder network can be simplified.


The existing small scale batch pans used for research in the South African sugar industry have limited capabilities for simulating industrial operations. In particular, these pans have been designed and used primarily for determining equilibrium conditions and have not been designed to achieve the rates of crystallization which are achieved in full scale pans. Operating an existing laboratory scale pan under closely controlled conditions also produced much wider crystal size distributions than are obtained in industrial scale pan boiling. To address these limitations and provide a facility to study crystallisation under closely controlled conditions which simulate industrial scale pan boiling, a new pilot scale batch pan has been designed and constructed. Features included in the design of the pan are, a steam heated calandria, the use of standard diameter pan tubes (100mm), a variable speed mechanical stirrer and a high level of instrumentation and control. The design of the pan is described in terms of the experience gained on the small laboratory scale pan. Some performance data from the pan are presented.


In this paper,the the significance and development trend of environmental risk assessment are briefly introduced,and the basic concept,the main content,methods and procedure of environmental risk assessment are explained.Also,some defects in risk assessment are pionted out, as well as some suggestion given based on that.


In this paper the feasibility of Fe(Se,Te) Coated Conductors (CC) on simple Rolling-Assisted Biaxilly Textured Substrate (RABiTS) template is studied. Starting from commercially available NiW5% tapes from Evico which have an out-of-plane orientation of about 6° and an in-plane orientation of 5.3°, a RABiTS template for Fe(Se,Te) coated conductors was realized depositing CeO 2 thin films on the metallic tape. The oxide buffer layers, deposited via Pulsed Laser Ablation, have an out-of-plane and an in-plane orientation suitable for Fe(Se,Te) deposition and act as a chemical barrier against Ni diffusion. The Fe(Se,Te) deposited on such a simple template show a superconducting transition T c of 18 K, very high upper critical field values with a  T c,0 of only 3 K in 18 T and self-field transport isotropic critical current values of 10 5 A/cm 2 at 4.2 K, which is reduced of less than one order of magnitude up to 16 T.


A wind bucket windmill generator is a wind generator with vertical axis composed of a wind bucket, a disk generator with low speed and a supporting vertical bar. The wind bucket being a group is arranged symmetrically to be a hemicycle thin shell. The disk generator comprises a rotor disk and a stator disk. A plurality of permanent magnet is arranged by inlaying circularly in the rotor disk along the axis. Gap is between the magnets. An induction coil with iron core is installed on the outer edge of the stator disk. Air gap is between the two disk bodies. The utility model has the advantages of simple integral structure, less parts, no speed acceleration device, collecting ring and stern-plane, little weight, low production cost, reliable operation and easy maintenance, and is especially suitable for generate under the condition of gentle breeze.


There is a consensus on the demerits of volatility in short-term capital flows, which is presumably prompted by exchange rate instability. The literature lists three methods to modulate financial markets: target zone of exchange rate, dual exchange rate, and the Tobin tax. This paper argues that the rationale for Tobin tax arises from two sources: systemic, and transitory. The interest rate parity theorem links up inflation, interest rate, and the exchange rate. Hence a general equilibrium approach is warranted here. Under uncertainty, irreversible real investment has an option-value for waiting. This is a distortion caused partly by exchange rate volatility; it can be reduced by a Tobin tax. If the Tobin tax on financial investment cannot fully eliminate the distortion, a subsidy for real investment to the extent of the said option-value may be worthwhile. In this paper a model shows that a financial boom can engender a recession in output. Another model computes the option-value of postponing real investment, where interest rate has a mean-reverting geometric Brownian motion. A third model explores macroeconomic instability, and an appropriate Tobin tax. The paper emphasizes the need for stabilization of both exchange rate and interest rate.


Handwritten words are usually slant or italicized due to the mechanism of handwriting and the personality. In order to improve the accuracy of character segmentation and recognition, Kimura et al. (1993) proposed a chain code method for the slant estimation and correction. However the method is very simple and usually gives good estimate of the word slant, there was a problem such that the slant tends to be underestimated when the absolute of the slant is close or greater than 45/spl deg/. To solve the problem, we proposed an iterative chain code method. We introduce a noniterative method using 8-directional chain code for improving the linearity and the accuracy of the slant estimation. The experimental results show that the proposed method improves the linearity and the accuracy of the slant estimation efficiently without sacrificing the processing speed and the simplicity.


The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of a half-time short re-warm-up (RW) strategy on the performance of young soccer players in tests of physical abilities and running performance during matches. Twenty-three players (under 17) participated in the study. Body temperature, 10 m sprint, 30 m sprint, the Illinois agility test, countermovement jump (CMJ), and squat jump (SJ) were measured, immediately post-warm-up. Then in one condition, the tests were repeated after a passive rest, and in the other condition, after a 12 min passive rest and 3 min RW. Furthermore, the RW was applied at half-time of two of the four matches where the running performance was measured in the first quarter of the two halves. The results showed that the two conditions differed significantly in the 10 m sprint and CMJ performances (p < 0.001 and p = 0.049, respectively). After the passive rest, a significant decrease in body temperature and performance in SJ was observed (p < 0.001 for both). No other differences were observed. In conclusion, the short RW program can limit the decrement in performance in power tests such as sprints and jumps.


Universities assume that the conceptions of research represented in their policies and plans are universally applicable. However, if individual postgraduate research students experience significant tension between their understandings about research and those of the institution, and this tension impedes on‐time completion, then the institutions may be faced with a research funding shortfall. In both Australia and the UK, government research funding is contingent on on‐time student completion. With this imperative in mind, an in‐depth longitudinal analysis of the experience of three female postgraduate research students was undertaken to explore the question: how universally applicable to individual students' conceptions are institutional conceptions of postgraduate research? The investigation found that the gap between the students' understandings about research and those of the university was so wide and persistent that on‐time completion did not occur. As the gap was qualitatively different for each of the three women, it is suggested that an unknowable, but appreciable, number of students will also experience such gaps. It would seem desirable, then, for students and their supervisors to explore conceptions of research early in candidature, and to continue this exploration across the candidature, to enhance each student's ability to successfully negotiate tensions and so facilitate on‐time completion.


Possible collisions of asteroid Apophis with the Earth in the 21st century are considered. In spite of the refinement of its orbit in 2012-2013, a number of collisions are still possible, so that Apophis should continue to be considered as a hazardous asteroid. Usually after the refinement of an asteroid's orbit, the object can be removed from the list of hazardous objects; examples are asteroids 2011 AG5, 2007 VK184 and many others. Apophis is an exception to this trend. A list of more than 100 possible collisions of asteroid Apophis with the Earth is presented, including relative positions and ranges of initial conditions that lead to collisions or to gaps between the asteroid's orbit and the Earth. The stability of these characteristics under small changes in the motion model and in Apophis' initial conditions is discussed. The results concerning asteroid Apophis derived by NASA are considered as well; these are in good general agreement with our results. However, NASA presents only 9 probable collisions in the 21st century, with large gaps. Complicated structure of the gaps, similar to a fractal structure, is discussed. The cause of this is the resonant returns of the asteroid under discussion. This similarity to fractal structure must be taken into account when considering the elimination of possible collisions. Pecularities of the motion of Apophis, connected with resonant returns, are similar as for other hazardous objects. Investigation of these pecularities is a very important problem. Refs 21. Tables 3.


The objective of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study is to analyze the airflow and carbon dioxide distribution in the International Space Station (ISS) Node 2 cabin when four crew quarters (CQs) are installed in the module rack bay. The CQs protrusions into the Node 2 cabin as well as airflow to and from the CQ ventilation diffusers influence the Node 2 nominal cabin ventilation. On the other hand, the CQ air quality is determined by the Node 2 ventilation characteristics near the CQ intake. The focus is on (1) the ventilation performance for the Node 2 cabin aisle way with respect to the ISS cabin air velocity requirements and (2) carbon dioxide spatial/temporal variations in the Node 2 cabin. CO2 generation was taken into account via the lumped-parameter approach. Formation of the stagnant zones characterized by relatively high values of the carbon dioxide concentration was examined for the nominal and off-nominal ventilation scenarios.


Nutritious and sustainable food sources are much needed to compensate for the rising demand for food due to the ever-growing human population. The idea of using insects as potential future foods is getting more attention globally. The consumption of insects or entomophagy offers several advantages other than fulfilling human nutritional and energy requirements. By considering climate change and the reduction in arable land and water, entomophagy and insect farming is regarded to be more environmentally friendly than animal husbandry. Among thousands of edible insect species, grasshoppers and locusts may become viable options as novel foods. In this review, all edible grasshopper and locust species are listed along with the countries where they are consumed. The nutritional value and nutraceutical and pharmaceutical properties of some commonly consumed grasshoppers and locusts are overviewed. Lastly, factors affecting the consumer acceptance of grasshoppers and locusts as emerging foods are discussed, and steps to incorporate the insects into consumers' tables are given. Based on this review, there are at least 120 species of edible grasshopper and locust species. They are packed with nutrients and antioxidant substances, and are widely consumed across African and Asian countries and in certain parts of America. However, the rejection of grasshoppers and locusts as foods is still prevalent among consumers in western countries due to the stigma surrounding insects. Raising the consumers' awareness through the dissemination of the health and environmental benefits of entomophagy could be a strategic way to increase the adoption of grasshoppers and locusts as foods.


ABSTRACT Cruciferous veg e ta bles have a long his tory as a healthy com po nent of a daily diet and con tain many com pounds that may pre vent can cer. Phenethyl isothiocyanate is a break down prod uct of glucosinolates and has many well-doc u mented anticancer ac tiv i ties. A method for maximizing the re lease of phenethyl isothiocyanate from up land cress (Barbarea verna) seed, the rich est source, is pre sented. Op ti mal re lease is de pend ent on time, tem per a ture and pH. This method, anal o gous to the mas ti ca tion of fresh plant ma te rial, en ables the prep a ra tion of an ef fi cacious di etary sup plement contain ing up to 2% of phenethyl isothio -cyanate.


Aim:To study the effects of flos sophorae on physiological characteristics and action mechanism in isolated rabbit atria Methods: The isolated rabbit atria were adopted Before and after giving decocted flos sophorae solution(DFSS),verapamil,heart rate,contractile force of atria,functional refractory period(FRP),post rest contraction and staircase were measured Results: DFSS obviously decreased the contractile force and heart rate of isolated right atrium of rabbit,and its negative chronotropic action can be blocked by atropine DFSS remarkably prolonged the FRP,decreased the positive staircase phenomenon of left atrium of rabbit DFSS had no effect on the post rest potentiation of myocardial contractility in left atrium Conclusion:Flos sophorae possessed negative inotropic and chronotropic actions on isolated atria of rabbit,the mechanism by which the flos sophorae induce the negative inotropic and chronotropic effects may be related to the inhibition of transmembrane flux of calcium


The I?'.J"-.i".+l' perpendicular system of CuOH and CuOD in the green was tirst measured and analyzed by Trkula and Harris for K: G 1 (J Chorr. P/IJ:v. 79, I I 38-I 144 ( I983 ) ). We have extended their measurements up to KL = 9 and Ku = I2 for CuOH and CuOD. respectively. and completed a distortion analysis for both electronic states. Extensive perturbations were observed for K: 3 2 in CuOH. and these are suspected to arise from interaction with the OH stretch of a lower-lying triplet state. An improved partial r, structure for the molecule was also evaluated for both electronic states. The ground state geometric parameters are ~(.~-o = 1.76X93( 25 ) A. ro_,, = 0.9520( 50) A. and Icuow = llO.345( 80)". c I')YO Azadcmlc Press. Inc.


The objective of this research was to investigate the anthropogenic derivation of a head-watershed located in a metropolitan area: the portion of the watersh...


The high-mass X-ray binary LS I +61°303 is detected across the electromagnetic spectrum from radio until the very high energy γ-ray regime. The emission is not only highly variable on many time scales, but is also periodic at all observed wavelengths. Periodic modulation was observed on different time-scales, ranging from hours, over months to several years. The subject of this article is a super-orbital, long-term modulation of ∼4.6 years. We review the observation of this periodic modulation at multiple wavelengths and investigate systematic relationships between them. IN particular, radio observations reveal that the long-term modulation is a very stable feature of the source. Observations at other wavelengths result in a phase-shift of the modulationpattern that is a systematic function of energy. The stability of this period favors a scenario in which the long-term modulation is the result of a precessing jet giving rise to periodic changes in the Doppler factor, beating with the orbital modulation of the accretion rate. We explain the phase-shifts across energy bands in a scenario with shorter wavelengths originating closer to the base of the presessing jet. A significant deviation of the TeV emission from this trend possibly requires a different explanation related to magnetic reconnection events.


Since the unscented Kalman filter algorithm in single observer passive localization is sensitive to initial values and system noises,an improved adaptive unscented Kalman filter algorithm is presented.To improve the robustness of the unscented Kalman filter algorithm,an adaptive factor is introduced based on the observation information and new information to adaptively adjust error covariance matrix.Simulation results show that compared with the extended Kalman filter(EKF) algorithm,the modified covariance extend Kalman filter(MVEKF) algorithm,and the UKF,this adaptive unscented Kalman filter algorithm can contribute to better filter convergence and higher precision with enhanced robustness.


Abstract Sidebands of the main OH stretch mode in SrTiO3 shown to originate from interactions with Fe impurities are investigated. The number of OH stretch modes in SrTiO3 increases with Fe-doping. The intensities of the absorption lines depend strongly on annealing treatments. We have studied these lines with respect to the temperature dependence of the vibrational frequencies, the dependence on light polarization and the splitting patterns under static electric fields. For an interpretation we propose hydrogen sites associated with both iron impurities and oxygen vacancies.


The aspiration of an ideal social structure includes the ambition of construction of a society that does not discriminate on the basis of gender. The development of feminist thought is an endeavor for evolutionary changes within the prevailing patriarchal society. This article exemplifies the development and changes in the feminist movement due to internal pressures, external politics, and ideological changes, by highlighting the oppression of women and the movement's chief accomplishments, and strives to explain this evolution from the standpoint of two alternative justifications, an adaptationist and by-product influence. It elucidates underlying aspects of the movement and the prerequisites for it to flourish and become a multifaceted, global phenomenon.


Six cultivars of Nerium (Single Pink, Single White, Single Red, Double Pink, Double White and Double Red) were evaluated to identify the salt tolerant cultivars on basis of growth and morphological parameters. This study was carried out in Department of Horticulture, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Madurai. These cultivars were transplanted polybags with soils of four different salt levels includes control (S1 - 0.87 dS m-1), low saline (S2 - 3.94 dS m-1), medium saline (S3 - 5.78 dS m-1) and high saline (S4 - 7.85 dS m-1) along with 2 dS m-1 saline water (by dissolving NaCl, CaCl2 and MgCl2) was irrigated based on moisture availability. The parameter viz., plant height (84.53 cm), number of leaves per plant (1.09), leaf area (1773.32 cm2), stem thickness (3.12 cm), number of branches (1.09), root length (28.87 cm), root dry weight (25.59 g), internodal length (4.01 cm) and survival percentage (94.33%) was recorded. All parameters show significant decrease with increasing salinity. In cultivar Single Red plant height was high and low height was observed in Double Pink at high salinity. Double Red cultivar shows more tolerance to all salinity levels, but Double pink have more salinity symptoms and shows less tolerance.


Renault F1 Team UK has progressively introduced rapid prototyping technologies to actually produce the components it needs for the half‐size models of cars that it uses for wind tunnel testing. Most recently, the process is starting to find application on the race cars themselves.


Complex point source beam expansions are a useful means for the efficient analysis of electromagnetic interactions. In this work, different expansion algorithms proposed in the literature are considered for the case of a spherical expansion surface and their characteristics in terms of compactness of the resulting expansion and computational burden of coefficient calculation are discussed. Then, a strict connection between the analytic expansion based on the spherical wave expansion of the field and the numerical approach based on field matching is revealed.


Herein, we report the first atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging studies with carbon nanotube tips that address their potential to improve lateral resolution and to probe biological systems. Multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) and single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been attached to the ends of single-crystal silicon cantilever tip assemblies and used to image amyloid â(1-40) derived protofibrils and fibrils by tapping mode AFM. Image analysis shows that the average resolution obtained with the nanotube tips is significantly better than that obtained with our best silicon tips and provides new insight into the structure and assembly mechanism of amyloid fibrils. The potential for imaging with molecular resolution using these tips is discussed. The feature resolution obtained by AFM is determined in large part by the size and shape of the probe tip used for imaging.1,2 Commercially available probes consist of microfabricated pyramids of Si or Si3N4 that have end radii of curvature as small as 10 nm but are often much larger.2,3 These tips place significant constraints on potential lateral resolution, and furthermore, the pyramidal shape restricts the ability of these tips to access narrow and deep features. Small cone angle carbon protrusions with radii of 10-30 nm deposited on the ends of conventional tips significantly improve depth but not lateral resolution.4 Recently, a potential breakthrough in probe technology was achieved by attaching MWNTs to the ends of Si tips.5 In this work, the cylindrical geometry of the MWNT tips was exploited to image a deep grating with excellent fidelity, although potential improvements in lateral resolution were not investigated. A typical scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of a MWNT tip attached to a conventional single-crystal silicon cantilever tip assembly is shown in Figure 1.5,6 This MWNT tip extends ca. 1.8 μm from the end of the pyramidal Si tip to which it is attached. The diameter of the major portion of the nanotube tip, 100 nm, is much larger than a single MWNT and corresponds to a bundle of tightly packed tubes.7 The MWNT bundles attached to the Si probes have diameters of 75 ( 27 nm; attached SWNT bundles8 typically are smaller with diameters of 45 ( 8 nm. The high aspect ratio nanotube tips have obvious advantages for probing deep crevices and steep features.5 Additionally, it is known that nanotubes elastically buckle above a critical force.5,9 Buckling limits the maximum force applied to a sample,10 which can prevent damage to delicate organic and biological samples, and at the same time makes the tips very robust.9 To explore the resolution of these tips and their applicability to high-resolution imaging of biological samples, we have investigated amyloid-â 1-40 (Aâ40) fibrils produced in vitro. Aâ fibrils are the primary constituent of the insoluble core of amyloid plaques that are characteristic of Alzheimer's disease.11 Previous AFM studies have shown that Aâ initially forms protofibril structures12,13 and subsequently larger fibrils;12-14 branching of fibrils has also been observed.13,14 A typical image15 of an Aâ fibril obtained with a MWNT tip (Figure 2) shows higher resolution than observed in previous AFM studies of the fibrils. Key features include (1) a fibril Y-branch (left arrow) with the


Constipation is a common problem for people with dementia and it may result in discomfort, suffering and lower quality of life. Nurses in municipal nursing homes have difficult to observe and preve ...


【Objective】 To introduce a new surgical approach: debridement surgery by the vaginal incision in the treatment of cesarean scar pregnancy(CSP).【Methods】 A retrospective analysis of 10 patients who were treated by transvaginal cesarean scar pregnancy debridement surgery from December 2009 to March 2011.【Results】 Ten patients were successfully treated with shorter operative time,less damage,less bleeding,decreased postoperative blood HCG,and faster postoperative recovery period.Mean operation time: 59.5(S = 18.5) min;Mean blood bleeding during operation: 79.5(S = 53.2) mL;Mean admission time: 9.5(S = 3.1) d;Mean recovery time of blood β-HCG levels: 14.9(S = 8.7) d;Mean recovery of menstruation after operation: 28.7(S = 5.1) d.【Conclusion】 Transvaginal cesarean scar pregnancy debridement surgery is a new surgical treatment for CSP.It showed less damage,rapid postoperative recovery,fewer complications,and feasible and effective.


COVID-19 pandemic, and its several waves with different intensity, and also stronger or weaker restrictions, has influenced the everyday life of people all around the world. Pandemic hitted media indeed. People needed the newest information about the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which is the virus that causes COVID-19. Organisations, events and businesses were stopped or closed, so media content was directed to outbreak info. And if organisations, events and businesses were stopped, creators, event managers and business makers didn't even need advertising or other propagation of their activities. It wasn't happening on a global scale only, but also in the local. So the local and regional media, financially dependent on advertising, was hardly hitted by the outage of this type of income. This paper explores how COVID-19 pandemic impacted the functioning of smaller local and regional media. The paper looks at the content of regional media, impacted by the pandemic, at the amount of advertising and covers the other changes, which the coronavirus outbreak made


In October 2021, the Medical Journal of Australia published a letter1 that challenged the Journal to show leadership in "foregrounding Indigenous sovereignty" by advocating and appropriately acknowledging the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in health research. The authors argued that journals should "enhance the ability to efficiently distinguish Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander scholarship, increasing the visibility of our knowledges and perspectives in research and translation, thereby improving the transparency of academic literature to guide decisions about our health and wellbeing".


In recent years, access to justice has deteriorated due to the global recession. In particular, in England and Wales substantial cuts to both civil and criminal legal aid provision were imposed as part of a series of austerity measures. This reduction in state funding has had devastating effects. This article examines whether there is an obligation on clinical legal education to fill the gap where there is inadequate legal service provision. Two clinicians will respectively argue whether law students, particularly through the medium of law clinics, should fill the void.


Background: A number of etiological factors may result in an enterocutaneous fistula formation. Some fistulas may drain from long and unexpected tracts. Case Presentation: A 58-year-old female patient who had undergone radical cystectomy with ileal pouch reconstruction surgery two years earlier for urinary bladder carcinoma was admitted for septic clinical condition and a rectopopliteal fecal fistula formation. Patient was improved with a diversion surgery with Hartmann closure and proper wound care. This case is unique by being the sole enterocutaneous fistula which is developed through an intra-abdominal adhesion. Rectopopliteal enteroatmospheric fistulas are rare clinical conditions. Conclusion: Enterocutaneous fistulas may complicate any intra-abdominal condition, especially in comorbid patients who have had a major abdominal surgery. A septic clinical presentation with erythema and subcutaneous emphysema is suggestive of enteric fistula formation.


The fareness of education has become a serious problem today.To sum up,the unfareness in education can be classified into these categories:urban-rural areas,regions,social classes,special-general schools and sexism.Reasons can be found lying in the scareness and unbalance of the whole educational investment,the unperfection of national and educational policies,and the corruption of education.To solve such unfarens,a full and balanced financal investment,a perfect educational policies and a strong dicition to cancel educational corruption must be guaranteed.


This paper summarizes some of the problems associated with the generation of higher order emergent structures in formal dynamical systems as well as some of the formal properties of dynamical systems capable of generating higher order structures.


The transition to clean energy can be compromised when electrical utilities hold significant sway over the political bodies that regulate them. While much empirical evidence in the United States supports the direct election of state utility commissioners as a means to prevent regulatory capture this article argues that less attention has been paid to an important mechanism of capture: political campaign contributions. Using a qualitative comparative study of public utility commissions (PUCs) in four states, this study shows that the direct election of commissioners without a concomitant legal restriction on campaign spending by the regulated utilities insufficiently insulates regulators from industry capture. This finding is particularly important in the contemporary legal climate following the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC), which opened the door to unlimited corporate campaign spending, and in the face of industry resistance to climate-change mitigation in the energy sector.


Abstract Objectives Medium-chain (MCA) and long-chain acylcarnitine (LCA) blood concentrations play a significant role in the fatty acid (FA) oxidation process, especially during the first days of life. Identification of their abnormal concentrations, via expanded newborn screening, can lead to the diagnosis of FA oxidation disorders. This study aimed to demonstrate MCA and LCA concentrations in Dried Blood Spots (DBS) of full-term breastfed infants, in relation to their birth weight (BW) perinatally. Methods Breastfed full-term infants (n = 12,000, 6,000 males, 6,000 females) with BW 2,000–3,999 g were divided into four equal groups: Group A, 2,000–2,499 g, B 2,500–2,999 g, C 3,000–3,499 g, and D 3,500–3,999 g. Samples were collected as DBS and acylcarnitines were determined via a liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method. Results MCA and LCA blood concentrations were determined significantly lower in group A (low birth weight infants) in both sexes. Infants with BW > 3,500 g (group D), were characterized by lower levels of C10, C10:1, C14, C14:1 acylcarnitines and higher levels of C16 and C18:1 acylcarnitines, as compared to the other groups of this study. Conclusions Concentration patterns in full-term breastfed newborns in relation to sex and mainly BW found in this study could be very helpful for neonatologists, especially for newborns of group A.


In the calculation of the dimensions of modern machines and building constructions, account is taken of the frequency of the occurrence of the anticipated loads. It is generally assumed that these loads will be repeated an infinite number, or at any rate some millions, of times during the total working life of the construction, When calculating the dimensions of the structural parts of aircraft, on the contrary, a consideration only of those frequencies in the appearance of the loads which actually come into play in the various states of stress is allowable. This is because in aircraft construction it is absolutely essential not only to ensure adequate structural strength but also to keep down the structural weight to the lowest possible limit, Strength tests in which this requirement is directly taken into account have recently been carried out by the DVL Material Strength Department.


Objectives: The purpose of this work was to explore cervical position sense and electromyographic (EMG) responses of cervical muscles during head repositioning movements in students with and without upper trapezius muscle trigger points. Materials and Methods: Forty-six right-handed men and women subjects without upper extremity disorders participated in this study. The maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) was measured three time before the fatigue test. A force gauge was used to measure force while recording with a monitor. Measurement was initiated with a MVC force before and after fatigue pain and head positioning were measured. When the protocol was accomplished, the subjects showed signs of exhaustion; however, they were not subjectively evaluated for fatigue. As the protocol aimed at assessing muscle fatigue, a force level of 80% MVC was induced. Results: These findings support the argument that the precision of the neck position sense can be reduced by the fatigue of the neck muscle. Fatigue impaired balance in the trapezius muscles. After removing vision this resulted in an increased center of pressure excursions on a force platform. Motor control did not change significantly in this study. Conclusions: Fatigue had a more significant effect on cervical kinematics in the healthy subjects, probably due to the fact that altered neck motor control in volunteers implied that these individuals were not completely able to make up for fatigue of the neck muscle. Significant pain and head positioning changes were identified following fatigue applied to the pre-determined myofascial trigger points, but the changes were insignificant in the sham control group.


There is a need for a Zoonotic Detection and Rapid Response COP Network (ZCOP) with mobile phone apps that could be used to collect and share imagery and data to detect, analyze, verify and track the early presence of zoonotic pathogens in aquaculture and land-based farms, with real-time intelligence broadly shared among farmers, public health officials, veterinarians and other stakeholders. The ZCOP surveillance system would detect threats and pinpoint locations in real-time when a timely response is critical. ZCOP would be an early alert system to identify, track, and control the spread of zoonoses before they threaten wildlife, livestock and people.


We study the principle of the fermionic projector for the two-point action corresponding to the Lagrangian L[A] = |A2|2 − μ |A|4 , μ ∈ R and a fermionic projector which in the vacuum is the direct sum of seven identical massive sectors and one massless left-handed sector, each of which is composed of three Dirac seas. It is shown under general assumptions and for an interaction via general chiral and (pseudo)scalar potentials that the sectors spontaneously form pairs, which are referred to as blocks. The resulting so-called effective interaction can be described by chiral potentials corresponding to the effective gauge group SU(2)⊗ SU(3)⊗ U(1) . This model has striking similarity to the standard model if the block containing the left-handed sector is identified with the leptons and the three other blocks with the quarks. Namely, the effective gauge fields have the following properties. • The SU(3) corresponds to an unbroken gauge symmetry. The SU(3) gauge fields couple to the quarks exactly as the strong gauge fields in the standard model. • The SU(2) potentials are left-handed and couple to the leptons and quarks exactly as the weak gauge potentials in the standard model. Similar to the CKM mixing in the standard model, the off-diagonal components of these potentials must involve a non-trivial mixing of the generations. The SU(2) gauge symmetry is spontaneously broken. • The U(1) of electrodynamics can be identified with an Abelian subgroup of the effective gauge group. The effective gauge group is larger than the gauge group of the standard model, but this is not inconsistent because a more detailed analysis of our variational principle should give further constraints for the Abelian gauge potentials. Moreover, there are the following differences to the standard model, which we derive mathematically without working out their physical implications in detail. • The SU(2) gauge field tensor F must be simple in the sense that F = Λ s for a real 2-form Λ and an su(2)-valued function s. • In the lepton block, the off-diagonal SU(2) gauge potentials are associated with a new type of potential, called nil potential, which couples to the right-handed component. These results give a strong indication that the principle of the fermionic projector is of physical significance.


For a particle that is constrained on an ($N-1$)-dimensional ($N\geq2$) curved surface, the Cartesian components of its momentum in $N$-dimensional flat space is believed to offer a proper form of momentum for the particle on the surface, which is called the geometric momentum as it depends on the mean curvature. Once the momentum is made general covariance, the spin connection part can be interpreted as a gauge potential. With help of the dynamical quantum conditions, the general covariant geometric momentum provides a convincing way to check if geometric potential presents in the Hamiltonian. Both the fundamental and dynamical quantum conditions for a spin particle on the ($N-1$)-dimensional sphere are explicitly established. As applications of these quantum conditions, we show that for a Dirac fermion on a two-dimensional sphere, the general covariant geometric momentum directly leads to the generalized total angular momentum which was obtained by consideration of dynamics of the particle, and together with the dynamical quantum conditions we demonstrate that no geometric potential is acceptable.


The paper deals with the motivation that led the Seventh-day Adventist Church to engage in human rights and social work and reflects some of the practical implications of this motivation. It shows that the Adventists of the 19th century took over from the Millerite movement the so called historicist interpretation of biblical prophecies. As a result, the Adventists see history as a battle between true and 65 See e.g. R. Clifford JONES, James K. Humprey and the Sabbath-Day Adventists, Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2006, pp. 95–100. 66 Cf. e.g. ©ADRA International – Our Mission (on-line), at http://www.adra.org/site/PageNavigator/about_us/our_mission.html, retrieved April 16, 2014 or © Freedom to Believe (on-line), at http://www.adventist.org/service/religious-liberty, retrieved April 16, 2014 etc.


Multiple Instance Learning (MIL) has been widely applied to medical imaging diagnosis, where bag labels are known and instance labels inside bags are unknown. Traditional MIL assumes that instances in each bag are independent samples from a given distribution. However, instances are often spatially or sequentially ordered, and one would expect similar diagnostic importance for neighboring instances. To address this, in this study, we propose a smooth attention deep MIL (SA-DMIL) model. Smoothness is achieved by the introduction of first and second order constraints on the latent function encoding the attention paid to each instance in a bag. The method is applied to the detection of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) on head CT scans. The results show that this novel SA-DMIL: (a) achieves better performance than the non-smooth attention MIL at both scan (bag) and slice (instance) levels; (b) learns spatial dependencies between slices; and (c) outperforms current state-of-the-art MIL methods on the same ICH test set.


The calculation of a segment of eigenvalues and their corresponding eigenvectors of a Hermitian matrix or matrix pencil has many applications. A new density-matrix-based algorithm has been proposed recently and a software package FEAST has been developed. The density-matrix approach allows FEAST's implementation to exploit a key strength of modern computer architectures, namely, multiple levels of parallelism. Consequently, the software package has been well received, especially in the electronic structure community. Nevertheless, theoretical analysis of FEAST has lagged. For instance, the FEAST algorithm has not been proven to converge. This paper offers a detailed numerical analysis of FEAST. In particular, we show that the FEAST algorithm can be understood as an accelerated subspace iteration algorithm in conjunction with the Rayleigh-Ritz procedure. The novelty of FEAST lies in its accelerator which is a rational matrix function that approximates the spectral projector onto the eigenspace in question. Analysis of the numerical nature of this approximate spectral projector and the resulting subspaces generated in the FEAST algorithm establishes the algorithm's convergence. This paper shows that FEAST is resilient against rounding errors and establishes properties that can be leveraged to enhance the algorithm's robustness. Finally, we propose an extension of FEAST to handle non-Hermitian problems and suggest some future research directions.


The article summarizes the changes in the preschool education system in Uzbekistan, reforms and the content of decrees and decrees. The materials on the material and technical base of the preschool education system, educational and methodological developments, literature and the level of staffing were also analyzed.


Reducing supply voltage is an effective way to reduce power consumption, however, it greatly reduces CMOS circuits speed. This translates in limitations on how low the supply voltage can be reduced in many applications due to frequency constraints. In particular, in the context of low voltage adiabatic circuits, another well-known technique to save power, it is not possible to obtain satisfactory power-speed trade-offs. Tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs) have been shown to outperforms CMOS at low supply voltage in static logic implementations, operation due to their steep subthreshold slope (SS), and have potential for combining low voltage and adiabatic. To the best of our knowledge, the adiabatic circuit topologies reported with TFETs do not take into account the problems associated with their inverse current due to their intrinsic p-i-n diode. In this article, we propose a solution to this problem, demonstrating that the proposed modification allows to significantly improving the performance in terms of power/energy savings compared to the original ones, especially at medium and low frequencies. In addition, we have evaluated the relative advantages of the proposed TFET adiabatic circuits with respect to their static implementations, demonstrating that these are greater than for FinFET transistor designs.


Over the last 10 years, Integrated circuits complexity has blossomed to the point where system time to market is critically dependant on IC "correctness" as intended by the "designer". In many cases, the "designer" is a team of engineers - not an individual, and the "tools" are a flow - not a series of point tools. To a first approximation, the industry wafer fabrication process has achieved a level of "correctness", or "quality" that exceeds that of the EDA tools being used to create and implement the IC design. Integrated EDA tools lag behind Moore's law, and are the primary cause of the "non-correctness" being experienced with many complex IC designs today. The EDA industry needs to unify behind new "high quality design flow" criteria that the user community believes in and can integrate into established system design environments. One of the critical issues facing the design community is how to select a high quality EDA design tool flow in this environment, and what should EDA tool providers do to close the gap with Moore's Law?


He is a Tibetan who, however,speaks perfect Chinese. On his name card, the he uses a Chinese name: Li Zhanying.


Let $X$ be a space and let $K = H^*(X; \boldsymbol F_p)$ where $p$ is an odd prime. We construct functors $\overline \Omega$ and $\ell$ which approximate cohomology of the free loop space $\Lambda X$ as follows: There are homomorphisms $\overline \Omega(K) \to H^*(\Lambda X; \boldsymbol F_p)$ and $\ell(K)\to H^*(E\boldsymbol T\times_T\Lambda X;\boldsymbol F_p)$. These are isomorphisms when $X$ is a product of Eilenberg-MacLane spaces of type $K(\boldsymbol F_p,n)$ for $n \geq 1$.


Today, scientists have decided to reduce fuel consumption and combat global warming. The automotive industry must design computing systems to reduce fuel consumption and pollution. To solve these phenomena, embedded systems using real time software and hardware architecture can be integrated. In this way, the project was submitted «Intelligent Vehicle On-Board Systems" to the European Commission as part of a cross-border co-operation INTERREG IIIA. Now more than ever, this problem must be solved for economic and environmental interests.


The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of short stories on students' reading comprehension, vocabulary power and attitude towards the skill and the new instructional materials. The participants of the study were 120 grade 9 students of Dilla Secondary and preparatory school. In order to gather data for the study, preand posttest of reading comprehension, pre and post test for vocabulary power and questionnaire were used. The students were placed in experimental and control conditions for the purpose of comparing the mean difference between the two groups. The study followed a quasi experimental design, i.e. pretest/posttest control group experimental design. The study employed statistical techniques to analyze the data obtained from reading comprehension tests and vocabulary tests. To this effect, a 2-tailed independent samples t-test and repeated measures t-test were used respectively to examine if the reading tests and vocabulary tests mean differences between and within groups were statistically significant. The findings revealed that teaching reading skills through short stories is more effective than teaching through the passages prepared at the Ministry, and has a positive impact on students' academic achievement in reading and vocabulary power.


A waterproof ventilating sole (1) is provided. A plurality of grooves (2) are distributed on the upper surface of the sole (1). At least one through hole (3) leading to the bottom surface of the sole (1) is provided on the bottom of each of the grooves (2). A film button (5) is mounted in each of the grooves (2). The film button (5) comprises a ring corresponding to the grooves (2) and at least one waterproof ventilating film (7) tensioned on the ring. The film button (5) is provided with waterproof chamfers (6) which are the outward prolongation of the upper end of the film button (5). The bottom surface of the waterproof chamfers (6) is a plane or provided with at least a cycle of annular protrusion and/or annular concave groove. A configuration matched with the annular protrusion and/or ring concave groove is correspondingly provided on the upper surface of the sole (1).


: Small, rural communities (less than 2500 population) in general do not have governmental staffs with the breadth required to satisfactorily implement and enforce a drainage ordinance. This fact has serious implications in rural Planning. Within a six-country rural area of Southwest Virginia, the circuit riding town manager program has been successfully conducted. The circuit riding town manager is a planning staff member who acts in the capacity of a town manager (assistant to the mayor) for five small towns, any one of which alone could not afford to support the services of such a professional. This note recommends that a circuit riding technical ordiance administrator program could be developed along the same lines. In this manner, the technical ordinance program for serveral small communities could be successfully implemented.


revision. 11 12 There are several mechanisms by which excessive LVH may be related to the outcome of patients with AS. It has been shown that left ventricular systolic function declines as hypertrophy develops, increasing the risk of heart failure. 6 Due to afterload dependence, systolic chamber function may be difficult to quantify in the presence of AS. As left ventricular volumes become smaller due to concentric remodelling, stroke volume is reduced, sometimes leading to the 'paradoxical low-flow AS' phenomenon. 13 Despite normal ejection fraction, patients with this condition show higher values of concentric remodelling and smaller ventricles than their normal-flow counterparts. In paradoxical low-flow AS, reduced output is believed to result in the combination of systolic and diastolic dysfunction. Under stress situations, the heart may fail to provide adequate output, and patients with paradoxical low-flow AS show an adverse prognosis, particularly if they do not undergo valve replacement. 14


This post hoc analysis of the Atrial Fibrillation Detected by Continuous Electrocardiogram Monitoring Using Implantable Loop Recorder to Prevent Stroke in High-Risk Individuals (LOOP) randomized clinical trial investigates if implantable loop recorder screening for atrial fibrillation can reduce the risk of severe stroke in individuals with risk factors or prior stroke history.


In this paper we present a new method for makingdecisions on integration strategy for in-vehicle automotive systems.We describe the problem of choosing integration strategy and wedescribe the method, which is a combination of the ArchitectureTradeoff Analysis Method, ATAM, and the Analytical HierarchyProcess, AHP. We exemplify the use of the proposed method byevaluating the integration decisions concerning the physicalconnection of a realistic example system; a computer controlledautomatic gearbox. We present analysis on the use of the method andconclude that the method has several benefits compared to ATAM orAHP used individually. The method firstly supports a structured wayof listing system goals, and secondly, it also supports the makingof design decisions.


The importance of this research is to ensconce the historiography of Masjid Tua Kampung Laut through data collection, observation, analysis and comparative study on ancient mosques at Malay World with emphasis on Masjid Agung Demak situated at Jawa Tengah Province. Both mosques have similar characteristics on typology but have different histories. The historiography of Masjid Tua Kampung Laut is related to the spread of Islam to the whole Malay World especially at Jawa Island and Champa, however until today has no cross research been done to correlate the historiography of the three places. Eventhough Masjid Tua Kampung Laut has a unique history, not much research and writing have been done about it. So far, most of the writings on the mosque are done by Abd. Rahman Al-Ahmadi, students of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Abdullah Mohamed (Nakula) and Salleh Mohd. Akib. These researchs and writings were made based on heresay and laymen observation to the surviving structure. Therefore, this research is made with the intention to enrich and develop intellectual discourse in the aspect of traditional Malay architecture especially on the development of Muslim architecture of Malay World. The scope of this research is focused on site survey with critical and analytic observation, verbal information by the local communities and literature reviews. From the gathered information, a theoretical framework is developed concurrent with the rising of new issues which all the while have not been discussed in a proper systematic way especially on the aspects of design approach and construction tradition of both mosques. Besides that, the ealiest theories on the origin, architectural approach and construction aspects were intepereted in different perspectives. The outcome of this research will provide a clearer overview on architectural development of the earlier Muslims in the Malay World.


A novel, quick and easy-to-implement method of self-tuning of autopilot parameters is presented. Based on oscillatory system excitation and measurement of characteristic parameters which serve as input to control loop parameter computation, the method proposed is targeted at consumer and UAV autopilot implementation, where the control-theory knowledge of operator as well as the a-priori knowledge about the system is at a minimum level. The paper presents both phases of the proposed method, the excitation phase and its automation to maintain safe and bounded signal levels, which are manifested in controllable flight with no departures from the operational envelope in flight, followed by the computatinal phase, where control loop parameters are determined. Simulation results for linear and non-linear models are given, together with considerations and improvements for future work.


Channels with small flow passages, commonly known as mini channels, are being widely used in heat exchangers for boiling and condensation. Correlations for heat transfer validated with macro channel data have been reported to sometimes fail for small diameter channels. Hence it is important to know the limits of applicability of such correlations. Many criteria have been proposed for boundary between macro and mini channels. The suitability of these criteria for determining the limits of applicability was evaluated by comparing wide ranging data for heat transfer during condensation, saturated boiling, sub cooled boiling, film boiling, and with data for CHF (critical heat flux), with well-validated correlations for macro channels. The criteria based exclusively on diameter or Bond number and its equivalents were found inadequate. Satisfactory criteria for mini-macro boundary were identified for condensation and saturated boiling heat transfer. Macro channel correlations for sub cooled and film boiling, and for CHF, were found to be satisfactory even for very small diameter channels.


Summary

A description, based on a microscopic study of one species, Leiopelma archeyi Turbott, attempts to provide the first detailed account of development in the New Zealand frog, Leiopelma. Previously only the general features of the intracapsular and post-hatching development of this frog were known. As far as possible, close comparison has been made with the developmental features of the North American genus, Ascaphus, the only other member of the same primitive Anuran family.

The development of the chondrocranium and visceral arches of Leiopelma archeyi is followed through intracapsular and post-hatching stages. In the comparative section certain outstanding features of development are considered. An account of previous views on the nature of the basal connection of the quadrate to the neurocranium in Leiopelma and Ascaphus is given. Finally, a theory relative to the basal connection of the quadrate and the nature of the jaw suspension in Amphibia is suggested, and the absence of certain middle-ear structures in all Urodela and in both these primitive Anurans is discussed.


Nitrogen is an important raw material for the chemical and fertilizer industries. Almost all nitrogen products are derived from ammonia, and about 85 percent goes to fertilizer use. This report examines the world nitrogen industry and its outlook through 1995/96. Although the nitrogen fertilizer industry grew very rapidly during the 1960s, it recently declined owing to a depressed world agricultural situation which resulted in surplus supplies with very low prices. In a period of oversupply and with a depressed agricultural market, nitrogen fertilizer prices are expected to remain low. After 1988/89, however, the surplus balance will diminish, and prices are forecast to rise sharply and peak in the early 1990s. But they will probably decline again toward the mid-1990s after new capacity comes on stream. A detailed examination has been made in this paper of the total costs of producing urea and ammonia and how this is likely to be affected by future energy prices, plant location, and utilization rates. After 1990 it is estimated that at least 10 new nitrogen fertilizer plants will be needed each year through 1995 to meet increasing demand and to replace worn-out plants.


This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of performing event audiences and what affective experiences are expected by them. Through extensive literature review, a hypothesis was developed that sought to identify the differences among audience characteristics. The data were collected from performing event visitors in the Dongsoong-dong street every Saturday, May, 2010. And empirical studies have analyzed the characteristics of affective experiences and tested hypothesis, employing methods such as frequency analysis, reliability analysis, factor analysis, T-test, and ANOVA. Two factors have been identified in affective experience: artistic experience and eventual experience. ANOVA and T-test have revealed that 20-30 ages, higher incomes, college students and office workers draw the highest targeting groups. And the hypothesis on differences among performing event audiences' characteristics was adopted. The implication of this research provides practitioners with the particular attributes to manage for a successful performing event marketing.


Abstract The synthesis of 2′-deoxyisoinosine (2a) and the related 2′, 3′- dideoxynucleosides 2b and 3 is reported. The 3′-phosphonate 4b as well as the phosphoramidite 4c were prepared and employed in solid-phase oligonucleotide synthesis.


The distance coefficients of sampling plots along on ecotone transect were applied in the moving split-window technique for determining ecotone position and width in the area across the Abies faxoniana timberline ecotone in Balang Mountain, on the southeast edge of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The result showed that distance coefficients, such as Bray-Curtis percent dissimilarity, relative Euclidean distance, chord distance, squared Euclidean distance, coincide in peaks and width in the transect. Among them, the squared Euclidean distance is the best one to show the variation of ecotone in the moving split window. The peaks and widths of space coefficients are sensitive indicators for those of ecotones. Therefore, moving split-window technique is an effective method for ecotone determination and community classification.


In this paper, we analyze downlink single-user massive MIMO systems which are equipped with generalized spatial modulation (GSM) over frequency-flat channels. This system activates fewer transmit antennas (in all of available transmit antennas at BS) in each channel use. consequently, power consumption due to RF chains is significantly reduced. In this system, information bits are conveyed through transmit antenna indices in addition to modulation symbols (e.g M-PSK). The sub-optimum receivers for this system, in downlink, suffer from a high bit error probability respect to an optimum ML detector, because of stage-wised detection of activated antenna indices and signal modulation symbols. In this thesis, we first investigate the optimum ML detector and sub-optimum. Then we propose a hybrid detector, which can achieve a near-ML performance, with a much lower complexity. Finally, we extract an union bound for average bit error probability for proposed detector. Also we show that GSM-MIMO outperforms conventional MIMO in point of view of energy efficiency.


Orthogonal Time Frequency Space (OTFS) as a two-dimensional modulation scheme designed in the delay-Doppler domain, is realized by inverse symplectic finite Fourier transform (ISFFT) and symplectic finite Fourier transform (SFFT), for combating the high Doppler channels toward future wireless communications. Meanwhile, generalized spatial modulation (GSM) offers an efficient implementation for multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems, by activating only part of the transmit antennas to alleviate inter-channel interference (ICI). In this paper, the combination of the above two concepts is exploited, for bridging their unique advantages. On the other hand, an iterative detector based on generalized approximate message passing (GAMP) is also developed for GSM-OTFS. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed GAMP detector can achieve better performance than the conventional minimum mean square error (MMSE) detector.


Necessary and sufficient conditions are given for J-contractive real matrices in terms of their state-space representation. It is shown that chain and chain scattering matrices of linear, time-invariant, passive networks are J-contractive real matrices.


Abstract Objective: To evaluate the use of the Bakri balloon in postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) resistant to medical treatment. Methods: The Bakri balloon was applied to 45 women with PPH after failure of initial management. Bilateral internal iliac artery ligation (BIIAL) and hysterectomy were performed if necessary. Results: The Bakri balloon was applied in 45 women; an additional BIIAL was required in nine women. The mean inflation volume of the Bakri balloon was 571±264 mL (range: 240–1300 mL). Hemostasis was achieved in 34 (75.5%) women with the Bakri balloon alone, and in six women with an additional BIIAL. The Bakri balloon was effective with additional procedures overall in 40 of 45 (88.8%) women. In 34 women with uterine atony, the Bakri balloon was successful alone in 27 (79.4%) and with an additional BIIAL in 30 (88.2%) women. An inflation volume of >500 mL was necessary in 18 women with uterine atony. Conclusion: The Bakri balloon may be performed as a first line of treatment for PPH resistant to uterotonic agents, and can be used not only in tertiary centers but also in limited-resource centers. The inflation volume of the Bakri balloon should be adjusted according to the type of PPH; a volume exceeding 500 mL may be necessary in uterine atony.


The authors generated high-order harmonics by using the two-component laser-ablation plumes, which were irradiated by a femtosecond laser pulse. The harmonic spectra from double-target schemes comprised those obtained from separate targets. For indium/chromium plumes, the enhancement of two harmonics (13th and 29th orders) was obtained at the wavelengths of 61.15 and 27.41nm, respectively. The conversion efficiencies of these two harmonics were estimated to be 10−5. The authors attribute the enhancement of 13th and 29th harmonics to the multiphoton resonances with the strong radiative transitions of ions in indium and chromium plumes, respectively.


The research evidence indicates that coaching and mentoring are significant features of effective professional learning for teachers. In science education, coaching is occasionally included in professional development for science subject leaders but only very occasionally used in formal subject-specific training of classroom teachers. This paper is a summary of the research findings from a comparative review of two continuing professional development (CPD) programmes for primary teachers, which combined professional development in science subject knowledge and science leadership skills with training of coaching skills for teachers. The research compared the outcomes of two different approaches to CPD on teacher development and the outcomes on pupils' attainment and progress. In one approach, teachers received coaching training as an integral part of science CPD, whereas in the other programme, teachers received CPD on science subject specific and leadership skills together with skills in coaching. The findings from this research indicate that the teaching of coaching skills has a positive role in embedding newly acquired science-specific knowledge for teachers and improving pupil outcomes across the school. The research also revealed that many teachers lack an appreciation of how coaching skills can enhance the impact of science-specific CPD but after experiencing coaching CPD and using new skills in practice, they understood the impact of coaching on their professional learning.


Ion implantation of a rare-earth element is shown to dramatically enhance the magnetic properties of Fe nanostructures. Low energy 7 keV Sm+ ion implantation was used to modify the properties of superparamagnetic Fe nanoparticles on the surface of a SiO2 film on Si. The Fe nanoparticles were prepared through low energy ion implantation followed by electron-beam annealing. Ion beam analysis and transmission electron microscopy measurements showed that Sm implantation resulted in the formation of a Sm x Fe1 − x O y layer on top of the Fe nanoparticles and sputtering of Fe in the Fe nanoparticles. There is an enhancement of the saturation magnetization when there is a Sm x Fe1 − x O y layer on top of the Fe nanoparticles. This enhancement is most noticeable for an implanted Sm concentration of 3 × 1015 cm−2 and there is also an enhancement of the susceptibility and hence the permeability by a factor greater than 14. An anomalously large moment per implanted atom is found and which is above the values expected for Fe or any known Sm x Fe1 − x O y compound. High Sm fluences result in complete ablation of the Fe nanoparticles and the magnetic order disappears.


In this paper, the current research status of photocatalyst TiO2 is summarized. The applications of TiO2 photocatalytic degradation regarding the influencing factors, the reaction mechanism and the reaction of the active material are described in the paper. The TiO2 modification methods (physical modification, chemical modification such as doped with single element and multiple elements, and two-component modifying) used in the photocatalytic reaction are detailed in this paper. By summarizing the relevant research results of TiO2 in the field of photocatalysis, it will help to improve the catalytic degradation capacity of TiO2 in the future and make greater progress in the field of environmental science.


Personalized fashion matching task aims to predict the compatible fashion items given available ones for specific users through the effective modeling of the third-order interaction patterns among the user and item pairs. To achieve this, previous methods separately model two key components, user-item and item-item relationships, which ignore the inherent correlations between them and lead to undesirable performance. With a new perspective, this paper proposes to formulate the personalized item matching as the multi-relational connectivity and apply a single-component translation operation to model the targeted third-order interactions. With user-item-item interactions naturally constructing a multi-relational graph, we further device two graph learning modules to enhance the translation-based matching approach from two perspectives,C ontext and Path. The proposed method, named CP-TransMatch, has been tested with extensive experiments on three benchmark fashion datasets and proven effective. It sets the new SOTA for the personalized fashion matching task.


Background and objectives: Heart failure (HF) incidence is higher among Blacks compared to Whites. There is a paucity of recent data on racial differences in in-hospital mortality and resource utilization in a nationally representative, multiracial cohort of HF hospitalizations. Hypothesis: There are significant racial-ethnic differences in HF hospitalization outcomes. Methods: We used the 2011-2012 Nationwide/National Inpatient Sample to identify hospitalizations with a primary diagnosis of HF using relevant ICD-9 codes. Outcomes of interest were in-hospital mortality, length of stay (LOS) and mean inflation adjusted charges. The effect of race on outcomes was ascertained using logistic or linear regression. Results: 375,740 primary HF hospitalizations representing 1.8 million hospitalizations nationwide were included. Mean age was 72.6 (SD 14.6) years and 50.1% were females. After adjusting for age, sex, hypertension, diabetes, APR-DRG mortality risk and socioeconomic status, in-hospital mortality was s...


The ionospheric reflection channel is known to be dispersive, time varying, and random. The dispersive nature of the ionosphere and the propagation geometry make the transfer function frequency selective, i.e., frequency dependent; while the ionospheric motions cause the communication channel to be time dependent or fading. Frequently, the background ionosphere is permeated by random irregularities. A radio wave propagating through such an irregular ionosphere will have its phase randomized, followed by phase mixing through diffraction. As a result, the transfer function also acquires a random character. The transfer function for a random, dispersive, and time-varying ionospheric reflection channel can be simulated numerically using the phase-screen-diffraction-layer method. The detailed behavior of the calculated transfer function is examined in several different ways. First, the spatial behavior of the transfer function, both magnitude and phase, is depicted in three-dimensional plots. This spatial behavior can also be interpreted as a temporal behavior for a moving ionosphere. A curious phase jump of 180° accompanied by a deep fade at some frequency within the passband of the signal is found to occur. To facilitate the examination of this phase jump, locus plots are made. Using real and imaginary parts of the transfer function as coordinates, the transfer function traces out a locus with increasing frequency on this complex plane. In the presence of severe selective fading the locus is shown to pass through the origin occasionally. When this happens, the magnitude of the transfer function dips down to zero with an accompanied phase jump of 180°. Such an event is caused by destructive interference among multipath components. Second, the channel behavior is examined by taking temporal moments of the received pulse. This is done for several sample pulses, each up to the moments of the fourth order, giving the arrival time, pulsewidth, skewness, and kurtosis. Each of these four quantities is then treated as a time series in the computation of the mean, standard deviation, histogram, power spectrum, and autocorrelation function. The stochastic behavior of these four quantities is thus thoroughly studied.


Despite the rising popularity of video games, the majority of the medium's audience continues to be male. One reason may be that character representations in video games are geared toward male players. This content analysis used video game reviews from a heavily trafficked Internet site to investigate the prevalence and portrayal of male and female video game characters. Consistent with the findings of previous studies, female characters were found to be underrepresented and proportionally more often sexualized in comparison to their male counterparts. In addition to these findings, the study's innovative method-the use of online video game reviews as an indirect measure of video game content-shows promise as a tool for future content analyses of video games.


Trends in divorce rates in Canada since 1951 are briefly reviewed. The significant increase in the divorce rate over time is attributed to the easing of legal restrictions on marital dissolution since the Divorce Acts of 1968 and 1985. (ANNOTATION)


Gold-bonding wires have been frequently used in connecting semiconductor devices and microstrip lines. This paper presents a design of transition between microstrip line and semiconductor device with gold-bonding wire. As the material and shape of the loop has already been discussed in other researches, this paper concentrates on the positions of the solders and the height of the chip. The results of the simulations indicate that if the solders locate beside the edge of the microstrip line, and the height of chip is appropriate designed, less insertion loss can be expected.


The analysis carried out in this research had as objective the development of a process for the bench-scale production of biodiesel. The reaction was produced by the alkaline transesterification method, in which the reagents were subjected to a temperature of 60 ± 2°C, maintaining constant mechanical agitation. From a factorial experimental design, we evaluated the maximum and minimum levels of three variables: catalyst, molar ratio, and reaction time, combining their effects without altering the response quality, verifying the yields, and interpreting the possible variations based on statistical treatments to justify which one has the best performance. As the main point, two alcohols were used, one imported (methanol) that underwent a high-quality process, and another with a large national production capacity (ethanol). The research emerges as a way to reinforce the statement that biodiesel is one of the solutions to mitigate environmental impacts and socioeconomically contribute to the country. However, the production cost DOI: 10.5327/Z2176-947820200600 BIODIESEL PRODUCTION BY ETHYLIC AND METHYLIC ROUTE BASED ON FACTORIAL DESIGN PRODUÇÃO DE BIODIESEL POR ROTA ETÍLICA E METÍLICA A PARTIR DE PLANEJAMENTO FATORIAL Biodiesel production based on factorial design


Objective: Acute necrotizing encephalitis (ANE) is a fulminant, para-infectious disease that has been classically described in pediatric populations in Eastern Asia. Since the first cases of ANE reported in 1995 in the setting of influenza outbreaks and pandemics, there have been only five published cases involving otherwise immunocompetent adults. In this study, we present a fatal case of Influenza A-associated ANE in a healthy 54 year old Caucasian male confirmed on MRI and brain autopsy studies. Background: A 54 year old Caucasian male presented with vomiting, vision changes, slurred speech and unsteady gait in the setting of recent presumed upper respiratory infection on doxycycline and prednisone. Neurologic status rapidly declined necessitating intubation and sedation. Patient had multiple MRI studies revealing progressive multifocal, symmetric T2FLAIR and T2* lesions involving the brainstem, thalami, external capsules, and hippocampi. Respiratory viral panel was positive for Influenza virus A, subtype H3. Workup for contributory infectious, metabolic, and autoimmune processes was otherwise unremarkable. Patient was treated with one gram methylprednisolone for five days followed by 20mg/kg of IVIG divided over five days. There was no clinical improvement, and family pursued comfort measures and terminal extubation. Autopsy studies revealed bilateral symmetrical foci of necrosis consistent with ANE. Design/Methods: NA Results: NA Conclusions: ANE is a rare, often serious neurologic sequelae of influenza infection precipitating rapid neurologic decline correlating with symmetric inflammatory and hemorrhagic lesions consistent with necrosis on MRI and biopsy studies. Pathogenesis of the disease remains unclear, though this case may support a prevailing theory that it is caused by an immune response to an external inflammatory process disrupting the blood-brain barrier via cytokine storm. There is no definitive treatment for ANE at this time, and treatment is empirical immunosuppression. Further studies are necessary to understand underlying pathogenesis, optimize medical management, and improve clinical outcomes. Disclosure: Dr. Pulakanti has nothing to disclose. Dr. Holland has nothing to disclose.


The present invention, color rendering is high, to provide a white light-emitting organic EL panel and its manufacturing method is excellent in the stability of the color of the basic product. A toward the anode layer side to the cathode layer side, an anode-side blue light emitting unit, a connection layer, and has a cathode-side red-green light emitting unit, connected layer, when energized, electrons to the anode side blue light emitting unit side injected, and is intended to inject holes to the cathode side red-green light emitting unit side, the cathode side red-green light emitting unit, a red phosphorescent material, a green phosphorescent material, and a composite layer containing a phosphorescent layer host material includes red green phosphorescent-emitting layer is, the maximum emission peak wavelength of the red phosphorescent material is spaced above 60nm the maximum emission peak wavelength of the green phosphorescent material, color rendering index Ra and pursuant to JIS Z 8726 and special color rendering index R9 can be illuminated both 90 or more white light configuration.


Neurolinguistics is, broadly speaking, the study of the relation between language and the brain. Presently, its main focus, mostly for methodological reasons, is laid on the representation and processing of language as revealed by the study of the neurogenic language disorders, mainly adult aphasia. A major aspect of modern neurolinguistics is the application of linguistic and psycholinguistic theory to pathological data. Data from pathology are then used to back up theoretical claims ("external" evidence). Given the increasing interest in neurolinguistic studies on the one hand, and the relative unfamiliarity of the field to general linguists on the other, we decided to publish this special issue on neurolinguistics. The idea is to give a representative view of modern neurolinguistic research. We had several objectives in selecting the papers for the issue. Various linguistic levels (phonology, morphology, syntax) and different methodologies (single case analysis, group study) were to be represented. Furthermore, different experimental tasks, different languages and different types of language disorder were to be included; both empirical studies and theoretical reflection were to be honored. Finally, we wanted to focus on Scandinavian neurolinguistics. The issue contains six papers on neurolinguistics, four of them authored by Scandinavian linguists from Finland, Norway and Sweden; the remaining two papers come from Canada and Germany. Jussi Niemi (Joensuu, Finland), Matti Laine (Turku, Finland), and Jiirgen Tesak (Nijmegen, The Netherlands) present an up-to-date survey on neurolinguistics. After a short outline of the development of the discipline, they focus on two primary research areas within neurolinguistics: the mental lexicon and syntax in aphasia. Inger Moen (Oslo, Norway) sets out to apply generative non-linear phonology to language output in Norwegian conduction aphasics. Convincingly she shows (i) that modern linguistic theory offers a principled way in which to assess aphasic language, and (ii) that neurolinguistic data can be used to test theoretical arguments, in the present case the rivalry between a traditional generative model and non-linear phonology. Gary Libben (Edmonton, Canada) presents a single case study of an English-speaking aphasic. Libben investigates obligatory and automatic access to the constituents of English compounds like blueprint or seahorse. The author argues for a parallel access model of compound


The study of the contractivity properties of polyhedral sets with respect to (w.r.t) linear systems subject to control saturation is addressed. The analysis of the nonlinear behavior of the closed-loop saturated system is made by dividing the state space in regions of saturation. In each one of these regions, the system evolution can be represented by one of a linear system with an additive disturbance. From this representation, a necessary and sufficient algebraic condition for the contractivity of a polyhedral set w.r.t the control saturating system is stated. Consequently, a Lyapunov function can be associated with the polyhedral set and the local asymptotic stability of the closed-loop system inside the set is guaranteed. The conditions for polyhedral contractivity are used to state an algorithm, based on linear programming, to compute polyhedral regions of local asymptotic stability for the closed-loop saturated system.


 Mental illness is common National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2001-2004 found that 13% of youth ages 8-15 had a mental illness in the preceding 12 months (assessed 6 major DX) 12-15 y/o had higher rates conduct or mood disorders as compared to ADHD in younger kids Less than 50% received services. Boys and older youth were more likely to seek care. Appropriate use of psychotropics?


A longitudinal stress and strain sensor based on the multimode POF Bragg grat- ings was analyzed. Several flber modes were propagating in this multimode flber, but two flber modes were chosen for the stress and strain sensing. Variations of the peak wavelengths for both modes were approximately linear, but eventual discrepancies may be attributed to a certain vis- coelasticity of the flber and measurement errors. The stress and strain coe-cient was estimated to be about 5.3nm/N and 11.8nm/%, respectively. Furthermore, the efiective strain-optic con- stant and the Young's modulus of POF were calculated to be about 0.248 and 3.367GPa. All the results based on such multimode POF gratings sensor for the measurement of refractive index, strain, temperature, etc.


Although the next generation high-k gate dielectrics has been defined for the 45nm complementary metal oxide semiconductor technology node, threshold voltage control and equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) scaling remain concerns for future devices. Therefore, the authors explored the effect of incorporating dysprosium in the gate stack. Results suggest that improved EOT-leakage scaling is possible by adding Dy to the interfacial SiO2 layer in a 1:1 ratio or by adding 10% Dy to bulk HfO2. The deposition of a 1nm Dy2O3 cap layer lowered the threshold voltage by ∼250mV. In addition, for future dynamic random access memory capacitor applications, dielectrics with e of 50–130 are projected by the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, unachievable with standard high-k dielectrics. Theoretical modeling can help direct the experimental work needed for extensive screening of alternative dielectrics. Moreover, materials such as perovskites only exhibit a sufficiently high-k value when properly crystall...


provide an essential clue for evaluating the prognosis of the patient. However, seldom investigations have provided an information on prognostic implications of function tests, or the prognostic features of the patient based on a severity figure of the renal function. In this study, an investigation was made to evaluate the prognostic implications of practically used function tests in a series of unselected consecutive hospitalized patients with diffuse glomerulonephritis. The survival patterns of the patients were analysed based on the substantial initial severities of function tests at the admission, such as Fishherg's concentration test, PSP test, serum NPN level, glomerular filtration rate, and renal blood flow.


A novel basic catalyst, KOH loaded on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (K-MWCNTs), was prepared by using an impregnation method and was used in the synthesis of biodiesel from canola oil in a batch laboratory scale reactor. Response surface methodology (RSM) in conjunction with the central composite design (CCD) was employed to statistically evaluate and optimize the biodiesel production process. Reaction time, alcohol to oil molar ratio, and catalyst content were chosen as the variables to optimize the biodiesel yield. The catalyst was characterized by scan electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and FTIR analysis. A biodiesel yield of 94.23 wt % was obtained with a reaction time of 3.34 h, alcohol to oil ratio of 13.56:1, catalyst content of 3.02 wt %, and reaction temperature of 60 °C. The catalyst showed high performance at low operating temperature.