The effect on aid allocation of the income level and population size in the recipient country is analyzed. The data show that both variables have a significant and robust negative effect, but they explain only a small part of the variation. The main thrust of the paper is a meta-analysis of the large aid allocation literature, where the impact of the two variables is analyzed, controlled for a wide range of factors. By the standard meta-tests, the results converge to much the same as found in our own analysis of the data. The poverty effect is in accordance with stated policies of all donors, while the population effect appears contrary to the stated policy of all donors. The main multilateral donors do not influence this pattern. Indeed, the evidence suggests that the poverty effect is smaller for the multilateral donors. Six main hypotheses are presented to explain the population effect.


Hirschsprung's disease (HD), or congenital megacolon, is a disease characterized by the absence of ganglion cells in the myenteric (Auerbach's) and submucosal (Meissner's) plexuses of the intestine, causing maximum obstruction in neonates. The purpose of this study was to investigate patient characteristics, clinical presentation, investigations, surgical treatment, and outcome. This study is a retrospective study of HD cases. Data obtained from medical records at the institution. Of the 109 with a positive rectal biopsy diagnosis, 91 were patients with this disease. There were more cases in boys than girls with a ratio of 1.37: 1. The patients were grouped into 4 age groups: neonates 29 cases (26.61%); infants/toddlers/young children 55 cases (50.46%); children over 5 years16 cases (14.69%); and teenagers 9 cases (8.24%). The neonates generally presented with abdominal distension, green vomiting, and a history of delayed meconium release, while the toddler, child, and adolescent groups experienced constipation and abdominal distension. Furthermore, from 37 patients (33.94%) that got barium enema examination, the most common transition zone was observed in the rectosigmoid (17 patients, or 45.9%). In addition, The Duhamel procedure was the most frequent pull-through procedure found in our cohort which was performed in 40 patients (36.70%). In conclusion, HD is mostly found in male infants/toddlers/young children with abdominal distention and chronic constipation as common symptoms. The barium enema shows the rectosigmoid as the most common transition zone, while the Duhamel pull-through procedure is the primary definitive operative action performed.


In the search for novel antiviral resistance strategies, the expression of the yeast gene SKI2, obtained by PCR from genomic DNA of a single yeast strain (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) was studied. This gene encodes a protein which blocks the translation of non-capped, non-polyadenylated viral RNA. There are plant viruses with these characteristics, such as tobacco necrosis virus (TNV) and potato virus Y (PVY). Transgenic tobacco plants were obtained which carried the SKI2 gene and in which the following silencing events were observed: kanamycin-sensitive plants carrying the complete NPTII gene, kanamycin-resistant plants which did not express the SKI2 gene, and one kanamycinresistant plant which expressed a fragment of the SKI2 gene. None of the transgenic plants showed resistance to TNV or PVY viral infection.


One polarization measurement technology is proposed to apply in the basic Terahertz time domain spectroscopy (THz- TDS) using only one rotatable polarizer. The method to upgrade such a polarimetric Terahertz time-domain Spectroscopy (P-THz-TDS) was presented. The method is verified by measured important polarization parameters including Stokes parameters, polarization dependent loss, and birefringence of materials.


As the world feels the impact of the coronavirus, the role of sport and philanthropy has merged as a venue for generating social impact and providing relief to those in need. This research focuses on the social responsibility and philanthropic mobilization of professional athletes to address urgent social needs during the COVID-19 crisis. In particular, the study focuses on the role that social media plays in the communication of these socially responsible activities developed by professional athletes. This study examined how the various ways that athletes are giving back and the messaging strategies related to the impact of COVID-19. By doing that, the authors identified three key areas: Awareness Raising and Advocacy; Calls to Action and Engagement; Information Sharing and Communication. Other relevant insights into philanthropic and social responsibility strategies and approaches were identified (e.g., direct giving, fundraising, awareness raising, mobilizing networks, or information sharing). The paper also discusses the potential responses and outcomes garnered by communicating these efforts and offers insights into how professional athletes can maximize their social impact around the world during crisis during crises such as the COVID-19.


The present clinical study was conducted on six dogs presented with non-union fracture of radius-ulna to Department of Surgery and Radiology at College of Veterinary Science Rajendranagar. Out of the six dogs five were male and one was female, with body weight range from 3.4 to 20 kg. The dogs were in the age group of 9 months to 7 years. The six cases of non-union fractures were diagnosed by clinical signs, orthopaedic examination and survey radiography. The dogs were examined for loss of limb function, abnormal mobility, deformity, loss of weight bearing and movement at fracture site. Pre-operative radiographic examination in two orthogonal views, i.e., antero-posterior and medio-lateral radiographs showed the hypertrophy or elephant foot appearance due to the callus formation. All the radiographs showed well defined fracture ends without any apparent biological activity at the site. Distinct radiolucency or persistence of the fracture gap, angulation and mal-apposition of the fracture fragments at the fracture site all indicating non-union of the radius-ulna fractures were consistently seen in all the six dogs. These fractures were stabilized with 3.5 Dynamic Compression Plates (DCP) and 2.7 mm Veterinary Cuttable Plates (VCP) respectively produced rigid fracture fixation in all the six dogs. Selection of plate and screws were determined by taking in to consideration of the size of the bone, fracture configuration and weight of the dogs. The harvesting of autogenous cancellous bone graft from the cranio-lateral metaphyseal area of the proximal humerus of contralateral limb by using 3.5 mm drill bit and bone curette enabled collection of autogenous cancellous bone graft. Radiographic examination showed good apposition and alignment of the fracture fragments in all the six dogs. Immobilization provided by both the DCPs and VCPs was considered satisfactory in all the six cases. Bony callus bridging the fracture with faint radiolucent line was evident in all the six cases by 60 post operative day. Callus appeared to be approaching the density of the normal bone. The DCPs and VCPs and screws used as neutralization plate for fixation of fractures in all six cases were in position and provided stability of the fractures treated. All the dogs which were diagnosed for non-union radial fractures showed grade V lameness before surgical management. Postoperatively, all cases progressed to grade I lameness by the end of 30 post-operative day. Based on present study, it was concluded that bone plating with Dynamic Compression Plate (DCP) and Veterinary Cuttable Plates (VCP) with autogenous cancellous bone grafting was found to have resulted in satisfactory healing of the non-union fractures of radius-ulna in dogs.


In following Jesus Christ, living and thinking of the faith are in mutual interpenetration. In this sense, incarnation-theological approaches can link together Divine and human, concret and universal dimensions. A comparison of the theologies of Ralf Miggelbrink and of Marie-Dominique Chenu and Yves Congar, which can respectively be qualified as an incarnation-theology of plenitude of life and an incarnation-theology of the signs of the time, introduces in an eschatological complementarity with respect to the exposure to modern age and the present time.


Notwithstanding some non-English speaking countries' curriculum has changed over time, the students' vocabulary acquisition remains pathetic. The evidence of the plight of students' mastery on vocabulary can be easily and obviously found on their daily basis activity of English learning. Teachers are encouraged to employ various approaches, methods, or strategies to meet the goal of the improvement of pupils' vocabulary. This article suggests an idea of how to develop it through the use of WhatsApp. It has now been ubiquiotous application attached in students' smartphone which brings through students and teachers to be connected anytime and anywhere. The utilization of WhatsApp in language teaching is believed to prompt learners' motivation which in the end will lead them to learn vocabulary effectively.


Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) is one of the most important factors which affect the success of any organization. Success or failure of an organization heavily depends on the behavior of the employees. According to the pilot survey, the researcher identified that staff employees of ABC (Pvt.) Limited have a lower level of OCB. By reviewing the literature, the researcher identified that Emotional Intelligence (EI) is one of the most important factors which impacts on OCB. This study aims to find out whether EI, Self-Awareness and Relationship Management positively impacts on OCB together to find out the impact of SelfManagement and Social-Awareness on OCB. Population of the study was 95 staff level employees. Data were collected through census method by using a self-administrative questionnaire. A simple regression analysis was applied to find out the positive impact of EI on OCB while a multiple regression analysis was applied to find out the positive impact of Self-Awareness and Relationship Management and the impact of Self-Management and Social-Awareness on OCB. Results indicate that the EI, Self-Awareness and Relationship Management positively impacts on OCB while there were no impact of Self-Management and Social-Awareness on OCB.


Low concentration Penicillin (10-20 MU/L) could stimulate the stem growth of Actinidia seedling in tubes. Their fresh weight, dry weight, height and the numbers of leaves were apparently higher than those of controls (P<0.01), while the stem growth of the seedling was inhibited by high concentration Penicillin (more than 40 MU/L). Penicillin could promote the activity of POD and SOD in the callus of Actinidia (P<0.05), and with the concentration of Penicillin increasing, the soluble protein content of callus raised apparently (P<0.01).


. This paper considers the choice between nominal income and money supply targeting in an open economy with efficiency wages. The results show that, when real unemployment benefits are rigid, both nominal income and money supply targeting have the same stabilizing performance. On the contrary, if nominal unemployment benefits are rigid, then we come to a conclusion that either in the face of goods demand shocks or aggregate supply shocks, a sufficient condition for nominal income targeting to be preferable is that the income elasticity of money demand be less than unity.


Anisakidosis is a fish-borne zoonosis caused by parasitic nematodes of the family Anisakidae, of which the species belonging to Anisakis simplex complex are the most representative. It is considered an emerging disease in Spain. The objective of this study is to analyse the presence of larvae in fish frequently consumed in Spanish supermarkets, inferring the risk of infection. In total 1,786 specimens of 9 different fish species, from two geographical origins (Atlantic and Mediterranean), acquired fresh and not eviscerated were examined for anisakid nematodes. Analysis showed that 33.7% of the samples were parasitized by Anisakis larvae. The horse mackerel (Trachurus trachurus) presented the highest total prevalence (66.0%), followed by the silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis) (59.5%), the mackerel (Scomber scombrus) (58.4%), the blue whiting (Micromesistius poutassou) (53.9%) and the European hake (Merlucius merlucius) (45.0%). In general, the prevalence was higher in Atlantic than in Mediterranean fish. In all the species analysed, a higher presence of the parasite was detected in the viscera than in the flesh, although in the most parasitized species a noteworthy prevalence and abundance was observed in the flesh. In conclusion, risk factors, like fish species and origin, should be considered by consumers, in addition of following the recommendations established by Commission Regulation (EU) No1276/2011 and the Spanish Royal Decree 1420/2006.


Let {xt} (t = 0, ±1, ±2 …) be a stationary non-deterministic time series with E(x2t) < ∞, E(xt) = 0, and let its spectrum be continuous (strictly absolutely continuous) so that the spectral distribution function is the spectral density function. It is well known that {xt} then has a unique one-sided movingaverage representation where .


Heel sticks account for most blood tests performed in neonates without analgesia because topical local anesthetics are ineffective on heel glabrous skin. We investigated the antinociceptive effect of an alternative topical analgesic, a vapocoolant spray, on hind paw glabrous skin of rat pups. The spray was applied by two methods: method 1 for 4 s at a distance of 8 cm and method 2 for 10 s at a distance of 18 cm.


with noninvasive positron emission tomography (PET) measurements utilizing bolus injections requires the time-activity curve ofthe tracer in arterial blood (1,2). The arterial input function can be determined from a sequence ofwithdrawn arterial blood samples by count ing in a well counter. Other methods yielding an arterial input function ofhigh temporal resolution include con tinuously monitored withdrawn arterial blood (for brain imaging)(3-5), and region ofinterest (ROl) calculation from dynamically—acquired PET images of the left ventricular (LV) chamber in cardiac studies (2). The aim of this study was the validation of the noninvasive measurement of arterial time-activity curves obtained with dynamic PET cardiac imaging, by comparison with activity curves obtained independ ently with a beta probe that measured radioactivity in blood continuously withdrawn from the LV. The low sensitivity of the beta probe to background radiation allowed measurement of blood activity in the immedi ate vicinity of the probe without contamination from gamma raysoriginatingin the body ofthe experimental


665 Background: ACT with hormonal and chemotherapy agents are a routine part of the management of breast cancer and have been reported to decrease bone mineral density, a major determinant of bone loss. Moreover, studies based on small populations have shown an increased bone loss risk in women treated for breast cancer. This retrospective study assesses the association between ACT and osteoporosis/osteopenia risk on a large population of women with nonmetastatic breast cancer. Methods: From the anonymous health claims of 2 million employees and their beneficiaries, 14,604 women who had ≥ 2 breast cancer claims without bone metastases were identified between 1/98 and 3/03. Of these, 8,762 (mean age: 62 ± 11 years) received ACT and 5,842 (mean age: 63 ± 12 years) did not (control group). The mean follow-up period was 31 months for both groups. The endpoint was prevalence of osteoporosis/osteopenia. The association between ACT and bone loss was examined in both univariate and multivariate analyses. Multivar...


The present work deals with the natural convection in a horizontal slot whose bottom is subject to a spatially periodic heating and the upper wall is kept isothermal. This type of heating results in the appearance of hot and cold zones along the slot length, and initiates primary convection regardless of the magnitude of the heating. It has been shown that the primary convection has a simple topology consisting of one pair of counter-rotating rolls per heating period when the heating intensity does not exceed the critical value of Racr = 427. An explicit solution describing such flow structures has been developed The main analysis is focused on the heating with the wavelength that is large when compared with the slot opening (small wave number limit). In this case, secondary motions in the form of rolls aligned in the direction of primary rolls and concentrated around the hot spots emerge for more intense heating (Ra > Racr). This results in bifurcation of new solutions corresponding to secondary convection with different topologies. When 427 < Ra < ~470 the secondary motions form the "supercritical pitchfork bifurcations" and can occur only if the heating wave number  is reduced below ~0.14. Increase of heating intensity to Ra > ~470 results in secondary motions occurring at larger values of , i.e.  > ~0.14, and bifurcations change character into "bifurcations from infinity". The bifurcation processes are insensitive to variation of the Prandtl number for Pr  0(1).


1Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405 USA (*correspondance: email@example.com) 2Department of Environmental, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA 01854 USA 3Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015 USA 4School of Earth and Space Science Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ 85287 USA


Cellular decomposition of a topological space is a useful technique for understanding its homotopy type. Here we describe how a generic smooth real-valued function on a manifold, a so called Morse function, gives rise to a cellular decomposition of the manifold.


In this paper, we analyze numerically and experimentally a remote optical sensor system based on Raman Amplification, composed by one long period grating operating as a sensor head separated by 50 km from the optical source and the interrogation unit composed by two fiber Bragg gratings. Since the active components of the system and the sensor head are separated over such a large distance, it is necessary to consider optical amplification to strengthen the optical signal. The use of Raman amplification allows reaching the desirable gain bandwidth by changing the pump lasers parameters such as the power, number of pumps and spectral position. We present the obtained measurement results of the environmental temperature for two different setups that was analyzed a priori by the numerical model. We show that the power ratio between the two central wavelengths of the FBG has a linear relation with the change of LPG resonance with temperature.


Background: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a progressive growth disease that affects spine biomechanics, and left-right trunk symmetry, however its effect on lower limb muscles strength remains unclear. Purpose: The aims of this study were to compare the isokinetic strength for hip abductor and adductor muscles in AIS with that of healthy individuals, and also to detect the effect of scoliosis location and curve direction on hip abductor and adductor strength. Subjects: this study was conducted on 44 patients with AIS and 23 controls. All patients were selected having structural double curve scoliosis ranged between 20 to 50 degrees Cobb's angle. Methods: AIS patients were divided according to the direction of the primary curve into two groups; right and left scoliosis. Isokinetic torques of the hip abductor and adductor muscles were assessed in both groups of patient and compared to the control one. Results: There was a significant increase in peak torque values of left hip abductor muscles (p 0.05). Conclusion: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis causes hip abductor and adductor muscle imbalance. Consequently, assessment and rehabilitation of idiopathic scoliosis should include restoring proper muscle balance of hip abductor and adductor muscles regarding the scoliosis curve direction.


We present high-speed ULTRACAM photometry of the eclipsing post-common-envelope binaries DE CVn, GK Vir, NN Ser, QS Vir, RR Cae, RX J2130.6+4710, SDSS 0110+1326 and SDSS 0303+0054 and use these data to measure precise mid-eclipse times in order to detect any period variations. We detect a large (∼250 s) departure from linearity in the eclipse times of QS Vir which Applegate's mechanism fails to reproduce by an order of magnitude. The only mechanism able to drive this period change is a third body in a highly elliptical orbit. However, the planetary/sub-stellar companion previously suggested to exist in this system is ruled out by our data. Our eclipse times show that the period decrease detected in NN Ser is continuing, with magnetic braking or a third body the only mechanisms able to explain this change. The planetary/sub-stellar companion previously suggested to exist in NN Ser is also ruled out by our data. Our precise eclipse times also lead to improved ephemerides for DE CVn and GK Vir. The width of a primary eclipse is directly related to the size of the secondary star and variations in the size of this star could be an indication of Applegate's mechanism or Wilson (starspot) depressions which can cause jitter in the O−C curves. We measure the width of primary eclipses for the systems NN Ser and GK Vir over several years but find no definitive variations in the radii of the secondary stars. However, our data are precise enough (ΔRsec/Rsec < 10−5) to show the effects of Applegate's mechanism in the future. We find no evidence of Wilson depressions in either system. We also find tentative indications that flaring rates of the secondary stars depend on their mass rather than rotation rates.


Agri-Environmetal Policy (AEP) application raised a wide debate about payment levels and the efficiency of the economic instruments used. One tool for improving the efficiency of AEP can be the adoption of auctions mechanisms in contract allocation. This mechanism is clearly included in reg. 1698/2005, that represents the framework for rural development for the years 2007-2013. The objective of this paper is to simulate the impacts of the allocations of Agri-environmental contracts through auctions in Emilia Romagna Region. Auctions may contribute to the efficiency improvement of AEP, even if their performance is strongly affected by the farmers' expectations about the transaction costs and budget level.


In our country, the oppression of minority shareholders by controlling shareholders is a usual phenomenon,which is due to the majority rules in corporate governance. The present corporation law is unclear or lack of rules to deal with it. This article discusses and suggests systems protecting the right of minority shareholders on the dasis of reference of foreign corporation. Law theory and practice in order to solve the problem arisen in corporation law enaction nowadays. 1.fiduciary duties of controlling shareholbers. 2.the evading system of voting right. 3.the appraisal right of dissenters. 4.shareholders derivative suit.


This article uses 30 years of investigatory and special reports by the American Association of University Professors' Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure to understand how retrenchment and restructuring practices have been enacted on ways detrimental to both individual and the corporate faculty. Informed by changes in the logics in higher education and broader understandings of retrenchment, we identified larger patterns of where retrenchment and restructuring in violation of academic norms took place. We further identified three main themes in the reports: Declaring Exigency and / or Launching Restructuring, Faculty Roles and Rights during Retrenchment/Restructuring, and Criteria Used in Removing Faculty. Together, they demonstrate how faculty were excluded from decisions to declare financial exigency or undertake restructuring, denied meaningful roles in enacting changes once exigency or restructuring had been announced, were targeted for removal in violation of tenure rights, and were denied academic due process.


In an attempt to explore the innovative ways to introduce the knowledge of the human body in terms of its structures and functions, we have first time introduced three dimensional (3D) virtual human cadaver, Anatomage in our human anatomy classes, and discuss whether the use of Anatomage enhances the understanding/knowledge of the human body as determined by their class average with or without using anatomage. We have observed that the use of Anatomage in their teaching significantly increase their class average. Moreover, we also discuss the limitations and advantages of Anatomage as an effective teaching tool to teach human anatomy.


Summary. Based on accurately located 23 very shallow earthquakes (h = 1-14 km) in northern and central Greece by portable networks of seismic stations and by the joint epicentre method, the travel times of the P,-waves from the foci of these earthquakes to the sites of 54 permanent stations in the Balkan region have been determined. The travel times of P,-waves in the central and eastern part of the area (eastern Greece, south-eastern Yugoslavia, the Aegean Sea, Bulgaria, southern Romania, western Turkey) fit a straight line very well with the P,, velocity equal to 7.9 f 0.1 km s-'. On the contrary, the travel times of P,,-waves to stations in the western part of the area (Albania, western Greece) do not fit this curve because the P,,-waves travelling to these stations are delayed by more than 1 s due to the thicker crust under the Dinarides-Hellenides mountain range. Time delays for P,,-waves have been calculated for each permanent station in the Balkan area with respect to the mean travel-time curve of these waves in the central and eastern part of the area. Corrections of the travel times for these delays contribute very much to the improvement of the accuracy in the location of the shallow earthquakes in the Aegean and surrounding area.


Abstract:Research has explored the impact of neighborhood conditions on academic performance. To address an understudied population—high-achieving, Black male youth from violent communities—this study utilizes Neighborhood Narrative Frames to qualitatively explore Black male youths' lived experiences in their communities and perceptions in relation to school. This phenomenological study explored 18 participants during the 2009–2010 academic year of a charter high school in Chicago, Illinois. Findings illustrate that participants frame their neighborhoods in terms of safe and unsafe people and places, and frame school as a present and future escape from community violence.


A wideband low-noise amplifier (LNA) with low and flat noise figure (NF) is presented in this article. For conventional wideband noise matching, the noise performance in the high-frequency region of the entire wideband is usually deteriorated due to the frequency-dependent nature of the minimum noise figure (NFmin) for a MOSFET. To address this issue, a novel wideband noise matching approach aiming at noise matching in high band is proposed. This approach can reduce the NF in high band at the cost of a slight NF increase in low band, eventually achieving a low and flat NF and thus a better overall noise performance for a wideband LNA. In addition, the multistage noise matching technique is employed at high frequencies to further reduce the NF caused by the second amplification stage. To validate the proposed techniques, a two-stage LNA prototype was designed and fabricated using a 65 nm CMOS process. The experimental results indicate a peak gain of 16.6 dB with a −3 dB bandwidth (BW) from 7.2 to 27.3 GHz (a fractional BW of 116%). Within the entire band of interest, the simulated NF is low and almost constant (3.3–3.4 dB), while the measured NF falls within the range of 3.30–3.72 dB. Considering the uncertainty of NF measurement, a 0.21 dB NF flatness is one of the best results among the reported millimeter-wave wideband LNAs. The measured third-order input intercept point (IIP3) is −6 dBm at 20 GHz, while the power consumption is 13.2 mW. In addition, only two passive transformers are used in this design, leading to a compact chip core area (0.14 mm2).


Use of the minicourse to provide special and regular educators with inservice training for educating handicapped children is the focus of the article. In view of existing concerns and approaches for providing inservice training, a rationale is given for selection of the minicourse strategy. An empirical study was conducted using the minicourse to teach skills for coping with the handicapped. Results indicated a high level of competency attainment and positive changes in attitudes toward the handicapped on the part of the participants. It is evident that the minicourse is both appealing and functional for providing school personnel with inservice training. Planning, implementation, and evaluation procedures for the minicourse are delineated.


Inapreviouspaper(H´ enouxandSomov,1991)ithas been shown that, in an initially weak magnetic field, a radial in- flowofneutralscangenerateazimuthalDCcurrents,andthatan azimuthal velocityfield can create radial DC currents leading to thecirculationofverticalcurrents.Theeffectsofsuchazimuthal velocity field on the intensity and topology of electric currents flowing in thin magnetic flux tubes is now investigated in detail in this paper. Two systems of currentsflowing in opposite direc- tion are created connected at photospheric level by transverse currents.Theelectromagneticforcesproducedbythesecurrents playasignificantrˆ oleinthestructureanddynamicsoffluxtubes. Even for moderate values of the azimuthal photospheric veloc- ities, the currents created are strong enough to prevent by the pinch effect an opening of the flux tube with height; despite the decrease of the ambient gas pressure with height, the thin flux tube extends into the solar atmosphere above the temperature minimum region. In the internal current shell, the rise from the photosphere of a partially ionized gas is found to have two main effects: (a) the upflow of this gas associated to a leak of neutrals across magneticfield lines leads to an increase of the ionization degree withaltitudetypicalforthechromosphere,andbringsabovethe temperature minimum region an energy flux comparable to the flux required for chromospheric heating, (b) the outflow of neu- tralsthattakesplaceatthechromosphericlevelacrossmagnetic field lines, and leads to ion-neutral separation, may explain the observed abundance anomalies in the corona by enhancing in the upper part of the tube the abundances of elements of low ionization potential. Upward motions are also present between the two current systems outside the internal cylindrical current. Their velocity is high enough to lift the matter to an altitude characteristic of spicules.


Objective: To establish a SPE- HPLC method for the determination of Triton X- 100 residues in equine antitetanus immunoglobulin F( ab')2. Methods: Samples were pre- treated on Oasis HLB SPE column,then cleaned- up by water and 5% methanol,and finally extracted by methanol. The analysis of extracts was performed on a ZORBAX Extend- C18column( 4. 6 mm × 150 mm,5 μm) with a mobile phase consisting of methanol- water( 80∶20,v/v) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL·min- 1. The column temperature was set at 30 ℃ and the injection volume was 10 μL. Triton X- 100 was detected at the wavelength of 230 nm with a DAD detection. Results: The established HPLC method resulted in sharp and symmetric peaks of Triton X- 100,whereas the calibration curve of Triton X- 100 displayed a good linearity within the concentration of 0. 56- 55. 34 μg·mL- 1( r =0. 9998). The LOD and LOQ were 2. 03 ng and 4. 06 ng,respectively. Specificity,precision,accuracy,stability and robustness were acceptable. The extraction recovery was 91. 8%. Conclusion: The results indicate that the established method is convenient,accurate and reproducible,which can be used in the analysis of Triton X- 100 residues in equine antitetanus immunoglobulin F( ab')2.


In my thesis I am going to address a special kind of learning difficulty, called Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). The primary aim of my thesis is to draw attention to Attention Deficit Disorder and to explain its importance. In order to make Attention Deficit Disorder easier to understand I am going to clarify the definition of this learning disability, and I am going to introduce its most common types. I will also discuss its history, its symptoms and causes. I will explain how this disorder affects students during the learning process. I would like to provide some practical help for teachers that they may use to handle students suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder. In order to provide some of these suggestions, I interviewed special education teachers who deal with children with Attention Deficit Disorder. By learning about Attention Deficit Disorder, one may better understand the problem of those students who suffer from it. Teachers, by providing greater tolerance and greater acceptance, may give these children not only a better chance to succeed in school, but also the foundations of succeeding in life.


In this paper, by using critical point theory, we establish some results for the existence of periodic and subharmonic solutions to subquadratic discrete Hamiltonian systems.


A digital camera that combines the functions of the retinal camera and corneal camera into one, single small, easy to use instrument. The single camera can acquire digital images of a retinal region (9) of an eye, and digital images of a corneal region of the eye. The camera includes a first combination of optical elements for making the corneal digital images. A portion of these elements arc shared elements including a first objective element (12) of an objective lens combination, a digital image sensor (18) and at least one eyepiece for viewing either the retina or the cornea. The retinal combination also includes a first changeable element of the objective lens system for focusing, in combination with the first objective element, portions or all of the retinal region at or approximately at a common image plane. The retinal combination also includes a retinal illuminating light source (27), an aperture within the frame and positioned within the first combination to form an effective retinal aperture located at or approximately at the lens of the eye defining an effective retinal aperture position, an infrared camera (34) for determining eye position, and an aperture adjustment for adjusting the effective retinal aperture based on position signals from said infrared camera. The cornea combination of elements includes a second changeable element of the objective lens system for focusing, in combination with the first objective element, portions of all or the cornea region at or approximately at a common image plane.


Objective To analyze the clinical value of CT and type-B Ultrasound in the diagnosis of gynecologic pelvic tumors.Methods A total of 63 cases of patients with pelvic tumors were included in this study,which con firmed by surgery and pathology in our hospital during the period from January 2008 to September 2012.And CT and type-B Ultrasound were performed in all patients.The results of two methods were compared.Results Compared with pathologic results,the accordant diagnostic rate of CT in 63 cases was 90.5%,and that of the type-B Ultrasound re sults was 85.7%.There is no statistical significance between the two methods(P 0.05).Both methods have a high value for evaluating uterine fibroids and benign ovarian tumors;and with low detection rate for endometrial cancer and ovarian cancer.Conclusion There is a good clinical value of CT and type-B Ultrasound in the diagnosis of gynecolog ical pelvic tumors.Type-B Ultrasound can be used as a preferred method,and the CT can be used as an important auxiliary method,for the diagnosis of female pelvic tumors in clinical practice.


Power restraint should be temperate,and should follow three reasonable paths:the power path,the law path, and the society path. Anti-corruption not only should grasp typical cases,but also should set up a long term mechanism of preventing and administrating corruption.


The sections in this article are:

1
A. Characteristics of the Test System
1.1
Selection of the Test System

1.2
Composition of Medium

1.3
Dose-Response Curves

1.4
Effect of pH

1.5
Effect of Temperature

1.6
Kinetics of FA Production

2
B. Site of Action
2.1
I. Analysis on Cellular Level

2.2
II. Analysis on the Subcellular Level


Aiming at arousing people's cultural sensitivity, enriching people's knowledge of other cultures and increasing people's awareness of intercultural communication, the paper, based on the Chinese Mulan drama and Disney Mulan film, reaches some conclusions about cultural integrations and differences between China and America by comparisons and analyses of Mulan's images in the two subjects. The sample for this study will be the Chinese student that age between 18 to 26 and who study in China. And for the sample unit, researcher will choose 200 Chinese students as sample to study. The questionnaires are distributed to Chinese students who experienced Disney Mulan film and the movie of Chinese Mulan drama. The researchers in this study applied purposive sampling and Convenience sampling to be the second and third step respectively. Through comparison and analysis of Chinese Mulan drama and the American movie The Mulan, the reseacher intends to compare the Chinese and American culture from Hofstede's (1991) four cultural dimensions: individualism/collectivism (I/C), masculinity/femininity (M/F), and power distance (PD) and the uncertainty avoidance (UA). In the research, Chinese audience who watched the Disney version of Mulan film are more likely to demonstrate stronger cultural orientation in individualism, masculinity, low power distance, and in low uncertainty avoidance. Chinese audience who watched the Chinese version of Mulan film are more likely to demonstrate stronger cultural orientation in collectivism, femininity, high power distance, and in high uncertainty avoidance.


Repeated application of 25% KCl on the cerebral cortex for 5 hours led to a decrease of protein content (referred to both dry weight and DNA content). Incorporation of 14C-leucine into the cortical protein was inhibited by 33%. Six hours after KCl had been removed the normal incorporation rate was found. The potassium and water content of the KCl treated cortex increased. Similar though less marked changes were found in the subcortex, while the values of these substances in the contralateral cortex remained unchanged. The potassium level was found to recover in 24 hours. Much of the change in water content also occurred in 24 hours with recovery to control values in about 13 days.


Abstract 3253 Drug resistance is a major cause of treatment failure for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and novel strategies that circumvent resistance mechanisms are urgently needed. The Pim kinases ( PIM1 , PIM2 , PIM3 ) are a small family of proto-oncogenes within the CAMK superfamily with essential roles in the regulation of signal transduction cascades that promote cell survival, proliferation, and drug resistance. Accordingly, overexpression of Pim kinases has been reported in a wide range of malignancies including AML. However, the specific role of Pim kinases as regulators of sensitivity to standard agents utilized in AML therapy remains to be elucidated. We hypothesized that inhibiting Pim kinase activity would significantly increase the efficacy of the standard of care drug cytarabine by disrupting signaling events that enable cells to resist cytotoxic stress. In order to investigate a potential role for Pim kinases as mediators of cytarabine resistance, we first evaluated their expression levels in paired HL-60 cell lines that are sensitive and resistant to cytarabine. Our results showed that the levels of Pim-1 are significantly higher in cytarabine-resistant HL-60 cells compared with their sensitive counterparts. Consistent with this observation, treatment of cultured AML cell lines and primary AML blasts with cytarabine led to a dose-dependent increase in Pim-1 expression as assessed by quantitative RT-PCR and immunoblotting. SGI-1776 is novel small molecule inhibitor of Pim kinase activity that has entered Phase I clinical trials. To further test our hypothesis, we investigated the in vitro efficacy of SGI-1776 in a panel of 9 human AML cell lines. SGI-1776 led to a dose-dependent reduction in viability in all cell lines evaluated. Subsequent experiments showed that SGI-1776 impaired clonogenic survival, diminished cell proliferation as determined by BrdU incorporation, and induced apoptotic cell death. These effects were associated with a significant reduction in the phosphorylation of the Pim kinase substrate and apoptotic regulator Bad as well as an increase in the expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, p27. We next investigated whether inhibiting Pim signaling with SGI-1776 could augment the efficacy of cytarabine. Treatment of AML cells with the combination of cytarabine and SGI-1776 led to significantly greater inhibition of clonogenic survival and induction of apoptosis over what was achieved by either single agent. To validate the therapeutic utility of this combination, vehicle, cytarabine, SGI-1776, or cytarabine and SGI-1776 were administered to mice bearing MOLM-13 AML xenografts for 21 days. Treatment with the combination of these two agents was very well tolerated and significantly increased the efficacy of single agent cytarabine therapy. Immunohistochemical analyses of specimens from mice treated with this regimen revealed that SGI-1776 diminished Bad phosphorylation and cooperated with cytarabine in vivo to promote activation of caspase-3 and inhibit tumor cell proliferation as quantified by the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). Collectively, our data demonstrate that antagonizing Pim kinase activity represents a new strategy to increase the therapeutic efficacy of cytarabine. A clinical trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of this combination for patients with AML that are refractory to standard treatments is warranted. Disclosures: Taverna: SuperGen, Inc.: Employment. Choy: SuperGen, Inc.: Employment.


FIELD: machine building. SUBSTANCE: fuel components are burnt, water is evaporated, and steam is heated with produced energy, water vortex-like shell is created in combustion chamber with vacuum inside its central area, inside of this area fuel components are burnt, and intense water evaporation and steam heating are carried out after convolution of vortex-like water shell. Suggested method is realised in steam-gas generator, which comprises combustion chamber, ignition device, evaporation chamber, water supply device, in which, according to invention, water supply is installed in upper part of combustion chamber (near head) and is arranged in the form of bush with tangential channels for swirling of water flow and creation of vortex-like shell, and diaphragm is installed in evaporation chamber, made in the form of nozzle located in point of vortex-like water shell curling, besides diaphragm is located with a wide nozzle cut inside evaporation chamber. EFFECT: improved efficiency, reduced thermal load on elements of device design due to more efficient cooling and design simplification. 4 cl, 1 dwg


In this letter, we investigated the effects of microwave heat treatment on amorphous In–Ga–ZnO (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) with transparent graphene source and drain (S/D) electrodes. Microwave annealing (MWA) was simultaneously applied to post-deposition annealing of the a-IGZO channel layer and post-metallization annealing of the graphene S/D electrode, and then, the influence of MWA on the a-IGZO channel and graphene S/D electrode was evaluated and compared with conventional thermal annealing. We measured the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${I}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> characteristics of the a-IGZO TFTs, analyzed the trap density of the channel layer, the interface trap density between the gate oxide and the channel, and the instability of device was evaluated. In addition, the effect of MWA on the contact resistance and process stability of transparent graphene electrodes was analyzed. As a result, we improved the electrical properties of the a-IGZO TFTs, simplified the annealing step, and reduced the thermal budget without damaging the graphene S/D electrode for transparent and flexible displays.


The paper introduces an ongoing project for the development of a parallel treebank for Italian, English and French annotated in the pure dependency format of the Turin University Treebank, i.e. Parallel‐TUT. We hypothesize that the major features of this annotation format can be of some help in addressing the typical issues related to parallel corpora, e.g. alignment at various levels. Therefore, benefitting from the tools previously used for TUT, we applied the TUT format to a multilingual sample set of sentences from the JRCAcquis Multilingual Parallel Corpus and the whole text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.


Ecosystem services (ES) represent a way to represent and quantify multiple uses, values as well as connectivity between ecosystem processes and human well-being. Ecosystem-based fisheries management approaches may seek to quantify expected trade-offs in ecosystem services due to actions such as restoration and gear restrictions, or due to changes such as climate change and ocean acidification. However, lack of adequate data, time or budget constraints needed to model these scenarios in part creates a demand to directly apply (i.e., transfer) existing models and estimates of ecological production across different geographic, temporal, or spatial scales. Inconsistency and a lack of transparency in how knowledge gaps are filled by transfers can create sources of uncertainty and error that can propagate through and between ecosystem service values and assessments. While production estimate transfer represents a useful tool for research, policy and management to gain ES information when primary research is not available, transparency concerning these values is needed for assessing assumptions, trade-offs, and the need for primary research. While methodologies exist to facilitate and analyze the transfer of economic ES values (e.g., benefit transfer), there is no analogous formalized process to transfer ecological data underlying ES production. Drawing from the benefit transfer literature, we present a framework to similarly improve the transparency and accuracy of transferred ecological and biophysical ES production estimates in coastal ecosystem services assessments, specifically for habitat-fishery linkages.


The article is devoted to the seventy fifth anniversary of the MedicalHPharmacy College, that became a separate structure of Kursk State Medical University. A special attention is paid to administrative structure and to the educational and upHbringing activities of the college.


The Government has set a target of two weeks for referral of suspicious tumours to specialist centres, but what symptoms should raise suspicion of chondrosarcoma and what factors affect survival and local recurrence? A retrospective study of 320 cases of chondrosarcoma from the Scottish Bone Tumour Registry was performed. Presenting symptoms and were related to tumour grade and duration of disease free status and survival. Pain, swelling and loss of function were the most common presenting features. Rapid progression of pain was significantly associated with high-grade tumours. Longer duration of symptoms from onset to presentation was associated with low-grade tumours. High-grade tumour and metastasis at diagnosis were associated with poor prognosis. Thus, patients with a longer history of symptoms actually appear to have longer disease free survival after presentation. Expert opinion should be sought for patients presenting with pain, swelling and loss of function. Practitioners should make prompt referral of patients presenting with pain that is rapidly increasing in severity.


The invention discloses an application recommendation method and device and belongs to the technical field of Internet. The method includes the steps that according to behavior data of a first user, a first behavior characteristic value is obtained; from a user relation chain of the first user, at least one second user is determined according to the first behavior characteristic value, the second users are located on the user relation chain of the first user, the similarity between a second behavior characteristic value and the first behavior characteristic value is larger than a preset threshold value, and the second behavior characteristic value is a behavior characteristic value of the second users; based on behavior data of at least one second user, application to be recommended to the first user is determined. As the behavior characteristic values can generalize and summarize the behavior data of the users and are accurately represented in a numerical value form, the behavior characteristic values can accurately express interests and hobbies of the users, then the interests and hobbies, determined based on the behavior characteristic values, of the first user and the second users are more similar, and therefore the application to be recommended can be accurately determined based on the behavior data of the second users.


In the past years, a remarkable mapping has been found between the dynamics of a population of M individuals undergoing random mutations and selection, and that of a single system in contact with a thermal bath with temperature 1/M. This correspondence holds under the somewhat restrictive condition that the population is dominated by a single type at almost all times, punctuated by rare successive mutations. Here we argue that such thermal dynamics will hold more generally, specifically in systems with rugged fitness landscapes. This includes cases with strong clonal interference, where a number of concurrent mutants dominate the population. The problem becomes closely analogous to the experimental situation of glasses subjected to controlled variations of parameters such as temperature, pressure or magnetic fields. Non-trivial suggestions from the field of glasses may be thus proposed for evolutionary systems - including a large part of the numerical simulation procedures - that in many cases would have been counter intuitive without this background.


This study aims to analyze the appropriate model or method in developing sustainable entrepreneurship in Medan Area University students based on entrepreneurship courses This study uses a mixed method research, namely in conducting research the researcher uses a combination of quantitative methods and qualitative methods. Mixed research methods are used because in this study it produces two types of data, namely quantitative data and qualitative data.The mixed method used in this research is concurrent mixed methods, which are procedures in which the researcher brings together or combines qualitative data and quantitative data to obtain a comprehensive analysis of the research problem this research resulted decrease (reduction) in the Pre-Test value to the Post-Test Value where the Negative Ranks show an N Value of 8 and a Mean Rank of 6.06, 9 students experienced an increase in entrepreneurial learning outcomes from Pre-Test scores to Post-Test scores. The mean rank or the average increase is 11.61. Then the difference between entrepreneurial learning outcomes for the Pre-Test and Post Test, it is known that Asymp.Sig (2-tailed) is 0.185 where the value is 0.0185 <0.05, so it can be concluded that "Ha is accepted". Which means "sustainable entrepreneurial development foster students based on entrepreneurship courses can be applied"This study finds the same contrasting dimensions of entrepreneurial interest and business learning, namely the innovation dimension. Likewise, the contrast dimension of self-concept and parental background is the dimension of attitude contrast.


In July and August, Maths Year 2000 focuses on maths and play. Stephanie Cooper has some good ideas to help you get started.


In this paper, a novel octagon conformal antenna array has been presented. The proposed array characterize by lightweight, low cost, and a wide return loss bandwidth (RLBW), in addition to that it has a wide axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW). The proposed antenna consists of 8-faces in octagon form, each face consists of two slotted spiral substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) antenna. In order to cover 360° around the vehicle during moving, an omnidirectional pattern will be needed, consequently, two feeding techniques can be performed, conventional feed or sequential feed. The superior characteristic of the proposed antenna makes it a good solution to receive the satellite signals in the vehicle during moving. Using the spiral shape overcomes the slotted SIW antenna bandwidth limitation to get more than 35 % RLBW, and 10 % ARBW, in addition to 7 dBi gain within a single face. For the omnidirectional pattern about 5dBi directivity has been achieved.


These proceedings contain thirty-one papers which review both the theoretical and the experimental status and near future of baryon instability research. Baryon instability is investigated from the vantage point of supersymmetric and unified theories. The interplay between baryogenesis and antimatter is examined. Double beta decay experiments are discussed. The huge Icarus experiment is described with its proton decay capabilities. Neutron-antineutron oscillations investigations are presented, especially efforts with ultra-cold neutrons. Individual papers are indexed separately on the Energy Data Base.


Start-up of landfill leachate treatment process of two-stage UBF and two-stage BCOR was investigated.The results expatiated that when hydraulic load was 0.42 h/L and start-up time was 60d,average COD removal rate of effluent was 67.4%,methanococcus occurred in UBF reactor,stable microbe group formed on padding of BCOR reactor.By this time,the start-up was testified to have been completed smoothly.


toluene or dimethyldisulfide (DMDS). A preliminary bibliog. review allowed to select a silicone oil (polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS) that seems efficient for VOC absorption, as well as for biol. regeneration. The aim of this work was to evaluate the performances of the 1st step of the process, namely the absorption step. The partition coeffs. of the targeted VOC in PDMS were quantified. The expts. permitted to demonstrate that the VOC have more affinity for PDMS than for water (partition coeffs. 267 and 36 times higher for toluene and DMDS, resp.). Nevertheless, the measured diffusion coeffs. of the VOC in PDMS are lower than those measured in water (∼30 times lower), which can lead to a lower efficiency of the process. Expts. were then carried out in a packed column pilot plant. As expected, efficiency increased with the liq. flow rate. In optimized operating conditions, toluene and DMDS are totally absorbed in PDMS for inlet gaseous concns. of ∼68 and 84 ppm, resp.


Increased density and other development drilling headed Midcontinent activity in 1987 and late 1986 as most operators shifted spending to prospects they expected to pay out at $15-17/bbl for oil and $1.50/Mcf for gas. Exploration took a back seat, but a few interesting discoveries turned up in Oklahoma and Kansas. As 1987 budgets became available, operators spudded key wildcats in Oklahoma and Iowa. Kansas approved blanket infill drilling in most of the 4,163 spacing units in Kansas Hugoton field at the rate of one fourth of each operator's locations per year. Most operators began drilling eligible locations during first quarter 1987. Oklahoma asked operators to comment on whether it should move toward infill drilling in Guymon-Hugoton Gas Area, the Oklahoma portion of Hugoton field.


The necessity of new approaches to the modeling of rods in the analysis of high-rise constructions is justified. The possibility of the application of the three-dimensional superelements of rods with rectangular cross section for the static and dynamic calculation of the bar and combined structures is considered. The results of the eighteen-story spatial frame free vibrations analysis using both one-dimensional and three-dimensional models of rods are presented. A comparative analysis of the obtained results is carried out and the conclusions on the possibility of three-dimensional superelements application in static and dynamic analysis of high-rise constructions are given on its basis.


UNUSUAL diseases are often worth describing because of scientific or academic interest, but when they are uniformly fatal there is little clinical advantage in their early recognition. However, when treatment becomes available, the situation is changed and recognition at the earliest possible moment is essential. Such a change has occurred in the management of cryptococcal meningitis since the discovery and clinical use of amphotericin B in 1956." 10 We wish to report a further case of cryptococcal meningitis, successfully treated with amphotericin B, and also to comment briefly on the other forms of the disease, which may be associated with malignant tumours. The condition should be considered in the differential diagnosis of any case of aseptic or lymphocytic meningitis which runs a subacute or chronic course and fails to respond to other treatment. In the natural history of yeast meningitis, there are many parallels with tuberculous meningitis. It should be recalled that the tubercle bacillus is classified as a Mycobacterium and has some biological characteristics that resemble those of the fungi. The route of entry, via the lungs, and the clinical course of infection with the yeasts are similar to those with the tubercle bacillus. In each case, meningitis is a common complication9 and, in each, the balance of resistance between the host and infecting organism is of paramount importance in determining the onset and course of the infection. Yeast meningitis also occurs frequently as a complication of malignant disease, especially the lymphomas. Thus it is possible to divide cases into two groups: those which might be called primary, in which a cryptococcal meningitis occurs alonethat is, not as a complication of any Qther recognized illness (in these infections the prognosis is reported to be good with adequate treatment);' and other cases, which might be called secondary, in which yeast meningitis complicates malignant neoplastic disease. When associated with malignant lymphomas, it seems quite probable that the widespread dissemination of the yeast organism is due, at least in part, to the disturbed immunological defences of the body.'3 One case of the primary type which was successfully treated will be reported in detail; another case of the secondary type will be commented upon briefly. Before 1958, the course of the illness in patients with yeast meningitis was almost always fatal. An example of this is a case of primary cryptococcal meningitis, seen in 1949, which was treated by penicillin and heavy doses of iodides. The clinical course was characterized by gradual deterioration during a five-month period. Autopsy showed evidence of cryptococcal meningitis and multiple small cerebral abscesses which had a predilection for the lenticular and caudate nuclei. Such cases are, of course, well documentedY' '. By way of contrast, we wish to report the following patient, successfully treated with amphotericin B, in whom a symptom-free follow-up period of two years was obtained.


The purpose of this research was to find out any significant improvement in students' writing skill after they are taught by using the Discovery Learning Method combined with Video on Students" Writing Skill of Recount Text at the tenth Grade of MAN 1 Sungai Penuh. The design of this research was quasi experiment research. Besides, the population of this research was the tenth grade of MAN 1 Sungai Penuh. Then, the sample of this research was 41 students that consisted of two classes. There were class MIA1 as experiment class and MIA2 as control class. Moreover, the sample of this research used cluster random sampling. The result of the research, it was gotten t-count 17,24 t-table 1,6838 at the freedom of 40 an level significant 0,05. The value of t-count was higher than t-table. It showed the hypothesis H_1that stated there was significant effect of Discovery Learning Method Combined with Video on students" writing skill of recount text at the eleventh grade of MAN 1 Sungai Penuh was accepted. Therefore, the research suggested for English teacher to use Discovery Learning Method combine with Video on teaching writing, especially of teaching writing recount


In this paper we present the state/event-based temporal logic μUCTLwhich is a logic oriented towards a natural description of dynamic properties of UML models. This logic allows to specify the basic properties that a runtime system configuration should satisfy and to combine these basic predicates with logic and temporal operators which allow to take into consideration also the events performed by the system when evolving from one system configuration to another. Doubly Labelled Transition Systems are the semantic domain for μUCTL. The logic is supported by a prototypical verification environment under development at ISTI built around the "on the fly" UMC model checker.


Applying model-based learning for the optimal decision of the multi-agent system is not trivial due to the expensive price or even the impossibility of obtaining the ground truth for training the model of the complex environment. Such as learning the optimal action of hydraulic supports in the top-coal caving, the optimal action could not accessible as the ground truth of the corresponding state in the intricate processes. Regarding the latent ground truth as the hidden variable is an effective method in the hidden Markov model. This paper extends the hidden variable of ground truth to the multi-agent system and proposes the hidden Markov random field (HMRF) model with reinforcement learning for optimizing the action decision of the multi-agent. In the HMRF model, the input states and the output actions of the multi-agent are considered as an observable random field and a latent Markov random field, respectively. Based on the HMRF model, the optimal decision is inferred by the maximum posterior probability with the prior probability obtained by Q-learning. Meanwhile, the parameters of the HMRF model are estimated by the expectation maximum algorithm. In the experiment, the top-coal caving demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method that the recall of top-coal is improved prominently with a very small price of increasing the rock-rate. Furthermore, the proposed method is employed to deal with the predator-preys problem in the gym. The experiment result shows that the communication between agents by the HMRF increases the reward of the preys.


Sir: In the 6 June issue of the International Journal of STD and AIDS, Hambly and Luzzi reported that it is important to give people a choice of provider of sexual health services, namely either a genitourinary (GU) clinic or a general practitioner (GP). A third alternative might be providing postal specimens. In April 2006, we sent postal swabs to 231 female students taking part in a chlamydia screening trial. They were aged between 16 and 27 years and a third were from ethnic minorities. The response rate was 61% (141/231), of which 20 swabs came back after a reminder phone call or email. Responders and non-responders were similar demographically: 30% of responders (42/141) and 25% of non-responders (35/141) were from ethnic minorities; 11% of responders (16/141) and 14% of non-responders (20/141) were aged 20 years or younger. Six of the 141 samples (4.3%) tested positive for chlamydia. Five were new infections in women who had a negative test 12 months earlier, giving an incidence of new infection of 3.5%. This 61% response rate compares favourably with other studies. Many of the women participating in our study were black teenagers recruited from Further Education colleges in deprived areas of South London – a high-risk group notoriously difficult to reach. However, all the women had agreed to return the postal swabs and all had previous experience of the testing kit when they were recruited to our trial 12 months previously. The Department of Health is piloting a scheme in which chlamydia-testing kits are being given out at London branches of Boots Chemists. They report that around 19,000 kits have been given out, of which approximately 8000 (42%) have been returned (Department of Health, personal communication). The CLASS project reported an uptake of 25.3% for a single postal chlamydia test in women aged under 25 years. Our findings suggest that self-taken samples returned by post may be a realistic alternative to visits to a GP or GU clinic for tests for chlamydia. It may prove particularly suitable for women who do not want to be examined by a doctor or nurse, or who are unable to get to a clinic or surgery. Many of the women we have spoken to during the course of the trial have told us that they feel far more comfortable with a self-taken test than with one done for them by a healthcare practitioner. If this were to be offered as an alternative to other sexual health services, the response rate might be reasonable since women would presumably have requested a testing kit, whereas we offered kits to all our study participants, not only to those who considered themselves to be at risk of infection. In summary, we report a 61% response rate to a postal chlamydia self-testing kit in a group of young, hard–to–reach, women. We suggest that such a kit might be offered in conjunction with other service providers to increase the choices people have when accessing sexual health services, thereby hopefully increasing the number of people being tested and treated for chlamydia.


PURPOSE: A broadband high frequency filter is provided to increase the amount of coupling between a plurality of resonators by connecting the plurality of resonators through a coupling reinforcing structure. CONSTITUTION: A plurality of resonators(30) are arranged in a housing body(10) in a row. A cover(12) hermetically seals the open part of the housing body. A coupling reinforcing structure increases the amount of coupling between a plurality of resonators. The coupling reinforcing structure is a coupling wire(50) or coupling plate. A resonance adjusting screw is installed on one side or cover of the housing body to tune a resonant frequency. A coupling adjusting screw is installed on one side or cover of the housing body to tune the coupling between the resonators.


Abstract : A number of disadvantages existed within the Apple IIe version of the Landing Craft Air Cushion vehicle Crew Selection System (LCSS). These disadvantages included slow processing speed, memory constraints, and cumbersome test administration. The system was also less conducive to future test development. The LCSS was upgraded to an IBM PC compatible Zenith 248 system. A comparison of 48 single and composite subtest scores between like measures of the two systems yielded significant positive correlations (p < .0001). The majority of the correlations ranged from .60 to .89. A small percentage of the associations were less robust. Overall, however, the Apple IIe and Zenith 248 versions of the LCSS proved to be comparable testing systems. LCAC, LCSS Test battery, Apple IIe, Zenith-248, Computerized tests, Crew selection system.


Estimates of total and useable amounts of forage dry matter (DM) in a pasture are essential for budgeting feed to livestock and for forecasting pasture supply. Herbage mass or pasture mass is the amount of above-ground forage DM per unit land area, expressed on an oven-dry basis (usually 60 C/140 F, 100 C/212 F, or microwave oven-dried to constant weight). Oven-drying removes weight variation due to differences in herbage DM concentration, which ranges from 15-50% of fresh weight. Herbage mass is a basic pasture condition measurement and usually does not represent the amount of forage that may be consumed by grazing animals. Prudent levels of livestock utilization based on plant and animal performance requirements typically range from 50-80% of herbage mass. Reference methods for determining herbage mass involve clipping to nearly soil-surface level, oven-drying, and weighing numerous samples from measured areas. Herbage mass is usually expressed in units of lb DM/ac in the USA, while scientific publications and most other countries use units of kg DM/ha. These units are roughly interchangeable as follows:


A major problem when designing infinite impulse response (IIR) filters in the complex domain is ensuring that the filter is stable, especially when the IIR filter approximates the inverse of a non-minimum phase system, as is often the case for equalisation filters. Adding delay to the target frequency response can result in a stable filter, but up to now selecting that delay has been a matter of trial and error. This paper presents an automated method for finding this delay.


To the Editor:

Furlan and colleagues1 present 2 scenarios leading to orthostatically induced syncope in healthy young subjects: "progressive sympathetic activation" and "progressive sympathetic inhibition." Their physiological characterization of the scenarios is based in large part on the observed changes in heart rate variability (HRV).

HRV interpretation is complex. Muscle sympathetic nerve recordings show that sympathetic firing fluctuates on a beat-to-beat basis (see, for example, Reference 2).However, due to the time constants involved, the sinoatrial pacemaker can only follow the low-frequency fluctuations in sympathetic firing (10-second rhythm and slower), whereas faster-changing sympathetic activity is integrated and becomes apparent only in the average heart rate (HR). There is more uncertainty as to the interpretation of low-frequency (LF) HRV, and the Task Force on Heart Rate Variability disagrees as to whether …


In the former criminal procedure laws, the legislators paid more attention to the rights of the criminal suspect than to the victim.The victim is on the witness stand and his lawful rights and interests can not obtain effective protect.The criminal procedure law in effect of China definitely stipulates the rights and duties of the victim.This paper discusses the issue on the rights and duties of the victim and puts forward a proposal of protective legislation in order that the victim can exercise his own rights and interests in the criminal action.


This paper analyzes the achievements of our country's scientists in heliogeophysical studies in the period after the first International Geophysical Year (1957-58), the experience of which was taken into account in organizing and carrying out an array of projects in solar-terrestrial physics. The use of the first geophysical rockets and later of scientific satellites in the study of the ionosphere showed that fundamental improvements were needed in the theory of the formation of the ionosphere. It was necessary to construct de novo empirical and theoretical models of the spectra and fluxes of short-wavelength solar radiation from the x-ray to the UV range. To do this, a model of the sun's upper atmosphere was created in which the main role belongs to the transitional region between the chromosphere and the corona. © 2005 Optical Society of America


The sealant with corrosion resistance at high temperature was developed.The sealing test on thermal spraying coating surface was carried out using brushing and ultrasonic infiltration method.And,acid corroding experiments were carried out at room temperature and 750 ℃.The results show that the pores of the coating surface are basically sealed,sealing agents and nano-particles can penetrate into the pores of the coating,thereby reduce the porosity of the coating.The sealant can obviously reduce the porosity and shield the alkali,salty,and acid proof of the coatings,specially the thermostable corrosion property are greatly improved.


The research reported in this study is based on the analysis of empirical data gathered in McDonald's restaurants in Constanta and Bucharest . The corpus contains 100 excerpts which are uncontrolled samples of face-to-face naturally occu rring interactions in service encounters and amounts at approximately 5 hours of face-to-face na turally occurring interactions in service encounters. The data have been gathered through eth nographic observation by noting down on paper (immediately after the interaction) the natural spe ech event in which the researcher was a passive participant without revealing his role and identity. Two types of talk have been identified within the matrix interchange transactional talk having to do with eliciting customers' orders and payment and an 'overlay' of small talk. Both components, transa ctional and phatic, are realized exclusively by formulaic sequences. The preliminary analysis of th e data has shown the interaction to be conducted on an impersonal level. No detail of the interaction relates to the customer in any way: the interaction is pre-patterned, predictable, simplified. The aim of the paper is to establish the patterns of recept ion regarding the phatic component reduced to formulaic sequences in the context of a positive-politeness oriented communicative ethos.


In order to detect fire situation immediately in building,the fire automatic alarm system and fire linkage control system in building should be set to put the fire down in its beginning period.The fire control laboratory was introduced briefly,the design of fire automatic alarm system and fire linkage control system were expounded.The basic functions of the fire automatic alarm system and fire linkage control system were realized.


We use micro-transient absorption spectroscopy to show that the exciton-exciton annihilation process in bilayer black phosphorus can be tuned from 1D- to 2D-like in nature by controlling initial exciton density and temperature.


The purpose of this paper is to report on an assessment task designed to provoke preservice teacher education students to recollect and share experiences of what enabled and frustrated their learning. The assumption underpinning the creation of this task was that: if teacher education students could, through reflection and discussion, recapture the excitement and satisfaction gained through realizing they had understood an idea or mastered a skill, they could focus on promoting that sense of discovery or achievement in their students. Conversely, if they recalled what had inhibited their learning, and became aware of what inhibited the learning of others, they could avoid repeating this with their students. Twenty-nine students consented to having their submissions used for this research and the work of two groups is analyzed and reported here. Students' contributions commented on the facilitators and inhibitors, as expected, and often noted the details of their collaborators' learning experiences with some surprise. It was as though they had not expected to discover that others too had been humiliated or unfairly disciplined and the exercise led to a greater sense of a shared learning experience. Comments about the nature of the task and the value of reflection were also made.


Extending super-resolution imaging techniques to objects hidden in strongly scattering media potentially revolutionize the technical analysis for much broader categories of samples, such as biological tissues. The main challenge is the media's inhomogeneous structures which scramble the light path and create noise-like speckle patterns, hindering the object's visualization even at a low-resolution level. Here, we propose a computational method relying on the object's spatial and temporal fluctuation to visualize nanoscale objects through scattering media non-invasively. The fluctuating object can be achieved by random speckle illumination, illuminating through dynamic scattering media, or flickering emitters. The optical memory effect allows us to derive the object at diffraction limit resolution and estimate the point spreading function (PSF). Multiple images of the fluctuating object are obtained by deconvolution, then super-resolution images are achieved by computing the high order cumulants. Non-linearity of high order cumulant significantly suppresses the noise and artifacts in the resulting images and enhances the resolution by a factor of √N, where N is the cumulant order. Our non-invasive super-resolution speckle fluctuation imaging (NISFFI) presents a nanoscopy technique with very simple hardware to visualize samples behind scattering media. Teaser (125 characters) A computational approach relied on fluctuating speckles to non-invasively visualize objects behind strong scattering media at sub-wavelength scale.


Fluoroquinolone acid esters have potential hazards to the breeding industries and human health, so it is of vital significance to develop its analysis and detection methods. In this paper, seven kinds of fluoroquinolone acid esters were prepared. The ESI-MS2 dissociation spectrograms of these compounds were obtained under the positive ions test mode of mass spectrometry. The results showed that the C-O bonds of ester groups in these fluoroquinolone acid esters were preferentially fractured. Three fragmentation ion peaks with high intensities were found. It includes [M+H]+, [M+2H-Y]+, and [M-Y-16]+ (Y refers to the mass number of alkyl groups in ester groups). These fragmentation ions could be used as qualitative ions for the identification of fluoroquinolone acid esters.


Introduction: Young people in Nepal are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS because of their poor knowledge of sexual health, unsafe sex practices, and limited use of condom. Adolescence should be targeted for prevention programs because it is possible to modify adolescents' behavior as they may not have developed unsafe practices or if developed, these behaviors are not deeply rooted. The objective of this study was to identify knowledge of HIV/AIDS among adolescence. Methods: A descriptive design was used. A total of 50 adolescence were selected by using simple random sampling technique (lottery method) from Intellectual Academy, Kumarigal-7, Tushal, Kathmandu. Self administered structured questionnaire was used to collect the data from January 10, 2006 (2062-9-29) to April 8, 2006 (2062-12-26). Results: Only 66% of adolescence had knowledge that HIV/AIDS is communicable disease. Regarding transmission of HIV/AIDS, 90% adolescence answered transmit through unprotected sexual contact, 84% through contaminated blood products, 90% through infected mother to child transmission, 52% through use of shared razors and 94% through use of contaminated needles and syringes. Regarding preventive measures, All the participants had knowledge of using condom, screening of blood before transfusion, and avoid sharing of needles and syringes as preventive measures while 92% as one faithful sex partner and 52% as avoid use of shared razors. Conclusion: Most of adolescence had knowledge regarding mode of transmission of HIV/AIDS through unprotected sexual contact; infected mother to child transmission and use of contaminated needles and syringes. Likewise, on the context of signs of AIDS and preventive measures on HIV transmission, adolescence had knowledge. DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jcmc.v4i4.11971


In the article an attempt is made to describe a few stylistic mechanisms responsible for creating language-games in selected poems by Julian Tuwim, Stanislaw Mlodozeniec, Maria Cyranowicz, Tadeusz Rozewicz and Ryszard Krynicki. Also the phenomena are considered that are connected with infringing traditional poetic patterns in Polish lyric poetry of the 20 th century.


This paper analyses the impact of the method of grinding printed circuit boards (PCBs) in a knife mill on the efficiency and purity of products obtained during electrostatic separation. The separated metals and plastics and ceramics can be used as secondary raw materials. This is in line with the principle of circular economy. Three different screen perforations were used in the mill to obtain different sizes of ground grains. Moreover, the effect of cooling the feed to cryogenic temperature on the final products of separation was investigated. The level of contamination of the concentrate, intermediate, and waste obtained as a result of the application of fixed, determined electrostatic separation parameters was assessed using ICP-AES, SEM–EDS, XRD, and microscopic analysis as well as specific density. The yields of grain classes obtained from grinding in a knife mill were tested through sieve analysis and by using a particle size analyser. The test results indicate that using a knife mill with a 1 mm screen perforation along with cooling the feed to cryogenic temperature significantly improves the efficiency of the process. The grinding products were characterised by the highest release level of the useful substance—metals in the free state. The purity of the concentrate and waste obtained from electrostatic separation was satisfactory, and the content of the intermediate, in which conglomerates of solid metal–plastic connections were present, was very low. The yield of concentrate and waste amounted to 26.2% and 71.0%, respectively. Their purity, reflected in the content of the identified metals (valuable metals), was at the level of 93.3% and 0.5%, respectively. In order to achieve effective recovery of metals from PCBs by means of electrostatic separation, one should strive to obtain a feed composed of grains <1000 μm and, optimally, <800 μm.


The present field plot trial was developed during three years, at Estacao Experimental de Colina of the Instituto de Zootecnia, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was evaluated the potential supply of nitrogen by forage legumes: perennial soybean, centro and tropical kudzu to guinea grass. These species of tropical pasture were fertilized with three levels of nitrogen (0, 150 and 300 kilograms per hectare per year) and each one of the legumes was also mixed the guinea grass. Soybean, centro and tropical kudzu mixed with the guinea grass yield the equivalent to a fertilization in guinea grass alone of 96, 147 and 169 kg of nitrogen per year. The forage production of guinea grass increased up to 300 kg N per year, with increases in dry matter (DM) yield of 14.4 kg of DM/kg of N applied and protein production (pp) of 2.75 kg of pp/kg of N applied. The forage legumes didn't increase significantly the protein contents of mixed guinea grass when compared with guinea alone without N fertilizer.


1. Foreword & Acknowledgements 2. Editors' introduction 3. Part I. General and specific issues of language change 4. Competing reinforcements: When languages opt out of Jespersen's Cycle (by Biberauer, Theresa) 5. On the reconstruction of experiential constructions in (Late) Proto-Indo-European (by Bubenik, Vit) 6. Criteria for differentiating inherent and contact-induced changes in language reconstruction (by Gvozdanovic, Jadranka) 7. Misparsing and syntactic reanalysis (by Whitman, John) 8. How different is prototype change? (by Winters, Margaret E.) 9. The syntactic reconstruction of alignment and word order: The case of Old Japanese (by Yanagida, Yuko) 10. Part II. Linguistic variation and change in Germanic 11. The Dutch-Afrikaans participial prefix ge-: A case of degrammaticalization? (by Conradie, C. Jac) 12. Diachronic changes in long-distance dependencies: The case of Dutch (by Hoeksema, Jack) 13. Changes in the use of the Frisian quantifiers ea/oait "ever" between 1250 and 1800 (by Hoekstra, Eric) 14. On the development of the perfect (participle) (by Larsson, Ida) 15. OV and V-to-I in the history of Swedish (by Petzell, Erik Magnusson) 16. Ethnicity as an independent factor of language variation across space: Trends in morphosyntactic patterns in spoken Afrikaans (by Stell, Gerald) 17. The sociolinguistics of spelling: A corpus-based case study of orthographical variation in nineteenth-century Dutch in Flanders (by Vosters, Rik) 18. Part III. Linguistic variation and change in Greek 19. Dative loss and its replacement in the history of Greek (by Cooper, Adam) 20. Word order variation in New Testament Greek wh-questions (by Kirk, Allison) 21. Part IV. Linguistic change in Romance 22. The morphological evolution of infinitive, future and conditional forms in Occitan (by Esher, Louise) 23. The evolution of the encoding of direction in the history of French: A quantitative approach to argument structure change (by Burnett, Heather) 24. Velle-type prohibitions in Latin: The rise and fall of a morphosyntactic conspiracy (by Cormany, Edward) 25. The use and development of habere + infinitive in Latin: An LFG approach (by Hertzenberg, Mari Johanne) 26. Index


The invention relates to a process for coating a component surface of a component with a continuous paint film, in particular for coating a motor vehicle body part, the paint film can be removed again from the component surface. It is proposed that the paint film is sprayed as a liquid film to the component surface.


The authors of the article speculate on the place and role of proverbs in the analysis of the simple picture of the world.


The use of welded steel cover plates had been a common design practice to increase beam section capacity in regions of high moment for decades. Many steel girder bridges with cover plates are still in service. Steel girder bridges are subject to cyclic loading, which can initiate crack formation at the toe of the weld and reduce beam capacity. Thus, timely detection of fatigue cracks is of utmost importance in steel girder bridge monitoring. To date, crack monitoring methods using in-house radio frequency identification (RFID)-based sensors have been developed to complement visual inspection and provide quantitative information of damage level. Offering similar properties at a reduced cost, commercial ultra-high frequency (UHF) passive RFID tags have been identified as a more financially viable option for pervasive crack monitoring using a dense array of sensors. This paper presents a study on damage sensitivity of low-cost commercial UHF RFID tags for crack detection and monitoring on metallic structures. Using backscatter power as a parameter for damage identification, a crack sensing system has been developed for single and multiple tag configurations for increased sensing pervasiveness. The effect on backscatter power of the existence and stage of crack propagation has been successfully characterized. For further automation of crack detection, a damage index based on the variation of backscatter power has also been established. The tested commercial RFID-based crack sensor contributes to the usage of this technology on steel girder bridges.


Simple Summary In the modern world, natural ecosystems are subjected to significant anthropogenic and technogenic stress. As a result of industrial processes, pollutants of various chemical structures are discharged into water and soil ecosystems. Many bacteria are able to utilize pollutants, thus contributing to the remediation of polluted ecosystems. The Gordonia rubripertincta strain 112 is interesting as a destroyer of aromatic and aliphatic compounds. The study of the molecular mechanisms of its functioning will allow us to use it effectively in green technologies in the future. We have shown that the strain is able to quickly cope with toxic pollutants without stress and growth inhibition. Abstract The application of Gordonia strains in biotechnologies of environmental purification as degraders of pollutants of different chemical structures is an interesting research topic. The strain Gordonia rubripertincta 112 (IEGM112) is capable of utilizing diesel fuel, alkanes, and aromatic compounds. The aim of this work was to study the potential of G. rubripertincta 112 as a degrader of aromatic and aliphatic compounds and analyze its complete genome in comparison with other known G. rubripertincta strains. The genome had a total length of 5.28 Mb and contained 4861 genes in total, of which 4799 were coding sequences (CDS). The genome contained 62 RNA genes in total, of which 50 were tRNAs, three were ncRNAs, and nine were rRNAs. The strain bears plasmid elements with a total length of 189,570 nucleotides (plasmid p1517). The strain can utilize 10.79 ± 1.17% of hexadecane and 16.14 ± 0.16% of decane over 3 days of cultivation. In the genome of the strain, we have found metabolic pathways of alkane (cytochrome P450 hydroxylases) and catechol (ortho- and meta-pathways) degradation. These results will help us to further approach the fundamental study of the processes occurring in the strain cells and to enrich our knowledge of the catabolic capabilities of G. rubripertincta.


In this paper, we propose a trustworthy data management framework for wireless networks in Cyber-Physical System (CPS), in which the trust values of both CPS data and the reporting devices are assessed. In addition, a set of policy rules are declared to accurately describe how we determine the trustworthiness of each reporting device based on the contextual factors. Experimental results on both simulation and on real CPS datasets show that the proposed framework can properly evaluate the trustworthiness of the reporting devices and data in CPS.


The purpose of this paper is to present a quantitative assessment of major unilateral and regional trade liberalization in Sri Lanka. The impacts of South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA), the Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ILFTA) and unilateral liberalization reforms on Sri Lanka's economy, and its various sectors are assessed and analyzed. The GTAP (Global Trade Analysis Project) model is used to analyze the welfare effects of trade liberalization in a multicountry, multi-sector, general equilibrium framework. The results suggest that the SAFTA generates significant gains to Sri Lanka, largely due to the benefits of preferential access to the regional market with more than 20% of world population. In this respect, regional free trade agreements are far more preferable to unilateral liberalization. Our results have shown that if Sri Lanka could reduce its tariffs to 15 percent unilaterally while having free trade with SAFTA countries, it would benefit even more. On the other hand, Sri Lanka suffers from a small welfare loss from ILFTA related liberalization. The results also imply that India benefits most from being a member of SAFTA whereas there are adverse welfare effects for some other member economies.


The spectroscopic and volumetric methods are widely employed for the analyses of trace quantities of boron. Of the volumetric analyses, Chapin's method and its improved ones are most useful. But it should not be disregarded the effect of carbonic acid in these methods. As the removal of the effect of carbonic acid is considerably difficult, these methods are suitable only for the macro crder of boron and not for trace quantities of boron. Therefore, the author tried the colorimetric method for the trace quantities of boron in ground water, plants, rocks and metals etc. and obtained satisfactory results by use of the following procedure: Boron in sample is distilled with methyl alcohol in the quartz apparatus and the resultant ester develops red colour with carmine in high concentration of sulfuric acid. The transmittancy of this solution is compared with the standard colour by photoelectric colorimeter. This red colour of the solution obeys the Lambert-Beer's law in the range of boron content 08 γB/cc. NO-3, F- and Cu2+ interfere the colour development, while NO-2, Cl-, PO3-4, NH+4, Ca2+, Mg2+, Fe3+ and Na+ do not interfere. Some experimental details are discussed.


MR studies are correlated with histologic findings in a case of intradural extramedullary neurenteric cyst. No associated vertebral anomalies were present, and the origin of the cyst could be suggested but not confirmed before histologic ex amination.


Embodied cognition is a theory indicating that thoughts, feelings, actions, and behaviors are grounded in physical experiences. Embodiment suggests that what individuals experience physically translates into a related mental representation of that experience which influences how they react to the world around them (Landau, Keefer, & Meier, 2010). Particularly, recent research in embodiment has attempted to examine the intrapersonal association between physical and cognitive experiences. Much research has examined this phenomenon with regards to judgments or perceptions of acquaintances and strangers, but has not heavily focused on close interpersonal relationships with others. The current research aimed to activate the schema for closeness and assigned individuals to engage in a variety of postures, some ended in a "hug" position and others ended on a neutral position. Then, participants were asked a variety of questions about their feelings of closeness in their intimate relationships. I hypothesized that those ending with a hug posture would rate greater feelings of closeness to others than those who ended on a neutral posture. However, results suggested that the manipulated posture had no significant effects on closeness ratings. It is possible that previous postures primed a logical flow of thought toward shapes which may have interfered with the intended priming effect of the "hug."


Scanning nonlinear dielectric microscopy (SNDM) is a scanning probe technique that measures changes in oscillation frequency between the probe tip and a voltage-biased sample. As the probe moves across the surface of a semiconductor device, the oscillation frequency changes in response to variations in dielectric properties, charge and carrier density, dopant concentration, interface states, or any number of other variables that affect local capacitance. Over the past few years, researchers at Tohoku University have made several improvements in dielectric microscopy, the latest of which is a digital version called time-resolved SNDM (tr-SNDM). Here they describe their new technique and present an application in which it is used to acquire CV, dC/dV-V, and DLTS data from SiO2/SiC interface samples.


Clusters made of a small number of close solid spherical particles at a random configuration, sedimenting through a viscous fluid at small Reynolds number, were experimentally investigated at a short-time scale. The cluster settling velocities were measured and shown to be well approximated by the ensemble-averaged formula derived earlier for the uniform distribution of the point particles inside a spherical volume. It was emphasized that the "effective radius" of this volume in general should be smaller than the actual radius of a cluster made of the spheres, and the relation between both radii was determined. The formula was also shown to account well for the gravitational settling of rigid conglomerates, measured and computed elsewhere.


Context Rich Problems (CRPs) are used in order to discuss Physical phenomena on many different education levels from secondary upper school to university level (Heller & Hollabaugh, 1992; Heller, Keith, & Anderson, 1992; Benckert et. al., 2005). CRP solving sessions are found to help the students to deepen their understanding of the physical concepts and their ability to express them selfcorrectlyin a scientific language. Earlier findings have also shown that their conversationtake departurestartfrom personal experiences (Enghag, Gustafsson, & Jonsson, 2007). The aim of this study is to compare group discussions in physics using two different types of CRPs, the first with solutions of qualitative and the second with quantitative character. We present results from a comparative study using CRP in video recorded group discussions.Especially, video recordings from tTwo problemsused,are analyzed and presented in this paper. In the analysisfirstthe timeline wasfirstconstructed and the discourse moves (Barnes & Todd, 1995)[were]analyzed, after that interesting parts of the conversation were transcribed. In the first problemthe setting is thatyou have a trainee job at an air reconnaissance company, looking for whales from the air. The question is in what direction from the water surface you can see the whale, all over the surface or with some restrictions. This problem aims at qualitative reasoning and conclusion. In the other problem you here a rock concert 5 km away and has to calculate if it is theoretically possible to hear the sound. This problem is more quantitative, with calculations of dB-levelsand so onfor example.It seems that how the CRP are constructed influence the dynamics of the groups. If problems more of quantitative type are used and the knowledge levelofphysics forofthe group members are too disparate, the most capable member of the group often takes over and solve the problem more or less single handed (Jonsson, Gustafsson, & Enghag, 2007). Thiswe see evenis found alsoin this study, buttheourresultsfrom this studyalso indicate that, if problems are more of qualitative types, the less capable students will also contributeintothe discussions. It is therefore tempting to draw the conclusion that how to formatthe groups depend on the type of CRP used. In this study we also discover that, even though most of the students in an early state of their education learn how to calculate refraction angles with Snells law of refraction, they do not really understand the concepts behind the calculations. They also have a tendency to start calculating what is possible to calculate rather than to reason, even when the problem is of qualitative type. One can therefore question the passion for calculations instead of understanding of the physical concepts. Especially, since these easy examples often create problems in understanding even for the educators.