This note introduces an extension to the 0-1 knapsack cover inequalities to be used in a branchand-cut algorithm for the elementary shortest path problem with a capacity constraint. The extension leads to a set of valid inequalities that takes both the fractional usage of the edges and the capacity into account and are denoted the flow extended 0-1 knapsack cover inequalities. Computational experiments indicate that although these new inequalities improve the lower bound they also results in more fractional LP solutions which results in a larger number of branch nodes and eventually slower running times.


Abstract: We have recently reported the development of a multiplex, real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for RhD zygosity determination based on the coamplification and quantification of RHD‐specific sequences in relation to a reference gene, albumin. This paper discusses the optimization procedure and technical parameters of this multiplex assay.


Background and aim Ambulatory oesophageal pH-impedance monitoring is a widely used test to evaluate patients with reflux symptoms. Several types of pH electrodes are available: antimony, ion sensitive field effect transistor (ISFET), and glass electrodes. These pH electrodes have not been compared directly, and it is uncertain whether these different types of pH electrodes result in similar outcome. Methods In an in-vitro model the response time, sensitivity, and drift of an antimony, ISFET, and glass pH electrode were assessed simultaneously after calibration at 22 °C and at 37 °C. All measurements were performed at 37 °C and repeated five times with new catheters of each type. Fifteen patients with reflux symptoms underwent 24-h pH monitoring off PPI therapy using antimony, ISFET, and glass pH electrodes simultaneously. Results After calibration at 22 °C, pH electrodes had similar response times, sensitivity and drift. In contrast to glass electrodes, antimony electrodes performed less accurately after calibration at 37 °C than after calibration at 22 °C. Calibration temperature did not affect ISFET electrodes significantly. During in-vivo experiments, significant differences were found in acid exposure times derived from antimony (4.0±0.8%), ISFET (5.7±1.1%), and glass pH electrodes (9.0±1.7%). Conclusion In vitro, antimony and glass pH electrodes are affected by different buffer components and temperature, respectively. In vivo, significant higher acid exposure times are obtained with glass electrodes compared with antimony and ISFET pH electrodes. ISFET electrodes produce stable in-vitro measurements and result in the most accurate in-vivo measurements of acid exposure time.


A surface acoustic wave filter device having a Ping Heng to unbalanced conversion function, the device of different input / output impedance of the pass band and a good balance. The surface acoustic wave filter having a Ping Heng to unbalanced conversion function, in this device, the second surface acoustic wave filter element input / output IDT of the first surface acoustic wave filter element than the spacing of the input / output IDT, half wavelength spacing wave loud, so that the phase inverter, wherein the plurality of electrostatic capacitance values of the total IDT of the second surface acoustic wave filter element is greater than the plurality of first surface acoustic wave filter elements IDT total capacitance value.


A variety of differently shaped FePt nanocrystals, including flower-like FePt-Fe3O4 nanodendrites, flower-like FePt nanodentrites, mixtures of worm-like nanowires and nanoparticles and spherical nanoparticles were synthesized by properly choosing shielding atmosphere including pure Ar, mixture of different ratio of Ar and H2, and pure H2. The growth of FePt nanocrystals in the presence of H2 is mainly owing to H2 absorbed on the surface of seeds, which hindered the seeds of the particles' aggregation and promoted the growth on the surface of the seeds. The as-synthesized nanocrystals were found to be superparamagnetic at room temperature and their ferromagnetic-superparamagnetic transition temperature was 100 K, 55 K, 25 K and 20 K respectively, which was correlated to their composition and morphology.


The elliptically contoured distribution (ECD for short) is a class of multivariate distributions that are considered as an extension of the multivariate normal distributions. In this entry, we introduce a historical perspective, basic properties, and subclasses of the ECD. The estimation of parameters of an ECD implies the study of elliptical matrix distributions. A brief review on elliptical matrix distributions is given. Some applications of ECD are discussed.


This article foregrounds the experiences of a newly qualified teacher – 'Daniel' – in the state education sector in the United Kingdom. It provides an insight into the under-explored realities of teaching work and an empirical connection with a segment of the UK public sector that successive governments have positioned as central to economic and social prosperity. It centres on why nine out of ten teachers who participated in the 2017 National Skills and Employment Survey reported that they 'often' or 'always' come home from work exhausted. In doing so, it also helps to explain why 33% of newly qualified teachers leave within five years of qualifying. Through Daniel's story, 40 years of neoliberal reform to the UK education system is contextualised and shown to have intensified latent contradictions by stripping teachers of time and the freedom to operate and innovate.


Jazz Lecture Series presentation by Peter Erskine on March 26, 1985 at 9:30AM at the UNT College of Music. It includes a lecture and performance by Peter Erskin, drums, interspersed with questions from the audience.


A PWM or quasi-square-wave (QSW) zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) non-isolated boost converter using enhancement-mode GaN (eGaN) FETs is reported in this paper. The new converter topology requires small number of passive components, minimizes the converter switching loss under high-voltage high-frequency operations, and offers low-voltage stress across power transistors. A transformer-based floating gate driver with 30 ns propagation delay and 3 ns rising/falling time is developed to enable high-speed high-side gate driving of the eGaN power FET and thus high-frequency operation of the proposed ZVS converter. A 1-MHz switching frequency 130-W output power prototype circuit of the proposed boost converter has been implemented and the measured peak power efficiency achieves 95%.


Abstract This article explores the influence of food product packaging on consumers' sensory expectations and perceived newness of the product. Two experiments examine to what extent consumers use product typicality, graphical representations, and package typicality in evaluating new food products. Study 1 finds that (1) a typical flavor induces more positive expectations of pleasantness, taste, color, and smell, and (2) the presence of graphic representation on product labels increases perceived pleasantness but does not affect sensory expectations. Study 2 indicates that the product seems newer in the absence of a package (label-only condition), but when the product packaging is presented, an atypical package conveys more newness than a typical package. These results provide practical guidelines for the design and introduction of innovative food products.


The relationship between structural and surface properties of γ-alumina prepared by various methods has been studied, and the adsorption ability of the powders for cobalt ions from aqueous solution is presented, based on the results of X-ray diffraction, specific surface area, scanning electron microscopy, and surface hydroxyl group concentration of the resulting products. Results show that γ-alumina obtained by solution-combustion method (specific surface area: 232.9 m2/g; morphology: lamellar and mesoporous; hydroxyl group content: 0.24 meq OH−/g) exhibited the best Co2+ adsorption. Furthermore, the synthesis of γ-alumina is highly helpful to study various structural and surface properties of this material.


In an experiment conducted to evaluate five cultivars of double petalled tuberose ( Polianthes tuberosa Linn.), namely, Pearl Double, Suvasini, Vaibhav, Hyderabad Double and Swarn Rekha, cv Swarn Rekha could produce significantly taller plants (46.99 cm) followed by cv. Vaibhav (38.87 cm). However, the shortest plants were recorded in cv Pearl Double (29.7 cm). The highest number of leaves (97.8) and tillers (16.51) per clump were produced in cv Suvasini. The maximum leaf width (2.24 cm) and a significantly highest fresh weight (139.07g) as well as dry weight (19.90g) of leaves per clump were recorded in cv Vaibhav. Flowering did not occur in cv Swarna Rekha and remained non-flowering during the entire experiment. The highest flowering duration (25.07 day), spike length (80.38 cm), internodal length of spike (5.25 cm), spike diameter (1.41 cm), fresh weight of cut spike (256.11g), number of florets per spike (47.05), length (6.03 cm), diameter (5.38 cm) and fresh weight (3.34 g) of open floret, length of individual mature floret (5.26 cm) and fresh weight of floret per spike (199.07 g) were recorded in cv Suvasini as compared with rest of the tested cultivars. Significant and the highest number of bulbs (18.73) and bulblets (10.15) per clump, diameter of bulb (3.05 cm) and bulblet (1.18 cm) and weight of individual bulb (32.83 g) and bulblet (3.33g) per clump were recorded in cv. Suvasini which was significantly higher than rest of the cultivars


Disclosed herein is a method for manufacturing SiC pow ders with a high purity, and more particularly, a method for manufacturing SiC powders with a high purity by reating a Solid phase carbon source as raw materials with gas phase silicon sources generated from a starting material composed of metallic silicon and silicon dioxide powders and, in which it is easy to control the size and crystalline phase of the SiC powders by changing the compositions of the gas phase silicon Source to the Solid phase carbon source mole ratio, and the temperature and time for the heat treatment.


Either it is because of some significant active trends in the business world, or the attractive cut of cost and increase in profit, companies now days are focusing on sales promotion activities. Bu ...


-Broadcast media has a strong influence or penetration or is called The Powerful Effect of Media, especially television, which is the imitation process of television shows both direct and delayed effects in the form of an explosive display of images, and misleading of narratives. Therefore, broadcasting needs to be regulated and specifically broadcast content or programs aired by broadcasters, especially television. In the Broadcasting Law number 32 of 2002, the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission which is an independent State Agency is given the authority to make regulations, advocates and provide sanctions for violations of content or broadcast content to Broadcasting Institutions both radio broadcast services and television broadcast services. The Broadcasting Law in the legal perspective that the content of legal material or legal frameworks illustrates the framework of media accountability with the Type Model Of Rules approach, which refers to regulating the broadcasting system by focusing on compliance with laws and regulations, correct procedures, strict jurisdiction and authority and on the other hand, with the approach to the type of Legal Realism, namely the regulation of broadcast systems that have the dimension of public responsibility morality. Economic value and sovereignty of the country. Authority. The approach method in this research is normative juridical, which will explore the authority model of the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission's State Institution (KPI) in the imposition of administrative sanctions based on Law P No. 32 of 2002 concerning Broadcasting and KPI Regulations Number 01/P/KPI/03/2012 and Number 02/P/KPI/03/2012 concerning the Broadcasting Behavior Guidelines and Broadcasting Standards


In early Arabia, as elsewhere, the local cultural context made a major contribution to phrase formation. The place where the action in an anecdote and the laughter occasioned by it occurs is frequently the majlis of a tent or house or on the back of riding animals, and the consequences of laughter on people who are in physical proximity to each other and seated on cushions, or astride horses, donkeys, camels, etc. can be rather specific. So, for example, without any more explicit context, someone can be described (p. 339) as laughing "until he stretched his legs out" (sc. while sitting cross-legged), the legs and feet being far more often invoked in "laughter" phrases than they are in modern English. And who laughs and in what order! — may involve questions of social precedence which are specifically Arabian. The differences should not be overdone, however: mediaeval Arabs, like modern Englishmen, could on occasion " fall over (passim) / be bent double (p. 255) / piss themselves (p. 240) with laughter", even if, unlike the Arabs, we do not routinely describe someone, literally or metaphorically, as laughing "until you could see his wisdom teeth" (PP315-22). Interestingly, none of the commonest collocations noted by the author to describe vigorous, or any other kind of laughter, is noted by Wehr in his Dictionary of Modem Literary Arabic. Instead of laughing "until you could see his wisdom teeth" (or indeed his "incisors",


Matoa leaf (Pometia pinnata J.R. & G. Forst) acute toxicity test showed LD50 value >5000 mg/kgBB practically not toxic. The ethanolic extract of matoa leaf has activity as antihypertensive. The purpose of this study was to know the subchronic toxicity of ethanol extract of matoa leaf for 90 days dose 150, 500, 1000 mg/kgBW with parameter of total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL, and LDL. The extract matoa leaf was obtained from maceration process with 70% ethanol. This study used 50 male rats and 50 female rats, divided into 5 groups. The first group of negative control was given 0,5% CMC, treatment group of two to four were prepared with extract matoa leaf doses of 250, 500, 1000 mg/kgBW, and satellite group was given 1000 mg/kgBW. The study was conducted over 90 days and added 28 days in the satellite group. The examination of total cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL and LDL levels was performed on T0, T90, and T118. Subcronic toxicity test results showed that ethanol extract of leaf matoa dose 150, 500, and 1000 mg/kgBB for 90 days against observation of total cholesterol, triglyceride of male and female rats did not give toxic effect, whereas HDL observations have the toxic effect of lowering HDL levels of male and female rats, HDL observation of 150 mg / kgBW effective dose did not produce toxic effects of male and female rats. Doses 150, 500, mg / kgBW did not cause toxic effects of LDL levels of male and female rats. Keywords: Pometia pinnata, subchronic toxicity, total cholesterol, triglyserides, HDL, LDL


"The Sheltered Life" looks at Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and Ellen Glasgow's attempts to sustain romantic attachments while maintaining their success as writers. Rawlings spent much of her time in Richmond interrogating friends and relations about Glasgow's romantic relationships, especially her confirmed engagement to Henry Anderson. Rawlings herself was married to Norton Baskin after her initial marriage to Charles Rawlings fell apart over their volatile tempers and professional jealousies. Glasgow never married and found it difficult to sustain her romantic affairs for any length of time. Both women prioritized their professional lives as writers over romantic attachments and were regularly frustrated by their partners' inability to understand their lives as writers.


The late Paleozoic phylloid algae are of problematic, although likely diverse, affinity. Phylloids in the Pennsylvanian Providence Limestone (Desmonesian) in western Kentucky are typical in appearance: millimeter-long leaf forms composed of a calcite mosaic lacking relict fabrics. Petrography with cathodoluminescence, however, reveals details of internal features that enable generic identification of these phylloids as the ancestral coralline Archeolithophyllum. Nonluminescent cellular material and luminescent pore-fill calcite delineate clearly defined Polygonal hypothallial and perithallial tissue. Backscattered electron imaging is also helpful in distinguishing skeletal and diagenetic material in the algae. Hypothallial pores are 25 {times} 50 {mu} and commonly are arranged in arcuate layers (referred to as coaxial tissues). Cellular walls are thin (5 {mu}) and contain scattered holes or pits (1 {mu} diameter), some filled with pyrite. Low magnesium and high strontium contents of the skeletal material suggest an aragonitic precursor mineralogy (Mg average, 519; range 0-2,016 ppm; Sr average, 4,461; range, 388-10,549 ppm). These phylloids do indeed share morphological, structural, and compositional characteristics with Holocene Squamariacean genera composed of aragonite. Generations of calcite-filling cellular pores change from bright yellow to dull red luminescence. Electron microprobe data indicate continuous enrichment in the magnesium, manganese, and iron content of the diagenetic fluids.more » Iron content of the last pore-fill calcite ranges to 22,875 ppm but averages 12,296 ppm. Strontium is progressively depleted in these cements.« less


In November 2017, The New York Times published an article detailing sexual misconduct allegations against comedian Louis C.K. The recurring complaint was that C.K. had asked a number of women with ...


This article discusses the optimal volumes of oil regeneration. The terms of delivery and the cost of used oil are also considered.


Spinal cord injuries commonly result in paralysis, sensory impairments, pain, as well as bladder, bowel and sexual dysfunctions. Here, two models for spinal cord injury and rehabilitation and repair will be presented. One model addresses neurologic rehabilitation after an upper motoneuron injury. The second model describes a lower motoneuron injury in ventral root avulsion injury model of conus medullaris/cauda equina injury. The models reflect different aspects of translational research studies for the repair of neurological function after a spinal cord injury.


A long-lasting (for hundreds of milliseconds) m/n = 1 energetic particle mode driven by trapped fast ions, other than conventional fishbone bursts, is studied theoretically and in comparison with HL-2A experimental results. The mode can be observed in weak shear tokamak plasmas during neutral beam injection with a mostly steady amplitude envelope of long-lasting magnetic perturbation signals. The dispersion relation and radial structure of the mode are calculated with a weak shear q-profile. Both the m/n = 1/1 component and its higher frequency m/n = 2/2 harmonics are found to be unstable, in good agreement with experimental observations on HL-2A. On the other hand, due to the feature of weak magnetic shear, the mode is also significantly different from bursty fishbones, especially the mode structure, temporal behavior, instability threshold and growth rate dependence on the fast ion gradient. The nonlinear evolution of the mode and the comparison with fishbone bursts are also further investigated.


The reactions of cobalt(II) chloride with hydrazine, monomethylhydrazine, and 1,1-dimethylhydrazine have been studied under various conditions and the magnetic and spectral properties of the resulting complexes used for stereochemical identification. Six-co-ordinate complexes are formed by hydrazine and monomethylhydrazine; in the cationic complexes [Co(N2H4)6]Cl2 and [Co(MeNH·NH2)6]Cl2, the hydrazines are unidentate but CoCl2, (N2H4)2 and CoCl2,(MeNH·NH2)2 are polymeric with bridging and bidentate hydrazines. With 1,1-dimethylhydrazine only a deep blue tetrahedral species CoCl2,(Me2N·NH2)2 is formed.


A new relationship is derived from a previously described correlated element model showing the effect of length on lumber tensile strength when, additionally, a Weibull distribution is forced to fit the model. The starting point for the new relationship is the realization that structural values are correlated along the lumber length as opposed to the Weibull theory, which assumes statistically independent elements.


Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) is a genetically heterogeneous group of inherited retinal disorders causing progressive dysfunction of rod photoreceptor and retinal pigment epithelium, may be seen in isolation or in association with systemic disease. This paper focuses on RP in an atypical type 4 usher's patient. Usher's syndrome is a rare disorder and is the most common hereditary form of deafblindness. The management of these patients is multidisciplinary, involving specialists from different fields. Hereby, author present a case of 47-year-old male patient presented with chief complaints of defective vision in both eyes and defective vision in dim light for past six months. On fundus examination of both the eyes, he was diagnosed to have bilateral RP and on pure tone audiometry, he was diagnosed to have bilateral sensorineural deafness. Molecular gene analysis was done and it revealed Arylsulfatase G (ARSG) gene mutation. The patient was prescribed spectacles for his visual improvement.


Chong Chi-yong was a famous poet in Shilla period in Korea,while Tao Yuan-ming was one of the greatest poets in ancient China.They lived in different ages and came from different countries.Howev- er,the constructions of imagery such as"restrained living conditions","back to where we are from",and"homeland","at leisure"and"loneliness"in their poems are accidentally the same so that sympathies free from the bounds of time and space are aroused.


To provide a Louisiana State reading improvement p-ogram with information that could improve inStructional efficiency, a study was conducted to determine the relationship between student time on task and eight broad categories of classroom activities used by teachers during reading and language arts instruction. The eight activities studied were (1) silent reading, (2) oral reading, (3) writing/composition, (4) drill and practice, (5) teacher-led instruction, (6) discussion, (7) tests/quizzes, and (8) noninstructional management. Data were collected by trained observers who viewed a random sample-of second, third, and fifth grade classes in eight school systems participating in a state program to develop outstanding reading programs. The results suggested that the eight activities, when examined individually, did not explain a useful amount of variance in student time on task rates. However, taken aS a model of classroom activity, they did explain enough variance to warrant further study. Observed correlations among the various activities suggested patterns of teaching-behavior during reading and language arts instruction. (FL)


Using Maxwell's equal area law, we study the phase transition in higher dimensional anti-de Sitter (AdS) Reissner–Nordström black holes and Kerr black holes in this paper. The coexisting region of the two phases involved in the phase transition is found and some coexisting curves are shown in P − T ?> figures. We also analytically investigate the parameters that affect the phase transition. To better compare with a general thermodynamic system, the Clapeyron equation is derived for the higher dimensional AdS black holes.


Smart grid (SG) systems necessitate secure demand response management (DRM) schemes for real-time decisions making to increase the effectiveness and stability of SG systems along with data security. Motivated from the aforementioned discussion, in this article, we propose Q-SDRM, a secure DRM scheme for home energy management (HEM) using reinforcement learning (RL) and ethereum blockchain (EBC) to facilitate energy consumption reduction and decrease energy costs. In cooperation with RL, $Q$ -learning is adopted to make optimal price decisions using Markov decision process (MDP) to reduce energy consumption, which benefits both consumers and utility providers. Then, Q-SDRM uses ethereum smart-contract (ESC) to deal with data security issues and incorporate with off-chain storage interplanetary file system (IPFS) that handles data storage costs issue. Experimental results reveal the effectiveness of the proposed Q-SDRM scheme, which significantly reduces energy consumption and energy cost. The proposed scheme also provides secure access to energy data in real time compared with state-of-the-art approaches regarding different evaluation metrics, such as scalability, overall energy cost, and data storage cost.


One of the characteristics of IoT devices is related to their limited resources. These devices are often referred to as IoT-constrained devices. The limited resources of IoT devices becomes a challenge in choosing an appropriate security method. To overcome this problem, an appropriate security method in the use of AES algorithms and MAC is deemed important. The variants of AES algorithm used in this research included AES128 and AES256. Meanwhile, the MAC algorithm used was Hash-based Message Authentication Code (HMAC). This paper presents how to prevent the sniffing activity on wireless sensor network - especially in LoRa networks due to the increasing use of LoRa, as well as the development of IoT devices. Based on the results of the security analysis that has been done, this method was found to be able to guarantee the aspects of confidentiality, authentication, and integrity. In this paper, overhead analysis on IoT constrained devices class 0 and class 2 was also performed with the results showing that this method was acceptable to be implemented on IoT constrained devices class 0 and class 2.


Leprosy, often known as Hansen's disease is a contagious chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae (M.leprae). Our methodology is easily repeatable in tertiary care settings with diagnostic accuracy resources and staff capable of building a stewardship team. Comprehensive antimicrobial policies and programmes are required to properly alleviate the initial issue.


AeroVelo Summary: AeroVelo is a team of University of Toronto alumni, working with current students and volunteers, including friends and family. Their organization's previous endeavors included the world's first human-powered ornithopter flight, which was recorded by the Aero Club of Canada. AeroVelo also works closely with the University of Toronto Human-Powered Vehicle Design Team, creating and competing high-speed recumbent bicycles (http://www.aerovelo.com/projects/speedbikes/introduction/). The primary team members include Todd Reichert (co-chief engineer and pilot), who graduated with a PhD in Aerospace Engineering in 2011, and Cameron Robertson (co-chief engineer), who graduated with an MS in Aerospace Engineering, both from the University of Toronto. The team's core mission is to work with students to provide experience with challenging, hands-on engineering projects.


Executive summary • Less than one in five parliamentarians across the world are women. Legal or voluntary electoral gender quotas are used in more than half of the world's countries as the most effective mechanism for increasing women's political representation. • Electoral quotas have gained international support and have proven to be effective in 'fast-tracking' women's political representation to produce equality of results, not just equality of opportunity. • Their introduction has been controversial in some countries, particularly in liberal democracies where critics oppose them on the basis that they discriminate against men and undermine the selection of candidates or parliamentarians on the basis of merit. • Gender quota systems differ in type and application. The main systems in use are reserved seats, legal candidate quotas, and voluntary political party quotas. • The success of gender quotas is influenced by various factors including the nature of the political system, the type of electoral or voting system, the type of quota system adopted, cultural attitudes towards the role of women in society, and the nature of the parliamentary environment itself. • In 2012 the Australian Government committed $320 million to support a 10-year initiative to 'empower women and to promote gender equality in the Pacific' region, which has the world's lowest proportion of women parliamentarians.


An optical dew point sensor based on plasmonic resonance effect of Ag nanoparticle array is described. Plasmonic response from Ag nanostructure allows sensing subtle change of refractive index according to adsorption of H2molecules.


A description is presented of a prototype called ObjTrans which was developed to automate the process of transforming the object structure of object-oriented logic programs called KOs. ObjTrans allows the user to abstract the specification of application KOs, perform a series of primitive operators on the abstracted specification interactively and heuristically, and incrementally reconstruct the specification of KOs resulting from object transformation. ObjTrans is implemented in Smalltalk/V-Prolog/V which does not allow multiple inheritance.<<ETX>>


In the case of In the Interest of Maedche , 788 N.W.2d 331 (N.D. 2010), the district court involuntarily committed Thomas Maedche as a sexually dangerous individual. On appeal, the North Dakota Supreme Court decided whether North Dakota's sexual offender civil commitment statute should be voided


Anti‐breast cancer drug tamoxifen and its metabolite 4‐hydroxytamoxifen (4OHTam) are non‐steroidal analogs of estradiol. While studying non‐genomic effects of steroids, we found that tamoxifen and 4OHTam promote calcium influx into human platelets, leading to platelet activation and increasing risk of thrombosis. To determine pharmacophore responsible for calcium influx, SAR studies were performed on the set of newly synthesized triphenylethylene analogs of tamoxifen. Fura‐2 was used to monitor calcium influx in human platelets. Cell‐impermeable derivatives of 4OHTam promote calcium influx into platelets, thus indicating membrane site of action. Activity of these compounds depends on the linker length. Triphenylethylene derivatives, which are devoid of amino ethanol moiety, switched their action from agonists of calcium entry to antagonists. Triphenylethylene compounds block, not activate thrombin‐ and tamoxifen induced calcium influx. Structurally triphenylethylenes resemble DES (diethylstilbestrol), the most potent inhibitor of CRAC and SOCC. Therefore, triphenylethylenes are transitional structures from calcium agonist (tamoxifen and 4OHTam) to calcium antagonist (DES), though they all share the same stilbene pharmacophore. SAR shows how simple structural modifications can lead to a complete shift in the pharmacological activity among structurally related compounds.


The machining process of the impeller of washing coal slurry pump which was made by high hard and brittle materials was analyzed.By choosing the tool reasonably,the problem for cutting the hard and brittle materials Intermittently was solve.


We explore the possibility that all electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) comes from the strong dynamics of Technicolor while these are the only quarks which receive masses through Technicolor dynamics. We assume the leptons are not embedded in a representation of Extended Technigroup. In this paper we suggest a model where the leptons receive their masses through the loop corrections which includes at least one closed quark loop. For this purpose we introduce model based on private family SU(2) scalar two doublets which interact very weakly with the Standard Model(SM) fermions and which do not condense at tree level. Assuming quark/lepton universality of suggested Yukawa interactions the model becomes strongly predictive and we calculate mass contributions to the all known SM lepton gauge eigenstates. Up to not yet explored mixing, the model suggests that the lepton mass hierarchy comes from the quark mass hierarchy. Within a single universal Yukawa coupling the absolute values of masses for neutrino family eigenstates are calculated from 3loops diagram. LHC observed 126 GeV scalar is interpreted as a Technisigma which is made from quarkophilic Techniquarks, which interaction with leptons is induced by quantum loops as well.


As part of the Centre for World Cinemas' WUN project 'Film Policy, Cultural Diplomacy and Soft Power', Chris is commissioned about the relationship between China and Hollywood for The Conversation


We performed a mesocosms experiment to analyze the response of a natural phytoplankton community from the Baltic Sea to ocean acidification and warming. Besides the other important functional groups of the plankton community (phytoplankton, bacteria, microzooplankton, mesozooplankton) we put especial emphasis on the heterotrophic picoflagellates (<3 μm) and nanoflagellates (3-15 μm), including a polyphasic species identification (microscopy and pyrosequencing). Microscopic evidence together with supporting information from the literature revealed a complex food web structure within this functional group which contradicts the widespread assignment of a single trophic role (feeding on bacteria and pico-phytoplankton).


Thermal Management is a research field dealing with the energy flow from the combustion and powertrain system. TTM(Transmission Thermal Management)model in the paper consists of mainly 4 sub models: thermal mass model, heat transfer model, oilmodel, friction model. The sub models are coupled each other and they exchange heat and signals. We can estimate the transmission temperatures by the oil model. Heat transfer model calculates how much energy transfers to the ambient area considering air velocity. Also, it can estimate conduction from engine to transmission. Friction model is made by experimental data and many kinds of formula term. Thus, we are possible to predict transmission temperature. Transmission temperature data was validated experimental data.


Psychologists working in the schools have an opportunity to affect in new and exciting ways the services they provide to high-ability students. A talent development framework offers a unique lens through which gifted services is conceptualized. The framework moves school psychologists beyond viewing giftedness and high IQ as synonymous to appreciating how talent in specific domains is identified, nurtured, and developed over time. In this framework, an appreciation for nonintellectual skills such as motivation, drive, and playfulness is viewed as important and complementary to high academic and cognitive ability. School psychologists can assume a leadership role in affecting gifted services in a variety of areas, including the following: assessment, consultation, counseling, collaboration, and work with high-ability students with coexisting disabilities.


Polymer-derived ceramic (PDC) thin films are promising wear-resistant coatings for protecting metals and carbon–carbon composites from corrosion and oxidation. However, the high pyrolysis temperature hinders the applications on substrate materials with low melting points. We report a new synthesis route for PDC coatings using initiated chemical vapor deposited poly(1,3,5-trivinyl-1,3,5-trimethylcyclotrisiloxane) (pV3D3) as the precursor. We investigated the changes in siloxane moieties and the network topology, and proposed a three-stage mechanism for the thermal annealing process. The rise of the connectivity number for the structures obtained at increased annealing temperatures was found with strong correlation to the enhanced mechanical properties and thermal conductivity. Our PDC films obtained via annealing at 850 °C exhibit at least 14.6% higher hardness than prior reports for PDCs synthesized below 1100 °C. Furthermore, thermal conductivity up to 1.02 W (mK)−1 was achieved at the annealing temperature as low as 700 °C, which is on the same order of magnitude as PDCs obtained above 1100 °C. Using minimum thermal conductivity models, we found that the thermal transport is dominated by diffusons in the films below the percolation of rigidity, while ultra-short mean-free path phonons contribute to the thermal conductivity of the films above the percolation threshold. The findings of this work provide new insights for the development of wear-resistant and thermally conductive PDC thin films for durable protection coatings.


Estuaries are the interface between continental runoff and the ocean, as a part of the coastal zone. The main feature of an estuary is the mixing process of ...


The condensation of indantrione monohydrate (ninhydrin) with ortho-diamines derived from pyridine and pyrimidine led to the synthesis of several new indeno[2,1-g]pteridine derivatives. The structure of these compounds is discussed and their physical properties described.


In this study, we examine numerical approximations for 2nd-order linear-nonlinear differential equations with diverse boundary conditions, followed by the residual corrections of the first approximations. We first obtain numerical results using the Galerkin weighted residual approach with Bernstein polynomials. The generation of residuals is brought on by the fact that our first approximation is computed using numerical methods. To minimize these residuals, we use the compact finite difference scheme of 4th-order convergence to solve the error differential equations in accordance with the error boundary conditions. We also introduce the formulation of the compact finite difference method of fourth-order convergence for the nonlinear BVPs. The improved approximations are produced by adding the error values derived from the approximations of the error differential equation to the weighted residual values. Numerical results are compared to the exact solutions and to the solutions available in the published literature to validate the proposed scheme, and high accuracy is achieved in all cases.


In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the usage of face masks has become crucial in preventing the spread of the virus. Automated face mask detection systems can play a significant role in monitoring compliance with mask-wearing guidelines in public spaces. This research paper proposes a method for face mask detection using the OpenCV library and the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) algorithm. The system utilizes computer vision techniques to analyze images or video streams and accurately classify individuals as wearing a mask or not. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach in real-time mask detection scenarios.


The adsorption of Co2(CO)8 onto dehydrated NaY powder under a N2 atmosphere and into a tetrahydrofuran slurry of NaY under a CO/H2 atmosphere predominately yielded supported Co4(CO)12 and supported Co6(CO)16, respectively. The molecular cobalt−carbonyl clusters and their decarbonylated products have been structurally characterized by in situ infrared, extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS), and diffuse reflectance spectroscopies and NO chemisorption. The infrared spectrum of the species assigned to Co4(CO)12/NaY and Co6(CO)16/NaY is shifted significantly from that observed for externally supported species on NaY and that observed for clusters, in solution, which indicates that the cobalt carbonyl clusters occurring on the NaY are similar to those occurring in weakly basic solution. The carbonyl activity of Co6(CO)16 in isotopic exchange with 13CO(g) is lower than that of Co4(CO)12. EXAFS coordination numbers showed that the successively decarbonylated sample maintained its small cluster size, wh...


The aim of the study was to determine if certain occupations pose an increased risk for infertility (of no known cause) among a group of infertile men compared with a group of fertile men. A total of 640 consecutive men whose spouses were unable to conceive were recruited from an infertility clinic. Of these, 218 men (cases) were found to have no known cause for their infertility. A total of 227 men whose spouses were pregnant at the time of the study were recruited as controls. The Singapore Standard Occupational Classification was used to code the subjects' occupations. Semen parameters (density, total sperm counts, motility, viability, and normal morphology) in all of the cases were significantly poorer than those in the controls. The risk for infertility is associated with smoking adjusted odds ratio (OR) 2.85 and 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.91 to 4.24. Work, independently, is not a risk factor for infertility. Engineering technicians (adjusted OR, 2.75; 95% CI, 1.36 to 5.54), finance analysts (adjusted OR, 4.66; 95% CI, 1.90 to 11.40), corporate and computing managers (adjusted OR, 2.49; 95% CI, 1.04 to 5.98), and teachers (adjusted OR, 7.72; 95% CI, 1.86 to 32.10) were at a greater risk of infertility compared with "services and clerical workers." Using services and clerical workers as a reference group, certain occupations are at a higher risk for infertility. Higher work demands and possible electromagnetic field exposure could be contributory factors for infertility.


The goal of this paper is to introduce methods that allow us to calculate certain limits and colimits in the category of modules over a principal ideal domain. We start with a quick review of basic categorical language and duality. Then we develop the concept of universal morphisms and derive limits and colimits as special cases. The completeness and cocompleteness theorems give us methods to calculate the morphisms associated with limits and colimits in general. To use these methods, we then specialize to the case of finitely generated modules over a PID. We first develop the Smith normal form as a computational tool and prove the structure theorem for finitely generated modules over a PID. Lastly, we discuss how to use the abstract methods suggested by the completeness and cocompleteness theorems in the context of RMod.


Neurology of Breathing

by C.F. Bolton et al., 232 pp., Butterworth Heinemann, 2004, $81.95

The last 25 years have seen increasing recognition of the clinical importance of both respiratory muscle weakness and sleep disordered breathing, as well as advances in the acute and long-term respiratory management of patients with neuromuscular disease. This volume, which is aimed mainly at a neurologic audience, is very timely in bringing together these various strands. It is particularly strong on the intensive care unit management of patients with acute neuromuscular diseases, reflecting the major interests and experience of the authors.

The sequence of chapters follows a conventional progression from historical aspects via anatomy, physiology, clinical assessment, and investigations to clinical management (particularly in the acute setting), followed by consideration of the respiratory aspects of individual neuromuscular diseases. A guest contributor has provided an …


The article is devoted to the study of effective websites design principles, adherence to which is very important and necessary in the modern information space. The article analyzes scientific research on the above problem and its results. The author defines the concept of usability, and describes its main indicators. The article considers the most important features of the user's perception of interfaces and formulates the rules of usability through the organization of screen space. It is emphasized that the basic rules of website design are based on knowledge of the human perception mechanisms. Users' psychophysical processes influence visual perception of screen space. Therefore, one needs to consider the psychology of human perception of the computer, the theory of information transfer, and also human psychophysiology to create highly usable interfaces and achieve effective users' interactions with websites. All this reduces the cognitive load and time for information search, and meets users' needs in the most convenient way. In addition, the principles of organizing web text in a way that ensures the best perception of information by the user are defined, in particular: structure, visualization, laconism and clarity. The article reveals the significance of website usability, describes criteria and methods of its assessment. Among the indicators used in website evaluation, the following are highlighted: effectiveness, navigation convenience, memorability. The author describes the methods for evaluating the effectiveness of the website, namely: statistics analysis, collection and analysis of visitors' opinions, observing users' actions, engaging users in testing. It is proved that the observance of usability principles results in an increased number of visitors and time they spend on a website, higher conversion rate, etc. The principles described in the article are generalization of the world experience of website design professionals.


A concept is presented for the formation of constellations of small satellites (smallsats) for radar surveillance employing multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) radar configurations. Such constellations can be used for cost-effective fine-resolution and persistent remote sensing of targets or regions on or above the earth's surface. Applications include, but are not limited to, surface mapping (including change detection), mapping of meteorological conditions, detection of fleeting events, and moving target detection. As expected, there are a number of challenging implementation issues, mostly in the area of digital processing and waveform design.


This article describes the UK Open University's FirstClass Computer conferencing system and its role in student support taking as an example the particular the way it is used for course choice. It suggests that whilst there are students who use it freely and apparently derive benefit from it, there are also substantial issues to be addressed about its relative unpopularity with students as a support medium. Institutions using computer conferencing may need to address issues about student antipathy towards it.


This paper studies the optimal reinsurance-investment problem under Heston's stochastic volatility (SV) in the framework of Stackelberg stochastic differential game, in which an insurer and a reinsurer are the two players. The aim of the insurer as the follower in the game is to find the optimal reinsurance strategy and investment strategy such that its mean-variance cost functional is maximized, while the aim of the reinsurer as the leader is to maximize its mean-variance cost functional through finding its optimal premium pricing strategy and investment strategy. To overcome the time-inconsistency problem in the game, we derive the optimization problems of the two players as embedded games and obtain the corresponding extended Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equations. Then we present the verification theorem and get the equilibrium reinsurance-investment strategies and the corresponding value functions of both the insurer and the reinsurer. Finally, we provide some numerical examples to draw the findings.


Bottle gourd plant has evolved a special senso-motor organ in the form of tendril. The tendril provides sensory detection of foreign material and mobility to the plant. There are motor cells clustered at strategic locations on the tendril which are at the heart of rapid contact coiling of the tendril. In tendril the motor cell has additional sensory mechanism. Thus these motor cells may be called as SENSO-MOTOR CELLS. The role of electrostatic charge in the functioning of these SENSO-MOTOR cells and other factors involved in rapid contact coiling are discussed.


Purpose
Standard fire resistance curves such as ASTM E119 have been used for so long in structural fire practice. The issue with use of these curves that they do not represent real fire scenarios. As a result, the alternatives have been to either conduct experiments or find other tools to represent a real fire scenario. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to understand the temperature effects resulted from a designed fire on steel beams and whether the standard fire curves represent a designed fire scenario.

Design/methodology/approach
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models were developed to simulate a designed fire scenario and to understand the structural responses on the beams under elevated temperatures. Consequently, the results obtained from the CFD models were compared with the results of three-dimensional (3D) non-linear finite element (FE) models developed by other researchers. The developed FE models were executed using a standard fire curve (ASTM E119). A parametric study including two case studies was conducted.

Findings
Results obtained from performing this study showed the importance of considering fire parameters such as fuel type and flame height during the thermal analysis compared to the standard fire curves, and this might lead to a non-conservative design as compared to the designed fire scenario. The studied cases showed that the steel beams experienced more degradation in their fire resistance at higher load levels under designed fires. Additionally, the models used the standard fire curves underestimated the temperatures at the early stages.

Originality/value
This paper shows results obtained by performing a comparison study of models used ASTM E119 curve and a designed fire scenario. The value of this study is to show the variability of using different fire scenarios; thus, more studies are required to see how temperature history curves can be used to represent real fire scenarios.


In this paper a collection of 92 specimens of Mutillidae obtained during the Vernay-Lang Kalahari Expedition is examined. In this collection 11 genera, 31 species, 10 subspecies, 2 races and 4 forms are represented. Of these 8 species are new, two are new races and one a new form.


The study of archival documents has shown that desertion and voluntary surrender were a serious thorn in the side of the Russian High Command from the start of the First World War. Reports sent from the South-Western Front show that, a total of 9,325 soldiers were detained at different train stations on the railway lines in the southwest alone. Some railway stations like Kazatin were capturing up to 40 people a day in November 1914. Surrender was also a concern during the first winter of the war. Although it is difficult to provide exact figures of how many soldiers voluntarily gave themselves up, many field commanders complained at the end of 1914 of instances where "whole groups of soldiers voluntarily surrendered". One of the first steps taken by the High Command to enforce discipline and reduce the number of desertions and surrenders was the introduction of field court martials. Keywords: desertion; First World War; Kazatin; Russian High Command; voluntary surrender


This paper presents the electrical power conversion system is developed for a variable speed wind turbine system. In the wind energy conversion system a synchronous generator converts the mechanical energy into electrical energy. As the voltage and frequency of generator output vary along the wind speed change, a B6 rectifier and inductor are utilized to maintain constant dc link current. The average power is converted entirely by the 12-pulse converter, it's consists of a two series-connected, current-source inverters. Line side current-source inverters supply currents into the utility line by regulating the dc link voltage. The active power is controlled by firing angle of converter with operated at inverter mode. The performance improvement of this proposed system by experiment, using a 20 kW four pole self excited synchronous generator. The overall control system is implemented on 12 pulse converter board. Experimental results are illustrated in order to validate performance of the proposed system.


Multi-stable stochastic systems are inherently nonlinear and typically have long transient times before stationary state is reached. Black-box dynamic models always assume the data to be from a stationary system. In this paper, we discuss a method to assess whether data is long enough to justify non-linear time series model. Our method discretizes state space and studies the corresponding Markov chain. The eigenvalues of the Markov transition operator provide leading transient time constants. The method is illustrated by generating data with a known multi-stable model and then analyzing the data with NNAR(1) and polynomial lag-1 time series model.


I n a recent article in The Philosophical Review, Vann McGee (1989) attempts to extend Adams's account (1965, 1975) of the assertibility of so-called "indicative conditionals"' to certain compounds containing these conditionals. McGee's idea is an interesting one. He notes the fact that David Lewis (1976) has shown that Adams's rule-that the assertibility of a conditional, Pr(A->B), is the conditional probability of the consequent on the antecedent, Pr(B/A)-cannot be consistently maintained across a language containing the arrow and the ordinary Boolean connectives which allows unrestricted compounding. McGee then suggests that there may, nonetheless, be other plausible principles which would assign probabilities to an important class of compounds and, further, imply Adams's principle as a special case for simple conditionals, that is, conditionals whose antecedent and consequent contain only Boolean connectives. This is an interesting idea and one that is carried out with great detail and rigor by McGee. Unfortunately, as I demonstrate in this note, his account is not correct. It simply assigns the wrong subjective probability to compounds in a range of cases. I present two counterexamples to McGee's theory and then explain what went wrong in his argument. Essentially McGee's approach fails to take account of the full range of relations of probabilistic dependence between conditionals. The problems presented here suggest that McGee's general strategy of providing a formula for determining the probability of certain Boolean combinations of conditionals given only the probability of the component conditionals and the probabilities of their subcomponents is unfeasible. However, this is


Physical health standards in remote Sarawak communities have been raised by a series of public health measures including the virtual elimination of formerly widespread diseases, improved maternal and child care, lower infant mortality, and rapid treatment of illness and injuries. But these undoubted successes should be contextualized by situating public health interventions within the broader processes of economic and social change that are rapidly transforming such communities. From the point of view of the Lahanan, a small group of horticulturalists living on the upper reaches of the Rejang River, each welcomed benefit has had a concomitant cost: new needs have been created faster than the means to satisfy them.


Abstract The polar cod were common in catches with bottom and pelagic trawl in Spitsbergen coastal waters. O-group polar cod were found in the upper echo-layers (15–80 m), while adults were confined to the deeper layers. A size/depth segregation was noted in the bottom layers with smaller individuals occurring mostly in the shallower areas and larger ones at greater depths. In general, pelagic hauls were dominated by fish smaller than 10 cm. Polar cod from Spitsbergen coastal waters were generally smaller and apparently grew more slowly than their counterparts in the central and eastern Barents Sea.


The Nest is a concave‐shaped structural motif in proteins formed by consecutive enantiomeric left‐handed (L) and right‐handed (R) helical conformation of the backbone. This important motif subsumes many turn and helix capping structures and binds electron‐rich ligands. Simple Nests are either RL or LR. Larger Nests (>2 residues long) may be RLR, LRL, RLRL, and so forth, being considered as composed of overlapping simple Nests. The larger Nests remain under‐explored despite their widely known contributions to protein function. In our study, we address whether the recurrence of enantiomeric geometry in the larger Nests constrains the peptide backbone such that distinct compositional and conformational preferences are seen compared to simple Nests. Our analysis reveals the critical role of the L helical torsion angle in the formation of larger Nests. This can be observed through the higher propensity of residue or secondary structure combinations in LR and LRL backbone conformation in comparison to RL or RLR, although LR/LRL is considerably lower by occurrence. We also find that the most abundant doublets and triplets in Nests have a propensity for particular secondary structures, suggesting a strong sequence‐structure relationship in the larger Nest. Overall, our analysis corroborates distinct features of simple and the larger Nests. Such insights would be helpful towards in‐vitro design of peptides and peptidomimetic studies.


The daily productivity of two solar stills (SSs) was investigated experimentally and numerically. Two modifications were done to increase the daily productivity of the conventional SS which include...


Related U.S. Application Data 57 ABSTRACT 60 Provisional application No. 60/025,841, Sep. 5, 1996. A System and method is provided for navigating a manifold (51) Int. Cl. .................................................. G10L3/02 in a high-dimensional space and to interface Sound to 52 U.S. Cl. ............................. 704/258; 364/578; 381/17 movement. According to the System of the invention, an 58 Field of Search ..................................... 704/200, 258, input movement Sensor operates to capture movement of an 704/270, 276, 278; 381/17, 18; 364/578 object in relation to the manifold. The captured movement is then communicated to generate a control Signal in a higher 56) References Cited dimensional phase Space. A window Space translates infor mation from the phase Space to render a representation of the U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS relation between the location of the object and the manifold. 3,749,810 7/1973 Dow .......................................... 84/701 Sound quality changes are related to movement. Sound 5,214,615 5/1993 Bauer....... ... 367/128 output is via a Sound Synthesizer which generates Sound 5,587,936 12/1996 Levitt et al. .. ... 364/578 relating to input movement. In a preferred embodiment, 5,751,289 5/1998 Myers ..................................... 345/419 movement of an object in relation to a manifold is captured OTHER PUBLICATIONS in a three-dimensional virtual reality environment. In a preferred embodiment the manifold is Sound generated. The Insook Choi and R. Bargar, "Interfacing Sound Synthesis to captured movement is then communicated in order to gen Movement for Exploring High-Dimensional Systems in a Virtual Environment," Systems, Man, and Cybernetics erate a higher dimensional phase Space. A window Space is Intelligent Systems for the 21st Century., IEEE International also generated for mapping information from the phase Conference on, 22–25 O, Oct. 1995. Space to render a representation of the relationship between the location of the object and the manifold. The represen Robin Bargar, Insook Choi, Sumit Das, and Camille Gou tation can then be displayed. desceune, "Model-based Interactive Sound for an Immer sive Virtual Environment," Proceeding of the International computer Music Conference, Sep. 1994, pp. 471-474. 14 Claims, 6 Drawing Sheets


In order to adapt to the current economic globalization, traditional commerce has been transformed and upgraded, cross-border e-commerce emerged at the historic moment and developed rapidly, which not only promoted the growth of China's foreign trade and national economy, but also promoted the diversification of China's economy.The cross-border logistics, cross-border payment and cross-border quality problems in the development process of cross-border e-commerce have also become the constraints of cross-border e-commerce. In terms of current economic development, relevant block chain technologies have been put into the field of cross-border e-commerce, and scene application has been carried out in the aspects of origin traceability and quality tracking of imported products.Based on the data tamperability, time stamp technology, point to point transmission technology, distributed technology of the block chain technology are further put into use for cross-border e-commerce, which can solve some of the current and future disputes of cross-border e-commerce.In the future,the extensive application of block chain technology will bring more and more perfect rules and regulations of cross-border e-commerce.The advantages of cross-border e-commerce are more and more obvious, which will lead to more and more rapid economic development.


Introduction: To determine the microbiological characteristics and vaccination data of patients diagnosed with IPD Material and Methods: Retrospective descriptive study.Patients over 18 years old admitted to our hospital due to IPD from 01/2007-12/2014.Recruitment based on germ isolations(blood/body fluids).Data compiled for demographic variables,comorbidities,microbiology and vaccination.Analysis:SPSS18.0 Results: 176patients:98men,78women.Mean age:65.44. 32serotypes(8serotypes responsible for more than 1/2 of the cases)62 patients(35.2%)had been vaccinated with 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine(23V):4.6% 1year before the pathological process,33.8% between 1-5 years before,61.50% more than 5 years before.85.2% of patients who had received 23V were over the age of 65( p =0.000).6.7% of patients younger than 65(<65)with at least one comorbidity had been vaccinated

In 62.1% of the vaccinated patients the isolated serotype was included in the 23V. Conclusions: Most frequently isolated serotypes are included in 23V and also in 13-valent conjugate vaccine. Low vaccination coverage:2/3 of patients had not been vaccinated.The immunization % is even lower in patients


The Jingqiu oilfield is coomprised of an u nsaturated layer-shaped oil reservoir with simple structure, multi-oil-bearin g formation and big thickness.It has been in high water cut stage as it has been developed for more than ten years.The fine oil-reservoir descripton has been a pplied in order to evaluate its potentials in the middle and late period of deve lopment. In according with its own feature, the description was mainly focused o n the reservoir itself including fractionizing sedimentation cell, sedimentary a nd petrographic microfacies, features of heterogeneity of thick oil layers, petr ophysical facies, and distribution of remaining oil, etc. The nerve-network met hod was used for the first time to simulate and to predict the parameter of phys ical property, sedimentation and diagenic metamophism, and quantitatively pointe d out sedimentary-petrography microfacies. The study of petrophysical facies an d the distribution of the remaining oil provided geological foundation for impro - ving its development, and gained good result in the developing implementat ion


As a result of the unprecedented retirement wave within the federal government, federal agencies are aggressively recruiting young professionals that have been categorized as Generation Y. However, there is currently a lack of systematic research that has been conducted on this new cohort of employees; particularly, within the federal government. A lot of the available information that pertains to Generation Y can be classified as pop journalism, as opposed to scholarly research. Furthermore, many federal leaders are utilizing this information along with outdated traditional management assumptions about employee motivation to design and develop their public organizations. This tenuous approach can prove to be very costly and detrimental to the success of public institutions. Therefore, many scholars have purported that a lot of young civil servants leave the federal government due to poor management. In an attempt to alleviate the aforementioned concerns, this dissertation offers information to public leaders about how federal Generation Y employees view their work, so leaders can better understand this cohort of employees. By using an interpretative framework with phenomenological research methods, five Generation Y subjects explained their workplace views, attitudes, and experiences as they pertain to motivation. In addition, five federal supervisors explained their viewpoints and experience with Generation Y within the work setting. There were a total of 10 research


1 Cambridge Graphene Centre, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FA, United Kingdom 2 State Key Laboratory of Superlattices and Microstructures, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100083, China 3 Department of Structural Engineering and Geotechnics, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Torino, Italy 4 COMP/Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University School of Science, Aalto, Finland 5 Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 43, 00014 Helsinki, Finland


Sensor networks are increasingly being deployed for fine-grain monitoring of physical environments subjected to critical conditions such as fire, leaking of toxic gases and explosions. A great challenge to these networks is to provide a fast, reliable and fault tolerant channel for events diffusion, which meets the requirements of query-based, event-driven and periodic sensor networks application scenarios, even in the presence of emergency conditions that can lead to node failures and path disruption to the sink that receives those events. This paper presents a fault tolerant and low latency algorithm, which we refer to as PEQ (Periodic, Event-Driven and Query-Based Protocol), that meets sensor networks requirements for critical conditions surveillance applications. The algorithm uses the publish/subscribe paradigm to disseminate requests across the network and an ack-based scheme to provide fault tolerance. The algorithm was implemented using NS-2 simulator and compared to the Directed Diffusion paradigm. Important metrics were evaluated showing that the proposed algorithm can be a proper solution to meet constraints and requirements of events delivery in critical conditions monitoring applications.


The invention discloses a general data display method and general data display equipment, which relate to data display technology. The method provided by the invention comprises the steps that: the display equipment constructs a display data structure table and respectively builds data display windows corresponding to data structure types in the display data structure table; and when receiving data from a data sender, the display equipment determines the data structure type of the received data according to the display data structure table, analyzes the received data according to the information of the data structure type in the display data structure table if the data display window corresponding to the data structure type exists, and displays the data in the corresponding data display window. According to technical scheme of the invention, the general display of the data of different structures is realized by a built-in custom data structure and by defining and positioning specific fields of the offset and types and the like.


Based on statistic of the reason and probability of flood and classifying different water and sand combination condition, the paper analyzes the influence on erosion and deposition equilibrium in lower reaches of Weihe River under the different condition of water and sand combination in conflux area. The result shows that the combination has very important role to the erosion and deposition in lower reaches of Weihe River. If the combination is suitable, the altitude in Tongguan will be descended quickly, which is the key point of eroding in lower reaches of Weihe river, and the deposition will be slowed down visibly. While on the contrary, if the combination is unsuitable, the altitude in Tongguan will be ascended clearly, and the deposition will be rapidly traced to the source. At the end of the paper, a countermeasure is put forward to deal with the problem.


Objective.–To evaluate whether self‐reported past migraine response to reproductive life events (menses, pregnancy, menopause) alters the likelihood of worsening of migraine with exogenous hormone use.


........................................................................................................... i Acknowledgments...................................................................iv Chapter One: Introduction...........................................................1 1 Research Question................................................1 1.2 Why Weil?.........................................................................5 1.3 The Enigma of Human Life: Affliction.....................18 1.3.1 The Agony of Abandonment...............................20 1.4 Weil's Philosophical Aim....................................25 1.5 Research Design...............................................27 Chapter Two: On Necessity ......................................................................... 31 2.1 The Domain and Chain of Necessity..............................34 2.2 Necessity and the Good.......................................40 2.2.1 Rhees' Concern.............................................40 2.2.2 Weil's Ethical and Religious Perspectives..............45 2.2.3 Further Remarks on Weil's Ethics: 'Chase That Dog Away'..........................50 2.3 Weil's Absurdism.............................................58 Chapter Three: A Numinous Experience: Affliction .........................62 3.1 Inarticulate Cry of Pain.......................................64 3.2 Contemplation or Explanation...............................71 3.3 Can Affliction Be Articulated?.......................................75 3.3.1 Weil's Response............................................82


Synthetic human speech signals have become very easy to generate given modern text-to-speech methods. When these signals are shared on social media they are often compressed using the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) standard. Our goal is to study if a small set of coding metadata contained in the AAC compressed bit stream is sufficient to detect synthetic speech. This would avoid decompressing of the speech signals before analysis. We call our proposed method AAC Synthetic Speech Detection (ASSD). ASSD extracts information from the AAC compressed bit stream without decompressing the speech signal. ASSD analyzes the information using a transformer neural network. In our experiments, we compressed the ASVspoof2019 dataset according to the AAC standard using different data rates. We compared the performance of ASSD to a time domain based and a spectrogram based synthetic speech detection methods. We evaluated ASSD on approximately 71k compressed speech signals. The results show that our proposed method typically only requires 1000 bits per speech block/frame from the AAC compressed bit stream to detect synthetic speech. This is much lower than other reported methods. Our method also had a 9.7 percentage points higher detection accuracy compared to existing methods.


I N THE human brain there are at least three small widely separated areas that have certain features in common but differ histologically from surrounding tissues. On the basis of their topographic location they are referred to as the supra-optic crest, the intercolumnar tubercle and the area postrema. 4,1~ Histologically these structures are characterized by the presence of many small glialoid cells resembling astroblasts, larger cells which, in man at least, appear to be neurons and numerous sinuslike capillaries. 5 These anatomical entities differ from most other tissues in the central nervous system in that they are readily permeable to many particulate substances such as t rypan blue which do not penetrate tlle central nervous system except very slowly and in small amounts. TM The area postrema, which is the subject of this study, was first described in 1896 by Retzius s and further elucidated in an excellent monograph by Cammermeyer in 1945. 6 Since the investigations of Wislocki and Putnam u,~2 in 1920 and 19~4, some secretory or excretory function of area postrema has been suspected. Its importance in the process of vomiting of certain animals has been demonstrated the last 10 years. Although it has long been known that the basic central mechanism that controls vomiting is situated in the medulla oblongata, 7 a functional distinction between a specialized medullary-chemoreceptor apparatus and the neural-coordinating center for emesis has been made only recently2 ,9 The morphological separation of the superficial trigger zone (CT-zone) of the medullary emetic chemoreceptor from the ventrally situated vomiting center has been accomplished in the cat and dog by means of direct central electrical stimulation 2 and ablative procedures. 3 The discrete connections and receptor functions of the CT-zone remain to be delineated exactly, but it is evident that in some animals an important role in the activation of emesis must be assigned to the area postrema, which is considered to be the morphological substrate of the site of the central emetic receptor. 1 On the basis of the experience with chronic CT-zone ablations in certain animals, a similar procedure was deemed justifiable on human beings in an a t tempt to control intractable vomiting in strictly selected patients. While therapeutic surgical lesions had previously, to the best of our knowledge, not been applied to the area of the 4th ventricle, it was reassuring that in most cases of medullary-tract sections, modus SjSqvist, the complications had been minor or temporary. One of us (P. A. L.) therefore selected 5 patients with severe vomiting, and on them performed a superficial ablation of the area postrema for therapeutic purposes. The studies of these 5 patients are reported herein and discussed.


The R-module M is called a FA module if there exists finite submodule N such that M/N is Artinian, and is called an AF module if there exists Artinian submodule A such that M/A is finite. We show that if M and K are FA (or AF) modules with Supp(K) ⊆ V( ) then Ext i R (K, H j (M)) is finite for all i ≥ 0 and j > 0, if R is local and is an ideal of dimension one or principal.


Using refactoring techniques is known as a good practice to enhance the software quality either by decreasing the complexity or enhance the behaviour of the software. Here, we conduct a study using inline method refactoring technique to investigate the significance of this technique, in order to examine how this kind of refactoring affect the coverage of the test suite by applying impact analysis of test coverage. We apply inline method refactoring on one package of JGAP; open source java project and make some experiments. The results show the inline method refactoring has essential benefit in decreasing complexity. On the other hand the results reveal that this refactoring technique has a negative impact on coverage from testing perspective.


ABSTRACT
Rizka Minda Kurniyanti, The Influence of Organizational Culture, Intrinsic Motivation, Extrinsic Motivation and Job Satisfaction on Employee Performance at the UPTD of the Kotagajah Inpatient Health Center. Supervisor (1) H. Suwarto2, S.E M.M, Fitriani2 S.E., M.M.
Companies definitely need competent and qualified employees, especially in this era of globalization. All business organizations are the driving force in decisions to achieve organizational goals. Organizational development is determined by the work of HR in the organization.
This study aims to determine 1) To find out whether organizational culture has an effect on employee performance. 2) To find out whether Extrinsic Motivation has an effect on employee performance. 3) To find out whether Intrinsic Motivation has an effect on employee performance. 4) To find out whether job satisfaction has an effect on employee performance. 5) To find out whether organizational culture, extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, and job satisfaction together affect employee performance. This study uses a quantitative approach. The survey method was chosen as the primary data source. The survey method focuses on collecting data from respondents who have certain information, thus enabling researchers to solve problems. In this study, the population of this study were employees and some students who were intern at the UPTD Inpatient Health Center Kotagajah were 84 people.
The results showed that 1) there was a positive and significant influence between organizational culture on employee performance. 2) there is a positive and significant influence between Extrinsic Motivation on employee performance. 3) there is a positive and significant influence between intrinsic motivation on employee performance 3) there is a positive and significant influence between job satisfaction on employee performance 4) there is a positive and significant influence between organizational culture, extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation, and job satisfaction on performance employee.

keywords : Reliability, Responsiveness, Physical evidence and customer satisfaction


The phenomenon of growing support for populist parties and relevant orientations among the world's population is usually defined as a threat to democracy, social unity, and civic activism. The psychological appeal of populist ideas is based on the human need for collective identity, social cohesion, categorization of social life, predictability and sense of security as well as moral absolutism and support for conspiracy theories. This leads to the spread of confrontational discourse in the public sphere, support for authoritarianism and deepening social cleavages. However, empirical researches show the ambiguous focus of populist orientations in support of anti-democratic ideas. In fact, citizens with populist orientations should not be unambiguously identified with voters of populist parties. Because of its mobilizing potential, populism can make the democratic process more inclusive, as people with populist orientations support deliberative forms of democracy. In some cases, populist mobilization become useful in emergencies, such as the overthrow of an authoritarian regime or resistance to the enemy during war. However, populism can be an obstacle in trying to reform state institutions, as the absolutization of simplistic forms of government and the propensity for authoritarianism common among populists block civic initiative.


In order to comprehensively improve the ride comfort performance and the road friendliness performance of the heavy vehicles, an inertial suspension using ground-hook (GH) control is proposed in this paper, and the suspension performances are compared at different loading rates and driving speeds. Firstly, a half vehicle model of the inertial suspension of the heavy vehicle based on the GH control is established. Then, the key parameters of the GH inertial suspension are optimized by the genetic algorithm and the system simulations are carried out. By comparing to the conventional passive suspension, the root-mean-square (RMS) of the vertical acceleration of the body centroid is reduced by 4.87%, and the RMS of the dynamic tire loads of the front and the rear wheels are reduced by 16.19% and 10.02%, respectively. Results show that the GH inertial suspension can effectively coordinate and improve the ride comfort and road friendliness of heavy vehicles simultaneously.


By analyzing the theoretical foundation of marine function zoning,this paper reconstructs the framework of the theoretical system of marine functional zoning,which consists of marine functional zonation and coast conservation and utilization plans.In the framework,marine function zones are identified by the marine natural attributes,and coast conservation and utilization plans are identified by the marine social attributes on the basis of the marine function zones.The similarities and differences of the theory between construction and existing zoning are also analyzed.


This paper examines higher-moment market risks in the cross-section of hedge fund returns to make several contributions. First, it is shown that hedge funds, but not mutual funds, are substantially exposed to volatility, skewness, and kurtosis risks. We find significant cross-sectional variation in the intensity of higher-moment exposures across hedge fund styles and across hedge funds within a particular style, suggesting potential for neutralizing higher-moment risks. Corroborating this result, when funds of hedge funds are investigated as a separate investment category they do not show aggressive loading on higher-moment risks. Second, we provide evidence on economically significant premiums being embedded in hedge fund returns on account of their exposures to higher-moment risks. Third, we uncover a set of higher-moment factors that are not strongly associated with factors in benchmark models that are currently used for evaluating hedge fund performance. Finally, the addition of higher-moment factors to benchmark models can better explain the behavior of hedge fund returns. Bearing on issues of practical consequence, benchmark models augmented with higher-moment factors can considerably alter the hedge funds' alpha-based rankings.


Abstract : HISTORICAL: Relationship with Combat Arms -- Relationship with Intelligence Services: 1970's training * MP training * Combined arms training. Relationships Change Radically in the 1980's and 1990's: Panama * Somalia * Haiti * Balkans * Desert Storm and Desert Shield. Late 1990's: Explosion in intelligence and information management tools * Emergence of new and redefined intelligence disciplines * Expansion of collection management. Post 9/11/2001 - Extension of all military branches. Change in Focus: Less policing the force * More (much more) interaction with belligerents and civilian nationals. Not just a Force Multiplier -- A Force Component.


International migration has major socioeconomic consequences, one of which is the flow of remittances from migrant workers in different countries to their places of origin. The flow of remittances is a complex phenomenon with national and global economic, social, legal and cultural implications. In the literature, some impacts of remittances have been studied, especially for certain developing countries. However, the socio-economic impacts of international remittances from developed countries on rural households in lesser developed countries is still poorly understood. Thus this research focuses on the factors affecting the flow and socioeconomic impacts of remittances sent by migrant workers in Italy to rural households in Bangladesh. It draws on migration literature, including the New Economics of Labour Model (NELM), which simultaneously considers migration determinants, remittance behaviour and impacts. A conceptual model is proposed which captures the social, micro-economic and sociodemographic factors affecting remittance flow, as well as the economic and social impacts on the workers' households. The model is operationalised using existing measures from the literature. To test the model, a three-stage research design was used. Firstly, a census of the 4013 households in ten villages in the Shariatpur district of Bangladesh was conducted, in order to identify the village household members working in Italy. Of these, 338 households received remittances from household members working in Italy. Secondly, a pilot survey was conducted on 50 households within the sampling frame. Thirdly, a full scale survey using the pilot-tested questionnaire was undertaken with a sample of 300 (excluded 50 pilot sample) rural households. The survey data collected was tested using univariate and multivariate estimations (log linear regressions, and chi-square and gamma tests). The descriptive survey data provides insights into the socio-demographic characteristics of the migrant household members and heads of household. For instance, the majority of migrants are between 21 and 35 years old (59%), have educational attainments of less than higher secondary (98%), are mostly married (71%). Most have been migrants for between five and nine years (56 per cent), most had the required legal documentation (83 per cent) and had visited their original homes two to five times since they had emigrated (61 per cent). Most heads of households were aged between 51 and75 years (57 per cent), 53 per cent were male, most were married (83 per cent), most had educational levels lower than secondary school (92 per cent) and the most common occupation was that of housewife (47 per cent). Households in the study area came from two religious backgrounds: Muslim (68 per cent) and Hindu (32 per cent). Most of the households had between two and five members (51 per cent), excluding migrant members during the study period. The largest cohort of household properties had single ownership titles in the name of the land migrant (47 per cent), and the majority of household properties were liable to be inherited by two to three members (83 per cent). The results of the multi-variate analysis supported the relationships posited in the conceptual model. Seven hypotheses were developed and tested. It was found that there were three dominant factors: altruism, investment and kinship. Household size, annual income, assets and inheritance were non-significant predictors for remittances flow. The findings also show that the micro-economic determinants of remittance were influenced by three characteristics: migrant, household head and household composition. Remittance flow was associated with migrant characteristics such as age and number of visits by the migrant. The results showed that younger people were more likely to migrate, and that the remittances sent by younger emigrants tended to be higher. Younger emigrants' remittances were found to be significantly linked to the motivation to maintain strong kinship relations with household members in Bangladesh. Other significant influential determinants of remittances were the household head's age, gender and marital status, the household head's relationship to the migrant, composition of the household's investment and household living expenses. There was a highly significant relationship between remittances and attributes such as the migrant's age, education and legal status. In addition, there was also a correlation between remittances and the household head's relationship to the migrant, and between remittances and household characteristics such as religion, title of land, amount of land, investment in housing development, business, welfare and loan repayments. The research presented in this thesis suggests that the size and frequency of remittances and the factors affecting socioeconomic impacts differ at the destination, community and household levels. It contributes to knowledge on the dynamics of international remittances by establishing a backward elimination regression process to analyse the cross-sectional survey data. The econometric model is developed to observe the association between socioeconomic impact and the exploratory determinant variables. Thus, this implies that the impacts of diverse remittance determinants are crucial in designing the policy for specific categories of remain-behind village households.


Take the train to Toronto to continue you investigation. Did you know that Union Station in Toronto is the biggest in Canada? It has often been compared to a cathedral because the ceiling is so high.


The Qurān—the scripture of the Muslims, which purports to be from the Creator of the Universe—presents a rational, holistic, and integrated view of life, where the human being is considered an integral, coexistential part of nature who has responsibilities as representative of the Creator on earth. This responsibility is both based on, and directed by, four principles/realizations called "ecognitions," from which all animal rights can be formulated and through which a case for proactive animal advocacy can be advanced. It is argued that the Qurānic view, from which the four ecognitions are drawn, has the potential to enable the coexistence of human and nonhuman animals, in an optimally harmonious way, for the 21st century and beyond.


Application of Computer Color Matching technology increases production with decreased cost in leather making. Theory of Computer Color Matching(CCM) was introduced and the database building and the application method of CCM in leather dyeing were discussed. And measures for improving the CCM accuracy were also introduced.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY | Smart organizations share common goals and performance metrics. They are also nimble and work collaboratively, focusing on sustainable strategic objectives. They take a more balanced approach that looks horizontally across the supply chain, virtually eliminating silos and optimizing the process from market-to-market and supplier-to-supplier's supplier. The new focus on the value supply chain is how companies can listen to their customers, assess the market, and then create a more accurate demand response.Given the current global economic situation, we'd all be shocked if cost savings and cost containment were not the top priorities for supply chain organizations; but smart organizations don't just strive to cut costs, they figure out how to make changes that are sustainable for strategic advantage.This requires a nimble and collaborative organization with similar objectives that include not only the operations and finance functions, but also sales and marketing, all of them share common goals and performance metrics. Our supply chain equation has been unbalanced from the conceptual point of view. It has always read this way:Supply Chain = S&OPIn the past, the'OP" in S&OP created an unbalanced equation, where organizations unknowingly biased their supply chains by focusing on the supply side of the house, flushing out inefficiencies in operations (e.g., focusing on reducing inventory costs by improving inventory replenishment capabilities) with little emphasis on understanding how to integrate market opportunities and customer needs. Most people don't realize that the "S" in S&OP stands for sales and marketing, not just sales. We need to recalibrate our supply chain equation to read as:Supply Chain = SM&OPNow we have a more balanced approach that looks horizontally across the supply chain, rather than virtually eliminating silos and optimizing the process from market-to-market and supplier-to-supplier's supplier. In other words, SM&OP is the horizontal process that synchronizes supply to demand, not demand to supply. The new focus on the value supply chain is how companies can listen to their customers, assess the market, and then create a more accurate demand response. Companies that achieve market-driven maturity not only have better demand and supply synchronization but also have greater agility to match supply to demand. Companies that have implemented market-driven supply chains understand how to respond to customer demand and translate that demand into an optimized supply plan with a focus on balancing (or synchronizing) demand and supply. In fact, those same companies are more inclined to sense market changes five times faster and align their supply three times faster to fluctuations in demand. Rapid alignment enables better customer service with substantially less inventory, waste, and working capital. This article will outline the first steps that companies need to take to become market-driven.SYNCHRONIZING DEMAND PULL WITH SUPPLY PUSHToday's business challenges are numerous - globalization pressures, supply chain complexity, rising customer demands, and the need to increase revenues across global markets while continuing to cut costs. Adding to these challenges is the current economy in which the last several years of supply outstripped demand. In addition, the increasing pace of innovation and the need to appeal to broader ranges of consumers are making life cycles shorter and product mixes larger while global sourcing is making supply lead times longer. As companies increase their geographical reach and look to global sourcing, variable lead times are becoming common. All of these factors are impeding companies' ability to balance ever-increasing demand with supply. As a result, organizations must have a heightened awareness for better alignment and visibility, and improve their ability to sense and translate demand patterns into actionable profitable operations plans. …


Informaticians are good at definitions. We like precision. We like ontologies and creating crisp distinctions between terms and concepts. Through the years, many different frameworks have been used to describe the field, the profession, and the science of informatics.

While the evolving frameworks are helpful in describing informatics, informatics as a field of study and as a profession doesn't fit neatly into a discrete bucket. It has morphed and changed over time. And as with any interdisciplinary field, domains of interest, professional groups, techniques, and methods all overlap, merge together, and fuse. While we, as informaticians, concentrate on describing what we do, we sometimes struggle to explain to interested parties why we think informatics is not merely a field of study, but a transformational profession in health and health care.

What is it that makes describing what we know and how we know it such a challenge? Informaticians approach the science and practice differently. As we look at the breadth and depth of the field, and efforts to professionalize with certification, an understanding of who we are and how we think about the profession is central.

Application domains. For example, the AMIA website categorizes informatics in terms of different application domains (https://www.amia.org/about-amia/science-informatics). This has been useful in identifying groups of like-minded researchers and practitioners and in organizing programs and meetings to help support their needs. Within AMIA, we have working …


Let $H = N^{\theta }, \theta> 2/3$ and $k \geq 1$. We obtain estimates for the following exponential sum over primes in short intervals: $$\begin{equation*} \sum_{N < n \leq N+H} \Lambda(n) \mathrm e(g(n)), \end{equation*}$$where $g$ is a polynomial of degree $k$. As a consequence of this in the special case $g(n) = \alpha n^k$, we deduce a short interval version of the Waring–Goldbach problem.


Abstract : Much of the knowledge of photogrammetry will become obsolete in five years. This can be minimized if the photogrammetrist is kept aware of new concepts and advances in scientific and technical fields. Large amounts of scientific and technical reports are being generated by an expanding R+D community. New information, related and applicable to photogrammetry, is becoming continually available. This can aid photogrammetric personnel in keeping abreast of technological advances as well as solving specific problems. Concepts of document referral and retrieval can assist in solving the dilemma of volume, nature and source of new information.


The extensive eyewitness memory research literature has been restricted to memory for strangers. Although it is often assumed that eyewitnesses are more accurate identifying familiar than unfamiliar individuals, little is known about whether individuals' familiarity judgments are diagnostic of prior contact. Caucasian and Asian sophomores (N=139) in two small private high schools viewed yearbook pictures of (a) graduated students from their school who were seniors (fourth year) when participants were freshmen (first year) (familiar) and (b) unfamiliar individuals, and responded whether each was 'familiar'. The design was completely crossed; familiar faces at each school served as unfamiliar faces at the other school. Based on d′ data, the cross-race effect resulted for familiarity judgments. Also, although individuals' familiarity judgments were diagnostic of prior contact, accuracy was low (mean hit rate=0.42; mean false alarm rate=0.23), rendering an eyewitness's report of having seen a perpetrator casually in the past of limited forensic value.


Nowadays, two of the main research fields in the naval industry are the introduction of autonomous shipping and greener alternatives for the propulsion and power generation systems. This thesis has two objectives that are closely related. The first is to analyse the differences from the point of view of the naval architect between an autonomous vessel and a conventional one. The second goal is to scrutinize which propulsion system and electric power generation configuration is the most advantageous in terms of economy, environmental and autonomous operation.