Continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTR) and batch reactors were used to examine the difference in methane yields and process stability between fractionated and non-fractionated sugar beet leaves.
The hypothesis of this project was that by reducing the amount of juice in the sugar beet leaves the amount of soluble sugars and other easily fermented compounds in the substrate will also decrease, and thereby lead to higher process stability.
Batch reactor experiments were performed with inoculum-substrate ratios (ISR) of 2:1 and 1:1, and with non-fractionated (Total Solids, TS: 13.0%), two different solid fractions (TS: 14.9% and 17.6%) and liquid fraction (TS: 7.1%) sugar beet leaves. The methane yields of non-fractionated substrate for ISR 2:1 and 1:1 was 328 (sd 12) mL gVS-1 and 339 (sd 8) mL gVS-1. The methane yields of the solid fraction with TS 14.9% for ISR 2:1 and 1:1 was 302 (sd 14) mL gVS-1 and 306 (sd 9) mL gVS-1. The methane yield of the solid fraction with TS 17.6% with ISR 2:1 was 322 (sd 12) mL gVS-1. The methane yield of the liquid fraction for IRS 2:1 and 1:1 was 303 (sd 16) mL gVS-1 and 330 (sd 20) mL gVS-1. The liquid fraction with the higher organic load (ISR 1:1) showed signs of inhibition which was not present in other substrates with the same ISR. This could be due to higher concentrations of quickly fermented compounds leading to inhibiting levels of volatile fatty acids, indicating that this substrate more easily can cause disturbances at higher organic loading rates than the other substrates.
The CSTR experiments took place over a period of 80 days and substrates used were non-fractionated (TS: 13.0%) and solid fraction (TS: 14.9%). The methane yields for the two reactors with non-fractionated substrate leaves were 245 and 238 mL gVS-1. The methane yields for the two reactors with fractionated substrate leaves were 205 and 224 mL gVS-1. Process disturbances caused by foam production was common, particularly in reactors with solid fraction. Results from the continuous experiments do not indicate that methane yields or process stability improved for the reactors fed with fractionated substrate, but rather the opposite. However, as the continuous experiments only went on for 80 days and the variations between duplicates were large the results are not conclusive.


The intestinal mucosa is suggested to support extrathymic T cell development, particularly for T cell receptor (TCR)-γδ intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs). TCR-γδ cell development requires interleukin (IL)-7; IL-7−/− or IL-7 receptor−/− mice lack TCR-γδ cells. Using the intestinal fatty acid binding protein (iFABP) promoter, we reinstated expression of IL-7 to mature enterocytes of IL-7−/− mice (iFABP-IL7). In iFABP-IL7 mice, TCR-γδ IELs were restored, as were cryptopatches and Peyer's patches. TCR-γδ cells remained absent from all other tissues. Likewise, T cell development in thymus and B cell maturation in the bone marrow and spleen retained the IL-7−/− phenotype. Thus, IL-7 expression by enterocytes was sufficient for extrathymic development of TCR-γδ cells in situ within the intestinal epithelium and was crucial for organization of mucosal lymphoid tissue.


A Right-Sided aorta is of such rarity as to prompt this communication with an account of its radiological appearances. The case had a clinical interest as well, though for over fifty years of his life the developmental abnormality had caused neither anxiety nor concern to the patient.


This study attempts to contribute to a better understanding of the operation of the public library system in Nigeria by using the Bauchi Public Library as a case study. The text reviews the origin and growth of the Library over the years and finds that the Library is book oriented and thus basically caters for literates. The existing resources of the Library are evaluated while the problems facing it are documented. Recommendations are made with the view to bringing about the general improvement in the Library in terms of management structure and providing more facilities to cater for all categories of users.


[Objective] To analyze the clinical and pathologic feature of Penicilliosis marneffei.[Method] The clinical features,laboratory findings,pathologic characteristic and response to therapy of three cases of disseminated Penicilliosis marneffei,were analysed with reviewing of related papers.[Results] Fever,emaciation,anemia,skin lesion,splenohepatomegalia and lymphadenectasis,lung damage were common clinical manifestations of three patients,two of them infected with AIDS.Mononuclear phagocytic system is involved by Penicilliosis marneffei chiefly.Diagnosis is obtained by detecting Penicilliosis marneffei from fungus culture,smear and histopathologic examination.Two of them died and one left hospital for intolerance of the side effects of amphotericin B.[Conclusion] In the endemic period of AIDS,we should pay more attention to Penicilliosis marneffei.The prognosis of these patients should be improved by early diagnosis and therapy.


The most comprehensive single volume of frequently needed information on science available, this extensive reference is authoritative, up-to-date, and easy-to-use, spanning ten separate disciplines as well as related fields. Includes 350 charts, tables, graphs, and illustrations.


A lignocellulose-containing material, obtainable by treating lignocellulose particles A with a binder of agent B, where the binder B containing the following components. An aqueous component (I) it is containing (i) a polymer A which is constructed in the following monomers: a) 80 to 100% by weight of at least one ethylenically unsaturated mono- and / or dicarboxylic acid (monomer (s) A1 ) b) 0 to 20% by weight of at least one other ethylenically unsaturated monomer which differs from the monomers A1 (monomer (s) A2) and optionally (ii) an interleaver low molecular weight with at least two functional groups which are selected from the group of hydroxyl, carboxylic acid and derivatives thereof, primary, secondary and tertiary amine, epoxy and a component (II) as an aqueous dispersion containing one or more polymer (s) M, which are constructed of the following monomers: a) 0 to 50% by weight of at least one ethylenically unsaturated monomer which contains at least one epoxide group and / or at least one hydroxyalkyl group (monomer (s) M1), b) 50 to 100% by weight of at least one other copolymerizable ethylenically unsaturated, which differs from the monomers M1 (monomer (s) M2) and optionally customary additives as component (III).


The goal of this research was to determine if one could increase the efficiency of drag and energy loss on containership hulls in the water by utilizing the principles of biomimetics. All species of fish contain a coat of mucus which makes the surface of the fish slippery and reduces drag, adds external protection and many additional advantages. The mucus layer fills the gaps of a body to make a smooth and slippery surface for minimum drag while also providing hydrodynamic advantages by increasing velocity from which the surrounding fluid hits  the surface of the fish. Increase in efficiency during movement on water was determined by the different travel speeds using 2 cargo ship model boats (one was coated with fish mucus on the hull and the other one was left uncoated). It was observed that the ship with fish mucus on its hull increased in speed and decreased the drag force, thus making the travel more efficient. The data obtained in this experiment supports the hypothesis that cargo ships would use less fuel and waste less energy with a fish mucus-like synthetic on their hulls.


Personal selling has its own specifics and allows sellers to interact directly with the customer. The aim of the proposed paper is to find out statistically significant differences in the perception factor affecting personal selling from the customer's perspective in the context of gender differences. A differential analysis was conducted on the sample of 243 respondents (112 male customers and 131 female customers); on the basis of the data obtained by means of an original methodology for detecting the factors influencing the customers' perception of the sellers in personal selling. Gender differences in customer perceptions were confirmed in six items of observed factors: seller's image, seller's willingness and empathy, and his or her communication skills. The results of the analysis confirmed the existence of statistically significant differences between the male and the female in their perception of the sellers. Based on these results it may be concluded that, male and female differently view the seller's image, his or her willingness and empathy towards customers, as well as its communication skills.


The origin and termination of prefrontal cortical projections to the periaqueductal gray (PAG) were defined with retrograde axonal tracers injected into the PAG and anterograde axonal tracers injected into the prefrontal cortex (PFC).


Recently researchers have begun to study empirically the role of the personal attributes of students and psychological processes underlying their learning and academic performance. One such aspect is known as Self-Regulation in Learning (SRL). Self-regulated learning (SRL) is a cognitively inherent aspect of learning. SRL is a deliberate, judgmental and adaptive process. Active family involvement helps the child to grow in a healthy manner and hence it is accepted by the researchers that healthy development of personality is promoted only by providing suitable atmosphere in the family. An attempt is made in this study to assess the impact of family environment on the students' use of self-regulated learning strategies. The results of this study reveal that students differ significantly in self-regulated learning with respect to their gender, type of school they have studied and their parents' education. The various dimensions of the family environment have a significant impact on the students' self-regulated learning. The findings of this study have been discussed in this research.


The first objective of this study is to verify the relationship between the treatment of Big Data and the levels of digital competence in a sample of 386 educational inspectors. The second objective is to examine what implications this relationship could have in the performance of their professional jobs. We are in an age marked by technology, which is in all contexts, where educational processes and tasks derived from educational practice are being carried out in a digital plane, originating a great volume of data. This means that entities such as educational inspection need digital skills for effective professional development. A nonexperimental, transactional design of a descriptive and correlational type was used. Data were collected using an ad hoc questionnaire. The results revealed that educational inspectors are capable of analysing large volumes of data. It is concluded that inspectors have a medium level of digital competence, achieving good skills in two specific areas.


Valerian extract is widely used in dietary supplements as well as in conventional, traditional and alternative medicines. It is one of the most used herbal plants for the treatment of several disorders, mainly related to the digestive and the nervous systems. Dozens of chemical constituents with pharmacological and therapeutic properties were identified in essential oils and/or other extracts of valerian's roots, rhizomes and aerial parts. This review summarizes and updates the current knowledge about the pharmacological properties of valerian, highlighting the most recent clinical, in vitro and in vivo findings, and intends to identify and propose future directions for further research regarding the effective biological effects of Valeriana spp.This review analyzed the scientific literature published in PubMed, Science Direct and Web of Science.Some reports are contradictory or inconclusive, probably due to the presence of chemically distinct chemotypes within a species of Valeriana or to different approaches adopted in different studies. Also, there are a number of studies showing that co-administration of herbal supplements and drugs may promote pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic herb-drug interactions.It is of utmost importance to clarify the state of the art related to Valeriana spp. therapeutic properties and their effects on metabolism.


An abdominal drawing-in maneuver (ADIM) with a pressure biofeedback unit can be used to prevent excessive lumbar lordosis during bridging exercise. Therefore, in this research, the effects of an ADIM on lumbar lordosis and lower extremity muscle activity during bridging exercise were investigated in thirty healthy adults. Surface electromyography (EMG) and VICON system were used to collect kinematic data and muscle activity, respectively. A paired t-test was used to determine a statistical significance. The results showed as follows: (1) When performing bridging exercise with an ADIM, the height of the anterior superior iliac spine and greater trochanter decreased significantly (p


Sub-micron diffraction gratings have been used for two LED illumination applications. One is to create a transparent see through luminaire which can be used to illuminate and read a paper document or e-book. A second is a light sensor that can be used in a feedback loop to control a multicolor LED lamp. Optical design and experimental proof-of-principle are presented.


Soil moisture influences on daily maximum (Tmax) and minimum (Tmin) temperatures, and thus the diurnal temperature range (DTR) in summer, are statistically quantified across the contiguous Unites States using soil moisture from the Global Land Data Assimilation System and observational temperatures. A soil moisture feedback parameter is computed based on lagged covariance ratios. Over the zone from California through the Midwest to the Southeast, the soil moisture exhibits a negative feedback on DTR mainly through its damping effect on Tmax. In contrast, a positive feedback on DTR dominates Arizona and New Mexico as the soil moisture exerts a stronger negative forcing on Tmin relative to Tmax. The feedback‐induced variability accounts for typically 10–20% of the total DTR variance over regions where strong feedbacks are identified. The results provide a useful benchmark for evaluating climate model simulations, although the employed data and method have limitations that should be recognized.


The scalability of modern computing hardware is limited by physical bottlenecks and high energy consumption. These limitations could be addressed by neuromorphic hardware (NMH) which is inspired by the human brain. NMH enables physically built-in capabilities of information processing at the hardware level. In other words, brain-like features bias hardware towards intelligence at scale. In Table 1 we compare computing devices by their ability to scale (scaling features) and adaptation of brain-inspired concepts (neuromorphic features). Neuropmorphic computing paradigms require a novel approach to safe, interpretable AI. In order to effectively engage the risk of misaligned AI, safety research may need to expand its scope to include NMH. This may be best achieved by supporting those currently engaged in NMH capability research to work on safety and related areas.


Low coverage of EBF is a global public health problem. Employment has been recognized as a factor that contributes to additional problems of EBF practice among women employees in Indonesia as they work more than 8 hours per day. In Indonesia, about 200,000 industrial companies which employed women in their production activities and they give only 3 months maternity leave. As a result, the coverage of EBF among industrial remains low. While policies already exist, the technical guidelines on the interventions are not well implemented due to unpractical approaches on these guidelines. This dissertation aims to analyse the interventions to address barriers of EBF in order to increase EBF coverage among industrial women employees in Indonesia. This is an in depth study using secondary data to review best practices to increase low coverage of EBF among industrial women employees. Propose of the study was to provide recommendations that could be implemented in Indonesian setting. The study show that there are three group level barriers i.e individual, group and social-culture contributed to low coverage of EBF. The analysis revealed that work place intervention such as lactation program and increasing employers' awareness on breastfeeding are effective in implementation and feasible to be implemented in Indonesia. Another intervention is personal intervention i.e prenatal planning and preparation, job sharing and day care. It is recommended that those two interventions could be implanted simultaneously to address the barriers of EBF practice among industrial women employees in Indonesia.


Public procurement of goods and services contributes to about 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. In the EU, public purchasing represents 15% of its GDP, acting as a major influencer on the market through the products and services acquired by governments from the local to national levels. The public sector has a role to play in leveraging this purchasing power to achieve the best societal value for money, particularly as we scramble to bend the curve of our planet's warming. Globally, the construction and transport sectors each represent about 12% of government procurements' GHG emissions. Furthermore, these sectors' decarbonization efforts demand profound and disruptive technological shifts. Hence, prioritizing these sectors can make the greatest impact towards reducing the environmental footprint of the public sector and support faster decarbonization of key emitting industries. Meanwhile, the EU committed to achieving 55% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. Drastic emissions reductions are needed at an unprecedented speed and scale to achieve this goal. Green Public Procurement (GPP) is the practice of purchasing goods and services using environmental requirements, with the aim of cutting carbon emissions and mitigating environmental harm throughout the life cycle of the product or service. While the EU and many of its Member States alike have recognized GPP as an important tool to meet climate goals, the formalization of GPP requirements at the EU level or among local and national governments has been fragmented. We call for harmonization to achieve the consistency, scale and focus required to make GPP practices a powerful decarbonization tool. We surveyed the landscape of GPP in the EU, with a focus on construction and road transport. Through interviews and policy research, we compiled case studies of eight Member States with different profiles: Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Estonia, Poland, Spain and Italy. We used this information to identify solutions and best practices, and to set forth recommendations on how the EU and its countries can harmonize and strengthen their GPP policies on the path toward cutting their contributions to climate change. What we found was a scattered approach to GPP across the board, with few binding requirements, little oversight and scant connective tissue from national to local practices or across different Member States, making it difficult to evaluate progress or compare practices. Interviewees, including policy makers, procurement experts and procurement officers from the featured Member States, highlighted the lack of time or resources to adopt progressive GPP practices, with no real incentive to pursue it. Furthermore, we found a need for more awareness and clear guidance on how to leverage GPP for impactful societal outcomes. Doing so requires better harmonized processes, data, and ways to track the impact and progress achieved. That is not to say it is entirely neglected. Most Member States studied highlight GPP in various national plans and have set targets accordingly. Countries, regions, and cities such as the Netherlands, Catalonia and Berlin serve as beacons of GPP with robust goals and higher ambition. They lead the way in showing how GPP can help mitigate climate change. For example, the Netherlands is one of the few countries that monitors the effects of GPP, and showed that public procurement for eight product groups in 2015 and 2016 led to at least 4.9 metric tons of avoided GHG emissions. Similarly, a monitoring report from 2017 showed that the State of Berlin managed to cut its GHG emissions by 47% through GPP in 15 product groups. Spain's Catalonia region set a goal of 50% of procurements using GPP by 2025, an all-electric in public vehicle fleet and 100% renewable energy powering public buildings by 2030. Drawing from these findings, we developed recommendations on how to bolster GPP and scale it to its full potential. In governance, policies, monitoring, implementation and uptake, some common themes exist. The need for: • Better-coordinated policies • Common metrics for measuring progress and evaluating tenders • Increased resources such as time, funding and support mechanisms • Greater collaboration and knowledge exchange among procurers and businesses • Clearer incentives, binding requirements and enforcement mechanisms, covering operational and embedded emissions With a concerted and unified movement toward GPP, the EU and its Member States can send strong market signals to the companies that depend on them for business, accelerating the decarbonization process that our planet requires.


This paper found that three problems in quantity,quality and distribution aspects exist in the village construction of medical resource under the new rural cooperative medical system in China,after field observation and the analysis on interview data.Firstly,the village doctors are reducing and deficiency in new members;Secondly,those rural medical practitioners with the highest technical level and education background mostly choose individual practice rather than join in the government;Thirdly,there are unbalances in regional distribution,men and women proportional distribution and basic medical and public health proportional distribution in village medical resources,that may influence the rural residents' use of the village medical resources.


Off-axis electron holography is a powerful technique that can be used to measure the active dopants in semiconductors. The preparation of thin transmission electron microscopy specimens containing nm-scale regions of interest is extremely challenging and as a consequence ion milling is an essential tool. The exposure of doped specimens to energetic ions creates defects deep in the specimens that trap the active dopants, being the principle cause of what is known as the inactive region. The inactive thickness leads to an underestimation of the dopant potential in the specimens. Here we show that this artifact can be significantly reduced from 140 nm for specimens prepared using only Ga ions at 30 kV to only 10 nm by preparing specimens using 1.5 keV Xe ions for specimens containing p-n junctions with dopant concentrations of 2 × 1018 cm−3.


In the article, the author made an analysis on the latest articles about teaching theory and practice. Based on the analysis, she defined the dominant approaches of foreign language teaching methodology development. According to the author, there are following approaches:

Communicative approaches to foreign language teaching. For example, teaching inter-cultural communication
Develop lingua-cultural personal from all perspectives
Introduce the innovation technology on foreign language teaching
Use latest information and communication technology
Update assessment system of learners' knowledge, ability and skill
Qualify foreign language teachers and improve the teacher training system
Innovate the system to prepare specialists with foreign languages
Develop and implement national standard to teach the first and second language in the framework of national education standard


This research is aimed at investigating the dynamic behaviour of, and to analyse the dynamic response and dynamic performance of steel frames strengthened with welded haunches subjected to a typical hydrocarbon blast loading. The structural dynamic analysis was carried out incorporating the selected blast load, the validated 3D model of the structures with different welded haunch configurations, steel dynamic material properties, and non-linear dynamic analysis of multiple degree of freedom (MDOF) structural systems. The dynamic responses and effectiveness of the reinforced connections were examined using ABAQUS finite element software. Results showed that the presence of the welded haunch reinforcement decreased the maximum frame ductility ratio. Based on the evaluation of the results, the haunch reinforcements strengthened the selected steel frame and improved the dynamic performance compared to the frame with unreinforced connections under blast loading, and the biggest haunch configuration is the "best" type.


The detection algorithm based on Multi-Agent network detection system is presented,detailed algorithm design principle and algorithm description are given.The experiment shows that the kind of algorithm can heighten accuracy and validity of intrusive detection and reduce rate of false alarm.


The design and manufacturing of complex shaped 3D features have a wide range of applications in todays manufacturing industries. With machining of hard materials continues to attract much interest in this field, EDM remains an indispensable process to carry out this purpose despite its limitations compared to conventional machining processes in terms of material removal rate and surface quality. Many process improvement techniques have been reported by researchers to overcome these limitations and out of them, incorporation of tool electrode kinematics is observed to have a significant effect. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to study the effectiveness of two different tool motions in the generation of non-circular cavities. Tool electrode is moved on planetary and diagonal paths during this study. Effects of various electrical and non-electrical parameters on EDM responses have been studied. Current, pulse ON time and voltage are considered as the electrical parameters while tool kinematics parameters like tool path offset and scanning speed have been selected as the non-electrical parameters. Experiments have been carried out the study the effect of tool movement on planetary and diagonal path on different response characteristics viz. Material removal rateand Wear Ratio. It has been observed that planetary motion is a better strategy than diagonal motion for the generation of non-circular cavities in terms of achievement of the response characteristics. The results observed are critically discussed.


The experimental aluminium sand-cast bowls shown in the attached portfolio (pages 4 - 5) are part of an investigation into design practice as research. This knowledge in doing
is being written up and will be the basis of a paper abstract also submitted to this conference) investigating creative practice as research in a wider context.


The promise of UWB technology has been realized in the Trinity chip set, four ICs capable of wirelessly transmitting 100 Mb/s while consuming very low power levels.


Consider an insurance risk model, in which the surplus process satisfies a recursive equation. This paper investigates the ruin probability within a finite horizon and obtains a simple and uniform asymptotic relation when the claimsize is of extended regular variation.


We report the use of organometallic precursors in microwave and microfluidic reactors to synthesize Ni nanoparticles of various shapes: spheres, cubes, trigonal pyramids and tetrapods. Each route has the ability to yield a preferential shape based on kinetic control of crystal growth. Tetrapods are obtained only in a microfluidic reactor. Trigonal pyramids crystallize in the metastable hexagonally close-packed (HCP) phase while spheres, cubes and tetrapods crystallize in the thermodynamically stable face-centred cubic (FCC) phase. The magnetic properties of nanocubes (in particular the magnetic coercive field) are found to be greatly enhanced compared to bulk and previous examples of nanostructured Ni materials.


Low-energy collisions of the Ca and Yb cations with Rb atoms are investigated theoretically using accurate ab initio potential energy curves and coupling matrix elements to elucidate the dominant charge transfer mechanisms. The cross sections calculated at collision energies above 10−5 cm−1 exhibit the features typical to Langevin ion-atom collision regime, including a rich structure associated with the centrifugal barrier tunnelling (orbiting) resonances. It is shown that the dominant process in Yb+ + Rb collisions is the radiative charge transfer, while in the case of Ca+ + Rb collisions nonadiabatic transitions due to spin-orbit coupling dominate. Theoretical results are in a good agreement with available experimental data.


One of the objectives of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity is to create access to genetic resources and bene t-sharing (ABS) systems that incorporate the environmental, social, and economic aspects of sustainable development. Under the Convention, governments have sovereignty over their genetic resources but also the responsibility of using them sustainably. This provision is particularly relevant for biologically-abundant developing countries as it o ers a direct means of reducing the nancial pressures against conservation of ecosystems and natural habitats, particularly in light of recent. This paper examines the impacts of a bene t-sharing system involving royalties and governmental ownership of genetic resources in a tworm research and development (R&D) market with uncertainty and information spillovers. Royalties are shown to reduce the research output of the taxed rm, which results in much lower expected government revenues when the research output of a competing rm is a strategic subsitute relative to when it is a strategic complement. Further, taxation alone is generally inferior to a combination of taxation/subsidization of successful products and research costs. The paper shows that subsidization rather than taxation of successful products may even be optimal under particular types of uncertainty. JEL Classi cations: Q3, Q38, H41


The presence of multiple sets of ParA and ParB genome partitioning proteins in bacteria harboring multipartite genomes raises doubt about their functional redundancy. Deinococcus radiodurans is a highly stress tolerant bacterium that harbors multipartite genome system comprising chromosome I, chromosome II and plasmids. ParAs encoded on these elements were found to be different in terms of their primary sequences and eventually clustered in the separate phylogenetic groups. As known earlier, ParB1 (ParB encoded on chromosome I) showed sequence specific interaction with its cognate cis element (centromere). ParA of chromosome I (ParA1) produced larger size complex in the presence of dsDNA and ATP, which was reduced to smaller size upon incubation with ParB1centromere complex in vitro. GFP-ParA1 expressing in recombinant Escherichia coli showed a dynamic change in its cellular localization during cell division only when both ParB1 and centromere co-existed with ParA1. These results suggested that ParA1 requires ParB1 and its cognate centromere for its cellular dynamics, which would eventually drive the separation of duplicated daughter chromosomes to opposite poles during cell division.


PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To largely reduce the consumption of electrical energy by providing a detecting unit, a control and analytic evaluation electronic device and a battery and providing the control and analytic evaluation electronic device with an energy saving mode. SOLUTION: A solenoid valve 4, a detecting unit 2, a control and analytic evaluation device 1 and a battery 3 are incorporated into the sanitary fixture in the case of final assembly in a factory, the device 1 is started by using a hand transmitter, and an energy saving mode is obtained. The device 1 has a microprocessor, and a holding-current consumption is set in approximately 0.3-1.0 microampere in the case of the energy sparing mode. A receiver 22 is covered with a sticker 23 made of an infrared impermeable material, and maintenance for a comparatively prolonged term is carried out. When the sticker 23 is removed from the unit 2 after installation on an installation field, the receiver 22 detects infrared rays at a sufficient level, the energy saving mode of the device 1 is released, and a normal operating mode is started. COPYRIGHT: (C)1996,JPO


This paper investigated the fire and smoke behavior in the compounded multiplex theater using FDS with various spacial and boundary conditions to ensure the fire safety of the multiplex. The results showed that more rapid temperature increase and smoke can be induced near the exit door for the lower fire load duo to the horizontal smoke movement. The overuse of fire resistants can generate more smoke while delaying combustion rate, which can give adverse effect to the evacuation. The mal-function of the exhaust fan would obstruct smoke exhaust but also retard the function of sprinkler head.


Efficient utilization of energy is a core area of research in wireless sensor networks. Data compression methods to reduce the number of bits to be transmitted by the communication module will significantly reduce the energy requirement and increase the lifetime of the sensor node. Based on the lifting scheme 2-point discrete cosine transform (DCT), this paper proposed a new reversible recursive algorithm named Difference-Median-Difference (DMD) transform for lossless data compression in sensor node. The DMD transform can significantly reduce the spatio-temporal correlations among sensor data and can smoothly run in resource limited sensor nodes. Through an entropy encoder, the results of DMD transform can be compressed more compactly based on their statistical characteristics to achieve compression. Compared with the typical lossless algorithms, the proposed algorithm indicated better compression ratios than others for non-slowly-varying data, despite a less computational effort.


EDITOR—The review by Calder highlights data from meta-analysis that propose a benefit from giving immunonutrition in critically ill patients,1 but the current literature does not support this.

Recent publications suggest an increase in mortality in patients with sepsis who are given immunonutrition.2 3 Interim analysis of …


Inlets to aircraft propulsion systems must supply flow to the compressor with minimal pressure loss, flow distortion, or unsteadiness. Flow separation in internal flows such as inlets and ducts in aircraft propulsion systems and external flows such as over aircraft wings is undesirable because it reduces the overall system performance. An experimental investigation is described that was carried out to study the feasibility of using high-speed microjets, supersonic for most cases, to control boundary-layer separation in an adverse pressure gradient. The geometry used is a simple diverging Stratford ramp equipped with arrays of 400-μm-diam microjets. Measurements include detailed surface flow visualizations, mean surface pressure distributions, and velocity field measurements using particle image velocimetry. The results clearly indicate that by activating these microjets the separated flow regions were eliminated. This led to a significant increase in the momentum of the flow near the surface where the gain in momentum was at least an order of magnitude higher than the momentum injected by the microjets. Given the simplicity of the system and its low mass flow requirements, combined with the benefits achieved by this approach, microjets appear to be promising actuators for efficient separation control for internal and external flow applications.


We derive a simple formula of scattering field from two different cracks on conducting ground plane, based on the formulation of the Kobayashi potential method. By using the formula, one can easily and in detail examine the scattering features of empty and material filled case with/without the multiple scattering contributions.


Virtual Reality (VR) and 360 film have caught the attention of audiences and content creators and emerged as a new media, however, the market penetration of VR and head mounted hardware has remained slow despite the availability of more affordable mobile options. This has resulted in some audiences turning to VR cinemas, festivals and out-of-home exhibitions. Creating affordable, scalable VR cinemas presents a number of challenges and many of the decisions taken in both developing and facilitating these curated exhibitions directly impact audience's reception of spatial audio soundtracks. This workshop position paper looks to discuss the potential issues and future solutions in the use of current synchronous exhibition applications, the competing formats, standardised Head Related Transfer Functions, headphone build/colourisation, and the on-boarding process.


Leaf area index(LAI) is one of the most important structural characteristics for understanding cotton(Gossypium hirsutum L.) growth,yield,and population structure.Destructive measurements are tedious,time consuming,and labor intensive.Modern techniques such as remote sensing and measurements from ground-based optical instruments are non-destructive and effective methods to rapidly measure LAI.The objective of this study was to determine the feasibility of using images from a common digital camera to measure LAI of cotton.We compared the results obtained using a digital camera with those obtained using a destructive sampling method and an LAI——2000 Plant Canopy Analyzer.Three field experiments were conducted with different planting densities,cultivars,nitrogen rates,and irrigation rates.A digital camera,an LAI——2000 Plant Canopy Analyzer,and an LI——191SA linear quantum sensor were used to observe the cotton canopy and record data.Leaves were also sampled destructively at their main growth stages.The digital camera images were captured looking downwards onto the canopy,and then an algorithm was used to separate the components of each image into four classes;sunlit leaves(SL),sunlit soil(SS),shaded leaves(ShL),and shaded soil(ShS).The parameter of image transmittance(Timag) was calculated from SL and SS based on the Beer-Lambert Law.The validity of Timag was analyzed and a quantitative model of Timag and LAI was developed.The three methods for determining LAI(digital imaging,LAI——2000,and destructive sampling) were compared.Analysis of the diurnal pattern of transmittance of the cotton canopy showed that the best time for measuring Timag was around solar noon,because at this time the solar elevation angle is high and remains relatively constant during measurements.Around solar noon,Timag was in good agreement with Tquan(transmittance measured with a linear quantum sensor).By analyzing the relationships among Timag,Tquan,and diffuse non-interceptance(DIFN),we determined that Timag could be used to estimate light attenuation in the cotton canopy at different stages,except for the boll opening stage.In addition,Timag was saturated at LAI 5.We analyzed the relationship between LAIdest(LAI measured destructively) and Timag using data from 2009 and 2010.The R2 and SE of the calibration model were 0.8438 and 0.5605,respectively.The ability of Timag to predict LAI was validated using an independent dataset(2007 data).The determination coefficient and RMSE of the validation model were 0.8767 and 0.4305,respectively.However,the model underestimated LAI as the LAI exceeded 5.The Timag saturation,which was largely because of errors in image recognition and segmentation,resulted in underestimation of LAI.Intercomparisons of LAI estimates showed that there were small discrepancies and significant correlations among data obtained from digital images,the LAI——2000,and destructive sampling methods.Data from the LAI——2000 was highly consistent with that obtained by destructive sampling.Our results indicate that Timag data is not as robust as that obtained using other techniques,in that it does not reliably detect non-green leaves,and it is affected by radiation conditions.Nonetheless,it is a simple,reliable,and reproducible approach for general estimates of LAI.The digital camera could be mounted on a tractor or farm vehicle for real-time,non-destructive monitoring of LAI to support field management.


Diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPG) are tumors that diffusely involve the brainstem and appear almost exclusively during childhood and adolescence. This devastating cancer is the main cause of brain tumor–related death in children, with a median survival time of less than 1 year for the majority of affected patients. Because of the location, surgical resection is not an option for this disease, and diagnosis is currently based on clinical findings and radiologic appearance. Radiation is the mainstay of therapy but is largely palliative, and decades of clinical trials of numerous chemotherapeutic regimens have not led to an improvement in outcome for these patients. DIPGs usually histologically resemble high-grade astrocytic tumors (anaplastic astrocytoma or glioblastoma [GBM], WHO grade 3/4). Thus many pediatric clinical trials over the past several decades have been based on agents with activity in adult GBM, although they have failed to show any benefit in pediatric DIPGs. However, we are now entering an era in which molecular data specific to pediatric DIPG are becoming available, thus potentially overcoming one of the roadblocks to smarter trial design and improved patient outcome. Although still relatively limited when compared with those from large-scale genomic studies of adult cancer, several important conclusions can be drawn from the data available for DIPGs so far that can help inform future clinical trials. First, consistent with previous data, Paugh et al report differences at both the copy number and expression level that distinguish pediatric DIPG from both adult and pediatric supratentorial GBM. This confirms that DIPG must be considered as a separate biologic entity for the purposes of clinical trial design. Second, receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) appear to be upregulated at the genomic or expression level (or both) in the majority of pediatric DIPGs. The most common recurrent focal gain in pediatric DIPG encompasses PDGFRA, occurring at the genomic level in at least 30% of DIPGs, with an even larger number showing overexpression at the RNA and protein levels. Gain of EGFR does not appear to be a frequent event in pediatric DIPG. However, two other RTKs are reported by Paugh et al to frequently show gains in DIPGs: MET and IGF1R. Interestingly, most, but not all, of the DIPGs showing gain of these RTKs also show gain of PDGFRA (64% and 88% of tumors showing gain of MET or IGF1R, respectively, have a concomitant gain of PDGFRA). Using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), Paugh et al were able to demonstrate that this represented both cases where the same cells showed amplification of both genes and cases where different clones within the same tumor showed amplification of either PDGFRA or MET. Further, their FISH studies uncovered cases with RTK amplification that were missed by single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array analysis and vice versa. This raises important questions related to use of these data for clinical trials: (1) If we are to use targeted agents, what method should be used to identify gain of the target (FISH v SNP array)? (2) Should we be looking for gain/amplification of the target at the genomic level or expression of the target at the protein level? (3) What about tumor heterogeneity? If we use biopsy samples (the only real option for real-time, biology-based stratification for clinical trials), will they be representative of the tumor as a whole? The study by Paugh et al suggests substantial tumor heterogeneity at the genomic level. Will this be the same at the protein level? How many cells within the tumor need to express the RTK before a response to a targeted inhibitor might be anticipated? Can we expect a bystander effect, or will we, as suggested by Paugh et al, simply be allowing outgrowth of tumor cells lacking that particular RTK? In addition to these open biologic questions, the availability of these data raises further clinical questions. Can this information translate into a clinical breakthrough after 30 years of unsuccessful clinical trials? Can molecular biology really help to identify the best drug out of a growing number of targeted therapeutics currently under development? Without any doubt, the collection of material from postmortem samples has generated immense hope in the neuro-oncology community, offering insight into critical pathways involved in DIPG growth. The lack of tissue material has certainly been one of the major limiting factors for the development of innovative clinical trials. However, it is unlikely that this new information alone will be sufficient to change the outcome of this deadly disease. These findings need to be linked to other recent breakthroughs in DIPG research, such as the generation of PDGF-induced brainstem glioma models and orthotopic DIPG xenograft models that can potentially be used as preclinical tools for the testing of novel molecules with or without concomitant radiation. Together, these findings will provide new insights into DIPG pathogenesis and may ultimately result in successful therapeutic avenues to treat DIPG. Some recent trials of biologic modifiers have already identified a subset of patient with JOURNAL OF CLINICAL ONCOLOGY E D I T O R I A L S


The aim of this study is to examine the existence of causality between corporate governance practice and performance of commercial banks in Indonesia. We also investigate the influence of age, capital adequacy, and type of commercial banks on bank performance and examine the influence of the bank size, foreign ownership, and listing status on corporate governance practice. The result shows that corporate governance practice, bank size and capital adequacy ratio have positive influences on bank performance in Indonesia. However, bank performance does not influence corporate governance practice. This study also finds that regional banks have better performance than private banks. The results of the study support the Central Bank's efforts to enhance CG practices in the banking sector, to strenghten banks' capital base and its policy to encourage banks to merge to become larger.


Details are given of our recent experimental and theoretical study of the frequency characteristics of a series of lighting elements. The cutoff frequencies of lighting elements with different parameters of device structure have been studied. Correlations have been found to exist between cutoff frequency structural parameters of lighting elements. The cutoff frequency will increase with the following changes: (i) increasing the distance between the gate and the cathode, (ii) decreasing the area and the thickness of cold cathode thin film material. The theoretical analysis based on the equivalent circuit model agrees well with experimental findings.


Risk factors contributing to the transformation of chronic atrophic gastritis into gastric cancer are analyzed. Detection and monitoring of patients with precancerous conditions/lesions (precancerous changes), proper screening of H. pylori make early diagnosis of gastric cancer real. Features of precancerous conditions are given in order of increasing risk of developing gastric cancer. Adenomatous polyps of the stomach take the first place. Subsequent precancerous conditions include: cancer of the operated stomach, Menetria disease (hypertrophic gastropathy), B12-deficient anemia, and gastric ulcer. A definition of intestinal metaplasia subtypes is proposed as a risk factor for gastric cancer, dividing into complete and incomplete one, taking into account reduction in the expression of gastric mucins MUC1, MUC5AC and MUC6. Currently, the development of gastric cancer (mainly of the "intestinal type") is considered as a multistage process involving the sequence of mucosal change, such as chronic inflammation, atrophy, intestinal metaplasia, dysplasia and adenocarcinoma. Role of the organism's genetic susceptibility to H. pylori infection, factors of pathogenicity contributing to epithelial metaplasia, are analyzed. Role of Toll-like type 4 receptors (TLR4) involved in the recognition of H. pylori is clarified. It is with this type of receptors that the development of an excessive immune response of the host is associated, resulting in damage to the mucous membrane in H. pylori-infected individuals. In particular, carriers of TLR4+896A> G polymorphism have a more severe atrophy of the stomach and degree of inflammation, as well as an increased risk of non-cardiac gastric cancer.


Here I aim to survey the key-concepts and main lines of reasoning in the elenchos between Socrates and Agathon at Smp. 199c-201a as well as their main links to the theory of eros which is developed at Socrates/Diotima's speech afterwards. In this respect I analize in this section of the Symposium: a) the linguistic resources through which the question about eros'


The purpose of this study was to investigate the outcome and recurrences for ethmoidal adenocarcinomas treated by exclusive endoscopic surgery in curative intent and investigate the role of the learning curve.


This paper describes full three-dimensional (3D) simulation of transverse modes in thickness shear bulk acoustic resonators (TSBARs) on lithium niobate. The calculation is performed by the 3D finite element method (FEM) assisted by the hierarchical cascading technique (HCT). Owing to used rectangular-shaped electrodes, the HCT is applicable to the 3D FEM, and reduces required memory size and computational time significantly. It is shown that without apodization, transverse resonances can be suppressed almost completely by applying free side edges for X planes and standard piston mode design normal to the X direction. The result also indicates that the simple two-dimensional FEM simulation is enough for the standard piston mode design in this case. These conclusions are consistent with those obtained experimentally. The analysis is extended to influence of the edge ratio of the rectangular electrodes to the $Q$ factor and spurious responses. The result indicates that the square shape is preferable in total.


This paper examines the institutional aspects of the Dojima rice exchange market. Especially, the role of governance mechanism was focused on. It is well known that the Dojima rice exchange market was established in 1730 in Osaka, and closed in 1869 due to the collapse of Tokugawa Shogunate. In addition, it had already been shown that there existed the institution of trades in Dojima. However, the most signifficant question: How did it evolve, and how did it assure the "safe" and "smooth" trades, remains to be unanswered. To answer the question, this paper focuses on three points; that is i) property right, ii) freedom of contracts, iii) liquidity of the market. Through the empirical analyses, it was shown that the futures trades in Dojima rice exchange maket had been evolved, exactly for the purpose of satisfying these three points.


The aims of a public museum may be said to be primarily recreational and educational. Sometimes a museum is maintained also partly for purposes of preservation of material collected for or presented to a State, or other political, scientific, or educational institution. In-so-far as its collections arouse interest in and impart information about man and his environment or activities it belongs in one or both of the first two fields; if it conserves specimens for future examination by students it may claim to belong in the last also. Formerly, in most cases, all three fields w,ere cultivated by the same institution. Of late, with the development of children's museums, there is an increasing tendency to relegate the duty of preservation to the larger, better endowed, and perhaps more scientific institutions, leaving the fields of recreation and education to be cultivated largely by the smaller museums. Th,ese are, perhaps (sometimes, at least) more closely in touch with the people of the district in which the museum is located. Probably all of the older museums, founded in a more serious age by serious-minded people, still retain or hav,e passed through all the phases mentioned. My statements


This paper explores the realization of viable, scalable, automated, and authentic alternatives to paper-only-based testing within Engineering disciplines. Currently, manual delivery and grading of paper-based exams incurs vast logistical burdens that have low impact to learning achievement, especially as enrollments increase. Meanwhile, Engineering's design-oriented and problem-solving emphases pose substantial challenges to the digitized delivery of assessments, and thus they warrant a substantive evaluation of their validity. To address this research need, novel Computer-Based Assessment (CBA) infrastructures and delivery protocols were launched via an IRB-approved crossover study to investigate the impact of lockdown-proctored digitized quiz and exam delivery in terms of test score validity, and learning achievement within a large-size undergraduate Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) course. Results indicate that well-formed CBAs can determine scores differing as little as 0.6% from Paper-Based Assessments (PBA). Student achievement was de-correlated by technical topic of the assessment delivery mode during crossover and results revealed that the CBA delivery and remediation cohort attained up to 16.9% higher learning outcomes during summative assessment. The encouraging results are discussed in detail along with lessons learned, and suggestions for transportability of CBA approaches to other Engineering courses and institutions.


In which method: the instruction words consist of several parts for controlling a functional unit, before a program sequence, and from a translation of a program code program.A word takes an instruction word in a line determined by a read line number in a word memory instruction entered line by line. This word is amended by striking an instruction word part by the information of the respective program word and is re-entered in a line determinee.Les read line numbers are provided by a read index register (18) and write line numbers, for a write index register (19), and for each program word (17), sending a line number of read and write line.


Aims: To investigate interactions, if any, between temperature, ferric ammonium citrate and glycine betaine on the growth of Listeria monocytogenes in modified Pine's medium (Pine et al. 1989).


Both political civilization and good governance are theoretical achievements of human being in exploring social development.They have inherent transformable logic from political civilization to governance and from governance to good governance and then return to political civilization.Governance plays the key role in this logic.With the impact of governing concept on former political system,there would be some contradictions which are expressed in participating subjects,legal foundation,public service,government administration and information publicity.Therefore,in order to achieve political civilization,we should establish a set of good governance system that should have coordinated revolution department,society with perfect legal system,fair and comprehensive service,humanist management and public and transparent information in accordance with democracy and the rule of law.


In this thesis, we discussed a method of query in long distance access. To solve the problem of designing in Web site, we put forward a model of the degree of heat to evaluate the level of designing of a Web site. Furthermore, we developed a query method which combined the fuzzy pattern with HTML query and it will improve the traditional query method in Web site designing.


The heat shock protein Hsp90 plays a key role in protein homeostasis in the cell. With the help of its numerous cochaperones it processes key players of cellular signaling cascades. In this work, the subgroup of TPR cochaperones and their role in the Hsp90 cycle was analyzed. Using a bioinformatic search algorithm new TPR cofactors were found and characterized in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans and in humans. The mechanism which regulates the TPR cofactor protein phosphatase 5 in complex with Hsp90 was studied thoroughly. Using a high-throughput screening, five specific activators of this enzyme were identified and their mode of action revealed on molecular level. In addition, further insight of the TPR cochaperone UNC-45 in muscle maintenance was obtained.


Myopia is popular elementary school students, the sooner myopia deepened speed will be faster, the greater the probability the higher the probability of high myopia lead to blindness. Good vision care is important to prevent myopia. This study aims to develop a multi-component intervention program based on PRECEDE-PROCEED model to evaluate the effectiveness of elementary school students' vision care knowledge, attitude, behavior, the time of watch TV and computer at home. Nonequivalent pretest-posttest control group design was adopted in this study. Participants were fourth grade students from elementary schools in Hsinchu County, two class was the intervention group and the other three class was the control group. The program was implemented for five weeks. Components include vision care education, multiple activity replace the time of watch TV and computer at home, Self-examined vision care behavior at home, family education and Premier Points Card activity. A total of 82 participants in the intervention group and 135 participants in the control group were used for final analyses. The data was analyzed by using t-test. Findings of this study are as follows: In the posttest, the intervention group reveals a better score vision care knowledge, behavior and the time of watch TV and computer at home than that of the control group. Therefore, the outcome of vision care education and multiple activity intervention were helpful.


Solanum sisymbriifolium Lam. (Solanaceae), an undershrub species, was first identified at an upland site in the suburb of Gorakhpur town during a broad survey on the distribution and abundance of grassland and old-field species of northeastern Uttar Pradesh. The species was first noticed in August 2012, and by the start of 2014 it showed a highly significant increase in its number and vegetal cover. Morphologically the species provides a spectacular plant body by virtue of numerous long orange-red spines found along the stem and leaves to the calyx, large white flowers with bright yellow anthers, and its red ripe fruits present for most of the year. The plant body is largely unpalatable and also resistant to grazers. The rapid spread of this species within a short span of about two years indicates the potential for this perennial shrub as a harsh invader of upland sites of the region. A brief account of habitat and population size along with a morphological description and line drawing is provided for easy identification of the species, which is not yet reported from Uttar Pradesh.


The study aimed at identifying the causes, symptoms and impaction of Inadequate hydration on the performance of the Sudanese top league football players. A descriptive approach was used , and the study sample included 50 of the Sudanese top league football players who were randomly selected. Questionnaires were used for data collection. Important results were that 60% of the pla e s did t d i k ple t of fluids o e da ahead of the at h, a d % did t d i k du i g e e ise, a d also % did t ha e i st u tio s to d i k plenty of fluids before the exercise, and so as a result 50% had muscle cramps after exercise, and 66% had decreased attention span before and during a match, which significantly affected their performance. moreover only 20% of the players were weighed by the coach before and after exercises. It was also found that only 10% of the players used rehydrating fluids during exercise. And finally reduced urine volume was the most common symptom of dehydration, since 92% of the players had it. Important recommendations were: To raise awareness about the importance of proper hydration among the players, the staff, and others who are responsible for them, To implement the FIFA instructions regarding playing in hot climates, that is to pause a match allowing time for fluid replacement and rehydration, and finally to use this study for future visions along with other studies concerning hydrations and hot climates, with special regards that the football world cup 2022 is going to be in Qatar. Introduction: When players work hard, they lose sweat – in a game on a hot day, sweat losses may reach 3 liters. On a cold day though, some players will lose very little sweat. E e pla e s h d atio eeds a e diffe e t a d ill vary with the weather over the season. Just as general training and competition strategies should be tailored for individual athletes in accordance with their unique needs and preferences, so should their drinking and eating choices during exercise. Players should limit dehydration during training and matches by drinking water or a sports drink. Obvious opportunities to drink during a match include warmفايضوب دمحم ةعماج ةليسملا يضايرلا عادباا ةلجم ناوج 2017 ددعلا 21 10 up and at half time. During training, the coach or manager should organize drink breaks according to the weather and intensity of the session.


Miniaturization and increasing functional integration as the electronicindustry drives force the development of feature sizes down to the nanometer range.Moreover, harsh environmental conditions and new porous or nano-particle filled materialsintroduced on both chip and package level - low-k and ultra low-k materials inBack-end of line (BEoL) layers of advanced CMOS technologies, in particular - causenew challenges for reliability analysis and prediction. The authors show a combinednumerical/experimental approach and results towards optimized fracture and fatigueresistance of those structures under chip package interaction aspects by making use ofintegral bulk and interface fracture concepts, VCCT and cohesive zone models in multiscaleand multi-failure modeling approaches with several kinds of failure/fatigue phenomena.Probable crack paths and interactions between material damaging, ratchetingand interface fracture will be discussed. As important preconditions for high-qualitysimulations, nano-indentation AFM, FIB and EBSD provide the desired properties,while FIB-based trench techniques using deformation analyses by grayscale correlationand numerical simulations provide the intrinsic stresses especially of thin films in BEoLlayers.


Stroke is one of the leading causes of deaths in different parts of the world affecting individuals of different ages. it is mostly dominant among people having risk factors such drug abuse, having a background of a mild stroke, and overweight. Various approaches including carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and medical therapy have been used as mechanisms for preventing stroke particularly ipsilateral ischemia. However, there are several studies suggesting that even though CEA has the potential of reducing the risks of stroke, incidences of a high residual risk of stroke after carotid endarterectomy since Various cases of increased short-term myocardial infarction after CEA are recorded. Based on the results drawn from randomized trials comparing the effectiveness of CEA and medical therapy ,CEA provides better protection from ipsilateral strokes than the latter. The efficacy of CEA is more pronounced in patients presenting symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid artery disease. The aim of this study was to explore the comparative merits and demerits of using carotid endarterectomy and medical therapy to determine the most appropriate of the two approaches to be used in specific cases.
This research concludes that even through both therapeutic methods and carotid endarterectomy have the ability to reduce the predisposition of patients to different events of stroke, each of them have inherent limitations that must be addressed effectively to contribute to overall positive medical outcomes.


On the foundation of the concepts of successful aging and occupational science, the aim of this work is to gain deeper understanding of factors related to frail older people, successfully mastering changes in their daily lives. 85-year-old people from a Danish population study were interviewed in their homes, and a review of studies on successful aging is conducted. Many of the findings link well-being with being active; engaged in life; and feeling a sense of purpose. In this study, individual differences in handling situations were seen, as was a complexity when strains reinforced one another. Many had become slower or had limited strength, but strived to manage independently. A strong relation is found between satisfaction in everyday life and adaptive competencies, which include learning. When offering support to frail old people, it is recommended to pay attention to the value of upholding a daily structure through balanced occupational challenges and control.


Higher education and wider exposure to outside world through information technology is expected to change the mindset of university students on perception of gender roles. Perception of male students regarding female gender role of mother, wife and girlfriend was studied by using a self-administered questionnaire on randomly selected 560 students from a state university Sri Lanka. Nearly 67%% of the respondents agreed that it should be men who should hold managerial/administrative posts and there was no difference among different faculties with this regard. Eighty eight percent students did not approve wife or girl friend wearing trousers and nearly 80% sleeveless blouses. Nearly half the sample (48.3%) condoned verbal abuse of wives. However, more than 78% students did not condone physical abuse of their mother (by the father), girlfriend or wife. It is imperative to change the mindset of university students who will be future leaders for the society to progress in gender equity and equality.


Fiber is one of the most important applications in high-molecular materials.It is applied widely in garment,decoration and industrial textiles etc.Nearly years,with the development of high-molecular science,several new types of materials like high-strength and high-function materials are explored.A kind of new materials is already used in new industry such as communication information,oceanic and aeronautical industries and so on.This paper mainly introduces application of new type of textile fiber such as differential fiber,high-performance fiber and high-function fiber.


As the emergence of Web 2.0 and social media increasingly change our lives, all the extensive capabilities they offer are exploited by firms, using them to promote and advertise their products, to improve and strengthen their external communication with their customers, as well as the internal communication among firm's employees, and even to improve their absorptive capacity, which is of critical importance for their innovativeness. Several different forms of social media use by firms, starting from simpler and advancing to more sophisticated ones, have been developed and are increasingly used by firms. The objective of this study is to understand the extent and the forms of social media usage by firms of the Greek food and beverage sector, which is one of the most important sectors of the Greek economy; and especially to examine to what extent are used the more sophisticated forms of social media use that can contribute to the improvement of firm's absorptive capacity. Our theoretical foundation and lens is Affordances Theory. Our research methodology is based on a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques. We conduct semi-structured interviews with seven firms from the Greek food & beverage sector, which include questionnaire filling. From the analysis of the qualitative and quantitative data collected it has been concluded that these firms are unter-utilizing the potential of social media, using mainly the simpler forms of social media use, but not the more sophisticated ones, especially the ones that can improve their absorptive capacity.


The article presents a mathematical model of the mechanical synchronous generator with permanent magnet excitation for the study of transients and the influence of short-circuit currents in the machine .


Percentage of domestic houses with a capital value greater than £120,000 as at 14 January 2013. Land and Property Services undertook a major revaluation of all domestic housing in Northern Ireland between 2005 and 2007 for Domestic Rating purposes. The numbers of houses/apartments are taken from the NI Valuation List and are correct at 14 Jan 2013. The Valuation List is a dynamic list which changes daily, therefore any information taken is a snapshot at a point in time. Numerator: Land and Property Services, 2013 Denominator: Land and Property Services, 2013


AIBN-initiated radical polymerization of 2-cyanoethyl acrylate and
cyanovinyl acetate in the presence of [60]fullerene produces copolymers in
good yields, whereas for most other vinyl monomers [60]fullerene almost
completely inhibits the polymerization.


The total content of aluminium in steel can be determined from the Kα line in the x-ray spectrum with a detection limit of 0.001%. However, aluminium is generally present in three phases, as metal, as nitride and as oxide; these different phases are of metallurgical significance and have to be distinguished. This is possible from their different kβ bands in the x-ray spectrum, which were found at 1555.3 1553.9 and 1552.5 eV, respectively. The physical bandwidth of about x-ray 7 eV, however, causes overlapping of the peaks, so that an unfolding procedure is needed. The defection limit of the different phases was determined to be 0.06% which, unfortunately, is above the region of interest for modern steel analysis. In addition, the analysis time of about 3 min is too long for use in process control, so that the classical methods for pahse determination cannot be replaced by x-ray fluorescence analysis.


Cathodoluminescence (CL) analysis of high power laser diodes permits to reveal the main defects issued from the catastrophic optical degradation (COD). These defects are revealed as discontinuous dark lines along the ridge. The different levels of damage are analysed, and a thermomechanical model taking account of the thermal and mechanical properties of the laser structure is settled up. In this model the COD is described as a local temperature enhancement, which generates thermal stresses leading to the generation of dislocations, which are responsible for the degradation of the thermal conductivity of the of the active zone of the laser.


In recent years there has been an increasing interest in individual education. Consequently, one of the hot research topics is to adapt learning content to learner's learning needs. Furthermore, recent developments in the field of semantic web have led to a renewed attention with focus in ontology-based e-learning system. This paper proposes an innovative ontological approach to design a personalised e-learning system which creates tailored contents for individual learners. The learning content associated with sequencing logic provides a clear separation between the domain and content models to increase the reusability and flexibility of the system. Additionally, in the proposed approach learner's profiles are modelled to describe learner's characteristics.


The antidepressant drug imipramine was evaluated by means of a double blind study. Therapeutic results were assessed on the basis of a rating scale, psychological tests, and clinical course. Differences favoring the drug were found in some of the psychological tests, but in no clinical area were there significant differences between drug and placebo.


The production of material in industry must attain some standard such as the standard required by American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International. The requirement of the material standard is important in some crucial field such as aerospace, engineering and automotive. This research presents a development of a material classification scheme with non-destructive testing on the material to classify the material type. The classification of the material can be useful in post-production verification. Many testing methods have been developed to reach the standard of the material production. The testing of the material mechanical properties using vibration technique could determine the natural frequencies, the damping ratio and mode shapes of the structure. The testing method chose to be implemented in this research is impact hammer testing. Frequency Response Function (FRF) signals obtained from the testing and natural frequencies of the materials are extracted from FRF signals. In this research, the features considered as the input data for the algorithm training are the natural frequencies of the material and its amplitude. Later, the input data obtained are classified using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) with Levenberg-Marquardt Backpropagation and k-Nearest Neighbor (k-NN). Each of the classifier produced a different classification rate depending on the performance of the training input data set. The result from the classification system shows that k-NN is giving the accuracy of 99.69% with the k value of 3. While, Levenberg-Marquardt Backpropagation is giving the best classification rate of 99.43%. © Th is ite m is pr o ec te d b y o rig na l c op yri gh t


It is unknown if matching students' preferred learning style with course delivery style improves academic success and further study is warranted in this area (Feely & Biggerstaff, 2017; Newton & Miah, 2017). Recently, there has been a call to better identify and understand the preferred learning styles of physical therapy education students and the effect this has on education (Brudvig, Mattson, & Guarino, 2016; Lowdermilk, 2016). While the benefit of matching teaching and learning styles has been investigated in other academic disciplines, it has not been investigated in physical therapy education. The purpose of this study was to determine if student preferred learning style is related to success in a learner centered problem-based learning formatted class and program, specifically for physical therapy students. Results provide insights into preferred learning styles and student achievement in a problem-based learning centered Doctoral level Physical Therapy Program.


LuTiO₃ is a rare earth metal based perovskite. Generally rare earth metals
have +3 oxidation state. Extreme temperature and pressure condition study
on this perovskite was intended to be done. Firstly the perovskite was synthesized
with a very special new technique Laser quenching method. It appears to
be a very interesting perovskite. Interestingly not much of a study on this perovskite
have been found in so far research articles. Low temperature (3K) Raman
spectroscopic study have been done on this sample and subsequent photoluminescence
study showed surprising behaviour. From temperature dependent
Raman study no phase transition or new Raman mode appearance was found,
which suggest not much of a structural change has been occurred. Whereas
temperature dependent photoluminescence study showed remarkably strange
behaviour. Around 180K a bunch of new peak started to arise. The explanation
of this might be different orbital coupling or effect from the defect in the unit
cell. To confirm this further study is needed to be done. It might be spin-orbital
coupling as well. It showed phonon-phonon and phonon-spin wave coupling
below 50 K and 150 K respectively.


We synthesized ultrafine particles in R (rare earth element)-Fe-O systems by a thermal plasma evaporation method. Amorphous citrate gel powders containing R (R=Y, Yb, Er, Ho, Dy, Gd, Eu, Sm and Nd) and Fe were supplied to rf Ar-O2 thermal plasmas. In the cases of R=Y, Yb, Er, Ho, Dy, Gd and Eu, the synthesized ultrafine particles contained new compounds of RFe(3+x)O1.5(4+x). RFe(3+x) O1.5(4+x) were synthesized when R ionic radius was smaller than 0.0947nm (that of Eu). The accurate cubic lattice constants of RFe(3+x)O1.5(4+x) were calculated from 2θ of the maximum XRD peak (111). In the case of Eu, the lattice constant was at maximum (=0.4866nm). Synthesis of other products such as h-RFeO3, e-Fe2O3 or γ-Fe2O3 were also dependent on R ionic radius. γ-Fe2O3 enhanced the saturated magnetization values of ultrafine particles at room temperature. However, γ-Fe2O3 did not have such an effect.


Software is (among others) susceptible to code manipulation/tampering attacks from attackers who have full control over the execution environment (Man-at-the-End) [1]. Against such attacks there exist a multitude of integrity protection (tamper-proofing) techniques. These techniques rely on code instrumentation to inject protection routines/guards into programs. However, code instrumentation leaves recognizable patterns in the protected binaries that could potentially single out protection routines [2]. To mitigate pattern-based attacks, we inevitably have to utilize diversification obfuscation [3] on protection guards. How effectively such diversified guards can counter pattern-based attacks is questionable.


Background Osteoarthritis (OA) is known as degenerative arthritis. Knee OA is a common disease among aged population and one of the leading causes of disability. Many modalities are used to evaluate bony abnormalities and joint space narrowing for knee OA. Ultrasound is one of the imaging modalities for evaluating knee joint structures such as cartilage, meniscus, osteophyte and synovium. There are few large-scale studies focused on ultrasound findings of the knee of the elderly in general population. Objectives The aim of our study is to evaluate relationship between clinical and ultrasound findings of the elder population. Methods Two hundred and twenty two participants were recruited from Nagahama residents aged 60 years or older. We evaluated the both knees of participants with ultrasound with a 5MHz transducer. Ultrasound scans were performed and assessed by a standardised protocol of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatoid Arthritis Clinical Trial Guidelines. The symptoms were clinically assessed by using Knee Society Score 2011 (KSS). We statistically examined whether the KSS(symptom) correlated with other clinical parameters and each ultrasonographical findings. Results Participants were 65 men and 137 women with a mean age of 67±5 years old. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 21.8±2.76 kg/m2. The symptom subscale of KSS were significantly associated with age, BMI, knee maximum extension and flexion angle, suprapatellar effusion, medial meniscus protorusion, medial recess synovial hypertorophy, and femoral and tibial medial osteophytes. Multiple regression analysis showed that medial osteophytes was most closely related to the symptom subscale of KSS among the ultrasound findings and demographic data evaluated. Conclusions The present study showed a strong association between the symptoms of the knee and the medial osteophytes in Japanese elder population. References [1] Linaker CH,et al. Clin Rheumatol1999. [2] S. Saarakkala,et al.Osteoarthritis and Cartilage2012. [3] Schmidt WA, et al. Ann Rheum Dis2004. [4] Wakefield RJ, et al. J Rheumatol2005 Disclosure of Interest None declared


In the computable general equilibrium models with overlapping generations it is usual to hold the life expectancy constant. In this paper we get rid of this unrealistic hypothesis by introducing a variable life expectancy. Such a change allows us to use directly the demographic projections for studying the economic transition of some institutional and technical scenarios relating to the French public pension system. First of all we compare two polar scenarios: the first one consists in maintaining the current replacement rate and the second one consists in maintaining the current pension contribution rate. Macroeconomic aggregates as well as welfare criteria are then examined. (EXCERPT) (SUMMARY IN ENG)


The 4G standard Long Term Evolution-Advanced(LTE-A) has been deployed in many countries. Now, technologyis evolving towards the 5G standard since it is expecting tostart its services in 2020. The 5 ...


The band-matching approach is used to calculate low-energy electron-diffraction intensity-voltage curves for the basal cleavage plane of beryllium. An approximation to the exact theory, made possible by the presence of strong inelastic scattering, enables these curves to be calculated very rapidly, for general angles of incidence and with a detailed nonlocal potential. The potential is constructed from first principles, includes thermal and inelastic-scattering effects, and has no adjustable parameters. Over a wide range of incident angles the calculated curves show marked agreement with recent experiments. A test of the sensitivity of the calculations to changes in the scattering potential parameters shows that the absolute intensity, rather than peak position or peak width, should be the best experimental probe of the scattering processes. A new approximation for core-valence exchange is used in the calculation and is described in an appendix.


Decision support systems refer to those kinds of management information systems which are used to support the unstructured and semi structured decisions. In the early days of the DSS field and its related disciplines such as management information system (MIS), Executive information systems (EIS) failures were common and Researches in this field became common. Researches revealed that reasons for the failures was that DSS developers did not pay enough attention to organizational context in which systems would operate and technology factors have had less effect on DSS failures . This Research Tries to reveal the obstacles of the designing and implementation of DSS in educational organization of Mashhad Province related to organizational structure ,organizational culture and the types of decisions .in this research the population universe includes 47 managers of educational organization of Mashhad province. in this research , in order to data analysis the statistic methods below have been used .The descriptive statistics are frequency , percent , mean and criteria deviation .the inferential statistics are (univariate T- test, one- way analysis of variance , schffe , cronbach's Alpha and split halves for computing of coefficient of reliability). also there is a significant level of for all the hypothesis.After the evaluoation of the hypotheses ,these results have been achieved : 1- the mean of answers of the population


This thesis presents a software algorithm that resends work packages to processors when one or more of the worker processors fails or when the link with one or more processors fails. There are two resend criteria used in this algorithm: "resend at end of initial assignment" and "resend at time out." The work, divided into several packages in order to run on several processors in parallel, will be completed as long as at least one worker processor remains working and communicating with the main processor. This algorithm could add some fault-tolerance to computer processing equipment in embedded systems .


Sickle cell anemia is a blood disorder that alters the morphology and the oxygen affinity of the red blood cells. Cerebral oxygen extraction fraction measurements using quantitative BOLD contrast have been used for assessing inadequate oxygen delivery and the subsequent risk of ischemic stroke in sickle cell anemia. The BOLD signal in MRI studies relies on Δχdo , the bulk volume susceptibility difference between fully oxygenated and fully deoxygenated blood. Several studies have measured Δχdo for normal hemoglobin A (HbA). However, it is not known whether the value is different for sickle hemoglobin. In this study, Δχdo was measured for both HbA and sickle hemoglobin.


Device recognition is the primary step toward a secure IoT system. However, the existing equipment recognition technology often faces the problems of unobvious data characteristics and insufficient training samples, resulting in low recognition rate. To address this problem, a convolutional neural network-based IoT device recognition method is proposed. We first extract the background icons of various IoT devices through the Internet, and then use the ResNet50 neural network to extract icon feature vectors to build an IoT icon library, and realize accurate identification of device types through image retrieval. The experimental results show that the accuracy rate of sampling retrieval in the icon library can reach 98.5%, and the recognition accuracy rate outside the library can reach 83.3%, which can effectively identify the type of IoT devices.


Introduction:
 Guidelines recommend family screening in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) to uncover pre-symptomatic familial DCM (FDC). So far, no guidelines provide specific recommendations on the intensity and frequency of follow-up screening. This study sought to provide the first detailed estimates of the incidence of FDC during follow-up and identify baseline markers which could inform future follow-up of relatives.

 Methods:
 The study was a retrospective, observational, longitudinal cohort study of relatives to DCM probands screened at a regional assembly of family screening clinics in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 2006 to 2020.

 Results:
 In total, 563 relatives (50% women) from 211 families were included. At baseline, 124 relatives (22%) were diagnosed with FDC: 97 (18%) as a result of screening and 27 (5%) with symptom-onset prior to screening. Genetic sequencing identified the etiology of DCM in 35% of families and classified 90 relatives (17%) as unaffected carriers (n=44) or relatives not at risk of FDC (n=46). As such, the combined clinical and genetic baseline-yield was 31%. In 439 relatives considered unaffected at baseline, 45 (10%) were diagnosed with FDC during follow-up (median 5.0 years). The age-standardized incidence rate of FDC was 2.0% per person-year [CI: 1.4-2.8%] with higher rates in men vs women (3.0% vs 1.4% per person-year). In relatives without predictive genetic findings (n=349), non-diagnostic abnormal baseline-findings on ECG or echocardiography was associated with a higher incidence rate of FDC (figure A), while the risk was low in relatives with normal findings (0.4% vs 4.7% per person-year; figure B).

 Conclusion:
 Systematic family screening identified FDC or genetic predisposition to FDC in 1 out of 3 relatives at baseline. Relatives without predictive genetic findings and with normal findings on ECG and echocardiography at baseline had a low risk of developing FDC. Follow-up can be limited and may not be warranted in these relatives.


This paper explains derrick design for the raw meal homogenizing silo,analyzes the force structure and conduct force accounting,to achieve the purpose of derrick safety and stability.


JPEG file format standards define only a limited number of mandatory data structures and leave room for interpretation. Differences between implementations employed in digital cameras, image processing software, and software to edit metadata provide valuable clues for basic authentication of digital images. We show that there exists a realistic chance to fool state-of-the-art image file forensic methods using available software tools and introduce the analysis of ordered data structures on the example of JPEG file formats and the EXIF metadata format as countermeasure. The proposed analysis approach enables basic investigations of image authenticity and documents a much better trustworthiness of EXIF metadata than commonly accepted. Manipulations created with the renowned metadata editor ExifTool and various image processing software can be reliably detected. Analysing the sequence of elements in complex data structures is not limited to JPEG files and might be a general principle applicable to different multimedia formats.


OBJECTIVES: Several recent clinical guidelines recommend using benzodiazepines as a bridging agent with antidepressants. Studies show that benzodiazepines may reduce the initial side effects associated with antidepressants such as jitteriness and therefore increase compliance. The goal of this study is to examine whether compliance or persistence is higher in patients taking benzodiazepines and antidepressants as compared to those taking antidepressants alone. METHODS: Data came from the Medstat Marketscan insurance claims database which includes claims from several million persons with private health insurance. Individuals were included if they met the following inclusion criteria: 18 years of age or older on January 1, 1999; prescribed an antidepressant within a 2 year time frame (1999 to 2000); enrolled for at least 60 days after the first date of the first antidepressant prescription, and not prescribed an antidepressant within a baseline period of 60 days. Individuals were defined as benzodiazepine and antidepressant users if they had filled a prescription for benzodiazepines in the 30 days prior or 30 days after the prescription for the antidepressants. Individuals were considered as having persistence if they either: had at least 2 prescriptions for an antidepressant occurring within 60 days of each other, or had one antidepressant prescription with a greater than a 30-day supply. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was estimated where persistence was the dependent variable and the controls included age, gender, and diagnosis. RESULTS: Persons taking benzodiazepines in conjuction with antidepressants had 1.11 times the odds of having persistence versus persons taking an antidepressant as a monotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians should consider using benzodiazepines to improve compliance with antidepressant therapy.


This study identifies the Caenorhabditis elegans aspartyl aminopeptidase DNPP-1 as a regulator of endocytic sorting and recycling. The data reveal the involvement of an aminopeptidase in regulating endocytic sorting and recycling and suggest its possible roles in peptide signaling and/or protein metabolism in these processes.


Amorphophallus sp is one of the most important crops developed in Indonesia, both as food crops as well as industrial raw materials. This plant is widely developed in through various community empowerment programs such as farmer empowerment conducted by PERUM PERHUTANI Unit II of East Java in cultivated area of 1.605,3 Ha. This study focused to analyze the public response to Amorphophallus sp cultivation in empowering communities . The method used was quantitative approach and inferential statistics using Partial Least Square (PLS). The community, in the study area, already have the knowledge of Amorphophallus sp cultivation. The communities have experienced to implement postharvest practices such as chip . T he community response on the implementation Amorphophallus sp cultivation has been good , and feel the benefits of cultivating mainly from the economic aspect . Due to economic factors , some people still sell the bulbs Amorphophallus sp without process into a more value-added products . PLS analysis showed that the variable of community attitude and participation significantly affected the benefits of cultivation in the community . The higher the participation , the better the achievement of community empowerment. However, the variable of cultivation information, the variable of the information of post-harvest handling, and the variable of supporting facilities did not significantly influence the community response. Furthermore, the variable of cultivation information, the variable of information of post-harvest handling, the variable of supporting facilities, the variable of society attitude did not significantly influence on the community participation.


Crosslinked polymers based on the condensation of furfural with N-vinylcarbazole and poly(N-vinylcarbazole) were prepared. The effect of variation of furfural concentration on the condensation of furfural with N-vinylcarbazole and its polymer was studied. The polymers were chemically modified into phosphonic acid cation exchange resins. The effects of variation of AlCl3, PCl3, and furfural amounts, reaction time, and rephosphorylation on the synthesis and capacities of cation exchange resins were also studied.


In the critical beta-splitting model of a random $n$-leaf binary tree, leaf-sets are recursively split into subsets, and a set of $m$ leaves is split into subsets containing $i$ and $m-i$ leaves with probabilities proportional to $1/{i(m-i)}$. We study the continuous-time model in which the holding time before that split is exponential with rate $h_{m-1}$, the harmonic number. We (sharply) evaluate the first two moments of the time-height $D_n$ and of the edge-height $L_n$ of a uniform random leaf (that is, the length of the path from the root to the leaf), and prove the corresponding CLTs. We find the limiting value of the correlation between the heights of two random leaves of the same tree realization, and analyze the expected number of splits necessary for a set of $t$ leaves to partially or completely break away from each other. We give tail bounds for the time-height and the edge-height of the {\em tree}, that is the maximal leaf heights. Our proofs are based on asymptotic analysis of the attendant (sum-type) recurrences. The essential idea is to replace such a recursive equality by a pair of recursive inequalities for which matching asymptotic solutions can be found, allowing one to bound, both ways, the elusive explicit solution of the recursive equality. {We show that the sequence of distributions for the size of the uniformly random subtree is tight, and--under monotonicity conjecture amply supported by numerics--the sequence converges to a proper distribution. However the expected size of the subtree is asymptotic to $\tfrac{3}{2\pi^2}\log^2 n\to\infty$.}


Flatness is one of the most important criterion factors to evaluate the quality of the steel strip. To improve the strip's flatness quality, the most frequently used methodology is to employ the closed-loop automatic shape control system. However, in the shape control system, the shape-meter is always installed at the down way of the exit of the cold rolling mill and can not sense the changes of the strip flatness in the rolling gap directly. This kind of installation results in the delay of the feedback in the control system. Therefore, the stability and response performance of the system are strongly affected by the delay. At present, there is still no mature way to design controllers for systems with time delay. Although the conventional PID controller used in most practical applications has the capability to compensate the delay, the effect of the compensation is limited, especially for the systems with long time delay. Smith predictor, as a compensator for solving this problem, is now widely used in industry systems. However, the request of highly precise model of the system and the poor adaptive performance to the changes of related parameters limit the application of the Smith predictor in practice. In order to overcome the drawbacks of the Smith predictor, a new Smith predictor based on single neural network PID (SNN-PID) is proposed. Because the single neural network is employed into the Smith predictor to improve the controller's self-adaptability, the adaptive capability to the varying parameters of the system is improved. Meanwhile, for the purpose of solving the problems such as time-consuming and complicated calculation of the neural networks in real time, the learning coefficient of neural network is divided into several stages as usually done in expert control system. Therefore, the control system can obtain fast response due to the improved calculation speed of the neural networks. In order to validate the performance of the proposed controller, the experiment is conducted on the shape control system in a 300 mm four-high reversing cold rolling mill. The experimental results show that the SNN-PID with Smith predictor controller can effectively compensate the delay effects and achieve better control performance than the conventional PID controller.


The invention discloses a preparation method of dimethyl dimethoxy triacetoxy, comprising the following steps of: adding hydrogen chloride absorbent in the reaction of the dimethyl dimethoxy triacetoxy and methanol. The preparation method adopts the hydrogen chloride absorbent, enables the reaction to carry out at normal temperature and the hydrogen chloride concentration in the system to be reduced, thereby avoiding the secondary reaction from generating and ensuring that: (1) the process flow is shortened, the investment is reduced; (2) the reaction is easy to be controlled, and the operation cost is reduced; and (3) the yield is greatly improved, and the product cost is reduced.


Summary Plasma corticosterone levels were examined in socially dominant, subordinate, or unranked male mice taken directly from an undisturbed cage or following 10 min of a nonsocial neurogenic stress of exposure to an open field. There were no significant differences in plasma corticosterone levels among the social rank categories in undisturbed animals. Following open field exposure, subordinate males had the greatest levels of plasma corticosterone while dominant males had greater levels than unranked males. These data indicate that the process of social organization leads to an increase in responsiveness of male mice to a strange environment and under these circumstances the socially subordinate males are more responsive.


This paper describes studies on the reliability of semiconductor optical devices over the course of more than three decades, dating back to the early 1970s. First, a retrospective look is taken at the evolution of optical device development and reliability studies. Second, the three main degradation modes for optical devices (rapid degradation, gradual degradation, and catastrophic failure) are outlined. Third, the results of the classical research into rapid degradation that was carried out in the 1970s and 1980s are presented as an introduction to a systematic discussion of the research that followed–remarkable research into gradual degradation.