Prediction and variable selection are major uses of data mining algorithms but they are rarely the focus in causal IS research. Because experiments are often impossible, unethical or expensive to perform, causal IS research often relies on observational data. A major challenge is to infer causality from such data. Simpson's paradox can arise in such contexts, causing uncertainty regarding the right level of data aggregation, where different aggregation levels indicate opposite effects. Detecting a paradox is non-trivial with many potential confounders. This paper uses the predictive tool of Classification and Regression Trees for detecting Simpson's paradox. We introduce a new tree approach for detecting potential paradoxes in data that have either a few or a large number of potential confounding variables. Our approach relies on the tree structure and the location of the cause vs. the confounders in the tree. It is applicable to categorical and numerical outcomes and is efficient with large samples. We discuss theoretical and computational aspects of the approach and illustrate it using several real applications. Macro-Decisioning, Micro-Decisioning and Simpson's Paradox With the growing availability of data at more granular levels, decision making has expanded from aggregate-level to personalized decisions. In medicine, we see a shift towards personalized medicine. In marketing, personalized offers and customer experiences are now common. A perplexing issue in the context of choosing the level of aggregation is Simpson's paradox (Simpson, 1951). The paradox describes the phenomenon where the direction of a cause on an effect appears reversed when examining the aggregate vs. disaggregates of a sample or a population. The practical decision making question that Simpson's paradox raises is choosing the level of data aggregation that presents the results of interest. This raises the challenge of identifying potential confounders and then establishing a criterion for deciding which (if any) of the potential confounders should influence the decision making. One might think that with sufficiently large samples, it is always safer to use the disaggregate data, which are potentially more homogeneous. While this might be true for micro decisioning, it is not necessarily the case for macro decisioning, where the goal is to evaluate an overall effect. Pearl (2009) shows that in many cases it is the aggregated rather than the disaggregate data that gives the correct choice of action. Pearl describes Simpson's paradox as "the phenomenon whereby an event C increases the probability of E in a given population p at the same time, decreases the probability of E in every subpopulation of p". Pearl warns that Simpson's paradox can only be resolved when the observational data (frequency tables) are combined with a causal theory. He shows that the same data table can result from different causal paths and therefore the underlying causal structure is unidentifiable from the data alone. In other words, once the effect, cause, and potential confounding variable are singled out, a causal narrative is required for determining which level of aggregation to use for decision making. The focus of this work is identifying potential confounding variables in a high-dimensional dataset that cause the Simpson's paradox. We take a data-driven approach that searches the terrain of possible relationships between the outcome of interest and the set of causes and potential confounders. A treebased approach is applied to micro-level data and automatically identifies existing relationships and their structure. The result graphically displays potential confounders and the structure of confounding, allowing the researcher or decision maker to identify potential Simpson's paradox relationships to be further investigated with a causal toolkit such as Pearl's "back-door" test. SCECR 2014, Tel Aviv, Israel Trees for Detecting Simpson's Paradox Our use of trees in this explanatory modeling context differs from predictive modeling in a few ways. Most importantly, we are interested in the tree structure itself: not only which predictors are present, but also which predictors are absent, and importantly, what is the ordering of the splits. Second, unlike predictive modeling, we do not use the tree to predict new records. Third, in some cases we use fully grown tree which overfit the sample, for the purpose of identifying the tree structure. Fourth, to account for sampling variance, and when applicable, we prefer conditional-inference trees (Hothorn et al., 2006) where variable choice and splitting values are based on statistical tests of independence over trees that rely on cross-validation or holdout data pruning. And lastly, we develop a new stopping criterion for tree growth for identifying. Simpson's paradox is classically displayed using contingency tables, where rows and columns are used for conditioning on X and Z (or vice-versa) and the cell values are counts, probabilities, percentages or numerical summaries such as averages of Y. The table then allows comparing the conditional values for different levels of Z, thereby conditioning on Z. The same information can be clearly displayed using a full-grown tree of Y on predictors X and Z. If we consider X and a single confounder Z, there are potentially five types of full-grown trees (see Figure 1). Trees of types 1, 2, and 3 exclude X and/or Z as splits and therefore the corresponding contingency tables would not exhibit Simpson's paradox; Type 5 tree will also correspond to a noparadox contingency table because the ordering of splits indicates a stronger X-Y relationship than a Z-Y relationship, whereas Simpson's paradox requires the reverse (Schield, 1999). Hence, only type 4 trees can exhibit Simpson's paradox. For the case of a single potential confounder, we incorporate sampling error into the tree approach by considering conditional-inference trees in place of full trees. However, with more than a single confounder, the significance of tree splits no longer maps directly to the paradox's significance. We therefore introduce a new tree, the X-terminal tree, offers a computationally effective solution for data with many potential confounders and large samples. The X-terminal trees are grown in accordance with detecting Type 4 tree structures.


Fifth‐generation (5G) networks are expected to offer unprecedented amounts of spectral and energy efficiency. Spatial modulation (SM) techniques have the capability to achieve an appealing trade‐off between these conflicting design parameters. Fully generalized SM (FGSM) and fully quadrature SM (FQSM) are the recent high‐rate SM variants, where the spectral efficiency is linearly proportional to the number of transmit antennas. The transmit antenna selection schemes can efficiently improve the average bit error rate (ABER) performance of SM techniques. The main objective of this work is to investigate the employment of transmit antenna selection schemes to FGSM and FQSM. Initially, Euclidean distance optimized antenna selection (EDAS) scheme is employed to FGSM and FQSM. It offers superior performance than conventional FGSM/FQSM without transmit antenna selection at the cost of higher computational complexity. In order to reduce the complexity cost, four suboptimal schemes based on channel capacity, correlation and combination of them are proposed and employed to FGSM and FQSM. The suboptimal transmit antenna selection based on capacity and correlation (TAS‐A‐C) offers a minimum gain of ∼6 dB over conventional FGSM/FQSM with significantly lower complexity. In addition, the performance of all schemes is investigated for increased number of available transmit antennas. As the proposed schemes address the spectral and energy efficiency trade‐off effectively, while corroborating better ABER performance, they have the potential to become a competing candidate for next‐generation networks.


We propose a scheme to utilize photons for ideal quantum transmission between atoms located at spatially separated nodes of a quantum network. The transmission protocol employs special laser pulses that excite an atom inside an optical cavity at the sending node so that its state is mapped into a time-symmetric photon wave packet that will enter a cavity at the receiving node and be absorbed by an atom there with unit probability. Implementation of our scheme would enable reliable transfer or sharing of entanglement among spatially distant atoms.


The article considers the social status and daily life of women who worked in the field of road construction in the Semipalatinsk and East Kazakhstan regions on the eve of the Second World War. In the difficult international situation of that period, Semipalatinsk and East Kazakhstan regions were considered important strategic objects in the economic life of the country. The significance of the Eastern Ring Road, called the construction of the century in the field of road construction and the connection of settlements with each other, was directly related to the rapid development of the economy of the region, which consists of two regions. Women also worked on this construction, which was of great importance. The author concludes that the work of women builders was high, judging by the research conducted on the basis of archival data, rare funds,consisting of press materials and published publications of a later time. The research work also noted the fact that the women's community, despite the difficulties caused by daily painstaking work, was not broken psychologically and morally, showed determination and endurance.


The invention provides a light-emitting diode (LED) switch constant-current driving circuit. The LED switch constant-current driving circuit comprises a voltage input module, an energy storage inductor, a freewheel diode, an LED module serving a load, a power tube for draining current and constant current, a detection module for detecting an input voltage phase state, a dimming control module connected to the detection module, an error amplifier connected to the dimming control module, a valley bottom detection circuit for detecting power tube drain voltage, a pulse width modulation circuit connected to the error amplifier and the valley bottom detection circuit, a control circuit for controlling the power tube according to detection voltage and PWM signals and a driving circuit of the power tube, wherein according to the dimming control module, input reference voltage Vref2 of the error amplifier and dimming control signals Vdimo are generated jointly through the detection voltage and reference voltage Vref1; the error amplifier enables the Vref2 to be compared with sampling voltage; and the pulse width modulation circuit is used for generating the PWM signals. According to the LED switch constant-current driving circuit, an electrolytic capacitor is not needed, an electronic transformer and a silicon controlled dimmer are compatible, the unique power tube in multiplexing simultaneously gives consideration to the draining current and the constant current, and the cost is effectively reduced.


It is not simply by using the visual angles of children or adults that children's prose poems watch world's aesthetic model.Usually by mingling children's visual angle with that of the adults' and by filtering out the noise and impurity of life by means of children's vision,poets render life poetic flavour and present the sense that leaves the path of adults' "accustomed understanding".Meanwhile,the expansion of the visual angle of grown-ups provide the poems with stateliness and dignity of life,rendering poems philosophical and aesthetic interest and charm.


Observations were made on the diurnal variations of discharge solute concentrations of a melting anowpack. The eluted solute amount, from the pack in one day in the late melt season, accounts for less than 23% of the total amount in the waters held in the pack before discharge increasing in the day. Based on the preferential flow model, this ratio can be interpreted into spatial ratios of the preferential flow. It is estimated that the spatial ratio of the preferential flow channels to the whole pore volume of the snowpack is below 32%, which includes 13% for the main channels and 19% for the non-main channels.


This issue of Annals brings into view new ways of understanding chronic illness care[1][1] and efforts to improve the quality of care.[2][2]–[4][3] It identifies a possible new diabetes risk factor that is easily visible on physical examination, rather than requiring an expensive or invasive test


Experience with six consecutive patients who were treated with antegrade intramedullary K wire fixation for fifth metacarpal fractures is presented. Differences between the original Foucher's technique and other modified techniques are discussed. Modified Fouch-er's technique is simple and has a low complication rate. However, secondary wire removal (elective or otherwise) should be discussed with all patients preoperatively.


The achievement of individualized glycemic targets in patients with diabetes is often a significant challenge. Empowering patients with technological tools in the ambulatory setting can pave the way for improved glucose control. We retrospectively examined the records of 94 patients managed in an academic endocrinology practice who were referred for management of diabetes over a 12-month period. Forty-one patients (18 females and 23 males, average age 57.7 years), who had at least two hemoglobin A1c measurements and two 14-day periods of personal continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data, were included in the analysis. Nine patients had type 1 and 32 patients had type 2 diabetes. Eight patients were not on any insulin therapy, 8 patients were on basal insulin, 18 were using multiple daily insulin injections, and 7 were managed with insulin pump therapy. A multidisciplinary management approach was utilized. The pharmacologic regimen, including both insulin and other medications, was adjusted every 2-4 weeks via in-person visits and remote data upload as necessary. The average A1c was 8.4% at initial visit and 7.1% at the most recent follow-up, a decrease of 1.3% (p=0.0002). Review of CGM data showed that the average time-in-range (70-180 mg/dl) increased from 63.6% at first CGM download to 74.1% at a mean follow-up of 301 days (p=0.0097), while the amount of time in the hyperglycemic range (time-above-range, >180 mg/dl) decreased from 33.5% to 22.1% (p=0.0079). Time-below-range (<70 mg/dl) remained statistically unchanged, signifying no worsening of hypoglycemia. In conclusion, in ambulatory patients with diabetes and suboptimal glucose control, frequent and tailored adjustments in insulin and noninsulin medications aided by CGM use with close follow-up can lead to significant improvement in glycemic control. The latter, if sustained, can translate to fewer complications and greater patient satisfaction in the long-term.

 K.N.Grennan: None. A.A.Rizvi: None. A.Kathuria: None.


To study the effect of plant density on growth indices of four grain sorghum cultivars an experiment was conducted as factorial based on Compelete Randomized Block Design with 3 replications at Experimental Field of Birjand Azad University in 2003 growing season. In this study 4 grain sorghum cultivars including Sepideh , Saravan local , Payam and Kimia and 3 plant densities 100000 , 180000 and 260000 plant/ha were investigated. The results showed superiority of Saravan local compare to other cultivars because of having maximum total dry matter, leaf area index, crop growth rate, relative growth rate, and net assimilation rate. The highest amount of leaf area ratio and specific leaf area were in Kimia and Payam cultivars, respectively. All of the above mentioned growth parameters were increased by increasing population denseity with exception of relative growth rate and net assimilation rate. From the obtained results Saravan local cultivar in density of 260000 plant /ha had the highest grain yield. The maximum relative growth rate and net assimilation rate were obtained in lowest density.


Appenided for reference are given the parts per 1,000, and the percentages (grains by weight in 100 minims) corresponding to the number of grains per ounce (480 minims). The former is calculated by dividilng the number of grains per oz. by 0.4375. The latter by multiplying the number of grains per ounce by j1, a result of simple proportion. The coloured test glasses in a pocket-case can be obtained from Messrs. Down Brothers, St. Thomas's Street, Borough, S&.E.__ _ _


Abstract This study aims to determine whether there is a domino effect trig-assisted TGT on learning outcomes of students at SMAN 1 Aek Kuasan. The research instrument consists of consists of an essay test that includes as many as 5 pieces and achievement test questions at the end of the cycle by 5 questions. The results of the study in the first cycle shows the average student learning outcomes 72.25 with 72.2% completeness percentage. The results of the study on cycle 2 gained an average of 80.5 student learning outcomes with the percentage of 91.7%. this study concluded that by using trigonometry domino berbantukan TGT can improve student learning outcomes in class X SMA Negeri 1 Aek Kuasan academic year 2013/2014. Keywords: Teams Games Tournaments, Domino Trigonometry, Trigonometry


KENILWORTH, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced the presentation of interim data from the Phase 1b/2 KEYNOTE-365 umbrella trial investigating KEYTRUDA, Merck's anti-PD-1 therapy, in combination with various agents for the treatment of patients with metastat ic castrat ionresistant prostate cancer (mCRPC). These early findings show anti-tumor act ivity across three cohorts of the study, which investigated KEYTRUDA in combination with LYNPARZA (Cohort A, Abstract #145); docetaxel and prednisone (Cohort B, Abstract #170); and enzalutamide (Cohort C, Abstract #171) – with a safety profile consistent with each therapy alone. These results are being presented today at the 2019 Genitourinary Cancers Symposium (ASCO GU) in San Francisco. Based on the findings, Merck is init iat ing three new pivotal Phase 3 trials with KEYTRUDA in combination with LYNPARZA (KEYLYNK010, NCT03834519), docetaxel and prednisone (KEYNOTE-921, NCT03834506) and enzalutamide (KEYNOTE-641, NCT03834493).


From 16 August to 24 October 2006, while studying migration in the area, we stayed in the holiday resort of El Gouna (27°23'N, 33°40'E) on the Red Sea coast of Egypt, c20 km north of Hurghada (Figure 1, Gauger & Vollm 2008). El Gouna has lagoons and gardens and in contrast to the rest of the region, is rather green, wellstructured and therefore attracts birds. On the evening of 2 October, we discovered the bird on the Steigenberger golf course, whose plant cover comprises not only the course greens, but also hedges, bushes, more open sandy stretches dotted with rocks and succulents and also fruitbearing date palms Phoenix dactylifera. At first glance we thought it was one of the blackandwhite wheatears Oenanthe spp, but then realised it was a Pied Bushchat Saxicola caprata. Early on 3 October, we found the bird again, and observed it clearly at distances of less than 10 m. It remained within a small area of the golf course, close to the seventh hole, where there was a bushy strip about 40 m in length. There were a few dates and succulents on the ground. Usually the bird sat on the lower branches, but it also used a rocky slope dotted with Aloe sp and other succulents, where it showed on rock tops (Plates 1–3). It was strongly attracted to this very small area, coming back to 'its' strip of bushes, even when we accidentally disturbed it. We tried but failed to trap the bird, but did catch six other birds, amongst which were Bluethroat Luscinia svecica and Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus. However, the Pied Bushchat eventually flew over the lagoon and landed in the garden of a villa, which is where it was last seen. Figure 1. Map showing the location of El Gouna. © Kai Gauger


This report briefly discusses the current campaign finance environment and the implications of changes to campaign finance policy over the past several decades.


A major goal of using any security protocol is to create certain beliefs in the participants. A security protocol will use techniques like cryptography to guarantee some things, but it will still require a participant to make assumptions about other things that the protocol cannot guarantee; such assumptions often constitute trust in other participants. In this thesis, we attempt to precisely identify the required assumptions of some example protocols. In the process, we find that we must consider the names that participants use to reason about each other. It turns out that naming is a complex topic with a rich body of philosophical work, and we apply some ideas from this work to the problem of identifying security protocols' required assumptions. Finally, we begin work on a mathematical model of protocols and beliefs to which a formal logic of belief could be applied. The model is left incomplete because of some unresolved problems with modeling belief caused by the design requirement that the model's elements have clear operational meanings. The solution of these problems is left as future work.


In this study, γ rays were used for the first time to cure dental-base material. The effect of the radiation dose on the thermal and rheological properties of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) used as a dental-base material was investigated. The commercial powder and liquid material (heat-curing-grade) were mixed and polymerized at 60 and 70°C in a constant-temperature water bath for 30 min and then were cured by γ rays, with total doses of 7.5, 15, 22.5, 30, 45, 52.5, 360, and 2160 krad. For each sample, the viscosity-average molecular weights were measured, and no significant differences were observed of total dose on molecular weights. A thermal investigation with differential scanning calorimetry showed an exothermic peak in the thermograms of samples that were not completely polymerized and crosslinked. The rheological nature of the samples was studied with dynamic mechanical analysis. A comparison of properties of γ-ray-cured samples and those cured by other methods revealed γ curing to be a superior method for producing high-molecular-weight homogenous polymers with low porosity and crosslinking. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 81: 1291–1296, 2001


Multi‐post‐labeling‐delay pseudo‐continuous arterial spin labeling (multi‐PLD PCASL) allows for absolute quantification of the cerebral blood flow (CBF) as well as the arterial transit time (ATT). Estimating these perfusion parameters from multi‐PLD PCASL data is a non‐linear inverse problem, which is commonly tackled by fitting the single‐compartment model (SCM) for PCASL, with CBF and ATT as free parameters. The longitudinal relaxation time of tissue T1t is an important parameter in this model, as it governs the decay of the perfusion signal entirely upon entry in the imaging voxel. Conventionally, T1t is fixed to a population average. This approach can cause CBF quantification errors, as T1t can vary significantly inter‐ and intra‐subject. This study compares the impact on CBF quantification, in terms of accuracy and precision, of either fixing T1t, the conventional approach, or estimating it alongside CBF and ATT. It is shown that the conventional approach can cause a significant bias in CBF. Indeed, simulation experiments reveal that if T1t is fixed to a value that is 10% off its true value, this may already result in a bias of 15% in CBF. On the other hand, as is shown by both simulation and real data experiments, estimating T1t along with CBF and ATT results in a loss of CBF precision of the same order, even if the experiment design is optimized for the latter estimation problem. Simulation experiments suggest that an optimal balance between accuracy and precision of CBF estimation from multi‐PLD PCASL data can be expected when using the two‐parameter estimator with a fixed T1t value between population averages of T1t and the longitudinal relaxation time of blood T1b.


Within-pulse frequency scanning can be combined with pulse compression to achieve long-range radar performance combined with high values of data rate, range resolution and height resolution. The basic principles of a three-dimensional radar of this type are discussed. Scanning is achieved by feeding a beam-squinting array from a frequency-modulated transmitter and pulse compression is applied to all received signals. Height resolution depends upon the aerial's beam-width and range resolution depends upon the aerial group delay. The concept of a dispersive aerial is introduced and it is shown that this can be used to reduce the bandwidth requirements. Possible design procedures are examined and an example is given of an S-band radar design which has a high data rate and is virtually free from precipitation clutter effects. Future applications are discussed briefly. Mathematical appendices analyse the more important spectral relationships of this type of radar.


Within the field of chaos theory several methods for the analysis of complex dynamical systems have recently been proposed. In light of these ideas we study the dynamics which control the behavior over time of river flow, investigating the existence of a low‐dimension deterministic component. The present article follows the research undertaken in the work of Porporato and Ridolfi [1996a] in which some clues as to the existence of chaos were collected. Particular emphasis is given here to the problem of noise and to nonlinear prediction. With regard to the latter, the benefits obtainable by means of the interpolation of the available time series are reported and the remarkable predictive results attained with this nonlinear method are shown.


This paper analyzes the evolution of industrial structure of Shanxi Province since 1952,probes into the problems existing in industrial structure of Shanxi Province from the deviation of industrial structure,comparative labor productivity,industrial interior structure,industrial relevancy,and investment structure,etc. and based on this,puts forward some countermeasures and suggestions on industrial structure adjustment of Shanxi Province.


Variations in the concentration of cork fish liquid in jelly were used in the investigation of the effect of cork fish liquid on the quality of jelly products. To establish the textural profile and level of preference of the panelists, the jelly was blended with the Cork fish juice. The different concentrations of Cork fish juice, such as K (0%), A (5%), B ( 10%), C (15%), and D (20%) v/v. After being mixed with Cork fish liquid according to the procedures, the jelly was packaged in plastic cups with a capacity of 50 ml each and refrigerated at a temperature of 10-15oC overnight. The purpose of this experiment was to see how cork fish juice affected the texture and sensory quality of jelly. The results reveal that panelists are willing to eat jelly mixed with Cork fish liquid, but that the more the concentration of Cork fish liquid added, the lower their preference level. Treatment A produced the best results among the cork fish liquid treatments, with a panelist preference value of 5.60, which was similar to syneresis 10.80, elasticity 0.83, cohesiveness 0.57, gumminess 419.50, elasticity 339.40, resilience 0.23, hardness 847.30, and gel strength values of 534.85 g/cm2, respectively.


Access course is aimed at non-computer Majors public computer classes,courses and professional courses because the bond between the relatively low,the lack of innovative teaching methods,resulting in a low degree of recognition of the course the students.In order to improve student learning initiative,to strengthen the links with the professional courses,the "task-driv en method" teaching,design reasonable,practical tasks,students use Access practical ability to solve practical problems.


Background & Objectives: Cold Spinal Sprayis specially made equipment that directs multiple small but powerful streams of water to spinal portion on the patient. It is clinically used as a treatment modality in Naturopathy however its effects on Autonomic and Respiratory variables (ARV) has not been reported. The present study was aimed at evaluating the effect of Cold Spinal Sprayon ARV in healthy volunteers in causing sympathetic/parasympathetic activation immediately post treatment. Methods: A Pre-post study was conducted consisting of 60 healthy students from the SDM College of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences, Ujire. Group 1(n=30) were assessed for Heart Rate, Heart rate Variability, Pulse Plethysmography (PPG) and Respiration before and immediately after the intervention using the Polygraph [BIOPAC MP36]. Each subject underwent the Cold Spinal Sprayfor 10 minutes during the treatment. Group 2 (n=30) were assessed for the ARV in neutral position (NP) without intervention. Both the sessions of Cold Spinal Spray& NP were of 10 minutes duration conducted over a period of 12 days. Statistical analysis was performed by independent samples t-test and student's paired t-test using Microsoft Excel-version 14 (2011, USA.). Results:No significant differences were seen between the sessions in heart rate (HR), pulse plethysmogram (PPG), respiratory rate (RR), R-R wave Interval (RRI), square root of mean of sum of the squares of differences between adjacent NN intervals (RMSSD), number of interval differences of successive NN intervals greater than 50-milliseconds (NN50), proportion of NN50 (pNN50), very low frequency (VLF), low frequency (LF), high frequency (HF), ratio of LF and HF (LF/HF). Within group analysis showed significant decrease in PPG, HR, LF/HF ratio and increase in pNN50. Insignificant increase in RR, RRI, RMSSD, NN50, HF and decrease in VLF, LF were observed in cold spinal spray. In the NP group, PPG, HR was seen to be insignificantly reduced, other variables being more or less unchanged. Interpretation &Conclusion: Cold Spinal Spraydoes not significantly improve the ARV compared to NP however within group analysis shows significant reduction in PPG, HR and LF/HF ratio and increase in pNN50. This indicates parasympathetic activity predominance. Therefore, Cold Spinal Spraymay be considered as having some effects on ARV in healthy volunteers but requires further validation to prove its effects. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date of Submission: 17-12-2019 Date of Acceptance: 31-12-2019 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Identified as an important management concept five years ago (Garner 1999), knowledge management (KM) aims to enable organizations to capture, organize, and access their intellectual assets. This paper proposes a prototype system that applies a knowledge management approach to support concept-based multimedia information retrieval by integrating various information analysis and image processing techniques. The proposed system uses geographical information as its testbed and aims to provide flexibility to users in terms of specifying their information needs and to facilitate parallel extraction of information in different formats (i.e., text, image). Our testbed selection is based not only on the fact that geographical information has become an important resource supporting organization decision making, but also on the diversity of its information media and the fuzziness of geo-spatial queries. We hope that the proposed system will improve the accessibility of geographical information in different media and provide an example of integrating various information and multimedia techniques to support concept-based cross-media information retrieval.


The invention relates to an optical waveguide socket (1), an optical waveguide plug (50), and an optical waveguide socket assembly. The optical waveguide socket (1) has a socket housing (2), which comprises a receiving space (5) for accommodating an assigned optical waveguide plug (50), and has a locking device (7) for locking the optical waveguide plug (50) accommodated inside the receiving space (5). Said locking device (7) is provided with an electrically conductive section, which is in physical contact with an electrically conductive counterpart (60) of the inserted optical waveguide plug (50) while establishing an electrical contact. The optical waveguide socket (1) is additionally provided with a connecting piece (21), which is connected in an electrically conductive manner to the electrically conductive section of the locking device (7), and which is laterally guided out of the socket housing (2). According to the optical waveguide socket assembly, the optical waveguide socket (1) is arranged on a printed circuit board (38) comprising an electrically conductive contact section (65) that is in physical contact with the part of the connecting piece (21) projecting from the socket housing (2) while establishing an electrical contact.


Motorcycle inductance igniter which controlled by microcomputer is designed and developed. The igniter can precisely control the ignition advanced angle according to the given sparking curve in advance. The engine and motorcycle test indicate that engine performance has been promoted, and emission value has been decreased which equipped with the igniter.


T HERE is and can be no such thing as a critical orthodoxy. In whatever branch of knowledge the scientific student works, he must hold himself, on his fealty to truth, ready to abandon his dearest hypothesis if need arise, if it appear to him that it is inadequately based or if there be facts of experience which can in no way be reconciled with it. It is true that he will generally surrender a welltested theory only with the greatest reluctance, and that the problem created by the conflict between fact and hypothesis will often lead him to the development and ultimate reinforcement of the latter, but at the same time every such conflict must be held to imperil the established position until it can be fitted into is place in the whole scheme. This does not mean that no hypothesis can be accepted as a practical working basis. On the contrary, there are not a few theories in the worlds of man and nature which so justify themselves by their reliability that only the very strongest evidence would induce any man to discard them. It is, indeed, on such hypotheses that the practical life of humanity is built up. No sane person would venture to doubt the reality of the law of gravitation so far as to throw himself from the top of the Woolworth Building, and, while this may be an extreme example, the same tendency holds good in many departments of life. We learn to trust the generalized results of experience, and in our search for a common explanation of phenomena we are prone to take much for granted. These general remarks apply to the critical study of the Old Testament with as much force as to any other department


Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Department of Civil Engineering and Natural Hazards, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Feistmantelstrasse 4, 1180 Vienna, Austria Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Architectural Engineering, University of Seoul, 163 Seoulsiripdaero, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02504, Republic of Korea Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, Nazarbayev University, 53 Kabanbay Batyr Ave., Astana 010000, Kazakhstan Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, Nazarbayev University, 53 Kabanbay Batyr Ave., Astana 010000, Kazakhstan Professor, Department of Civil Engineering and Natural Hazards, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Feistmantelstrasse 4, 1180 Vienna, Austria Professor, Department of Architectural Engineering, University of Seoul, 163 Seoulsiripdaero, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02504, Republic of Korea


The past year has seen some tough times, with many companies in the minerals industry reducing costs through cutting exploration budgets, delaying or shelving development projects and slowing or cutting capital improvement projects.


In an early study of the hydrogen molecule ion in a magnetic field of strength B directed along the internuclear axis, we wrote the ground-state electronic energy E(R, B), with R the internuclear separation, in terms of the electron and current densities ρ(r) and j(r), respectively. Very recent work by Benguria et al. has established a one-dimensional model Hamiltonian that is asymptotically valid in the limit as the magnetic field strength B tends to infinity. We study a model motivated by this Hamiltonian and derive exact analytical results for the Slater sum and for the Feynman propagator. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006


Even as employment in the construction industry in India has grown in recent decades, economic insecurities of workers persist. The existing forms of work and labour control, embedded in capitalist and patriarchal relations, are significant for women's ability to question or resist their conditions of work. To understand the relations among workers and between workers and contractors/employers, this study draws on Scott's idea of the 'moral economy'. I argue in this article that in the absence of formal or legal contracts between workers and contractors, women are led to mobilize on their social capital or their valued relations with contractors and co-workers. Women's responses to their situation may not demonstrate a strong articulation of exploitation in class or feminist terms, but their political sense is informed by ideas of morality and reciprocity in relationships. Their resistance could be strengthened when they collectively act with workers in a similar situation.


In this paper, we discuss our work in the modeling and characterization of an acoustic-microfluidic focusing device that uses standing bulk acoustic waves to focus particles under flow. Modeling was done using Comsol Multiphysicsreg (Comsol, Los Angeles, CA), a multiphysics FEM tool, and the performance of the device was assessed through coefficient of variance (CV) measurements using a confocal microscope.


Nondestructive inspection of jet engine turbine blades during field and depot maintenance is accomplished normally with fluorescent penetrant and/or visual techniques. In spite of the widespread use of the penetrant process, it has many disadvantages as a maintenance inspection method. The reliability of penetrant inspection depends upon the preparation of the blades prior to actual penetrant processing and the inspector's skill in detecting and evaluating defect indications. The process can miss cracks if they are filled with material that blocks the penetrant from entering the defect. An eddy current technique which can detect leading and trailing edge cracks in turbine blades and an instrument based upon this technique were developed under Air Force sponsorship. The instrument has been tested in a rework facility and field maintenance. Results of the evaluation and photomicrographs of typical cracks detected in turbine blades are presented. Results are compared, in some instances, to results obtained with the fluorescent penetrant and/or visual examinations. A field penetrant inspection of leading trailing edges detect cracks at an inspection rate of one stage in 1 hr and 50 min.Copyright © 1973 by ASME


the valute of lipoprotein (a) in the prediction of coronary artery disease (CAD) or myocardial infarction (MI), is an established independent risk factor for premature MI. This study was conducted to diagnose offspring at risk. A total of 120 subjects were investigated serum LP (a) and total serum cholesterol were measured by ELISA and serum cholesterol by enzymatic colorimetric (CHOD-PAD) method using standard kits from spincreact, spain. Lp (a) is a strong lipid variable predisposing to CAD.


Retrospective quantitative DNA analysis was done on 147 samples from 89 patients with neuroblastoma and ganglioneuroma using flow cytometry. In the neuroblastoma patients, nuclear DNA content was found to be a stable tumor marker irrespective of site (primary versus metastatic) and despite changes with time in tumor progression, maturation, or therapy. The occurrence of DNA aneuploidy, which was detected in 60% of the neuroblastoma patients, paralleled other favorable indicators and was highly associated with survival (P < 0.001). Of clinical stage, age, primary site, sex, and DNA content, only stage and DNA content correlated with survival. Those patients with favorable stage and DNA aneuploidy had higher survival rates. Further, favorable stage and the presence of DNA aneuploidy were independent prognostic indicators. Abnormal DNA content was also detected in samples from ganglio‐neuromas in which significant numbers of ganglion cell nuclei were recovered. These results indicate a striking difference between neuroblastoma and adult tumors in which DNA aneuploidy is generally a poor prognostic sign and provide a molecular link between ganglioneuromas and their malignant counterparts. Cancer 62:749–754, 1988.


Abstract : This entry in the Morris Swett Library Special Bibliography series presents materials written by or about the activities of the 5 U.S. Army 4-star general officers who attained General of the Army rank during or shortly after WWII. The materials consist of books, reports, and serial items. Selection is from the holdings of the Morris Swett library, USAFAS. (Author)


In cavity optomechanics the state of a mechanical element can be manipulated by interfacing it with light via radiation pressure, electrostriction, or related phenomena. The majority of mechanical elements employed in optomechanical systems to date are solid objects (membranes, nanowires, mirrors, etc); however fluids can also be used as a mechanical element. Compared to solids, fluids have an advantage: they readily achieve precise alignment with the optical cavity, as the fluid can conformally fill or coat the optical cavity. However, almost all optomechanical systems need to be cooled to sub-Kelvin temperatures in order for quantum effects to be observed. Liquid helium is the only fluid that doesn't solidify under its own pressure at these temperatures. Additionally, helium has almost no optical absorption, high thermal conductivity and very low acoustic loss at cryogenic temperatures. We have developed an optomechanical system in which the mechanical mode is a standing density wave in superfluid helium inside a 70 μm long Fabry-Perot cavity. The optical mode is also a mode of the same cavity. Thus, the system is completely self-aligned. In this system, we used electrostriction to drive the mechanical mode with light by modulating the optical intensity. We also observed the mode's undriven Brownian motion and from that extracted it mean phonon number. We measured phonon number as low as nac=11. The optomechanical effects of optical spring and optical damping were observed, and agreed well with the predictions of conventional optomechanical theory.


Summary

In this paper, a unified approach for transient stability enhancement following large disturbance is proposed through preventive or/and emergency control measures. Transient stability-constrained generation rescheduling is proposed as a preventive control strategy with participation of only few generators on the basis of the rotor angle swings. However, if generator rescheduling fails to regain the transient stability of the power system, heuristic real-time transient stability assessment scheme is proposed through synchrophasor measurements. If the system is predicted to be unstable in real-time, emergency control actions like generator tripping and load shedding are proposed with information about their initiation, location, type, and the magnitude. These emergency actions are purely based on the voltage magnitudes and phase angles obtained through phasor measurement units in real-time. The effectiveness of the proposed scheme is demonstrated on IEEE-39 New England test system, and the results obtained are promising. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Glagahwero is one of the largest mushroom producers in Jember, though still lack of production. This research aims to determine factors of production, optimization of production factors, and profit by using optimal production factor. This research was conducted in Glagahwero Village with 32 samples of mushroom farmer. The samples were selected using total sampling method. Data were analyzed using cobb douglas production function to know the factors that significantly influence the production and value of the optimum input use of mushroom farming, and profit analysis to know the comparison of profit value by using the optimum production factor. The results showed that the area of kumbung, seedlings, straw and labor significantly influenced the production of mushroom in Glagahwero but the use of those factors were not optimal (ratio of NPMxi / Pxi> 1), it is necessary to add the amount of production factor use to reach optimal value. The value of profit by using the optimal production factor will be greater than using the actual production  factor. The results of this study then become basis in conducting mushroom farming in Glagahwero Village optimally by taking into account the amount of input that use.


We analyze the plasmon spectrum of a graphene sheet in the vicinity of a thick plasmalike substrate, finding linear dispersion in some parameter ranges.


A diverse assemblage of macroscopic algal fossils was recently discovered in the lower part of the Nama Group, Kliphoek Member of the Dabis Formation (Late Ediacaran of Namibia). This assemblage consists of three distinct taxa that have been previously reported from Neoproterozoic successions of European Russia and South China: Glomulus filamentum Steiner, 1994; Eoholinia fruticulosa A. Istchenko, 1989; Tyrasotaenia podolica Gnilovskaya, 1971; a fourth taxon may be related to Kanilovia sp., but also may have other affinities. This assemblage suggests that the best correlation of the Namibian sediments bearing this new algal assemblage would be with with the Upper Kotlin (uppermost Neoproterozoic) deposits of the Russian Platform.


Objectives: Death rates are an outcome that can be used to describe a service. We measured three death rates that can be used to describe an emergency department (ED): death rates for those seen in the ED and discharged, those that die within the ED, and those that die after admission. We also wanted to establish how easy it was to obtain these rates and how frequently autopsy was performed. Setting: ED within a large teaching hospital. Results: Between 1 December 2003 and 1 December 2004, 76 060 patients attended the ED of which 205 died within the department. A total of 16 489 were admitted of which 876 died within 30 days. A total of 59 366 were discharged home of which 111 subsequently died over the next 30 days. The rates were 0.19% (111/59 366) for those discharged, 4.6% (766/16 489) for those admitted, and 0.27% (205/76 060) for those patients attending the ED who died within it. The autopsy rate was low (20%) and was more likely if the patient died in the department, died within the first few days of admission, or was young. The data were easy to collect. Conclusions: These three death rates were easy to calculate and could be used to describe the outcome of an ED service. Further research to establish the range of rates for different departments is now required to determine their potential use.


Leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin-like domains protein 3 (1119 aa, ~123 kDa) is encoded by the human LRIG3 gene. This protein may be involved in signal transduction.


We present a combined study of the morphology and electronic transport of silicon nanowires (SiNWs). On the one hand, we used a model for the Gibbs free energy of the nanowires in order to assess the importance of the contribution of volume, surface, edge, and planar defects in the different diameter ranges and polymorphs found experimentally, namely, cubic diamond ("cubic") and hexagonal diamond ("hexagonal"). Surface contribution to the Gibbs free energy explains the appearance of the hexagonal phase in intermediate diameters. Structural relaxations via planar defects explain the abundance of the cubic phase in thinner NWs. On the other hand, in order to approximate the transport in the range of thick SiNWs, we studied the electron transport properties of bulk silicon in the main crystallographic growth directions of SiNWs, namely, ⟨001⟩d, ⟨110⟩d, and ⟨111⟩d for the cubic phase and ⟨001⟩h for the hexagonal phase, with a density functional theory-non-equilibrium Green functions formalism (DFT-NEGFF) code...


Sea-level rise will affect populations worldwide with considerable and lasting consequences in the not-too-distant future. Accurate measurement of fast flowing outlet glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica are of vital importance to ice sheet models that predict the course of sea-level rise. The Center for the Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets (CReSIS) has developed a suite of tools designed for use with data collected by CReSIS depth sounding radar platforms. This suite includes algorithms for removing clutter and noise from coherent radar data, and the results show successful sounding of some of these fast-flowing glaciers for the first time.


The apparatus (10) for operating a closure of doors, flaps od. The like., In particular on vehicles, with one of the door inner side (12) fro the region of the exterior door panel (14) fixable support (11), the one bearing pin (36) for a bearing receptacle, which is located in a bearing element, with a handle (20), at its bearing-side end of the handle (21) has a coupling part (51) and on its opposite handle end (22) for closing a leading outlet (24), and a bearing member located at the counter-coupling member (61) into which the handle (20) from the door outside (13) side, with its coupling part (51) is engageable, wherein, after the engagement of the handle (20) is pivotally movable together with the bearing element, characterized, that the bearing element a over the entire length of the handle (20) extending rocker (30), at its one swinging end (31) has a bearing bore (34) into which the bearing pin (36) axially ...


The analysis of any human concept is infinitely and inevitably complicated by the mental processes of the original user and the investigator. Dedication to objectivity by the analyst can usually prevent only the more obvious, and not always the most important, psycho-cultural pressures which condition or determine both the content and the method of the analysis, to say nothing of its purpose and material. In turn, the concept under examination, even though it is necessarily rendered an object isolate for intensive review, remains and must be treated as essentially a living precipitate of the entire environment in which it was born and nourished.


This paper designs a new five-fingered robotic hand with a camera. Several morphological features of the human hand are integrated to improve the appearance of the hand. The drive system of this hand is under-actuated to eliminate the weight of the hand and to embed all the actuators inside the palm. Despite of this under-actuation, this hand can grasp objects in several different ways. In addition, the two different transmissions are adopted to drive the fingers according to their roles. These transmissions help not only to improve drive efficiency but also to secure the space of the embedded camera.


Daar el-Qolam Islamic Boarding School is one of the relatively large Islamic boarding schools with more than a thousand students, and located in the red zone or at high risk of spreading Covid-19. This paper examines how the Daar el-Qolam responds to various government policies related to the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as adaptation strategies undertaken in the face of the pandemic. The research was conducted in June 2020 using a qualitative approach. The results show that Daar el-Qolam conforms in responding to various government policies related to the pandemic. When the government issued a new policy, Daar el-Qolam tried to follow the policy even though he had to change the existing policy or system. One of them is by repatriating students and stopping all activities at the boarding school. Thus, Daar el-Qolam's conformity can be seen from its efforts to always be in harmony and in accordance with group norms, which in this case is government policy. Meanwhile, the adaptations made by Daar el-Qolam are autoplastic and alloplastic. Autoplastic is carried out when Daar el-Qolam changes various internal policies to adapt to pandemic conditions, such as sending students home prematurely, conducting online learning, and providing facilities that comply with health protocols. Meanwhile, alloplastic is carried out when Daar el-Qolam changes the environment to suit the desired conditions, such as re-activating Islamic boarding school activities but with various changes in the learning process, santri lifestyle, and social and religious behaviour.


My greatest achievement has been ... the design of a molecular motor. I am waiting for the day when someone will discover ... the molecular basis for the functioning of our brain. Chemistry is fun because ... it combines passion, discovery, design, art, and application. If I could have dinner with three famous scientists from history, they would be ... Pasteur, van t Hoff, and Woodward. My biggest motivation is ... the joy associated with discovery, beauty, and function of the molecular systems that we can design. The secret of being a successful scientist is ... to embark on an adventure with nature together with your students and to work on problems for which you do not know the answers yet. The best advice I have ever been given ... was to work on something novel and important. The worst advice I have ever been given ... was that the particular chemistry problem in question would be too complicated to study. If I could be a piece of lab equipment, ... I would be a stir plate. My favorite piece of music is ... Dvoř k, "From the New World". The most significant advances in chemistry in the last hundred years have been ... nitrogen fixation and antibiotics. The biggest challenge facing chemists is ... to build "artificial life" and to provide the fundamental scientific breakthroughs that will lead to sustainable materials and processes for our future. Young people should study chemistry because ... you can invent a "new world" on your own.


An opinion on this question must await evidence regarding the response of the individual fibers. Our investigation is still continuing in the effort to analyze in more detail the nature of the response obtained, and thus to secure evidence which may give an empirical answer to this and other questions concerning the action of the nerve, and which may then decide as well the dependent problem of auditory theory. 'J. Physiol., 1926, 61, 49-72, 151-171, 465-483; 62, 33-51; 1927, 63, 378-414. 2 See A. Forbes and A. Gregg, Amer. J. Physiol., 1915, 39, 229 ff.; G. Wilkinson and A. A. Gray, The Mechdnism of the Cochlea, 1924, 175 ff. 3As represented, e. g., by E. G. Boring, Amer. J. Psychol., 1926, 37, 157-188.


Investigating serious adverse events of medical devices is the important process of evaluating the relevance between medical devices and adverse events, and is the key to provid the evaluation report about serious adverse events of medical devices for the supervision and management department.By reviewing the current situation of medical devices adverse events monitoring and reevaluating, improving the legislation has been proposed to identify the investigation duty of serious adverse events of medical devices, and the investigation mechanism of serious adverse events of medical devices has been discussed .


Naïve CD8+ T cells are activated through interactions with antigen (Ag) bearing dendritic cells (DCs) in lymph nodes (LNs). Multiphoton intravital microscopy (MP-IVM) of LNs has demonstrated that T cell activation occurs in three phases. The duration of the initial phase of transient, serial DC-T cell interactions is inversely related to Ag dose. It had been assumed that the second phase, characterized by stable DC-T cell contacts, is necessary for T cell activation, however, here we show that this is not always the case. T cells interacting with DCs presenting Ag at low abundance and with a short half-life did not transition from phase one to phase two, whereas a higher dose of the same Ag yielded robust phase two transition. T cells exposed to either antigenic constellation proliferated and developed equivalent effector functions, including cytokine production and cytotoxicity, over the first two days after priming. There are profound differences in the transcriptome at 12h and 24h after activation between CD8 T cells exposed to antigenic constellations that did or did not promote phase two interactions. Only T cells that had undergone stable contacts gave rise to memory, whereas activating conditions that did not support stable contacts yielded immunological amnesia. T cells can make fate decisions in vivo within a few hours after Ag exposure that result in long-term memory or abortive effector responses and correlate with the kinetics of T cell-DCs interactions.


Light intensity thresholds for school formation were examined In 3 stages (20, 65, and 120 mm) of striped jack Pseudocaranx dentex juveniles with behavioural and histological approaches. Behaviour under a light intensity of 300 to 1 0 ~ lx was recorded uslng a video camera, and schooling behaviour, swimming speed, and nearest neighbour d~stance were analyzed. The retina of fish adapted to each hght Intensity was histologically examined. The l ~ g h t intensity threshold for schooling behaviour In 20 and 65 mm fish was 5 X 10-l h, while that of 120 mm fish was 5 X 10-4 Ix. The adaptation ratio, defined as the percentage of cone cell movement, ranged from 30 to 80% corresponding with 10' ' to 1 Ix of Light intensity in 120 mm fish, while 20 mm fish showed a much narrower range of adaptation ratio, i.e. from 50 to 70%. Visual acuity increased exponentially with fish total length from 20 to 120 mm, corresponding with the increase of eye diameter. The higher range of adaptation ratio in 120 mm fish should enable them to recognize other fish even under low light intensity conditions and make their light intensity threshold for schooling lower than that of smaller fish. Establishment of behavioural and histological adaptability to lower light intensity should have relevance to the habitat shift that occurs in this juvenile stage from bright shallow reef pelagic waters to the offshore dark deeper area.


Tourism as an effective tool to continue the process of political, cultural and economic development of countries is of particular interest. This research is about identifying the main factors and drawing the believable future in tourism in Qayen. The statistical population of this research includes 15 experts in the field of urban tourism and planning. The data collection method was selected based on the Schwartz pattern and STEEP method (5 main criteria including economic, social, political, social, and technology). The data analysis tool is MIC MAC software were selected. The results show that most of the relationships between the variables are estimated to have 3 or very strong effects Therefore, five factors of the tendency of the province economy to diversify its tourism species, the share of private sectors of the tourism economy, government ownership, specialized human resources, the existence of tourism offices, and construction and reinforcement of tourism infrastructure) were selected as the key factors that have the greatest impact on desirable scenario in the path to tourism in Qayen On the horizon of 1404


The article analyzes the peculiarities of tourism development in the Cherkasy region in a pandemic. New technological opportunities for cultural leisure and knowledge of the historical and cultural heritage of the region are considered. The experience of Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University project implementation is analyzed inclusive-social 3D-map. It is noted that the 3D map will help provide equal opportunities for people with disabilities in terms of tourism.
It has been given that the development of information and communication technologies also largely determines the social transformation «Cultural, recreational and tourist Cherkasy region: inclusive and social 3D-map». It will offer ways to solve the problem of education and social development of people with disabilities, creating new technologies to improve quality of life. , the introduction of an effective system of social and psychological rehabilitation of children and youth with special educational needs through culture and inclusive tourism.
International experience of the implementation of the virtual tour convincingly proves that this area of activity creates conditions for improving the competitiveness of tourist services. Such a tourist product, which is presented in the form of a virtual tour, is «information-intensive», more presentable and attractive. Creating an inclusive social 3D map will allow you to meet your cultural needs and demonstrate the cultural diversity of the region, which will be a reason to visit these places offline, taking into account their physical characteristics. It will expand their horizons and deepen knowledge, education of a true citizen, the formation of cognitive interest in the studied subjects, the emergence of motivation to learn, raising awareness of Ukrainians of the historical and cultural heritage of the Motherland for schoolchildren.


There is a new perspective of a continuum of prediction problems, with a blurring of the distinction between short-term predictions and long-term climate projections. At the heart of this new persp...


Preparation of Human and Animal Skin (R. Bronaugh and S. Collier). Diffusion Cell Design (C. Gummer and H. Maibach). A Flow-Through Diffusion Cell (R. Bronaugh). Individual and Regional Variation with In Vitro Percutaneous Absorption (R. Wester and H. Maibach). Receptor Fluids (S. Collier and R. Bronaugh). Assessment of Vehicle Factors Influencing Percutaneous Absorption (J. Zatz). Cutaneous Metabolism (S. Collier, J. Storm and R. Bronaugh). Effect of Occlusion (D. Bucks, R. Guy and H. Maibach). Skin Storage Conditions (W. Reifenrath and B. Kemppainen). In Vitro Absorption Through Damaged Skin (R. Scott). Localization of Drugs in the Skin (A. Rolland). Expression of Absorption Data (S. Collier and R. Bronaugh). The LPP Theory of Skin Penetration Enhancement (B. Barry). In Vitro Percutaneous Absorption of Alachlor and Atrazine (R. Wester, D. Bucks and H. Maibach). In Vivo-In Vitro Correlations for Hydrophobic Compounds (R. Bronaugh and S. Collier). In Vitro Absorption-Skin Flap Model (J. Riviere). Percutaneous Penetration from Soil: Inhibition or Enhancement? (D. Bucks, R. Wester, and H. Maibach). Short-Term In Vitro Skin Exposure (R. Wester and H. Maibach). Protocol for In Vitro Percutaneous Absorption Studies (R. Bronaugh and S. Collier). Finite Dose In Vitro Percutaneous Permeation Based on the Diffusion Model: Estimation of Pharmacokinetic Parameters and Prediction of the Pharmacokinetics Profiles (K. Kubota and H. Maibach). Effect of Sodium Lauryl Sulfate-Induced Skin Irritation on In Vitro Percutaneous Absorption (Klaus-P. Wilhelm, Christian Surber, and Howard I. Maibach). Percutaneous Absorption in Irritant Dermatitis (K. Wilhelm, C. Surber, and H. Maibach).


Acid–base properties in 1 to 14 M H3PO4 solutions are characterized with a R0(H) acidity function and , , functions which respectively represent the H+ activity in these media and their ability to give , , species. The thermodynamic limits of potential and the nature of the ionization equilibrium are studied. H and R acidity levels in phosphoric media are compared to those of sulfuric, hydrochloric, and hydrofluoric acid media. The identity of their R0(H) acidity level for the same value of water activity is shown.


Vulnerabilities infest information technology. There is a lack of tools in risk assessment for understanding the impact that the disclosed vulnerabilities have on the critical information infrastructures. To address this need, this work derives a new dimension of dependency from practical vulnerability work, namely that of protocol dependency. Classic technology dependency views were reviewed, a chain of systematic vulnerability disclosures was followed as a case study and analysis revealed evidence of protocol dependency. Extrapolating from the experiences of a complex case, this new dependency dimension can be modelled. The model will benefit from going beyond a narrow technical view.


Structurally colored supraparticles, formed from dispersed nanoparticle building blocks through self-assembly, have tremendous potential for applications in displays, coatings, paints, inks, and co...


Luminescent bolometers are double-readout devices able to measure simultaneously the phonon and the light yields after a particle interaction in the detector. This operation allows in some cases to tag the type of the interacting quantum, crucial issue for background control in rare event experiments such as the search for neutrinoless double beta decay and for interactions of particle dark matter candidates. The light detectors used in the LUCIFER and LUMINEU searches (projects aiming at the study of the double beta interesting candidates 82 Se and 100 Mo using ZnSe and ZnMoO4 scintillating bolometers) consist of hyper-pure Ge thin slabs equipped with NTD thermistors. A substantial sensitivity improvement of the Ge light detectors can be obtained applying a proper anti-reflective coatings on the Ge side exposed to the luminescent bolometer. The present paper deals with the investigation of this aspect, proving and quantifying the positive effect of a SiO2 and a SiO coating and setting the experimental bases for future tests of other coating materials. The results confirm that an appropriate coating procedure helps in improving the sensitivity of bolometric light detectors by an important factor (in the range 20% - 35%) and needs to be included in the recipe for the development of an optimized radio-pure scintillating bolometer.


Environmental conditions in various cities of the Middle Volga determine high impact population zooantroponoznym disease toksakarozom. The source of the spread of parasitosis are carnivores by seeding the soil cover. These data illustrate the high degree of extensiveness of soil contamination. The key point in preventing the expansion of the range of the disease is the coordination of health education among the population and consolidated approach health authorities for the necessary amount of therapeutic and preventive measures.


Laser microscopic videofluorimetric device has been constructed. Specifically induced spectral characteristics of malignant and healthy tissues fluorescence in the region of 280 - 770 nm have been developed. New experimental results of malignancies identification and their diagnosis have been obtained.


The article presents a system for automatic monitoring of plant conditions, which is based on a specially developed method for processing photographs in the infrared spectrum. The paper substantiates the choice of a quadrocopter as a transport platform, which provides mobility to the system.


Interviewing can be almost as stressful for the interviewer as the candidate. Both need to make that critical first impression. But how do you evaluate the whole experience of a career, education, and personality of a person? How do you identify real experience and skills? This presentation will discuss techniques on interviewing and evaluation of SAS programming candidates. Special emphasis will be place on application of Behavioral-based interviewing to SAS professionals. Behavioral-based interviewing is a technique designed to uncover experience and behavior in life and the work place. Are you more of a candidate than an interviewer? Pick up some tips on creating the resume that managers want and presenting yourself in the


The coal industry improved its position in 1975 by increasing production, expanding capacity, generally securing its share of the international markets, and making an improvement in technology.


Differently from traditional two-dimensional texture images, the depth images of three-dimensional (3D) video systems have significant sparse characteristics under the certain transform basis, which make it possible for compressive sensing to represent depth information efficiently. Therefore, in this paper, a novel depth image coding scheme is proposed based on a block compressive sensing method. At the encoder, in view of the characteristics of depth images, the entropy of pixels in each block is employed to represent the sparsity of depth signals. Then according to the different sparsity in the pixel domain, the measurements can be adaptively allocated to each block for higher compression efficiency. At the decoder, the sparse transform can be combined to achieve the compressive sensing reconstruction. Experimental results have shown that at the same sampling rate, the proposed scheme can obtain higher PSNR values and better subjective quality of the rendered virtual views, compared with the method using a uniform sampling rate.


This article argues that politicians may use public language as a type of poetic performance when analysing political expression and how this will reflect on rules and principles of public language


A coupling device for connecting fuselage sections, in each case forming a transverse abutting region for creating an aircraft fuselage comprising fuselage sections with a fuselage skin, a multitude of annular frame elements and stringers, wherein the coupling device has a rib-like design and includes: a strip-shaped transverse splicing plate for coupling the fuselage skins, a rib, which extends in the middle on the transverse splicing plate, for coupling an annular frame element, and a multitude of rib-like stringer coupling parts that extend on both sides of the transverse splicing plate, for coupling the stringers, as well as a method for producing the coupling device from a solid, rectangular, material trip of suitable thickness and length.


The invention discloses a novel chemical synthesis method for preparing mecobalamine. The novel chemical synthesis method comprises the steps of: dissolving cyanocobalamin and cobalt chloride hexahydrate in deionized water to obtain reaction liquid, simultaneously dropwise adding a sodium borohydride aqueous solution and a methanol/formaldehyde solution to the reaction liquid, and generating mecobalamine in one step through reductive methylation. According to the novel chemical synthesis method, the cyanocobalamin is taken as a raw material, and the mecobalamine is synthesized in one step; and therefore, the novel chemical synthesis method is simple in operation and has low requirements on equipment, little pollution and wide application prospect, and conditions are easy to control.


The role of the farmer changes from season to season. Like the fields they plant or the livestock they raise, no season, and no farm operation, is the same. Implementation of emerging technology is one thing setting several farming operations apart from their competition, whether crop farms, dairy farms or livestock farms. Much like other commercial industries, agriculture has been on the receiving end of new and evolving technologies that make life on the farm easier while increasing efficiency and decreasing costs. New farm technology ranges from the simplest smart phone app that turns an iPod into a mobile milk-monitoring station or allows farmers to record herd information from the field to the hundreds of thousands of dollars that may be spent on precision planting equipment. The demand and need for new technologies have largely been increased in the world. One of the most progressed technologies is about genetics, genomics and genetic modification in agriculture [1-4]. Large scale planting systems are increasingly being used to boost production. These mechanical devices work better when the shape of the seed is more uniform; the seeds "flow better" in a mechanical sense. Pelleting caters to this type of requirement, by creating round pellets of a standardized size. Besides this plantability issue, there are multiple other reasons to use a pellet: use of phototoxic products, weight and/or volume increase, addition of biological control agents, and growth promoting agents. Pesticides and fungicides have been around for a long time. By incorporating these products in a thin film around the seeds their overall performance can be greatly improved and the amounts of these products needed for efficacy greatly reduced. This has a direct impact on the cost effectiveness, the protection and the final yield on the field. The advantage to the environment is huge compared to traditional field application; the chemical load of these chemicals on the environment has been reduced to almost nothing. Not only such, coloring provides a strong detection color protect for seed batch, thereby preventing the seeds are eaten by people or animals. These factors greatly influence and enhanced the application of coating technology, film coating technology soon instead of the traditional seeds spray powder and leaching plasma processing mode. Do not affect seed germination, no conglutination, seed appearance Improvement, be add agentia, and be add varieties growth-regulating substance. There is a wide range of Vegetable seeds, different moisture content. Safety seed storage has important significance of vegetable seed germination and planting quality. Only the security storage, seeds can achieve the effect of high income after planting. At present the general method of seed storage is put the seed with sacks or sacks under normal temperature stacking storage after natural drying. Seed storage affect by temperature and humidity which will change seeds' water content, made seed vigor decrease rapidly. At present the most effective way of seeds storage is put seeds in low temperature and humidity environment, which can effectively delay seeds service life. Although many studies have been done on irrigation and water resources management [5-30], but all of them have been considered classical conditions for crops. However, these conditions that include grows coefficients (Kc) related to the evapotranspiration, water and salinity stress etc., are changed when farmers are used improved seeds. In improved seeds, required water and other water management parameters are different from initial conditions (unimproved seeds). According to that a slender difference in water requirement estimation is caused damage in agricultural productions or water losses, need to update of irrigation and water resources information according to the progresses of agricultural knowledge is very important.


An experiment was carried out to determine how the Evactherm-process, developed by Maschinenfabrik Gustav Eirich in Hardheim, Germany, can be used for ceramic preparation for the manufacture of tile presses. The plant is comprised of a mixer with a vacuum, a vacuum aggregate and a blower with which the drying or heating medium - for example steam - is circulated. The gas takes only a circular course in the system and the moisture obtained is precipitated using condensers. With this development, the separate dryer and the aging time previously needed for the granulates are no longer needed. Due to improved clay disintegration less moisture is also needed. The fineness remains in a single aggregate in the body due to the granulation and drying, for which reason all larger mechanical applications of the grains should be avoided during the end phase of drying. When compared to tiles made using conventional built-up granulates, plates produced in larger batches revealed an improved structure and lower shrinkage. The suitability for industrial application is therefore proven.


A flexible, and easily modified, test rig is described which allows a one dimensional nonsteady flow stream to be generated, economically from a steady flow source of compressed air. This nonsteady flow is used as the primary stream in a nonsteady flow ejector constituting part of the test equipment. Standard piezo-electric pressure transducers etc. allow local pressures to be studied, as functions of time, in both the primary and secondary (mixed) flow portions of the apparatus. Provision is also made for measuring the primary and secondary mass flows and the thrust generated. Sample results obtained with the equipment are presented.


Divan literature is one of the basic building blocks of Turkish literature. However, with the passage of time and changing conditions, the new generation's view of divan literature has changed. This study was carried out in order to reveal the reflection of this change on Turkish language and literature teachers who will start their profession. In the study, the opinions of the students who graduated from the Turkish language and literature departments of 14 different universities and who took formation from Gazi University in the spring term of 2022, on the teaching of divan literature subjects in high schools were taken. In line with this content, the phenomenology pattern was used depending on the qualitative research in the study and the obtained data were analyzed by content analysis. According to data it has been determined that the subjects that should be emphasized in the teaching of the subjects of Divan literature are the subject of poets, writers and verse forms, the social and historical structure of the period and the general characteristics of the divan literature, and "Fuzûlî, Bâki, Nâbi, Nedim ve Nef'î" came to the fore as the representatives of this period. According to the results of the study, it has been determined that the majority of the participants consider the "Republican period" literature more important than other periods among the subjects of Turkish language and literature courses in high schools. At the end of the study, it was suggested that the subjects of Divan literature, which were compressed into 6 weeks in the MEB curriculum, should be given in parallel with the history lesson subjects in 10 weeks, spread over four years.


This article reviews the exercise of the legislative function of the General Synod of the Church of England over the last 25 years. Beginning with a summary of the principles of synodical government in the Church of England, it goes on to describe the establishment of the Synod, its composition and its functions. The different forms of legal provision available to the Synod in exercise of its legislative function are then considered, followed by an account of the impact of the Human Rights Act, the procedures applicable to the conduct of legislative business and the role of Parliament in the legislative process. After an assessment of the general pattern of synodical legislation over the last 25 years, the main areas of legislative change during that period are reviewed. The article ends with an assessment of possible areas for future legislative activity.


patients with invasive amelanotic melanoma in the USA. Melanoma Res 2013; 23:408–13. 7 Guitera P, Pellacani G, Crotty KA et al. The impact of in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy on the diagnostic accuracy of lentigo maligna and equivocal pigmented and nonpigmented macules of the face. J Invest Dermatol 2010; 130:2080–91. 8 Guitera P, Menzies SW, Argenziano G et al. Dermoscopy and in vivo confocal microscopy are complementary techniques for diagnosis of difficult amelanotic and light-coloured skin lesions. Br J Dermatol 2016; 175:1311–19. 9 Alarcon I, Carrera C, Palou J et al. Impact of in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy on the number needed to treat melanoma in doubtful lesions. Br J Dermatol 2014; 170:802–8.


SUMMARY (1) A host-parasitoid model is presented which is intermediate in complexity between the Nicholson-Bailey model (in which the parasitoids search independently randomly in a homogenous environment) and complicated models for incorporating environmental patchiness (in which the overall distribution of parasitoid attacks is derived from detailed assumptions about their searching behaviour and about the spatial distribution of the hosts). The model assumes the overall distribution of parasitoid attacks per host to be of negative binomal form. There are consequently three biological parameters: two are the usual parasitoid 'area of discovery', a, and the host 'rate of increase', F; the third is the negative binomial clumping parameter, k. Such intermediate-level models have proved useful in sorting out ideas in the related disciplines of epidemiology and parasitology. (2) Empirical and theoretical arguments for using the negative binomial to give a phenomenological description of the essential consequences of spatial patchiness in models are surveyed. (3) A biological interpretation of the parameter k in host parasitoid models is offered. If the parasitoids be distributed among patches according to some arbitrary distribution which has a coefficient of variation CVp, and if the parasitoid attack distribution within a patch be Poisson, then the ensuing compound distribution can be approximated by a negative binomial which will have the same variance as the exact distribution provided k is identified as k = (I I/CVp)2. (4) Expressions are obtained for the equilibrium values of host and parasitoid popula- tions. These equilibria are stable if, and only if, k < 1; that is, provided there is sufficient clumping. (5) The dynamical effects of parasitoid aggregation in some respects mimic those introduced by mutual interference among parasitoids; the appropriate coefficient of 'psuedo-interference' is calculated.


Irvine, CA-ISTA Pharmaceuticals Inc. is seeking FDA approval of its bromfenac sodium ophthalmic solution 0.1% (Xibrom) for the treatment of ocular inflammation following cataract surgery.


this year provides one leading paper on the main subject, flanked by a number of short papers, instead of the long papers and essays which hitherto have been a feature of these meetings. One result of this plan is a great increase in the number of active participants at the New Orleans meeting. The definite program will soon be ready for publication. The idea of having this meeting as far South as New Orleans seems to be meeting with general favor, and the trip as well as the meeting itself is arousing much interest. Plans are being completed for a number of entertaining features outside the meeting itself; one of these being a "personally conducted tour" through the old French Quarter of New Orleans, the guide being a prominent local architect who has been a thorough student of the history and customs of the city. Information regarding the Association or the coming meeting may be had upon application to the secretary Charles N. Boyd, 4259 Fifth Ave., Pittsburg, Pa.


A nonassociative ring is called a derivation alternator ring if it satisfies the identities (yz, x, x) = y(z, x, x) + (y, x, x)z, (x, x, yz) = y(x, x, z) + (x, x, y)z and (x, x, x) = 0. Let R be a prime derivation alternator ring with idempotent e ¥= 1 and characteristic ¥=2. If R is without nonzero nil ideals of index 2, then R is alternative.


A synchronous rectification in high performance converter design is an essential block for low voltage and high current applications since significant efficiency and power density improvements can be achieved by replacing schottky rectification with synchronous rectification MOSFETs. Many critical parameters for synchronous rectification MOSFETs and even parasitic components in devices and printed circuit board directly affect to system efficiency of synchronous rectifications. Optimization of the MOSFETs plays an important role in improving efficiency of synchronous rectification. This paper shows the impact of power MOSFET parameters and parasitic inductance on efficiency of synchronous rectification through loss analysis of power MOSFET from an experiment and a simulation results.


Diabetic retinopathy is a medical condition where the retina is damaged because fluid leaks from blood vessels into the retina. Ophthalmologists recognize diabetic retinopathy based on features, such as blood vessel area, exudes, hemorrhages, microaneurysms and texture. In this paper we review algorithms used for the extraction of these features from digital fundus images. Furthermore, we discuss systems that use these features to classify individual fundus images. The classifications efficiency of different DR systems is discussed. Most of the reported systems are highly optimized with respect to the analyzed fundus images, and that a generalization of individual results is difficult. However, this review shows that the classification results improved has improved recently, and it is getting closer to the classification capabilities of human ophthalmologists.


To show the influence of the synthetic jet on the wake of a cylinder and the aerodynamics performances, a piston-rod-crank actuator was designed to provide a synthetic jet with amplitude up to 20% of the free-stream velocity from the wind tunnel. The rod is driven in rotation by an electrical motor with variable frequency and maximum speed of 2800 rev/min corresponding to a frequency of 47 Hz.


Informatics as a school subject has been virtually absent from bilingual education programs in German secondary schools. Most bilingual programs in German secondary education started out by focusing on subjects from the field of social sciences. Teachers and bilingual curriculum experts alike have been regarding those as the most suitable subjects for bilingual instruction – largely due to the intercultural perspective that a bilingual approach provides. And though one cannot deny the gain that ensues from an intercultural perspective on subjects such as history or geography, this benefit is certainly not limited to social science subjects. In consequence, bilingual curriculum designers have already begun to include other subjects such as physics or chemistry in bilingual school programs. It only seems a small step to extend this to informatics. This paper will start out by addressing potential benefits of adding informatics to the range of subjects taught as part of English-language bilingual programs in German secondary education. In a second step it will sketch out a methodological (= didactical) model for teaching informatics to German learners through English. It will then provide two items of hands-on and tested teaching material in accordance with this model. The discussion will conclude with a brief outlook on the chances and prerequisites of firmly establishing informatics as part of bilingual school curricula in Germany. 1 Setting course for informatics in English-language bilingual education 1.1 The situation as is At the time of this paper, informatics as a school subject is virtually absent from bilingual1 curricula in German secondary education. According to ([10], p. 96) there are merely one "Gymnasium" and one comprehensive school that offer bilingual informatics classes in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German state. The latter of these schools even limits the classes to one hour of instruction per week. There are various reasons for this apparent reluctance to take up informatics into the range of subjects taught through English: 1 As the title suggests, the scope of this paper is limited to bilingual programs in Germany that use English as the language of instruction.


The time-depending formal theory of scattering, initiated by Lippmann and Schwinger is generalized to the case of multi-channel process.Ekstein has attempted to construct such a theory in 1956 and pointed out the orthogonality properties of the set of multi-channel outgoing (incoming) scattering states, which is very important for the establishment of scattering matrix, but it seems to him that the quite general starting point of the L-S formalism is not appreciated. In his work the simplicity of the L-S formalism is lost. He came to the conclusion that the scattering matrix can not be regarded as the matrix of a single linear operator, because he insisted to work in one single interaction representation for all the initial and final states. Thereby the concept of scattering matrix is confused.The present paper deals with the same generalization, but the simplicity of the L-S formalism is preserved. The explicit form of the scattering operator is given. The calculation of the various transition probability in the present case can be made in a similar way as in the original L-S theory.


On the basis of inspecting the configuration of combined cycle generating units and its running conditions in some variable load plants,it is shown that because of lack of the supplementary-firing burner unit for the exhaust-heat boiler,low-load operation of gas turbine leads to steam quality deterioration and efficiency descending of combined cycle.So the reconstruction program of adding the supplementary-firing burner unit to the exhaust-heat boiler was proposed.After reconstruction,the operation condition of combined cycle generating units is improved obviously,which shows that the supplementary-firing reconstruction of the exhaust-heat boiler can promote observably the energy usage ratio of the units,and the aims of saving energy,reducing consumption and improving economic benefit are achieved.


— In ponds in the floodplain of the River Anambra, Nigeria, Clarias albopunctatus matured after the first year when they were 101–150 mm in total length. Gonad development was more rapid in males than in females. The breeding season lasted from March to September, and recruitment of the clariids into the artisanal fishery began from the latter month. The number of oocytes in both ovaries ranged from 1974 to 9310. Fecundity-weight relationship was linear and positively correlated: Y= 1451.64+ 77.19x, r2= 0.82. Spawnable oocytes, which constituted over 91% of gonad weight, ranged from 1.05 to 1.75 mm in diameter. A minor and major communal spawning involving Clarias macromystax, C. agboyiensis and C. albopunctatus took place in the inundated grassy areas of the floodplain. Migration of 4-month-old juveniles towards the main river or floodplain ponds, which appeared to be triggered by current speed in the spawning ground, occurred during the night and in groups.


Consider a life aged x and let K(x) denote the curtate future life– time of the life, that is the time left before he or she dies, in completed years, see Gerber.1 Then K(x) is a discrete random variable with K(x)= 0, 1, .. [ 1] ω− whereω is the assumed limiting age, such that [ 1] ω− is the maximum age a life can live and the operation [.] refers to 'integer part' of the object. The probability mass function for K(x), P(K(x)=k), k=0, 1,2,... ,.. [ 1] ω− can be derived from a life table as noted in Section 2. Let (x) k F (r) denotes the corresponding distribution function. To compare two separate mortality experiences, let (x) k F denote the distribution function corresponding to the other experience. Then to compare the distributions, the hypotheses are given by (x) k F . ( ) ( ) ( ) 0 ' : K x k x H F r F =


Diagnosis of choledocholithiasis is diffi cult because a clinical evaluation and blood tests are frequently insuffi - cient for an exact diagnosis of choledo...


The theory of game management on the Siberian territory is studied. Furs export to China is analyzed. Legislation of hunting rationalization on the territory of Siberia is considered. Key stages of the Soviet hunting policy are discovered. The activity of state musk-rat farms is analyzed. The structure of hunting farms in the 1970s is studied.


Ecotourism is an important and rapidly growing "niche market" within the global tourism industry, which can contribute to environmental conservation, socio-economic and gives value to the maintenance of local traditions and culture. The evolution of the concept of ecotourism could be traced from the 1980s, which coincides with the grounding of the concept of sustainable development. Although it has been difficult to calculate the size and growth rate of ecotourism, a range of estimates indicate that it has become the fastest growing sub-sector of the tourism industry. The contribution of ecotourism to rural livelihoods and livelihood diversification has received significant research attention and taken as determinants of livelihood outcomes. Ethiopia is a country of land of multiple tourist attractions and a visitor friendly people who are conscious of its historical, cultural and natural heritages in its regions. Even though it possesses a plethora of tourist attractions, yet tourism infrastructure, tourist products and marketing are at its infancy. The sector has direct, indirect and induced impact on the country's economy, environment and cultural resources. To sustain sustainable development for the long run from the sector, balancing those impacts and giving attention towards peace and security as well as infrastructure development is crucial as the ecotourism industry mainly depend on them. Keywords: Ecotourism, Community, Tourism, Impact DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/51-02 Publication date: October 31 st 2020


This project makes the presentation of the design of a Manual Sanitary Landfill for a correct final disposal of the Municipal Solid Waste (urban area) in the District of Otuzco - La Libertad, which has been carried out through the analyzes that comprise the stages of revision of the necessary bibliography, satellite images, and the situational diagnosis of the district of Otuzco.
Its objective is to reduce the environmental pollution generated by an inadequate final disposal of Municipal Solid Waste in the district of Otuzco, through the evaluation and analysis of technical criteria, description of sanitary engineering studies, which are in accordance with current environmental regulations.
The importance of the present study is based on the proposal of the Design of a Manual-type Sanitary Landfill that will benefit the population, since it will be designed to provide an adequate final disposal of the Solid Waste generated daily, and therefore will contribute to the reduction of environmental pollution and avoid alterations in public health.
In the methodological stage of the present work, basic and technical studies were carried out, also indistinct methods corresponding to the branch of sanitary and environmental engineering were used, which served as information for the determination of basic parameters for the development of the project.
From the results we can conclude that there is a daily generation of solid waste in the district of Otuzco that is 7,264 tons / day, and in accordance with current environmental legislation, this value is suitable for the development of a sanitary landfill of the manual type with a capacity of accumulated volume of 105,067,856 cubic meters and demanding an approximate area of 4.7 hectares with a theoretical useful life of 15 years according to the variations and needs of the District


This paper shares a story of community, vulnerability, art-making and possibility that arose within the context of a Social Foundations of Education course. Drawing on arts-informed epistemologies, the authors began the semester by inviting students to critically engage with the central ideas of the course through the process of creating a mandala. At the end of the semester, students were once again invited to (re)create their mandalas as they reflected on how their understandings had evolved over the course of the semester. Within what was initially a very uncomfortable act, a community emerged as students sought to support and encourage one another. This sense of community remained consistent across the course of the semester and students regularly returned to the initial activity as a starting point during class discussions. Using this particular classroom experience as an illustration, this paper posits that it is important for educators to engage their students in centered, aesthetic and communal acts of reflexivity as a means to facilitate the development of fluid pedagogies and ways of being in the world that are informed, critical, and transformative.


Not long after arriving in Africa I was fortunate to land a 30 day training contract with a large organisation. Despite having a sizeable training staff, the training manager warned me of their inability. After a few days I developed a much more positive impression of the training centre staff, who were all Africans. Despite my efforts to point out their various merits, the training manager retained his dismissive perspective, recounting various tales of African management disasters. He, like myself, was an expatriate. After meeting more expatriate managers, I realised that this first encounter with an expatriate manager was, unfortunately, notgoing to be an exception.


Protein interactions are central to structural and functional organization of the cell. Understanding biological processes thus relies on a comprehensive knowledge of different types of protein–protein interactions (PPIs) and interaction mechanisms. This paper formulates the PPI prediction problem as a multi-objective optimization problem. The focus here is to jointly maximize i) the number of common neighbors of the proteins predicted to be interacting, ii) their functional similarity, and iii) the ratio between their individual accessible solvent area and that of the corresponding protein-protein complex. The above multi-objective optimization problem is solved using a fusion of the differential evolution for multi-objective optimization and the stochastic learning automata. Here the former is employed to globally explore the search space and the latter for the adaptive tuning of the control parameters of the algorithm. Experiments undertaken reveal that the proposed PPI prediction technique outperforms existing methods with respect to sensitivity, specificity, and F1 score. Keywords—protein–protein interaction networks; annotation; accessible solvent area; stochastic learning automata; differential evolution for multi-objective optimization.